LET'S NOT RUSH INTO RAIL

A legislative column by state Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin)

 

Wisconsin is in the midst of a mass transit frenzy. It needs to shift into park.

Governor Doyle's proposed 2009-11 state budget includes a provision that would allow southeastern Wisconsin, Dane County and the Fox Valley to develop regional transit authorities (RTA's). The RTA's would administer bus systems and commuter rail lines and be funded via local sales tax.

The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau reports a half-cent sales tax increase to fund RTA's would cost about $172 per household a year.

During the early morning hours of May 1, 2009, while you were asleep, the legislature's Joint Finance Committee was voting to increase your taxes. The committee voted 11-5 to create a board that would have the power to impose a one percent sales tax in Milwaukee County. Sales tax revenue would fund transit, parks, emergency medical services, etc. Milwaukee County's sales tax rate would, if this plan is approved by the full Legislature and Governor Doyle, increase to 6.6 percent.

The five members of the board that would set a one percent sales tax increase would not be elected by the voting public, and thus, would not have accountability for their actions.

The committee also voted 12-4 to establish a regional transit authority in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. A $16 car rental fee would fund the authority. The current fee is $2. The authority would operate a Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter link that more than likely will be very costly. The nine-member authority, again, would be un-elected.

 

Hang on to your wallets, there goes millions of dollars. I vehemently oppose these new taxes and Regional Authorities. Our taxes are high enough, and in our darkest hours while we were asleep, the Grim Reaper swiped our credit cards, big time.

Boards and authorities with appointed members having taxing power should end, and new ones should not be created.  This is taxation without representation.  The power to tax should only come from elected representation.

There is more. Last month, it was reported that Governor Doyle and other Midwest governors want to use $3.4 billion in stimulus funding to build three high speed rail routes: Chicago to the Twin Cities, Chicago-to-St. Louis and Chicago-to-Detroit. The Chicago to the Twin Cities route would include a Milwaukee to Madison segment.

Who knows? There might even be talk in the not too distant future about light rail.

The most problematic aspect of mass transit is the cost and its funding source. Transit systems carry an expense that is far and above what participating riders are ready and willing to pay.

Environmental economist Randal O'Toole, author of Rail Disasters 2005 has documented the horrors associated with rail after examining the 23 rail transit systems in the nation's fifty largest urban areas. 

O'Toole found that half of all rail regions lost transit commuters during the 1990's. Rail regions lost 14,100 transit commuters during the 1990's while bus-only regions gained 53,000 transit commuters during the same period.

Rail is less safe. O'Toole writes, "Interstate freeways cause 3.9 deaths per billion passenger miles. Accidents on urban roads and streets in general lead to about 6.8 deaths per billion passenger miles. Among the various forms of urban transit, buses, at 4.3 deaths per billion passenger miles, are the safest; heavy rail averages 5.0, commuter rail 11.3 and light rail 14.8."

Then there is the expense. Rail's high cost makes it ineffective in reducing congestion. O'Toole found that on average, $13 spent on rail transit is less effective reducing congestion than $1 spent on freeway improvements. His study says it can cots fifty times as much to build rail, that can take years, than comparable bus transit.

This is stunning. O'Toole writes, "The cost of attracting one auto commuter onto rail transit, relative to bus improvements, averages $10,000 a year or more."

 

The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) also finds the cost of rail to be astronomical, reporting the most cost-effective federally funded systems have required annual subsidies of $5,000 and more per new ride.  The WPRI says commuter rail would also be ineffective in reducing congestion and would have fewer riders than light rail.  The 1998 study estimated an East-West Corridor route would cost at least $16,000 annually per new automobile driver attracted, A Chicago corridor would cost $20,000 per year per new automobile driver attracted. The costs would be exponentially higher today.

Add it all up. Commuter or light rail systems are too expensive, fail to attract few riders, and fail to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.

Let's slam the brakes on this mass transit stampede.

 

 If you have comments on this or any other issue, please contact me at

Sen.Lazich@legis.wisconsin.gov, www.SenatorLazich.com, Senator Mary Lazich, State Capitol, P.O. Box 7882 Madison, WI 53707 or 1-800-334-1442.