Mass Transportation For The Treasure Valley

                                       THE RATIONALITY OF MASS TRANSIT FOR THE TREASURE VALLEY
                                                                                       2021
About once a year frustrated politicians and commuters bring up the need for Mass Transit. The following paper discusses the issue and the applicability for an area like the Treasure Valley.

The first thing we must ask is what would a transit system include, Light Rail (LR), Buses(B), Commuter Vans (CV), High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes all or some? Most of the larger metropolitan areas in the west that have mass transit combine LR, B, and HOV. This paper discusses existing programs, the practicability, financial burden, do they work, what is the cost to develop and what is the cost to operate. We utilize the actual budgets of the four systems most closely located and although larger, comparable in size metro areas to the Treasure Valley.

First: Portland Oregon’s Transit system, “TRIMET”.  Here is the link to their 2020 budget. This is a 332 page financial document. You can quickly understand the basics by reviewing the pie chart on pages 24 & 30. The data included is directly from the financial breakdown.

Original construction cost, over $2billion.
Funding is payroll tax 2020 data           $411,410,000
Passenger fares                                         $110,100,000 
Total grants misc. income                      $1,370376,758
Total operational income                       $1,528,880,086
Total cost 2020                                         $1,528,880,086
Cost over passenger fares                      $1,418,780,086

Second: Salt Lake City’s TRAX (now UTAX).  Here is the link to their 2020 budget.  This is a strait forward financial document.

The initial cost over $1.2Billion.
Funding: Sales tax. 2020 total             $347,567,000
Income from fares                                $ 55,182,000
Total grants                                           $578,674,000
Total expense                                        $664,977,000
Passenger total                                     450,000+-
Cost over passenger fares                  $609,795,000

Third: Denver’s Regional Transportation District. This is the link to their 2020 budget.  This is a complex 252 page document in which you can find pie charts on pages 38 & 39, and the full 2020 budget recommendation on page 40.

Cost to date over                                    $7.8 Billion
Funding: Sales and Use Tax                 $400,266,000
Grants, etc.                                             $112,428,000.
Income from fares                                $97,501,000.
Total Income                                          $610,195,000
Total expense                                         $1,366,453,652.
Passenger total                                      105,388,415
Cost over passenger fares                   $1,268,952,652

Fourth: Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Seattle). Here is the link to their 2020 budget.  This is a 250 page highly complex and confusing financial document not meant for those uneducated in complex financial statements. There is a pie chart on page 28 which somewhat covers and explains the source of funding followed by a 3 page financial break down on pages 30-32. The final cost of this system was unavailable causing the use of projections and estimates.

Funding: Property and Sales Tax                 $1,594,925,000
Misc. funding                                                  $402,498,000
Income from fares                                         $99,502,000
Total cost 2020                                               $2,931,760,000
Passenger total                                               106,000,000
Cost over passenger fares                            $2,832,258,000

Clearly a mass transit system in not profitable.

Portland passenger fares cover only 7.2% of the cost of the system yearly, in Salt Lake City the fares cover 9% of the cost, in Denver 7.1% and in the Seattle area they cover 3.4% of the total costs.

Things to rationally consider:

At this time, February 2021, the cost to develop a transit system in the Treasure Valley has been estimated to exceed $2 Billion and was estimated to have an annual tax increase of $159,000,000 in 2014.

Ninety Six percent (96.7%) of Idaho’s businesses are small businesses with less than 50 employees which prohibits effective use of mass transit. Mass Transit in the Treasure Valley would only benefit the retail locations and some of the businesses in the Boise area. The cost should be paid by those who benefit from such a system not the Taxpayer.

1. Would it save commuter time? No! National statistics from the census and U.S.D.O.T. show that commuter time on Public Transit has a mean time of 47.8 minutes, a mean time of all commuting methods at 25.7 minutes and a mean time for driving alone of 24.2 minutes. Driving alone takes half the time. (This is reasonable. A commuter would have to ride a bus to the light rail pick up, endure the stops on their way to their destination and then either ride a commuter bus to their location or catch a Cab.)
2. Who rides transit systems? Census data identifies commuters going to and from work as making up only 5% nationally, only 3.6% of these riders travel on public transit systems. In Utah, the commuters ridership is 3%, the largest demographic of this segment are students commuting to their schools, 82% of the drivers’ nationwide drive alone and 10% ride in car or Van pools to work.
   
3. Would it clean the air? Not much! Idaho’s DEQ identifies vehicle contribution to air pollution at 20%. If all of the projected 3.6% (national average) of job commuters did not drive it would only clean the air by 7 tenths of 1%.
4. Where would a light rail system take people? Certainly not to their jobs! Idaho’s employers are small businesses. They make up 96.7% of all businesses in Idaho so there is no destination point for employees in even moderate numbers. The destinations of Public Transit would mostly be schools, entertainment and shopping areas. Statistics from census data show that a rural transit system fare only cover 8% of the costs of the system.
   
5. What is the best method for commuters? Commuter Vans! They are actually cheaper for the public than driving singly to work and the riders pay for the entire costs and replacements. The second most economic method for the taxpayer to transport those who can’t drive to appointments and shopping is the Taxicab or Uber.
6. Should we have buses? Yes! All metropolitan areas should have some sort of public transportation and the most financially reasonable transportation is a reliable bus system. However, due to the proven government inefficiency the owner/operator of the bus system should be a private business.
   
7. What would that system cost yearly? Light rail construction costs $20,000,000 per mile for construction at the lowest cost and in the most convenient locations. The recent data and statistics from these four examples were used accompanied by data from the IDOT to identify the following costs and function. There are at present 230,000 vehicle trips daily between Caldwell and Boise. Statistically, data from the USDOT identifies that only 3% +-or 6,900 of those drivers would use a transit system for commuting. Assuming they paid a fare of $7.00 per trip this would provide fares of $48,300 per day for 5 days a week or $241,500 total amounting to an annual total fare of $12,558,000. Utilizing the statistical median percentage from the four examples of fares covering only 7.1% of the total cost of the system, this indicates the cost minus the fares of the system to be $176,873,239.40 annually.
   
8. What was COMPASS’s estimation of cost to the taxpayers of the Treasure Valley in 2014? Their estimates are $359 million to fund its 33 projects and $159 million a year, or an additional tax burden of $730.00 for each household in the Treasure Valley at that time.
   
9. How would this be funded? Reno, Spokane, and Salt Lake City’s system are financed by use and sales tax, which is nearly duplicated or surpassed by state and federal funding. Portland’s system is financed by an employee payroll tax and state and federal funding. The three examples utilized all have similar funding. All transit systems are dependent on federal funding. Compass would like the Idaho Legislature to pass a local option tax bill which would allow each community to vote for additional taxes for this type of project, but once they do the most likely outcome would be a takeover by the regional authority and the larger population areas would dictate cost and function to the smaller counties.
   

We need a bus system for those who can’t drive, but do we need large buses that we all see traveling with 1 or 2 people? Also, although under used by only 19% of the drivers, a High Occupancy Vehicle lane for commuters, buses and emergencies should be developed on the interstate.

Ronald M. Harriman 1-31-2021
Chairman of the Concerned Citizens of Canyon County.