Financing Urban Transportation

by M. Joseph Giglio, Senior Vice Pres.; The Chase Manhattan Corporation, Public Relations Div., 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York, NY 10081,


Serial Information: Civil Engineering—ASCE, 1989, Vol. 59, Issue 2, Pg. 48-50


Document Type: Feature article

Abstract:

New ways to finance urban transportation are needed. User fees are discussed, but in many cases users of urban transportation are the poor, including the elderly poor, who cannot afford to pay. An argument is made that the federal government neds to continue support for transport to maintain the economic health of urban areas and to help such people get to work. There are trust funds for various parts of our infrastructure, including airports and urban transportation, that are now held captive in an ill-thought out attempt to lessen our national deficit. These funds should be freed to support the purposes for which they were intended. Citizens should not pay taxes to add to funds that are used to alter the ledger book balances instead of to pay for needed maintenance of our infrastructure. There is a growing trend to suburbanization, and thus a growing need for roads and transport in less densely populated areas. This puts more of a burden on our cities to maintain and, in many cases, to rehabilitate existing transit systems.

Subject Headings: Urban areas | Infrastructure | Federal government | Taxation | Suburbs | Rehabilitation | Maintenance and operation

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