public transportation Archives - Page 3 of 3

Rep. Oberstar stuck in traffic, misses release of report on public transportation

The Environmental Defense Fund held a news conference Thursday morning to release a new report profiling 10 innovative public transportation systems that are pushing beyond traditional ideas of transit, providing fast, clean and flexible service to help people get from A to B. Some special guests were invited, including transit supporter Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, who heads up the House committee responsible for writing the transportation bill this year.

So where was Rep. Oberstar when the press conference kicked off Thursday morning on Capitol Hill?

Stuck in gridlocked DC traffic, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Once the strong sense of irony subsided, EDF carried on with the release of the report that profiles 11 systems from coast to coast that are “Reinventing Transit” by thinking outside the box to implement innovative service that can keep Americans moving.

Rep. Oberstar offered his strong support for the report in absentia.

Reinventing Transit makes the case that reinventing the transportation bill to fund transit innovations in Minnesota and nationwide will deliver new jobs, new connections to jobs and economic development for communities of all sizes. Given our economic and environmental challenges, ‘business as usual’ transportation investments are not good enough. Reinventing Transit sets the standard for transit investments in the upcoming transportation bill to fuel America’s economic recovery.

Read more quotes from the guests and EDF in their press release.

Five of the systems profiled in detailed case studies have accompanying videos. The systems profiled span from coast to coast, and cities from small to large.

One system not profiled is Washington’s own Metro, which keeps thousands of cars off the road each day, keeping that infamous DC traffic from being even worse. And Metro does have several stops near the Capitol. 🙂

Good Magazine visualizes the United States of Transit Cutbacks

Good Magazine published their “transportation issue” last week, covering some of the current debates over where, why, and how to spend money on transportation. You might have caught the superb graphic of what makes a livable street that they produced for the issue in collaboration with our friends at Streetsblog.

Today, they posted this terrific visualization of our map of transit cuts. As you know, driving is down and ridership of public transportation is at record highs. Yet transit agencies across the country are facing layoffs, service cuts and fare hikes at a time when people need their services more than ever.

Click the graphic to see the full-size version from Good Magazine.

BREAKING: Threat to transit funding in Senate compromise?

UPDATED: (8:30 p.m. 2/7/09) The Senate agreement reached last night has no changes for transit, highways, intermodal competitive grants, or high-speed rail. We recommend halting calls on the proposed cuts to transit. See this newer post for more updated information.

The so-called “compromise” plan about to be put forth by Senators Nelson and Collins would cut somewhere between $80-100 billion from the Senate stimulus package. How do they propose to get there?

In part, by cutting transit’s already paltry amount nearly in half, and raising the amount of highway spending by an undisclosed amount.

According to a Senate memo obtained by The Plum Line, there is a proposal to remove $3.4 billion from transit funding and raise the funds for highways above the $27 billion already earmarked for highway spending. If true, cutting $3.4 billion from public transportation (and increasing highway spending) would reduce the roads/transit split in this bill far below even the tepid 80/20 share that current federal spending reflects.

Tell your senator not to support any proposed change to the stimulus package that reduces funds for transit below those in the original Senate proposal, but rather to push for increasing the funds to meet the soaring demand for reliable, clean transportation. And tell them not to increase highway funding without increasing transit proportionally.

Call-in information removed in light of agreement reached in Senate.

For targeting purposes, the Senators reported to be in the room are Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mark Begich (D-AK), Tom Carper (D-DE), John Tester (D-MT), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Jim Webb (D-VA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Michael Bennett (D-CO), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mark Udall (D-CO), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Mel Martinez (R-FL), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and George Voinovich (R-OH).

Leave us notes in the comments on your calls if you like.

The Inauguration: A shining moment for public transportation

If you were watching television last Tuesday, you saw at least two historic things happen, but there’s a chance that the lesser of them escaped your notice.

What you might have missed was the fact that Washington, D.C. also managed to quadruple the number of people who travel into the city on a typical day — from 400,000 to 1.8 million — without breaking out into total chaos. And that number was quadrupled at on the same day that they closed all Potomac River bridges and banned private vehicles from a large area around the Mall and parade route.

The star performer of the day? What the Washington Post‘s Dr. Gridlock calls “the Washington region’s biggest transportation asset: The Metrorail system.”

By many accounts, it was the largest public gathering in city’s history. And for certain, it was the highest rail ridership day that Metro has ever had in its history. It wasn’t even close. The previous record, actually set just the day before at 866,681 trips, was completely obliterated with a total of 1,120,000 riders on Inauguration Day. There were problems with stations getting closed at times due to crowding, and definitely some packed platforms, but on the whole, Metro stood up to numbers far higher than anyone had ever seen before.

Even President Obama got there on public transportation

The Post’s Dr. Gridlock wrote a four part post-mortem on “How It Worked,” and his general conclusion? Thousands biked, even more walked, roads and bridges were closed to cars, and embraced the superior carrying capacity of Metro.

Local blog Greater Greater Washington points to last Tuesday’s success as a blueprint for the future of a growing Washington, DC region:

If our region is to grow, we need to help more people reach their jobs. One approach is to add traffic lanes and parking garages at enormous cost, both financial and in lost urban vitality. The other solution is to move people as we did on Tuesday. More people rode the trains. Each vehicle coming into the downtown core carried far more people. Over 2,000 people used WABA’s bike valet. And many more people started their days within walking distance of downtown. Those houseguests raised our population density enormously, enriching our neighborhood businesses besides.

To follow that up, read what Ryan Avent points out about Metro’s ridership these days, especially in light of the city’s population continuing to grow.

And now, of the top 20 ridership days, one was in 2004 (Reagan’s funeral), one in 2007, 16 were last year, and two have already happened this year. And the metropolitan population continues to grow. One might think that WMATA and the District would work to enhance core service, by planning a new core line and by adding streetcar capacity to help with the intracity load.

So what’s the status of expanding and building upon “the region’s greatest transportation asset?” If you’ve seen the transit cuts map, you might already know the answer: Cutting nearly 900 jobs and cutting $73 million in service. That operating assistance sure would have been useful to keeping the economic backbone of the region functioning.

Call your representative today and urge them to support Rep. Nadler’s amendment to increase transit funding in the stimulus. (1/28/09)

Photos by Steve Davis