If growth is organized around trains and buses, cars will no longer be a necessity

By Alex Marshall and Neal Peirce
Special to the Charlotte Observer, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

The Charlotte region has a big choice.

Should the region keep sprawling outward, adding endless asphalt, subdivisions, malls and big boxes – and gruesome Atlanta-style traffic congestion?

Or should it invest in train and bus lines connecting a constellation of walkable, friendly neighborhoods along with a variety of business districts? This scenario puts high value on preserving the region’s “green lungs” – farms, forests, pathways, environmental breathing space. Growth efforts focus on Charlotte’s existing neighborhoods and town centers and the historic ring cities such as Rock Hill, Salisbury and Monroe. Commuter rail is used for longer connections; buses and light rail are used for shorter ones.

In this scenario, auto travel doesn’t end – it simply yields its total supremacy to transit, allowing compact neighborhoods where residents don’t need to drive for every trip. As in other world cities, driving is an option, not a necessity.

Full Story

12th Annual Commuter Choices Weeks

(TAMPA, Florida – October 3, 2008)  Commuters in the Tampa Bay area will celebrate Bay Area Commuter Services’ (BACS) 12th Annual Commuter Choices Weeks (CCW), throughout October 2008.  This month long series of events helps to educate the general public, local government and the media about commute options and the benefits of reducing traffic congestion and going greener by helping to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Participants are asked to give up driving alone to work for one or more days during the month and to register their commute choice (carpooling, vanpooling, taking the bus, bicycling, walking, teleworking) on the BACS website www.TampaBayRideshare.org.  Area events are fun, informative and you could win a prize; join us to learn more about your commuting choices. Complete your commitment form online and track your commute progress in October using GoLog©; and become eligible for additional prizes!
 
Schedule of Events:

• Party on Poe Plaza – Monday, October 6, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  Downtown Tampa: Poe Plaza between Tampa City Center and Hyatt Regency
• Clearwater Commuter Celebration – Wednesday, October 8, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  Downtown Clearwater: City Hall parking lot (Osceola Ave & Pierce St) 
• Pasco County Commuter Fair – Thursday, October 9, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  West Pasco Government Center:  7530 Little Road, New Port Richey
• Festival on First Central Tower Plaza – Friday, October 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  Downtown St. Petersburg: First Central Tower at Central and 4th Street (360 Central Ave)
• Way to Go Westshore Festival – Tuesday, October 14, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  Westshore Business District: The Towers at Westshore parking lot (1408-1410) Westshore Blvd N)                        
• Ride Green Day – Wednesday, October 15, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
  University of South Florida: Bull Market
• Travel Hernando Today: Commute Choices – Wednesday, October 15, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  Brooksville Founder’s Week Celebration Event
  Hernando Historic Courthouse (20 N. Main Street, Brooksville)

9 a.m. bike registration, helmet fitting, music and activities. 9:30 a.m. warm-up stretches and exercise. 10 a.m. official ceremony and ribbon cutting. Join the celebration, ride, walk or run the completion of the Pinellas Trail into downtown St. Petersburg. The event will start at the trestle bridge at the northwest corner of Tropicana Field and continue to Pioneer Park. 727-892-5328.

For maps and more information click here.

Brookings Institution, Opportunity 08
Candidate Issue Index

August 26, 2008, Compiled by Brookings Institution experts, this chart is part of a series of issue indices to be published during the 2008 Presidential election cycle. The policy issues included in this series were chosen by Brookings staff and represent the most critical topics facing America’s next President.

Click here to view the Policy Index for Transportation:
View the Index

 
Opportunity 08, a Brookings project in partnership with ABC News, aims to help presidential candidates and the public focus on critical issues facing the nation, providing ideas, policy forums, and information on a broad range of domestic and foreign policy questions. Brookings is an independent think tank (501c3) that does not support or oppose any candidate for public office. Voters should learn all they can about the candidates on a range of issues and should not rely on any single source of information before making their decision.

Give rail a jump-start
08/17/08 - St. Petersburg Times

The Tampa Bay region has no greater problem than its congested and outdated transportation system. For two decades, political leaders throughout Tampa Bay have acknowledged that commuter rail must play a role if the growing region is to maintain its quality of life and diversify and grow its economy. Yet all the talk and costly studies have failed to drive a single spike into the ground; even a rudimentary rail system is at least another decade away.

That’s why Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio’s plan to jump-start rail is encouraging. The time has come to give commuters more transit options and for the region to make better use of its land and transportation dollars. But adding rail is an expensive and long-term undertaking. Moving ahead should reflect a larger consensus that the region is ready to address transportation and growth well beyond the lens of parochial politics. Read more

Visions Of Regional Transit Bump Against Local Realities
08/17/08 -The Tampa Tribune

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is taking the lead and pushing hard to give Hillsborough voters a chance, finally, to say yes or no to a rail transit proposal. Not everyone is happy about that. Red flags are up warning she is moving so far ahead of regional plans that the state won’t help pay for the costly project, which means it couldn’t be built. We encourage the mayor to keep pushing and for regional planning efforts to continue. By early next year the regional plans will have caught up, and everyone should be on the same track in time for a 2010 vote.

Iorio and others, including Hillsborough Commissioner Mark Sharpe, are right not to entirely delegate Tampa’s big-city commuting challenges to the whims of a seven-county board. Unlike Iorio, many of the local elected leaders on the board are accountable to small-town constituencies more interested in keeping taxes low than in investing in faster travel. Iorio’s strategy is that some jurisdiction has to go first, and it makes sense to start where the traffic is the worst and the commuters most eager for options. When the first segment is open, neighboring counties can see the benefits and join when they’re ready. Read more

Final design approval keeps commuter rail project alive
By Dan Tracy | Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer

Central Florida’s planned commuter-rail project passed a technical hurdle Monday, freeing up as much as $60 million to spend on land for proposed stations and train cars.

U.S. Rep. John Mica, R- Winter Park, said at a morning press conference at Walt Disney World that the venture was approved for final design by the Federal Transit Administration.

“I’m very pleased we reached this stage in the process,” Mica said.

That designation, while not ensuring that the $1.2 billion train system will be built, keeps the project alive, supporters said.

The plan still needs final approval from the Florida Legislature, which balked earlier this year at providing insurance for some workers associated with the train. Also, some Lakeland officials are against the project because they fear that extra freight trains will be rerouted away from commuter rail tracks and into their Polk County community.

But state Sen. Daniel Webster, R- Winter Garden, promised a deal would be worked out by the Legislature when it meets next year. “Whatever needs to happen is going to happen,” said Webster, who retires because of term limits at the end of this year.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-commuter-rail-081108,0,457662.story

 
TBARTA’s Mission in Flux 
 WUSF 89.7 News, By STEVE NEWBORN

TAMPA (2008-07-25) The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority hasn’t celebrated it’s first birthday yet, and many questions remain about the board’s mission. Will it oversee the rail projects being outlined by several counties, or is it expected to come up with its own plans for the seven counties?

Tampa Mayor and TBARTA member Pam Iorio says while Hillsborough County has the ability to put a penny sales tax on the ballot to find construction of light rail projects, many other counties don’t. And since Hillsborough already has a plan to construct the first of several planned light rail lines, would that plan fall to HART, the county’s rapid transit service.  Listen here

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.

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.

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