03-23-2017, 12:38 PM
(03-23-2017, 12:14 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(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.
Again, this only works if there are conditions attached. If, today, riders pay 50% of GRT costs and regional tax revenues pay 50%, you could have the region decide that now 50% of GRT costs will be riders, 20% will be federal funds, and 30% will be regional tax revenues, meaning that 20% goes back to the general revenues.