Monday, December 12, 2016

Economists "confused" as they try to figure out #degrowth without considering energy

The New York Times: "It increasingly looks as if something fundamental is broken in the global growth machine — and that the usual menu of policies, like interest rate cuts and modest fiscal stimulus, aren’t up to the task of fixing it (though some well-devised policies could help)."

Monday, December 5, 2016

Lackawanna residents calling on NFTA to expand public transportation

wivb.com : "More than 800 Lackawanna residents have signed a petition. They say they can’t make it to their jobs, grocery stores, and schools due to a lack of public transportation."

Monday, September 26, 2016

Don't ferry public money to those who need it least

Crain's New York Business: "There are better, more targeted ways of helping average folks. Resources 
should be spent on addressing the transportation deserts where dollar vans operate, improving intra-borough travel. After all, the outer boroughs have more residents commuting within them than to Manhattan, according to the Regional Plan Association.

New Yorkers have urgent public transportation needs, but subsidizing boat rides for tourists and mostly higher-income people living along the East River will exacerbate the city’s inequality, not reverse it."

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Glens Falls, NY, cars have death grip on US public, more pain to come

poststar.com: "A proposal to remove funding from the federal gas tax for public transit systems, such as those that operate in Glens Falls and Watertown, has resurfaced in the Republican presidential platform."

Friday, July 15, 2016

Public Transit Riders Want Better Service, Not Free WiFi

WIRED: "TransitCenter asked more than 3,000 online respondents from 17 regions across the country what sorts of upgrades they’d like to see on their commutes, with choices like free Wi-Fi, outlets, more frequent service, faster travel times, cheaper fares, robust shelters built for bad weather, and updates on when their bus would arrive.

PEOPLE MOVERS

Watch London Get Its Shiny New Crossrail Tunnels Ready for Action

Get Ready for Quieter NYC Subway Stations (Yes, It’s Possible)

LA’s New Metro Line Won’t Reduce Traffic—And That’s OK
They ranked perks like outlets and Wi-Fi dead last. Even tap-and-go fare cards, a relatively low-tech update many agencies are racing to implement, landed near the bottom of the pile. Surprise—people care more about reliability and practicality than frills."

Monday, July 11, 2016

Move more people with less fuel

The Buffalo News: "Millions of Americans today utilize various public transportation alternatives. They include local and express bus, ferry, jitney, light rail, subway and commuter rail services. All of these systems use less fuel and move far more people than conventional single-occupancy vehicles. Most of these systems are funded with your tax dollars thanks to Johnson.

Depending upon where you live, consider the public transportation alternative. Try riding an NFTA bus or light rail vehicle. The ability to travel from home to workplace, school, shopping, entertainment, medical, library, etc. is a factor when moving to a new neighborhood. Economically successful communities are not 100 percent dependent on automobiles as the sole means of mobility. Seniors, students, low- and middle-income people need these transportation alternatives. Investment in public transportation today contributes to economic growth, employment and a stronger economy.

Dollar for dollar, it is one of the best investments we can make."

Saturday, June 18, 2016

People of Yates County want #publictransit

fltimes.com: "Of those surveyed, more than 400 said they would use public transportation to get to and from Penn Yan, and more than 300 said they would use it to go to Geneva. More than 200 said they would use it to go to Canandaigua if a route there were offered.

Yates County is one of only two counties in the state without public transportation. The plan would see Arc of Yates provide public transit along five routes that would go from Penn Yan to Dundee, Dresden, Rushville, Naples and Geneva."

Monday, April 25, 2016

Subways are very expensive, but if we didn't have cars in the city, we would not need them.

One day, 624 Delays (New York Mag) | A post-automobile world?: "Money is naturally behind all the system’s shortcomings. Last year, after the MTA leadership declared a funding crisis, the city committed a record $2.5 billion to the agency’s capital plan, and the state committed $8.3 billion. Even with that new $29 billion budget, only 68 percent of stations will have countdown clocks by 2020."

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Car-loving NY governor gets some push-back

Spotlight News : "“The Assembly’s investment in transportation finally provides funding for all users of the road, whether they are a pedestrian, a user of public transit, or a motorist,” said Assemblymember Patricia A. Fahy (D-Albany). “This unprecedented appropriation for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure improvements will make an incredible impact of the lives of all New Yorkers.”"

Monday, March 28, 2016

Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus offering employees free bus/rail passes

The Buffalo News: "The Medical Campus has launched the “Try Transit” program, an initiative designed to promote bus and rail use among employees. It will provide free NFTA-Metro passes to employees who have not tried local public transportation before.

Try Transit is part of a larger GO BNMC program, which encourages alternative transportation such as public transit, carpooling, biking and walking. It has also worked to make sure the medical campus’s infrastructure is friendly to alternative modes of transport."

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Citywide car-free day in New York City is ‘great idea’ but requires planning, expert says

Metro: "For the city that never sleeps, going a full day without cars on the road may seem like an out-of-this-world plan, but according to one transportation expert, the idea is possible — it just needs a little more planning.

On Wednesday, Councilman and Transportation Committee Chair Ydanis Rodriguez announced the launch of the first Car Free NYC to be held on Earth Day, the New York Daily News reported."

Monday, March 14, 2016

People can't get to work in Rochester, NY, area.

Boost public transit aid: "An example of how that investment will pay off can be seen in the more than 9,000 employees in Monroe, Livingston, Ontario and Seneca counties that we are currently unable to serve because their employers have staffing hours that don’t match our route schedules or locations that fall outside our service area.

These companies face employee recruitment and retainment challenges, and having the necessary funds to expand our services to these companies will help provide stability for the employers and employees."

Friday, March 11, 2016

An efficient, unbureaucratic way to fight poverty -- #freetransit

Can better public transit curb inequality in Rochester?: "“We’ve done a good job identifying the problem," said Maureen Duggan, executive director for the Community Design Center. "Now we really need to see what we can do to identify some solutions, to move the needle on poverty.”"

Friday, March 4, 2016

Sprawl pain in Rochester - #publictransit is the medicine needed

rbj.net : "Reconnect Rochester president Mike Governale said less than one-third of jobs in the Rochester area are accessible within a 90-minute trip using public transit.

“The unfortunate reality is that we’re caught in a vicious circle where the people who we’d like to convince to ride public transit choose not to because the system is underfunded,” he said, in a statement. “Meanwhile, those who have no other choice—the people who rely on transit—are being underserved and falling deeper into poverty.”"

Thursday, March 3, 2016

New York City residents are the "greenest Americans"

Simon Jenkins | Opinion | The Guardian: "It is modern cities, not Stevens’ countryside, that are truly green, efficient, potentially healthy places. He should read the American environmentalist Ed Glaeser, who points out that the greenest Americans live in Manhattan. They walk a lot, share energy and live in easy reach of jobs, shops and services. “Those who move out to leafy, low-density suburbs,” he says, “leave a significantly deeper carbon footprint than Americans who live cheek by jowl.”"