UNJUST EQUITY: AN EXAMINATION OF CALIFORNIA'S TRANSPORTATION DEVELOPMENT ACT

Federal subsidies of public transit, particularly transit operations, are declining and the responsibility for supporting transit is falling increasingly on states and localities. In California, the Transportation Development Act (TDA) has become the state's principal source of transit operating subsidies. It is found that the strict per capita allocation formulas of the TDA strongly favor lightly patronized suburban transit service over more heavily patronized service in the central cities. Transit riders in San Francisco, for example, receive a TDA subsidy of $0.13 per trip, whereas the TDA subsidy to transit patrons in suburban Livermore is over $5.00 per trip. The built-in suburban bias of the TDA is the result of partisan compromises made to secure passage of the Act in 1971--compromises to assuage a Republican governor opposed to new taxes--and to include the interests of rural and suburban counties. The result has been a proliferation in California of new, well-funded, and expanding suburban transit operators that attract few riders whereas older, heavily patronized central city transit operators are forced to cut service because of funding shortfalls. This paper concludes by proposing a more efficient and equitable method for allocating TDA funds than the current formula, which, in the name of equity, provides all Californians with a "fair share" of public transit whether or not they use it.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1991/1297/1297-011.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=UNJUST+EQUITY%3A+AN+EXAMINATION+OF+CALIFORNIA%27S+TRANSPORTATION+DEVELOPMENT+ACT&author=B.+Taylor&publication_year=1991
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309051037
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1297, Public Transit Research: Management and Planning 1991. 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:
  • Taylor, Brian D
  • 0000-0002-1037-2751
• Publication Date: 1991

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 85-92
• Monograph Title: Public transit research: management and planning 1991
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1297
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Central business districts; Equity; Public transit; Subsidies; Suburbs
• Uncontrolled Terms: Fund allocations
• Old TRIS Terms: California transportation development act
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00615779
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309051037
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Sep 30 1991 12:00AM