Equity in Regional Public Transit Finance: Tradeoffs between Social and Geographic Equity

This study examines equity in public transit finance for transit service among nine cities and townships that formed a consortium for regional transit service in Toledo, Ohio, in 2006. The main data for the analysis—operating and financial data of fixed-route bus and demand-responsive services and data on local property tax receipts—were obtained from the transit agency, as well as the National Transit Database. The analysis results show that the distribution of costs and benefits of transit subsidy was progressive among sociodemographic groups while it exhibited geographic inequity, and suggest that it is inevitable to find a conflict between social equity and geographic equity in public transit finance within urban areas where transit dependents remain in inner cities while regional transit funding has to rely more on taxes provided by affluent suburban communities. The shrinking role of federal and state governments in public transit assistance exacerbated this conflicting situation by reducing funding that could be used to enhance transit service in each community.