WMATA Chief says it’s time to talk about a regional tax to help fund Metro (DC area)

Is an interview with WMATA CEO Randy Clarke (NBC Washington).

This pamphlet was an advertising supplement inserted in the Washington Star, 3/21/1976.

I get a kick out of this because this has been raised on and off for 20 years, such as in these reports from 2004-2006.

-- Washington Metro: Deficits by Design, Brookings, 2004
-- Keeping Metro On Track: The Federal Government's Role in Balacing Investment With Accountability at Washington's Transit Agency, Brookings, 2005
-- "Mass Transit: Issues Related to Providing Dedicated Funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, GAO, 2006

Also a statement by a transit safety commission board member:

-- "DC area transit commission board member thinks he has a brilliant idea on how to fund Metrorail: sales taxes," 2022

It's not new.

In 2009 and a couple times afterwards, I said it was necessary for WMATA to rebuild the regional/metropolitan consensus about support for transit.  And later about various funding mechanisms.

-- St. Louis regional transit planning process as a model for what needs to be done in the DC Metropolitan region, 2009
-- "WMATA 40th anniversary in 2016 as an opportunity for assessment," 2014
-- "Funding WMATA by a regional sales tax," 2017

I also wrote that the best time to ask for money is when you're successful, not in crisis (e.g., "Creativity Helps Rochester's Transit System Turn a Profit," New York Times).  

The best time would have been in the 1980s, when the system ran well and was still expanding.  Although sales taxes aren't a cure because they fall during recessions.

Regardless of Rahm Emanuel's point about not wasting crises, my observation is that governments aren't good at decision making generally, and are particularly bad during crises.  So given there's been talk about this for at leas 20 years I'm not holding my breath.

WMATA has even more issues because if either Maryland or Virginia have Republican Governors, it makes it very difficult to develop consensus support for such a tax, because they see it, justifiably or not, as helping DC disproportionately.  Right now, Virginia has a Republican Governor.  But even Democrats like Terry McAuliffe weren't super helpful.

=== From past entries:

Transit financing.  I've written a lot about WMATA and financing.  It has a big problem in that the jurisdictions appropriate money on a year-by-year basis, not as a matter of course.  Yes, this does make it harder for the agency.  Especially because jurisdictions will put off capital expenditures as long as possible.  Many people make the point that lack of dedicated funding is why the system is in failure mode.  I disagree.

-- Getting WMATA out of crisis: a continuation of a multi-year problem that keeps getting worse, not better (2015)
-- What it will take to get WMATA out of crisis (2015)

As I've argued, the federal transit pass has historically disproportionately funded the system, alongside the practice of charging fares by mode--most systems charge one fare for a bus+rail ride.  Not WMATA.  They charge two.  And pass products lowering the overall cost of transit have historically been a low priority.

This let the system get sloppy in terms of finance, budgeting, and understanding why "WMATA is so successful at funding operations from farebox revenue."

My solution: Step 1: creating a regional transport association.  The fact that there are so many "mobility" services, even beyond transit (taxis, car sharing, bike sharing, scooters, etc.) is why I've argued that the DC area should adopt the German form of regional transport association (called a VV, Verkehrsverbund), which links planning, budgeting and operation into one overarching organization, even if many different entities provide actual transit service.    They have an integrated planning and transit fare media system.  But there are over 20 operators of the various services, including private operators of bus lines.

Step 2: Separate planning from budgeting.  Too many transit services in the DC area make planning subsidiary to budgeting.  I understand why this happens, but if there were true "mass transit planning," we would define the breadth and depth of the network that we want.  And then come up with the funding to make it happen.

Transit operators would come back and say: you've defined the network breadth and depth (level of service) as X.  But the funding won't support that.  Then there would have to be a discussion of how to address funding shortfalls in terms of raising revenues or cutting service.

Step 3: Fix the Funding.  Yep, it needs to be done, but not just for Metrorail, for all of the regional transit services.  

Step 4: WRT WMATA, declare force majeure, and contract out operation of the heavy rail system to Hong Kong's MTR.  Start over.  Force majeure allows the abrogation of all contracts and starting over. 

Note: WMATA seems to be getting its act together under Clarke.  Maybe this is no longer necessary.

Funding options.  I have other pieces about options for funding.  

-- "Metrolinx Toronto: 25 potential tools to fund transit-transportation infrastructure," 2013

suggests a more structured process for identifying funding than an interview published in the Post.

The best would be a transit withholding tax.  But if the federal government refused to participate, it would significantly reduce the revenues from it.  In France, this tax is key, called the versement transport.  But MTA in New York State, and a couple other transit agencies do a form of it as well.

The future of transit in cities.  I don't know.  Work from home has torn apart the transit business model.  Most major cities have seen a reduction by half in transit users.  And systems like WMATA have reached a ceiling in how much they can charge.  Suburban jurisdictions now truly see helping transit as helping the city at their expense, since many of their workers have been able to significantly cut back on commuting to the center city.

DC doesn't have the budget to be able to take on the full responsibility of WMATA, but that would allow it to manage it in a way that benefits the city.

Although federal agencies leaving the city for sites poorly connected by transit, and maybe sports teams too, doesn't help the transit financial model either.