Transportation Choices 2020

Questions & Answers

What is Transportation Choices 2020?
Transportation Choices 2020 is a legislative funding proposal (HF1735 - SF1703) for statewide transit expansion and metro investment in bicycling and walking. It provides increased, adequate, and secure funding for the capital and operating costs of transit. It would:

1) Fund full implementation of the transit portion of the Metropolitan Council’s Transportation Policy Plan including expanded bus service, new park and ride capacity, and eight dedicated transitways - both bus and rail - by 2020 rather than 2030 or some later date.

2) Provide revenue to local units of government in the metropolitan area to allocate toward transit, bicycle, and pedestrian projects.

3) Expand transit in Greater Minnesota to all counties, extend service to more municipalities within counties, and provide more evening and weekend service.

4) Allocate money for initial planning and design of High Speed Rail as part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

Is there public support for expanded transit?
The public understands that transportation choices are vital to our state’s quality of life and economic competitiveness. The public has shown strong support for the new Hiawatha light rail line, Park and Ride bus options, regional bike and pedestrian trails, and new pedestrian-friendly town centers. Many recent polls have demonstrated strong public support for transit.

Why doesn’t Transportation Choices 2020 include funding for roads and bridges?
Since the 1950’s, Minnesota’s highways have had a stable, predictable funding source for maintenance and expansion. This enables MnDOT to do long term planning, match all federal funding, and maintain and expand the state’s trunk highway system. This bill helps transit do the same. The goal of this bill is to articulate the real need for transit funding, bicycling and walking and not to determine the correct amount of funding needed for roads. The advocates of Transportation Choices 2020 understand that it may become part of a larger multi-modal funding bill.

How were the corridors and service goals in the Initiative chosen?
Transportation Choices 2020 is based on completing the transit portion of the Metropolitan Council’s Transportation Policy Plan by 2020 - as was originally the goal. The Metropolitan Council currently set the date for full implementation at 2030, but has no funding to implement this plan. The goals for expanding transit in Greater Minnesota were identified by transit providers in conjunction with the MnDOT Office of Transit.

Will Transportation Choices 2020 fund transit statewide or just in the Twin Cities region?
The initiative provides statewide funding. While the needs and challenges are different in metropolitan cities, suburbs, regional centers, small towns, and rural areas, all suffer from a lack of transportation options. Transportation Choices 2020 allows local and regional communities to participate in designing transportation solutions that meet their specific needs.

Why should the metropolitan region complete all these corridors by 2020?
Our region is far behind its peers on providing expanded transportation choices. The Twin Cities invests only 2/3 of what its peer regions invest in transit, and there is no state funding for bicycling and walking as there is for roads. By implementing this transit plan in 15 years, the region will be making a commitment similar to that of its peers. The Denver metropolitan region recently adopted a transit plan that increases their regional sales tax for transit to one cent to fund a 12 year transit expansion program that includes 119 miles of additional rail corridors, 18 miles of bus rapid transit, 21,000 new parking spaces at transit stations, and expanded bus service throughout the region. [TLC has a policy brief on Denver’s plans]

Do other regions use a regional sales tax to fund public transit?
Most other major US regions use a sales tax to fund public transit. Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, and Houston all allocate one cent of a regional sales tax to transit. San Jose allocates a half-cent, St. Louis allocates 3/4ths of a cent, and Seattle 8/10ths. [TLC has a fact sheet on regional funding sources for transit]

Does Transportation Choices 2020 have support at the Minnesota Capitol?
The Initiative has strong bipartisan support in the state Senate and the House of Representatives. Supporters represent urban, suburban and rural areas of the state. Senator Sharon Marko (DFL-Cottage Grove) and Rep. Ron Erhardt (R-Edina) are the lead authors.

What organizations support Transportation Choices 2020?
A list of organizations that have endorsed the proposal is included in the press packet. The Transit Partner organizations have been seeking endorsements for a very short time and additional organizations are expected to sign on in support.

Will this transit initiative relieve traffic congestion?
This initiative will greatly increase the carrying capacity in the corridors that transit serves and it will provide travelers with an alternative to driving during congested conditions. Transit during the peak hour has been shown to carry the equivalent of one to two lanes of highway traffic.

With the Governor and legislative support for Northstar rail and the inclusion of planning money for other transitway in the bonding bill, isn’t transit already on more solid financial footing?

No. While it appears that capital dollars will be provided to several transitway projects this legislative session, the situation with transit operating funding is dire. The metropolitan region faces a $60 million shortfall for the biennium - the largest projected shortfall in over a decade-and greater Minnesota transit also faces cuts.

Why is $10 million in funding for High Speed Rail included in this proposal?
Many states in the Midwest are actively pursuing high speed rail. Other states have made investments in planning, design, track and station improvements, and some provide annual operating support for train service. Two years ago, Minnesota eliminated its state Office of Passenger Rail and there has been no money with which to continue planning or make investments.