Today’s Headlines

  • LaHood says Obama administration should replicate the first stimulus law’s ethics limits for its next economic recovery legislation (AP)
  • House passes massive spending bill that includes big transportation policy budget moves (AP)
  • Members of Congress pushing to make more transit networks wired for cell service (The Hill)
  • Washington D.C.’s transit authority heading for management shakeup after castigation on Capitol Hill (WashPost)
  • New Jersey’s new governor is on the spot for deciding to expand transportation bonding (Star-Ledger)
  • Providence, RI, eyes its own streetcar network with federal aid … (Prov Biz News)

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Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
Two days after rolling out its transit safety bill in the House, the Obama administration turns its attention across the Capitol (Banking Cmte Press) Will the House take up a jobs bill, including upwards of $50 billion in transportation spending, before 2010? Some say yes (The Hill), others say likely not (Politico) Transit operating aid […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
(Photo: AP/HuffPost) A photo gallery of 9 world-class subways, including Tokyo’s, pictured above (HuffPost) An inside look at transit tunnel security in the Big Apple (AP) Toyota could face a second fine from U.S. DOT for its response to defective gas pedals (The Hill Blog) The hidden crisis of America’s decaying "soft infrastructure," and what […]

Today’s Headlines

By Elana Schor |
Very bad news for train riders in the northeast: The Obama administration’s first rounds of high-speed rail money are unlikely to help improve Acela service, due to lengthy environmental reviews required by U.S. DOT (Globe) Two disparate takes on the House jobs bill: Does it represent "room for real debate" on a new federal transportation […]

Transit Operating Aid Bill Doesn’t Fly With Major D.C. Transit Group

By Elana Schor |
A burgeoning congressional push to let urban transit agencies tap federal funds for operating their systems is not sitting well with the transit industry’s largest D.C. lobbying group, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). A rail car from New York City’s transit authority, one of APTA’s biggest members. (Photo: TreeHugger) Paul Dean, APTA’s government relations […]

James Oberstar on the Future of U.S. Transportation Funding

By Ben Fried |
Minnesota Representative James Oberstar is perhaps the strongest advocate for transit on Capitol Hill. In a recent Q&A with the Kansas City Star, he shared his thoughts on how the financial crisis will affect federal investments in transportation: Transit currently receives about 20 percent of federal surface transportation funding.  Next year’s surface transportation authorization will […]