Free Republic

Steel picked for transit The City Council has its say, and it is the same as the mayor's By Laurie Au lau@starbulletin.com In a process that has dragged on for five months, a City Council committee selected rail yesterday as the technology for the city's $3.7 billion mass transit system. The Council's Transportation Committee voted 4-1 to reverse an earlier decision to include a bus or magnetic levitation system for the 20-mile elevated route from Kapolei to Ala Moana. The Council is expected to vote on April 16 on the bill that would then go to Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who...

Plots by Communists to infiltrate America. The disintegration of borders and rural areas. Citizens mobilizing and rising up against government agencies and big business. It all sounds like the plot for a summer blockbuster, but it's something that could be happening in your own backyard. These were just a few of the topics addressed in the "How to fight the TTC" workshop, held Monday at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center in Lufkin. The conference served as an informational meeting aimed at informing citizens and local government officials how they can unite in trying to stop the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project....

WASHINGTON – Only exports stand between the economy and recession, setting up another national argument about how to handle the rising flow of goods in and out of the country. Transportation fights are usually about who pays to build the roads and transit systems, with little said about trade. The Bush administration and Gov. Rick Perry have supported tolls and steadfastly opposed higher gasoline taxes. A new national study urges paying for desperately needed improvements any way we can, but one thing it specifically recommends is an increase in the federal gas tax of 40 cents a gallon over the...

JOHN SEMMENS: Will rising fuel costs spur public transit? Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/business/yourmoney/autos/story/3790516p-13327623c.html With world crude oil prices hovering near $100 per barrel and prices at the gas pump exceeding $3 per gallon in most parts of the country, all the ingredients would seem to be in place for dramatic changes in our daily commuting patterns, with millions of Americans shifting from private cars to public transit. That's the way markets are supposed to work: Higher prices encourage consumers to seek less-costly alternatives, substituting margarine for butter, Hondas for Cadillacs, a cup of McDonald's coffee for Starbucks. Reducing...

More and higher tolls won't be enough to pay for the nation's highway needs, a bipartisan study panel chaired by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation said today in a long-awaited report. Instead, Congress will need to raise the federal gas tax by 25 to 40 cents a gallon over five years, according to the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. The 12-member commission is a bipartisan panel formed by Congress in 2005 to rethink the way the nation builds and pays for its highways and transit systems. "There is no free lunch," Jack Schenendorf, vice chairman of the...

Click Your Pick Do you support a gambling expansion to pay for a statewide construction program and a bailout of Chicago-area mass transit? Yes 78.4% No 21.6%

SACRAMENTO – A record $19.9 billion transportation bond pitched to voters last fall as a way to “fast track” projects is hitting slowdowns in some areas. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signaled that the money is flowing with a groundbreaking at Solana Beach last month for the extension of car pool lanes on Interstates 5 and 805. The bond will cover part of the $168 million cost. But legislation to set guidelines for distributing $2 billion to improve the movement of freight was stalled in part because Republicans thought proposals by Democrats were skewed toward improving air quality. And legislative leaders are...

Governor favors linking rate to cost of road work Maryland's gasoline tax would go up in 18 months -- and possibly sooner -- if Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to add $400 million a year in transportation funding is approved by the General Assembly. Although an immediate increase in the gas tax is not part of the $2 billion revenue plan the Democratic governor has been rolling out over the past week, he said Monday that he will push to tie future increases to the rising cost of road and bridge construction materials. At present rates of inflation, that would average...

FReep This Poll! What is the best way to reduce traffic congestion? * Widen and/or build more freeways. * Add more carpool only lanes. * Improve mass transit options. * Encourage working from home. * Limit new housing development. Go to the North County Times/The Californian link provided. Scroll down a bit and look for the poll on the right hand side. Vote your choice. Poll should remain active until Thursday (09/20/07) evening.

There's a story going around South Lake Union, but a spokeswoman for Vulcan, Paul Allen's development company, says it's just an urban legend. That aside, the story that the neighborhood's streetcar line now under construction was called the South Lake Union Trolley until the powers that be realized the unfortunate acronym -- SLUT -- seems here to stay. Officially, it's now the South Lake Union Streetcar. But the trolley name already has caught on, and in the old Cascade neighborhood in South Lake Union, they're waiting for the SLUT.

The transportation issues facing Texas Gov. Rick Perry earlier this decade were so severe that it was faster to take back roads from San Antonio to Dallas than Interstate 35. That's akin to taking Route 60 to Pittsburgh International Airport from Downtown to avoid the Parkway West. Perry pushed through a package of highway construction projects driven by public-private partnerships, similar to the long-term lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike sought by Gov. Ed Rendell. Texas' decision to turn to private companies to build and maintain 4,000 miles of highways in key corridors was in response to a business and population...

WASHINGTON: Federal employees are going online to sell mass transit fare cards the government buys for them, congressional auditors say. Employees also are exaggerating their commuting costs, and some continue to receive transportation subsidies after leaving the government. Abuses in the mass transit benefits program for government workers are wasting tens of millions of dollars (euros) each year, says Congress' Government Accountability Office. Using seven agencies' mass transit records, investigators found at least $17 million (€12.5 million) in fraudulent transit benefits claimed in the Washington metropolitan area during 2006. That amount "could be millions more" if fraud exists in the...

Hardly had the RF and Byelorussia struck a compromise over gas price, a new conflict flared up between the two countries. This time oil or, to be more exact, the cost of supplies to Byelorussia became the sticking point. The first oil difficulties came into the picture in December of the last year, when the head of the RF government signed the decree implying oil supplies to Byelorussia are to be imposed export duty on starting January 1, 2007. The decree applies to all the countries cooperating with the RF. The authorities clarify the following decision by the fact of...

Libertarian Party of NY -- Press Release -- Legalize Santa's Dollar Van For Hire Legalize Santa's Dollar Van For Hire LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK http://www.ny.lp.org/ Contact: Richard Cooper, State Chair nylibertarian@hotmail.com “LEGALIZE SANTA’S DOLLAR VAN FOR HIRE TO REDUCE CONGESTION”. LIBERTARIANS ISSUE CALL FOR FREE ENTERPRISE IN TRANSIT New York City, 12/18/06 “New York City would harass Santa if he carried passengers for hire in his sleigh,” says Libertarian Party of New York Chair Richard Cooper. Queens commuter and the 2006 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate John Clifton challenges the City authorities. “O Municipal Pharaoh, just let thy commuters go.” To...

Excerpt - Intelligence agencies have been warned that al Qaeda may be planning to attack air and rail travel in Europe in actions that may occur during the busy holiday travel season, CBS News has learned exclusively. In separate interviews with Arab and other intelligence sources, CBS News has been told that the warnings come from interrogations of al Qaeda suspects who recently left Afghanistan and Pakistan. "One suspect said plans for repeating the Heathrow attempt (a reference to the failed 'liquid bomb' plot interrupted in August) were all prepared. It is now a matter of taking action," said one...

Expansion would link line with airport, convention centers By ROD SMITH GAMING WIRE Major expansion plans are in the works for the Las Vegas Monorail to help relieve traffic congestion along the resort corridor, including a hookup with the airport down Swenson Street and new stations that will link all four of the Strip's major convention centers for the first time. The company's plans, which are still being worked on, include adding at least five new stations as well as a series of connections that would link the Las Vegas Monorail to properties on the west side of the Strip,...

By OMAR SOFRADZIJA A proposed express bus line down the center of the Strip will likely vie for some of the same riders as the struggling Las Vegas Monorail, local public transit authorities said this week. But Regional Transportation Commission officials believe there are enough potential riders within the resort corridor to support two rapid transit systems. "With more than 38 million tourists coming to Southern Nevada (annually), there are plenty of riders to go around," Tracy Bower, spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation Commission, which is backing the express bus plan, said Wednesday. "If you go down the Strip any...

Cheered by thousands, a 4-year-old boy dubbed ''India's Forrest Gump'' outran a municipal transit bus in a 40 mile race. ''I wanted to show how bad the bus service is here,'' Budhia Singh told reporters. "I am only four, but I am still faster than the bus." Officials of the Bhubaneswar Transit Authority say it wasn't a fair test because the bus had to make stops to pick-up and drop off passengers. "If we didn't have to carry passengers I'm almost certain our bus would've made the trip faster than this little boy," said Apu Bushwa, speaking for the agency....

WASHINGTON, April 24 (UPI) -- Soaring U.S. gasoline prices are boosting ridership of the nation's public transit systems. Nationwide, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.91 Monday, AAA said. Washington Metrorail recorded its sixth-busiest day Thursday, USA Today reported. Salt Lake City's ridership was up 50 percent on its 19-mile light-rail system. Tulsa Transit's March ridership was the highest since August 2003. And ridership on San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit is up 4.1 percent since July 1.

Arthur Winston, a longtime transit employee who received a citation from President Clinton for his decades of service, died in his sleep less than a month after retiring on his 100th birthday, his family said Friday. Winston recently had been admitted to a hospital for exhaustion and dehydration, but returned to his home April 6. He died Thursday evening.

January 5, 2006 Policy Analysis no. 559 A Desire Named Streetcar: How Federal Subsidies Encourage Wasteful Local Transit Systems by Randal O'Toole Randal O'Toole is director of the Thoreau Institute and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Executive Summary The nation's mass transit system is a classic example of how special interests prevail over the needs and interests of voters and taxpayers. Total inflation-adjusted subsidies to transit?buses and trains?have more than doubled since 1990, yet total ridership has increased by less than 10 percent. Train ridership has dropped dramatically while automobile use has skyrocketed. Prior to 1964, when...

The Russia-Ukraine gas dispute highlighted the EU's dependency on Russian gas imports with some European countries suffering up to 50% gas delivery failure on January 1 and 2. Austria was among the hardest hit. The Austrian Presidencywants to speed up the construction ofnew pipelines and to increase the share of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fivefold to diversify EU supply and transit routes, EurActive reported. The EU should seek to diversify its gas supplies away from Russia and look for new transport routes in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine row, Austria's Economic Minister, Martin Bartenstein, said at a debate in Parliament...

Widening transit of Russia's gas to Europe was in the center of attention at Sunday talks held between Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and deputy head of Gazprom's management committee Alexander Medvedev, Interfax reported. The highlight of Lukashenko-Medvedev's talks was cooperation between Beltransgaz of Belarus and Russia's Gazprom. The parties agreed to set up a special working group, which would study definite projects to be implemented in the near term. Some of those projects relate to increasing underground storage of gas in Belarus up to 1 billion cubic meters and to extending transit facilities in an effort to widen gas deliveries...

SOFIA - Bulgaria on Friday refused demands by Russian state-controlled Gazprom to review its gas-for-transit contract, the economy and energy minister said. "The Russian side demanded that we renegotiate the scheme of payment for transiting Russian gas through Bulgaria to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. Today (Friday) we will answer that this offer is unacceptable," Rumen Ovcharov told bTV television Friday. "There are no review-possibility clauses in our contract signed in 1998 to run until 2010," he added. The incident comes days after the resolution of a dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices that analysts said had illustrated an...

Despite a population boom forecast for California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes to keep traffic gridlock from worsening - and even improve it from today's levels - with his $107 billion transportation plan, officials said Friday. The governor's ambitious proposal for highways and freight-moving projects - which would be funded, in part, by voter-approved bonds - is unprecedented in a region where commuters spend 93 hours a year idling in traffic. It would add 750 highway miles, 550 miles of car-pool lanes and 600 miles of commuter rail. "We think we can make a significant improvement over today's levels for the...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday launched a super-sized plan to rebuild the very foundations of California — a $222-billion construction project to fortify freeways, schools, jails, ports and waterways. Schwarzenegger used his annual State of the State speech to outline a decade-long blueprint for reshaping California to its core. If successful, he would be author of the state's largest public building program since the 1960s, when former Gov. Edmund "Pat" Brown helped California absorb millions of new residents during a postwar boom. In the 23-minute address to lawmakers, which was as much about rebuilding his own image as...

I just suffered through a transit strike. I'm ticked off about it. It didn't hurt me much, actually -- I ride a bike most days -- but New York's Transport Workers Union tortured a million commuters by going on strike. And going on strike for what? Their employer wanted to raise the retirement age for new workers -- not even current union members, people who haven't been hired yet -- to a ripe old 62, or make them pay more of their pension costs. Big deal. Some 30 people apply for each of these jobs, according to Steven Malanga of...

One of the principal elements of civil society is the rule of law. Society depends upon most people obeying the law most of the time, together with tough sanctions for violation. In this spirit, the full strength of any and all sanctions of the Taylor Law should be imposed upon the leadership of New York's illegally striking bus and subway workers. At the height of the holiday shopping season, the strike by bus and subway workers could not be a more ill-timedand antagonistic affront to its customers. Under New York's Taylor Law, enacted specifically because of a previous transit strike,...

NEW YORK - Transit union leaders agreed Thursday to urge striking employees to return to work while talks aimed at seeking a permanent settlement of New York’s crippling mass transit walkout, a state mediator said. The recommendation must be approved by the union's executive board and its membership. If approved, it was not immediately clear how quickly the striking employees would return to work. "Both parties have a genuine desire to resolve their differences," said Richard Curreri, head of a three-member state mediation panel. "They have agreed to resume negotiations while the TWU takes steps to return its membership."

December 22, 2005 -- A furious Brooklyn judge yesterday threatened to toss transit-union leaders in jail for ignoring his injunction against a walkout — calling it a "distinct possibility." In a stunning announcement on the second day of the transit strike, Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones ordered Roger Toussaint, head of Transport Workers Union Local 100, and union bigs Ed Watt and Darlyne Wilson to be in his court at 11 a.m. today. The hearing could result in "one or more of these persons being sent to jail," the judge said. "That is a possibility and a distinct...

December 21, 2005 -- A cabby belted an Upper East Side woman in the face last night after she argued that she was overcharged on an eight-block ride, police said ......... Lillian Gauna, 34, said she hailed the cab at 88th Street and Third Avenue at around 8:30 p.m. and asked the driver to take her to 81st Street and Second Avenue. The driver, Muhammed Lone, 29, insisted she pay an extra $5 on top of the $10 "single zone" flat fare that the new strike rules call for, she said. When she refused, Lone allegedly leaped out of his...

NEW YORK - The city and state stepped up their pressure on striking transit workers Wednesday in hopes of forcing them back to work, and a judge said sending union leaders to jail was a "distinct possibility." State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones, who is hearing several legal issues related to the strike, directed attorneys from the Transport Workers Union to bring president Roger Toussaint and other top officials before the court Thursday to answer to a criminal contempt charge. He said he may sentence the union leaders to jail for refusing to end the strike, calling such a scenario...

This afternoon, Mayor Bloomberg updated everyone on how New York City is coping with the transit strike. 1010 WINS has a nice summary of it on their site. Developments today include: -NYPD working 12 hour shifts (hello overtime!) and the traffic is being handled by the police cadets -LIRR handled an extra 45,000 riders this morning -There is now shuttle service at Kew Gardens, Forrest Hills and Woodside (lots of love for far away in Queens) -The zone system for the cabs is working -175,000 calls have come into 311 since midnight Is everyone ready for the fun commute home...

Just watched it on Your world with Neil Cavuto!! Toben Smith wants them put in jail! Reagan would have already fired them!!

Strike Is On TWU Announces System-Wide Transit Strike, Starting Immediately December 20, 2005 # See the contingency plan The fears of countless commuters have been realized this morning, as the Transport Workers Union announced at 3 a.m. that a system-wide public transit strike will begin immediately. The announcement, made after a vote of the TWU's executive board, means that the union's 34,000 MTA employees will leave their posts at the end of their shifts, shutting down the city's subway and bus system and thwarting millions of commuters and countless tourists on the cusp of the holiday season. "Our contract expired...

A man accused of selling a MARTA token to a passenger having trouble with a token machine must stand trial on the criminal charge. Judge Stephanie Davis decided Tuesday that Donald Pirone's case should be bound over to state court for trial. Pirone could face a year in jail. An officer spotted Pirone selling the token on Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station. Following a 1992 state law that prohibits passengers from selling tokens, the officer handcuffed Pirone and gave him a citation. Pirone says he was trying to help a fellow passenger. He says he did not...

Gov.-elect Timothy M. Kaine (D) said yesterday that he will immediately begin a series of town hall meetings across Virginia to rally public support for a legislative battle next year over fixing the state's transportation problems. As he began the process of assembling a cabinet, Kaine said he plans to tour the state, stopping first in Manassas next week. As a candidate, he called traffic congestion on the state's roads a "crisis" and vowed to convene meetings with average people and transportation experts to discuss solutions. "We must ensure that taxpayer dollars marked for transportation are only used for transportation,...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Of nearly $23 billion coming to California to improve highways, roads and public transit systems, some $90 million has been earmarked for transportation projects that don't involve cars or any motorized vehicles. Marin County will demonstrate the influx of funds for alternative methods of movement with a $25 million pilot program creating pedestrian and bike trails that connect workplaces, schools, stores and other popular destinations. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri also will receive $25 million each for similar projects that are designed to motivate commuters to rely less on cars. The six-year, $286.4 billion highway bill passed...

In light of the London bombings of subways, Richard Simonetta, CEO of Valley Metro Rail (Phoenix) has prepared what he calls “as rigorous an anti-terror campaign as we can muster.” “All terrorists wishing to explode a bomb on the train will be required to obtain advance authorization,” says Simonetta. “My staff is designing a complicated and confusing application process. The multiple step application process will be lengthy. The idea is to tie them down with paperwork in the hope that they will get tired and give up their evil scheme.”

Pelosi: 'As Its First Order of Business Next Week, Congress Must Address Transit Security' Fri Jul 8, 6:46 PM ET To: National Desk Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both of the Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON, July 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the Bush Administration and Republicans in Congress' repeated failure to address transit security problems in the United States: A report outlining Democratic initiatives on transit security, "London Bombings: The Need for More Transit Security Funding and Support," prepared by Congressman Bennie Thompson's Homeland...

Nine people have been arrested in an attack on a 15-year-old boy who was dragged from a Metro Transit bus, beaten and robbed before he was able to flee and get help. The ninth suspect was arrested Tuesday in the attack on the teenager, who was riding the bus from downtown Minneapolis through the North Side on April 2 when he was dragged off near 34th and Fremont Avs. N. The victim was punched, stomped on and kicked in the face, according to charges filed Monday against one of the suspects. Authorities said they expect that more charges will be...

Years ago when I had a full head of hair, I worked for the New Jersey Institute of Technology and gained a great respect for engineers and architects. Without them, nothing gets built, nothing works, and we would all be back rubbing two sticks together to make a fire. In early March, my local daily newspaper ran a story that was four paragraphs long and buried at the bottom of the page. Engineers see U.S. Infrastructure Sinking. It was one of those stories deemed newsworthy enough to include since it cited a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers,...

The House approved a mammoth highway and transit bill Thursday that aims to reduce traffic congestion nationwide and bring jobs to every lawmaker's home district. The White House said the bill was "long overdue" but warned, as the measure moved to the Senate, that it would be subject to a presidential veto if it rose above the $284 billion the House approved. The bill, passed 417-9, would guarantee $225.5 billion over a six-year period to the Federal Highway Administration, $52.3 billion to the Federal Transit Administration and more than $6 billion for safety programs. It will be "the signature domestic...

Feds hit brakes on rail moneyA federal agency questions the assumed benefits of commuter rail in the Triangle. The Federal Transit Administration has changed its rating of the Triangle's proposed commuter rail service from "recommended" to neutral, saying it cannot endorse the $695 million project until it resolves new doubts about its benefits. The Triangle Transit Authority, which hopes to start running commuter trains in 2008, is counting on federal funding to cover 61 percent of the system's cost. Without that money, the project is dead. Federal officials are not questioning how fast TTA trains will run or how many...

SACRAMENTO – Transportation officials backed by a coalition of labor and business leaders are demanding a lock on transportation funding, claiming that the state's habit of siphoning the sales tax on gas has hobbled California's economy, cost jobs and kept frazzled commuters from their families. San Diego County officials say the raiding of transportation accounts, if left unchecked, could drain $442 million from 20 local highway and mass transit programs in the budget year starting in June. Without long-term funding safeguards, plans to improve cross-border traffic and boost trade with Mexico could be slowed. The Escondido-to-Oceanside light rail is at...

Reworked images reveal hot Venus By Dr David Whitehouse Mars it is not: Reprocessed Venus image As the world looks at Mars, an American scientist has produced the best images ever obtained from the surface of a rather different planet - Venus. The second planet from the Sun is blanketed with a thick layer of cloud. Computer researcher Don Mitchell used original digital data from two Soviet Venera probes that landed in 1975. His reprocessed and recalibrated images provide a much clearer view of the Venusian surface which is hotter even than the inside of a household oven. Original digital...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 July 20 Space Station, Venus, Sun Credit & Copyright: Tomas Maruska (SAAD) Explanation: On June 8, Venus was not the only celestial object to pass in front of the Sun. A few well-situated photographers caught the International Space Station also crossing the Sun simultaneously. Pictured above is a unique time-lapse image of the unprecedented double transit, a rare event that was visible for less than a second...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 July 17 Transit of Venus Stereogram Credit: G. Schneider (Steward Obs.), J. Pasachoff (Williams College), TRACE Project, NASA Explanation: Venus glides in front of an enormous solar disk in these two frames from the TRACE satellite imaging of the inner planet's 2004 transit. Arranged in a "right/left" stereogram, the frames are intended to be viewed at a comfortable distance from the screen with your eyes gently crossed,...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 June 11 Venus and the Chromosphere Credit & Copyright: Stefan Seip Explanation: Enjoying the 2004 Transit of Venus from Stuttgart, Germany, astronomer Stefan Seip recorded this fascinating, detailed image of the Sun. Revealing a network of cells and dark filaments against a bright solar disk with spicules and prominences along the Sun's limb, his telescopic picture was taken through an H-alpha filter. The filter narrowly transmits only...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston's transit police will randomly search subway and commuter train riders' bags and packages, making it the first American city to do so after March's deadly bombings in Spain, officials said on Tuesday. "This is a proactive policy designed to deter and prevent a terrorist attack," Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police Chief Joseph Carter said. The random searches will begin in July, before July 4 Independence Day celebrations and ahead of the Democratic National Convention at the end of July. Boston has the nation's fourth largest rail system with nearly 1 million train and subway riders daily....