Houston Metro to decide on mobility funding plan

[M II A II R II K]

Metro to decide on mobility funding plan


August 2, 2012

By Mike Morris



Read More: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...an-3758602.php

Whether mass transit in the Houston area - including light rail, bus, park-and-ride and other services - expands significantly in the next decade could depend on a decision to be made by the Metropolitan Transit Authority board Friday. The board will choose a proposal to place on the November ballot, asking voters whether to end, alter or continue the so-called "general mobility" program, which diverts a portion of Metro's sales tax revenues to fund road projects.

- It is difficult to look at the region's transportation needs and conclude that road or transit projects can handle less funding, said Alan Clark, director of transportation planning for the Houston-Galveston Area Council. "The cost of an inadequate transportation system is a real issue for our community. We're all paying for it in wasted time and fuel, higher crash rates, the fact that we have people who don't have good access to job opportunities and shopping opportunities because they don't have a car or a second car," Clark said. "The real issue is, we don't have the resources to deliver what people need as our community is growing." Metro board members last week presented six proposals for the November ballot, three of which, essentially, would present an up-or-down vote on extending the program.

- Metro board member Christof Spieler, in a recent op-ed piece, depicted the referendum as a choice between transit options and gridlock. "This is not some abstract discussion about funding formulas; it is a decision about what options Houstonians will have to get to work, school, and all the other places they need to go in their day-to-day lives for decades to come," Spieler wrote. "If general mobility continues at 25 percent, we will not be able to significantly expand transit service ... for a decade or more, even as the population continues to grow." Members of pro-transit group Houston Tomorrow plan to demonstrate at Metro headquarters Friday in support of Spieler's proposal, which would keep mobility payments at 25 percent, allocated based on the sales taxes a city collects, extend Metro's bonding authority and see the agency pursue the University light rail line, from Wheeler Station to Hillcroft Transit Center via Richmond and Westpark. His proposal also would call for another authorization referendum in 2019.

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