Posts Tagged "transit"
Republican Senator says more transit = better health
Last week, an offhand comment by Republican Senator John Ensign about the link between health and transportation policy didn’t make the headlines, but it did make an interesting connection. Ensign was wrong in asserting that the United States has the highest life expectancy among developed countries when gun and automobile accidents are ignored. But he […]
California Supreme Court hands victory to local transit riders and providers
A recent California Supreme Court decision could restore billions in funding for public transportation in the nation’s most populous state. The Court’s ruling late last week upheld a lower court decision declaring the state’s $3.6 billion raid of public transit funds illegal and ordered that the money be returned to local transit providers.
Seattle opens new light rail system, residents get a new “Link”
Seattle opened a new light rail system this weekend, and it was a smashing success by all accounts. Ridership from the inaugural weekend was over 90,000, and the system is settling into normal revenue service today. Read all about it from fellow Streetsblog Network member Seattle Transit Blog, and check out a huge batch of photos from opening weekend in their Flickr group pool.
Videos from last week’s Portland Streetcar unveiling
Youtube user bobrpdx has some great videos of last week’s unveiling of the made in the USA streetcar in Portland, including interviews with Rep. Pete DeFazio and Rep. Earl Blumenauer. Check out the rest of his videos for more Portland transit goodness. In this particular video, Rep. DeFazio talks about the streetcar made locally by […]
What does Oberstar’s proposal do for the New Starts transit program?
Americans are taking the train (and the bus) like never before, and public transportation ridership reached its highest level in more than 50 years in 2008. Cities of all sizes are looking to meet the burgeoning demand for quality public transportation service. With Chairman James Oberstar’s 90-page proposal for the next transportation bill coming out this morning from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, we are left with an important question — how would these current or future transit systems fare under his proposed program?
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. 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.
Transportation numbers emerge on the stimulus
UPDATE (2:00 p.m., 02/12/09): Talking Points Memo has acquired a summary of the new bill, which includes a comparison of each spending item to the House and Senate legislation. It looks like the final number for highways is $27.5 billion. The bill to come out of conference also includes $1.3 billion for Amtrak. — We […]
Schumer amendment in Senate could boost transit funding
Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Jerrold Nadler released a statement on Senator Schumer’s amendment to increase funding for transit in the Senate economic recovery package. Sen. Schumer’s planned amendment would boost transit funding from $8.4 billion up to $14.9 billion, with additions to the vital program (New Starts) that would provide funds for new, ready-to-go transit projects across the country. Currently, the House version has $2.5 billion for New Starts, where the Senate version has zero.
Update to the Transit Cuts map; 51 systems covered
We knew when we put it together that our list of transit agencies facing fiscal crises was not going to be exhaustive. And as soon as it went live, we heard from a number of you with information on other systems that we either didn’t know about or couldn’t find information on. So thanks to Hugh, Richard, Jef, Randy, and Jeff, we now have 51 systems covered in the map, representing almost 21 million daily trips by everyday Americans.
Transit Cuts: Coming soon to a system near you?
Perhaps you’ve already seen the news in your local paper. Even as ridership is spiking — perhaps even the highest of all time — your local transit system is talking about having to cut service, raise fares, or even lay off workers to cope with the struggling economy. We’ve created a map compiling the potential and proposed cuts to public transportation systems in 38 communities across the country.
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