Jeff Meilbeck, General Manager-NAIPTA, reported disappointment that Proposition 403 was defeated by Flagstaff voters on a final tally of 53 to 47%. 

Why did the voters of the City of Flagstaff do an about face on public transportation after 6 years of continual growth?  A yes vote would have doubled the transit tax from .0017 to .0033 and made it permanent (sunset is 2010).  Headways would have decreased from 30 minutes to 15 and new neighborhoods would have been served.  Instead, the vote was defeated by about 250 votes.  Significantly, the vote was not about crises management--but about a significantly improved transit future--and the voters were not convinced it was time.  Why?

Over the past 5 years service levels have tripled (10,000 hours to 33,000) and ridership levels have septupled (100,000 riders to 600,000 riders).  Mountain Line has high customer satisfaction scores, 95% on-time performance, and a relatively new fleet of vehicles.  Nevertheless, the 2006 campaign could best be characterized as non-existent.  There were no elected official, private sector or transit advocate champions.  Beyond the AzTA donation of $500, no funds were raised in support of either a yes or no vote.  No signs were printed, ads published or buttons produced.  No resources were provided by the City of Flagstaff in support of a public outreach effort.  As a result, the connections were not made with voters.  The value was not made clear. 

Disappointing as the defeat is, the relatively close vote on a silent campaign may bode well for 2008.  Transit advocates, who were silent in their confidence, will take a stand in 2008.  Elected officials, who were focused on other issues, will champion the cause, and private sector leaders, who will benefit from economic development and affordable mobility for the workforce will galvanize a pro-transit message.  These factors will allow us to connect in a broad, deep way with the Flagstaff community and for people to understand the importance of public transportation to sustaining our quality of life and improving our individual and collective economic vitality.  Our defeat in 2006 creates an opportunity in 2008.

So what happens now?  This election outcome means that we will continue to operate our Mountain Line and VanGo routes as we are doing today.  We will continue to provide 30 minute headways during the week and 60 minute service on Saturday and Sunday.  We will continue to provide excellent service to our customers, coworkers and partners.  We will continue to design and construct our new facilities and bus shelters.  We will continue to establish the new transit authority (NAIPTA) with a July 1, 2006 transfer date.  We will continue to plan for the future and to make our work environment an ever-improving place.  In the words of management guru Jim Collins, we will keep “rotating the flywheel”, building on our formula for success, until we can ask council to return to the voters in 2008.  In fact, I predict that the Mountain Line and VanGo transit systems have only just begun to establish themselves in this community and that the future is exceedingly bright.