On the ballot next week in Orange County is a half-cent sales tax to
support public transportation, but what’s at stake is more than just a
slight increase in prices. Those who discuss the tax discuss the future
direction of public transportation in Orange County and its relation to
the environment.
The sales tax will not apply to basic living expenses like food,
gasoline, housing, medicine and utilities, and it will be used to
improve and expand bus services and build an Amtrak station in
Hillsborough. Triangle Transit plans on adding 35,000 new hours of bus
service in its first
year of implementation.
The majority of the money, however, will go toward building a 17-mile
light rail to move people quickly between UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke
University and Downtown Durham.
Jason Baker, executive committee member of the Orange-Chatham Group
of the Sierra Club, said that the Triangle area is already very
congested and the air quality suffers as a result.
“Providing access to a modern transit infrastructure is essential to
our efforts to improve our air quality and reduce fuel consumption,”
Baker said in an official endorsement of the sales tax referendum.
Traffic congestion in the area accounts for 18 million hours of
traffic delays, 12.7 million gallons of wasted fuel, and $346 million in
inefficiency costs, according to the Sierra Club and the Texas A&M
Transportation Institute.
Triangle Transit says that a single light rail vehicle removes 60 to
125 cars from the road, and recent Orange County projections say that by
2035 the light rail would have more than 14,000 passengers a day, which
would help to significantly reduce traffic congestion and air quality
impact.
Orange County commissioner Earl McKee said in an interview that a
light rail system might be appropriate at some point in the future, but
it isn’t a good fit for Orange County now.
“Light rail is a fixed system that cannot be moved if it does not
match up with commuter patterns as they evolve over time,” McKee said.
“I don’t believe that we have the population base, the tax base or the
population density to adequately support [it either].”
McKee said he is worried the rail will cost more than expected and
“will actually cause a decrease in existing and future bus services.
“Any new revenues in transit should be focused on improvement and expansion of our local bus service needs first,” McKee said.
Pat Carstensen, Transportation Issue Chair for North Carolina’s
Sierra Club, said the important thing is moving people away from
automobiles. “Rail is just one part of it,” he said in an email
interview.
“You need enough density to get people to walk around to get to
[their destinations], and use transit to multiply their options,”
Carstensen said. “Part of it is also increasing the cost of driving,
either by not pushing natural limits on stuff needed for driving, or
charging more for it.”
Carstensen said public transportation is very important for
preserving the environment, but it’s also good for the economy.
“Anything to ‘shock-proof’ our region against surges in gas prices will
make us more competitive on a global scale,” he said.
Developments like the light rail system are essential for becoming
more sustainable, Carstensen said. “We are urging folks to vote ‘yes’ on
the referendum.”
http://campusblueprint.com/2012/11/05/orange-county-to-vote-on-public-transportation-sales-tax/
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