Transportation
Fiscal and ridership changes are impacting transportation policies at the state and local levels. These articles focus on innovative and successful transit planning, funding and upkeep for intercity and commuter rail, electric vehicles, mass transit and more.
The bill would devote most new funds to highways but transit would also get a boost. The major revenue raiser is a 15-cent increase to the gas tax.
The Georgia county school district didn’t apply for the EPA’s Clean School Bus Grant Program and hasn’t signaled any interest in applying in the future. Officials say the limited mileage range and charging requirements would cause significant route delays.
The Water Emergency Transportation Authority wants to change the San Francisco Bay Ferry’s reputation from luxury transit to go-to commuter service by lowering fares, providing more direct routes and adopting off-peak travel schedules.
California state Sen. Aisha Wahab has proposed legislation that would combine all of the transit agencies that oversee public transit in the nine-county Bay Area into one in hopes of more seamless service. Would it work?
Massachusetts voters approved an additional tax on incomes of more than a million dollars. At least a billion extra dollars will support transportation and education projects this year.
Freddie O’Connell, the new mayor, is a longtime transit advocate and civic leader. Nashville voters have rejected transit referendums in the past, but he's convinced the city needs to try again
During the trial period, which began in August 2021 and ran for 18 months, city residents have taken 1.45 million scooter rides over 2 million miles. The program will undergo a few changes to appease some concerns.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore promised to revive long-neglected transit projects when he took office earlier this year. Instead, he’s now proposing broad-based transportation cuts.
Florida was the only state to decline millions in federal funding that could have been put toward reducing tailpipe emissions and the effects of climate change. The state will build roads and bridges instead.
Metro Transit in Minneapolis-St. Paul is using new methods of fare enforcement, as well as partnering with social service nonprofits, in an effort to combat open drug use and generally make trains feel safer.
The congestion pricing fee would be for drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th street, but a New Jersey lawsuit threatens to delay its implementation. The fee is forecast to earn $1 billion for the MTA’s capital budget.
A new survey found that only about 5 percent of Texans currently drive an electric vehicle and, of those who don’t currently own or lease an EV, about 60 percent said they probably wouldn’t consider one in the future either.
Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., are using bus-mounted cameras with AI technology to better enforce parking violations, hoping to clear transit lanes of vehicles and make public transit faster and safer.
As the city approaches a population of 8 million, transportation leaders will need to find ways to improve movement across the region before the growth becomes unsustainable. Leaders with more diverse backgrounds may help with the solution.
Last fall, the county’s ridership averaged around 18,000 a month; now, it’s nearly at 30,000 monthly riders. The Call N’ Ride program use, which offers free transit, has increased 222 percent over the last year.
Transportation emissions accounted for 35 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the state, the most of any sector. The Advanced Clean Cars II mandate will require 51 percent of new car sales to be electric in 2027.
Fatalities increased 18 percent from 2019 to 2022, despite the fact that the overall number of miles traveled decreased by 3 percent. Policymakers are trying to find ways to curb speeding and reckless driving.
What started as a simple question, “when will Metrorail riders on evenings and weekends be spared the longer waits for train arrivals,” has turned into a 5,757-page journey of emails and attachments, all without an answer.
The Safe Streets for All program is awarding millions of dollars directly to cities and counties to improve roadways for all users. Many are applying multiple times.
Two transportation-focused think tanks held back-to-back events last week, bringing transit advocates, scholars and industry leaders together to discuss solutions for the fiscal cliff many agencies are facing.
New research suggests that transit agencies see ridership gains when they adopt monthly fare-capping policies, which are primarily intended to make fares more equitable.
More public transit agencies are offering low-fare, on-demand shuttle service as a way to connect people to existing transit services and serve far-flung communities. But many transit advocates are wary of the trend.
Work is expected to begin on the $30.59 million all-electric collection system in late 2024 or early 2025, though the ceremonial start began on Monday. Approximately 88 percent of Atlantic City Expressway customers use E-ZPass.
The Rapid 227 will allow riders to commute between the Otay Mesa border crossing and a variety of communities across the city. The express route will service every 15 minutes during commute hours and only has 10 stops.
Many of the county’s residents commute into San Antonio for work and are directly impacted by the road and highway conditions. County commissioners are considering expanding the Metro planning board by one seat.
The city may join the ranks of others where it's free to ride the bus. It's part of a growing trend among smaller cities that are prioritizing ridership over revenue.
Faced with a seven-figure gap in its operating budget and unable to find a corporate sponsor, Houston BCycle, the city’s 10-year-old bike-share network, could soon shut down entirely. But the local public transit authority may step in to replace it.
Between May 1 and Sept. 17, over 2,000 vehicles were reported stolen to the city’s police department and, as of Sept. 26, the agency had ticketed 411 of those cars while they were still officially considered stolen.
The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded $1.4 billion for railroad improvements, a huge expansion of a key funding program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Funded projects will help make passenger and freight service more efficient.
Veronica O. Davis, a transportation director in Houston, recently published Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities. The book describes experiences and lessons from her career as a planner, engineer and advocate.
A survey of voters in five of the Bay Area counties found that just 56 percent say commuter rail is important for the California region and must be maintained even if it costs taxpayers more money.
