Last November, St. Louis County voters narrowly defeated Proposition M, a half-cent sales tax that would have supported public transit operations and infrastructure. It would have raised an estimated $80 million a year for a system that faced a $45 million deficit, and it could have meant stability for the foreseeable future.

A swing of merely 8,000 votes out of 509,000 cast would have changed the outcome. This week, St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley asked the County Council to put a transit tax to another vote — this time on April 6. City voters long ago approved the extra half-cent tax, but it does not take effect until county voters also approve.

Many questions about the Metro transit agency and the region’s reliance on public transit have been answered over the 12 months. These changes should influence how area business and political leaders — and voters — consider the renewed campaign.

Metro itself has changed. In December 2007, the agency’s board of commissioners, pushed by Mr. Dooley, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and other regional leaders, asked Robert J. Baer to take charge of Metro. The move came during a period of disarray at the agency, including the loss of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the designers and construction managers of MetroLink’s expansion.

Mr. Baer, the no-nonsense former chairman of UniGroup Inc., brought in independent auditors to examine agency operations — from information technology to financial management to safety and security.

He’s made internal auditing a priority to ensure that the agency board is apprised of potential risks — preventing devastating “surprises” that could jeopardize the agency’s future.

He and his staff prepared Metro for the worst, mapping out in advance how best to execute wrenching cuts in service and staff if no additional funding were forthcoming.

Some of Metro’s management problems remain to be solved, but there is considerable evidence that the agency has been put on sound and realistic business footing.

A measure of Metro’s improved standing is the confidence it earned from Republican leaders in the Missouri Legislature. The lawmakers allocated $12 million in federal stimulus funds to the once-politically toxic agency, enabling temporary restoration of some service until area voters could consider options for more lasting funding solutions.

In the last year, St. Louis has discovered that public transit is perishable. Mr. Baer has resisted the usual temptation of new leaders to blame his predecessor, but clearly Metro’s problems had become institutionalized — loose controls, failures of oversight, politicized hiring, questions of credibility.

But the biggest problem is this: St. Louis never has had a reliably funded public transit system. And that’s a community-wide failure of vision and leadership.

Mr. Baer warned last year that if Proposition M failed, region-wide public transit as we knew it would end. People were skeptical, anticipating the usual last-minute tricks to bail it out. But the ax came down hard with deep service cuts and fare increases. The $12 million from the Legislature restored some of the cuts, but that money will be gone by June 30.

Mr. Baer says the region would suffer another round of “major service cuts even deeper than those of last March” if new revenue isn’t identified by July 1.

“Any suggestion that we can operate throughout 2010 is based upon misinformation and/or lack of understanding of the financial issues facing us,” he said this week.

Civic Progress is not the answer. Nor is the Regional Business Council. Those two organization of business leaders freely acknowledge that public transit is key to the region’s economy, social stability and vibrancy.

In the past, the business associations have helped fund campaigns for tax support; they contributed a total of about $300,000 to last year’s Proposition M campaign.

Neither Civic Progress or the RBC has committed to financially support an April campaign. Spokesmen say the groups are waiting for a specific proposal on the campaign. They worry that the vote might come too soon and suggest that it should wait until economic times are better.

Those concerns are legitimate, but many people need Metro to get to their jobs. The timing is urgent. St. Louis has a transit crisis.

Business leadership and individual companies must step up and contribute the money needed to run an effective campaign that stresses regional public transit needs. That campaign will have to overcome some voters’ reluctance, at a time of great economic uncertainty and insecurity, to add even 5 cents on a $10 purchase toward public transit.

But hard times are precisely when working people most depend on public transit. Mr. Dooley is committed to giving voters a chance to prevent more cuts. That’s a principled position to take.

New leaders are emerging. John Nations, the longtime mayor of Chesterfield is heading the campaign effort.

When Metro cut almost all routes west of Interstate 270 this spring, Mr. Nations led an effort to contract for special limited service along the U.S. Highway 40/Interstate 64 corridor.

“People are surprised to hear that transit is a priority for Chesterfield,” he said. “But we have 26,000 jobs. Many depend on public transportation. Transit attracts jobs and investment. It’s also good for the region — and what’s good for the region is good for Chesterfield.”

Last week, Mr. Nations won overwhelming support for the transit tax from his fellow St. Louis County mayors.

Tom Shrout, executive director Citizens for Modern Transit, the region’s main transit advocacy organization, says Mr. Nations’ leadership is the “epitome of what this campaign needs to be about — reaching people who don’t ride the system but are affected by it.”

A new coalition is emerging of labor, bipartisan municipal leaders, faith and social service community leaders, hospitals and health care institutions, transit activists, colleges and universities and major companies that belong to the organized business associations but are nimbler and willing to exert their own forceful leadership. The big business organizations should at least contribute if they won’t lead.

Some things haven’t changed. Transit always has been a hard sell for some — especially those who don’t ride it and don’t fully realize how much they benefit from it, even indirectly. Class and racial prejudices also remain stubborn barriers to a stable, well-funded transit system here.

Public transit serves people who work hard and play by the rules, those who catch the early bus to overcome adversity and support themselves. It provides dignity and autonomy to the elderly and disabled. It offers an alternative to people concerned about auto emissions.

Our transit system reflects our civic values and social unity. They will be tested as the campaign plays out over the next 131 days. We dare not fail.