The Colorado Department of Transportation could seriously cut funding for mass transit, particularly in Western Slope communities such as Durango. It is a prospect that has local officials rightly concerned.
But it should also be seen as an opportunity. Given the broad and serious effect such a cut would have, the possibility should be the occasion for a meaningful statewide debate about the function, purpose and importance of public transit. That would of necessity include a realistic look at how – and by whom – it should be funded.
CDOT is reportedly looking at revising how it will disperse some $7.5 million in federal transportation funds. The agency thinks the existing system is out of date and unfair to entities that have not been accustomed to receiving funds. There are now 29 rural transit agencies that could receive federal money and CDOT wants each to be treated equitably, which, it says, the current system does not allow.
That could, however, mean significant cuts to some entities now benefiting from federal funding – Durango included. Changes could also hurt the Roaring Fork Transit Authority, Steamboat Springs and the Southern Ute Community Action Programs, which operates Road Runner Transit.
Durango could face a $1 million budgetary shortfall. Officials estimate half of the city’s transit service could be eliminated, including the route to Mercy Regional Medical Center.
Cuts like that would inflict real hardship. The city figures more than three quarters of those who use Durango Transit do not have a car and two-thirds make less than $25,000 per year.
What should be understood, especially when talk turns to funding, is that it is not just low-wage workers and the carless who benefit from public transportation. The businesses that employ those workers gain as well. So do other businesses that indirectly rely on those folks getting to work every day.
With that recognition, perhaps it is time to look to more imaginative funding. Issues of equity and need may be better addressed if communities contributed more directly to transit solutions.
CDOT’s potential cutbacks make looking at funding options, and all other aspects of public transit, timely.
