The result: funding for the regional public transit system, Lynx, that will be flat as a pancake next year.
The county planned to give Lynx $37.8 million, the same as last year. Lynx CEO Linda Watson said the system needed $8 million more to avoid cuts to routes just as more people turn to buses to avoid rising gas prices. Lynx relies largely on support from Orlando and Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties for its $114 million budget.Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty and Commissioner Bill Segal patched together a plan that calls for giving Lynx $1 million in January if there are extra unspent funds left over in the budget, but only if the bus agency increases its fares. Lynx expects a 25-cent fare increase to raise about $1 million.From which two quick observations can be made:
1) there's no free lunch. By refusing to consider a gas tax hike, lawmakers have basically passed the buck on to users of public transit, who tend to be poorer and who are already doing the right thing by not driving.
2) The "cut the fat" mantra that fuels anti-taxers has no place in the public transit world. More so than most other areas of government, the cost of public transit is driven by fuel prices. To insist on essentially flat funding for public transit at a time when fuel prices are skyrocketing is absurd.
The broader, interesting question (to which I don't have an answer) is this: what should the relationship be between gas taxes and public transit? Between user fees on public transit and the broader transportation infrastructure grid? The belief of Orange County leaders appears to be that we should have about as much public transit as can be paid for with bus fares, and no more. And I'm not sure that's a defensible position.
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