Coburn Blockage

He's at it again, this time because he doesn't want to subsidize soft drinks?

"Amtrak loses $2 billion a year subsidizing food," Mr. Coburn said. "There are a lot of great reforms in this bill, but you're missing $2 billion. Nobody's going to not ride Amtrak because a beer costs a dollar more."

I have a feeling it has to do with his hate of rail transit. I'm sure like his other colleagues he doesn't mind subsidizing roads. He's also blocking Metro funds. Never seen that before from him.

Mountain View Corridor?

I haven't been following this project as closely as I probably should have, but perhaps some locals can shed light on the Mountain View Corridor downgrade. In the past there was a pretty big fight between those who wanted transit in the center of the freeway (usually a bad idea) versus building a freeway that was basically serving sprawl. Now it seems they'll be getting a surface boulevard. More info at the UDOT MV Corridor page. Below is the transit alternative and the light rail lines it would connect.

Charlotte Ridership

Ridership down about 500, but still past initial projections.

However, average weekday ridership on CATS’ light-rail system fell 3.2 percent last month to 16,357 from 16,895 in July.

Toronto's Rapid Transit Plan

Steve Munro as usual has the plan. Again, as I said before, they are spending more money on transit in this one city than we do through the federal new starts program. Priorities?

Some Things Never Change...

San Francisco's Prop 1 back in the day. The Subway under Market happened eventually, but sure cost a lot more. It certainly was worth it.



Now Prop 5 from the time sounds awfully familiar as well. Ripping out all those tracks sure did help traffic in San Francisco.

H/T AD

A Commercial I Enjoy. In The Sun...

The subway steps they are walking up are right in front of my office. They were filming one day and I didn't know what it was for. Now I know, and I like the result. More biking = healthier lifestyle.

An Increase in Trips, But Leveling the Auto Volume

I agree with Stephen on this one. It's silly for Canadian liberals to say that if we encourage transit, it allows us to increase the traffic volume. I do believe that we can increase trips by building transit and livable communities. We can do more with less space. There's also no more room for expanding roads, so we need to increase the capacity of the surface roads we have, the easiest way being with transit.

Related Comedy

GEORGE: Ladies and gentlemen, this (Opens the door, Steven is standing there) is Steven Koren. His G.P.A. is a solid 2.0! Right in that meaty part of the curve - not showing off, not falling behind.

WYCK: George, the quailifications for this scholarship were suppose to be… largely academic.

GEORGE: I'm sure we're all aware of the flaws and biases of standardized tests.

WYCK: These aren't standardized tests - these are his grades.

GEORGE: Besides, Steven Koren has the highest of aspirations. He wants to be (pauses for effect) an architect.

WYCK: Is that right?

STEVEN: Actually, maybe I could set my sights a little bit higher.

GEORGE: (Laughs) Steven, nothing is higher than an architect.

STEVEN: I think I'd really like to be a city planner. (Sits down, addressing the entire foundation board) Why limit myself to just one building, when I can design a whole city?

The Next Times Someone Complains About Cost of a Needed Project

Give them this anecdote. From Market Street Railway:

A subway under Geary downtown and through the Western Addition, surfacing at Steiner Street, was proposed as early as 1936. It would have used conventional streetcars, and, had it been built -- at a then-projected cost of $13 million -- it might have forestalled the automobile expressway.

How much would a similar subway cost today? In the billions of dollars. It's needed but expensive. If we don't do it sooner, it will have to be done later, and at an even greater expense. Such is the cost of waiting. If we had done it before, the tunnel would be there for good and we wouldn't have to lay down billions.

I also suggest reading Transbay Blog's excellent write up.

$200 Billion Dollars

What is the amount of money China spent on rail infrastructure Alex. Not just that, but in a 4 year period!!!!!!