Half Cent Sales Tax Had Nothing to Do With Orange County

VOICES-The comparison in this CityWatch article is what effect the half cent sales taxes for transportation that were passed by Los Angeles County voters have had on mode of travel in both LA County and Orange County. These half-cent tax was only for LA county and most of the transit improvements were applied to the city of Los Angeles. 

Since the vast majority of transit improvements from the three LA county half-cent transportation sales taxes went to the city of Los Angeles, let’s look at what happened in terms of the shift in mode of transportation for commuting in the city of Los Angeles. 

According to results from household surveys by the Census Bureau in the year 2000 those that drove to work were 80.5% of commuters in the city of Los Angeles, 10.2% took transit and 0.6% rode a bicycle. 

The 2013 Census Bureau results show that 77.0% of commuters drove to work, 10.8% took transit and 1.2% rode a bicycle. There was a 20% increase in bicycle commuting as a direct result of installing bike lanes that were mainly funded since 2011 by 5% of the local return from the Measure R transportation sales tax. Part of that drop in the percent of commuters driving is the result of more people working at home on the internet. 

For every 7 people driving to work in Los Angeles there is 1 person taking transit. 

In the year 2000 those commuting by bicycle and transit made up 10.8% of the total number of commuters. In 2013 those two modes of transportation were 12% of commuters. 

From 2005 through 2013, the Census Bureau American Community Survey results have shown a steady decline in the percent of commuters who chose to drive to work. 

Rail and the Orange Line BRT built by the LA County MTA increased the capacity of transportation by creating additional transportation corridors. This was not a reallocation of space already used by another form of transportation. 

The article has several other things wrong besides concluding that transit is not increasing its share of transportation trips. 

Here are a few facts: 

People in Los Angeles drive less per person than the average metropolitan area in the U.S. 

Los Angeles has the highest population density of any urbanized area in the country. The center part of New York City has a much higher population density than the city of Los Angeles but the suburbs in Los Angeles have much more population density than the suburbs of New York City. 

Los Angeles has the second least amount of lane miles per capita of any metropolitan area in the country. Honolulu ranks first. 

Los Angeles has the 10th highest transit ridership per capita of any city in the U.S. 

Los Angeles has the third biggest transit system in the country. 

Lumping the transit use of the city of Los Angeles in with Orange County (which has only 2.5% of commuters who use transit) distorts the picture of whether transit use is increasing in Los Angeles.

 

(Dennis Hindman lives in Los Angeles.)

-cw

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 12 Issue 98

Pub: Dec 5, 2014