New Report Finds American Auto Fleet Shrinking
Could the nation be turning away from its decades-old yen for auto
ownership? Americans got rid of more cars than they purchased in 2009,
reversing a trend that saw total U.S. vehicles exceed the number of
drivers more than 35 years ago, according to a report released today by the Earth Policy Institute (EPI).
January 6, 2010
Dodd and Dorgan Retiring: The Consequences For Transportation Policy
In a surprising one-two punch, Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan (ND) and Chris Dodd (CT) have let slip their plans to leave Congress at the end of this year.
January 6, 2010
Environmental Reviews: Helpful (and Hurtful) to Many Ideologies
Writing at the Heritage Foundation's blog, Nick Loris says that
the White House's pending decision on whether to consider climate
change in federal environmental reviews amounts to "more green tape."
January 5, 2010
Transit Fare Inflation Hitting Health Insurance-Like Levels?
That's the implication buried in a roundup
of dismal news from urban transit agencies that ran in Saturday's Wall
Street Journal. After noting the overall ridership decreases tallied by APTA and the specter of punitive service cuts in many cities, the newspaper noted:
January 5, 2010
Economic Downturn Hits Transit Ridership — But Not in These Cities
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) got the mainstream media's attention during the holiday season after reporting
that the dismal economy had helped push transit ridership down by 3.8
percent during the first three-quarters of 2009, when compared with the
previous year.
January 4, 2010
A Step Towards Pricing of Pollution? 11 States Back Low-Carbon Fuel Rules
While many in Washington spent their holiday breaks wondering if Senate Democratic opposition would deal a major blow to progress on a climate change bill, 11 northeastern governors were agreeing on a deal that suggests otherwise.
January 4, 2010
Transit Jobs Nearly Twice as Cheap to Create as Roads — By Congress’ Math
During the first stimulus debate, House Democrats and the White House famously sparred over how quickly infrastructure money could be spent -- with the data later proving that transit was just as "shovel-ready" as roads, if not more so.
December 17, 2009
Senate Climate Bill Invests Big in Transit, Reaps Big Deficit Reduction
As the Copenhagen climate talks reach a turning point,
congressional negotiations over emissions cuts are taking a back seat
to global debate. But some undeniably good news on the domestic front
came late yesterday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
(CBO).
December 17, 2009
LaHood Visits The Daily Show to Talk Transportation
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night to talk about his department's role in the stimulus debate, infrastructure modernization, and development of a U.S. high-speed rail system. Check out the video above (and let us know what you thought in the comments).
December 16, 2009
New Report: Minority-Owned Businesses Left Out of Transport Stimulus
Women and minorities are getting shortchanged in the chase for transportation stimulus contracts, according to a report released today by the Transportation Equity Network (TEN) and Good Jobs First.
December 15, 2009