On November 8, millions of American citizens headed to the polls to vote for their preferred presidential and congressional candidates. But political offices weren’t the only things at stake in this election. In many states, voters also voted on a wide variety of ballot measures that covered everything from marijuana legalization to minimum wage increases. There were also a record number of ballot proposals that allotted funds for infrastructure improvements to public transportation systems—48 ballot measure in total. Altogether, these public transit ballot proposals were worth about $200 billion.

When all the votes were counted, 33 of those 48 ballot measures were approved.

The American Public Transportation Association is healing these results as a big win in a country whose mass transit infrastructure has been in desperate need of improvement for decades. With billions of dollars now set aside for public transit expansions and improvements, American cities will finally be able to make long-overdue upgrades to their transit systems.

In Seattle, for example, the Sound Transit 3 proposition will spend roughly $54 billion over 25 years to expand the city’s bus and train routes. In Los Angeles, a similar ballot measure is expected to raise $120 billion for light rail extensions and bus service improvements over the next four decades. LA’s ballot measure will also set aside funds to make the city more accessible to bicyclists and pedestrians. In Atlanta, $2.5 billion will be set aside to improve the city’s light rail system.

It will be exciting to see how this huge influx of money will change America’s public transit systems in the coming years. At Northwest Bus sales, we’ll be here to provide municipal transit authorities and private companies with the vehicles they need to update and expand their fleets. Give us a call today to learn more.