Final Scorecard: Voters Approve 22 of 27 Transit Measures

Rick L'Amie

4 hours ago

2 min read

Voters approved 22 of the 27 transit measures on the Nov. 3 ballot, according to the American Public Transportation Association. Together, the winning measures add up to $27.4 billion in long-term dedicated funding for transit.

That caps a strong year. Across 2026, voters have approved 56 of 66 transit measures, about 85 percent, for more than $31 billion in transit funding.

Last week I reported that APTA was tracking 23 measures. The final list grew to 27, with several small transit levies in Michigan added. The full results are in the table below.

The Big Wins Held

The Bay Area's Regional Transit Measure, the largest on the ballot, passed with 61.6 percent. San Francisco's Muni parcel tax passed with 72 percent. Seattle and Pierce County both voted for more bus service. For Pierce Transit, the win comes after back-to-back defeats in 2011 and 2012.

In Colorado, voters approved a new sales tax for Front Range passenger rail with 55 percent. The money will extend the Colorado Connector to Colorado Springs and Pueblo. And in Southern California, San Bernardino and Riverside counties both cleared the two-thirds threshold their measures needed.

Charleston County, South Carolina, is a comeback story. Voters there rejected a transportation sales tax in 2024 by 61 to 39. This year they approved a rebuilt version, with roughly a fifth of the money going to transit.

Small Towns Count Too

Some of the biggest margins came from smaller places. Flint, Michigan, renewed its transit levy with almost 82 percent. Benton Harbor renewed its Dial-a-Ride service with 76 percent. And in Converse, Texas, voters chose to stay with VIA Metropolitan Transit.

Where Transit Came Up Short

Five measures failed: Delaware County, Ohio; Fresno County, California; Greenville County, South Carolina; Douglas County, Georgia; and Tempe, Arizona.

Four of those five were broad tax packages where transit got only a small slice. In Greenville, 90 percent of the money was for roads and bridges and 3 percent for transit. In Tempe, transit shared the tax with public safety and preschool. Mixed packages did pass in Cobb County and Charleston. But when transit is a sliver of a bigger tax, its fate rides on everything else in the package.

Delaware County, Ohio, was the exception. It was a transit-only tax, the county's first, and voters turned it down 61 to 39.

What's Next

Local voters did their part. The federal side now moves to a new Congress. On this week's News & Views, I look at what Democrats' midterm win means for the next surface transportation bill, and for the guaranteed transit money that lapsed with the 2021 infrastructure law.

Results at a Glance