How Much Should SANDAG Spend on Bicycling?
In one of many follow-ups to the article on what the state attorney general’s rejection of SANDAG’s 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) means, today I will address the region’s transportation budget.
Last month the state attorney general issued a strongly worded letter rejecting SANDAG’s 2050 RTP. One of the first points of criticism was that SANDAG had failed to adequately address the impact that the 2050 RTP would have on the region’s already declining air quality problems. The air quality in San Diego is one of the worst in the country. Yet, the 2050 RTP lists plans to expand existing freeways without making equal or increasing investments to either transit or bicycling facilities. The many hundreds of miles of freeway expansion along with subsequent extensions are all destined to make the air pollution problem even worse. This is especially worrisome given that the state law that plays a significant role in determining future transportation policies requires a “reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks in [the] region.” Because the state’s transportation sector has contributed toward the declining air quality, an increasingly worse air quality would seriously affect the region’s ability to compete for federal transportation dollars required to build and maintain our transportation system in the future.
For fiscal year 2012 (July 2011 through June 2012), the total budget approved by SANDAG’s Board of Directors was $1.17 billion. Roughly 25% of this revenue is expected to come from federal resources and one that would be cut should San Diego’s air quality decline further, a point that was highlighted in the attorney general’s letter. The federal EPA, according to the state attorney general, is expected to further downgrade San Diego’s Air Basin for failing to meet federal ozone standards. In light of this, SANDAG should be doing everything it can to ensure that valuable transportation dollars do not taken away from us.
Most of the money that gets invested to promote and increase bicycling in the region comes from Transnet. This was a proposition originally passed in 1987 by San Diegan voters that provides a steady source of funding for all modes of transportation. This source of revenue was and is tied to the retail sector as the funds come from a portion of the local sales tax. In 2008, voters in San Diego county voted to extend the Transnet program for an additional 40 years thus providing the region the steady revenue stream that bicycling planners have grown to rely on to make bicycling an equitable mode of transportation.
However, only 2% of Transnet revenue is allocated for bicycle projects in the region. Bicycle infrastructure in San Diego county is thus funded from 2 percent of the total Transnet revenue which in turn is comprised of a one-half of one percent of the sales tax from retail transactions.
Below is a chart showing the explicit expenditures for the coming year. Bicycle projects is barely a sliver.
For the current fiscal year, the amount of money explicitly allocated toward bicycling translates into $4.5 million to be spent for bicyclists in the entire county. From an overall budget perspective, this translates into only 0.4% being allocated toward bicycling. However, some funds for bicycling do come from the Transportation Development Act funds. But in light of the amount of money being spent on continuing to ensure that only automobile travel is promoted, I for one am glad that the attorney general rejected SANDAG’s 2050 RTP and demanded that SANDAG do better.
Rather than a paltry 0.4%, SANDAG should be doing everything it can to spend at least 33% (divided between the automobile and transit sector) of its budget on bicycling. That 33% translates into over $386 million being spent in the region for this year alone. Imagine how quickly San Diego will then be able to meet both its air quality goals and compete on an international level for being a bicycling mecca. I can only hope that the SANDAG Board sees the tremendous value in ensuring that bicycling will become a strong contributor toward our economy and further make strides toward improving our collective health. Most importantly, ensuring that our transportation dollars are spent in an equitable manner will certainly help in allowing SANDAG’s existing board to leave behind a legacy we and future San Diegans can all be proud of.