Obama administration announces major policy shift

I was forwarded a copy of this press release from the US DOT yesterday… take a look.

Obama Administration Proposes Major Public Transportation Policy Shift to Highlight Livability

Changes Include Economic Development and Environmental Benefits

In a dramatic change from existing policy, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today proposed that new funding guidelines for major transit projects be based on livability issues such as economic development opportunities and environmental benefits, in addition to cost and time saved, which are currently the primary criteria.

In remarks at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting, the Secretary announced the Obama Administration’s plans to change how projects are selected to receive federal financial assistance in the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) New Starts and Small Starts programs. As part of this initiative, the FTA will immediately rescind budget restrictions issued by the Bush Administration in March of 2005 that focused primarily on how much a project shortened commute times in comparison to its cost.

“Our new policy for selecting major transit projects will work to promote livability rather than hinder it,” said Secretary LaHood. “We want to base our decisions on how much transit helps the environment, how much it improves development opportunities and how it makes our communities better places to live.”

The change will apply to how the Federal Transit Administration evaluates major transit projects going forward. In making funding decisions, the FTA will now evaluate the environmental, community and economic development benefits provided by transit projects, as well as the congestion relief benefits from such projects.

“This new approach will help us do a much better job of aligning our priorities and values with our transit investments” said FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff. “No longer will we ignore the many benefits that accrue to our environment and our communities when we build or expand rail and bus rapid transit systems.”

FTA will soon initiate a separate rulemaking process, inviting public comment on ways to appropriately measure all the benefits that result from such investments.

In general I think this is a sound policy move. Trying to justify transit in terms of congestion relief is foolhardy – study after study has shown that there’s so much latent demand for freeway space that any traffic that is absorbed by transit is simply going to be replaced by people who had been avoiding the roads due to congestion but now believe the congestion to have lessened sufficiently that they are now willing to drive.

This doesn’t reduce freeway congestion, and many anti-transit folks therefore claim that the transit system didn’t accomplish anything. However, they could not be more mistaken. The end result is that a greater number of total passengers are moving through the corridor, which creates an economic benefit. Most specifically, in major urban centers where land prices are extremely high, every person who can arrive without needing to park a car means more profitable activities can occupy the space that would otherwise have been required for that person’s car.

The only problem I can foresee with this announcement is the vague reference to “community and environmental benefits,” which are going to be hard to quantify. I think these benefits do exist, but when facing a rabid anti-transit crowd who will work day and night to “prove” that whatever is built is a waste of money, it’s critical not to use amorphous and unquantified benefits as justification. If the US DOT can come up with a solid formula to account for the financial value of Transit-Oriented Development, and can create a logical, defensible metric for monetizing other community and environmental benefits, then this will be a big win for cities across the country.