Latest Transit News

Interest in Mass Transit, Carpools, Scooters Jumps
Larry Copeland and Oren Dorell
USA TODAY
May 9, 2008
"Commuters across the USA, pushed to the wall by soaring gas prices, increasingly are turning to alternate means of getting to and from work..."

Paying at the Pump
NPR
May 9, 2008
"NPR takes a look at how people across the country are coping with the gas crunch, the factors behind skyrocketing oil prices, what's being done to bring them back to earth and cost-cutting strategies to employ in the meantime."

Gas Prices Rattle Americans
Judy Keen and Paul Overberg
USA TODAY
May 9, 2008
"Record high gas prices are prompting Americans to drive less for the first time in nearly three decades, squeezing family budgets and causing major shifts in driving habits, federal data and a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll show."

Transit Systems Travel 'Green' Track
Charisse Jones
USA TODAY
May 8, 2008
"Carbon footprint" has become part of the national lexicon, and mass transit systems throughout the country are taking steps to ease their impact on the environment even as they strive to provide more service to a growing number of riders."

Gas Prices Soaring
Elizabeth Strott
MSN MONEY
April 9, 2008
"It's still spring, and already gas prices are soaring."

Mass Transit Use Hits 50-year High on Pump Prices
Rebekah Kebede
REUTERS
March 11, 2008
"The number of Americans hopping buses and grabbing subway straps has climbed to the highest level in half a century..."

Healthy Alternative: Take Mass Transit
Larry Copeland
USA TODAY
Feb. 1, 2008
"Want to lose weight and look better? Improve your heart rate, circulation and overall health? Then get out of your car and hop on the bus or train."

She Brakes for Ideology
Fred Hiatt
Washington Post
Jan. 21, 2008
"The next time you are stuck in traffic..."

More Cities Get on Board with Hybrid Buses
Jordan Schrader
USA TODAY
Jan. 22, 2008
"Mass-transit systems across the USA are accelerating orders for diesel-electric hybrid buses..."

D.C. Region Named Most ‘Walkable’ in U.S.
Associated Press
Dec. 4, 2007
"Rail transit key..."

Public Transportation is Good for Business
Bill Cartwright
Tulsa World
Nov. 15, 2007
"...there are millions of Americans who get by just fine without cars. And, in an age where driving by the gas station can spark depression, there are thousands more Americans looking for another way."

Tax Supporters, Foes Surprised by Margin of Victory
Steve Harrison
The Charlotte Observer
Nov. 7, 2007

Riders Crowd Public Transit Systems
Barbara Hagenbaugh
USA TODAY
October 31, 2007
"Ridership on public transportation jumped to the highest level in nearly five decades in 2006 as high gas prices and expanded bus and train service enticed people to park their cars."

San Francisco Makeover: Nothing Short of In-spired
John Ritter
USA TODAY
Oct. 15, 2007
"It's all part of a $1 billion development... building up instead of out, the denser the better, stressing trains and buses over cars."

The Mass-transit Option
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Sept. 30, 2007
"Traffic congestion steadily increases on roads and highways in Southwest Florida."

Who Subsidizes Who?
Megan McArdle
Atlantic Online
Sept. 30, 2007
"Peter Jackson accuses me of ignorance for my position on mass transit subsidies, arguing that the subsidy to mass transit is higher than the subsidy to roads per passenger mile."

By the Numbers: Public Transit's Green Effects
Express
Sept. 27, 2007
"It's probably not too shocking that using public transportation regularly is much more friendly to the environment than driving around from point A to point B."

The State of New Orleans: An Update
Amy Liu and Nigel Holmes
The New York Times
Aug. 28, 2007
"Two years after Hurricane Katrina toppled New Orleans’s levee system, leaving more than half the city under water, there are signs of revival... [but]..."

A Bright and Welcome Prospect for Light Rail
Paul M. Weyrich
Free Congress Foundation Commentary
Aug. 1, 2007

Milwaukee Ranks Among Top Retirement Places
The Business Journal of Milwaukee
July 23, 2007
"...selections focus on livable community characteristics in each location including mass-transit systems so residents can drive less, expanded sidewalks to encourage walking, better health care, and a wide range of mixed use housing...."

Thrifty Travelers Opt for Buses, Trains: Survey
Reuters
June 30, 3007
"More Americans will stream into subway trains and buses when vacationing in U.S. cities this summer..."

Gas Prices Hit An All-Time High
CBS Evening News
May 20, 2007
"The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.18, according to the latest Lundberg Survey."

Cities Revisit Needs Of the Elderly
Haya El Nasser
USA TODAY
May 18, 2007
"This is the new reality for cities and towns everywhere: If they don't provide services for seniors, they will lose them."

Fed-up Drivers Begin to Look 'Outside the Box'
USA TODAY
May 18, 2007
"From forming car pools and riding bicycles to taking trains and cutting back on pleasure trips, drivers across the USA are finding creative ways to drive less."

High Prices Forcing Many to Drive Less, Downsize, Take Mass Transit
Larry Copeland
USA TODAY
May 18, 2007
"Transportation is the second-largest expenditure for U.S. households; it accounts for 18% of all annual spending, behind housing at 33%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

Drivers Cut Back — a 1st in 26 Years
Paul Overberg and Larry Copeland
USA TODAY
May 18, 2007
"The average American motorist is driving substantially fewer miles for the first time in 26 years because of high gas prices and demographic shifts, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal highway data."

Q&A: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Will Sullivan
U.S. News & World Report
April 30, 2007
"Los Angelinos now spend about four full days a year trapped in traffic, more time than residents of any other city."

Technology to Help Cities Manage Booming USA
Haya El Nasser
USA TODAY
April 25, 2007
"Commuters stuck in creeping traffic are bound to wonder: If streets and highways are this clogged when the nation has 300 million people, how will 400 million ever get around?"

Riders Crowd Public Transit Systems
Barbara Hagenbaugh
USA TODAY
March 12, 2007
"Ridership on public transportation jumped to the highest level in nearly five decades in 2006 as high gas prices and expanded bus and train service enticed people to park their cars."

Best Workplaces for Commuters Releases 2001-2005 Progress Report: "The First 5 Years"

"On June 19, 2006 EPA released the 2001-2005 Progress Report on the Best Workplaces for Commuters program. This report showcases the positive impact the program has had on greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, air pollution and traffic congestion. The Best Workplaces for Commuters program continues to grow. As of March 1, 2006, over 3 million commuters have access to commuter benefits from Best Workplaces for Commuters, employers saving more than 475 million gallons of gasoline worth nearly a billion dollars since the program was launched in 2001."

Study: Commuting by Rail Means Less Stress Than Driving
Passenger Transport
"Rail commuters in northern New Jersey who work in New York City show significantly lower levels of stress than their counterparts who drive to work, according to a recently released study."

Americans and Their Cars: Is the Romance on the Skids?
Pew Research Center
"Any nation with more passenger vehicles than licensed drivers has a pretty serious love affair with the automobile. But the romance seems to be cooling off a bit—a casualty of its own intensity."

Transit-oriented Development Will be in Demand
The Denver Business Journal
November 6, 2006
"Study projects that by 2030 some 16 million households will be living in or near transit-oriented developments compared to 6 million today."

REMARKS FOR THE HONORABLE MARY PETERS SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
RAIL-VOLUTION
CHICAGO, IL
NOVEMBER 6, 2006

How Will the USA Cope with Unprecedented Growth?
Haya El Nasser
USA Today
Oct. 27, 2006
"The fact the USA is growing faster than any other industrialized country in the world comes as no surprise..."

Save on Gas, Sightsee by Public Transportation
Michael Brein's Travel Guides
Sept. 24, 2006
"Sightseeing Simplified with Unique Travel Guide Series Underground Travel by Public Transportation Made Easy"

US in a Jam Over What to Do About Traffic
Patrik Jonsson
Staff Writer
The Christian Science Monitor
October 18, 2006
"America, it seems, is in a jam. As more and more commuters - some 134 million now - cram America's roads at rush hour, the debate over how to manage all that traffic is as tangled as Atlanta's fabled "Spaghetti Junction."

Reauthorization is Hot Topic at APTA Annual Meeting
Metro News
October 12, 2006
"Reauthorization was a hot topic at the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) Annual Meeting, attended by nearly 2,000 North American transit industry leaders."

Mass Transit Still Hot After $3 Gas
Barbara Hagenbaugh
USA TODAY
Oct. 2, 2006
"Although gas prices are plunging, many Americans appear to be continuing to let someone else do the driving."

Travelers Get More Mass Transit Options to Airports
Gary Stoller
USA TODAY
Sept. 27, 2006
"New mass transit options are making it easier for travelers to commute to airports."

Getting More Mileage Out of Mass Transit
Tony Hartzel
The Dallas Morning News
Sept. 21, 2006
"Locally and nationally, more people are riding buses and trains this year than in the past..."

Fifteen Things You Need to Know About SAFETEA-LU
Janna Starcic
Senior Editor
METRO Magazine
March 2006
SAFETEA-LU provides a record level of transit investment of $52.6 billion over six years, a nearly 50% increase from TEA 21

Gas Prices Spur Mass Transit Use
CBS News January 18, 2006
"'When it spikes [gas prices], that gets people's attention,' said Mantill Williams, AAA spokesman"