Allen County Regional Transit Authority

FY 2011-2015 Operational Analysis & Management Plan

Past Public Transit Reports

Evident by the late 1800's, urban America had been shaped by its dependency upon the ability to move goods and people as efficiently and cheaply as possible. A historical retrospective reveals that the horse-drawn omnibus was the ever-important mode of public transport between 1830 and 1860; and, whereas cable cars performed admirably between 1860 and 1890, the most universal mode of public transportation from 1890 to the 1940's, in all but the largest of cities, was the electric streetcar. Not only did these early transportation systems lace the urban structure of cities together, they affected the arrangement and function of elements within the structure of cities.

The introduction of the twentieth century's most profound technological development, the automobile, drastically changed the predominant urban structure along with the means of transporting goods and people. The effect that motorized transport had upon the system of transportation in the urban environment and it's internal structure was immense. Travel was no longer confined to the fixed route system of the electric street cars and the railroad. People and goods were free to move as they wished. Their schedules were no longer determined by the rigidity of the public transit system. The transit system's linear and inflexible routes, geared to the traditional downtown, became increasingly irrelevant, for with this new freedom of movement came the decentralization of activities, both residential and employment, and the elimination of the transport monopoly enjoyed by fixed route transit.

An irreversible decline in ridership seems to have befallen public mass transit since the end of World War II. For as income increased, so did automobile ownership and non-work related trips that furthered the decentralization of employment sites and residential preference to the suburbs. The reason public mass transit was losing its share of the market seemed due to the fact that it was not patterned to compete effectively with the automobile in terms of out-of-pocket commuting costs, travel time, comfort and safety; for mass transit was still structured to service the typical downtown-oriented travel commutes. As a result, mass transit has increasingly drawn its market share from captive riders, those who have no other choice.

Recent literature has begun to emphasize that even among captive riders (the poor, the aged, and the disabled) mass transit is too inflexible in routing and often dangerous to those who suffer physical disabilities. Studies cite that low income workers find multiple transfers, which can be costly in terms of out-of-pocket commuting costs and time, are all too often necessary to get from inner city neighborhoods to the suburban job sites, while the elderly and disabled find it difficult to utilize mass transit due to associated walks to and from stations, stairways, long waits, the need to step in and out of vehicles, the lack of adequate seating space, the rapid acceleration/deceleration of vehicles, the rapid loading/unloading of vehicles, and crowds.

Although the automobile is now the predominant and preferred mode of transportation within the United States, there is a sizeable segment of our population that is forced to rely upon mass transit to satisfy work, medical, school and personal travel needs. For this reason, urban centers must continue to provide, fund and improve public transportation.

In accordance with the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, as amended, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has become the principal source of federal financial assistance for aiding urban areas in the planning, development, and improvement of comprehensive mass transportation systems. Such financial assistance is provided through a variety of programs within the FTA's statutory authority.

Under the auspices of the Section 5307 Planning Program, the FTA provides financial assistance to state and local governments to aid in the preparation of plans and cost-effective Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs), which guide the use of Federal capital assistance resources. Although a discretionary program, the distribution of such funds to states and each of 465 urbanized areas is done using a population weighted allocation so that the planning grants are tracked and released in the same way as capital grants.