Transit Can Win at the Ballot Box, but You Have to Ask

Last week’s midterm elections in the US highlighted again the popularity of public transit at the ballot box. Urban and suburban populations continue to want good public transit and are willing to pay for it. The big win, of course, was San Francisco Bay Area Measure RTM, which was leading with over 60% yes on election night. That’s a good showing considering that it was raising sales taxes in a place where taxes are already high. This was a sufficiently large blowout that it gives hope to many other agencies that may have to face the voters soon. But as we look to the future we should be inspired by other elections too. In August, Spokane (Washington) Transit Authority won a reauthorization of its funding in a low-turnout primary election, which I wrote about here. The key takeaways there are that public transit is popular even in places that see themselves as moderate or conservative, as long as it’s clearly (a) well managed and (b) solving problems in actual people’s lives. That…

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