Transportation, a service and an ideal - Guest Post from Matt Heil

Hello everyone!  This week I'll be providing “guest lectures” on our topics for this week, implementation and transportation.  Why me, you may ask?  In my other life outside of graduate school, I work full time for the City of Phoenix Public Transit Department, in the public information office.  So I see every day how implementation plays a role in successful government service provision, and how the unexpected can challenge our understanding of the best way to approach a problem.  The article we read from the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and the research  brief from Congressional Quarterly both drive home the point that implementation is a process, and that  its success lies as much in the interpersonal savvy of administrators as it does  any kind of technical expertise.  These subjects are an excellent pairing, in my opinion, because most transportation systems in the United States, (I won't say absolutely all, but I suspect nearly so) combine  many aspects of implementation that are essential for public administrators to familiarize themselves with, if they are going to be successful working in the community.

First and foremost, transportation of any kind—from roads and highways to buses, light rail and alternative transportation for people with disabilities—is a significant investment.  Expenses come in many shapes and sizes.  From my own experience, compare light rail and local bus.  The first light rail line in the Valley cost approximately $1.4 billion to build, exclusive of operating costs.  A local bus can cost anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 to fabricate and “build out” with all the components to be fully functional on the street.  And typically, to run a bus one city block, over and over again for a year, could cost as much as $100,000.  How do you compare these numbers and make a decision on what's best to provide passengers and the surrounding community?  If we were simply making choices based on cost, then, bus would be the far and away best choice.  But other considerations, including future investment by business and government, and intangibles like civic pride and a city's reputation, all play into these choices.

As the article by Peter and Linda deLeon shows, implementation usually requires more than sound financial reasoning.  To get transportation in almost any community, there must be buy in from the community and elected officials.  That comes, primarily, from good public involvement processes, and  a clear sense of the goals of transit projects.  Again, from my own experience, the Phoenix Public Transit Department operates on a $275 million annual budget.  The majority of this funding comes from a local , 4/10ths of a cent transportation tax enacted by Phoenix voters in 2000 called rather intuitively Transit 2000.  Just to get that tax passed, a lengthy process of community involvement was conducted.  Voters were polled on their concerns and hopes for public transit in the region.  A multi-modal transit plan was developed, and projects were programmed throughout the 20-year life of the tax.  It was this plan, in effect, that allowed the tax to get passed, after several previous attempts by the regional agency and cities in the Valley had failed.  Light rail was an important component of this plan, as were services for people with disabilities, and bus rapid transit for commuters.  In the end, it was a mixture of factors, including costs, services that were to be provided, public involvement, political investment in a new and larger transit system, and likely the luck of timing that brought our current regional transit system into being.

As you read this week, and ponder implementation and transportation, consider what steps it would take for an elected official, a public administrator, and an average resident to support such a transit plan.   Not only would they have to be invested in the ideas offered up, they would also have to see a successful road to implementation.  And not only implementation of the first bus route, for the first year, but year after year, as the economic climate changes, as natural resource costs fluctuate, and as population—especially in Phoenix—continues to grow.  Implementation is an ongoing challenge and one that you'll all be faced with should you work in the public sector.

If you'd like additional information on transit in the Valley, here are a few places you can look:

Valley Metro RPTA, (the regional public transportation authority)

www.valleymetro.org

The City of Phoenix Public Transit Department

www.phoenix.gov/publictransit

The City of Tempe Public Transit Department

www.tempe.gov/tim

The Maricopa Association of Governments (which provides regional transit planning and research)

www.azmag.gov

The State of Arizona Department of Transportation

www.azdot.gov