Its Not Just Rochester Anymore

A new ferry service is set to begin June 1, 2004 on Lake Michigan. The catamaran will haul passengers and vehicles between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Muskegon, Michigan. The idea is to allow people travelling to Wisconsin a way to avoid the ever-worsening Chicago traffic.

The catamaran will travel at speeds around 40 miles per hour and carry up to 253 passengers and 46 vehicles. The trip is expected to take about 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The trip - not accounting for traffic -- would take almost five hours by car.

More information on the ferry service is available on Lake Express LLC's website.

[Originally Courtesy Metro Magazine]

Top Ten Reasons Congress Must Pass Long-Term, Well-Funded Surface Transportation Legislation

From American Public Transportation Association (APTA). (I think number four is my personal favorite):

1) Three out of four Americans do not have access to satisfactory public transportation services.

2) An efficient transportation system is essential to ensure the nation's economic productivity and safety.

3) Since 1995, ridership has increased by 21 percent-faster than vehicle miles traveled on our roadways and airline passenger miles logged over the same period of time.

4) If one in ten Americans used public transportation regularly, U.S. reliance on foreign oil could be reduced by more than 40 percent-nearly the amount of oil we import from Saudi Arabia each year.

5) In 2001, each American traveling during peak periods wasted on average 60 hours a year-nearly eight full working days-in traffic congestion.

6) In 2001, congestion cost America nearly $70 billion in wasted time and fuel. Without public transportation services, congestion would have increased by 30 percent.

7) American communities nationwide are reaping enormous economic benefits from affordable, modern public transportation through increased property value and more tax revenue.

8) Every $1 invested in public transportation infrastructure provides up to $6 in economic return.

9) Americans need to go back to work! Every $1 billion invested in public transportation infrastructure creates and sustains 47,500 jobs.

10) "This is a major piece of legislation which will not only secure America's infrastructure but also create jobs," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.

Need Another Reason to Take Transit? You Parking Space Costs 5x More Than Your Car

CNN.com reports that a parking space in center London is for sale for $187,500. The space is close to Harrods in Knightsbridge.

I have nothing to say, other than that parking space would cost more than 20x what my last car cost.

Ads on the Washington Metro

A chorus of letter-writers attacks the prissy aesthetes who don't want more advertising on the Washington Metro to balance the agency's budget. Huzzah!

Rail to Dulles

Fairfax County approved a regional tax district to support the extension of Metrorail to Reston, VA and ultimately to Dulles Airport, the Post reports.

The plan requirs businesses to pay additional real estate taxes to fund the county's portion of capital required for building the line.

Is Your Transit Company Going Broke? Ask the Public How to Run It!

The Quebec government has decided that since Montreal Transit is going broke, they're going to turn to the most likely source of innovation -- citizens, according to a Montreal Gazette article:

Transit bosses said yesterday they'll go along for the ride if the Quebec government wants to consult the public on innovative ways to fund bus, métro and commuter train service.

But they warned their agencies are running on empty and need government help - and fast - to avert a cash crunch.

How exactly does this work? There isn't enough tax money and fare money to support the system, so we're going to ask the private sector for ideas on how to get more money -- without raising taxes or fares. What the heck?

The straphanger mayor

I'm not a big fan of Mike Bloomberg, but I do admire him for taking the subway to work every day. I'm reminded of how useful this is having watched the episode of Yes, Minister in which Minister Hacker explains that if government officials took transit like regular people, they would constantly be late for meetings and events, unless millions were spent on improving the system. Kind of makes you wonder...

I think my head is going to explode

More people will be affected by subway re-routing in New York City this weekend then if the entire Washington Metro were to close.

At first blush, I don't know if I'd be able to figure out the new system to the extent I'm comfortable with the old lines. Already, when I go back home to visit, I have to deal with the W and the V, which didn't exist before. Now the B,D,N,R and Q are all going every which way but the way they used to go.

But things may be returning to closer to normal. The B and D run on 6th Ave and the N and R run on Broadway, just like they used to during the mid-90s, except that the N will be an express through Manhattan, which would have saved me quite a bit of time when I commuted from Lex to Whitehall. The Q runs express to Brighton, but the B replaces the D as the local on that route.

So everything is sort of back to normal, actually.

Got it?

Things to do in Denver when you're deadlocked

It's a classic battle of the titans -- a five-line commuter rail and light rail system vs. institutional momentum and bureaucratic turf-hoarding. May the most obstinate win.

DC Metro Takes a Leap Forward, But May Find a Stumbling Block

For "the first time in a generation," DC officials have moved forward with plans for a new transit system. A $40 million project to build 2.7 miles of light rail was approved by Metro officials yesterday. The system would bring service to some of the most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the area.

The rail line would start at the foot of the John Philip Sousa Bridge at Pennsylvania Avenue SE and run southwest, hugging the Anacostia River, to Bolling Air Force Base.

The 2.7 mile line is a demonstration of a planned 33 mile light rail network which will stretch across the region.

But the plans will likely meet resistance from Metro's new chairman of the board of directors, Rebert J. Smith, a Gaithersburg Republican. Smith, an opponent of Metro expansion of any kind wants to "shelve the $4 billion rail expansion to Dulles that Virginia wants, and put on hold the light rail in Anacostia proposed by the District."

Of expansion proposals, Smith has said, "I think they're all very nice. I love Disneyland as much as anyone. But the reality is, we're in an extreme crunch, and the primary focus has to be protecting, defending and maximizing the system that we've already got."

Good luck to proponents of DC-area traisit expansion. Smith appears to be your most formidable opponent.

Don't Stop the Trains

I don't even know what to make of this.

Officials in Botswana are urging citizens to stop committing suicide by train, according to one report. Instead, they're suiciders to "use trees" rather trains:

"If people want to commit suicide, they should use trees, not our trains," the country's minister of works and transport Tebelo Seretse told a Gabarone newspaper, according to The Star in neighbouring South Africa.

"I am sick of these people who throw themselves in front of the trains. The drivers are people - why turn them into murderers?" she was quoted as saying.

Apparently, train drivers are tired of having to remove human body parts from their engines. In fact, the entire thing is so disturbing to train drivers that the Ministry of Transport has started offering counseling to train engineers who have "hit" jumpers.

The original story from the Star can be found here.

[Courtesy Fark]

Rail Transit Reduces Urban Livability!!!!

...Or so say opponents of Denver's light rail system in a report issued by the Golden, Colorado-based think tank, the Independence Institute. The author of the report, Randal O'Toole is a national opponent of rail transit and heads the institute's Center for the American Dream,

"set up to promote homeownership and automobile travel and to oppose so-called "Smart Growth" planning that emphasizes public transit and higher density housing."

The report calls the Denver area's light rail system the deadliest and the most wasteful in the nation. Charges the Regional Transportation District (RTD) vehemently denies. In an article in today's Rocky Mountain News, "RTD said the think tank misuses the numbers and twists them to fit its 'anti-transit agenda.'"

The report seems aimed at derailing RTD's $4.7 billion FasTracks program, which is,

...A proposal to ask voters in November to increase the transit sales tax from the current 0.6 cents to a full penny per $1. The proceeds would help finance a 12-year expansion of nine rail corridors - six of them new - and overhaul of the bus network."

RTD strongly reacted to the two main assertions of the report which relate to the Denver area--Safety and Efficiency. O'Toole's assertion that RTD runs the deadliest rail system is based on the six fatalities since the system opened in '94, a statistic which works out to be the highest fatality rate per passenger-mile. However, those figures only extend through 2001. Salt Lake City's light rail system has resulted in six deaths since its inception in 2001, a much higher rate, but SLC wasn't included in the study.

Further muddling the matter is the circumstances of the six deaths. Of the six, three were pedestrians and one was an passenger in an automobile that drove around a lowered crossing gate (seems to me that the driver is responsible for that one, not light rail). The other two? Suicide. That's right, one third of those killed by the train killed themselves. O'Toole said that he didn't realize that those figures were included in the data he analyzed, adding that they shouldn't have been included. Forgive me for being picky, but if one is making a large assumption based on six incidents, shouldn't one check the circumstances of those events?

The efficiency issue, RTD said,

reflected RTD's own mistakes in reporting its energy-consumption figures to the national database -O'Toole used.

Cal Marsella, RTD general manager, said his agency reported 37.4 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2002 when the figure should have been 13 million. The mistake is being corrected, he said.

Twin Cities, Twin Strikes

Bus Drivers are preparing to strike in the Twin Cities, reports the Workday Minnesota:

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 are preparing for a strike in the wake of an overwhelming vote to reject Metro Transit's latest contract offer. Local 1005 members run the public bus system, which provides transportation for hundreds of thousands of Twin Cities residents.

Transit workers are dealing with a problem faced by employees across the country: health insurance costs. Metro Transit proposed to increase health insurance premiums for working members and cut health care coverage for retirees, a proposal the union rejected. Metro Transit also proposed to freeze wages for the next year and offered a 1 percent raise for the following year.

Canadian Dollars Don't Go Very Far, Anyway

The Canadian Urban Transit Association is proposing that Canada raise gasoline taxes by CA$.015 per litre to pay for CA$21 billion in needed public transit capital programs over the next five years, reports CNEWS Canada. The group estimates that each drivers would pay approximately $5 more a month in gas taxes. Public transit usage is up 15 per cent in Canada since 1996.

Tax cars, pay for transit. A noble idea - perhaps the Canadians will have more luck getting support for it than the Americans would.

NASCAR Town Goes Transit?

Indianapolis is looking at establishing a rail system, reports the Indianapolis Star. Included in the system is the now-standard Light Rail and BRT proposal. However, Indianpolis is also considering an "automated guideway" -- a.k.a. a people mover system. Because we know those work so well.

Bailing Out the NJ Transportation Trust Fund

Following up on a previous post the Cherry Hill Courier Post reports that New Jersey will borrow funds to "rescue the state Transportation Trust Fund." Rather than raise the state's gasoline tax--the fifth lowest in the nation, which hasn't been raised since 88--the state will borrow $900 million.

Federal vs. State Funding for Transit

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell ripped into President Bush on Wednesday for cutting federal mass transit funding:

Rendell, whose proposed 3.4 percent increase in state mass transit funding would be the largest in a decade, says most of the burden of improving Pennsylvania's ailing transit systems should fall on the federal government. The Bush administration, he said, is trying to amend a 13-year-old transportation funding act to make it tougher for states and individual transit systems to secure funding for capital expenditures like subway tunnels and new buses.

Rendell recommended that an increase in the federal gasoline tax go to improving mass transit -- an idea I wholeheartedly approve of.

State-funded Personal Rapid Transit

Minnesota's state legislature is pushing a plan to encourage the development of Personal Rapid Transit in the state, home to the Taxi 2000 Corporation, the Pioneer Press reports:

Personal rapid transit is a futuristic transit system that would use gumdrop-shaped cars to whisk travelers along on elevated tracks. University of Minnesota researchers developed a version of the concept, and a Fridley-based company stands ready to build a full system.

But supporters say the industry needs incentives to flourish, and they have found allies in Rep. Mark Olson, R-Big Lake, chief sponsor of several bills in the House, and Sens. Yvonne Solon, DFL-Duluth, and Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, who are sponsoring legislation in the Senate.

The proposals would:

• Have the state borrow $12 million to test PRT in Duluth, MN or in Minneapolis.
  
• Give tax breaks to companies operating the system.
  
• Let local governments borrow money to build their own PRT systems.
  

Don't do this.

I don't think public service announcements will have any effect on the behavior of someone who would even think of doing this:

A 19-year-old woman whose cellphone dropped onto the tracks in a Queens subway station was killed yesterday when she climbed down from the platform to retrieve the phone and was crushed by an oncoming train.

And BTW, the name of this blog is not to be taken literally.

Maryland Transit goes High-Tech

The Baltimore Sun reports that buses in Baltimore will soon be equipped with global positioning systems. The NEXT system, to be implemented by 2006, will provide the MTA with constant information on the location of each of its buses. Bus stops, light rail stations, subways platforms, and commuter rail stops will also be outfitted with electronic signs informing passengers when the next bus or train will arrive. The system will cost approximately $30k per bus to install.

Deep Under the Earth...

A plan to study a 4 1/2 mile BART tunnel under downtown San Jose, CA was approved last Thursday. The Valley Transportation Authority will spend $51.2 million to start planning the tunnel, although funding for the project is questionable -- the Governator wants to pull funding to pay off the state's debt, and additional sales tax revenue projections -- expected to pay for a large portion of the $4 billion expansion -- are down significantly due to the economy.

The honor system

...seems to work in the land of Tony Soprano.

I for one have never tried to evade fares on light rail, but I knew someone who got busted for it in Baltimore and had to go to court. Shame on them.

The Tube

Did you know that the London Underground has its own magazine, called tube? Neither did I.

[Courtesy Going Underground]

Moscow Subway Bombing

The AP is reporting that 39 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in the bombing of a Moscow subway car early Friday.

Northeast Corridor Wi-Fi

Amtrak has announced that AT&T Wireless will install Wi-fi transmitters in six stations in the Northeast Corridor to offer wireless internet access to train riders. Service should be available by this summer.

Boston Route 128; Providence, RI; New York Penn Station; Philadelphia 30th Street Station; Wilmington, DE; and Baltimore, MD will all be wired.

Unfortunately, Amtrak still has no plans to roll out WiFi connections on Northeast corridor trains.

Working On the Railroad...

A collision on the elevated train tracks in Chicago left 45 injured, according to an CBS/AP Report.

The low-speed collision left people injured with neck and back pain. According to the Chicago Tribune, the motorman said he was distracted by a car accident below and didn't hear the warning signals.

He had been on duty for 14 of the previous 20 hours. According to the Tribune,

The Purple Line train driver had worked from 10 p.m. Monday night to 6 a.m. Tuesday, switching trains at the CTA's Howard Yard, officials said. At 6:27 a.m. Tuesday he started driving trains for rush hour and worked until 9:28 a.m. before heading home for a three-hour nap. At 2:49 p.m. he returned to work, piloting trains into the afternoon rush hour.

Apparently, unlike airline pilots and truck drivers, there are no federal regulations on the number of hours a transit operator may work. Does anyone else see something wrong with this?

Slightly less screwed-over

Now New York, home to a third of transit riders nationwide, gets its share of the transit bill bumped up to one-eighth of appropriation. Act happy.

Transport for London

While I know our English friends would often heartily disagree, the mass transit system for Greater London works remarkably well, at least compared to U.S. systems.

I just returned from a week of travel in England, divided mostly between Reading, Uxbridge (on the outskirts of London for our local readers), and London proper. The entire trip was, door-to-door, completed on public transportation and all but three legs (cab rides) were completed on mass transit -- and the transit was quick, safe, and almost always on time.

To the disdain of my travel partner, I spent most of the trip recording interesting transit innovations. Those will be the subject of many coming posts. Before I start, however, I wanted to relay a story that proves just how nerdy us transit people really are:

While on the platform at Reading waiting for a train into Paddington Station, I came across the following sign (and sorry for the poor quality - I only had my cell camera with me):

The sign basically advertises the fact that Thames Trains is operating 800 services daily without receiving any subsidy from the government.

The fact that Thames Trains is successfully running commuter lines without public subsidy is, in itself, an amazing accomplishment. The fact that it's running them on time is even more fantastic.

The fact that while taking a picture of a sign about Thames Trains' subsidy-free service with my cell phone two pretty girls stopped by and said, "Want us to stand there? It'll be a lot more interesting picture" and I actually thought "No, I'm taking a picture for my blog," just proves how much help we really need.

Federal Transit Proposals

The Federal Transit Administration recommended 17 projects for federal funding yesterday. The overall proposed budget for FTA is $7.3 billion, with $1.6 billion allocated to major capital projects.

Among the projects recommended are:

• $30 million for a 9.6 mile light rail system in Charlotte, N.C.'s South Corridor
  
• $20 million for a 35.2 mile commuter railroad in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
  
• $100 million to NYC for a second concourse at Grand Central Station, for LIRR extensions, and for a new Queens subway station.
  
• $25 million for BRT lanes on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland
  
• $55 million for a 1.5 mile rail extension in Pittsburgh
  
• $75 million for the 20-mile Phoenix light rail line
  
• $40 million for the Las Vegas monorail extension
  

Two other transportation proposals (via the NYT) which make no sense include:

• A 13.6 percent cut in the budget for modernizing air traffic control equipment and facilities.
  
• Cutting Amtrak funding from $1.2 billion to $900 million -- unless Amtrak adopts a Bush administration restructuring proposal, in which case funding would increase to $1.4 billion.

[Sources: Charlotte Observer, US Newswire, and The New York Times]

Priorities

There's money to pay Halliburton subsidiary KBR twice the market price for gasoline in Iraq, but there isn't money to live up to federal commitments to build light rail in Charlotte. At this rate, I suppose Baghdad will get commuter rail before Houston does. But hey, as long as we minimize on mass transit-related program activities and keep those tax-subsidized Escalades rolling off the lot...

From the city that brought us Waffle House

In Atlanta:

Make transit fast, easy and inexpensive and as many as two-thirds of Atlanta's commuters would consider getting out of their personal cars -- at least some of the time.

Duh.

(Note: I know the title of this post has nothing to do with its content -- I'm just hungry for some hashbrowns right about now.)

That's stretching it

From the Houston Chronicle:

An estimated half of the 70,000 fans arrived by some form of mass transit, ranging from Hummer limousines to charter buses and Metro's new light rail line.

Hummer limos are mass transit? I'd pay $1.20 to ride out to Dulles in one of those.