Free Republic

Agencies Nationwide Raise Fares, Cut Service as Budget Pressures Mount; In Chicago, 'Less Frequent, More Crowded Service' Public transportation will be more crowded and more expensive this year as big-city transit systems across the country respond to severe budget pressures.Funding from state and local governments -- a key part of budgets for transit systems -- has been cut and ridership is down overall, prompting transit officials to trim service and raise fares at a time when many customers are pinched themselves.San Francisco is raising fares for commuters this month. Chicago will lay off workers and eliminate bus routes in February...

The decision by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to sharply cut services to close a nearly $383 million deficit is the latest sign that the state will operate under harsh fiscal constraints in the coming year. The proposed cuts, which would include shutting down two subway lines and slashing night and weekend hours on a system that operates around the clock, will be aired at several public hearings this winter. A final vote is planned in the spring by the board of the MTA, which manages transit systems in New York City and surrounding areas, including Long Island. The measures...

The social and economic costs of lost productivity and wasted fuel from traffic-choked streets are estimated to be $87 billion a year, according to the Texas Transportation Institute’s 2009 Urban Mobility Report. So far, federal, state and local efforts — focused mostly on expanding road capacity — have been largely unsuccessful at slowing the growing congestion on U.S. roads. Transportation experts now advocate a different approach, changing the emphasis from increasing supply to reducing demand. To reinforce smart growth policies, plug mounting transportation funding gaps and achieve immediate traffic relief, London, Stockholm, Singapore, Milan and three cities in Norway have...

Any T (Boston: Mass Bay Transit Authority) driver caught using a cell phone on duty will be fired on the spot, MBTA officials announced this morning unveiling what could be the toughest such policy in the country. “We believe this is the strongest policy of its kind for any major transportation agency in the nation and I think it will help make us one of the safest,” said MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas this morning. Any subway or bus driver caught using a cell phone on the job will be fired and any driver caught even in possession of a...

Nov 26, 2008 5:00 pm US/Eastern "Feds Warn Of Terror Plot Against NYC Subways Homeland Security: Expect Larger Police Presence In NYC And In Major Cities Across U.S. During Holidays" ARTICLE SNIPPET: "NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― Federal authorities are warning police of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway and train systems during the holiday season, prompting local officials to beef up security at stations. An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system. A...

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County's mass transit agency this month will likely ask county supervisors to put a half-cent sales tax increase measure on November's ballot, a move aimed at raising tens of billions of dollars to build a Los Angeles subway extension and other projects. While a recent poll shows general voter support for the transportation tax hike, the five county supervisors, who are members of the 13-member Metro board, are not advocating the increase. And the whole thing could go up in smoke if a related bill by Assemblyman Mark Feuer doesn't make it past state lawmakers....

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has piqued the ire of sensitive New Yorkers with an ad that shows a menacing-looking rat and asks the following in bold letters: "You gonna eat that?" The text accompanying the ad attempts to explain Metro's draconian enforcement of its no-eating and no-drinking policy. It reads: "Unlike some subway systems (which will remain nameless), you don't see rats the size of house cats roaming the Metro. Why not? Because we are so strict about eating and drinking in the system. So help us keep the crittes away. Please don't eat or drink on the...

FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan 3. -- Just before New Year's Eve, a Fort Worth mother was kicked off the public bus for reading the Bible aloud to her children on the way to church. "What kind of person pulls over public transportation and kicks out a mother and her children for reading their Bible on the way to church?" said Kelly Shackelford, Chief Counsel for Liberty Legal Institute, the legal organization representing Christine Lutz. "Freedom of religion exists on public transportation just like anywhere else." Christine Lutz was reading the Bible to her children while on the way to church...

TOKYO (AP) - Did you just grope me? Shall we head to the police? That's the message women are flashing on their cell phones with a popular program designed to ward off wandering hands in Japan's congested commuter trains. "Anti-Groping Appli" by games developer Takahashi was released in late but has only recently climbed up popularity rankings, reaching No. 7 in this week's top-10 cell phone applications list compiled by Web-based publisher Spicy Soft Corp. The application flashes increasingly threatening messages in bold print on the phone's screen to show to the offender: "Excuse me, did you just grope me?"...

Agency cites weather, clamp down on disability rides for some of the loss but acknowledges that its 2007 estimates were a 'bit aggressive.' By Ben Wear AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, September 06, 2007 Capital Metro, even with persistently high gas prices providing an incentive for transit use and a steadily increasing metro population, is losing riders. Ridership, according to figures released by the agency in its 2008 budget, will be 6.2 percent lower in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 than in the previous fiscal year. Capital Metro expects to have just less than 33 million boardings in the current year...

Report says that more than $45 billion of the estimate is either in error or undocumented. The State Auditor's Office this morning released a report challenging the validity of almost half of a purported $86 billion shortfall in Texas transportation funding over the next generation, and cautioning that the gap estimate "may not be reliable for making policy or funding decisions." That $86 billion figure has been cited repeatedly by Texas Department of Transportation officials and some legislators as a major reason for the state's increasing need for new toll roads. The number is a compilation of estimates from local...

Over the decades of watching the Legislature, no issue has so inflamed passions — and unified such disparate groups — as the current toll-road proposals winding through state government. Texas Department of Transportation officials have argued that the state's highway needs greatly exceed what fuel taxes will generate, and the only way to catch up with the traffic congestion is to sell some planned and existing roads to private operators and use the cash to build other roads. Clearly, the proposal that has most inflamed opponents has been the Trans-Texas Corridor, a massive 50-year project for which the state would...

Labor Day weekend is usually one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, but who can tell anymore? Our roads are so overcrowded that a hectic holiday weekend is indistinguishable from an average weekday. Washington, D.C. is already the fourth most congested city in the U.S., behind only San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. Commute times during peak traffic hours are 51 percent longer than during off-peak times, meaning a trip that is supposed to take you 30 minutes takes over 45.

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 11, 2006-- Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc. announces today that its BIS-WDS(TM) Prime has been installed for live, passenger screening operation at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's (PANYNJ) Exchange Place PATH transit system station in Jersey City, New Jersey as part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Rail Security Pilot Project's two week field demonstration of promising advanced technologies that detect explosives and other large weapons used to injure passengers or damage facilities and equipment, and that pose serious potential threats to the nation's rail systems. Brijot's product -- which provides full-motion,...

Despite revelations of unlocked gates, unmonitored security cameras, lack of security manuals and untrained personnel, officials for Valley Metro (the government agency running the transit system for the Phoenix metropolitan region) said they felt the system is fundamentally secure. "Our 'ace-in-the-hole' is our extraordinarily low ridership," said Bryan Jungwirth, Valley Metro deputy executive director. "We figure that no terrorist in his right mind would bother to attack our nearly empty vehicles when more attractive targets like sports stadiums, movie theaters, and public restrooms offer many more potential victims." Critics of Valley Metro's blasé attitude suggest that the concept "terrorist in...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Assembly Democrats, critical to the success of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $222 billion public works program, on Thursday questioned how the proposal's bond money would be repaid and said their spending priorities differed somewhat from the governor's. The issues were raised in a news conference after Democrats returned from their annual retreat and marked the start of serious closed-door negotiations over Schwarzenegger's so-called strategic growth plan, the centerpiece of his legislative agenda for the year. Democrats said they agree on the concept of a plan to rebuild California's public works, but offered only a sketchy outline of alternatives...

Let her ride without 'papers' We've never been keen on the idea of government officials demanding an ID from citizens going about their normal business. It reminds us of scenes from those old movies of World War II in which the hero, who has slipped onto a train in occupied Europe, finds himself confronted by some grim-faced official demanding to see his "papers

Rioting by Muslim youths over the last two weeks that has spread to 300 communities and resulted in the burning of thousands of motor vehicles was hailed by Earth First! as a positive step toward environmental protection. "Privately owned and operated automobiles are a prime source of the greenhouse gases that are leading to catastrophic global warming," said Joshua Greenpants, spokesman for the environmental activist group Earth First!. "The destruction of these vehicles will reduce these dangerous emissions." Greenpants said his organization is exploring options for extending the riots. "Most disturbances like this peter out after a short while," said...

Houston transit riders can carry guns 04:32 PM CST on Thursday, January 27, 2005 HOUSTON – Houston area residents licensed to carry concealed handguns can now take their weapons aboard buses and light rail trains. The board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County on Thursday repealed its long-standing ban of concealed weapons. The transit authority, also known as Metro, had banned such weapons on its buses and trains since 1995, when the Legislature voted to allow licensed owners to carry concealed handguns in most public places. In 2003, the state amended the concealed handgun law to prevent Texas...

India's railway minister has come up with a novel excuse for the appalling safety record of the world's largest railway network - he blames it on Vishwakarma, the Hindu god of machines. Passengers travel on a crowded train in Calcutta "Indian Railways are the responsibility of Lord Vishwakarma," said Laloo Prasad Yadav. "So is the safety of passengers. It is his duty [to ensure safety], not mine." India's 67,000-mile rail network, on which 1.4 million people are employed, suffers from decades of chronic under-investment. Accidents - on average there are 300 every year - are a permanent hazard for the...