Bath train depot to reopen in mid-June

 

By DENNIS HOEY, Staff Writer

 

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

 

BATH - In just a few weeks, the return of passenger rail service will take on a whole new meaning for the city of Bath, which is nearly ready to open a new train station.

 

Though the Commercial Street station closed in 1959, it was mothballed for years and at one point was used as a dental clinic with the hope that one day it could become a destination point for rail travelers.

 

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/coast/070417trainstation.html

 

Regional light-rail talk gains ground

Funkhouser wants to explore a metrowide transportation system that could involve a bistate tax.

 

By DEANN SMITH

The Kansas City Star

April 13, 2007

 

Mayor-elect Mark Funkhouser wants to put Kansas City’s light-rail plan on a new set of tracks.

 

Ever since voters approved a light-rail proposal in November, the city has been locked in a struggle over how to make it work. Clay Chastain, the plan’s author, who was in town this week, maintains it should happen now with no revisions. Federal and local officials say it needs at least some revamping.

 

Funkhouser has his own plan: Take the tracks beyond Kansas City, and take the time to make that happen.

 

“We do need light rail, and it has to be regional,” Funkhouser said. “You have to be able to get a train across the state line and north and south of the river.”

 

And regional means perhaps a third bistate tax election, he said.

 

Although Chastain strongly opposes changes and delays to his plan, area officials said this week that Funkhouser’s good-government, frugal image could help open some doors on both sides of the state line, particularly to bistate tax talk.

 

“We are going to have a whole lot better cooperation in the metro area,” said Johnson County Commission Chairwoman Annabeth Surbaugh. “I think the most important issue facing the metro area today is some form of metrowide transportation system.”

 

Even with Funkhouser in office, Surbaugh thinks political issues in Topeka probably would derail another bistate tax effort. That’s because a bistate tax would require Kansas lawmakers to revise the wording so it could be used for transportation. Now bistate funding can go only for sports, arts and cultural activities. Missouri legislators have already made the revision.

 

Some other regional funding for transportation is possible if bistate doesn’t work, Surbaugh said.

 

“I am not sure Johnson County would want to get into the light-rail business,” she said.

 

But she said layering state-of-the-art buses with Kansas City’s light-rail system is a possibility.

 

A $1 million study of transit options for Interstate 35 between Johnson County and downtown has already ruled out light rail as an option because of high cost, said Alice Amrein, Johnson County’s transportation director.

 

Early study results released Thursday show that a rapid bus line similar to Kansas City’s Metro Area Express, which runs from the Country Club Plaza to downtown, is the transit option most likely to get federal funding.

 

North Kansas City Mayor Gene Bruns said he was eager to talk to Funkhouser about mass transportation because there has been much confusion since Kansas City voters approved a 25-year sales tax starting in 2009 to fund a light-rail system.

 

Chastain’s plan calls for a 27-mile light-rail line from Swope Park to Kansas City International Airport. It includes electric shuttle buses and a gondola tram linking Union Station and Liberty Memorial across Penn Valley Park.

 

Bruns says mass transit, including light rail, is the perfect opportunity for a bistate tax.

 

He says Union Station is the right vehicle for the first bistate tax. Bistate II — an overhaul of the Truman Sports Complex with arts funding — was rejected.

 

Independence Mayor Don Reimal thinks light rail might be a tough sell in a bistate vote, but he’d like to see some funding for it. Lines could run from eastern Jackson County to the airport and to downtown, he said.

 

Wyandotte County’s Unified Government mayor, Joe Reardon, says that he is open to a bistate tax discussion, but that a candid discussion about all funding options is crucial.

 

He said Funkhouser’s commitment to transparency will be key to the discussions and to gaining areawide support.

 

“Financing across state lines is ultimately the right way,” he said. “This is truly something. If we can come together as a region, then I think it will lift up the economic prospects of all the Kansas City metropolitan area.”

 

But Funkhouser’s efforts to delay implementing the light-rail plan while he gets a regional consensus on mass transportation will face stiff resistance from light rail’s biggest proponent: Chastain.

 

Chastain spent much of the past week in Kansas City. He held news conferences and attended forums and meetings, including one at the downtown library sponsored by a local architectural group that drew almost 300 residents.

 

Chastain wants the Kansas City Council to immediately move ahead with designing the light-rail plan so construction can begin in 2009. He says the main “spine,” from the Plaza area north through downtown and across the Missouri River, should be done first.

 

Chastain agrees with Funkhouser that the metropolitan area needs a regional transportation plan, and he wants to see heavy rail commuter trains from the suburbs into Union Station.

 

But he vehemently disagrees with Funkhouser’s plan to concentrate first on renewing next year a tax for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, the local bus company, before moving on with light rail and regional transportation.

 

Kansas City officials worry because the voter-approved light-rail plan will be funded with a 3/8 -cent sales tax that now pays for most of the bus company’s operations.

 

But Chastain dismisses criticism of his plan.

 

“These are bogus technicalities and they’re unproven and they’re not flaws,” he said.

 

During his visit, Chastain verbally sparred with Mark Huffer, the head of the local bus company. Chastain thinks the ATA cannot be trusted to oversee construction, while Huffer continues to maintain that Chastain’s plan is unfeasible and must be overhauled to get crucial federal funds.

 

“It’s the voters’ way or no way,” Chastain said.

 

For his part, Funkhouser said he looks forward to meeting with Chastain later this spring. He commended him for keeping the issue visible.

 

“He should keep stirring the pot,” Funkhouser said. “That’s a good thing.”

 

However, he and his staff declined an opportunity to meet with Chastain while he was in town.

 

The mayor-elect says that it’s too soon to hammer out details with Chastain and that he remains open to all ideas.

 

“This is a high priority,” Funkhouser said. “And I want to move with alacrity but not in haste.”

[note: much of the reason seems political as CTA seems more a political appointment than most like Cleveland's RTA, but I still have to believe people are also so fed up with the deteriorating/poor service/conditions on the L these days, the worst I've ever seen]

 

CTA chief Kruesi steps down

 

By Gary Washburn and Jon Hilkevitch

Tribune staff reporters

Published April 19, 2007, 8:48 PM CDT

With the rift widening between the city and the suburbs over transit funding, Mayor Richard Daley replaced the polarizing president of the Chicago Transit Authority with an administrator known to be tough, but conciliatory.

 

In Ron Huberman, Daley selected a proven star of his administration to seek more money for the troubled agency and upgrade the CTA system as Chicago prepares to bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

 

 

 

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Assuming approval by the CTA board, Huberman will succeed Frank Kruesi, the politically wired CTA president who has become a lightning rod for criticism.

 

The hard-edged Kruesi has presided over ridership increases and directed major rail projects in his more than nine years on the job. But he also has taken hits for introducing fare increases and for what has become his annual threat of massive service cuts unless the state boosts funding.

 

"I want to have a transportation system that meets the needs of riders and keeps our economy very strong," Daley said. "I want to be assured that riders and taxpayers are getting their money's worth. As you know, the General Assembly will demand that same assurance as a condition of providing the increased funding the CTA needs so badly."

 

What will become of Kruesi, 56, a one-time Springfield aide and roommate of the mayor when Daley was a state legislator, was not revealed.

 

Asked if his longtime friend might land a job in connection with the city's Olympic effort, Daley dodged.

 

"Frank is a very, very knowledgeable person in government," the mayor replied. "He was in state government for many years. He was in county government. He was in the federal government, and the city government, is very knowledgeable in regards especially to public transportation and other issues. He is one of my best advisers."

 

Kruesi made connections in Washington during a stint as a senior staffer in the U.S. Department of Transportation before returning to Chicago to head the CTA. Daley has said the federal government would have to fund transit infrastructure improvements if Chicago wins the 2016 Games, and he specifically has mentioned the need for a new rail line west of downtown that would run north and south.

 

But the CTA faces huge challenges this year. The current rail and bus system has unmet capital improvement needs that officials estimate at $5.8 billion; an operating budget that could be $110 million in the red if the state doesn't come to the rescue with more money; and what officials contend is a need for a long-term injection of funding just to maintain present service levels.

 

If Springfield ultimately agrees to provide more money, legislators will demand reforms and cost-cutting measures, Huberman said at a City Hall news conference where his appointment was announced.

 

"I am committed to finding new ways to tighten the belt of the CTA and finding new and innovative ways to deliver service more efficiently," he said. "The mayor has made it clear to me that everything is on the table."

 

In a humorous aside, Huberman, 35, said he has hands-on transportation experience—driving a bus for three years when he was a college student.

 

But Daley insisted Huberman's thin résumé in the public transit field is not a concern.

 

"He is very knowledgeable, very smart, very practical," Daley said. "He works with people well. He brings in very creative and innovative people. It is all about management. It is all about setting policies."

 

Huberman became a street officer for the Chicago Police Department in the mid-1990s, rising quickly through the ranks to become an assistant deputy superintendent and the department's technology guru. After catching Daley's eye, Huberman was appointed in 2004 to head the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

 

As a federal investigation into contracting and hiring fraud was picking up steam, Daley made a show of naming Huberman his chief of staff in 2005, with orders to clean up City Hall and to make city government more efficient.

 

Daley declined to say who would succeed Huberman as chief of staff, considered the second-most powerful job in city government. But Terry Peterson, a former alderman who until recently headed the Chicago Housing Authority, is viewed as a top contender. Peterson was the campaign manager for Daley in his bid for re-election in February.

 

Also seen as a possible candidate for the job is Cortez Trotter, the city's chief emergency officer.

 

Kruesi, a behind-the-scenes operator in Chicago politics for years, who insiders say was behind Daley's decision to bulldoze Meigs Field, was not asked to resign, the mayor said. But the sometimes abrasive CTA chief is disliked and distrusted by some legislators in Springfield.

 

Suburban officials who viewed Kruesi as a roadblock to transit funding said Daley effectively took the issue off the table by shaking up the CTA's leadership.

 

"It's good to have new blood coming in, and we will reach out to the new team," said U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill). "With new leadership comes new ideas."

 

Kruesi insisted he made the decision to leave on his own and denied he has been toxic for the CTA in Springfield.

 

"This polarizing notion that people have, quite frankly, I'd say you're about nine, 10 months behind," he said. "That tone has changed dramatically."

 

Kruesi came under fire in 2003 for trying to engineer pension sweeteners for top CTA executives, including himself. When details became public, the agency's embarrassed board reversed itself and killed the deal.

 

Daley was asked Thursday if Kruesi's pension will be increased now as he leaves the CTA.

 

"I don't think so," the mayor replied. Pressed by reporters, he added, "I just said no."

 

[email protected]

 

[email protected]

 

 

 

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

 

And with that map drawn, it's incredibly frustrating to see no extension across 125th.  It's only 2,000 more feet to the Lenox Ave. line and 4,000 to the ACE.  The Broadway line is elevated at 125th on that great arch bridge so no direct transfer is possible there but it would require just 1.25 miles of additional construction to build a lateral subway across Harlem and put an end to one of the larger gaps in the system's service.

 

Jeez Mecklenborg, does everything have to be a racial issue with you?

 

Seriously though, that gap is egregious.  I'm surprised a powerful Harlemite like Charlie Rangel or Bill Clinton hasn't noticed and complained about that lack of a connection.  I'd be curious to know what the time savings would be for someone living in Queens and commuting to Columbia if they took that line all the way to Broadway.

There's a bus that runs across 125th all the way to LaGuardia, I've taken once or twice while visiting my friend at Columbia.  However the people you mention and their ilk might actually oppose a new subway in Harlem in order to slow gentrification. 

 

That said I've always been amused by the way the Upper East side sort of instantly fizzles out right at that point where the Metro North tracks emerge from Park Ave. 

big sunday nytimes article:

 

 

National Perspectives

Rail Line Drives Utah Development

 

 

Transit Access Keith Snarr helped negotiate a deal between Murray City, a Salt Lake City suburb, and Hamlet Homes to build Birkhill at Fireclay.

 

 

By KEITH SCHNEIDER

Published: April 22, 2007

MURRAY CITY, Utah

 

Rendered Edge

Birkhill at Fireclay.

 

 

TWO years ago, this Salt Lake City suburb began collaborating with a local developer to turn industrial land into a neighborhood of town homes, condominiums and offices. Now the project, known as Birkhill at Fireclay, is finally being built.

 

The 30-acre $140 million development by Hamlet Homes, one of this region’s largest builders, will have 420 units of housing and 200,000 square feet of retail and office space. Groundbreaking is set to begin in about a month. The idea is to give homeowners easier access to their jobs or to stores.

 

Murray City and Hamlet Homes are taking advantage of growing buyer interest in living and working near the regional TRAX light rail system, which has operated in the Salt Lake Valley since 1999. The Murray North station, one of three TRAX stops in Murray City — population 50,000 — serves as the centerpiece of Birkhill at Fireclay.

 

“People can go where they want and won’t have to get in a car,” said Keith Snarr, the director of Murray City’s economic development office, who helped negotiate the agreement with Hamlet Homes. “It may not be the lifestyle for everybody, but there are a lot of people around here now that understand what it means to be urban and find this attractive.”

 

Salt Lake City and its closest suburbs built the $520 million, 19-mile, 23-station TRAX system, which carries more than 55,000 riders a day, well ahead of ridership projections. Voters have also repeatedly passed sales tax increases, including one approved last November, to spend $2.5 billion more in the next decade to complete 26 additional miles of light rail, 88 miles of heavy commuter rail line and nearly 40 extra station stops. The only American metropolitan area that is building more regional rapid transit capacity is Denver, which is constructing a 151-mile system.

 

Birkhill at Fireclay is the first development in a 97-acre transit-oriented district Murray City has established around the Murray North station. And it is one of a growing number of transit-oriented developments in the Wasatch Front, an urban area with a population of more than two million that is looking for new ways to get around — less by car, and especially by rail. A host of other American metropolitan regions, among them Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas, Sacramento, St. Louis, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle and Portland, Ore., have invested billions of dollars over the last decade to pursue the same idea.

 

Mr. Snarr says he is convinced that the confluence of fast-rising energy and land costs, static incomes and the region’s swift population growth are producing the market conditions for a successful new neighborhood on land along Fireclay Avenue that has served as his city’s industrial backyard.

 

The existing 23 rail stations and the roughly 40 more stops on the way offer developers dozens of opportunities to design and build transit-focused home and business districts at the center of the Salt Lake Valley’s towns and cities.

 

“The basic reason that transit-oriented development is working in Utah and other places is largely demographic,” said Gloria Ohland, vice president for communications at Reconnecting America, a national transit research group based in Oakland, Calif. “American households are older, smaller and more diverse,” she said. “Singles are 41 percent of the population. People who are single and couples that have no children — those are the people who gravitate to cities.”

 

Even with a new tide of people heading their way, transit-focused builders say there are plenty of impediments. Assembling parcels large enough to be attractive requires considerable work in city and town centers. It took Hamlet Homes more than two years to amass the 30 acres for Birkhill at Fireclay.

 

And in most communities, including Murray City, the zoning regulations that directed homes and businesses to be spread far apart have to be rewritten. Murray City passed a transit development ordinance in 2005 that allows narrower streets, encourages trees and pocket parks, and is designed to produce a new district that is not too densely built up, but also won’t look or feel anything like a typical single-use suburban subdivision.

 

Michael Brodsky, the chairman of Hamlet Homes, which he founded in 1995, said the difficulties involved in developing around the Salt Lake region’s transit stops are compensated for by the market response. Along with Birkhill at Fireclay, the company is constructing two more housing and business developments near the TRAX stations immediately north and south of the Murray North stop.

 

 

Michael Brodsky, chairman of Hamlet Homes, shown at his Waverly Station development, says all homes in the first phase of construction have been sold.

The first is Inverness Square, a $24 million, 120-unit project half a mile from the 53rd South TRAX station. The development, started in 2005, is nearly completed, and the two- and three-bedroom town houses, with prices starting around $170,000, are sold out, Mr. Brodsky said.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/realestate/22nati.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

Last October, the company began developing Waverly Station, on 10 acres alongside the Meadowbrook TRAX station. The $42 million project includes 47 condos, 131 town homes and 14,000 square feet of retail and office space. Hamlet just completed the first phase — 41 two- and three-bedroom town homes of 1,500 to 1,900 square feet. All have been sold, Mr. Brodsky said.

 

“The fact that we are building close to the light rail station is an important amenity,” he said. “It is part of the package that also includes a combination of affordability and accessibility to a more urban setting.”

 

Mary Ann Downs, 22, an interior designer, moved into her $193,000 three-bedroom home at Waverly Station in February. Ms. Downs is happy to be near the TRAX system — she plans to use it this spring when the light rail connects to the new commuter line — and she also likes her neighbors.

 

One of them is David Bailey, 28, who works for a jewelry dealer. He bought a two-bedroom home for $205,000. He said access to the TRAX line, which he rides to basketball and football games downtown, played a part in his decision to buy. “I really feel as gas prices go up, homes near public transportation will increase in value,” he said.

 

North of Salt Lake City, CenterCal Properties just closed on a $2.13 million purchase of 70 acres near the new commuter rail station in Farmington, a bedroom community of 14,000 residents 13 miles north of Salt Lake City and one of nine stops on a 44-mile, $611 million line to Pleasant View that is scheduled to open in the spring of 2008.

 

CenterCal, based in Portland, Ore., earned a national reputation in transit-oriented design with its Gresham Station, a 130-acre, $400 million, mixed-use district that it began in 1999 along the MAX light rail line east of Portland.

 

Fred Bruning, the company’s president, said CenterCal planned to bring the same principles of compact, transit-focused design to its new project, called Station Park, which will be just across the Farmington rail station’s parking lot. It will consist of 700,000 square feet of retailing, 300,000 square feet of office space and 250 residential units in rental apartments and town homes.

 

A rendering of Station Park on the company’s Web site (centercal.com) shows a district designed with three-story buildings, with shops on the ground floor and offices and homes on the floors above, surrounding a large public square with a fountain, broad sidewalks and a garden. The project’s design is a mix of European urbanism and outdoor suburban lifestyle malls.

 

“Compared to what is already there in Farmington, this is a lot of density,” Mr. Bruning said. “You have to take it in steps and develop density as the market becomes available. We design our projects in such a way that density can increase over time. If it’s designed well, it has a shelf life for decades.”

 

The design is intended to mimic urban spaces in which buildings change uses — open spaces can be filled, or buildings can become open space.

 

Mr. Snarr, Murray City’s development director, has similar plans for the Birkhill at Fireclay, which is priced comparably with the Waverly Station development, and for other projects he is recruiting for the city’s transit-oriented district. “People want to live in a place that’s a little more cosmopolitan,” he said. “They gain a lot. They save money on gas and housing costs. They reduce their stress because they don’t have to drive as much. And they get a chance to know their neighbors. It adds up for me.”

 

 

Poll finds public transit overriding issue

Group's online survey says Metro Detroiters want to eat, shop without cars; race poll under way.

Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News

 

Metro Detroiters love the area's concerts and art venues and relish its restaurants and grocers.

 

But a recent survey of more than 1,000 area residents showed they would really like the opportunity to get to those places without using their cars.

 

 

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070421/METRO/704210368/1003

^ ^

 

WOW. That is a lot of rail for Salt Lake City and Denver -- the latter which I had no clue it was going to be that expanse. Maybe there still is hope...

Apr 23, 2007 On NY1 Now: "Sports On 1" Weather: Spring Heat.Sunny. High:84       

 

 

 

Transit 

Construction Begins On 2nd Avenue Subway

 

April 23, 2007

 

Drivers on the Upper East Side can expect major headaches as construction begins on the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway.

 

Crews began to excavate sections of Second Avenue between 91st and 96th Street Monday, and concrete barriers and fences are set to be installed Tuesday.

 

Drivers can expect major traffic disruptions and parking restrictions in the area for the next 18 months.

 

Beginning Tuesday, two left lanes will be closed from 93rd to 98th Streets. There will also be no stopping or standing from 91st to 98th Street.

 

The first section of the 2nd Avenue subway will run from 63rd Street to 96th Street and will serve as an extension of the Q train.

 

The first phase will cost about $3.9 billion and is expected to be finished by 2013.

 

video link:

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/NewsBeats/transit.jsp

**** it's spring at last and the bus bulbs are blooming!!!!

 

 

Apr 23, 2007 On NY1 Now: "Sports On 1" Weather: Spring Heat.Sunny. High:84       

 

 

 

Transit 

New Bus Stop Designed To Help Traffic Flow Opens On Spring Street

 

April 19, 2007

 

Just in time for spring, the city's first-ever bus bulb has sprouted.

 

The bus bulb is a way of trying to speed up buses by creating a bus stop on a pedestrian island where there was once a lane of traffic.

 

The idea is that the buses can stay in their lane when picking up and dropping off passengers, instead of having to pull over, and then fight their way back into traffic.

 

This first bulb is located south of Spring Street, and is one of several the city is now installing along Broadway and all the way down to Lower Manhattan. 

 

video link:

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=5&aid=68922

^I hate myself for being even a little excited by such a half-assed transit improvement...but I am.

Rail might one day link Rio Grande Valley cities

 

04/21/2007

By LYNN BREZOSKY  / Associated Press

 

 

The string of cities that make up the Rio Grande Valley may one day be linked by commuter rail that would bring public transportation to the border region's expanding slate of universities, shopping centers, and tourist spots.

 

State Rep. Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco, who is sponsoring a bill for the rail, said he got the idea after riding on Dallas's light rail.

 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8OL18IO0.html

 

"The New Mexico Rail Runner System went from the governor of New Mexico standing up and announcing he wanted commuter rail in two years, and they had it up and running in two years," he said. "If the political will is there, if funding is there, it can happen very quickly."

 

 

oh man what a read. well don't feel too bad tex -- that was a sucker punch in cleveland and ohio's face's too!  :|

 

It's absolutely all about politicial will.

More evidence that we cannot pave our way out of sprawl.

 

Roads lag as Atlanta revitalizes

 

By ARIEL HART

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 04/24/07

 

About now, the widening of Howell Mill Road should have been wrapping up. It had been promised for decades, and Atlanta officials said last year that the work would be done in time to handle the traffic from a Wal-Mart-anchored retail development going up near I-75.

 

The Wal-Mart opened in October, and the cars have come. But not the road. A ceremonial groundbreaking is finally scheduled for today.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/04/24/0424mettraffic.html 

 

Expected freeway traffic horrors don't develop

Fewer vehicles on road; BART posts ridership record

Patrick Hoge, Erin McCormick, Chronicle Staff Writers

 

Thursday, May 3, 2007

 

The nightmare commute scenario that many feared after Sunday's East Bay freeway inferno still had not materialized by Wednesday, with many motorists opting to take public transit rather than drive.

 

Traffic congestion was down Monday and Tuesday. The amount of time drivers were stuck in traffic moving slower than 60 mph was down 8 percent around the entire Bay Area, according to Caltrans data. Congestion on Oakland freeways, meanwhile, was down by more than 50 percent, the data showed.

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/03/MNGQOPJU651.DTL

 

 

I believe this situation in the Bay Area is one of the most important pieces of transportation research in decades -- moreso because it's a real-world sample. The lesson in this research is that, in order to reduce traffic congestion, you don't add new lane-miles to the roadway system. YOU REDUCE THEM AND PROVIDE REAL ALTERNATIVES TO DRIVING. Intiutively, I think many of us already believed that to be true. This situation shows that it really is.

 

I think Los Angeles offers the extreme lesson. If adding more and more lane-miles to a roadway system reduced traffic congestion, then driving in Los Angeles would be an absolute dream.

Glendening: Transit key part of growth

Former governor sees ‘definite shift’ in policy between O’Malley, Ehrlich

by Sean R. Sedam | Staff Writer

 

The Coalition to Build the Inner Purple Line honored Glendening (D) with a citation for his support of the project on Wednesday evening in Silver Spring. Also known as the Bi-County Transitway, the Purple Line is envisioned as 14 miles of light rail or a rapid transit bus line linking Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park and New Carrollton.

 

Glendening, who advises governors nationwide on smart growth policy as president of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, delivered a 50-minute presentation on how transit projects such as the Purple Line are vital to planning communities that can lead to a better quality of life.

 

‘‘If we don’t make fundamental changes ... by the end of the next decade, what will congestion be like in this metropolitan area?” Glendening asked. ‘‘What will air quality be like? ... What will our economic competitiveness be?”

 

http://gazette.net/stories/050407/polinew214653_32320.shtml

Tough stuff in Chi-town....

_________

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-070503rta,1,1302210.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

 

Transit official: 'Moment of crisis'

 

By Richard Wronski

Tribune staff reporter

 

May 3, 2007, 8:31 PM CDT

 

Frustrated regional transit officials all but conceded Thursday that their

strategy for winning a major increase in state funding by building grass-roots

consensus has failed so far.

 

Transportation funding is "not even on anybody's radar" in Springfield, said

new Regional Transportation Authority Board member Judy Baar Topinka, a

former legislator, state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate.

 

More at link above:

FresnoBee.com:

 

 

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: State must build high-speed rail

By Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

05/04/07 04:48:53

 

As the recent Bay Area freeway collapse illustrated -- and as a recent Bee editorial correctly pointed out -- Californians need and deserve a diverse array of transportation options. I absolutely believe high-speed rail should be one of those alternatives.

 

A network of high-speed rail lines connecting cities throughout California would be a tremendous benefit to our state.

 

Not only would its construction bring economic development and the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs, but once completed, we would also see improvements to our air quality, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, congestion relief on our highways and greater mobility for people living in the Valley and other areas of our state currently underserved by other forms of transportation.

 

Yet it's been more than 10 years, and the state has already spent more than $40 million in initial planning for the rail line. But there is still no comprehensive and credible plan for financing the system so we can get construction under way.

 

The High-Speed Rail Authority, the commission in charge of developing a plan for high speed rail in California, estimates the cost of building the system to be more than $40 billion.

 

Yet so far, the only financing party identified with specificity is the state, which the Authority proposes float a $9.95 billion bond. The remaining 75% of the project cost, or more than $30 billion, has yet to be identified with any specificity or confidence.

 

Before asking taxpayers to approve spending nearly $10 billion plus interest, it is reasonable to expect the authority and its advisers to identify with confidence where we will find the remaining $30 billion.

 

A perfect example of what I'm talking about is my $5.9 billion water infrastructure package. By using a public-private partnership approach, we've identified a plan that lays out exactly how we are going to pay for every piece of the proposal, from the reservoirs to the groundwater storage to fixing the Delta to our conservation efforts.

 

For the reservoir portion, the estimated building cost is $4 billion. We've proposed $2 billion in general obligation bonds for the public portion and $2 billion in lease revenue bonds to be paid for by the water users themselves, i.e. water agencies, irrigation districts, cities, etc. And to ensure that this funding materializes, we are requiring that contracts be in place to pay for the lease revenue bonds before public dollars are spent on the projects.

 

Identifying the exact funding sources for large transportation projects is more problematic, which is why we need the authority to come up with a well-thought out financing proposal before moving forward.

 

I want to commend the authority for its great progress so far in completing the necessary environmental studies and identifying future rights-of-way that we would need to acquire.

 

Yet even the authority's executive director, Mehdi Morshed, says the longer the state waits to build a high-speed rail network, the more expensive it will get. I could not agree more.

 

That's why I have directed my recent appointees to work with the authority and its financial advisers to develop a comprehensive plan for financing the project in its entirety, so we can make high-speed rail a reality in California once and for all.

 

Last year, my administration increased funds for the authority to continue its work, and this year, my budget proposes additional funding.

 

I am willing to explore multiple approaches in order to fund the balance and execute this project -- whether through federal grants, local participation, vendor support, co-development opportunities, public-private partnerships or any other realistic financing plans in which the authority expresses confidence.

 

I look forward to working with the authority and reviewing its proposal as soon as possible.

 

But let me be clear: I strongly support high-speed rail for California, and especially for the San Joaquin Valley. Increasing the Valley's transportation options, especially after voters passed Proposition 1B to repair Highway 99, would better serve the region's growing population and enhance the Valley's critical importance to our state's economy.

 

The promise of high-speed rail is incredible. Looking forward to the kind of California we want to build 20 and 30 years from now, a network of ultra-fast rail lines whisking people from one end of the state to the other is a viable and important transportation alternative and would be a great benefit to us all.

 

With a responsible plan in place, we can feel secure in delivering high-speed rail and bringing greater opportunity -- and a brighter future -- to all Californians.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor of California.

 

 

Interesting that the governator wrote the article and at the end made sure everyone knew who he was.

>I believe this situation in the Bay Area is one of the most important pieces of transportation research in decades -- moreso because it's a real-world sample. The lesson in this research is that, in order to reduce traffic congestion, you don't add new lane-miles to the roadway system. YOU REDUCE THEM AND PROVIDE REAL ALTERNATIVES TO DRIVING. Intiutively, I think many of us already believed that to be true. This situation shows that it really is.

 

 

Also an example existed in Cincinnati during reconstruction of Fort Washington Way.  FWW is now one of FIVE lateral routes which connect the loosely parallel I-71/471 and I-75 through the metro area.  FWW was the first to open back in 1960 but now through interstate traffic and even commuters in many examples can alternately take I-275 across the top, I-471/I-275 across the bottom, The Norwood Lateral, and Cross County Highway.  During reconstruction traffic was reduced to 2X2 lanes with few exits and then a few months where there was no westbound traffic at all and hardly anyone noticed.   

 

 

Transportation engineers call what Jake described above as a "freeway ladder." Cincinnati is almost unique in the nation, for a city its size, that it has this arrangement.

Crews bore nearly mile-long tunnel for Seattle light rail

Posted by The Associated Press May 08, 2007 11:42AM

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/05/crews_bore_nearly_milelong_tun.html

Categories: Breaking News

 

SEATTLE -- An enormous drill broke through the east side of Beacon Hill in the city's south end this morning, almost a year after it started digging a nearly mile-long light-rail tunnel.

 

With a crowd of onlookers intently watching, the Japanese-built tunnel-boring machine, with its 21-foot diameter cutter head, slowly churned into view a little after 8:15 a.m.

 

More at link above:

LIGHT RAIL | Kansas City group’s proposal centers on ‘fast streetcar’ technology

Evolving plan of the Urban Society also differs from Clay Chastain’s vision in scope, cost and funding.

By BRAD COOPER and DEANN SMITH

The Kansas City Star

 

A group of urban-core advocates is developing a light-rail plan it hopes will be more workable — and come sooner — than the plan approved by voters last fall.

 

The Urban Society of Kansas City, which includes architects, planners and others interested in urban-design issues, envisions a 5½-mile starter line from Third Street and Grand Avenue to Volker Boulevard and Troost Avenue east of the Country Club Plaza.

 

 

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/96001.html

Two items from the NARP.org "Hotline":

 

The first railcar for the Austin, TX commuter rail line has been completed. This is the first of 6 light diesel-electric cars for the service.  This is a major milestone as the 32-mile, non-electrified light regional railway is being constructed by the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority.  The first car will arrive in Austin this fall for testing on Capital Metro’s own tracks. Each car will have hold more than 200 passengers, with seating for 108, and will also feature bicycle and luggage racks, high-back seats, and free WiFi internet service. The cars, purchased for a total of about US$34 million, exceed both U.S. and European safety standards. 

 

Although ridership numbers have been softer than projected, the five Mayoral candidates in Nashville, TN all support the Music City Star commuter rail line.  Each of the candidates agreed that the city must be patient as the commuter rail line grows slower than projected.  However, concerns are have been voiced by one candidate who feels that the project should be reevaluated on its economic and environmental merits.  Former Congressman Bob Clement who helped gain federal support for the Music City Star feels that better marketing is the key to the rail line’s success, but ridership levels must be monitored in order to ensure that this is a viable project.  Ridership on the line between Lebanon and Nashville must triple by September in order to meet initial ridership and budgetary goals.

 

http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/hotline/more/hotline_500/

Better rapid transit? Bus advocates think so:

BRT could reduce costs and environment harm. But the pro-rail lobby in D.C. is strong.

By Jeff Nesmith

Cox News Service

 

WASHINGTON - Advocates of "bus rapid transit" say the country is wasting billions of dollars to build glitzy urban rail systems when people can travel more cheaply and with less environmental impact by bus.

Bus rapid transit, or BRT, should not be confused with traditional urban bus systems, its most fervent advocates point out.

 

Instead of those smoky old mechanical dinosaurs that toil from stop to stop, BRT buses whiz along dedicated roadways, pausing briefly at stations where passengers quickly get on and off without having to pause and feed the driver's coin box.

 

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20070513_Better_rapid_transit__Bus_advocates_think_so.html

-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Get more information on bus transit systems via http://go.philly.com/bustransit

 

 

Passsenger rail expansion in Maine.  Looks like they are building on the success of the "Downeaster". Way to go Maine!

 

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Westward, ho?[/b]

Portland Press Herald

 

On the day after the Maine Central Railroad completed its last run on the Mountain Division rail line in April 1958, the Maine Sunday Telegram summed it up like this:

 

"The Mountain Division was long famed for its picturesque route which wound through Crawford Notch and the White Mountains region. Many have claimed that the beauty of its views in the brightly foliaged fall was unsurpassed. Lack of business caused its demise."

 

It has been almost 50 years since the last passenger train made its way from the White Mountains into Portland, but a bill pending in the Legislature could be the first step in reviving rail travel in western Maine.

 

More at:

http://www.thedowneaster.com/press_release.php?media_id=31

Better rapid transit? Bus advocates think so:

BRT could reduce costs and environment harm. But the pro-rail lobby in D.C. is strong.

 

Get more information on bus transit systems via http://go.philly.com/bustransit

 

So does anyone here have any experience on a BRT system?  Does it require building it's own separate roadway?

I guess I can say: yes, a form of BRT anyway.  In the mid-90s, I rode on Seattle's Metro Bus tunnel which trolley-buses (or trackless trolleys, whatever you favor) utilized the 4-5 station subway where Seattle's Metro Transit is going to run it's new LRT, along with the buses, that's building... The Metrobus tunnel seemed to work pretty well and carried lots of passengers thru the core of Seattle's CBD.  Problem is, officials hastily and incorrectly inlaid rail for a future (now current) LRT, and messed it up so that the tunnel had to be closed and retrofitted for with the current LRT tracks for the impending system to share the tunnels with the trolleybuses.

 

I've seen Pittsburgh's Skybus system, but never ridden it, out of the South Hills sharing the Washington Mountain tunnel with PAT's LRT.  Most consider Skybus and expensive failure and chide Pittsburgh for not focusing on expanding the existing light rail system, which it is, belatedly, now doing (Cleveland, obviuosly, isn't the only American city to make bonehead transit choices like this one-- at least Pittsburgh is savvy and honest enough to attempt to correct itself whereas, here in Cleveland, leadership barricades itself behind a false wall of perfection).  In particular, it appears the Martin Luther King busway into a corner of Oakland and the near-East burbs, will be someday, maybe soon, converted to LRT, esp since stub of the PAT LRT subway ends where the MLK busway begins near Penn Station.  Right now, that stub, much like Cleveland's Waterfront Line, shuttles few people but (also like the WFL) has great potential for future expansion.

 

Boston just opened one replacing the old ("St. Elsewhere") Orange Line El over Washington Street, which was relocated miles away from the corridor into the newly electrified Amtrak/Acela ROW -- a move which many Bostonian's along sorely regret.  But they did so with REAL trolley buses -- something Cleveland could have done until Joe Calabrese squelched it for his (supposedly light) diesel fuel burning ones... You see, as with Seattle, Boston is able to run the trolley buses through subway tunnels, something Cleveland will not be able to do with it's diesels.  So therefore -- quite conveniently -- there'll be no possibility for a trolleybus subway in Cleveland given the 'preferred' (here at least) diesel technology...

 

... you JoeC didn't know what's he was doing?  Not!

I found this website that is perfect for the transit nerds.  Enjoy:

http://www.fakeisthenewreal.org/subway/index.php

Osaka, Japan....and I will have you guess the second one

 

 

... the Washington D.C. METRO (rail).

here's list of brt cities to check out on your travels:

 

http://www.apta.com/research/info/briefings/briefing_2.cfm

 

existing brt:

vancouver; ottawa; kansas city; las vegas; oakland; miami; orlando, pittsburgh; boston and los angeles

 

upcoming brt regions:

eugene; new britain-hartford; cleveland and nashville

 

 

What's new this year when riding the rails in Europe?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0705090409may13,0,3487982.story?coll=chi-travel-hed

The Washington Post

Published May 13, 2007

 

While the United States quibbles about subsidies to keep Amtrak lumbering along as is, Europe is vastly expanding its network of high-speed trains. Four new high-speed routes will open this year:

 

- France's new TGV East line on June 10 will begin providing service between 20 French cities and 10 destinations in Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Trains on the new line will travel at 199 m.p.h., cutting travel time by a third or more. For example, a trip from Paris to Reims now takes 1 hour 35 minutes. As of June 10: 45 minutes. From Paris to Frankfurt, Germany: less than four hours, down from the current six. Costs range widely. For example, Paris-to-Reims costs between $25 and $75 each way.

 

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070501/NEWSREC0101/70501022

 

But wait!....there's more!!![/b]

 

5/18/2007    Project Update

Denver RTD launches FasTracks construction

 

Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) has officially kicked off construction on its FasTracks program. Earlier this week, the agency held a ceremony in Lakewood, Colo., to begin removing old trolley tracks along the West Corridor, the first line to be built under the 12-year program.

 

Scheduled to take four months, the track removal will make way for utility relocation, which needs to be complete before general construction can begin. When it opens in 2013, the 12.1-mile West Corridor light-rail line will run between the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver and the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden, Colo.

 

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=10719

 

 

^Wow, I sure wish our Ohio cities could learn a thing or 2 from Denver and Dallas in their organization and aggressiveness toward rail.  How come they can do it and we can't?

It's called building political will. These stories don't indicate the amount of work it took to build the political will in places like Denver and Dallas, but the outcome of that work is clear.

 

There's reason to be optimistic in Ohio.  We've got a new Governor and ODOT Director who are embracing rail for moving both epople and freight.  It's the General Assembly where the works needs to be done.

>Boston just opened one replacing the old ("St. Elsewhere") Orange Line El over Washington Street, which was relocated miles away from the corridor into the newly electrified Amtrak/Acela ROW -- a move which many Bostonian's along sorely regret.  But they did so with REAL trolley buses -- something Cleveland could have don

 

No, it's only about a half mile north of the old alignment.  The critical problem is that Dudley Square was the old terminus of the el and a major streetcar and bus transfer point.  There is still a major bus transfer station there with probably a dozen bays but there is no rail transit at that location.  The new orange line stations are at odd locations that tend to be at minor residential cross streets and don't link well with bus routes.  There might even be zoning regulations in place that prevent TOD.  The new orange line DOES travel much farther out than the el does, which is a big advantage, but without it traveling under Dudley Square it is unable to transfer with buses conveniently. 

 

The concept of the Sliver Line BRT is to provide a fast link between the Dudley Square transfer hub and downtown Boston.  When finished the line will continue under the Fort Point Channel into South Boston and then directly into the I-90 Ted Williams Tunnel under the harbor and terminate at the airport.  They advertise it as "one seat from Dudley Square to Logan" but really it's a two branch BRT line. 

 

As I understand it the two branches are in place and operational but not yet linked in downtown Boston.  There will be a $1 billion tunnel that connects the two branches under Chinatown and will have stations that transfer directly with the Green, Orange, and Red Lines.  There is already a tunnel under the Ft. Point Channel and South Boston which was built as part of the Big Dig and those buses operate with overhead wires in their dedicated tunnel but then operate with conventional diesel engines in the Ted Williams Tunnel and over to the airport.  Meanwhile the buses running on Washington St. from Dudley Square have no overhead equipment and so will have to be sold to another transit agency when the Chinatown Tunnel is finished. 

 

What's so ridiculous about this whole situation is that the distance between Dudley Square and downtown Boston is only two miles and would have only required 4 or 5 stations.  We all know subway lines are expensive but this is no 2nd Ave. line.   

 

 

The new orange line DOES travel much farther out than the el does, which is a big advantage, but without it traveling under Dudley Square it is unable to transfer with buses conveniently. 

 

I thought the old Orange Line el, like the new relocated Orange Line, terminated at Forest Hills in far south Boston where suburbanites could transfer to MBTA diesel commuter trains (under Acela's wires) for trips as far as Providence, RI.

It's called building political will. These stories don't indicate the amount of work it took to build the political will in places like Denver and Dallas, but the outcome of that work is clear.

 

There's reason to be optimistic in Ohio.  We've got a new Governor and ODOT Director who are embracing rail for moving both people and freight.  It's the General Assembly where the works needs to be done.

 

I sure hope you're right...Rail transit is such a tricky thing; usually the most expensive public works project in its respective city.  I hope new pols point in the right direction.  Some cities are rah-rah cheerleaders of rail and keep expanding.  Whether old systems (Chicago, Boston, NYC) or newer ones (D.C., Denver, Dallas), rail in certain cities are viewed positively and view their (the city's) future tied to the success of rail.  You'll note that even in old places like Chicago and Boston, most of these places make some major improvement or expansion of rail each decade it's been in existence.  From 1976 to 2003, Washington, D.C. completed its expensive heavy rail Metro of 103 total miles.  Since then they've: a) opened a new station at NY Ave on the Red Line, b) extended the Blue line 3.5 miles east to Largo Towne Center, and c) is about to begin construction on a 10-12 mile Gray Line extension to Dulles Int Airport.  That is, D.C.'s built a most difficult system, and wants more!!!!

 

... and in Chicago, the L is broke and falling apart yet CTA is still extending it (1-mile to the Pink Line, opened last year) and planning for more...

 

Cleveland transit, sadly, seems defined and limited by one horrible moment: Albert Porter's strong-arming the County Commissioners to vote against the taxpayer-approved bond levy to build a subway loop downtown connecting to the then-spanking new CTS rapid (now the Red Line). I wasn't alive then but have read newspaper accounts from the period, and the effect was devastating.  This town was giddy with its new Rapid and was poised to build a D.C./Boston level system. 

 

But Porter changed everything... He was not only negative on rail (proclaiming the "Iron Horse is Dead") he made similar prognostications about the death of downtown Cleveland; championing the infant suburban malls and strip shopping centers along w/ freeways.  And the destruction of downtown, which it is still trying to recover from, and the legacy of freeway strangulation and sprawl are all Porter's progeny.

 

Porter's subway killing spawned a future of other rail killings: the 1.5 mode mixer from Green Road to I-271; the dual hub subway up Euclid; and most recently, the stupid NIMBY opposition/killing of Berea residents to the Red Line extension to Bagley Rd -- I used to think Berea was a rare liberal-minded, enlightened West Side burb, but... Even the Kucinich restriction/opposition stopping (til now) Lorain commuter rail which KJP and his people are valiantly fighting... And then, there's Joe Calabrese, who is as much a metaphorical descendant of Porter as anyone currently.

 

When the 2.2 mile Waterfront Line opened in 1996 it was the 1st rail extension of any kind in Cleveland in 28 years!  ... and people, including on this board, still bash it, routinely.  And its no accident, in this town, that no further viable rail expansion plans are on the board currently, even though there's plenty that could be built that could either enhance or even help save this city economically, like along the eastern lakeshore.  But everybody's afraid to talk about it...

 

Bottom line: some cities celebrate and revel in new rail transit.  In places like Cleveland, however, rail is always controversial... Again, let's hope you're right and things are changing... it certainly be a historical paradigm shift of immense proportions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy sh#t you seriously just wrote all that.

... diarrhea of the hands.

I'm a big supporter of light rail but I wouldn't vote for any light rail plan unless I think its done right. I didn't like the one proposed for Cincinnati because I felt that it encouraged sprawl. Plus, the study I saw, showed that it had virtually no effect on alleviating traffic congestion.

^Do you have details on how Cincy's rail plan would encourage sprawl?  What was the specific study that showed it would have no effect on traffic congestion?

I thought the old Orange Line el, like the new relocated Orange Line, terminated at Forest Hills in far south Boston where suburbanites could transfer to MBTA diesel commuter trains (under Acela's wires) for trips as far as Providence, RI.

 

 

Oh yeah you're right.  I remember reading that awhile back but the Silver Line does terminate at Dudley Square and the more recent rail efforts have focussed on a Dudley Square terminus.  I read up an the whole elevated line was four miles, not two, but only had six stations in that space.  The area between Dudley Square and Forest Hills is not very dense by Boston standards, it's mostly three-floor apartment buildings with some space between them from what I remember.   

 

From the Cambridge Chronicle:

 

The next big thing: Carpooling by Web

 

By Dawn Witlin/Chronicle Staff

GateHouse News Service

 

Thu May 17, 2007, 12:00 PM EDT

 

Luisa Oliveira said an Internet carpooling service is a “no-brainer.”

 

“I think if you care about the environment, we all have to start thinking and changing our patterns,” said the 36-year-old Cantabrigian who is a city employee. “I don’t understand how you could not care and think about global warming and how we affect the environment.”

 

Launched this past Earth Day, Cambridge-based Web site GoLoco — viewable at www.GoLoco.org — functions as part personals ad, part carpooling service. The point is for commuters to get personal with their fellow carpoolers, without having to search on their own.

 

“[GoLoco] is kind of a community of commuters; it’s not like you’re blindly getting into a car with a stranger,” said Oliveira, who signed up to beta test the program before it went public. “You are in control. It’s really what you want and what suits your needs.”

 

GoLoco was founded by Robin Chase of Cambridge, former CEO and creator of ZipCar, a car-sharing program popular in urban areas where public transportation is lacking.

 

“When I look outside of Cambridge, at America as a whole, people are in a tight spot,” said the Cambridgeport resident. “They have not one speck of choice when it comes to public transportation. GoLoco gives them that choice.”

 

Chase said she brainstormed the idea of GoLoco after recognizing the need to take ZipCar to another level.

 

“For the last few years, I’ve been giving a lot of thinking to transportation costs and the use of wireless Internet space,” said Chase, who said GoLoco is meant to utilize a mix of modern conveniences. “I feel like if you pour enough things in your brain it just comes together.”

 

Through her own research based on national data, Chase said the cost of car ownership is roughly 19 percent of a person’s household expenses.

 

“When we think about it that way, it’s a lot of money,” said Chase. “People who have GoLoco accounts take the full car costs and divide it among the passengers. The average cost is 50 cents a mile, which we’re using as a default rate. People can add parking, tolls, or they can decide whether they want to charge for them or not.”

 

Chase said GoLoco was designed to allow people to network in a very personal way.

 

“GoLoco is mostly a service that helps people quickly arrange to share rides between friends, neighbors and co-workers,” said Chase. “Right now [GoLoco] is just you and your buds, a way to know all our neighbors.

 

What was once a useless trip to the grocery store has now become an outing with your friends.”

— [email protected]

84% of Metro Detroiters commute to work alone in their cars

 

Andy Henion / The Detroit News

 

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Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News

 

More than 96,000 bicycles used by commuters to pedal from bus stops to work were put on the racks of buses operated by SMART. See full image

 

How to boost gas mileage

 

Properly inflated tires can save 5 cents a gallon in gas.

 

Replacing a clogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent.

 

A well-maintained vehicle produces up to 20 percent less volatile organic compounds and 10 percent less nitrogen oxides.

Sources: Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, U.S. Department of Energy

Getting around

 

MichiVan: http://www.vpsiinc.com/Home/index.asp?OID=27

 

SEMCOG's rideshare program: http://www.semcog.org/Services/CommuterPrograms/RideShare/

 

Detroit Department of Transportation (city buses): http://www.detroitmi.gov/ddot/index.html

 

Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (regional buses): http://www.smartbus.org/smart/home

 

Detroit Bikes! (bicycle club): http://www.detroitsynergy.org/projects/detroitbikes

Source: Detroit News research

Related Articles and Links

 

Metro Detroit commuters go green, swap cars for bikes

Gallery: Bike to Work Day draws cyclists to Detroit

 

 

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Record high gas prices are fueling renewed interest in car-pooling, riding the bus and even bicycling to work, area officials say.

 

But the nearly $3.50-a-gallon burden will have to climb another dollar or two -- and stay there -- before Metro Detroiters make permanent changes to their nation-leading love of driving alone to work, according to some experts.

 

"I don't even know if $4 gas would cause many changes around here," said Walter McManus, analyst with the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. "I think it would have to be more than $5 for people to consider really changing their behavior."

 

About 84 percent of Metro Detroiters commute alone, highest among the 50 largest urban areas, according to the U.S. Transportation Department. Single-commuter travel has risen steadily over the past 40 years, both in Detroit and nationwide, the agency says.

 

The result: needlessly congested freeways and excessive pollution, activists say. Detroit's smog levels exceed federal standards.

 

But try getting people out of their cars in the Motor City. Often, it takes a jarring event -- such as Teresa Chapman losing her job in Flint four years ago.

 

The Clio resident's employer, the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources, offered her a position 80 miles away at its downtown Detroit headquarters. The 42-year-old secretary said she was ready to quit until she and several coworkers signed up for MichiVan, a federally subsidized ride-share program.

 

"I love my car, but I also love my pocketbook," Chapman said.

 

AAA Michigan announced Monday that gas prices set a record for the second straight week, at a statewide average of $3.27 a gallon, although several stations are now clocking in as high as $3.49. The Energy Information Administration says prices could jump if demand surges, as it often does, in late July and August.

 

Rising prices over the past year have prompted commuters to seek other modes of travel:

 

 

MichiVan hit a record this spring with 1,486 participants, officials said. Through the 27-year-old program, which operates mostly in southeastern Michigan, groups of seven to 15 take a supplied van to work, with each paying a monthly fee and splitting gas costs.

 

 

Average daily ridership on the regional buses increased 8 percent last year, to 36,798, according to the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, which caters to commuters.

 

 

In addition, more than 96,000 bicycles were put on the buses' bike racks last year, surprising some drivers and officials who didn't believe the racks would be widely used when installed in mid-2004, said SMART's Fred Barbret. Many passengers ride their bikes from the last available bus stop to their jobs -- sometimes a mile or more.

 

 

About 100 people a day, an unusually high number, are registering in SEMCOG's carpool system, which lines up prospective ride-sharers, officials said. About 3,600 commuters are now in the electronic database, according to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.

 

But even with the flurry of activity, officials say it is difficult sustaining commuters' interest -- especially when gas prices go back down.

 

"It's this whole mentality of loving your car," said SEMCOG spokeswoman Sue Stetler.

 

Joseph Schwieterman, a transportation expert at DePaul University in Chicago, said erratic work schedules and family-centered lifestyles have put a damper on carpooling.

 

"Our cars are also becoming like mobile living rooms, with satellite communications and CD players and cell phone gadgetry, which allows us to be more productive on the road," he said.

 

Metro Detroit, he added, has a "good expressway system that crisscrosses the region" and makes it easy to get around by car. It also lacks a commuter rail or subway system, which rules out a potential commuting option.

 

Only 1.4 percent of Metro Detroiters use public transportation to get to work -- one of the lowest figures in the nation, according to the 2005 Census report.

 

You can reach Andy Henion at (313) 222-2610 or ahenion@detnews

 

NYC's taxi fleet going green by 2012

By SARA KUGLER

Associated Press Writer

May. 22, 2007

 

NEW YORK --

The city's yellow taxi fleet will go entirely hybrid within five years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday.

 

"There's an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City," Bloomberg said. "These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes.

 

"This does a lot less. It's a lot better for all of us," he said of the hybrid plan.

 

Nearly 400 fuel-efficient hybrids have been tested in the city's taxi fleet over the past 18 months, with models including the Toyota Prius, the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, the Lexus RX 400h and the Ford Escape.

 

Under Bloomberg's plan, that number will increase to 1,000 by October 2008, then will grow by about 20 percent each year until 2012, when every yellow cab - currently numbering 13,000 - will be a hybrid.

 

Hybrid vehicles run on a combination of gasoline and electricity, emitting less exhaust and achieving higher gas mileage per gallon.

 

The standard yellow cab vehicle, the Ford Crown Victoria, gets 14 miles per gallon. In contrast, the Ford Escape taxis get 36 miles per gallon.

 

In addition to making the yellow cab brigade entirely green within five years, the city will require all new vehicles entering the fleet after October 2008 to achieve a minimum of 25 miles per gallon. A year later, all new vehicles must get 30 miles per gallon and be hybrid. Bloomberg made the announcement on NBC's "Today" show.

 

Hybrid vehicles are typically more expensive, but the city said the increase in fuel efficiency will save taxi operators more than $10,000 per year. Yahoo Inc. said it would donate 10 hybrid Ford Escapes for the city's effort.

 

Shifting the taxi fleet to hybrids is part of Bloomberg's wider sustainability plan for the city, which includes a goal of a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

Now here's a switch in thinking: we need to build rail because building more highway capacity is way more costly. Wait a minute!  I just looked out the window and I swear I saw pigs flying by!

 

(BTW: Connecticut is my home state and I grew up not far from the rail line discussed in this article.)

 

Railroads top state's must-do project list

Danbury (CT) News-Times

 

While Interstate 84 seems like a dead letter, railroads -- on the other hand -- are tops on the state's list of transportation projects.

 

The state is pushing forward plans to improve railroad service north of Norwalk. That's the line that runs from Norwalk through Merritt 7, Wilton, Cannondale, Branchville, Redding, Bethel and Danbury.

 

http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1054172

^ I have Connecticut relatives and have always been fascinated with the famed New Haven RR commuter line into Grand Central (which I used when I visited a buddy of mine at Yale)... But isn't it so American that officials would let this line -- one of the oldest and busiest (and electrified) line in the nation deteriorate to the extent that our new 150 MPH (bullet) Acela trains are limited to 75 miles an hour!!??

You've got that right.  I remember watching ancient New Haven Railroad electric locomotives easily popping 100 mph along the same track when I was growing up in the late 50's. I even saw old Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 electrics hit the same speeds.

 

It is scandalous how that corridor, at least between New Haven and New York has gotten so bad.

May 25, 2007

Subway Cars May Go Longer and Faster

 

With subway ridership at a new high in decades and many more riders on the way if the city's forecasts are true, the MTA has been thinking of ways to increase subway capacity. And Howard Roberts, president of the NYC Transit Authority which operates the subways and buses, says that one solution could be to extend subway platform and add two more train cars to the existing ten.

 

http://www.gothamist.com/2007/05/25/subway_cars_may.php#comments