Coalition For Transportation Choices

The Coalition for Transportation Choices is comprised of local and statewide organizations working to increase public transit and active transportation, such as walkable and bikeable communities. The Coalition for Transportation Choices includes representatives of organizations that advocate on behalf of senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, consumers, healthy and livable communities, air quality, community interests, local economic impacts, and transit.

While each organization has unique priorities, members of the Coalition for Transportation Choices support the following principles and related components:

1. Public transit should accommodate the majority of Arizonans.

Residents of Arizona should be able to realistically, equitably and frequently use a form of public transit — rail, buses, circulators, vanpools — in their daily lives.
Fares should be affordable and competitive with other modes of transportation.
Stations should complement and sync up with modes of active transportation — bicycling, walking — which promote livable and healthy communities.
All modes of public transit should be ADA compliant and designed with accessibility and safety in mind including lights, adequate shade, and areas with no curbs.
Technology, such as the use of apps and WiFi, should be incorporated to improve the experience and efficiency of individuals using public transit.
Expansion should be ongoing and built to link to other parts of our state and region, such as by Phoenix-Tucson passenger rail and passenger rail across the Southwest-West.

Staff

2. Our state should attain the public health & economic benefits of public transit.

Operating and maintenance costs should receive sufficient ongoing financial support, which will sustain jobs and benefit the local and state economy. Modes of active transportation, including protected bike lanes and pedestrian friendly sidewalks, should be adequately and equitably funded.
New capital funding should be spent on the transition to electrification including the purchase of electric buses and vans, and environmentally responsible technologies — which provide air quality, public health and economic benefits.

3. The public should be provided with ample opportunities to provide input.

The public should have ample and equitable notice and opportunity to provide input in person, in writing, and online prior to local, statewide, regional, and federal transportation decisions.
Public participation and government transparency and accountability should remain a constant priority, including through local ‘Citizens Commissions’ that are reflective of the population and the public issuance of annual progress reports.