Left at the Station: Wake County

Scott,

I’m not a great fan of ‘light rail’ either, but not all of the proposed 1/2 cent sales tax was for that purpose. Roughly half of it was supposed to be for existing transit systems, such as the C-Tran bus system.

C-Tran’s ridership has almost tripled in the last 5 years, and the system is being stressed. But, because it was supposed to get funding from the proposed sales tax, which didn’t get added to the ballot, nothing was included for C-Tran in the “Transportation Bond” passed in 2012. So instead of being able to improve service, a number of stops were eliminated in 2013, leading to the loss of at least 5 jobs I’m personally aware of. Things are at a point were there are times buses have been full to the point there is no standing room, and people were bypassed and left standing at their stop.

And, since taxes were mentioned, a look at C-Tran’s revenue numbers and the Town’s budget shows passenger ticket revenues more than pay for the Town Staff responsible for C-Tran. Unlike many other Town departments.

Yep. No need to bother with facts when we can convince Cary and Wake taxpayers to swallow the largest tax increase in our history, sight unseen, simply because…….

1 – Trains are cool and hip. Why else would we call it “light” rail?
2 – Durham and Chapel Hill are cool and hip, and they are doing it.
3 – A representative form of county government is good when it does what we want, otherwise we’ll just force a referendum because we know the transit and real estate industry lobbies have the dollars to sway it.
4 – If the Federal Government approves it, it must be good.
3 – Wake County Commissioners ran the numbers but we know they are not cool and hip, and do not like trains.

Not to cloud a perfectly a good agenda with facts or any semblance of objective reporting but consider what we are not being told.

1- Wake County has evolved successfully with a highly efficient, low density, car-oriented transportation system. We do not have the housing density to support light rail. When the spending spree is over, the trains will run empty and will have to be heavily subsidized for decades. The long term cost of subsidizing the operation of suburban light rail will eclipse the underestimated $1 billion construction cost.

2- Only a small percentage of city dwellers near train stations may ever benefit, yet they want all Cary and Wake County citizens to pay for their ride. If Downtown Cary businesses and residents want public transit so badly, they have a special tax district – use it to raise the money. The rest of us are happy with the efficiency, convenience, freedom, and safety of our private cars.

3- The money has not been allocated at the State and Federal levels. It may never be. Durham and Orange counties chose to commit their citizens to paying 25% of a multi billion dollar rail system with no commitment that the other 75% will ever come from the state and federal treasuries. The State budget is struggling to pull itself out of deep debt. The Federal Treasury is busy digging itself deeper into a debt hole at the rate one trillon dollars a year.

Wake and Cary continue to aggressively attract new businesses and families. The big draws? Low taxes, (for now) and hundreds of safe, high quality, single family, suburban, car friendly, family oriented, communities.

Trains in Wake are an industry solution, looking for a problem. Pursuing them is a fool’s errand.

Misery loves company, so why do we want to follow Durham and Orange off the cliff as they overtax their citizens’ and businesses’ and pour the money into the bottomless coffers of the transit industry? Let Cary and Wake continue our successful growth model, they theirs, and we’ll see who wins.

Some time back Commissioner Coble was quoted as saying “Wake County voters don’t understand what they’re voting for” when questioned about the Transportation Sales tax referendum not being put on the ballot.

And blocking that referendum to kill light rail also seriously impacted the existing transit systems, which were supposed to share roughly half of that money.

Apparently Commissioner Coble doesn’t understand that a commissioner is supposed to represent his constituents, not dictate to them after being elected.

The only solution may be to elect new commissioners who better understand how light rail is a win-win for Wake County.

A truly comprehensive transit solution for Wake County will include both rail and bus in order to most effectively provide alternatives to automobiles.
Such a plan, like the Core Triangle Transit Plan
http://www.wakegov.com/planning/transport/pages/transitplan.aspx
already completed with enormous stakeholder input and staff time, already exists and is ready for implementation in Wake County pending a successful voter referendum.
This incremental plan will benefit the economy, the environment and supports a better quality of life for all Wake County residents, especially the growing demographic of young professionals making up the creative class and our growing baby boomer population who are seeking a great place to settle down in preparation for eventual retirement.
It is true that not all of us will choose to use these rail and bus alternatives but many surely will and those users will reduce the burden on existing roadway infrastructure by leaving their automobiles at home and that will benefit all of us.
All that for a small sales tax which I think of as an investment in our shared future.