NY Times: How the Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country

By Hiroko Tabuch, NY Times, June 19, 2018

In cities and counties across the country, the Koch brothers are fueling a fight against public transit, an offshoot of their longstanding national crusade for lower taxes and smaller government.

In places like Nashville, Koch-financed activists are finding tremendous success.

Read more…

The paucity of federal funding for transit projects means
that local ballots are critical in shaping how Americans travel, with decades-long repercussions for the economy and the environment. Highway funding has historically
been built into state and federal budgets, but transit
funding usually requires a vote to raise taxes, creating what experts call a systemic bias toward cars over trains and buses. The United States transportation sector emits more earth-warming carbon dioxide than any other part of the nation’s economy.

The Trump administration had initially raised hopes of more funding for transit by advocating a trillion-dollar infrastructure push. However, when that proposed plan was made public it reduced funding for transit-related grants.