If your drive to work each day consists of crossing a county line, you are not alone. However you probably already knew that, due the the congestion you experience everyday.

While you know you have company on the road, the percentage of people employed outside their county of residence might still astound you. Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (TBRPC) used 2000 census data to analyze our regional commuting patterns for the 2007 Reality Check exercise and found the following percentage of citizens were employed outside their county of residence:

To view the County-to-County Work Flows Map, Click Here.

Currently, 20 percent of our regional population is over the age of 65 and over the next two decades this number is expected to reach unprecedented numbers as America’s baby boom generation reaches retirement age.

Critical opportunities lie immediately ahead to provide our region’s aging population with greater independence and quality of life.   This need has been documented in several recent reports including;

• AARP — Enhancing Mobility Options for Older Americans
• Aging Americans: Stranded Without Options
• Expanding the Transportation Options in an Aging Society
• Harris Interactive — The Attitudes Of Older Americans Toward Mobility and Transportation

For more information on how transit choice impact the again community visit: www.publictransportation.org

By Amanda Ripley
July 3, 2008 Time.com

The world had long assumed that Americans were just unrepentant energy pigs. If gas prices went up, well, we kept our Explorers aimed at the horizon, and little changed. We truthfully didn’t have lots of options. Unlike Europeans, we didn’t have jobs we could bike to or convenient public transit. Gasoline prices never stayed high enough long enough to force those kinds of shifts in how we lived.

Now here we are. Gas prices are near $4 per gal., as no one needs to tell you, and they are likely to stay that way. Most of us still don’t have the alternatives we need to adapt with grace, which means that many will adapt just by suffering. We will run out of gas on I-80, ease our minivans over to the shoulder and tell the kids everything is O.K. We’ll fall behind on Visa bills to pay for gas so we can buy food made ever more expensive by energy costs.

But it’s also true that Americans are finding options where there seemed to be none. They’re ready to change — and waiting for their infrastructure to catch up. They are driving to commuter-rail lines only to find there are no parking spots left. They are running fewer errands and dumping their SUVs. Public-transit use is at a 50-year high. Gas purchases are down 2% to 3%. And all those changes bring secondary, hard-earned benefits.

“You suddenly are reminded how the economy works,” says Eric Roston, author of a new book about energy, The Carbon Age. “Nobody wants high prices for oil. But there’s also no faster mechanism to change behavior.” The suffering will go on. But the story, like any good tragedy, is not without redemption

1. Globalized Jobs Return Home: The world suddenly seems big again.
2. Sprawl Stalls: Across the country, real estate agents are reporting that many home buyers are looking to move closer to cities.
3. Four-Day Workweeks: Companies, colleges and governments are moving to four-day weeks.
4. Less Pollution: As people consume less fuel in America, vehicle emissions should drop.
5. More Frugality: Trucking companies are using software to help identify optimal places for drivers to refuel and the most efficient delivery routes.
6. Fewer Traffic Deaths: Every year, about 40,000 people die in traffic accidents in the U.S.
7. Cheaper Insurance: If you are driving less, you could qualify for lower car-insurance rates.
8. Less Traffic: Travel on all roads dropped 2.1% in the first four months of 2008
9. More Cops on the Beat: Across the country, police bike and foot patrols are up, and cops are being told to cut down on idling their cruisers.
10. Less Obesity: People walk more, bike more and eat out less when gas is pricey. A permanent $1 hike in prices may cut obesity 10%, saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars a year.
Read the full story here

House Approves Bill to Support Public Transportation
On June 26, the House voted 322-98 to pass the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act (H.R. 6052). Representatives James L. Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, John L. Mica (R-FL), Ranking Member of the Committee, and Peter M. DeFazio (D-OR), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, are the bill’s original co-sponsors. The bipartisan bill authorizes $1.7 billion in grants to public transportation agencies over fiscal 2008 and 2009. The measure is aimed at helping transit agencies contend with high gasoline prices that are driving up their operating costs while simultaneously increasing the demand for their services. The grants could be used to enable agencies to cut fares or expand their service. The bill is currently waiting on action in the Senate.

Reports of Interest
The National Surface Transportation and Revenue Study Commission  released its final report to Congress at the end of 2007.  Transportation for Tomorrow: Report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, prepared by a specially convened Commission, meets the charge given under Section 1909 of the Safe Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).  The Report includes detailed recommendations for creating and sustaining a pre-eminent surface transportation system in the United States.  .A major purpose of the Commission’s study was to reinvigorate public debate regarding the future of the surface transportation system. 

Click here to read the full report.

Transportation authority plans community workshop
 7/8/2008,  Tampa Bay Newspapers Weekly
 Light rail or bus rapid transit? Commuter rail, managed lanes, or waterborne transit?The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority will be asking the public to imagine the possibilities and share their ideas on different transit modes for our region at the next series of community workshops that will be held from July 23 to Aug. 7. A community workshop will be held locally Thursday, Aug. 7, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the Largo Cultural Center, 105 Central Park Drive. The format will be an “open house” and will contain information on all options. The workshops are part of TBARTA’s effort to develop a transportation master plan for the 7-county West Central Florida region, including Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties.
Read more

HOT lanes taking shape along I-95
6/30/2008, Miami Herald
Somebody forgot to tell the folks in the South Florida transportation business that these are supposed to be the slow, lazy days of summer. Crews are furiously working to finish the first phase of a high-profile experiment that will transform the old, underused HOV lanes on Interstate 95 into the first variably priced High Occupancy Toll (HOT) facility in Florida.
Read more

TBARTA Wants Its Own Director
6/27/08, WUSF-NPR
Since its inception, the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority has relied on Bob Clifford, a planner on loan from the state Department of Transportation. Now that Gov. Crist signed a bill giving them $2 million, members want their own director at the helm.
Listen now

Have you changed your July 4th travel plans because of the cost of gas?  Send us a comment.

The Brookings Institue released “A Bridge to Somewhere: Rethinking American Transportation for the 21st Century” on June 12, 2008.   Authored by the Brookings Institue Fellow Robert Puentes, the report calls on the federal government to empower major metropolitan areas by giving them direct transportation funding and the flexibility to make unbiased decisions between different modes of transportation. The federal government can then maximize performance by committing itself (and the recipients of federal funds) to an evidence-based, outcome driven, and benchmarked way of doing business.     

The report recommends the development of a the following three-pronged strategy for our national transportation program: 

• The federal government must lead in those areas where there are clear demands for national uniformity or else to match the scale or geographic reach of certain problems. The U.S. needs to define, design and embrace a new, unified, competitive vision for transportation policy—for both passenger and freight that includes its purpose, its mission, its overarching rationale.
• The federal government should empower states and metropolitan areas to grow in competitive, inclusive, and sustainable ways. Major metropolitan areas should be given more direct funding and project selection authority to enable them to embrace market mechanisms, pursue a strategy of “modality neutrality,” and develop truly integrated transportation, land use, and economic development plans.
• The federal government should optimize Washington’s own performance and that of its partners to maximize metropolitan prosperity. In order to rebuild public trust, the rationale for the federal program should be apparent to the American people and contain an explicit set of outcomes.

This report offers an interesting perspective on federal transportation policy and illustrates the challenges regions like Tampa Bay will face as we start to seek Federal Funding for our regional projects.  This report is definitely worth a quick review.  For the findings and recommendations click here to read the policy brief or click here to read the full report.

Big Investment In Rail Will Help State’s Economy Keep Rolling
6/29/2008 - The Tampa Tribune   

The high price of fuel is a huge threat to Florida tourism and the state’s overall economic growth.
Airlines are raising prices and cutting flights at the same time families are rethinking vacation plans involving long trips in big cars.  Passenger rail, the most efficient way to travel medium distances, has been neglected for so long in this part of the country that it can scarcely be considered an alternative. You can ride the train from Tampa to Orlando for only $9, but you can’t come back the same day. Read more

Tampa Contemplates Transit-Oriented Development Concept
 6/30/2008- Tampa Tribune

Neighborhood activists and builders know that when a new development is planned for a part of town, the project can’t have more housing units than what the zoning allows. Now Tampa is looking at turning that concept upside down by regulating the minimum number of units allowed. The concept is known as minimum zoning, and if Tampa were to adopt that philosophy in its comprehensive plan, the city could be the first in the state to do so. The planning tool is lauded as a way to encourage transit and a way to better prepare for an influx of people, but it is sharply criticized as a threat to neighborhoods and property rights. Read more

Share your thoughts on transit alternatives
6/29/2008 - Sarasota Herald Tribune

The newly formed Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority wants the public’s opinions about what types of alternative transportation would be viable at various locations in its seven-county region. The authority has scheduled two forums in this area: July 23, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., in the community room of Northern Trust Bank, Suite 203, 6320 Venture Drive, Lakewood Ranch. July 24, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Venice Community Center, 326 S. Nokomis Ave., Venice. Participants can join online forums as well: July 22, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at www.tbarta.com. Aug. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the same Web address. The state Legislature established the authority to work on a master transportation plan linking Manatee, Sarasota, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Citrus and Hernando counties. Read more

TBARTA Wants Its Own Director
 6/27/2008 - WUSF 89.7 FM

SAN ANTONIO (2008-06-27) Since its inception, the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority has relied on Bob Clifford, a planner on loan from the state Department of Transportation. Now that Gov. Crist signed a bill giving them $2 million, members want their own director at the helm.  Listen Hear:
http://publicbroadcasting.net/wusf/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1308716§ionID=1