Hybrids: Leaves on the Nevergreen Tree

Yahoo’s green blog had a post a few days ago that listed writer Lori Bongiorno’s green hypocrites.  One of them was certain hybrid owners: “Owns a hybrid, but drives all around town alone. The kind of car you drive is just one part of the transportation equation. Walking, biking, carpooling, and taking public transportation when you can are also important. Try to drive the most fuel-efficient...

The High Cost of “Major Service Change”

The headline on Phillip Matier’s and Andrew Ross’s story just sounded bad:  “BART spending $800K to define three words.”  It is easy to imagine the public saying “That’s more than 250,000 per word,” or “I’d have done it for half that.”  In fact, commenters on the online version of the San Francisco Chronicle story had lots of other three-word proposals like “Clean the Trains,”...

Keeping Riders

Saleswoman Deanna Droira-Garcia very suddenly lost her ability to drive when she began having epileptic seizures.  As a result she was riding Tri-rail down in Miami, Florida, and saw a car card advertising a competition for the best stories on why riders use and value transit.  Before her seizures, Droira-Garcia had driven not only to work, but for work as she traveled to make sales calls.  She...

Transit is in the business of moving people, not relieving congestion

As regularly as an equatorial sunrise, Google Alerts sends me news clips from around the world of transit.  From these articles I know light rail is making progress in the Carolinas, transit ridership is increasing in car-mad Phoenix, and congressional candidates are talking about transit on the campaign trail.  Unfortunately, most of these missives from the transit field carry with them the promise...

The Hundred Million Dollar Line

  There are few hours above the red line, but we pay mightily for them in infrastructure. Noting the exceptions of those few cities stuck in permanent rush hour, peak is the hour that rankles.  When angry citizens gripe about congestion they are not thinking of 10 a.m. or 10 p.m.; they are concerned about the hours in the morning and afternoon when most of us still go to a job.  When DOT or public...