Notes from the Texas Transit Conference 2000
Theme: Reconnecting Texas: Back to the Future
Dallas, March 24-29, Adam's Mark Hotel

Keynote
"A Conservative Looks at Public Transit," Paul Weyrich, President, Free Congress Foundation.

Paul Weyrich was introduced as "the most popular conservative in America not serving in elected office." Among other things, he is the author of the report "Does Transit Work? A Conservative Reappraisal."
Weyrich began by noting that conservatives have viewed the private car as a perfect example of private enterprise, claiming that it paid its own way, as opposed to public transit, which is subsidized. "The mythology about roads being self supporting is wrong but very strong," he said, "while the amount of money spent to subsidize public transit is insignificant." When conservatives learn that most public money spent on supporting cars comes from the general fund, not gasoline taxes, they will take a different view, he said.
Although conservatives dislike "intervention" in the marketplace, Weyrich said "General Motors interfered with the marketplace and developed a large program to bribe local officials," which brought rubber-tired buses into prominence and ended America's widespread trolley systems. "It was intervention that brought us to this place," Weyrich said. "In Switzerland people with two cars still ride public transit. Why? Because there wasn't the intentional interference in the marketplace."
In order to enlist conservatives to the transit cause, Weyrich said, it is essential to understand the difference between conservatives and "libertarians." He views libertarians as "anti-government, extreme individualists, who have a commitment to ideology." He compared this commitment style to that of Communists in the sense that "all reality has to fit into their view."
"It is libertarians in think tanks who have dominated this transit debate and actually made up information," Weyrich said. He estimated that conservatives make up about 38-40 percent of the electorate and only 4 percent are libertarians. "Forget about libertarians," he said. "You cannot convert them. Concentrate on conservatives, who are very open to good facts and figures."
As an example of "made-up information", Weyrich used Dallas's DART project as an example: "It has exceeded expectations, works very well, has brought skeptics over, is an ideal prototype, several conservative legislators are now supporters, and 80 percent of the public supports it in a Dallas Morning News poll. But libertarian think tanks call it a failure."
Weyrich concluded by saying "In nearly 40 years of involvement in public policy, I have never seen as dishonest a group of people arguing about policy as those arguing against light rail and public transit." He said he and William Lind are preparing a publication for later this year that refutes anti-transit claims.
The Free Congress Foundation web address is http://www.freecongress.org/ and Weyrich's online rail magazine is at http://trolleycar.org/.

Other highlights from the conference

Member of Congress Kay Granger, Fort Worth:
Rep, Granger said that road repair and maintenance in America is lagging and that the cost of driving on substandard roads is $21 billion. She also said "Highway I-35 makes the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex the key distribution point for America."

Member of Congress Max Sandlin, Marshall:
Rep. Sandlin said Americans annually spend 4.3 billion hours in congestion, at a cost of $72 billion. He noted that 94 percent of welfare recipients don't own a car, and that 60 percent of these people live in central cities, while the majority of jobs is in the suburbs.

Bill Millar, President, American Public Transportation Association:
"Texas is positioned to be very influential in the development of transit in the nation," Millar claimed. One big reason: "Dallas has become the poster child for transit success in the country," and Houston, San Antonio, and Austin are planning light rail and other high capacity transit systems.

Last year, there were 9 billion transit riders, the highest since the early 1960s," Millar said. After four years of continuous growth, public transit ridership is growing faster than vehicle miles traveled on road systems. His prediction: vehicle miles traveled will be up 40 percent in the next 15 years, and transit ridership will be up 60 percent.

Millar said that "Equity is a huge issue: is the money being used where it is most needed and can accomplish the most?"

Dale Marsico, Executive Director, Community Transportation Association of America
"Texas is the new middle of the country and a key battleground for transportation development," Marsico said. "But the Governor has not been hearing the voice of the transit industry in Texas." Marsico said that Texas Senator Phil Gramm "is going to be the most important player in the future of transportation in Texas and America and Senator Gramm has not supported public transit and is a very strong advocate for highways."

Marsico also said, "Transit isn't just intimately tied to land use. It's also critically related to job creation and job equity, and it's related to health care and the ability of people to get to it."

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