Yes He Takes the Subway

In reading a Rolling Stone piece about my favorite newscaster and former Sportcenter great Keith Olbermann, it is revealed that yes, he takes the subway to work. The reason? "It makes me feel like a human being." he says. I agree.

Milwaukee Folks Are Thinking

Lately I've been seeing a healthy amount of crazy libertarians and anti-transit activists gracing the pages of Milwaukee Newspapers. Of course my thought that all people in that city might be like that was proved wrong by a slew of letters to the editor in which most supported the Mayor's new transportation plan. At least some people get it.

They Don't Really Care About Us

In the next few weeks I'm going to be quoting and commenting on clips from the book 2oth Century Sprawl. The following quote is interesting because it shows that all along the roads movement hasn't cared about urban mobility but rather just treating urban areas as a nuisance. Thomas MacDonald, head of the Bureau of Public Roads, was a huge proponent of the Federal Highway System. However in order to get them built he needed the traffic counts from urban areas. In promising congestion alleviation it would get a lot of political support that was needed to build the system. MacDonald's report, Interregional Highways was the basis for the 1944 Federal Aid Highway Act that created the Federal Highway System, needed the urban areas to buy in. But the following says it all...

In another section of the report, MacDonald acknowledged with surprising candor that the urban components of the system were not designed to alleviate urban congestion, except to the extent that they would provide relieve to those motorists for whom the city was an inconvenient obstruction.

That's how people think of the city today as well. While Rick Perry in Texas believes that the TransTexas Corridor will alleviate congestion, that is not his want at all. He just wants the political support from urban areas.

So even the King of Roads acknowledged that the Interstate Highway System was not built to alleviate urban congestion, so why do we continue to listen to people who want to build more and more and more roads to solve congestion? They just want to avoid the city all together. We also know that because of Highway Federalism that most of the money collected from gas taxes in Urban Areas does not go into urban projects. It's redistributed around the state in which that region is a part. This is the problem with our funding system, so why don't we hear more about it?

Culbertson Gets Catcalls and Boos

The Houston Chronicle reports today that Congressman Evil got Booed at a light rail meeting last night.

When Culberson said that "97 percent of residents on or near Richmond oppose" a light rail line there, the audience of about 200 erupted in "boos" and catcalls.

That's what happens when you lie straight to people's faces about things. Hiding behind people with familiar viewpoints in public settings and writing op-eds that make sense to no one but yourself make one believe that they are always right. However we learned last night that folks who live on Richmond that want the rail are fed up with Culbertson's crap, and showed it. Way to go!

Section 5309 New Starts

So the 2008 Funding for New Starts projects came out. Guess what, the small starts program gives bus projects a nod. What a waste of money. These are projects that the transit agencies should do themselves. So called rapid buses that only have signal pre-emption and nextbus timing technology should not be allowed under fixed guideway. The reason is because there is no fixed guideway.

Another interesting thing is the waste of money that came up is the Harford Busway. They could have built light rail for less and more of it. $50 million a mile for grade separated BRT is ridiculous. They are going to prove that if you're going to build BRT, you might as well build LRT because you'll get more out of it and at a lower operating cost.

Chandler Arizona and the TSR

It seems that a major city building a light rail line does funny things to a small city on the outskirts. It might just want to make you join the service district after decreeing long ago that they didn't want the taxes. But now they want the trains, so they'll start paying their dues. How novel. Phoenix is in the space race, and now in order to plan for more expansions they need more partners. But this is what its like around the country. Major city builds rail, the surrounding areas yell gimme gimme. I'm not saying its bad, but it does point out that those anti-railistas that lurk in cities without rail yet are fighting a losing battle. City after city are catching clues and it won't be long until holdouts like Cincinnati stop trading the creative class and jobs for the right to only drive cars.

UPDATE: Not a few hours after I go to bed an article was released on how Phoenix planners decide they are going to ask for $1.7 billion dollars worth of Light Rail extensions to the original plan! Welcome to the Space Race.

The Pop Culture of Trains

You've seen those commercials where superstars are singing about their Chevys or car companies show that people love their cars so much because they were in a rap video or whatever...but what about trains? Here is a little Empire Builder, the train from Chicago to Minneapolis-St. Paul to Seattle made famous by the Great Northern Railway.

Empire Builder - Mason Jennings

All day, everyday
I swing my hammer to the metal on the northern railway
Always a movie playing in my head
A million movies starring you and me
Moonshine every night
Eating supper by the fire out in the clear moonlight
Ankles crossed, hands behind my head
Telling stories, singing songs about the west

I'm always thinking of you
Staring off down the railroad line
One sweet day i will see you
But i'll swing the hammer until
The empire builder brings me home

For two months and two odd weeks
Sometimes days go by in which nobody speaks
From Illinois to Washington
There ain't nothing but the hammer to the rail

One day when this track runs through
I'm gonna buy a new suit and come looking for you
Care free, you and me
We'll take the empire builder to the sea

And i'm always thinking of you
Staring off down the railroad line
One sweet day i will see you
But i'll swing the hammer until
The empire builder brings me home

Charlotte Citizens Understand the Space Race

So Charlotte is being held up by a lot of other cities around the country as one that will beat them if they don't get moving. It's a good position to be in as there is nothing easier that hanging in there and having hope on the attack instead of being afraid that someone is coming. There are always bumps in the road and Charlotte has had theirs but it I now think I understand the problems many cities are having with the Federal Government based on an article in today's Observer.

No matter how hard they try to push bus rapid transit, people just don't want it. In Connecticut, the Hartford Busway which will be a true BRT is costing $50 million per mile. Thats a lot of cash for a bus. And it's also more than the cost of building a rapid streetcar line on the same right of way. What is the point in that? Are they going to prove that it's just as cheap and useful as Curitiba that way? That model was based on easily changeable land use policy (NIMBY doesn't exist in South America) and cheap labor (easy in South America as well).

But that won't change what people on the Southeast Corridor want in Charlotte. They see the BRT as a lowly gesture in their direction. Why are the other corridors getting light rail and we are stuck with the BRT? Why aren't we going to be treated the same? This happened in Atlanta with MARTA. The rest of the system into the poor areas was to be built out as bus lines and that smacked of racism. Is the current trend towards BRT just a way to give poor citizens second class transit? Is it a way to keep transit only for the poor instead of providing rapid transit options for everyone? Well I have a feeling that the people who push BRT believe in these things. They aren't doing it for the betterment of cities but rather to keep transit down.

There are some good places where BRT might be the best option, but I feel like most BRT fanatics just don't like rail. They don't like that people ride it, they feel like it takes money from roads and they don't understand why not everyone wants to live in the Suburbs and drive to work everyday. To them i say, I don't understand you either, but perhaps we should work something out so that we stop wasting money on something that people just don't want. It's been voiced over and over again in public statements. Statements from Charlotte below.

Here are some of comments made by people at the Southeast Corridor public meetings:

"I want equity. Do not give us buses because we are poorer and have more minorities."

"Matthews-Bus Rapid Transit makes one feel cut off from Charlotte."

"I prefer commuter rail in the Southeast Corridor."

"Light rail benefits the Southeast Corridor."

"SE residents will not ride bus rapid transit! Light rail transit is the only viable alternative!"

The comments go on and on. Interestingly, nobody stood up at any of these meetings and said anything like "I like the busway" or "Busways are a good idea."

Seems like they should get what they want, they are the ones paying for it.

Milwaukee Mayor Makes a Leap

While Milwaukee has been making plans for Commuter rail and figuring out how to fund it to Chicago, the Mayor has been coming up with a plan to spend money that the FTA still owes the city. It includes a streetcar loop and a connection to express buses and the new commuter rail line. In the article though, the County Executive is calling it a trojan horse for light rail.

Barrett envisions a city where trains, buses, streetcars, parking facilities and pedestrian corridors would work together in a "comprehensive and affordable" way to provide improved transit for workers and city visitors. But the plan sparked conflict with Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who called it "really just a Trojan horse for light rail" and "a drain on the limited resources we have available to support the bus system."Barrett shot back by pointing to Walker's six years of cutting Milwaukee County Transit System service and raising fares, saying, "It sounds to me like his mission is to kill Milwaukee County transit," not protect it.

The comments from Walker are more bs straight from the O'Toole and Cox camp. If you don't have resources, then create them. People can't just keep getting away with everything for free, including roads. But perhaps we should even the playing field before arguing that free market forces are at work when we can see from the previous post that they most certainly won't. I would be glad to see this be a trojan horse for light rail and other modes. The trojan horse against rail was let loose years ago, why not fight back?

Update from the Comments...More on this Topic from Brewcityzen.

Automobility Quotes

As I was away from my computer this weekend i did pick up a book called 20th Century Sprawl by Owen Gutfreund, the director of Urban Studies at Columbia University. There is a lot of good research but this line hit me the most.

Between 1921 and 1932 American Governments spent $21 Billion dollars on streets and highways and collected only $5 billion from motor vehicle users. This meant that motorists were directly contributing less than 1/4 of the direct costs of adapting use of the automobile.

But of course freeways have always been paid for by user fees, never subsidized right??? But who subsidized the streets for cars and trucks without being allowed to raise their rates? Streetcar Companies

As a private company operating under a public franchise, large portions of DTCs (Denver Tramway Company) cost structure was governed by its franchise agreement, as were fares. For example, one of the oldest provisions of the contract required the company to pay half the maintenance and repair costs on streets with two way operation...As more and more streets were paved and improved and subjected to the pounding wear-and-tear of thousands of automobiles and trucks, which were much heavier than the horse drawn vehicles in use when DTC had made this financial commitment, the company had to contribute more and more money to street projects....However, the franchise agreement also capped fares at 5 cents and in 1917 despite record ridership levels, DTC was unable to pay a dividend and reported an annual loss of half a million dollars.

A change to a 7 cent fare led to the 1920 tramway strikes because people have never wanted to pay the full cost of transportation, whether it be roads or transit. They expect it to be subsidized for their autos, so why is everyone complaining about subsidizing transit, especially when initially transit helped build and maintain those roads that allowed autos to become dominant.