By Phil Anderson, The Topeka Capital-Journal, June 29, 2008
In light of skyrocketing fuel prices and a growing demand for services, public transportation funding is expected to become a more prominent issue in coming months and years — both for transit systems and the government entities that help fund them.
Public transit services in many Kansas communities — including Topeka — receive funding from federal, state and local sources, as well as from patrons who use the services.
For Topeka Transit, a 3-mill levy assessed to the city's homeowners accounted for the largest chunk — 47 percent — of its $7.7 million 2008 budget.
Federal funding contributed 27 percent, fares 18 percent, the state 5 percent and "other" sources 3 percent.
Nearly 2 million rides on Topeka Transit buses are expected by the end of the 2008 fiscal year, which ends Tuesday.
Topeka had the second-highest number of bus riders in Kansas in 2007 with 1.7 million, trailing only Wichita — a city of nearly three times Topeka's population — which had 2.2 million.
Topeka Transit officials and board members said they meet with Congressional representatives each year to convey their needs and to request federal funding.
Liz Montano, spokeswoman for Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., said the congresswoman made a request last year in an appropriations bill for federal funding for Topeka Transit. The actual amount that was allocated was below Boyda's request, but still resulted in nearly $300,000 to Topeka Transit.
"She's made a similar request this year," Montano said.
The growing demand for mass transportation services is one of the reasons Boyda is supportive of federal appropriations for mass transit, Montano said.
"Without members of Congress advocating for their communities, funds like this tend to go to big cities and not areas like Topeka," Montano said. "In fact, that has happened in the past several years. Most of the transit dollars have gone to big cities, leaving more sparsely populated areas out in the cold."
Other federal monies come through the Federal Transportation Bill, which brings in about $2 million a year to Topeka Transit.
Federal contributions to Topeka Transit pale in comparison to the multi-million allocations to cities such as New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Minneapolis.
Discretionary federal funding for bus projects in fiscal year 2007 brought in $213.6 million to New York, $41 million to Seattle, $58 million to San Francisco and $85.9 million to Minneapolis.
Jack Alexander, Topeka Transit board member, said the tendency for federal funds to go to big cities leaves fewer dollars for mass transit systems in towns the size of Topeka.
"The money is going to the huge metropolitan areas," Alexander said. "What they get looks like a mountain compared to our little mole hill."
In Topeka, riders have been asked to help offset increased operations costs, ranging from bus repair to replacement.
Topeka Transit raised its fares to $1.25 a ride from $1 a ride on May 1. While riders contribute about 18 percent — or about $1.3 million — of Topeka Transit's annual budget, Alexander said, fare rates can only go so high, as many using the bus service are on limited or fixed incomes.
While the state contributes only a fraction of Topeka Transit's budget, lawmakers expect mass transportation to get a closer look during the 2009 Kansas Legislature.
A new 10-year Comprehensive Transportation Plan is scheduled to be developed during next year's legislative session. The CTP helps direct state funding for transportation over the next decade.
The current 10-year CTP, which expires next year, was passed in 1999 and authorized $13.2 billion worth of improvements to the state's highways, airports, short-line railroads and public transit networks.
Though funding for urban and rural bus service isn't included in the current CTP, the Kansas Department of Transportation still allocates $6 million annually to about 200 recipients in urban and rural communities across the state for public transportation, said Lisa Koch, public transit manager for KDOT.
Janlyn Nesbett-Tucker, chief executive officer and general manager for the Topeka Transit Authority, said she and others on her staff are working to procure more governmental funding, particularly considering the rapid growth of the bus system in the capital city.
However, other transit systems in Kansas and across the nation are seeking some of the same federal dollars.
"We're all fighting for a slice of the pie," Nesbett-Tucker said.
The state's five urban areas that receive a portion of the $6 million from KDOT agreed among themselves how state funds would be divided among them in the late '90s. But Nesbett-Tucker said the agreement made between these providers was done so in an effort to bring light rail to Kansas. "That did not happen," she said.
As a result, Topeka and Wyandotte County will receive $460,462 each in fiscal year 2009, while Wichita will receive $1,085,375, Johnson County $1,282,715 and Lawrence $250,986.
However, over the last three years, four of the five urban transit systems have requested that the state allow the urban providers to re-address the original formula to be distributed more equally. "That has not happened either," Nesbett-Tucker said.
While funding challenges persist, the demand for mass transportation in Topeka and other areas of Kansas only promises to grow, particularly as people park their cars and ride the bus for both financial and environmental reasons.
Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, said transportation enhancements are becoming increasingly important to towns and cities in Kansas looking for ways to bolster economic development and to improve the health of their residents.
Kelly said when determining where to live, young adults have come to look for amenities such as efficient mass transportation systems and bike lanes that take them from their homes to work — or to the corner coffeehouse.
Mass transit funding could take on greater prominence in the 2009 legislative session, she said, as the state develops a transportation plan for the next decade.
"It's time," she said. "It's past time."
Phil Anderson can be reached at (785) 295-1195 or phil.anderson@cjonline.com.
To read more on the issue of federal funding for public transportation in Kansas read: Boyda to introduce legislation to fix highway fund.