Mar. 25—GREENSBORO — The city will prioritize increasing the number of transit riders ahead of extending coverage when it comes to future transit funding.
On Tuesday, the City Council adopted a resolution setting a goal of devoting 70% of future funding toward what the city calls the "ridership concept" while allotting 30% to the "coverage concept."
Ridership and coverage are the distinct approaches the city has been evaluating as part of its GoBORO Long Range Transit Plan.
The city describes the ridership approach as one focused on increasing the number of people using transit and prioritizing routes in popular, high-frequency areas.
Conversely, the idea of coverage focuses on extending service to more areas of the city at the expense of more frequent service.
The ridership approach would allow more residents to travel to available jobs, according to data. The model would allow a "typical resident" to reach 140% more jobs while the typical resident in poverty would be able to reach 122% additional jobs within 45 minutes.
The coverage approach would also increase access to jobs, but to a lesser extent: 86% for typical residents and 51% for those in poverty.
The coverage model would significantly increase the number of residents within a half-mile of any transit stop from 52% to 76%. The ridership approach would slightly increase that coverage to 55%, up from 52%.
The city's transit agency sought public feedback on those options last fall and was able to obtain survey responses from more than a thousand residents. Of the respondents, 52% said they preferred or strongly preferred ridership versus a third who preferred coverage.
Residents were also asked about their appetite for additional transit funding and a potential new half-cent sales tax which would be used to cover the costs.
An 85% majority said they supported more funding with 52% saying they wanted a large increase.
Support for the new half-cent sales tax was promising as well. Eighty percent said they would likely support the tax, including 47% who said they would "definitely" support it.
The city is poised to move forward in seeking that new tax.
The resolution adopted Tuesday called on the city to work with Guilford County, High Point and Piedmont Area Rapid Transit to hold a countywide referendum on the new tax.
There is no timeframe for the referendum at this point. Per city estimates, the average household would pay an additional $9 per month if the sales tax is implemented.
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