Stop the bus. Some of our legislators want to get off.

Rep. Becky Carney of Charlotte, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, postponed action today on her bill (HB 2363) to give Triangle voters the power to pay for transit improvements with a new half-cent local sales tax.

Carney's bill and a similar Senate measure would set up a state structure for financing urban bus and rail transit projects, and it would give voters in urban areas new options to tax themselves for transit.

Its sponsors included 11 of the 23 House and Senate members who represent Wake, Durham and Orange counties. Several members of the Triangle delegation have said local voters and county commissioners should decide whether to raise the sales tax to help finance an $8.2 billion plan to build a bus, rail and streetcar network by 2035.

Charlotte voted in a half penny sales tax a decade ago and has used it to beef up its bus network and to start building rail lines. But some Triangle legislators want to find other ways to pay for transit.

"There's still concern about the half cent sales tax and what other options are out there," Carney said.

The bill had been scheduled for its first airing at Wednesday's meeting of the House Transportation Committee, which Carney chairs. She pulled it from the agenda and said it was possible that the bill could be ready for discussion at next Wednesday's meeting. But the delay made it unlikely that the measure would get anywhere during this year's legislative session.

Rep. Paul Luebke of Durham opposes sales tax increases as unfairly burdening low-income residents. He heads the Finance Committee, which is in line to debate Carney's bill.

One transit advocate criticized the delay.

"We're confused as to why the legislature is putting money into toll roads and providing giveaways to the trucking industry - but not moving on this when we're paying $4 for gas and support for more transit has never been higher," said Christa Wagner, a lobbyist for the N.C. Sierra Club.

Rep. Deborah Ross of Raleigh said the Triangle needs to start building a transit network of buses, trains and streetcars.

"I guess people can put up roadblocks by saying their philosophy is more important," Ross said. "But I'm about getting the work done. If the people want it and they vote for a funding stream, I do not think we should stand in the way."