Love it or hate it, the reality of transit in Tucson is clear the moment most people leave their home: crosswalks, bike lanes, the number of car lanes on a given street.
In Pima County, a key funding stream to pay for projects related to regional transit is now up for voter consideration.
Starting this week, voters can weigh in on Propositions 418 and 419 — collectively known as RTA Next — asking voters to extend the half-cent sales tax for another two decades and approve a list of future projects.
What is RTA?
RTA stands for the Regional Transportation Authority, a taxing and oversight body created by the state to direct funds collected by a voter-approved tax.
The money collected through RTA funds is unique in that it can only be spent on voter-approved projects, unlike other infrastructure funds that are disbursed based in part on political priorities that can shift between state or federal administrations.
The first RTA was passed in 2006 and funded 20 years of road widening, bike lanes and new traffic lights.
To strengthen accountability in a future iteration of the RTA, the board has promised to continue citizen oversight through the Citizens Accountability for Regional Transportation Committee. Eight of the members would be appointed, and seven would be at large — four of those spots are for Tucson residents, said RTA communications director Sheila Storm.
That group is expected to give quarterly updates and recommendations to compare the actual performance of the program from both a scheduling and financial position.
What a yes vote will do
A yes vote would approve both the half-cent sales tax and a list of projects it would fund.
If passed, Pima County residents will continue paying the tax to fund the new list of projects, plus a few from the last plan that needed more time or money.
What a no vote will do
A no vote would allow the tax to expire on June 30, 2026. Tucson officials say losing that money would likely force immediate cuts to bus services. “As the region grows, many transportation network needs will go unmet,” the informational flyer for the RTA Next warns.
How to participate
Feb. 11 | Ballots mailed to voters in Pima County
Feb. 28 | Last day to request an early mail ballot
March 10 | Election Day
Read the full list of proposed projects here
With early voting now open, the question has created a barometer for Pima County residents: what kind of roadway and transit system do you want for the future?
Here’s some more context to consider at the ballot box:
There are several unfinished projects from the last RTA
In May of 2006, voters in Pima County approved a transportation proposal for the region over the next two decades, as well as a half-cent sales tax to fund it. That included a plan for 35 roadway projects, 200 new lane miles and 40 additional intersection safety improvements.
Then life, including the 2008 recession and then the COVID-19 pandemic, happened over the next two decades. Construction costs skyrocketed, tax revenues fell, and the RTA funding didn’t go as far as the regional authority initially intended.
As voters weigh the next iteration of the RTA tax, they will also be asked to approve continued funding for seven roadway projects that weren’t completed under the previous plan.
Those seven projects would need $257 million in RTA funds (plus a slightly smaller amount in committed non-RTA dollars) and the plan would be to start them in the first period of the next RTA, the project list says.
“We did not collect the money the original forecast had because of those incidents, and that’s why those seven projects are there,” said Ted Maxwell, RTA Board Member and chair of the Arizona State Transportation Board. “All of those need money, and some of them need structural changes we need to go back to the voter to get because this is a voter-approved plan.”
One of the seven projects would allocate $40.6 million to the 22nd Street bridge project. In an Instagram post shared Feb. 9, city officials talked about how the investment was possible because of a mix of regional transportation dollars and federal funding.
“This project takes a 1960s era bridge and mindset and brings it into the 21st century as a thriving sustainable desert city,” said Mayor Regina Romero at a groundbreaking event.
Groups in favor
The campaign in support of the measure is called Connect Pima and says the measure will offer 48,000 additional jobs and $11.9 billion in economic benefits. The group also warns about what will happen if the measure fails: a loss of 54,000 jobs and up to $400 million in unfinished projects.
That campaign includes members from the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractor of America, the Chamber of Southern Arizona and Southern Arizona Home Builders Association. The mayors of Tucson and Marana are on the leadership team of the campaign as well.
Building and construction trades groups, engineering firms and a range of other businesses have together donated more than half a million dollars to the effort since October.
Tucson council members Lane Santa Cruz and Selina Barajas wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Daily Star that they supported the plan because it offered immediate investment that working families needed.
“These propositions finally deliver investments to Ward 1 and Ward 5 — projects our communities have organized, advocated, and fought for over decades. As we move this work forward, we must remember a simple truth: Perfection is the enemy of progress,” the op-ed said.
Mike Ortega, RTA Executive Director, spoke on AZPM’s Press Room about the public engagement and outreach to get a sense of what the region wanted in transit. “It has something for everyone,” said Ortega. “It has opportunities not only for roads… but also public transit and other alternative modes for transportation.”
The RTA was also a way to get resources that, in the current political climate, won’t come to Tucson from the federal or state government, said Maxwell on Press Room.
“We have to figure out a way to leverage the dollars they do give us, and RTA Next is one way to do it,” said Maxwell. He also noted that while critical voices focused on road expansion, each of the proposals included bicycle, pedestrian and drainage improvements as part of roadway changes. “It makes the roads better and safer for everybody in this community.”
Groups against the measure
Opponents to the measure have called it a vote for car-oriented growth that expands roadway capacity in ways that encourage more driving. They point to the undelivered measures from the last plan, and say it does not invest in a robust transit system.
“When we lock ourselves into 20 years we are not able to be flexible, which is what we saw happen under the last RTA,” Vanessa Cascio of Living Streets Alliance said, pointing to the large proportion of road widening or expansion projects in the plan. “What has been lacking in this plan is to look at it from a system wide perspective, because that is what a regional plan does instead of following our local priorities which we can do as the city.”
The committee formed to support this effort is called Tucson Deserves Better and supporting groups include Living Streets Alliance, Watershed Management Group and Friends of Tucson Mountain Reserve. The website also includes comments from a list of individual supporters calling for less car-centric design and safer roads.
Suzanne Schafer, with Zero Fares Tucson, has said that voting against more transit funding was a bitter pill to swallow but she didn’t agree with the transit future the RTA was building.
“I’ve lived in central Tucson for 42 years and most of what the RTA has brought since 2006 has made it harder, not easier, for me to get around,” she said, pointing to projects that broke up downtown access and widened roads. “It all feels more dangerous, whether I’m in a vehicle or not. Regional planning sounds sensible. But what the region needs – –and what RTA Next is not – –is a program of interconnected transportation improvements that serve as a corrective to the car-dominated landscape.”
Republican opponents have framed their resistance around lowering taxes, making the vote an example of two groups with opposing values finding common ground. In 2025, some progressives and Republicans argued against the Proposition 414 proposal.
The list of vocal RTA Next opponents also includes former city and county officials who were involved in local transportation: former Tucson Assistant City manager Albert Elias (now vice president at Living Streets Alliance), Jim Glock, former head of the Tucson Transportation Department, and former RTA citizens group and Pima Association of Governments staffer Ruth Reiman all say the plan is a bad deal.
Ward 6 city council member Miranda Schubert has opposed the RTA Next plan, arguing that the city has policies to move towards a more walk-able and accessible city, but the proposed RTA Next projects don’t support that effort.
Other regions don’t do it like this
A few different regional examples of alternative approachess have come up in discussions around the RTA.
Valley Metro, the regional transit system in Maricopa County, is also run by a regional board created under state law. Many of the area’s regional expansions have come through localities like Tempe, Glendale or Peoria passing local sales taxes to expand transit in their area.
“Maricopa County was able to pass what a lot of people are calling a more balanced approach,” said University of Arizona professor Arlie Adkins on AZPM’s The Press Room. “It included considerably more for transit, also more specifically for transit infrastructure investment.”
Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, which encompasses Charlotte and the surrounding area, has a regional transit system funded by a 30-year sales tax. The tax puts 40% of the funds toward road and pedestrian improvements, 20% toward the bus system and 40% toward rail expansion.
Cascio, executive director of Living Streets Alliance, said Charlotte’s system is an example of what is possible in an area with similar city and suburban dynamics as the Tucson region.
Charlotte is “a place that I would argue has pretty similar challenges around suburbs and sprawl. They’re investing in rail, light rail, commuter rail, bus rapid transit and connections to those places,” said Cascio.
She also points to local investment that has taken place in Tucson, where voters have approved bonds and half-cent sales taxes to invest in local parks and facilities, and neighborhood streets.
“If Tucson retains the more than $400 million it would otherwise send to RTA Next, the City can fund its highest-priority projects, control timelines, and ensure accountability,” Cascio said by email. “Even if Tucson chose to fully fund projects in South Tucson and tribal communities at current RTA Next levels, the City would still retain more overall funding by going it alone.”
Council member Schubert has also suggested Tucson fund its own transportation plan, called Move Tucson, with a city-specific half-cent sales tax.
Cuts to bus service
Between federal budget cuts and Arizona’s flat state tax rate, along with city revenues from the sales tax and marijuana tax running below projections, the city of Tucson is in a budget crunch.
City leaders have said that means if the RTA doesn’t pass they will have to cut bus hours and frequency, as well as negotiate new agreements with jurisdictions that are served by Sun Tran routes but are outside the city.
Right now, the city’s transit system relies on a mix of general funds, federal funds and RTA money. Transit services that operate within Tucson city limits are funded by the RTA at $10 million in Fiscal Year 2026, which would be the operational budget gap Tucson would face if the RTA vote fails.
“This is a major, major thing that we have got to talk about and we have got to solve,” Lee said during a recent meeting. “Because the general fund can not continue to carry the weight of that.”
A city memo warns of reduced service hours on 21 routes and some impact on the current bus travel schedule every day of the week. Discussions on those cuts would start as soon as April if the RTA doesn’t pass, said city officials.
While the RTA does not subsidize fare-free transit for Tucson, city documents clarify, one big question in the funding space has been the future of fare-free transit if this measure fails.
Tucson city council has already been in ongoing discussions about whether they will continue that effort given the budget crunch.
Free fares advocate Schafer wants a more thorough regional transit plan that doesn’t make rural public transportation a minimal lifeline, but instead thinks more broadly about what rich regional connections look like. Ultimately, that means there is a need for more regional investment, with a goal to make transit a more available option.
“I don’t think the loss of RTA should lead to the reinstatement of fares,” she said. “What we need is a dedicated funding source for our city transit.”
Schafer warns that reinstating fares isn’t a clear line to a well-funded transit system, especially given that many of the vulnerable groups that rely on the bus are eligible for discounted fares. And it would likely hurt ridership and lead to people taking less safe means to get around.
Tucson streets have gotten more dangerous
Over the past two decades, Tucson has seen one particularly sobering change: it has become more dangerous for pedestrians. A 2024 report by national policy nonprofit Smart Growth America, found that Tucson ranked as the third most dangerous city for pedestrians in America between 2018 and 2022, based on pedestrian fatalities.
Of the proposed $2.67 billion the RTA Next plan is expected to raise, $254.6 million is slated for safety and accessibility investments described as intersection rehabilitation and modernization — things like traffic signal technology upgrades, bikeways and sidewalks.
Even though the number is large, it’s too small a share of the whole pie, argue Tucson advocates. “I do not believe that is commensurate with the scale of Tucson’s traffic safety crisis,” said Cascio. “We are experiencing persistently high rates of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities, and crash data and safety outcomes did not guide a system-wide approach to selecting projects, and the plan includes no metrics to track progress.”
To that concern, RTA spokesperson Storm said each project included safety features such as improving traffic flow, bike and pedestrian elements and HAWK crossings when necessary.
“Improved safety is a benefit associated with every element in the RTA Next plan,” said Storm.
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