North Texas leaders voice their support for transit bill

North Texas municipal and county officials presented an almost unified front Wednesday in favor of legislation designed to raise money for billions of dollars in road and rail improvements.

A three-hour hearing before the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee was the first legislative test of public opinion on the measure. Supporters outnumbered opponents by about 7-to-1.

Opponents said proposed taxes and fees in the bill would impose added hardship at a time of economic uncertainty.

State Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, the committee chairman and the bill’s sponsor, said the measure is still being refined and will come up for a committee vote next week.

Leaders of Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington and four other North Texas cities repeated their central message: The bill is urgently needed to finance road improvements and commuter rail lines to help the nation’s fourth-most-populous region reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

"The No. 1 issue is transportation," Fort Worth Councilman Jungus Jordan told the committee, citing the findings of survey after survey in North Texas.

Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said his city is "the largest city in the nation without public transportation, and I’m not proud of that."

"We’re pleading with you to allow us to move ahead with transportation in our state."

Have any of our all-knowing public servants (e.g., State Rep. Vicki Truitt) in North Texas done ANY work to investigate what has happened in other cities that have built 19th century railroads as a means of moving people around?? Here’s the references if anybody cares to learn from history and from others’ mistakes before saddling Texas with an economic and societal albatross that follows the examples of bankrupt blue states.

Light-Rail Systems Are a False Promise, Sep 2008
https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9644
Short article.
“Once built, light-rail systems never live up to their promises, even in places like Portland. Before building light rail, Portland’s bus system carried 9.8 percent of the region’s transit riders to work. Today, thanks to cutbacks in the bus system forced by the high cost of rail, transit carries just 7.6 percent. Nor is rail transit good for the environment. Most U.S. light-rail lines use more energy, per passenger mile, than an SUV.”

Light Rail Doesn’t Work, Aug 2007
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8655
Short article listing reasons why light rail is a bad choice.

The Train Drain: Brookings Institution on Rail Transit in America, Feb 2007
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/storyPrint.aspx?81801760-c1da-4d4d-bfd6-52e066e9aa55
Article summarizing case study by the Brookings Institution, America’s oldest public policy think tank. Based in Washington, DC, it is well-respected and generally considered to be moderate-liberal in orientation.

“On average, rail transit systems cover about 40 percent of their operating costs from farebox revenues and none of their capital costs, according to figures in the National Transit Database. That means their net taxpayer subsidy is large. . .
“the authors conclude that rail transit is erroneously believed by the public to be socially desirable, because “supporters have sold [rail systems] as an antidote to the social costs associated with automobile travel, in spite of strong evidence to the contrary.” They conclude that, in fact, rail transit is “an increasing drain on social welfare.”

Rails Won’t Save America, Oct 2008
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9703
Case study of the full life cycle cost of rail and adverse societal impact. Rail is large scale infrastructure from an earlier century. It does not offer the convenience, modularity or economic benefits of the automobile.

Rail industry admits that it’s often greener for families to travel by car, Jul 2007
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/article2067255.ece
“It can be greener to drive than catch the train, according to a rail industry study which reveals that trains are losing their environmental advantage. Modern diesel-powered trains are so polluting that a family of three or more would be responsible for at least double the carbon dioxide emissions on many routes when travelling by rail compared with driving in a typical medium-sized car. “

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