(Source: Washington Post)

Metro: ‘Next Bus’ System to Return in July

Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. started off his online discussiontoday with an update on the late, lamented Next Bus system, intended to provide real time information about bus arrivals.

Catoe said the system that was taken down in October 2007 for lengthy repairs should be back in July. He ordered it taken down because the information wasn’t accurate enough often enough.

Recently, some bus riders discovered an online test site and began using it.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I have kind of a mystery for you about the NextBus system. I write a blog about Columbia Heights called New Columbia Heights and also for DCist.

One of the DCist writers found that NextBus seemed to be working for WMATA, so I wrote about it on my blog — a NextBus staffer then commented on the post and said it’s a test version, but WMATA gave them a green light, and please use it. When Sommer from DCist asked WMATA about it, they said it wasn’t ready and shut it down.

Suddenly, I’m the bad guy, because apparently I unearthed some secret and people claim WMATA had never wanted NextBus to work anyway, and used this as an excuse to shut it down (again). WMATA said it’ll be awhile before the site is up. It seems like NextBus and WMATA aren’t on the same page about the site, maybe you could look into that and why it’s not up and running at all – it’s been a few years.

Click here to read more.

(Source: Bizjournal.com)

The federal stimulus funds, furnished through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will help the state proceed with 29 construction projects throughout the state. The Texas Department of Transportation will leverage the $1.2 billion in stimulus spending to build more than $2.6 billion in new transportation projects throughout the state.

In San Antonio, the state will proceed with the construction of new interchange lanes along U.S. Highway 281 and Loop 1604. The total project will cost $140 million to build. TxDOT will combine $60 million worth of stimulus dollars with $80 million worth of existing funds to proceed with construction. TxDOT also is combining $8.1 million in stimulus funds with $4 million in existing funds to construct new roadway lanes along Loop 1604 from FM 78 to Graytown, which is located near Randolph Air Force Base.

(Source: Financial Times)

“History reminds us,” President Barack Obama told both houses of the US Congress on Tuesday night, “that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas.” By “the nation”, Mr Obama means “the government”. We can tell by the episodes he uses to make his point: the establishment of universal public education, the GI Bill of Rights and – alluded to but not named – the Highway Act of 1956, at the time of its passage the largest public works project in US history.

Mr Obama’s praise for the Highway Act is disturbing. In arguments over his stimulus package and his preliminary budget released on Thursday, Republicans have made the lazy assumption that government intervention in the economy can never succeed. Mr Obama shows signs of the opposite error – believing it can never fail.

The Highway Act probably has more defenders than detractors. But Mr Obama should be among the latter. The act, which budgeted $25bn in federal money to build 41,000 miles of motorway, exacerbated the very problems Mr Obama has been most eager to solve – spoliation of the environment, dependence on foreign oil, overburdening of state and local budgets, abandonment of the inner-city poor and reckless speculation in real-estate development, to name a few.

A lot of people complain today about the rump of Republican disbelievers in Keynes, feckless though they may be, who fiddle while Rome burns. There was no hint of such heresy in 1956. The Senate passed the bill 89-1. Otherwise, the political climate bore some resemblance to our own: conformism bred of confusion. A 40,000 mile highway network had been on the wish list of the armed forces since 1944. Eisenhower was a big backer, and had hopes of justifying it as a stimulus during the recession of 1954. That downturn was long past when the bill came to a vote, but the vested interests remained, and so did the fear that one’s constituents might think it a bit communist to vote against a highway bill.

Click here to read the entire article.  (Free registration required at FT.com)

(Source: StreetsBlog)

We want mass transit in American cities, right? Right. So how are we going to pay for it?

(Source: Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The numerous safety violations that contributed to a deadly train crash in California last year have some federal officials asking whether the crash was an isolated incident or part of a more widespread problem, particularly with cell phone use by crew members.

A National Transportation Safety Board panel held a second day of hearings Wednesday concerning the crash that killed 25 people and injured at least 130. The crash occurred when a Metrolink passenger train failed to heed a red traffic signal and ended up on the same shared track with a Union Pacific freight train, officials said. The two trains collided head-on.

Federal investigators on Tuesday released the transcript of 43 text messages sent and received by the engineer of the Metrolink train, Robert Sanchez. The engineer also made four phone calls the day of the collision, federal records show.

Sanchez was killed in the crash.

Kitty Higgins, an NTSB board member, said that rules in place should have stopped Sanchez from using his cell phone while on duty. But inspections designed to deter cell phone use didn’t seem to have much effect because people change their behavior when they know they’re being watched.

“I think it’s very widespread,” Higgins said of cell phone use by train crews. “And I was not very impressed with the answer ‘we don’t know how to enforce this’ (ban). We know it’s an issue with the industry.”

She said that cell phone use has become part of everyday life, so dealing with the problem won’t be easy.

(Source:  LA Times)

A top union official representing Metrolink engineers told federal authorities this morning that the union opposes a key reform proposed by the agency in the wake of the Chatsworth rail disaster: installing video cameras inside locomotives.

(Source: Street Films via Treehugger)

Thanks to Tree Hugger, Transportgooru got to know the biggest transit proponent that lives in the Western hemisphere.  I am proud to introduce you to the Bus Chick and her adorable family.  Meet Carla Saulter, aka Bus Chick (she has a blog on the Seattle Post Intelligencer’s website: Bus Chick, Transit Authority).  Check it out:

Car-Free and Loving It!

(Source: TreeHugger)

(Source:  Wall Street Journal)

President Obama and Vice President Biden spoke with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Tuesday at Transportation Department headquarters, where they announced the first batch of stimulus funds getting distributed. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. LaHood talked about spending stimulus money wisely, his opposition to an increase in the gasoline tax, new fuel emission standards and more. Below are edited excerpts from the interview.

* * *

The Wall Street Journal: What’s being done to ensure that the $48 billion going to transportation projects in the stimulus bill is spent wisely?

Mr. LaHood: Our people are in touch daily with these DOT secretaries. We generally, having worked with them for years and years and years, know what is fundable. It really falls under two categories. Projects that were started and then stopped because they ran out of money, and something that’s been sitting on a shelf in a DOT office because they didn’t have the money to fund it. Some of these, like the one we announced today (a road repaving project in suburban Maryland), have been in process…These are projects that these folks have known about and have been talking about for some time. This isn’t something brand new that’s been sprung up on them…I don’t think you’re going to see something weird pop up…It’s pretty traditional stuff. It really is.

WSJ: Are you concerned when you hear squabbles between mayors and governors over how to spend the stimulus money?

Mr. LaHood: [Cities] are concerned that 70% of the money is going to the states and they’re only going to get 30%…These disputes, look it, they’re going to take place….In the end, I’m not going to be able to change the idea that 70% of this is going to the states and 30% are going to them. I tried to make a case for them. But the way it’s designed here…it is what it is.

(Source: New York Times)

Amid a wave of government-led bailouts for car companies, a group of international agencies and motoring organizations called on Wednesday for car makers worldwide to reduce emissions.

“In confronting the economic recession this is a real opportunity for governments to combine support for the auto industry with measures to achieve environmental and energy policy goals,” said Nobua Tanaka, the executive director of the International Energy Agency.

“Battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and possibly hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are expected to become increasingly available in the near-to-medium term given recent improvements especially in batteries,” the 50-by-50 campaign noted in a leaflet. “However, these advanced technologies are not necessary to achieve the 50 percent potential described here, but could result in further CO2 reductions and oil savings if they succeed in achieving mass-market commercialization.”

Click here to read the entire article.