CAN TRANSIT ASSISTANCE POLICY PRODUCE IMPROVED INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE

In 1971, the State of California passed the Transportation Development Act (SB 283) which makes state funds available for the establishment, maintenance or expansion of local transit service. This act was later amended to include provisions for annual performance audits and for the establishment of county-level transportation commissions charged with allocating transit assistance funds based on specified performance and farebox recovery criteria. While California's transit subsidy program does have a performance element, attempts to encourage efficiency and effectiveness have been hampered by certain unique structural characteristics of the state's transit assistance program. These constraints, and the implications for transit performance, are briefly described. The author isolates several areas in which federal transit assistance policy could both compliment and strengthen the state's efforts to encourage productivity, including the apportionment of funds by operator class or type, rather than by geographical location.