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Transit access and service frequency levels should recognize the role of public transit <br />in addressing equity, including but not limited to racial and economic disparities, <br />people with disabilities and the elderly. Metro Cities supports efforts to transition the <br />fleets of transit providers in the metropolitan region to low or zero emission buses and <br />supports using equity and environmental criteria identified in transit providers’ zero <br />emission bus transition plans to prioritize the deployment of zero or low-emission <br />buses. <br />Metro Cities opposes statutory changes restricting the use of local funds for planning <br />or construction of transit projects. Restricting local planning and funding limits the <br />ability of cities to participate in transit corridor planning and development. State and <br />regional policymakers must coordinate with local units of government as decisions are <br />made at the state level on transit projects that also involve municipal planning, <br />funding, and policy decisions. <br />In the interest of including all potential options in the pursuit of a regionally balanced <br />transit system, Metro Cities opposes the imposition of legislative moratoriums on the <br />study, planning, design, or construction of specific transit projects. <br />Metro Cities supports a regional governance structure that ensures a measurably <br />reliable and efficient system, recognizes the diverse transit needs of our region and <br />addresses funding needs for all components of the system. These structures must <br />work with and be responsive to the needs of the communities they serve. <br />Metro Cities supports an open and collaborative regional transportation planning <br />process that fully engages all public transit providers as partners in ongoing policy <br />development to achieve desired outcomes, including establishment of transit project <br />criteria that promote fair and equitable selection of projects throughout the region and <br />transparent regional distribution of available funding. <br />Metro Cities recognizes the need for flexibility in transit systems for cities that border <br />the edges of the seven-county metropolitan area to ensure users can get to <br />destinations outside of the seven-county area. Metro Cities encourages the <br />Metropolitan Council to coordinate with collar counties so that riders can get to and <br />from destinations beyond the boundaries of the region. <br />Metro Cities is opposed to legislative or Metropolitan Council directives that constrain <br />the ability of metropolitan transit providers to provide a full range of transit services, <br />including reverse commute routes, suburb-to-suburb routes, transit hub feeder <br />services or new, experimental services that may show a low rate of operating cost <br />recovery from the fare box. <br />Metro Cities supports the autonomy of suburban transit providers to conduct <br />operations to meet demonstrated and unique needs in their designated service areas <br />independent from the operations of other regional transit providers. Metro Cities <br />supports the ability of a new window to be established for cities to opt out of Metro <br />Transit to either partner with or join an existing suburban transit provider or to <br />establish their own transit service. <br />31