NORTH AMERICAN EXAMPLES OF INNOVATIVE FUNDING FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT

This paper will provide some examples of ways in which increase in land and property values created by investment in public transport are recovered or recaptured to repay some of the investment. It should be noted that a variety of the approaches presented apply in North America and that practices vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and in fact from city to city. None of the examples described are universal or common. Each city has to find its own way, using, where possible, precedents in other communities. At the beginning of the century, an extensive value recapture mechanism was in place. Many street railways (tramways) or interurban electric railways bought up land along the course of their future lines and thereby obtained a portion of the value created by the construction of the new lines. A number of mechanisms have been used in recent years. Value recapture through specific taxes or changes included: development charges; benefit sharing; density bonusing; and tendering or auction of density. Other, non-tax methods that have been used include: payment by the property owner for all or part of a line extension or station; sale of surplus land or air rights by the transit authority; and connection fees.