Addresses the current state of funding for public transportation in the United States, the various circumstances that have contributed to today's funding environment, and specific strategies that transit agencies are pursuing to identify new sources of funding. The report is presented in two parts -- a final report and a casebook.

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 188: Survey of State Funding for Public Transportationâ€"Ways to Improve It includes suggestions on ways to potentially improve the Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation. Areas covered by the report include definition of major terms, post-submission data checks, improved accessibility, non-transit related ferry funding, and overall data collection. The Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation report, which is prepared under the auspices of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the American Public Transit Association, includes information on state-level public transportation funding, the source of funds, the potential use of funds, and the method of funding distribution for each transit program.

"This book compares the institutions and regulatory contexts in which transit systems operate, the operations and management problems with which they must contend, and the policy options and solutions which they have implemented."--BOOK JACKET.

"TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 129: Local and Regional Funding Mechanisms for Public Transportation explores a series of transit funding mechanisms with a primary focus on traditional tax- and fee-based funding; and common business, activity, and related funding sources. The report includes an online regional funding database that provides an extensive list of funding sources that are in use or have the prospect of being used at the local and regional level to support public transportation. A user manual for the database is also available online"--Publisher's description.

State and local gov¿ts. are looking for alternative strategies to help fund transit systems. Value capture strategies (VCS) -- joint develop., special assessment dist., tax increment financing, and development impact fees -- are designed to dedicate to transit either a portion of increased tax revenue or additional revenue through assessments, fees, or rents based on value expected to accrue as a result of transit investments. This report reviewed: (1) the extent to which transit agencies and local gov¿ts. use joint develop. and other VCS to finance transit; (2) what stakeholders have identified as facilitators of, or hindrances to, the use of these; and (3) what stakeholders have said about the effects of fed. policies and programs on the use of these strategies. Illus.