The following is a response to a Spokane Transit Authority Memo requesting WPC make "corrections" to a recent study on STA's Electric Trolley proposal. WPC's full, 17-page Policy Brief - an Overview of Spokane's Electric Trolley Proposal - can be found here. All sources in the study are provided in the footnotes. The WPC research staff has reviewed each of the points of dispute and provides this additional detail.

STA says it "has given WPC an opportunity to make corrections." However, we found that none of the objections made by STA officials merit a "correction."

1. Bus Rapid Transit definition

   1. STA officials dismiss WPC’s suggestion of a cost-effective bus rapid transit system by saying the electric trolley is already a bus rapid transit project “by federal definition.”

   2. We disagree. The proposed Spokane Central City Line is not an actual Bus Rapid Transit system. In fact, STA’s own Central City Analysis separated the Electric Trolley from a Bus Rapid Transit system in its review of different mode options. Typically, Bus Rapid Transit systems have five essential features: dedicated right of way, busway alignment, off-board fare collection, intersection treatments (signal priority), and platform level boarding. The electric trolley proposal includes only two of these features. Another difference is that STA’s proposed electric trolley mode would be powered with inductive charging technology, greatly adding to the cost. Bus Rapid Transit systems are typically powered by hybrid or diesel buses and cost about three million to five million dollars per mile. STA’s cost proposal is $12 million per mile.

2. Funding for the Central City Line

   1. STA officials say WPC’s policy brief wrongly claims Proposition 1 includes a $72 million electric trolley line, because some of the cost may be covered by state or federal funds.

   2. Taxpayers will be asked to pay $72 million for the Central City Line. That is a fact. Part of that may come from federal grants. Part may come from state funding. Part would come from the sales tax proposal. Spokane taxpayers are state and federal taxpayers as well, so they would be paying either way. WPC’s Policy Brief plainly states some of the funding for the trolley may come from federal and state grants. If Proposition 1 is approved, the Central City Line will likely be built. If it is not approved, the Central City Line will likely not be built. Thus, Proposition 1 includes the trolley project.

3. Economic Impact Analysis

   1. STA officials say their own economic analysis shows a $175 million economic impact from the electric trolley line, and that WPC is incorrect in saying the impact would likely be the result of development subsidies

   2. Indeed, ECONorthwest’s economic analysis claims a $175 million economic impact from the electric trolley. This information is pointed out in the WPC Policy Brief (Page 10). However, we also point out the part of the ECONorthwest study that concludes, “supportive measures (regulations, zoning and direct development subsidies), where justified, are an important catalyst for transit-oriented development.” Such is the case in Portland, where the city has offered more than a billion dollars in subsidies to try and spur economic development along its streetcar and light rail lines. Because taxpayers have a limited amount of resources, any future taxpayer-funded incentives or subsidies could very well come at the expense of public safety or public school needs.

      In a recent Spokesman-Review article, Spokane County Commissioner and STA Board Member Al French says “those subsidies would likely be the long-accepted practice of using increased property taxes to pay for public infrastructure needed for any new development..."

      On this point, the WPC Policy Brief is correct.

4. Sales Tax Authority

   1. STA officials say they would have additional sales tax authority even if its sales tax rate hit 0.9%

   2. State law says transit agencies can charge up to 0.9% sales tax for transit. STA’s website concurs: “By state law, the only legal means of public funding for transit agencies in Washington is through local sales and use tax of no more than 0.9%.”

5. Operating cost

   1. STA officials do not dispute their estimates that show a $4.1 million per year operating cost, but they say electric propulsion buses have lower cost than conventional diesel buses. They also say cost projections are based on a composite of BRT, light rail, trolleybus and streetcar systems.

   2. STA’s own analysis says it will cost $4.1 million per year to operate the electric trolley, so according to this official report, WPC’s Policy Brief would be correct. 

6. Cost per ride

   1. STA officials say costs vary by route and that some routes have more riders and some routes have fewer.

   2. Dividing the operational costs by the projected ridership (880,000 per year, according to STA documents), the per-trip cost would be $4.73 – 20% higher than a typical STA bus, which averages $3.92 per trip. This statement is true, based on official STA numbers, despite variation on particular STA routes.

7. Made in the U.S.A. provisions

   1. STA officials say multiple charging technologies are manufactured in the U.S. and meet Buy America requirements. WPC research findings dispute this.

   2. According to STA board minutes, STA staff confirms, “a U.S. manufacturer has to be found to make the vehicle.”

      Spokane Transit staff has also told local media that they needed to find a U.S. manufacturer to make the mode.

      STA says it would be “the first [transit agency] to have a vehicle look like this.”

      STA officials have not yet secured a U.S. manufacturer and the electric trolley buses are not now being manufactured, so STA has not met the Buy America requirements or identified how it would do so. WPC’s Policy Brief is correct.