Last November, we posted an action alert on the potential for millions of Americans to see the cost of their commute suddenly rise. Congress wisely chose to extend to $230 per month tax benefit for transit as part of the 2010 package extending the Bush tax cuts, continuing transit parity with the $230 deduction available [...]

15 events around the country today highlight the devastating impact of the House’s initial transportation proposal that would make a 35 percent cut to public transportation. Today is the “Don’t X Out Public Transportation” day of action to highlight the crippling impacts of the proposed 35 percent cut to public transit. The events are being held in 15 cities in cooperation with the American Public Transportation Association and a number of key partners to let Congress know that deep cuts mean Americans losing their jobs or their ability to get to their jobs, as well as groceries and essential services.

A newly-released documentary available both on radio and online surveys a variety of Americans about their perspectives on the nation’s public transportation system. “Passengers,” as the program was dubbed, aired on WAMU (D.C.’s NPR affiliate), a number of public radio stations in most major U.S. markets and nationwide on NPR World and NPR’s Sirius XM [...]

Walk Score, an innovative tool that allows users to check an areas’ walkability and accessibility, just released its revised rankings on America’s most walkable cities. The top ten finishers for 2011 were: 1) New York; 2) San Francisco; 3) Boston; 4) Chicago; 5) Philadelphia; 6) Seattle; 7) Washington, DC; 8) Miami; 9) Minneapolis; and 10) Oakland. [...]

The House has not yet released the full text of a transportation bill proposal, but the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has released an outline of the principles that will be included in the bill. We posted an analysis of the outline here. This is one in a short series of posts looking into some of [...]

Photo Credit: TransLink In a blog post last Thursday, Streetsblog Capitol Hill’s Tanya Snyder tackled a question that has been marinating since Transportation for America released “Aging in Place, Stuck without Options,” addressing seniors’ mobility challenges: Is it the job of overextended transit agencies – and the responsibility of taxpayers – to expand transit to [...]

By 2015, more than 15.5 million Americans 65 and older will live in communities where public transportation service is poor or non-existent. That number will continue to grow rapidly as the baby boom generation “ages in place” in suburbs and exurbs with few mobility options for those who do not drive. How will we address [...]

Last week, we released Aging in Place, Stuck without Options, documenting the more than 15.5 million Americans 65 years and older who, by 2015,  will live in places with poor or non-existent public transportation. The report ranked metro areas according to the percentage of seniors projected to face poor transit access, and asked: How do [...]

A poll released last week shatters the conventional wisdom that Americans are divided about climate change and its potential cures. Contrary to an undeniable divide in elite political opinion, the survey from Yale University’s Project on Climate Change Communication found that 71 percent of Americans believe global warming should be a priority, with 13 identifying [...]

In April, the Long Island Bus system in Nassau County, New York was on the verge of cutting bus service in half until a funding deal between state and local officials halted the reductions with an $8.6 million cash infusion. Now, with the temporary lifeline slated to end in December, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano has announced his intention to privatize the system by 2012.