Transit won big at ballot boxes across America on Tuesday, promising US communities billions in local support as federal dollars for shared modes fall under threat.
Voters in communities as diverse as Yampa Valley, Colorado and Kalamazoo, Mich. all said yes to public transportation on Tuesday, approving billions in new funding for light rail, buses and more as well as establishing at least one new transit agency.
The biggest piece of the pie came from Mecklenburg County, N.C., which passed a 1-percent sales tax increase that will generate an estimated $388 million per year for 30 years for shared modes — as well as billions more for road safety improvements, mostly in and around the city of Charlotte. (Though to be fair, it also included money for autocentric uses, which as Jeff Wood pointed out in the Overhead Wire, "was inserted by state Republicans who wouldn't allow a vote without it.")
The bill divided progressive groups, with some worrying about "potential displacement brought on by the transportation plan and questions whether it does enough for transit-reliant communities," as the Charlotte Observer reported. Ultimately, though, transit advocates like Sustain Charlotte persuaded voters that the tax would be a net boon for equity, by helping transit officials build new light rail and streetcar lines in historically marginalized communities of color and increasing mode choice across the region.
Charlotte's big win could also be considered a rebuke against the Trump administration, which has smeared the region's transit agency since the August stabbing death of a woman on board one of its trains. On Fox News, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy even threatened to "pull back" money from shared modes across America because of the incident, alleging that "the American taxpayer [doesn't] want to pay for the homelessness and criminal element," which he conflated with funding shared modes overall — even as experts say transit actually needs more funding to combat violence on board.
Several politicians elected on Tuesday offered an even more direct challenge to the White House, like New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, who addressed the president in his acceptance speech when he said, "Hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us. When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high. We will meet them."
Those expectations, of course, include Mamdani's decidedly urbanist campaign promises to make buses fast and free, build more housing near transit hubs, and eliminate parking requirements.
Mikie Sherrill, meanwhile, is moving into New Jersey's governor's mansion in part on the strength of her transit record — and her pledge to "make sure that New Jersey is getting our fair share of federal dollars to fix our aging transportation infrastructure" in a July op-ed for NorthJersey.com.
"If President Donald Trump tries to take our hard-earned tax dollars to give to his billionaire donors, I’ll see him in court," Sherrill also warned. The former Congressional rep's transit chops may be tested, however, by her prior skepticism of New York City's landmark congestion pricing program, which Trump has repeatedly attacked and promised to destroy.
Other transit advocates saw less landslide success at the ballot box — Riders Union co-founder Katie Wilson's race for the mayorship in Seattle was still too close to call at the time of this writing — but transit referenda won handily in most communities that had one on the ballot.
Kalamazoo County, Mich. voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new millage to fund Metro’s fixed-route bus service, as well as its new on-demand Metro Link service that launched in 2024, pulling in $39 million in revenue. The small nearby city of Niles scored a modest but meaningful $529,500 to shore up public transportation for four years, including the city's Dial-A-Ride bus system.
The small college town of Ellensburg, Wash. threw its support behind the bus systems long term, replacing an existing tax with one that does not expire and earning a nod from Grist. Even rural Yampa Valley in Colorado stood up and demanded more shared modes, with a majority of residents in six separate cities and towns all voting to approve the formation of the Yampa Valley Regional Transportation Authority.
In the south of the state, Mountain Village, Colo. also approved a 5-percent lift ticket tax to fund future gondola construction, ensuring the project's future even though neighboring Telluride voted against it.
Of course, not every community said yes to the bus. Delta Township, Mich., which borders the state capital of Lansing, said no to a 0.75-percent mill tax, which will eliminate all service from the Capital Area Transportation Authority, including the township’s only fixed route. The 9,000-person borough of Pitman, NJ, meanwhile, rejected a diesel-powered light rail project that would service their community, despite its potential, as WHYY's Clyde Hughes argued, to serve as an "economic engine that could be a boon to the region and serve an area that is craving for public transportation access."
Despite those losses, experts say Americans on the whole understand the value of investing in local transportation options — and that Congress should follow their lead by demanding that the Trump administration honor their obligations to fund transit now, while working towards a national transportation bill that supports it even more robustly in the future.
According to the American Public Transportation Association's Center for Transportation Excellence, a stunning 84 percent of transit measures on the ballot in 2025 so far have won, grossing an estimated $11.7 billion in known transit revenue.
"Voters have sent a powerful message: public transportation is essential infrastructure that America needs and deserves," said Paul Skoutelas, president and CEO of APTA. "These ballot victories represent more than just transit funding — they're investments in our national economy ... The overwhelming support we've seen in 2025, and over the past several years, proves that Americans understand that public transportation isn't just about getting from point A to point B — it's about building stronger, more prosperous communities for generations to come."
