Transit initiatives received 'overwhelming support' from voters, APTA says

More than 70 percent of transportation measures on election ballots have passed in 2014, including 15 out of 25 local public transit-related ballot initiatives on Tuesday, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) announced yesterday.

Public transit ballots garnered a passage rate of 60 percent on Tuesday. A total of 41 out of 58 pro-transit measures passed in 2014, said APTA officials, who cited data from the Center for Transportation Excellence, which tracks transportation-related elections. The latest totals are consistent with a longer term trend: Since 2000, more than 72 percent of public transit ballots have been approved, APTA officials said.

"These votes serve as affirmation of the strong bi-partisan support that public transit initiatives enjoy throughout the country," said APTA President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Melaniphy in a press release. "Voters place great value in public transit and are willing to vote to tax themselves to invest in their communities."

Ballot measures approved Tuesday included:
• a referendum in Alameda County, Calif., that called for the $8 billion Measure BB, which will continue a half-cent sales tax and add another half cent for 30 years. Most of the funds will go toward transit, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, including $400 million toward a Livermore Bay Area Rapid Transit extension and $1.5 billion to improve AC Transit service, according to a report on SFGate.com;
• a $500 million bond referendum in San Francisco that would be used for transportation improvements, including more bike and transit lanes; and
• a referendum calling for a 1 cent sales tax to allow for the expansion of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority to Clayton County, Ga.

To obtain other results of transportation ballot initiatives, click here.