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The main objective of this primer is to help transit managers identify and evaluate financing options for public transportation capital projects. While the emphasis of the primer is on approaches that take advantage of access to the public capital markets, it also addresses the tradeoffs of pay-asyou-go approaches versus approaches that borrow against future resources. The primer includes descriptive sections that lay out the basic financing approaches and structures available to transit systems, as well as sections that help system managers and public officials decide when it is most appropriate to apply different financing techniques.

The transit industry in the United States has experienced a number of changes in recent years. There have been demographic shifts in transit markets, policy initiatives, and funding changes at all levels — these changes have led to concerns about the ability of transit agencies to remain financially viable over the short and long terms. TCRP Project H-7 was initiated to highlight these issues and suggest solutions to this perceived growing financial "crisis" among U.S. transit agencies.

Reacting to funding cutbacks and increasing revenue needs, many transit agencies are looking at increasing the amount and kinds of advertising that they permit on transit facilities and equipment as a way to raise additional revenue. The search for new dollars came at the same time that marketing experts were looking for new ways to carry their messages to consumer audiences outside the home. The term "out-of-home" media means literally whatever carries advertising messages to the consumer outside of the home--not print and television ads. It includes everything from billboards and posters to displays on transit vehicles, on shelters, in stations, airports, shopping malls, sports arenas and supermarkets. The history of
billboards in this country spans a century with advocates pointing to a proud tradition of providing consumers with valuable information about everything from gas and lodging to other necessary services. Detractors point to the proliferation of signs and the…