In recent months, I've participated in state transit association meetings where I was asked to present a legislative update, with an emphasis on transportation reauthorization. At each, there was a simple question to which those in the audience clearly sought an answer -- what should we be doing?
The answer to the "what should we be doing" question is deceptively simple. First, all community and public transportation systems should be squarely focused on meeting the needs of their customers and communities and on doing the important work that they've always done at the local level. Second, we think the focus right now needs to be on communicating the importance of your service, its benefits and its impact to local elected officials, local media and local partners. In short, we believe that it's time to shore up your local base of support. The legislative and regulatory atmosphere here in Washington is, to say the least, difficult to gauge right now -- particularly as we move into an election season. Vexing questions persist, the most obvious being: How will we pay for transit long-term?
This, too, shall pass. Both the current economic conditions and the political environment here are not permanent, nor is any legislation or regulation. And when this turbulence subsides, the transit systems that have expanded their base(s) of local support, those that are best understood and most appreciated at the local level by riders, elected officials and the community alike, those will be the operators that thrive.
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