Transit district

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A transit district or transit authority is a special-purpose district organized as either a corporation chartered by statute, or a government agency, created for the purpose of providing public transportation within a specific region. In the United States, this is usually 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 dealing with 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.

A transit district may operate bus, rail or other types of transport including ferry service, or may operate other facilities. In some cases, the transit district may be part of a larger organization such as a state Department of Transportation. Some of the more famous transit districts include

• 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 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 Bernadino counties during the late 1960s until April 1, 1993 when it was converted into the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.