CHARLOTTE — David Howard must like a challenge. Why else would anyone volunteer to lead a startup, 27-person board charged with carrying out a 30-year transit plan? Howard chairs the Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority, a new governing body created by the state legislature late last year.
The authority came into being when local voters approved a 1-cent sales hike in November. The increase, which pushed the rate to 8.25 cents, went into effect July 1. The authority is responsible for steering $17.5 billion to improve bus service and build commuter- and light-rail projects.
The tax is projected to generate $19.4 billion over 30 years, supplemented by an anticipated $5.9 billion worth of matching federal transit grants.
Of the $25.3 billion in total funding, $7.8 billion will go to roads, distributed straight to the six Mecklenburg towns and the city of Charlotte. The rest goes to the authority for a combination of bus and rail transit projects and service improvements.
The authority is taking ownership of Charlotte Area Transit System, the existing network of buses, trains and smaller transit services, beginning Jan. 1, 2027.
Howard, a former Charlotte City Council member, worked at the U.S. Department of Transportation in the Obama administration and later was chief deputy secretary of the rail division at the N.C. Department of Transportation. He recently spoke to CBJ as part of the N.C. Business Minds podcast series about how the MPTA will map out the many projects ahead.
Listen or read excerpts from the conversation on CBJ’s website here.
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