FEDERAL TRANSIT OPERATING SUBSIDY OPTIONS

This paper reviews the political and historical background of transit operating subsidies. The issue discussed is not whether there should be operating subsidies, but rather which levels of government should provide them and in what fashion. Three arguments are reviewed: the fiscal, federal role, and pragmatic arguments. The fiscal argument is that the operating deficits of transit authorities represent a local government fiscal program and should be treated as such. The federal role argument states that federal operating subsidies would lead to an inappropriate degree of federal involvement in local government decision making. The pragmatic argument is that it would be extremely difficult to use federal operating subsidies as an effective tool for improving urban transit operations and that the subsidies carry a real chance of being counterproductive. This paper examines four categories of operating subsidy options: no operating subsidies, the pipeline approach (unrestricted flow of funds to the transit industry), the block grant approach (examplified by the transportation revenue sharing bill and the federal-aid urban highway program in the 1973 highway act), and the quid pro quo approach (a grant program whereby specific quid pro quos in the form of definite improvements or innovations in an urban area transit system are demanded in return for federal subsidies).

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/573/573-002.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=FEDERAL+TRANSIT+OPERATING+SUBSIDY+OPTIONS&author=E.+Beshers&publication_year=1976
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309024862
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Taxation, Finance, and Pricing. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Beshers, Eric W
• Conference:
  • 54th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia
  • Date: 1975-1-13 to 1975-1-17
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Pagination: pp 12-17
• Monograph Title: Transit Operating Subsidies
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 573
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Federal aid; Finance; Financing; Government funding; Grant aid; Improvements; Level of service; Local government; Operating costs; Public transit; Regulation; Subsidies; Transportation; Transportation planning; Urban transportation
• Old TRIS Terms: Government intervention
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Finance; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00138140
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309024862
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 16 1981 12:00AM