Did Oberstar Admit There Won’t Be a Transportation Bill This Year?
The short answer: Nope.
September 10, 2009
Consensus on National Transport Goals Still Eludes Industry Pros
Policymakers and private-sector players seem to be struggling to
agree on how -- and whether -- to set national performance targets for
America's transportation system, as evidenced by today's debate at a
high-profile infrastructure conference.
September 10, 2009
How Much Would Most People Pay For a Shorter Commute?
As Washington conventional wisdom has it,
raising gas taxes or creating a vehicle miles traveled tax to pay for
transportation is impossible during the current recession. After all,
who would want to squeeze cash-strapped commuters during tough economic
times?
September 9, 2009
Dodd Stays at Helm of Transit Panel — But at a Cost to Climate Bill?
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) announced
this afternoon that he would stay on at the helm of the Banking
Committee, which also has jurisdiction over federal transit issues,
rather than move over to lead the health panel previously led by his
friend, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
September 9, 2009
Compromise or Concession: Congress Faces Tough Transport Choices
Health care and transportation funding are very different items on Congress' to-do list, but the Washington Post's assessment
of the former issue fits the latter as well: Lawmakers return today
from a month-long recess to find a political landscape that has barely
shifted from the impasse of late July.
September 8, 2009
Mmmm, This ‘Pork’ Sounds Tasty: Senators Serve Up Transit Aid
One of Washington's most enduring truisms is that "pork" is in the eye of the beholder. Self-styled anti-earmark crusaders are fond of bashing clean transportation projects as improper uses of taxpayer money, but most of them recognize privately that rail, bus, and bike investments are a good thing.
September 3, 2009
Feds Still Forcing Transit Agencies to Bow to Private Charter Buses
Streetsblog Capitol Hill reported yesterday
that the U.S. DOT would end a Bush-era mandate to reward new transit
projects for using private contractors -- but a similar
pro-privatization rule for bus service remains in effect, preventing
local transit agencies from competing with private charter companies.
September 3, 2009
Killing the Myth of the ‘More Shovel-Ready’ Road Stimulus
During debate over the White House's $787 billion economic stimulus law, transit advocates watched as their projects were shortchanged and more "shovel-ready"
road projects got the lion's share of the transport pot -- about $8.4
billion, compared with $26.5 billion for highways and bridges.
September 2, 2009
U.S. DOT to Stop Rewarding Transit Projects That Use Private Contracts
The Obama administration will reverse a Bush-era policy that gave
proposed transit projects a leg up in the chase for federal money if
their operations and maintenance were to be contracted out privately,
according to a regulation finalized today.
September 2, 2009
‘Clunkers’ Consequences: GM Sales Down, Ford Gas-Guzzlers Up
When Congress tripled the size of the "cash for clunkers" program in July, both Congress and the White House
billed the $3 billion program as a boon for struggling domestic
automakers. But when those Detroit car companies released sales figures
today, the numbers didn't quite match up to the hype.
September 1, 2009