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Unjust Equity: An Examination of California's Transportation Development Act

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  • Taylor, Brian D.

Abstract

Federal subsidies of public transit, particularly transit operations are declining and the responsibility for supporting transit is falling increasingly on states and localities. In California, the Transportation Development Act (TDA) has become the state's principal source of transit operating subsidies. This paper shows that the strict per capita allocation formulas of the TDA strongly favor lightly patronized suburban transit service over more heavily patronized service in the central cities. Transit riders in San Francisco, for example, receive a TDA subsidy of $0.13 per trip, while the TDA subsidy to transit patrons in suburban Livermore is over $5.00 per trip. The built-in suburban bias of the TDA is the result of partisan compromises made to secure passage of the Act in 1971; compromises to assuage a Republican governor opposed to new taxes and to include the interests of rural and suburban counties. The result has been a proliferation in California of new, well-funded, and expanding suburban transit operators that attract few riders while older, heavily patronized central city transit operators are forced to cut service because of funding shortfalls. The paper concludes by proposing a more efficient and equitable method for allocating TDA funds than the current formula which, in the name of equity provides all Californians with a "fair share" of public transit, whether or not they use it.

Suggested Citation

  • Taylor, Brian D., 1991. "Unjust Equity: An Examination of California's Transportation Development Act," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt7h13774d, University of California Transportation Center.
  • Handle: RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt7h13774d
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    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Jie & Levinson, David M., 2015. "Circuity in urban transit networks," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 145-153.
    2. Gregory Thompson & Jeffrey Brown & Torsha Bhattacharya, 2012. "What Really Matters for Increasing Transit Ridership: Understanding the Determinants of Transit Ridership Demand in Broward County, Florida," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(15), pages 3327-3345, November.
    3. Jeffrey R. Brown & Gregory L. Thompson, 2008. "The Relationship between Transit Ridership and Urban Decentralisation: Insights from Atlanta," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(5-6), pages 1119-1139, May.
    4. Jeffrey Brown & Gregory Thompson & Torscha Bhattacharya & Michal Jaroszynski, 2014. "Understanding Transit Ridership Demand for the Multidestination, Multimodal Transit Network in Atlanta, Georgia: Lessons for Increasing Rail Transit Choice Ridership while Maintaining Transit Dependen," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(5), pages 938-958, April.
    5. Nuworsoo, Cornelius & Golub, Aaron & Deakin, Elizabeth, 2009. "Analyzing equity impacts of transit fare changes: Case study of Alameda-Contra Costa Transit, California," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 360-368, November.
    6. Jeffrey Brown & Gregory Thompson, 2008. "Examining the influence of multidestination service orientation on transit service productivity: a multivariate analysis," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 237-252, March.
    7. Nuworsoo, Cornelius & Deakin, Elizabeth & Golub, Aaron, 2008. "Equity Impacts of Transit Fare Proposals: A Case Study of AC Transit," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 47(3).
    8. Jianling Li & Martin Wachs, 2000. "A test of inter-modal performance measures for transit investment decisions," Transportation, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 243-267, June.
    9. Wachs, Martin & Dill, Jennifer, 1997. "Regionalism in Transportation and Air Quality: History, Interpretation, and Insights for Regional Governance," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt0zz0d260, University of California Transportation Center.
    10. Taylor, Brian D & Garrett, Mark, 1999. "Reconsidering Social Equity in Public Transit," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt2bm7b38n, University of California Transportation Center.
    11. Michal Jaroszynski & Jeffrey Brown & Torsha Bhattacharya, 2017. "An examination of the relationship between urban decentralisation and transit decentralisation in a small-sized US metropolitan area," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(6), pages 1500-1518, May.
    12. Wachs, Martin & Dill, Jennifer, 2002. "Regionalism in Transportation and Air Quality: History, Interpretation, and Insights for Regional Governance," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt0ng8f1v7, University of California Transportation Center.
    13. Taylor, Brian D. PhD & Kalauskas, Rebecca MA & Iseki, Hiroyuki, 2010. "Addressing Equity Challenges to Implementing Road Pricing," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt83r073fp, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    14. Elisa Borowski & Alireza Ermagun & David Levinson, 2018. "Disparity of Access: Variations in Transit Service by Race, Ethnicity, Income, and Auto Availability," Working Papers 175, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    15. Garrett, Mark & Taylor, Brian D., 2003. "Reconsidering Social Equity in Public Transit," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt1gm148mz, University of California Transportation Center.
    16. Duncan, Michael & Christensen, Robert K., 2013. "An analysis of park-and-ride provision at light rail stations across the US," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 148-157.

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