Quote of the Day

From the Wall Street Journal:

"Why is transit continuing to take a back seat to highways?" asked Kevin Sheys, a lawyer who represents commuter rail and transit agencies. "The disproportionate amount of highway spending could cut against a lot of things they're trying to do on energy efficiency."

Change in Overhead Wire Comments Policy

Hey all, its not a big change but I got 100 spam comments last night and I think my laptop got taken over by a virus. I'll probably have to wipe it clean and start over but for now any comment on a post older than 5 days will be moderated. That still means recent hot topics will show up right when you post. I don't want to moderate really, but this is the best way I could under blogger without reverting to open access that seemed to not let certain folks post before. Hope this works for everyone.

Voltron of Transportation

My good friend Mike who blogs now over at Transit Miami sent me this link about Boston looking to combine all of their transportation agencies into one super agency. I'll leave it to Bill to say whether this is a good idea or not but I don't think super agencies feel like they have to serve the needs of the transit constituency.

Now the only meaningful question is who gets to be the black lion...

Top of the Charts

This link to Change.gov has been around the internets so I figured I'd add it on as well. Seems like lots of people agree with the idea that we need high speed rail and local light rail. So much so that perhaps the Obama folks will start mentioning it more.

Inertia Continued

A serious (R) blogger at the Oregonian believes that automobiles are tied to our DNA.

Now, I'm not trying to dismiss Maus' opinion (he's a good guy and certainly knows his stuff when it comes to bike issues), but we still live in an auto-centric society. Car ownership is part of America's DNA. In most places across the country, bicycling as a primary mode of transportation is indeed, I hate to say it, considered a fringe movement.

I think we need some gene therapy. Of course when people write these types of things, it's just continuing the self fulfilling prophecy. Of course people will continue to be auto-centric if they aren't given an alternative. It's just like those people that say, no one takes transit, so why build it so they can?

And it looks like we have our new Ma "Bike's Aren't Transport" Peters in Minority Leader John Boehner. He stated that he saw bike paths as not stimulus. Some will say he means recreational trails, but we know these guys think any bike infrastructure is just for recreation. These guys are just out of touch.

Youth Vote? Gone. We ask for nothing from these idealistic voters, we offer little except chastisement of their lifestyle choices and denial of global warming, and we are woefully behind the Democrats in learning how to connect with them.

Lifestyle choices such as biking, transit and urbanism. Keep chipping away John.

Transfer of Development Rights

I've always thought this could be used for TOD, but never knew exactly how it would be implemented. In any event, Greater Greater Washington has a meaty post on TDR.

Climate Change Lip Service

Actress Emma Thompson says this:

"I don't understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans,"

What was she talking about? Well Greenpeace bought a small parcel of land that would have been a part of a new runway scheme at Heathrow Airport. They expect to subdivide it into a lot of parcels and sell them to environmentalists so that the government has to deal with hundreds of people instead of just the initial land owner. Do they not have eminent domain? This could push the issue on HSR as well which has been floated as an alternative to the next runway.

But her quote strikes a chord. It seems to me that all these people are talking big on climate change (ahem Arnold) but when it comes down to it, they won't make the tough decisions or do the right thing. Heck, California legislative leaders should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

When democratic lawmakers presented their proposal for balancing the state budget, there was one little thing they didn't mention: It would have all but eliminated funding for public transportation -- not just next year but in perpetuity.

No Chump Change

If only we could link land use and transit better here in the United States. In Hong Kong and other places, development is part of the transit plan. Vancouver is about to hire some real estate folks to take care of its property development strategy.

TransLink intends to appoint a committee of local real estate experts to advise it on how best to make money developing land along future rapid transit corridors.

It's the latest wrinkle in TransLink's strategy to amass a major real estate portfolio in partnership with local developers that officials hope would generate at least $30 million a year and possibly much more.

Sand Traps

In and around San Francisco, there are places where LRVs stop and you'll see lots of sand. For a while I wondered where it came from until I talked to some folks who told me that every LRV has a sandbox under the seats behind the wheels to gain traction going up hills and on rainy days. Today in the Rocky Mountain News. One of the LRT mechanics discussed the sandbox:

It's for traction, but it's pure, high-grade sand, not salt or chemicals, according to a reader who's a mechanic on light-rail cars. "When the propulsion system detects either sliding while braking or spinning while powering, sand is dropped to increase traction between the wheels and the rails," the reader wrote.

You can see the sand on the ground here in the photo below. It's the best one I could find. (Note to self, take better pictures of the little details)

Trips to See the Real Thing

Using taxpayer dollars during a crunch to travel to Europe aside, it's always a good idea to bring people who have never seen transit in action to places where it works. Many have not been to places that have a diversity of transit and seen how it actually works. Many times what is in your mind is not the same as what can actually happen. I've seen this happen a number of times where people change their minds because of these trips. Trips to Portland and Europe have turned people around, much like this:

Bountiful Mayor Joe Johnson said he was so smitten that he not only dropped his opposition to a streetcar line from Salt Lake City but now prefers it to TRAX.

I'm sure there is still a lot of education, but seeing is a step in the right direction.