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Would Personal Rapid Transit Benefit Anyone but Its Manufacturer?
Some of you saw the Examiner piece yesterday about SkyTran's personal rapid transit (PRT) project and were probably looking for a response from us (one of you even asked in comments why we didn't touch it), but I've been very leery of the topic since I saw the "Pod People" post over on New York Streetsblog blow up with 227 polarizing and dogmatic comments for and against PRT (Personal Rabid Transit?), before the editors shut comments down. I'm pretty skeptical of anything taken on faith as good or bad, so why get into the fray, especially with a technology that hasn't been proven at scale?
August 11, 2009
Following ‘Cash for Clunkers’ with ‘Riches for Rail’
(Photo: Washington Post) Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, began his hearing on transit today by displaying the above cartoon by Pulitzer prize-winner Tom Toles. The senator’s message parallels Toles’: In a world where the auto industry can get $2 billion more in one week, what’s to be done about … Continued
August 4, 2009
The Wall Street Tax Shelter That Crashed Your Local Transit Agency
The D.C. Metro accident that killed nine riders this week has renewed calls for rail safety upgrades and reminders that car travel remains far riskier
than transit. But the crash is also shedding light on a problem that
goes beyond Washington: tax shelter deals between banks and struggling
transit agencies -- deals that were given a retroactive pass by
Congress even though the IRS considers them illegal.
June 26, 2009
The High-Speed Rail Numbers Game: Is $13 Billion and 110 MPH Enough?
High-speed rail is one of the Obama administration's most prized policy goals, with $13 billion getting earmarked in the coming year alone to help break ground on up to 11 proposed regional corridors. But what will the U.S. get for its money? A lively Senate hearing yesterday attempted to answer that question.
June 24, 2009
Sen Boxer Seeks Rail Safety Funds after DC Crash
Mere hours after the Washington Metro system suffered a shocking accident, two senior senators released a letter to their colleagues asking for $50 million in grants to improve rail safety technology. The scene of yesterday’s D.C. Metro crash. (Photo: NYT) The letter was sent by two chairmen with a central role in transportation policy — … Continued
June 23, 2009
Streetcars in Seattle, Or Why America Should Mind Its Transit Gaps
The
rider went down -- Boom! -- just as she turned to see if the streetcar
was getting close to her. Turning to look was her undoing, because her
wheel got caught in the big gap between rail and street, toppling her
hard. The big blue streetcar was only ten feet or so behind her, but
luckily was slowing down and did not run her over. Scary though.
June 10, 2009
“Shovel Ready” High Speed Rail? CA Is Ahead of the Game
Yesterday,
Vice President Joe Biden, met with governors from eight different
states that are competing for High Speed Rail funding. Streetsblog's
D.C. Correspondent wrote a story about the national implications
of the meeting available at our New York site. While neither
Schwarzenegger nor another representative from California was present,
there was good news for California. From today's Times,
June 4, 2009
BART Transit Blogger Roundtable, Part II
Last week regional transit bloggers sat down with BART management and asked questions of General Manager Dorothy Dugger about her transit operation. This is part two of that roundtable:
June 4, 2009
BART Invites Transit Bloggers to Query GM Dugger, Part I
Last week, BART hosted a brunch meeting for Bay Area transit bloggers, explicitly acknowledging that journalism is trending away from traditional media to online and niche outlets. Organized by BART spokesperson Linton Johnson, writers from Streetsblog, The SF Appeal, The Overhead Wire, N-Judah Chronicles, and Transbay Blog had the opportunity to ask BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger and her team unvarnished questions, to which we received fairly straightforward answers.
June 3, 2009
Bye-Bye General Motors, Hello (Again) General Locomotives?
This morning much of the nation's news outlets are devoted to the demise of General Motors, which represents the fourth largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and the largest of any industrial titan. Perhaps most entertaining of all the articles is P.J. O'Rourke's onanistic fetish piece about horsepower and the "masculinity" emblematic in the growl of American muscle cars, in which he bemoans the passing of the automotive giant as the emasculation of the American Dream.
June 1, 2009