Commuting's Hidden Cost

NYTimes.com: "“In places where people walk more, obesity rates are much lower,” she noted. “New Yorkers, perhaps the ultimate walkers, weigh six or seven pounds less on average than suburban Americans.”"

MTA pays $2.3 billion in debt service per year

Keeping It Running: Mass Transit's Future | Transportation: "Annual debt service totals around $2.3 billion — and that $2.3 billion impacts daily service on the system."

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“Why Regional Rail Should be a Top Transport Priority for NYC’s Next Mayor”

Streetsblog New York City: "As NYC gears up to select a new Mayor, transportation issues often get lost in the sea of other important issues. Yet the Mayor has substantial power to influence public transit policy, even for services not directly under city control.  Especially important to the economy and sustainability of the city are good rail links that connect the city and its suburbs. For many years, The Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc (IRUM) has been advocating making better use of the three commuter rail lines–the sleeping giant of regional mobility–that converge on the city, by remaking them into a coordinated Regional Rail system, with frequent service, integrated fares and through-running.

This month’s working group meeting will feature a presentation by George Haikalis, President of IRUM."

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Widen Main St.? Community Had Other Ideas, and Thrived

Brendan Bannon for The New York Times

U.S. 62, which is Main Street in Hamburg, N.Y., was rebuilt to slow traffic and aid pedestrians. The changes have inspired business investment and civic activity.

NYTimes.com: "Twelve years ago, the State Transportation Department proposed improving U.S. Route 62, the village’s mile-long Main Street, by adding another traffic lane, removing parallel parking and narrowing sidewalks. When Susan Burns, a lifelong Hamburg resident, saw the plan, she remembers asking, “What are you doing with the trees and the people?” She said she was told by state officials, “We have to get the traffic through.”"

Banks benefit twice from bailout as they milk MTA with interest-rate swaps

Money For Nothing – New York Interest Rate Swaps: "The economic collapse and federal bailout changed the “rules of the game” with respect to interest rates. Now taxpayers are suffering and governments are stuck with the old rules while banks are allowed to play by the new ones. We need one set of rules for everyone.

Banks should be held accountable for their part in crashing the economy, not rewarded with a second bailout under lucrative swap agreements."

Cutting #publictransit service is cruel and unusual punishment of disabled #NFTA

Walk and Roll for Public Transportation: "Currently about 22 disabled individuals rely on the 8:30am dropoff at DDRO in order to arrive at their jobs or to get training. At 4:30pm, they catch the paratransit bus home. If the end of the line stops at Southgate Plaza as proposed, these individuals will have to walk or take their wheelchairs for the remainder of the trip—over a bridge and half a mile down Union Road, then a mile on East and West Road where there are no sidewalks, and only a narrow paved shoulder—in all kinds of weather.

Michael Rogers, the grassroots organizer for SANYS, describes how difficult it was for him to navigate the route in his motorized wheelchair. “I had gotten stuck, and luckily a passer-by was able to help. Otherwise, I would have been on the phone to the authorities. Or, I would have become road-hamburger.”"

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"We're opening up channels for the gas to creep up to the surface and into the atmosphere."

Former Mobil VP Warns of Fracking and Climate Change: "The other [difference] is that the rock above the target zone is not necessarily impervious the way it was in the conventional wells. And to me that last point is at least as big as the volume. The industry will tell you that the mile or two between the zone that's being fracked is not going to let anything come up.
But there are already cases where the methane gas has made it up into the aquifers and atmosphere. Sometimes through old well bores, sometimes through natural fissures in the rock. What we don't know is just how much gas is going to come up over time. It's a point most people haven't gotten. It's not just what's happening today. We're opening up channels for the gas to creep up to the surface and into the atmosphere. And methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas in the short term - less than 100 years - than carbon dioxide."

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Privatization - the best way to kill #publictransit

Examiner.com: "Private transit company Veolia Transport has been accused of lobbying Congress over HR7, legislation currently making its way through Congress which would (among other things) weaken public transit agencies, according to a StreetsBlog post on Friday. At the same time Veolia is taking over and gutting the Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) bus system, amid its continued expansion of transit system operation business around the world."

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Fares: Maybe buses should be free

The Economist: " Fares bring in a lot of money, but they cost money to collect—6% of the MTA's budget, according to a 2007 report in New York magazine. Fare boxes and turnstiles have to be maintained; buses idle while waiting for passengers to pay up, wasting fuel; and everyone loses time. Proof-of-payment systems don't solve the problem of fare-collection costs as they require inspectors and other staff to handle enforcement, paperwork and payment processing. Making buses and subways free, on the other hand, would increase passenger numbers, opening up space on the streets for essential traffic and saving time by reducing road congestion."

Economist article leaves out the biggest cost. The opportunity costs of lost riders, those who are turned away by fares. The marginal cost of an additional rider is small but the benefit is great. First, more riders means lower unit costs, or better return on fixed investment. Also more riders means better quality of life via greater freedom of movement in the city, and fewer people on the roads.

354,000 people a day in Times Square, but 90% of space allocated to cars

NYTimes.com: "Discussing the need that she feels for pedestrian zones, she talked about “354,000 people going through Times Square every day, and you had 90 percent of the space there allocated to cars.” Slow buses? “Twenty-five percent of the delay is waiting to get on the bus.” Bicycles? “In the last Quinnipiac poll, New Yorkers gave 66 percent support for bike lanes. We saw 72 percent support for bike share.”"