[OKC] FW: State Tax Credit For Transit? And, APT Bus Ride Classes

[Shauna Struby]

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.       HB 2034 Transit Credit Vote Expected This Week! 
.       Learn to Ride the Bus on 3/10,  4/14,  5/12 

 

.       HB 2034 Transit Credit Vote Expected This Week! 

There could be a House floor vote on HB 2034 (authored by Rep. R.C. Pruett,
D-Antlers) Wednesday or Thursday at the State Capitol. State funding is one
way to help public transportation, but another is to give private businesses
an incentive to fund transit the way HB 2034 would.  It may surprise some to
learn that no companies in Oklahoma County, for example, help fund a public
transit route.

The Oklahoma Transit Association (OTA) has let some Oklahoma Alliance for
Public Transportation (APT) members know this week that HB 2034 this Session
could change that.  HB 2034 would change the tax code in a small but crucial
way.  You may want to learn more and help educate others, perhaps including
your State Representative.  The APT helped originate this idea.  Three out
of the ten table groups suggested starting a state transit tax credit at the
APT's transit "IdeaRaiser" attended by about 50 on September 5, 2007 at
METRO Tech in OKC.  

  

HB 2034 would provide a tax credit for private sector investment in public
transit, maybe as much as $20,000 per public transit system.  There is no
transit credit allowed today.  An investment from a private company could
help sustain current routes in the state and could sow the seed for expanded
or more frequent day service in areas without public transit service. Or,
for example, maybe that investment by a hospital or a call center could fill
a transit "gap" to workers during non-traditional hours.  That "gap" might
be the need to get to an 11:00 pm start of a night hospital shift or to
leave a night shift at midnight from a call center.  Once it starts, though,
the route is then open to the public  so that it benefits even more people. 

The title of the HB 2034 would be struck and that is normal; it is a
parliamentary maneuver allowing the committee and/or the full House to see
the bill once again late in session. Striking the title also allows for
further honing the bill language later in session. 

The main telephone number for the state House is 405.521.2711 but all office
direct lines are listed on the member pages at  <http://www.okhouse.gov>
www.okhouse.gov. Click on a combination of "House Membership" and
"Information" to learn who the representative of an area might be. Please
tell your colleagues or maybe your State Representative about HB 2034.

 

.       Second Tuesday Bus  Ride Field Training:  5:10 pm on 3/10, 4/14 and
5/12  

Here is an idea to get you ready for Earth Day or April 25 "tax day" (money
savings). The Oklahoma Alliance for Public Transportation (APT) is
conducting free training on second Tuesdays.  Its volunteers will accompany
people at that time who want to learn how to catch and ride METRO Transit
buses.  

Yes, it's free and just one 75 minute training should be enough to help most
people learn how to hail a bus, transfer to another bus route, understand
the paper bus route schedules, to park-and-ride, by visiting the Downtown
Transit Center (DTC), and more.  A lesson  takes about an hour.

Learners will meet at the Walgreen parking lot at NW 23rd and Classen in
Oklahoma City and should look for an APT with an  umbrella! All this plus
the APT volunteers will tell the trainees useful facts about transit, about
the APT, concerning transit's need for dedicated local funding, and answer
the learners' questions.  ABOVE ALL, MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND BRING A FRIEND
OR COLLEAGUE! 

 

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