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This past week, Del. Delores McQuinn introduced HB 1541, a bill that would create both a Central Virginia Transportation Authority and a dedicated funding stream for public transportation in our region. That’s exciting! Unfortunately, as currently written, this bill also presents serious roadblocks to building a frequent and far-reaching public transit system in the Richmond region.

First, a quick, high-level summary:

Using revenue from new sales and wholesale fuel taxes, HB 1541 creates a pot of transportation money that is split three ways: 35% will go to a new regional authority, the Central Virginia Transportation Authority, for regional transportation projects; 15% will go to transit and “mobility services”; and 50% will, proportionally, go back to the locality in which it was raised.

I’ll dig into the (very in-the-weeds) details with a longer post on the RVA Rapid Transit blog later, but, for now, here are three areas of concern with HB 1541:

1. This bill allows localities to cut up to 50% of their current public transportation funding. This is unacceptable. New transit money should pay for new transit service. Remember, the Richmond region funds public transportation less than any of its peer cities from across the country, and using this once-in-a-generation opportunity to maintain the unacceptable status quo would be a huge mistake.
2. “Mobility services” is currently undefined in the bill. As I wrote last week: Any regional funding bill “must include money specifically allocated to public transit maintenance, capital expenses, and operations. Must! We’re not talking about money for squishy ‘multimodal projects,’ but money for actual-factual public transportation. This is non-negotiable.”
3. At one point the bill says the local and regional funds shall be used “solely for new construction on new or existing highways and bridges”, and at another it says localities can spend their share of the money on “construction, maintenance, or expansion of roads, sidewalks, trails, mobility services, or transit.”‬ This language is seemingly contradictory. The regional authority and localities should be allowed to spend their money however they choose—on construction or maintenance and, especially, for non-car infrastructure like sidewalks, trails, and transit.‬

It’s early going with HB 1541, and that means there’s still time to improve and clarify the details.

So! If building an equitable, frequent, and far-reaching regional transit system is important to you, please consider reaching out to your state legislators and letting them know that HB 1541, while exciting, needs some important changes.

This is a once-in-generation opportunity and we need to get it right.

—Ross Catrow