Public transportation is a lifeline; connecting workers to jobs and vulnerable populations to the services they need. Just a few short years ago, the Ohio Department of Transportation noted in their Transit Needs Study that the need and demand for transit is changing in response to both underlying demographic change in Ohio’s population and to cultural preferences. Unfortunately, over the past two decades, funding for transit has diminished to levels not seen since the early 1980s. This lack of support has resulted in public transit systems across the state being forced to shrink or eliminate services, and have held back systems from innovating. This has undermined their central mission to provide essential services to the public.
Ohio is a diverse state, requiring a range of transportation options. The scant amount of state investment in transit systems hinder efforts to sustain or expand services where they are needed. To ensure Ohio’s cities are as attractive as possible and its rural areas as safe as possible, Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) has consistently called for increased state funding for transit.
With that goal in mind, GOPC has conducted a thorough review of 20 different potential funding options and narrowed its recommendations to sources that produce a high revenue stream, yet also have a minimal impact on the public at large. GOPC recommends any new funding should be used to help Ohio’s transit systems innovate, make capital investments, and continue providing high quality operations.
To these ends, GOPC presents a blueprint for generating millions of new investment in our state’s public transportation systems. Together, these options could generate more than $123 million in new state and local funding for Ohio’s public transit agencies, creating opportunities to meet market demand and innovate service delivery to all Ohioans.