A failure to fully fund Michigan's transportation system not only threatens the shape of the state's roads but also the public transportation system, transit leaders said on Wednesday. They added that passing bills to increase revenue is critical to ensuring the improved quality of life residents have come to depend on from public transportation.

"The public transportation system is in crisis and needs reform on the way it is financed now," Clark Harder, executive director of the Public Transit Association, said at a media roundtable.

He and others said lawmakers must vote immediately for an increase in registration fees and gas taxes, suggestions relayed in 2008 by the Transportation Funding Task Force.

They said since the original plan to increase the wholesale tax on diesel gasoline gradually and raise an additional $1.75 billion seems unpopular with lawmakers, they would support an alternative that would raise per gallon tax.

But while the proposal is a good start, Michigan would still be about $1.7 billion shy of what the task force deemed a "good level" for investment, said a release. Further, it said, Michigan falls short of that mark on the public transit side of funding by about $500 million.

"It's time for the state to bring its level of investment to a 2010 level and live up to maintaining the public transportation infrastructure it has supported for more than 25 years," said Debbie Alexander, assistant executive director for the Capital Area Transportation Authority in Lansing.

Mr. Harder said without increased state dollars, federal matching funds to buy more vehicles or invest in infrastructure are threatened, potentially preventing agencies from serving the state's transit riders.

As an example of how the state's per capita spending relates to other regions, a study from the Minnesota nonprofit Transit For Livable Communities said Detroit's per capita spending of $56 earned the city an 18th out of 18 ranking among other urban communities.

The average per capita spending in urban metropolitan communities such as Washington or Phoenix was $220.

As for the possibility of gaining more money from other sources, they are all but tapped out, said Mr. Harder.

Most agencies have already increased rider fees to the maximum level their riders can afford and have gone to the local community for mileage requests, which are overwhelmingly supported, but may get tougher to pass as the lag in the economy progresses, he said.

The more than 100 million rides on public transit last year set a new record, he said, and spelled a trend that involves either people who either can't afford cars anymore or those who wish to improve the environment or their health by using public transportation.

Added former Rep. Triette Reeves, at the roundtable representing the Detroit Department of Transportation: "Public transportation is a constant, and we're seeing people who never needed it before use it for the first time. To those who say they don't want to invest in public transportation I would say, 'you'll never know when you'll need it.'"