Austin needs public transportation. No doubt. We are the 11th-largest city in the United States and our citizens only benefit from having good public transportation.
Recognizing the need for public transit, in 1985, Austin voters approved a proposition to create the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro). As part of the proposition, voters approved an additional 1% city sales tax to be dedicated to Cap Metro to operate and grow the public transit system as the city’s population grew.
In 1986, the revenue generated from that 1% sales tax was about $40 million. In 2024, the revenue generated from that 1% will be almost $400 million.
The reason the sales tax revenue is needed is because revenue generated from fares alone will never come close to covering the expense of the public transit system. This is the reality for all transit systems in the U.S. Even New York, with its unique ridership, still needs government funding to keep the system running.
In 1990, Cap Metro’s ridership was 31.2 million total boardings. Almost 30 years later and right before the COVID-19 pandemic, total ridership was about 30.5 million, less than in 1990 when the Austin area (and Cap Metro’s budget) were much smaller. Post-pandemic, Cap Metro, like the rest of the nation, has seen ridership remain much lower.