03-23-2017, 12:14 PM
(03-23-2017, 11:33 AM)Markster Wrote: I would frankly prefer direct funding of the transit agencies. Which is in effect what we are receiving, as the feds have recently announced all kinds of transit funding.
The tax credit is great for those who (a) have regular enough employment to buy monthly passes, (b) earn enough to pay taxes, and © have the attention to detail to properly fill in relevant parts of their tax forms.
I look at this and think to myself, why are we only giving discounts to those people, and not to everyone who uses the bus? What makes this set of people more deserving than the rest?
I'm thinking of a funding model whereby every transit agency would receive a federal government subsidy equivalent to, say, 20% of fare revenue would work well. It's better than a fixed subsidy because (1) it directly subsidizes the fares, whether trip or monthly, and (2) it increases as transit usage increases.
It's nice to dream.