Each year since the pandemic hit Durham in 2020, the City Council has voted through the budget to keep GoDurham fare-free for riders. Initially, it was funded through federal COVID-relief funds and then with unspent funds in the City’s transit budget. Each year, residents have lifted their voices, led by Bike Durham, so that City Council members and County Commissioners know that this is strongly supported as an affordability strategy in Durham.
We knew that this coming budget year, Durham’s leaders would be faced with a choice: find local tax dollars to keep GoDurham fare-free, or start charging riders again (perhaps as high as $2 per trip). Bike Durham’s position is that we should not be raising local property taxes to keep GoDurham fare-free when we have unallocated local transit sales tax revenues that are already being collected. Durham should not be forced to raise taxes again when there are transit dollars “sitting in the bank.”
On January 5th, Durham County Commissioners received a presentation from staff about the upcoming trade-offs presented by City and GoTriangle requests for uses of the transit sales tax and limitations on the revenues available. These requests included $2.2 million per year to keep GoDurham fare-free and to support the GoTriangle low-income GoPass program. Additionally, the City requested another $87 million for capital projects, including full funding for completing bus stop and access improvements in the Fayetteville Street corridor and expanded transit maintenance facilities.
The staff said all of the new requests cannot be funded with projected revenues without cutting back or eliminating funding for other projects - whether specifically named in the plan or the $300 million reserved for Bus Rapid Transit projects that have not yet been determined.
It’s clear that without stronger funding partners for transit at the state or federal level, the local revenue options can’t deliver the great transit system that we want. That’s why Bike Durham is working in partnership with other organizations at the national and state levels on medium- to long-term campaigns to change how transportation dollars are spent, prioritizing investments in transit, biking, and walking, and de-emphasizing highway expansion.
In the short-term, this is being framed for and by our elected officials as a zero-sum decision among projects and services. If you want more transit tax funding to keep GoDurham and GoTriangle fare-free for low-income riders, then you’ll be taking it away from another transit service or project.
No one is arguing about the merits of the Durham County Transit Plan adopted in 2023. in face, everyone wants to go beyond what has been planned, deliver more frequent service to more places and invest in high quality infrastructure that shows dignity to riders and is safe and comfortable and makes transit more attractive for everyone to ride. Some believe that we already are at a point where we need to cut back on what we can deliver.
We reject that scarcity mind-set. It would be reasonable if the transit coffers were dry and the projected $46+ million wasn’t enough to cover next year’s expenses. That is far from the case. As of November, the transit reserves exceeded $200 million! It is true that much of this revenue is obligated to projects in the pipeline or in reserve for future investments, and it would not be wise to unrealistically over-commit the transit revenues. But this is a very strong financial position to be in, allowing for creativity in delivering transit improvements.
We want to see staff and elected leaders from the City, County, Triangle West TPO, and GoTriangle approach this situation from an abundance mindset. The Transit Plan prioritizes investments through 2040 and most agree that we will need a new revenue source in the 2030’s in order to create a great transit system. Rather than cutting back now, what if we assume that future projects that wouldn’t have started until mid- to late-2030’s will be funded with additional revenues.
Most importantly, we don’t want our leaders to be jostling for who gets a bigger slice of the pie or pointing fingers at whose responsibility it is. We all want a great system that is free, frequent, comfortable, and convenient. We’re only going to get there if our leaders - elected and staff - bring a mindset that they are working together on the same team.
I ask you to join Bike Durham in communicating with our elected officials, city manager, and county manager that we want them to work together to find a solution to keep GoDurham fare-free without increasing property taxes and keep the transit plan projects moving forward to completion.
You can email the County Commissioners at commissioners@dconc.gov
You can email City Council members at council@durhamnc.gov