Asking the Right Questions About Light Rail

Working with state and local governments, the Atlanta Regional Commission has proposed a light rail system that would connect downtown Atlanta with northern Atlanta suburbs, including Cobb County. This rail system would be part of a comprehensive transportation proposal to be financed by a one percent regional sales tax, T-SPLOST, to be used entirely for specified metro area transportation projects. We’ll have an opportunity to vote up-or-down on T-SPLOST next year.

I’ve heard some skeptics of this light rail proposal argue that taxpayers should only finance this project if it pays for itself. In other words, some suggest that any rail system, and any other form of alternative transportation, should recover all taxpayer expenses from rider fees.

I have a different perspective. In Cobb County, we don’t require drivers to pay a toll at every intersection so that each road is paid for by user fees. We sometimes charge user fees for our court system, parks, libraries, schools, or other public services to offset some of the costs to taxpayers, but we don’t demand that any of them be completely financed by user fees.

As taxpayers, we’re generally comfortable financing or subsidizing these and other public services because we intuitively know that they improve the quality of our lives, even when we don’t use the services ourselves. For example, a homeowner living in the Walton High School district, located in east Cobb, doesn’t have to have a child enrolled in that school to financially benefit from it via higher property values. By the same token, most of us don’t have a case pending in court, but we still benefit from the existence of our criminal and civil courts.

To review how this works, the right government investments create a physical and economic foundation that, among other things, grows the private sector. When existing businesses grow and new businesses are attracted to the community, more jobs are created. Demand for more workers, of course, increases incomes. Such facilities and amenities also attract home buyers, thereby increasing everybody’s property values. In short, such investments grow our incomes and wealth in good times and, it should be noted, mitigate the damage in bad times.

So, why should we have a different standard for light rail or any other form of public transportation? As taxpayers, it’s our obligation to ask the hard questions and hold our elected representatives accountable. But when it comes to public transportation, I won’t be asking, will it be paid for by the riders who use it? Rather, I’ll be asking, how will light rail affect economic growth in our area? How will such economic growth affect local property, school, and sales tax revenues in the years to come? How will such economic growth affect our property values and household incomes?

The benefits of economic growth aren’t the only factors to consider. Anybody who sits on an interstate running through Cobb County during rush hour knows about the potential improvement in their quality of life by taking some of the cars off the roads. So, shouldn’t we also be asking about the extent that light rail will either reduce our commute times or reduce the growth of our commute times?

In addition, given that metro Atlanta has some of the most polluted air in the country, we should also be on the lookout for ideas to reduce smog, especially if we have loved ones or friends who suffer from asthma or any other pulmonary-related condition. Will transportation alternatives such as light rail improve the air quality, or again, mitigate the reduction in air quality? If so, will it reduce the growth of medical expenses, including medical expenses to taxpayers through savings to Medicaid and Medicare?

Infrastructure and public amenities separate a developed country, like the United States, from an underdeveloped country. For example, India’s economic growth has been stunted by the lack of first class roads, trains, airports, highways, bridges, levies, damns, ports, canals, and other forms of physical and economic infrastructure.

We should also remember that much of the infrastructure that we enjoy and benefit from today were investments made by previous generations, in part, on our behalf. Our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents undoubtedly expected that the actual act of constructing such infrastructure would increase their incomes and wealth. But they were also aware that much of the infrastructure they were investing in would take years, if not decades to complete. So they were willing to make these investments, not just for themselves, but for generations to come. Each and every one of us continues to enjoy the economic benefits of these investments, even in hard times.

So, by all means, let’s ask the hard questions. But let’s ask the right questions too.