In the United States, a transit district is a
special-purpose district organized either as a corporation chartered by
statute or as a government agency. A district is usually contained within one state, but in rare circumstances may cover two or more states. The term used depends on which part of the country the agency is created in. Typically, western states will create a "transit district" and eastern states create a "transit authority" but the type of agency is generally the same. A transit district is created to give it the power of the government in solving problems related to
transit issues. This includes the powers of
eminent domain to obtain space for
rights-of-way (e.g. for
railways or
busways), the ability to impose
excise,
income,
property, and/or
sales taxes to fund subsidies of operating costs of local transportation, and the ability to operate independently of the cities and counties that the transit district operates within. A transit district may also have its own
transit police force, although in some areas the local police provide a special bureau for this purpose. Some of the largest transit districts in the U.S. include: • The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), serving 12 counties in southeastern
New York state, including
New York City, along with two counties in southwestern Connecticut under contract to the
Connecticut Department of Transportation; • The
New York City Transit Authority which operates
New York City's subway trains and municipal buses; • The
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates
New York City's
Port Authority Bus Terminal and the
Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) trains, and was the owner of the
World Trade Center complex; • The
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates the bus and
Metrorail system in
Washington, D.C., and suburban
Maryland and
Virginia; • The former
Southern California Rapid Transit District, which operated most of the bus systems in
Los Angeles County, California as well as parts of
Orange,
Riverside and
San Bernardino counties from August 18, 1964, until April 1, 1993, when it was converted into the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; • The
Chicago Transit Authority, which operates all bus routes that run within the boundaries of Chicago, as well as the
Chicago 'L'; • The
Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, shortened to Sound Transit (ST), which operates
Sounder (commuter rail),
Link (light rail), and
ST Express bus service in the
Seattle metropolitan area; • The
Utah Transit Authority (UTA), which operates the
FrontRunner (commuter rail),
TRAX (light rail), and bus service along the
Wasatch Front (
Salt Lake-
Odgen-
Provo metropolitan area); ==See also==