A New Idead For A New Generation

[arlingtonmayor]

What are your thoughts and ideas to add to this following idea.


Instead of having different government maintained transportation authorities in major cities in the north texas region, why not have one large one that services the ENTIRE metroplex and doesnt heavly favor dallas area. No competition amongest cities but a board and a shared vision of whats best for the region and the metroplex and not whats best for just one city.


Please leave ideas on how to improve this or your own views on this simple thought. Thank You.

[AndyIvey]

I’ve heard the idea of creating something like NCTCOG as a new layer of government between cities and the state. The benefit being that some powers granted to each would be given to this new regional government. The benefits are clear, but are they worth the potential costs?

A great example of how this would look may be NTTA as opposed to NCTCOG. The only time that the proceedings of the governing board make the news is when the goals of the heavily developed areas clash with those of rapidly developing suburbs. In addition to this conflict, this quasigovernmental agency simply fights the battles in its board meetings that Arlington, Dallas, and Fort Worth fight in Austin before TxDOT. Add DART and The T to the mix and you really have a city vs. city fight.

Next on my list of concerns is the possibility that this new organization would simply be a new layer of bureaucracy. Perhaps this single entity would be in a better position to solicit funds from Austin and Washington, but member cities would have a new front on which to fight for funds.

I’m also left wondering why Dallas and Fort Worth would jump on board with this. What massive incentives would need to be in place to convince these population centers to cede power? I assume they would need to be led into this regional organization by the state legislature. However, they probably have enough influence to tilt the state to their point of view.

For example, they could simply paint it as a DFW power grab and ensure that legislators from other areas do not go for it. They could also paint it as an Arlington/suburban power grab and alienate urban voters. Either way, Dallas and Fort Worth seem to have the ability to control whether this idea materializes or not.

[NThomas]

Too much bureaucracy. I wonder why the private sector hasn't jumped in. Is public transit really that unprofitable?

[electricron]

What are your thoughts and ideas to add to this following idea.


Instead of having different government maintained transportation authorities in major cities in the north texas region, why not have one large one that services the ENTIRE metroplex and doesnt heavly favor dallas area. No competition amongest cities but a board and a shared vision of whats best for the region and the metroplex and not whats best for just one city.


Please leave ideas on how to improve this or your own views on this simple thought. Thank You.

What do you consider transportation authorities?
Traditionally, cities provide or contract bus services. In mostly rural counties, counties provide or contract limited bus services.

The Metroplex consists of part or all of Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, Collin, Wise, Parker, Johnson, Ellis, Kaufman, and Rockwall Counties. There's far more cities than counties.

As the State Transportation Code exists today, there's several different types of transit authorities.

CHAPTER 451. METROPOLITAN RAPID TRANSIT AUTHORITIES (Fort Worth's T)
(4) "Mass transit" means the transportation of passengers and hand-carried packages or baggage of a passenger by a surface, overhead, or underground means of transportation, or a combination of those means, including motorbus, trolley coach, rail, and suspended overhead rail transportation. The term does not include taxicab transportation.
(5) "Metropolitan area" includes only an area in this state that has a population density of not less than 250 persons for each square mile and contains not less than 51 percent of the incorporated territory of a municipality having a population of 230,000 or more. The area may contain other municipalities and the suburban area and environs of other municipalities.

CHAPTER 452. REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES (Dart)
(3) "Contiguous municipality" means a municipality that has a boundary contiguous with a principal municipality and having:
(A) a population of more than 250,000, according to the most recent population estimate of the appropriate metropolitan planning organization; or
(B) boundaries extending into two or more adjacent counties, two of which counties include a principal municipality.
(7) "Metropolitan area" means a federal standard metropolitan statistical area having a population of more than 500,000, not more than 60 percent of which resides in municipalities having a population of more than 350,000.
(8) "Principal municipality" means a municipality having a population of at least 350,000.

CHAPTER 453. MUNICIPAL TRANSIT DEPARTMENTS
Sec. 453.002. EXCLUDED MUNICIPALITIES. (a) This chapter does not apply to a municipality any part of which is located in:
(1) a county that contains territory within the corporate limits of a principal municipality that is a part of an authority operating under Chapter 451 or 452; or
(2) a federal metropolitan statistical area or primary metropolitan statistical area that contains a principal municipality that is a part of an authority operating under Chapter 451 or 452.
(b) For the purpose of this section "principal municipality" has the meaning assigned by Section 451.001 or 452.001.

CHAPTER 454. MUNICIPAL MASS TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
Sec. 454.001. AUTHORITY. (a) A municipality may own, purchase, construct, improve, extend, and operate a mass transportation system to carry passengers for hire within the municipality, its suburbs, and adjacent areas.
(b) A municipality, individually or in cooperation with the United States, may:
(1) undertake research, development, and demonstration projects for a mass transportation system in the municipality, its suburbs, and adjacent areas; and
(2) acquire, construct, and improve a facility or equipment for use, by operation, lease, or otherwise, in mass transportation service in those areas on, under, over, along, or across a public street or highway and on real property, an easement, or a right-of-way acquired for that purpose.

CHAPTER 457. COUNTY MASS TRANSIT AUTHORITY
ec. 457.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to a county containing a municipality with a population of 500,000 or more that has created a mass transit department under Chapter 453 or former Article 1118z, Revised Statutes.

CHAPTER 458. RURAL AND URBAN TRANSIT DISTRICTS
(3) "Rural transit district" means a political subdivision of this state that provides and coordinates rural public transportation in its territory. The term includes a rural public transportation provider within the meaning of Chapter 456 that on August 31, 1995, received public transportation money through the department.
(4) "Urban transit district" means a local governmental body or political subdivision of this state that operates a public transportation system in an urbanized area with a population of more than 50,000 but less than 200,000. The term includes a small urban transportation provider under Chapter 456 that on September 1, 1994, received public transportation money through the department.

CHAPTER 460. COORDINATED COUNTY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES (DCTA)
Sec. 460.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to a county that is adjacent to a county with a population of more than one million.
Sec. 460.003. INELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES. (a) A municipality that is a member of a subregion of a transportation authority governed by a board described in Subchapter O, Chapter 452, is not eligible to join or become a member of an authority created under this chapter unless:
(1) the municipality holds a withdrawal election in accordance with the requirements of Section 452.655 and a majority of the voters at the election approve the withdrawal;
(2) the municipality has paid in full all amounts that it is required to pay under Sections 452.659 and 452.660; and
(3) the comptroller has ceased under Section 452.658 to collect sales and use taxes within the municipality that were levied and collected in the municipality for purposes of the authority from which the municipality has withdrawn.

Only Chapter 452 Transit Agencies can extend beyond county lines. IE, a Dart like agency.
With Chapter 452 Authorities, cities join. But they must be able to charge the taxes the Authority charges. Many cities surrounding Dart are already at the State Cap with Sales Taxes and can't join Dart, DCTA, or the T until they make room under the Cap.
Counties can't form County Authorities if they exist in the same county with a Chapter 452 Regional Agency's Principal Municipality. But individual cities can under Chapter 454, but not under Chapter 453.

It gets confusing really fast.

NCTCOG's new Rail Texas plan was changed to satisfy Dart, T, and DCTA specifically about not creating a new Regional Transit Authority. Chapter 451 (T) and 452 (Dart) Authorities can limit other authorites in their areas. Chapter 460 (DCTA) can't.
The State Transportation Code only allows one type of Transit Authority that extends over County Lines to Chapter 452 Agencies (Dart).

The Legislature allowed the formation of a several county transit agency, specifically Austin - San Antonio (ASA), but gave it no taxing authority. That legislation will need revision soon, because not only does North Central Texas want a real Regional Authority over several counties, so do Bexar & Travis Counties with the counties in between, and Harris, Montgomery, & Galveston Counties. Texas Metro Areas have overgorwn single Counties. None-the-less, Chapter 452 in the interim, could meet these demands.

The underlying problem with Chapter 452 Authorities is that the very large principal city is going to want more transit services than the Cities in the surrounding Counties. It is unfair to ask the surrounding Counties getting far less services to pay the same amount of taxes as the principal City. But that's the way Chapter 452 Authorities have been set up.

That's why Chapter 460 Authorities were created. But that means several transit agencies must exist in the few large Texas Metro areas.

The new Rail North Texas plan have Counties vote, instead of Cities, to tax themselves with alternative taxes to provide a means so existing Transit Agencies can build and maintain transit projects into the surrounding Counties. The problem with the existing Chapter 452 law is that these surrounding cities are already at the Cap in Sales Taxes and can't join them.

I've discussed how that problem can be overcome in several earlier posts. Rail North Texas is just another attempt to solve this problem, but using different tax sources to provide the revenues from the non member Cities, actually Counties, to do so. But a single Regional Transit Authority isn't being requested with Rail North Texas, therefore one probably will not be formed anytime soon. As the law exists today, and if Rail North Texas is passed, only Chapter 452 Agencies can grow that large.....and we already know there is a major problem with that ever occurring.