Transit Excels at Driving Economic Successes, Needs Work on Sharing that Message

The economic benefits to communities served by public transit extend significantly beyond the well-known pollution and traffic impacts, beyond job creation, housing development and commercial investments, too.

Cities with good transportation infrastructures tend to attract expanding businesses, manufacturing industries and major events, from sports tournaments and mega-concerts, to the Olympic Games coming to Los Angeles in 2028 and to Salt Lake City in 2034.

“Securing that for Utah is going to produce $6.6 million in economic return,” said Jay Fox,  executive director of the Utah Transit Authority. A panelist in the Economic Success Stories closing general session of the APTA Mobility Conference, Fox credited his agency’s existing bus and light rail network, plus service expansions in progress for that win.

Also on the panel were: moderator Collie Greenwood, general manager and CEO, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority; Leanne Redden, APTA vice chair, and executive director, Chicago Regional Transportation Authority (RTA); Leann Caver, CEO, C-TRAN; and Vanessa Fuentes, vice chair for Advocacy, National League of Cities and Austin Mayor Pro Tempore.

Fuentes built on Fox’s point, saying that cities need to partner with the companies bringing in these major events, “ensuring that the city does not go it alone”to provide community members with a good experience throughout.

Economic success stories were abundant in the conversation, from the Austin Infrastructure Academy, launched to develop the workforce to fill 300 new jobs from Project Connect, to C-TRAN’s growing demand for bus rapid transit since the first line opened in 2017, to economic studies finding that communities see economic returns of five times what they invested in transit.

So, Greenwood asked, how best to share these successes? The universal answer was: Invest in a good communications team; connect with your community and partners often, and in person.

Redden commented that advocacy was one of her job’s primary functions, and with the help of the data analytics team, she intentionally crafted stories with meaningful information about RTA’s benefits. “You have to actually cultivate the story, and cultivate the storytellers” she said, finding those non-agency advocates who could be spokespeople.  

Caver noted that success breeds success, citing the jump in demand for bus rapid transit since C-TRAN’s 2017 launch. “They have seen the Impact, and now people want to have the BRT line along their businesses… People want to see that it does bring benefit to the community.”