Most still support transit sales tax
(News and Observer – March 20, 2011)
Most Triangle voters are still willing to pay a half-penny sales tax for better bus and rail transit service - but support for the transit tax in Wake County has weakened - according the third yearly poll commissioned by a pro-transit business lobby
It probably didn't hurt, from the standpoint of transit boosters, that gas prices were soaring above $3.50 a gallon as Ohio-based Fallon Research quizzed 904 registered voters between March 6 and March 9.
The poll was commissioned by the Regional Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit Triangle business group, which lobbies for transit and other transportation improvements. The group supports plans now being developed for bus improvements and light rail service that would be financed in part with proceeds from a proposed half-cent increase in local sales taxes.
In Wake County, which has two-thirds of the region's voters, support for the transit tax fell from 55 percent in 2010 to 51 percent this year, according to the poll. Transit tax support increased in Durham County from 58 percent in 2010 to 60 percent this year, and dipped slightly in Orange County from 61 percent in 2010 to 59 percent this year.
“While support for the tax has gone down slightly in both Orange and Wake, the support for a sales tax remains above 50 percent in all counties,” said Joe Milazzo II, executive director of the Regional Transportation Alliance.
When asked which type of transit improvements were important, 71 percent said they "totally favor" more buses and bus routes, and 77 percent "totally favor" trains. But, asked which they would prefer if they had to choose one or the other, 48 percent wanted more buses and 42 percent wanted trains.