Finally a Loss for the Milwaukee Opposition

Looks like Scott Walker got what was coming to him, a big loss. By refusing to compromise on how to spend $91 million in existing transit funds from the federal government, he was delaying the process for an indefinite period of time. However Mayor Barrett made a smart move by getting 60% of the money put towards a new streetcar loop and 40% for bus lines (probably express buses, not real BRT) with the help of Wisconsin's congressional delegation.

This is a huge win for the City of Milwaukee which has been getting screwed by suburban planning and leadership for too long. This ought to make the crazy talk shows up there go nuts. The walls are going down, keep pushing.

Heart Attacks

Just to note, I'm never ever stressed on the train ride home or to work.

New research from Germany shows that people who had heart attacks were three times more likely than not to have been sitting in traffic an hour before their symptoms began.

Step away from the automobile.

Post Chicago Friday Night Linkfest

So I'm back from Chicago. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries after the first picture so I didn't get to take pictures like I have on all the other trips I've been on recently. I have to apologize for that one because man Chicago is a cool town.

The TOD bill is dead in Washington State. I agree with Dan, we deserve what we get.
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You're just figuring this out? I wonder if anyone has ever thought to cost what has been exported in terms of tax base to the suburban road complex. For now, we can look at what was exported from Atlanta to Georgia.

In 2004, each man, woman and child in the 10-county metro area funneled an average of $490 to Georgians who live outside the metro area. Put another way, metro Atlanta receives 72.5 cents in state benefits for every dollar it pays in state taxes.

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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood names the next transportation bill Clean Tea and changes DOT's stance on bicycles.
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A Plano Republican says that they should stop giving money to DART and use it to partake in the retail sales tax war. This is why many of our regions are so messed up. We depend on sales tax and cities are competing with each other instead of building better communities for thier citizens. Canibalization is a better term.
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I'm still waiting to see a Ben Wear article where the transit critic is not Jim Skaggs, Gerald Daugherty, or that dude from Texas Monthly. Seriously. I don't really know what to say about the article otherwise. Keep digging that hole?
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If you like fantasy maps of tram lines in the United States, you'll love the Dutch blog Infrastruct. The most recent is in English but usually its in Dutch alone.
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I'm not sure if ground floor retail should be required. I think it should be flex space that has higher ceilings than the units above and able to be used for residential until the retail demand catches up.
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There are a lot of New Urbanists as well as Kunstler who would argue that skyscrapers are not green as Glaeser says they are.

Sofia's New Trams

Inekon made these for the Bulgarian capitol. Here they are in testing.

The Usual Conversation

Sigh. Can we get past this type of discussion about light rail and BRT already?

Subway to SoMa

We've been telling you for years! My favorite comment:

And after we ritually sacrifice whoever decided to dig up the Muni B Geary line back in the 50's.

Bringing Customers to the Bar

I rode BART to Lafayette tonight to eat dinner with my family and noticed how easy it was to get off at the station and just walk across the street to the restaurant. Lafayette downtown is actually easy to access from BART.

If only it was always so easy. Well if you have transit close to places you go it makes things easy. This is the case in Arizona as well, where patrons are hopping off light rail to get a drink.

Kelly said light rail's impact on the tavern's crowds has been incredible. Out of nowhere, a crowd will pour into the bar after hopping off the train for a night on Mill. It makes for a nice jolt.

"It's still the fun and exciting thing for us now," Kelly said of light rail. "It's been great for us. I hope it continues." It never hurts to have a university nearby, either.

Sean Donovan, communications director for the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, said Mill's nightlife has been supported during the current economic downturn by light rail, cross promotion among bars, and Arizona State University.

Transit in Trouble - Bay Area Profile

PBS has this video. I don't quite like the focus on subsidy, especially since they don't point out how much all other modes are subsidized as well, but I like that they are shining a light on the issue of operating rather than capital.

H/T Robert

Can You Copyright Facts?

This from reader Nick C:

After launching the Transit Sydney iPhone application with Sydney train timetables, its developer received a cease and desist letter saying that the use of the timetables is a breach of copyright. In Australia, this may technically be true, but the developer is considering disputing the claim.

Do people really have rights to a schedule? It's a timetable not a copyrighted creative work. And why do you want such bad publicity? They seem to do it a little differently down under:

Anyone who's familiar with US copyright law will think "wait, you can't copyright facts," which is where the twist comes in. Australia has something called "Crown copyright" that essentially says that certain materials published by the government are copyrighted by the government. The CityRail timetables come from Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp), which is owned by the government.

Reports now say that the rail system has been ordered to work with the developer. But this should have never been a problem in the first place.

Not Quite Dead Yet

The VMT tax isn't quite dead and probably won't die. Something that got shot down so quickly by the president has actually gotten some legs of late thanks to government reports and legislators like Mr. Oberstar. While it probably won't be a key part of the next transportation bill, I expect to see some money going into studying the idea and perhaps pushing more pilot programs.

So any chance I get, I'll play this...