Forty people going to work on transit are 40 fewer cars in front of you. That’s the physical fact. And a place with poor transit is a less attractive place to live, work and do business. That’s the business fact.

Forty percent of all workers in downtown Minneapolis use transit. Eighty percent of all people using transit in the Twin Cities are commuting to work or school. No study has ever found that reducing our transit options and putting thousands more cars on our roads would improve traffic congestion. People understand that. Poll after poll finds that people want more transit.

Business leaders also want more transit, because we understand that we need it, and it works.

• Need: The business members of the Greater MSP “Regional Indicators Dashboard,” including the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Business Partnership, all agree that access to jobs by transit is a critical measure of economic competitiveness.

• It works: Detailed analysis by the 50-plus regional CEOs at the Itasca Project found between $2 billion and $5 billion in net benefits from completing the transit system, and a high rate of return. The faster the investment, the higher the return.