TO: Representative Chris Gorsek D-49

FROM: Bus Riders Unite Research and Advisory Committee

SUBJECT: Analysis of Transit Board Appointment Processes in North
America
DATE: 9/29/14
In addition to BRU and OPALs rationale behind moving the TriMet
Board appointment process from the Governor to Metro, our research
suggests that local rather than gubernatorial appointments of transit
boards are common in North America.
BRU and OPAL have identified four reasons why moving the TriMet
Board appointment process from the Governors office to Metro would
increase the accountability of the TriMet Board:
1.) Local officials have more familiarity with transportation
issues specific to Portland.
2.) TriMet riders, especially the transit dependent, are more
likely to meet with and be heard by Metro, whose Portland
office is transit-accessible, than the Governor, who is 48
miles away from Portland.
3.) The Governor is unlikely to be seriously scrutinized for
TriMet Board appointment decisions given the sheer number
of other responsibilities for which the Governor is
accountable.
4.) Shifting the TriMet Board appointment process to local
authorities would also relieve the already overburdened
Governors office of this very important and relatively
neglected task (as evidenced by a six minute vetting
process for TriMet Board member candidates, as well as the
high number of expired terms and vacancies on all Oregon
boards including the TriMet Board).
Doing so would also bring our transit system into line with other
jurisdictions. In 2002, the Transportation Research Board of the
National Academies released a document entitled Public Transit
System Policy Boards: Organization and Characteristics prepared for
the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP). The document
indicated that appointments by elected officials were the most
common method of transit board member selection.
Though the TCRP does not provide a breakdown of how many boards
are appointed locally as opposed to gubernatorially, BRUs Research &

Advisory Committee has examined the appointment policies of 29

large cities in North America and found that most require that transit
boards be appointed by local officials.
The 13 transit boards with strictly local appointments include:

Austin Capital Metro,

San Francisco SFMTA and MUNI,
Seattle Sound Transit,
Seattle King County Metro,
Orange County OCTA,
San Diego MTS,
Cleveland RTA,
Houston Metro,
Sacramento RT,
San Jose SCVTA,
Vancouver BC Translink,
Toronto TTC, and
Montreal STM.

Only two major cities in this list rely on the Governor to appoint board
members: Bostons MBTA and New Yorks MTA. However, in New York,
city officials, unions, and transit rider organizations recommend board
member candidates before the Governor appoints them.
The second-most common approach is a mix of strategies. Transit
boards with mixed appointments include:

Chicago CTA,
St. Louis Metro,
Philadelphia SEPTA,
Salt Lake City UTA, and
LA LACTA.

Out of these, only Chicago CTA and St. Louis Metro include more than
one board member appointed by the Governor. The board member
appointed by the governor to LA LACTA is a non-voting member.
To summarize, many large cities in the U.S. require local officials to
appoint transit boards. Moving the TriMet Board appointment process
from the Governors office to Metro would thus reflect a common
configuration of transit board appointment processes in addition to
improving the TriMet Boards accountability to transit riders.