Hamilton County, Ohio, home to Cincinnati and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, has a new coffer of money to fund public transit improvements.
"Voters in Cincinnati approved a new 0.8-cent sales tax in April — in the middle of the pandemic — to provide some $100 million a year for transit for projects and upgrades," reports Skip Descant.
Original estimates expected the sales tax to generate $100 million a year for transit projects in the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) service area in Hamilton County, with another $30 million for other transportation projects. The economic downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to dial those numbers back, but the full extent of the shortfall isn't yet apparent.
SORTA officials are still excited about the new revenue, however. The Reinventing Metro Plan will provide direction for improvements, and riders can expect "increased bus frequency, increased service on nights and weekends, with six routes introducing 24-hour service, which did not previously exist," as a result of the new revenue, reports Descant. "Two bus-rapid-transit routes are also being planned."
FULL STORY: New Sales Tax Will Fuel Transit Modernization in Cincinnati
Swapping One Tax for Another to Fund Bus Improvements
Cincinnati area voters might get a chance to decide the future of transit funding in the city of Cincinnati and the county of Hamilton.
Management Divorce for the Cincinnati Streetcar
Efforts to bolster support for a countywide sales tax levy in Hamilton County, Ohio, are pushing the city to fire SORTA as the manager of the troubled Cincinnati Bell Connector.
Bolstering the Case for Public Transit Investment by Connecting the Dots to Infrastructure
The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority wants funding to revamp its bus system, but convincing voters of a tax's necessity will require bigger thinking.
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?
Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.
BLM To Rescind Public Lands Rule
The change will downgrade conservation, once again putting federal land at risk for mining and other extractive uses.
Indy Neighborhood Group Builds Temporary Multi-Use Path
Community members, aided in part by funding from the city, repurposed a vehicle lane to create a protected bike and pedestrian path for the summer season.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service