Public Transportation in Vermont Needs to Change
By
Bill Knight, Executive Director, Chittenden County Metropolitan
Planning Organization
Chris Cole, General Manager, Chittenden County Transportation
Authority
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IDoes this make sense? You get on the CCTA (Chittenden County
Transportation Authority) bus in downtown Burlington near your
job. Your bus crosses into Winooski, then you travel to a bus
stop near your home in Essex Junction, (or in South Burlington
or Shelburne). You clearly are using a regional transportation
service, but its funding occurs town by town. And it’s
the job of the officials from each participating town to consider
only the benefits of the bus service to their own town.
The other 14 municipalities in Chittenden County are lacking
public bus transportation, as is most of Vermont. Public transportation
is even more critical, yet more scattered and uneven, for people
in the region who are disabled or elderly. SSTA (Special Service
Transportation Agency) vans struggle to meet the needs of seniors
and disabled people and others with special needs throughout
the county with a hodgepodge of municipal and institutional contracts
and some state and federal dollars.
Adding to the challenge are changes in the way we live. Not many
people stay in the same town all day. U.S. Census figures show
that we are traveling further outside our town, and even outside
the county we live, in to work, shop, recreate, and even to go
to school. Most businesses draw their clientele from towns throughout
the region.
Looking at the 2000 census, we saw that nearly 20,000 workers
are traveling into Chittenden County each day for their jobs,
out of a total of 94,000 workers. In addition, nearly 6,000 leave
Chittenden County to work in neighboring counties.
It just doesn't work any more to offer transportation services
on a town-by-town basis. Yet we still have wide variations from
one part of the state to another. We need to explore how we can
offer public transportation on a regional basis in Vermont. Public
transportation decisions still need local input. They need to
coordinate with regional commuter needs and with regional economic
development.
Even within one region, the needs will vary widely. Not everyone
needs fixed-route bus service. Some areas will benefit from certain
commuter bus routes while others need transportation only for
their elderly and disabled citizens. But none of these transportation
needs stop at town boundaries.
Vermont needs to develop a way to provide public transportation that does not
rely on the local property tax. The property tax is not a viable long-term source
of revenue, with all of its stresses to provide for schools, roads, public safety
and other local services.
The good news is that, despite the obstacles, this region has an opportunity
to create a model for a Regional Transportation District in Vermont. With the
CCTA, we are headquarters for the state's only non-profit public transportation
authority, an organization with deep experience and a strong reputation for providing
high quality service. Further, we are home to the Chittenden County Metropolitan
Planning Organization (CCMPO), Vermont's only MPO. This organization brings federal
funds together with local representation to plan for the county's transportation
needs. After studying our region's public transportation needs and opportunities
for the past three years, the CCMPO and CCTA have formed a task force aimed at
forming a Regional Transportation District (RTD).
Numerous other states have been here before us, finding a need to establish and
fund a regional approach to public transportation. CCMPO and CCTA have carefully
reviewed their histories and progress to help inform our work here. Their results
are encouraging.
Our new Public Transportation Task Force will seek comments from the public on
the coming months as it prepares recommendations for the operation and funding
of the RTD.
Information and opportunities to participate can be found on the CCMPO Web site
at http://www.ccmpo.org/ptp/index.html.
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