Transit subsidies are worth it

Even after seven years of strong TRAX ridership, transit-tax referenda that gained 69 percent voter support in Utah County and 65 percent support in Salt Lake County, and months of gas-price increases that show no sign of stopping, some people just don't get it. The nation needs to lessen its dependence on oil, and many people are more than ready to do their share.

Two public officials, state Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, and state transportation commissioner Kent Millington, were quoted in this paper this week saying they disagree with the huge tax subsidies that are flowing into the construction and maintenance of rail transit along the Wasatch Front. Dougall went as far as to question whether Utahns are willing to get out of their cars and ride.

That sounds very much like the questions heard just before TRAX opened its first line in 1999. The Utah Transit Authority has been losing bus ridership in recent years, but its TRAX ridership has been strong from the beginning, which explains why so many voters were anxious to foot the bill for expanded lines and for construction of a commuter rail line that will connect Utah and Salt Lake counties.

In addition, the public funding of mass transit is a concept that ought to appeal to political conservatives. That argument has been stated eloquently in recent years by noted conservative Paul M. Weyrich, who founded the Heritage Foundation think tank.

Weyrich points to the history of public subsidies for highways and roads. The automobile did not climb into its throne because the free market put it there. It was given a huge boost by government.

In 1921, state, federal and local governments put about $1.4 billion into highways, Weyrich has noted. At that time, most transit systems — mainly local trolley companies — were privately owned and profitable. However, government began imposing strict controls on fares and otherwise making it impossible for those companies to survive. They either went out of business or were taken over by government, while the subsidization of automobile travel, through highway construction, continued to grow.

In other nations, particularly in Europe, governments subsidized automobiles and transit more equally.

Utahns are going to need greater investments in transit in order to meet increasingly strict federal air-quality standards. UTA's plans call for new TRAX lines and rapid bus service that will begin serving Salt Lake County's west side more vigorously. The public, as demonstrated by last fall's vote, understands the needs and is willing to pay. Too bad some public officials still don't get it.