After fiscal conservatives successfully scuttled a House transportation bill that would have ended pork and allowed Congress to minimize deficit spending, the Senate has passed a bill that is full of pork and will practically mandate deficit spending. The good news, such as it is, is that the bill only reauthorizes federal spending for two years, meaning–if the House passes a similar bill–the whole debate can begin again in a year-and-a-half.
The Washington Post calls this bill an “overhaul” of federal transportation programs, but the Huffington Post points out that it is hardly “transformative.” Instead, it is basically the 2005 bill with a few minor tweaks here and there, none of which should please fiscal conservatives. These include disincentives for states to lease their roads to private toll concessionaires, increased funding for “TIFIA” loans, and greater federal safety oversight of public transit and tour bus companies.
Most importantly, the bill keeps continues to fund most transit programs out of gasoline taxes, which means transit agencies will remain almost completely divorced from transit riders. When 80 percent of your funds come from taxes, not user fees, you just don’t have much an incentive to cater to users. Despite claims of “soaring transit ridership, ridership has essentially been flat for the past six years (compare 2010 and 2011 with previous years on p. 10).
