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Transit Helps Fight Climate Change

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Art Guzzetti of the American Public Transportation Association gave the shortest presentation at a recent Washington conference, but one with the most relevance to public transit advocates.

He asked, “How much oil does transit save?”

Answer: the equivalent of 300,000 gas station fill-ups daily, or 34 supertankers leaving the Middle East 11 days (34 in a year), or total U.S. imports from Kuwait in a year. But that’s just direct savings. Multiply by a factor of three to reflect indirect benefits, such as the more energy-efficient, denser real estate development that transit enables.

“By how much does transit reduce carbon emissions?” Transit directly saves 6.9 million metric tons annually. Taking into account indirect savings, this number jumps to 37 million metric tons.

He also noted that, in a typical household, just one person switching their commute from automobile to transit would reduce the carbon footprint of that household by 10%. And if that household is able to get by with one less car overall, the carbon footprint of that household will be reduced 30%. There are few household choices that have an impact of this magnitude.

The conference was the “First Transportation Convention,” held March 5-7 in Washington, DC. The conference was organized by the City of Irving, Texas, “as an extension of the annual Transportation Summit held in August” in Texas.

—Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

Tags: apta, climate change, transit, transit-oriented development,

Travelers Leaving Cars Behind; Will Federal Funding Recognize This?

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Among the multitude of reports about growing ridership on Amtrak and mass transit, here are links to four.

Last night, Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News opened a major report with this:

“Transit is booming. Ridership is now at its highest point in 50 years. The bad news: because it’s largely been underfunded for decades, mass transit may not be ready for all the Americans leaving their cars behind…”

Here is the video:

The free Washington Examiner yesterday ran a story headed “Gas prices send travelers to Amtrak.”  The report said October-to-April ridership was up 10.6% nationwide and 11.2% in the Northeast Corridor compared with the same months a year earlier.

The lead story in yesterday’s USA Today was headlined, “Mass transit breaks records; Rail, bus ridership up as gas prices rocket.”  The text highlights one sad irony (also covered on the NBC report): although South Florida Tri-Rail commuter rail ridership was up 13% during the first quarter and up 28% in April, “the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority…faces an $18 million budget hole that may mean cutting train service by more than half.”

Today’s Tampa Tribune carries a story keyed to NARP’s year-ago predictions about the price of oil and gasoline under the headline “A New Train of Thought.”  The article begins with this:

One year ago, the National Association of Railroad Passengers predicted the average price of gasoline would top $4 a gallon, a forecast that is close to becoming a harsh reality.

What drew less attention was the organization’s prediction that the cost of flying would soar. In fact, aviation fuel prices are up nearly 85 percent over 12 months, an increase that has contributed to the loss of commercial airline service for 30 small U.S. cities and fewer flights at most other airports.

Perhaps the most important quote is mine in the Tampa article:

“The press has been filled with articles of this nature [about growing train ridership] in recent weeks. What is hard is to get Congress to do anything about it.”

The Climate Security Act now on the Senate floor presents one opportunity to increase funding for passenger trains, but support for this bill has become shaky because the economic climate has made some erstwhile supporters nervous, while longtime opponents of climate change bills are pumping away with statements focused on how the bill would further increase energy and electricity prices.

—Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

Tags: amtrak, brian williams, capon, climate change, legislation, nbc nightly news, news media, tom costello, transit,

Will US Transport Priorities Change?

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

A major reason why mobility for Americans is so much more at risk than for Europeans is that federal, state, and many local governments have been making the wrong transportation investment—and land use—choices so much of the time for such a long time.

The pendulum may be starting to swing.  On Sunday, The Washington Post, which in recent decades has endorsed just about every local superhighway proposal in sight, ran an editorial under these headlines:  “Screeching to a Halt; On mass transit, the nation is falling perilously behind”.  Here is the last paragraph:

“Last year, a bipartisan commission recommended sharply higher levels of funding for transportation of all kinds, including mass transit. The panel’s recommendations included raising the gas tax. Although Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was on the commission, she declined to endorse its findings. Her head-in-the-sand posture neatly captured the administration’s abdication of responsibility.”

So, we believe, does the Bush Administration’s threat to veto the House’s Amtrak bill.

And the lead story in today’s Washington Post is headlined “Fuel Prices Challenge Cars’ Reign; $4 Gas Transforms Buying Habits, Affecting Everything From Vacations to Pizza Orders”.

Of course, the Commission advocates spending big bucks on all forms of transportation, which implies that no tough choices need to be made.  However,  that is not necessarily true, since both Presidential candidates are sounding like fiscal hawks on government spending.  From our perspective, a key test of public policy is the ability to tilt towards energy-efficient transportation—trains, bicycles, walking—regardless of whether overall transportation spending increases significantly or at all.  Energy efficiency and sustainability should be a crucial determinant of our transportation spending priorities. Period.

—Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

Tags: funding, news media, transit,

Off-Shore Attacks on Light Rail

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

“What’s going on here is a battle between commuters who want to get to work and a bunch of people who don’t want to look at trolley cars while they play golf.  If the public understands that’s what this fight is about, then the Purple Line will be built.”

—Ben Ross, president, Action Committee for Transit (Montgomery County, MD)

This quote, one of the more effective rebuttals to anti-transit advocacy that I’ve seen, appeared in a July 13 Washington Post article about a strange web site fighting the Purple Line.  The Post reported that “the site’s owner is listed as a company based in the Madeira Islands off the coast of Portugal that allows clients to register Web sites anonymously…State tax records shed a little more light: Its founder is a board member at Columbia Country Club in Montgomery, whose 100-year-old golf course would be bisected by the transit line.”

Perhaps the Columbia Country Clubbers should visit Newton Massachusetts, where the Woodland Golf Club, founded in 1896, has long coexisted first with steam and diesel-powered commuter trains and, since July 4, 1959, with the Riverside branch of MBTA’s Green Line.

Next to the above article, The Post ran a nice report on plans for streetcars in Washington, DC, with a map showing potential linkage (at Silver Spring) with the Purple Line. Some trolley cars could even enter service late next year, said the headline.

—Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

Tags: light rail, nimbys, streetcars, transit,

Flag Stops, National Train Day Edition

Monday, May 11, 2009

  • The Cato Institute (no fans of smart transportation investments) is trying to generate shock value by pricing Obama’s high-speed rail vision at half a trillion dollars and denigrating its potential benefits. Trains for America and The Business Insider offer good rebuttals. To put it in perspective, the federal government spent almost four-fifths of that amount on highways in 2008. Cato’s contention that “interstates pay for themselves” is highly misleading.

  • In an article making the rounds in the blogosphere this week, author and business management expert Richard Florida credits the disparity in economic fortunes between the Northeast and Midwest on the presence of fast, frequent train service on the Northeast Corridor and the absence of similar service in the nation’s midsection. The characteristics of the urban megaregions that will define the United States in the early 21st century lend themselves to high-speed rail as the most sensible way to link them, he says, and parts of the country that don’t get on board (pun intended) will be left behind. Our friends at the CAHSR blog discuss the implications of Florida’s findings for California. We would add that good train service promotes exactly the kind of car-free urban lifestyle sought by members of the up-and-coming “creative class” that Florida touts.

  • It seems that large rail-oriented transportation projects are popping up all over the place—unfortunately, mostly outside the US. Paris is planning a new elevated metro system linking it to satellite towns, Saudi Arabia will lay track for several new freight and passenger lines, a regional railway and connecting metro lines are in the works for Abu Dhabi (capital of the United Arab Emirates). Ironically, Americans are financing a significant portion of the latter two projects in oil-rich countries at the gasoline pump. If we had a more responsible level of taxation on petroleum use, we could afford more projects like these at home.

  • Two pieces of recommended reading for those interested in the connection between transportation policies and our lifestyle choices: The American Prospect offers a side-by-side comparison of a sprawling car-oriented suburb and one that is compact, pedestrian-oriented and (surprise!) transit-accessible; and Streetsblog wonders if life might be better for children if their parents weren’t wedded to their cars.

  • LCL: Scientists warn that “even the most drastic emissions cuts currently being discussed stand little chance of limiting global warming to safe levels;” with demand for automobiles tanking, investors are taking a second look at transit; Amtrak celebrated its 38th birthday May 1; funding is the only remaining obstacle to Amtrak service from Chicago to the Quad Cities; an additional Cascades frequency will offset its costs with new tourism spending; a new documentary explores how sprawl came to be; Bostonians hold a bake sale for their ailing transit system; New York City’s transportation czar calls for the return of streetcars to Brooklyn; and one of America’s best-known forecasters says that this year’s decrease in miles driven defies his prediction and may be the start of a new trend.

    • We hope that NARP members and all rail advocates took Saturday’s National Train Day as a time to celebrate the fruits of our labors (the trains we already have) and the bright future ahead for passenger rail. If a Train Day event took place near you, we hope you used the opportunity to spread the word about NARP and tell people how they can get involved in our work. The day provides a good moment to reflect on the many benefits of train travel—both its oft-cited boons to economic development and environmental sustainability, and the less quantifiable ways that good trains enhance our quality of life—and remember what inspires us to stay active in the cause. If you have any photos of the festivities you attended, please email them to us and we’ll consider posting them here.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: amtrak, funding, national train day, streetcars, transit,

    Connecting the Dots for Sustainable Transportation

    Friday, May 22, 2009

    Tuesday’s much-anticipated presidential announcement of higher nationwide fuel economy standards for automobiles was nearly universally praised by auto manufacturers, organized labor, environmentalists and consumer groups, and is indeed a step in the right direction. However, the new rules may have unintended negative consequences, particularly for those interested in a future where Americans are less reliant on the car, and these should not be overlooked.

    Safe Climate Campaign director Daniel Becker pointed out on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show Wednesday morning that the new standards apply to cars that are actually bought, not just to those that are in showrooms. Therefore, in order to comply with the law, the auto industry must sell more new cars, potentially with help from a provision in the climate bill that would give consumers incentives to trade in their current vehicles.  Becker also noted (as does USA Today’s Open Road blog) that the laws of economics generally dictate that when the cost of an activity goes down, people tend to do marginally more of it. Therefore, by making it cheaper to drive on a per-mile basis, a gas-sipping auto fleet may lead to an increase in driving, which, while it may not have the same impact on carbon emissions, would certainly worsen the many other consequences of auto dependence: congestion, sprawl, and parking problems, to name a few.  Plus, the new line of fuel-efficient cars may actually be less safe, and when people buy less gas, the key source of revenue for highway maintenance (and some rail and transit services) is further depleted.

    Higher gas prices (which will inevitably return) and greater awareness about global warming have led not only to increased demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, but also for more travel alternatives.  If public policy were to promote one without simultaneously addressing the other, it would be a step in the opposite direction from one that would lead to an energy-secure and livable future. Luckily, federal leaders have taken steps towards improving the automobile alternatives for which Americans are clamoring, but a guaranteed long-term source of funding for these projects is still missing. Congress will eventually have to either increase the gas tax (a move that is sure to be resisted mightily) or find other sources of funding for our transportation infrastructure.

    Continued after the jump.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    » read more...

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: auto industry, climate, congress, highways, obama, transit,

    Flag Stops: Signs of Change

    Tuesday, June 09, 2009

    Highway Trust Fund woes, models for industry nationalization, lessons from Europe, and more in this week’s roundup of rail-related reports and ruminations.

  • As worries mount that Highway Trust Fund, the main source of federal outlays for road and transit construction & maintenance, is on pace to run out of cash this summer, lawmakers are scrambling to find other ways to plug the hole, running into political obstacles at every turn. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood rejects the idea of increasing the gas tax, or introducing any new system of charging highway users (such as a vehicle miles traveled tax) during the recession. LaHood is concerned about the impact of such taxes on low-income populations, despite that some of the revenue can be used to give rebates to those most impacted.

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  • Meanwhile, the Congressional Democratic leadership’s push for increased transit use and to reduce miles traveled by car (endorsed by NARP) has a key highway lobby worried. Balanced transportation advocates counter by pointing out that there isn’t, nor should there be, an either-or choice between improved roads and world-class rail and transit networks. Existing roads need to be kept in shape, but decisions about building new roads or adding lanes ought to be judged in the context of the greater public expense they necessitate in the long run, both in terms of maintenance and in terms of the impacts of increased congestion, pollution, sprawl, etc. Highway users should certainly be included in the discussion as we chart a future of improved mobility for all, but they shouldn’t expect to maintain their position in the center of the transportation universe.

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  • From Burlington, Iowa’s daily newspaper, The Hawk Eye, comes a forceful pro-passenger rail op-ed. Mike Sweet writes, “At a minimum, the mere idea of exploring possibilities like fast, efficient and environmentally sound train travel is provoking what America badly needs—a lasting economic, political and intellectual renaissance.” That’s the kind of thinking NARP is working to encourage: thinking that generates an image of an America renewed by greater mobility at a low cost to the planet and our quality of life.
  • As Americans wonder what impending nationalization of banks and auto companies may mean for their future, some are pointing to Amtrak as an example of a once-private operation that has endured after major government intervention. While Congress’s historically poor treatment of Amtrak makes it an unlikely model for future nationalizations, it has resulted in the continued provision of an essential service upon which more and more Americans are depending, despite that it is not profitable (and should not be expected to be). The government-led reorganization of the freight railroads in the 1970s is also instructive, as it resulted in the return of the freight business to the private sector and to profitability. In that same vein, a New York Times piece warns of the pitfalls of privatizing transportation infrastructure.
  • The recession has slowed new car sales, following the pattern that most retail sectors are experiencing. While some expect sales to bounce back when the economy rebounds, many observers say the decline in auto sales could be a lasting trend as people rethink their lifestyles and transportation needs. Greater numbers of Americans are downsizing, moving closer to city centers, and trading multiple cars for shared rides and public transit. As we commented last week, shouldn’t the Administration pay attention to these shifts when debating further giveaways to auto companies? (Thanks to NARP Vice Chair Jim Churchill for the tip)
  • You’ve read our report on Secretary LaHood’s trip to Europe and his roundtable discussion with Vice President Biden and several governors and state DOT heads (Hotline #607); now you can get it straight from the horse’s mouth. On his blog, LaHood shares his reflections on riding France and Spain’s high-speed systems and enumerates the public benefits of rail and transit. Meanwhile, The Transport Politic questions Biden’s analogy of Obama’s HSR vision to Eisenhower’s jumpstarting the Interstate Highway System. Inaccurate as it may be, the comparison is still a useful rhetorical tool to describe the kind of commitment that is needed, if not the actual policy as it is. Remember, it’s only a down payment.
  • LCL: Michigan’s Governor talks of converting auto plants to makers of rail equipment (thanks to former NARP Communications Director Matt Melzer for the tip); our partners at Transportation for America gear up to push national Complete Streets legislation; a policy analyst says in order to promote economic development, government should invest in strategic transportation planning instead of subsidizing automakers; advocates push for experimental Amtrak route Chicago to Green Bay, Wis.; the Union of Concerned Scientists claims buses are the greenest travel mode, with trains being a close second (without factoring in rail’s unparalleled ability to foster condensed, walkable development around stations); the world’s largest public transportation organization convenes in Vienna to take advantage of the moment; the US editor at-large of a major British newspaper reflects [VIDEO] on the fact that the Beatles got to Washington from New York in 1964 faster than the Acela makes the same trip today (thanks to Michigan NARP member Dietrich Bergmann for the tip); and Disney is set to launch 6-month national train tour to promote a new 3D movie version of A Christmas Carol.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: auto industry, europe, green, highways, mobility, nationalization, rail, taxes, transit, transportation, urban development,

    Counting Our Blessings

    Tuesday, June 23, 2009

    Thoughts in light of yesterday’s Washington Metrorail disaster.

    Our thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives and those who were injured in yesterday’s horrific Metrorail crash in Washington, DC. We are also keeping in mind the Metro employees who received a shocking reminder of just how important their jobs are and the awesome responsibility that is in their hands. That yesterday marked only the second train accident causing passenger fatalities in Metrorail’s 32-year history should remind the traveling public how safe mass trasit is. The National Transportation Safety Board has begun its investigation into the exact cause of the tragedy and, as with all such incidents, what we learn from their findings will make Metro and other transit systems even safer in the future.

    My experience getting home from NARP’s Washington office yesterday, while harrowing, made me count my blessings. My plan was to take the 5:35 PM MARC Brunswick Line commuter train from Union Station. After almost half an hour waiting at the station hearing only that the track ahead was blocked, I learned via my mobile phone of the accident and determined that my train was not going to depart. I informed my fellow passengers and proceeded to find other means of transport. It took me two and a half hours, two bus rides and a lift from a kind stranger, but I made it home. Had I decided to leave only 15 minutes earlier, though, it could have been a lot worse, and I was lucky to be alive and unharmed.

    Yesterday, I saw firsthand just how much a large city relies on its transit network. With a key segment of Metrorail and commuter service out of commission, the number of people forced into buses, cars and taxis, created huge traffic jams. If Metro’s trains and buses did not exist, there is no way the city of Washington would be able to function as it does. The subway network has only been around for three decades, but it literally consitutes the arteries that keep the city’s lifeblood flowing. When one of those arteries gets clogged or fails, the entire body is thrown into disarray.

    This should serve a reminder of how indespensible our work is at NARP and throughout the rail and transit industries. We must continue our work to make trains—intercity, commuter and metro—a reliable, convenient, comfortable, and above all, safe travel method available to all Americans.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: commuting, disaster, metro, mobility, railroad, safety, tragedy, transit,

    Flag Stops: Taking Small, Quick Steps

    Tuesday, June 30, 2009

    This week’s roundup of news and views in the world of passenger rail and American travel focuses on the need to act quickly, yet deliberately, to do what needs to be done to keep the country moving sustainably.

  • At a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing last week, Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman and FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo testified that most of the federal high-speed rail money should go towards track and signal improvements that would make existing trains faster and more reliable, and would permit additional frequencies. In a guest op-ed for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Boardman says boosting existing trains’ top speeds to 110 mph results in an average 40-percent reduction in trip time. Several Amtrak routes, such as the Keystone (Philadelphia-Harrisburg), the St. Louis-Kansas City corridor, and the Downeaster (Boston-Portland, ME)  have seen ridership increases even with modest improvements, including higher speeds, more frequencies and better on-time performance. Boardman believes that such small steps are necessary to recreate a train-riding culture in America. NARP concurs, as does Trains for America. Some differ with this approach, though, wanting the funds to be spent instead on one or two major projects involving very fast trains on new lines. Such ventures should be pursued, but not at the expense of current and potential passengers who would benefit greatly from more imminently attainable advancements.

  • Congressional leaders and the executive branch are still debating how long the country can wait before federal surface transportation programs are reauthorized, and hence reformed. As we’ve noted before, the current draft reauthorization bill [PDF] has a good deal of positive language, but still leaves many questions unanswered.  Also, our friends at Transportation for America’s have an informative analysis of the draft legislation.

  • A silver lining to the nation’s economic storm clouds: more punctual Amtrak trains, which is helping to draw people back to the rails. “Perhaps rail aficionados—who favor Amtrak’s relaxing atmosphere and communal spirit over the frenzy and isolation of the airport—have something to teach the engineers of our now-derailed economy,” writes Jason Mark. “Speed, in fact, isn’t everything. Steadiness is more likely to get us where we need to go.” Amtrak’s improved on-time performance can be credited not just to the decline in freight traffic, but also to some railroads’ policy decisions to give Amtrak trains better handling after October 2008 enactment of the law empowering the Surface Transportation Board to assess damages against railroads that routinely delay passenger trains. Performance by Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern in particular improved dramatically in November, long before freight traffic tailed off.

  • In Florida, rail advocates continue to tout high-speed trains as boons to the economy and tourism, while opponents fuss over the up-front cost. Resisting wise rail investments while letting auto and air traffic worsen in a congested place like Florida is like balking at the price of properly insulating your home and opting instead to keep wasting money on heat and air conditioning that escapes through the cracks in the walls. The costs of getting around (both in terms of time and money) will only keep going up if the transportation system isn’t fixed by providing greater mobility and greater choice.

  • Air travel headaches continue: with fewer passengers and fewer flights, planned airport expansion projects are being shelved. While the trend is affecting large and small airports alike, many of the flights being eliminated are shorter-haul routes which could be better served by trains. Unfortunately, the bulk of those routes lack train service adequate to meet the demand.

  • A look at the very real consequences of funding new trains, buses and transit infrastructure without investing enough in actually running them. Luckily, relief is on the way for transit agencies in need of operating cash. Meanwhile, PBS’s Blueprint America breaks down how federal public transit money is spent, yet points to last week’s Metro disaster to suggest that current funds aren’t enough.

  • LCL: An Arkansas paper’s profile of some active volunteers with one of NARP’s affiliate route support teams, the Texas Eagle Marketing and Performance Organization (TEMPO), is an example of the kind of publicity we can get just by being involved and speaking out; a slice of the life of a 63-year-old Amtrak dining car server, one of an increasing number of Americans nearing retirement age who are opting to remain in the workforce; visions of sparkling-new stations along California’s high-speed rail route spur debate on what should be done with historic depots; Iowa’s governor gets on board for better trains (literally); hopes are high in Georgia as the state seeks its share of the forthcoming federal rail largesse; a look at what will soon be a commonplace sight aboard trains as Amtrak moves to paperless e-ticketing; and do spiffy new roads entice unsafe driving?

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: airlines, amtrak, congestion, congress, debate, florida, fra, high-speed rail, improvement, on-time, transit, transportation, travel,

    Flag Stops: Smarter and Cheaper

    Friday, September 11, 2009

    Our take on recent news and views in transportation.

  • As Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff reveals, Recovery Act transit funds have gone not just to track and vehicle repairs, but to new transit stations and hubs, as well as greener repair facilities. Meanwhile, the stimulus’s transit accounts are spending out faster than funds for supposedly more shovel-ready highway projects. Also, the Wall Street Journal recaps the latest in the race between states, contractors, and Amtrak to win high-speed rail funds.
  • Future demand for new housing won’t come from people moving from the suburbs to city and town centers, says Ryan Avent, but from the projected 57 million new housing units that will need to be built in the next 30 years for Americans yet to be born. What kind of developments might accommodate them, benefitting from improved intercity rail connections? One example is taking shape in Kansas City.
  • Yonah Freemark makes the case that price is key to attracting riders to trains in competitive short-distance markets. His number-crunching reveals that Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains cost more per mile traveled than high-speed lines in other countries, but are comparable in price on a per-hour-traveled basis. If trains can hold more people and go faster, he contends, tickets will be inexpensive. Getting to the point where speed and equipment capacity on the Northeast Corridor, not to mention other routes in the country, would be great enough to allow for substantial fare reductions will require significant up-front investment. Meanwhile, rising prices for driving and flying will continue to enhance passenger trains’ attractiveness.
  • A Missouri task force has recommended ways to transform the state’s auto manufacturing sector for the new economy, among them retooling plants for making “high-speed rail cars,” taking a page from Michigan’s Governor. It remains to be seen whether such advice will be translated into real fiscal incentives to produce such a shift. If so, we can hope to see more stories like this in the coming years.
  • Streetsblog takes stock of the political landscape as the deadlock over the next surface transportation bill continues while the clock ticks towards the current bill’s September 30th expiration date.
  • LCL: Residents of central Florida have coalesced to push for new high-speed rail line down the median of I-4 from Tampa to Orlando. *** Western state transportation planners organize to expand high-speed rail east from California into the Rockies. *** PBS’s Blueprint America series offers an engaging primer on the state of freight and a look at the realities on the ground that drive current policy debates. *** The challenges of moving rail freight through choked Houston. *** A Louisiana TV station’s op-ed puts the politically-motivated folly of dropping plans for New Orleans-Baton Rouge high-speed rail into a historical context. *** The Grand Canyon Railway sets a green example.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: authorization, avent, congress, fares, freemark, fta, future, growth, high-speed rail, highway, housing, manufacturing, northeast corridor, planning, prices, recovery act, repairs, stimulus, transit,

    Flag Stops: Doing the Math

    Tuesday, September 22, 2009

    The latest news and views round-up.

  • The office of Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) has obtained a preliminary draft of Amtrak’s Congressionally-mandated study [PDF] of the possibility of restoring the Pioneer between Salt Lake City and Seattle. It presents a very conservative ridership estimate—even lower than actual ridership was when the train last ran in 1992—and says the new equipment and track upgrades required would take at least four years once the company gets the go-ahead from Congress.

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  • A land developer from Maine went to Ohio to spread the word about the wonders that new passenger trains can work for local economies. He touted the fact that every dollar his home state put in to initiating and operating the Downeaster has brought about $70 in additional construction investment, creating 18,000 new jobs. He thinks Ohio’s 3-C corridor could do the same.

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  • A Washington Post review of Green Metropolis by David Owen, which has just been added to the NARP Bookstore on Amazon.com, emphasizes Owen’s strongest point about the consequences of overreliance on the automobile: “The real problem with cars is not that they don’t get enough miles to the gallon, it’s that they make it too easy for people to spread out, encouraging forms of development that are inherently wasteful and damaging.” This is something NARP has been pointing out for years, even when doing so puts us in the minority of green-minded groups.

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  • Phoenix’s 9-month-old light rail line is converting skeptics—and bucking the national trend—by carrying almost 7,000 more daily riders than projected, the vast majority being leisure riders, reports the New York Times. In most cities, 60 percent or more of transit users are commuters, but only 29% of Phoenix light rail riders take it to work and back. It goes to show how well transit can work, even in a metropolis that is practically the epitome of sprawl.

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  • A Philadelphia Inquirer article paints a not-so-pretty picture of the condition of Amtrak-owned infrastructure, which the company revealed only after government watchdogs threatened to file suit. Several bridges on the Northeast and Keystone corridors have been rated “poor” by Amtrak’s own inspectors, showing such overt signs of decay as corroded beams, holes, and trees growing through cracks. The these pieces of the physical plant remain neglected, the more it’s going to cost, in terms of safety as well as dollars.

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  • Amtrak adds a new city to its list of destinations this week with the reopening of Icicle Station in Leavenworth, Washington, which will be served daily by the Empire Builder’s Seattle section.

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  • LCL: A preprogrammed “Balanced Transportation Analyzer” (Excel file) gives you the chance to play policymaker and come up with a plan to ease congestion in the Big Apple. * * * Thomas Friedman says US lawmakers don’t have the guts to raise the gas tax. * * * A video high-speed rail wish from a future rail advocacy leader. * * * A slight setback for Tar Heel travelers: a new Raleigh-Charlotte train will come, but not until early next year. * * * There’s one industrialized country the United States appears to be a few steps ahead of on high-speed rail: our neighbor to the north.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: amtrak, bridges, cars, costs, development, downeaster, economy, empire builder, green metropolis, infrastructure, lawsuit, light rail, maine, ohio, passenger trains, phoenix, pioneer, restoration, sprawl, study, transit, washington state,

    Coming Together for Smarter Development

    Wednesday, October 14, 2009

    Expert panelists call attention to the burgeoning demand for homes that are convenient to transit and the challenges to making such housing widely available and affordable.

    The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Public Policy Institute, the National Housing Trust and Reconnecting America held a panel discussion at Washington’s Union Station on September 30 on integrating affordable housing with better transportation for more livable communities. It is good to see that people in the various professions that relate to housing, transportation and the design of cities are coming together to address these issues in a coordinated way.

    The qualities that make homes near transit lines desirable also drive up their prices, so the need for affordable housing accessible to transit is critical. As you get farther from the center of a city, housing gets less expensive, but transportation costs grow at a higher rate than the cost of a home drops. The opposite occurs as you get closer in. Residents of outlying suburbs who depend on their cars spend an average of 25% of their household income on getting around vs. 9% for those living in walkable neighborhoods with good transit connections. If transportation costs were considered as a factor in the affordability of housing, the whole equation would change in favor of denser, less car-dependent neighborhoods.

    Nationwide, only 20% of housing units lie within half a mile of a bus or train stop, but in many larger cities, that figure is over 60%—even in places like Houston, Salt Lake City and Denver. Transit-oriented development doesn’t necessarily mean high-rise apartment buildings. It can also include townhomes and small single-family homes that are close together and laid out well enough to encourage walking.

    Availability of affordable, pedestrian-friendly housing means greater independence for older adults who cannot/don’t want to/should not drive and whose personal mobility is limited. Those 65 and older make up over half of the residents of affordable housing units in the US; by 2050, senior citizens are expected to comprise 20% of the American population, up from 12% today.

    A major obstacle to transit-friendly, affordable housing is market pressure to turn the existing housing stock into higher-priced condos and townhomes. Currently, there is much more demand for transit-oriented housing than there is supply. Properties in transit-oriented developments are holding their value despite the recession, and are some are seeing values increase. Codes and zoning laws often make infill development, mixed-use buildings, and repurposing of existing buildings difficult. Add to that the pervasive lack of integration of transportation and land-use planning, and you get a sense of the breadth of the challenge facing policymakers.

    Rodney Harrell, Strategic Planning Advisor with the AARP Public Policy Institute, noted the irony of transit service cuts even as federal capital funding has grown. In response to this, Congressional leaders’ plans for the next surface transportation authorization include the reestablishment of federal operating assistance to keep the buses and trains that were bought primarily with federal dollars running. Keeping transit accessible and attractive to the entire public also means addressing safety issues and physical obstacles that make it difficult to get to train stations and bus stops, as well as providing better information (including the use of advanced technology) about how often trains and buses run, where they go and what connections are available.

    Despite the enormity of the challenge, a sense of progress emerged in the conference room. The Obama Administration was given high marks for its attention to these matters. The rapidly changing American demographic and urgent need for solutions to the energy and climate crises make the transition of the American lifestyle back to one based on more cohesive communities and more reliance on public transportation, particularly rail, all but inevitable.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: aarp, access, bus, communities, development, housing, pedestrian, quality of life, rail, reconnecting america, tod, train, transit,

    Flag Stops: Who’s Gonna Pay For It

    Wednesday, December 02, 2009

  • The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Subsidyscope project—which put out an misleading look at Amtrak’s finances a month ago [top story]—last week unveiled a report we can add to the volumes of literature that debunk the myth that U.S. roads “pay for themselves.” Over the past 25 years, they found, the percentage of highway costs funded by means other than user fees (gas taxes and tolls) doubled. They point to two leading factors influencing this trend: the lack of a change in the gas tax since 1993 (combined with inflation) and the increased reliance on bonds to pay for new highways. Sadly, I doubt this report will gain as much media attention as its predecessor.
  • Along similar lines, the Texas DOT posits that, in order to pay the full cost of a 15-mile stretch of Interstate highway ($1 billion), the statewide gas tax would have to be $2.22 per gallon—not including the price of the gas itself. Yet that highway was built and is being maintained, with general US and Texas taxpayers paying the lion’s share. That same $1 billion could have paid for the construction of 333 miles of railroad track, according to California estimates.
  • Another example of the consequences of chronic underinvestment: The New York Post learns that a number of Amtrak-owned bridges in New York City are “in crumbling condition,” scoring “poor” or worse in internal inspections. Ironically, an effort to fix recent, delay-causing problems with the swing bridge carrying Amtrak’s Empire Corridor trains over the Harlem River wound up closing the bridge from Tuesday night until about 1:00 pm on the day before Thanksgiving. The Wednesday morning trains to Montreal and Toronto were combined and detoured via the Hell Gate Bridge, while passengers on the other trains had to use Metro-North’s Grand Central service for part of their journeys.
  • Fortune magazine documents recent high-speed rail advancements on the other side of the Atlantic, including the extension of TGV service from Paris to Strasbourg—and how trains are beating airlines on certain segments.
  • Office buildings in the Washington, DC area are sitting largely empty—except in the city center. In a region with the second-worst traffic congestion in the nation, employers are locating in areas more easily reached by transit. Downtown Washington’s offices are 10% vacant, while fringe area workspaces are around 30% empty.
  • “We are on the verge of jumpstarting ... [a] game-changing endeavor,” Secretary LaHood remarked, referring to the Recovery Act grant announcements coming within the next few months. LaHood is also throwing his weight behind making subway and light-rail safety a responsibility of his Department.
  • Two more newspaper columnists join the call for a passenger rail renaissance: the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Tom Belden, American Reporter correspondent Rudolph Holhut.
  • LCL: More high-speed rail rumblings from the Middle East. * * * Political leaders want to spend more money on transportation infrastructure—but there’s none to spend. * * * The Midwest High Speed Rail Association gets good vibes from Thanksgiving travel numbers, including a 6.7% decrease in the number of air travelers.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: congestion, costs, high-speed rail, highway, highways, infrastructure, railroad, ray lahood, subsidies, trains, transit, transportation, underinvestment, user fees,

    Unleashed TIGER Forges a New Path

    Wednesday, February 17, 2010

    Just three weeks after history-making intercity passenger train grants were announced, the Obama Administration unveiled $1.5 billion in Recovery Act grants under a revolutionary framework in which rail and transit figure prominently.  The program, dubbed Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER), marks the first time that the US Department of Transportation has awarded money across the institutional barriers that have historically held back funding for railroads and transit—and infrastructure that connects these with the rest of the transportation network.

    As with the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail “pot,” states’ applications greatly exceeded the available funds—$56 requested for every $1 awarded. Determining what percentage of TIGER funds went to each mode of travel is (happily) difficult since many of the projects benefit multiple modes. Grants benefitting passenger rail (including rail transit) total $574.1 million (about 38% of the total), while those aiding freight rail add up to $408.8 billion (about 27%). Transit improvement ventures (subway, light rail, streetcar and bus) got $699 million (about 47%), with highways getting almost 30%, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure about 10%.

    TIGER’s innovative, merit-based funding mechanism should become the mold in which most future federal transportation financing is cut. Including more funding for TIGER or a similar program in the Jobs Bill (currently before the Senate) would be an ideal way for Congress to signal its commitment to meaningful reform that will give Americans better mobility choices. NARP and our partners in the OneRail Coalition [link to come] will continue to sound the call for strong, balanced transportation investments that put rail in its rightful place as a key component in how America moves.

    Read on for an overview of how the awards are distributed, or go here for complete descriptions of each funded project.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    » read more...

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: congress, department of transportation, federal government, funding, grants, infrastructure, investment, job creation, jobs, light rail, passenger trains, railroads, recovery act, stimulus, streetcar, tiger, transit, transportation,

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