The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA), which operates the Metro transit system, has received the results of a recent phone survey related to expanded public transportation services in Greater Cincinnati. The survey was conducted from Feb. 8 to 11, 2016, by Fallon Research & Communications, Inc. with responses from 404 Hamilton County residents.

Highlights include:

• 92.2% agree that ensuring that the system provides transportation to seniors, students, workers and people without cars is essential to the economy and the basic quality of life, even if they don’t use public transit personally.

• 79.5% agree with people who say that they will, in some way, benefit by having expanded and improved bus and public transit services in Hamilton County, even though they may not use transit personally.

• 58.4% think connecting people to jobs is the highest priority for local bus transportation to improve the quality of life in Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

Although there are no current plans to seek additional funding, SORTA also asked the following questions related to a sales tax:

• 54.7% think a sales tax is the best way to fund public transit improvements and upgrades.

• 51.7% of a split sample, upon learning how the money was likely to be spent, said they would vote for a quarter-cent sales tax for 10 years for the public transit and bus system in Hamilton County.

• 57.6% of a split sample, upon learning how the money was likely to be spent, said they would vote for a half-cent sales tax for 10 years for the public transit and bus system in Hamilton County.

All survey results are available here.

“We’re pleased to see that our community recognizes the value of improved public transportation,” said Jason Dunn, SORTA Board Chairman. “We’ll soon receive the recommendations of the Metro Futures Task Force, and we will further analyze these survey results in the context of its input as we discuss how we should take Metro forward.”

The Metro Futures Task Force is a group of 20 community leaders who are charged with providing recommendations to SORTA on how it could better meet the community’s public transportation needs in the future.