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Smarter transportation case study #4: Dynamic Parking Pricing, San Francisco
SFpark has reduced idle driving time and cut congestion by making it easier to track and locate parking in San Francisco. In 2009, 30 percent of driving San Francisco consisted of drivers circling around the block looking for parking. Now, city officials are pursuing an intelligent parking-pricing model called “SFpark” to cut down on the wasted time and fuel that too often results from this elusive parking search. (From our 14 case studies on smarter transportation.)
Smarter transportation case study #3: Specialized Customer Information: Pittsburgh, Pa.
The ACCESS program integrates non-profit and for-profit transit providers to maximize service for older residents and the disabled. Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how these existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs.
UPDATED: T4 America sends letter to New Jersey Governor Christie on ARC Tunnel
You may have heard the news that the ARC tunnel project in New Jersey is on fragile ground. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says his office has not made a final decision yet, but he is expected to make some kind of announcement at 1pm press conference this afternoon. Transportation for America prepared a letter to the Governor’s office, touting the “critical importance this project has to the northeast and the nation in general.”
Smarter transportation case study #2: SmartBus Project, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Chattanooga’s SmartBus project has produced significant savings and made buying tickets and finding buses easier than ever. Our new report — including these 14 case studies — on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs.
Smarter transportation case study #1: Yellowstone LINX Cooperative
The LINX program has integrated transportation providers in 27 counties for an easy-to-use and more seamless network for riders in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Our new report on smarter mobility demonstrates how existing and emerging technologies can squeeze more capacity from over-burdened highways, help commuters avoid traffic delays and expand and improve transportation options, all while saving money and creating jobs. These 14 case studies demonstrate the community benefits smart mobility solutions are giving regions, cities, and businesses.
Two former secretaries of transportation stress renewed focus on infrastructure, better ways to pay for it
Former secretaries of transportation Norman Mineta and Samuel Skinner want less talk on infrastructure and more action. In a briefing on Capitol Hill yesterday, this bipartisan duo that both worked in Republican administrations called for increased attention on the nation’s infrastructure, more accountability and wisdom for how we choose what projects to fund and declared the existing gas tax an insufficient funding source for the future.
American Lung Association: smart growth saves lives, improves health
Photo courtesy of Compass Blueprint There are many reasons smarter growth makes sense. By building more sustainably and closer to where people work and shop and plan, we reduce hours stuck in traffic and make it easier to reach life’s necessities. But there is something even more important at stake: our health. According to new […]
Normal, Illinois breaks ground on transportation hub
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin speaks in Normal, Illinois on the site of the new multi-modal transportation hub. Photo courtesy of the Bloomington Pantagraph. Just over two months after T4 America Director James Corless visited Normal, Illinois, that same town of 45,000 broke ground on a new transportation hub that promises to spur the economy and […]
Increased traffic is hazardous to our health
Much of the discussion around health and transportation has zeroed in on how a lack of travel options and an unwalkable built environment in our communities reduces physical activity. But when traffic is the leading cause of death among children worldwide and the leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 1 and […]
InfrastructureUSA sits down with T4 America Director James Corless
At T4 America, we often lament that transportation policy is a page eight issue as opposed to a page one issue. Groups like InfrastructureUSA help bring our priorities to the forefront. James Corless, our director, spoke with the folks at InfrastructureUSA on the phone last week about an array of topics, including high-speed rail, reauthorization and articulating an infrastructure vision for the 21st century.
20 years after the ADA, continuing the fight to improve access for all
A couple of years ago, we profiled Dr. Scott Crawford, a wheelchair user and resident of Jackson, Mississippi who has long fought for accessible buses with wheelchair lifts, curb ramps and better sidewalks. As Dr. Crawford’s story reminds us, there is still a lot of work to do, but he’s had a powerful legal tool in his fight to make streets and transit services equitable and accessible for all users: The Americans with Disabilities Act, which turned 20 years old just this week.
America’s transit systems require $77.7 billion just to reach a state of good repair
Failure to keep up with regular maintenance and repair in many of our country’s public transportation systems due to tightened budgets is literally slowing us down, through longer commutes, unreliable service and reduced access, exacerbating the effects of a down economy and high unemployment. A study prepared by the Federal Transit Administration reveals chronic underinvestment in the nation’s transit systems and estimates $77.7 billion is needed just to rehabilitate what we already have.
Helping kids get active and healthy by “keeping them moving”
We’re facing an epidemic of childhood obesity, and this could very well be a generation of children who live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. A healthier transportation system for America’s kids requires change in federal policy. But change will remain out of our grasp without a sense of urgency from everyday people on the ground. So where’s the meeting point between policymakers in Washington and citizens in their neighborhoods?
American Conservative magazine “rails against the machine,” promotes alternatives to the automobile
William Lind, a respected figure in right-wing circles, is adamant that public transportation shouldn’t be politically divisive, explaining why in “Rail Against the Machine,” featured in this month’s American Conservative magazine — part of a special package on public transportation with contributions from a host of special authors.
Active transportation, more walking and biking can help us confront obesity
Obesity is on the rise in 28 states and one of the biggest public health challenges facing America, but boosting walking and biking could help turn the tide. That is the conclusion of “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010.”
America’s military families have diverse transportation needs
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense. Just as America’s veterans rely on transportation options to access crucial health care, military families face unique travel challenges as well. One challenge is getting kids to school and recreation in new locations. The average child in a military family moves and switches schools three times as […]
America’s veterans need more and better transportation options
As we celebrate the birth of our country this Fourth of July, we should also remember to honor the men and women who have served in uniform. Keeping our promise with America’s veterans mean giving them the resources they need when they return home, and that includes their transportation needs.
Innovation and competition make the housing-transportation connection work
A map of the Chicago Transit Authority system. Note: a version of this post was also published on the National Journal’s Transportation Experts blog. This country is in desperate need of innovation. We are still mired in a recession triggered by a collapse in real estate that was driven in no small part by the […]
Secretary LaHood, members of Congress celebrate Pennsylvania Avenue’s new bike lanes
LaHood with Mayor Fenty, DDOT Director Gabe Klein and Reps. Blumenauer and Oberstar. Photo courtesy of USDOT. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has made a point of championing bicycling as a legitimate travel option everywhere, but he is also keeping an eye on his own backyard, including Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. LaHood joined DC Mayor […]
Transportation for America proposal creates more jobs than current transportation law, Economic Policy Institute finds
What if we could re-design our nation’s transportation policy to increase travel choices, reduce oil dependency and create more jobs? According to an Economic Policy Institute study, we could do just that if Congress adopts Transportation for America’s proposal.
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