Monday’s Headlines Are Not Gonna Pay a Lot for This Gas

Whatever number you see at the pump shouldn't influence how you vote. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Whatever number you see at the pump shouldn't influence how you vote. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
  • With gas prices high, transit agencies have an opportunity to boost ridership. (CityLab, Marketplace)
  • Neighborhoods that were redlined in the 1930s still have worse air pollution more than 80 years later. (New York Times)
  • The $1.5 billion federal omnibus spending bill Congress passed last week includes $16 billion for transit and $3 billion for rail. (Mass Transit)
  • The federal mask mandate on transit has been extended through April 18. (Roll Call)
  • Speaking of high gas prices, already Tucson residents are looking for alternatives (KGUN). Omaha’s bike-share is marketing itself as a cheaper alternative to driving (KPTM). And BikePortland has a guide to saving money by leaving your car at home, be it by bike or transit.
  • As the link between the Capitol and the White House, Pennsylvania Avenue is important symbolically, but not for actually transporting cars. So federal and D.C. officials want to remake it as a bike-friendly corridor and linear park. (Washington Post)
  • Consultants are urging Charlotte to choose the Silver Line light-rail route that attracts the most riders, but the city is intent on choosing the route that’s least expensive. (WFAE)
  • Private high-speed rail company Brightline is planning a new line between Tampa and Orlando. (WUSF)
  • The Federal Transit Administration awarded Ohio transit agencies $33 million to upgrade facilities and older buses. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
  • Houston is forging ahead with future bus rapid transit projects despite disappointing ridership on the Silver Line. (Chronicle)
  • Sam Massell, the Atlanta mayor who laid the groundwork for MARTA’s heavy rail system in the late 1960s, has died at age 94 (AJC). Although historically resistant to transit, the city he once led is now embracing tactical urbanism to reduce cyclist and pedestrian deaths (Smart Cities Dive).
  • Osceola County is the first county in Central Florida to start a Vision Zero program. (WESH)
  • A new California report shows how a simple jaywalking ticket can lead to financial disaster for homeless and other low-income residents as the fees and fines stack up. (Raw Story)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

National Transit Union Proposes a Smart Fuel Subsidy

|
Tired of hearing about gas tax holidays, bridge toll suspensions, and rebates for drivers? Here’s a policy proposal that will actually improve commutes, not just encourage trips by car: subsidizing fuel for transit systems. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week, rising diesel prices are hitting transit agencies hard (preview only), leading to […]

Drivers Cover Just 51 Percent of U.S. Road Spending

|
There’s a persistent misconception in American culture that transit is a big drain on public coffers while roads conveniently and totally pay for themselves through the magic of gas taxes. And that used to be true — at least for interstate highways, a fraction of the total road network. But that was many, many failed […]

Schumer Amendment: Make Transit Tax Benefit Equal to Parking Benefit

|
The last piece of the Senate’s two-year transportation reauthorization proposal will be marked up by the Finance Committee tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. The committee was tasked with finding approximately $12 billion to bridge the projected shortfall of the Highway Trust Fund over the life of the bill. So far, according to a summary released by Chairman […]

The Rising Price of Gas Is the Talk of the Nation

|
Gas prices. You may have heard they’re on an upward trajectory. In today’s Streetsblog Network Roundup, we look at the wide-ranging implications of fuel pump pain from Rhode Island to Hawaii: The Vulnerabilities of Oil Dependence: Richard Layman at Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space reports that Newport, Rhode Island is offering “gas rebates” to […]

The State of State Transit Funding

|
States increased their transit spending more than 5 percent between 2007 and 2011, reaching $13.9 billion annually, according to a recent report from the Association of American State Highway and Transportation Officials. But that increase was concentrated in just a handful of states. Almost all of the elevated transit spending — 92 percent — is attributable to five […]