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Few things are as unappealing to me as the prospect of riding across Dallas on a bus
or train, accompanied by a variety of nasty, smelly strangers, many of whom should be
(or have been) in prison. Mass transit is one of
many supposedly good ideas that
may not be good at all. Left-wing politicians love the idea of mass transit, because
it means greater control of our everyday lives and another way to raise money. Information about Amtrak -- all of it unfavorable -- is available here. Editorial comment: The one percent mass-transit sales tax in Dallas generates more than enough money to keep the trains and buses running, even if they're nearly empty, which they often are. I believe the primary purpose of the non-zero price of an all-day train ticket is to keep homeless people from living on the trains. The DART system has been built -- as far as I can tell, it isn't expanding. Every time there is a fare increase, it is just another tax increase to raise money for some other project. In this section there is an emphasis on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system, just because that is the system with which I am most familiar. DART operates in a political climate that necessitates awarding "contracts to disadvantaged, minority and women-owned business enterprises." Some of the rapid transit executives have really nice offices, and there is a lot of money being spent on decorating the train stations. DART Rail: 10 Years and Growing. DART Rail ... [is] laying the groundwork for a $2.4 billion expansion that will more than double its size to just over 90 miles. [Do the math. That's about a thousand dollars per foot of track.] City Hall hears accusations of DART racial hiring. Allegations of hiring discrimination at the DART transit agency have now spilled over to Dallas City Hall. Community leaders, frustrated over the lack of action by DART officials are now asking Dallas City council members to investigate. Former DART employee Rebecca Williams is among at least five people who have filed federal discrimination complaints against their old bosses. Williams says she was fired after complaining about being ordered to hire Hispanics underqualified for the job. Runaway Train to Higher Taxes. [At the end of 2007] the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority announced that it would be $1 billion short of what is needed to meet existing building obligations. Assuming local taxpayers are hip to the notion of paying more on every purchase so they can cruise around — or subsidize others cruising around — in trains, it might be wise to consider how well this expanded rail network can be sustained in the future. Taxpayers should ask whether the apparently cash-strapped rail system fleecing them today will get better as it gets bigger. US Public Transport Operating Cost per Passenger Mile: Dallas has one of the least cost-effective public transportation systems at 78.9 cents per passenger mile. The recently opened DFW Airport Skylink train system cost $880 million to construct, making it perhaps the most costly mass transit system ever, in dollars per mile of track. Dallas has High Downtown Vacancies Despite Light Rail. The latest available data (9/1999) shows downtown Dallas to be among only four downtown areas with vacancy rates above 20 percent, at 32.0 percent, and second worst only to Oklahoma City. This situation has not improved since light rail was opened (June 1997). DART Gets $700 Million Federal Grant but Doesn't Go to Love Field. While discussing the exercise of the right of eminent domain regarding a DART station near Love Field, some Dallas City Council members raised an interesting question. Why is DART not going directly to the airport? It appears as though the ball was dropped in 2004 when it was learned that the $700 million grant to fund DART would be in jeopardy if the tunnel would be allowed. The 1999 Texas Transit Opportunity Analysis: Dallas Area Rapid Transit. The 1983 campaign for the DART tax referendum made impressive claims to the voters. Voters were told that DART trains were needed to reduce traffic congestion, and that within 25 years: • 160 miles (14 routes) of rail would be built, including a downtown subway. All of this was to be built for $17.8 million per mile. • 500,000 daily riders would be carried on DART buses and trains. • Over 50 percent of downtown commuters would ride DART services. As has become typical in transit, the results fell far short of the promises. … Voters were also told that without DART, Dallas traffic congestion would soon reach Houston levels and that traffic congestion would get increasingly worse without DART. In fact, with DART, traffic congestion in Dallas now equals that of Houston. … Because of its slow operating speed, DART's light rail provides no time savings relative to automobiles. Moreover, time savings with respect to buses are limited by the fact that light rail operates at virtually the same speed as DART's buses. New Urban Rail Not Justified. Despite claims to the contrary, light rail is less safe than buses and autos, and more energy intensive. And commuting by rail is generally slower than by express bus or auto. So what is driving the rush to rail? The federal government has made billions of dollars available. Local and state governments have sought the money simply because it is there. The competition would be no less fierce if Congress had earmarked funding to build monoliths. And, like tax-supported stadiums and convention centers, rail is considered to be a prerequisite to world class city status. Bridge To Our Wallets. A 12-member commission created by Congress in 2005 issued its report Tuesday [1/15/2008], recommending that the current 18.4 cents per gallon tax be hiked over a five-year period by 5 to 8 cents each year. After that, the tax would be indexed to inflation. The goal is to repair and extend the highway infrastructure, expand public transit, boost railway transportation and increase rural access. Public transit and railways? Aren't revenues from the federal fuel tax restricted to financing our roads and highways? Certainly motorists should pay for the roads they use. But it is patently unfair for them to subsidize users of public transportation and rail travelers. Transit Violence: Violent acts, as well as the fear of violence, have a tremendous effect on transit systems. The most immediate, and irreversible effect is the physical, emotional and financial suffering of the victims and their families. But also detrimental to public transit are the resulting lost workdays, revenue decreases, equipment damages and negative impact on the public's decision to use mass transportation services. The Mass Transit Panacea and Other Fallacies About Energy. The received wisdom on this topic is easily stated: 1. It is self-evident that public transportation is vastly more energy-efficient than automobiles; 2. It is self-evident that investing money to improve transit facilities will attract many more passengers. Therefore, the national energy policy ought to give major attention to building new transit systems and revitalizing old ones. Unfortunately, both of these "self-evident" premises turn out to be false. Mass Transit: Separating Delusion from Reality. The diversion of federal road user fees to non-highway projects began in 1982; since that time, annual transit expenditures have doubled, after adjusting for inflation. Fair value would have been for transit ridership to double. It hasn't even come close. ... The massive diversion of highway money to transit did not reduce traffic congestion or road use. In every one of the nation's urban areas with a population of more than one million (where more than 90 percent of transit ridership occurs), road use increased per capita and by no less than one-third. Even worse, peak-period traffic congestion rose by 250 percent. Liberalism 101: Transit is one of the greatest failure stories in America, on par with the welfare system prior to the reforms of 1996. Even as subsidies have skyrocketed, transit's share of the transportation market has been steadily diminishing for decades. By any measure, productivity in transit has been declining while the rest of the economy has become much more efficient. And yet, like welfare before it, transit (government-run transportation) is one of the most cherished programs of the left. If you ever feel the need to be compared to Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, suggest the elimination of government-run transportation systems. Urban Rail: Uses and Misuses. Virtually no traffic congestion reduction has occurred as a result of building new urban rail systems. Virtually any public benefit that has been achieved through urban rail could have been achieved for considerably less by other strategies. … There are simply not a sufficient number of people going to the same place at the same time to justify urban rail. As a result, it is typically less expensive to provide a new car for each new rider than to build an urban rail system. Silent Rage: "This is the quiet car!" The voice belonged to a woman glaring at my kids, ages 5 and 2, standing (quietly, I should add) next to the door. I ignored her and focused on snagging an empty spot on a packed Amtrak train — a miracle the day before Christmas — for our nuclear family with big luggage. (Why Amtrak can't figure out how to assign seats on its "reserved trains" like every major European rail company will have to be left for another day.) In any case, we weren't about to give ours up. The pitch went up a notch: "This is the QUIET car!!" "So be quiet." Ah, my wife to the rescue. Chicago Mayor Puts Brakes on 'Super Station' Project for Now. To build the station as originally planned, total spending would be about $320 million, more than $100 million over budget, according to city officials. Skeptics say the estimate of an additional $100 million may be low, noting the city has repeatedly underestimated costs on major projects ranging from football stadium renovations to park construction. The setback comes as no surprise to the many transportation experts and Chicago political observers who predicted the express train service would never come to fruition. Chatsworth crash's roots lie 20 years in Metrolink's past. The commuter line's founders gambled that the line could operate without an automatic braking system, interviews with safety experts and documents show. How to Unclog the Nation's Highways — Transit is not the Answer. Most transportation planners believe "we can't build our way out of congestion." The problem, they think, is too much driving, and their solution is to pour money into transit rather than roads. Yet transit accounts for only about 2 percent of urban travel, and its share continues to decline. High gas prices lead to surge in mass transit. It's standing-room-only on many commuter buses from Washington's suburbs. Rail systems from Boston to Los Angeles are begging passengers to shift their travel to non-peak hours. And some seats have been removed from San Francisco's subway cars to allow more people to cram in. Around the country, high gas prices are helping to push more people to leave their cars at home and crowd onto trains, buses and subways. MBTA: Be careful, crime is up on Boston subways. Pickpockets and other thieves coveting small, expensive carry-around electronic devices like iPods helped drive up crime on the Blue Line and other Boston area subway lines last year. Incidents in the category of larceny or theft increased from 506 to 699. ... Aggravated assaults dropped from 112 to 103, while robberies rose slightly, 183 to 207. Most mass transit riders in 50 years: Good news or bad? Did you know that there were more people using mass transit during the '40's and early '50's than there are today? I most certainly did not. This is an astonishing revelation when you think about it. First of all, the population of the country was barely half what it is today — and yet more people rode mass transit. Moreover, during the last 50 years we've poured literally hundreds of billions of dollars into the most expensive, glitzy, ambitious mass transit projects in history. Decline in ridership costs commuter rail. The Virginia Railway Express, after years of strong growth, has suffered about a two percent drop in daily ridership that cost the commuter railway more than $1 million in operating revenue. The Threat to the Car: No device is more in keeping with the American spirit than the automobile. Privately owned cars and trucks allow us to go where we want, when want. They are freedom machines. Still, some liberals would like to use government to force Americans out of their cars. They believe in socialized transportation, not free-market transportation. … In a socialist transportation system, the government takes the taxpayers' money and purchases vehicles — often buses or trains — for itself or a government-funded agency. Where and when these vehicles go is determined by the government. Massive WTC Cost Overruns Look 'Grim'. At least one project, the much-heralded but costly Santiago Calatrava-designed transit center, may not get built. The futuristic $2.2 billion transit hub, which is two years behind schedule, was $1 billion over budget when the project's cost was capped at $2.5 billion recently. California High Speed Rail: At What Sacrifice? The system, which would connect Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, and areas in between, would require as a down payment a $10 billion bond issue that voters will consider in November. The California High Speed Rail Authority admits the system could cost much more — $37 billion — but the truth is likely to be more like $75 billion. High-Speed Rail Drives Obama's Transportation Agenda. The Northern Lights Express is little more than an idea — a proposal for a 110-mph passenger train between Minneapolis and Duluth, Minn., that has crept along in fits and starts for years. But the slow ride may soon be over. The project is one of dozens nationwide that are likely to benefit from President Obama's initiative to fund high-speed and intercity passenger rail programs ... . High-speed trains to NYC could be on the fast track. You can be excused for thinking high-speed rail is merely the region's latest pipe dream. Years-long delays and scrapped plans on projects from Bass Pro Shops and the Peace Bridge to Adelphia and the Statler Hotel have conditioned people to roll their eyes and lower expectations. However, there are several reasons why high-speed rail across Western and upstate New York to Albany and New York City could become a reality. Chicago-to-Detroit high-speed rail 'positioned' to receive stimulus funds. The Obama administration said Friday [3/20/2009] that a Chicago-to-Detroit high-speed rail plan is "well positioned" to receive federal stimulus funding, according to a state lawmaker. Michigan House Speaker Pro Tem Pam Byrnes said the description came from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood during a day of meetings at the White House on the stimulus plan. Obama Says High-Speed Rail Will Foster Energy Independence. President Barack Obama called Thursday for the country to move swiftly to a system of high-speed rail travel, saying it will relieve congestion, help clean the air and save on energy. Metro Has A Lesson For Unruly Students. When the last bell rings, thousands of District schoolchildren make their way to the nearest Metro train — their school bus on rails — where many let loose a day's worth of bottled-up angst, energy and emotion. All that the tens of thousands of other riders want, in most instances, is a quiet trip home. Metro takes the omnibus. The political football that is the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (or Metro) is now loose in a Senate spending rumble. The Advance America's Priorities Act, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's inaptly named omnibus bill for earmarks and pet projects, contains $1.5 billion in federal funding for Metro. D.C. Metro Tickets and Fare Cards Now Bear Image of Obama. The Washington, D.C., Metro system is now selling paper tickets and plastic "SmarTrip" fare cards that bear the smiling image of President-elect Barack Obama. ... President George W. Bush's face was not put on the Metro fare card in 2001 because his inauguration did not generate enough positive public attention, Angela Gates, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Metro, told CNSNews.com. The Editor says... I guess it depends of what the meaning of the word "positive" is. Detroit's five most violent bus routes: Death threats, beatings and even stabbings are not uncommon on at least five of the city's bus routes, fueling a mix of fear and anger among drivers and riders who are clamoring for a police presence. Since the start of 2006, the first full year after Detroit cops stopped policing the buses, more than 50 people have been assaulted — five of them stabbed, according to drivers' reports obtained by The Detroit News. Girl involved in bus attack ordered to juvenile jail. The 15-year-old Robert Poole Middle School student whom prosecutors accused of sparking an attack on a city bus passenger in December was sentenced Wednesday to a juvenile jail until she turns 21 or the judge releases her. Naked man hijacks bus. A naked man was arrested Tuesday morning after hijacking a Citizens Area Transit bus. Las Vegas police said the man, 35-year-old Charles P. Sell, … climbed onto the back of a moving CAT bus traveling east on Washington, broke one of the back windows with his fists, and climbed in. One sneeze, 150 colds for commuters. Tissues at the ready. A single sneeze in a busy area can end up infecting 150 people with a cold in just five minutes, new research suggests. An analysis of the germs unleashed from a single commuter's sneeze showed that within minutes they are being passed on via escalator handrails or seats on trains and underground carriages. At the busiest stations, one sneeze not smothered by a tissue or handkerchief will provide enough germs to infect another 150 commuters. Washington Metro farecard fraud: Allegedly the accused would buy a paper farecard; split the ¼"-wide magnetic strip into four ribbons and glue each atop a blank card. Then they'd trade in the card by adding some small cash value, getting a new card in return. Watch Those Calories, City Tells Subway Riders. These days, the New York City subways seem to be filled with advertisements carrying prominent, unmissable public-service messages: Watch out for second-hand smoke. Call 311 if you see a homeless person who needs help. Be on the lookout for signs of child abuse. Don't harass women. Now the authorities have a new message for subway riders: Watch those calories. Standing room only plan for New York subway. In London seasoned Tube travellers jostle for the best place to stand on the platform to be first on to an overcrowded train. In Tokyo they employ packers — men in white gloves who stuff commuters into carriages. Now New Yorkers are to be subjected to the cleverest scheme yet designed to cram more commuters — known in the US as straphangers — on to the groaning subway system. The city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plans to lock the flip-down seats in almost half of the carriages during rush hour to prevent passengers from sitting down. The MTA must protect subway riders. In dismissing a lawsuit by a rape victim, Judge Kevin Kerrigan may have been technically correct in finding that transit workers did not violate procedures. But this does not negate that flawed procedures allowed this crime to take place. Man beheaded on Greyhound bus. A 40-year-old man is expected to be formally charged today [8/1/2008] after allegedly repeatedly stabbing, decapitating and then trying to eat parts of a young man who was sleeping next to him as they rode in the back of a Greyhound bus together. … Witnesses said the attacker, who police believe is not from Manitoba, also waved the man's severed head around after cutting it from his body.  Greyhound Scraps Ads After Beheading. Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of its passengers was accused of beheading and cannibalizing another traveler. Greyhound Kills 'Bus Rage' Campaign Following Beheading. If you're a bus company with an ad campaign that touts the fact nobody's ever heard of "bus rage" and them some freak goes and beheads a dude on the bus, you're quite likely to pull the campaign which is exactly what Greyhound did in light of last week's bus murder. Update: Vince Li found not criminally responsible for beheading on Greyhound bus. A man who believed he was following God's orders when he stabbed and beheaded a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba has been found not criminally responsible. Justice John Scurfield said Vince Li's attack on Tim McLean last summer was "grotesque" and "barbaric" but "strongly suggestive of a mental disorder." ANOTHER crazy man with a knife! Man threatens beheading on bus. A harrowing bus ride from Fort McMurray is over for two brothers who feared they were going to be victims of a knife-wielding man in a manner similar to a gruesome attack last month in Manitoba. Threatened riders want their money back. A man who took a nerve-racking bus trip where he and his brother were threatened by a man with a knife is considering taking the bus company to court. Josh MacDougall and his brother Andrew were taken off a Greyhound bus Monday [8/18/2008] after a man allegedly threatened to cut their eyes out and behead them. The man was also harassing other passengers. This sounds a lot like 'bus rage' ... Woman beaten on bus. As Sarah Kreager, 26, tried to sit down on a Baltimore City bus Tuesday, police say, a middle-schooler told her she couldn't. When she attempted to take another seat, a middle-schooler wouldn't let her. Finally, according to police, Kreager just sat down. She was "immediately attacked" by nine students — three females and six males — from Robert Poole Middle School. … The suspects in the incident are black. The victim is white, according to the police report. Update: Hate crime charges rejected. Prosecutors in Baltimore have decided not to charge the nine middle school students accused in the beating of a 26-year-old woman on a city bus with a hate crime as a judge postponed their trial yesterday until Jan. 31. More 'bus rage' ... Surveillance Photos Released In Bus Attack. Maryland Transit Administration officials are investigating a second reported assault on a bus in the last week. Meanwhile, surveillance photos have been released and the bus driver has been taken off the road. Patrick Green and Robert Rothe told WBAL TV 11 News that they were antagonized and attacked after boarding the No. 64 bus late Monday night in south Baltimore. The Editor says... If the colors were reversed, these would be called hate crimes and Al Sharpton would be all over it. But as it is, it's just another miserable day on the stinkin' city bus. Pittsburgh: Ineptitude Has Become a Hallmark of the Port Authority. The West Busway cost $260 million to build. At an 8 percent annual opportunity cost of the capital, the yearly capital cost is $20.8 million. Under PAT's projections, the busway will carry an average 11,500 riders or 5,750 roundtrips per weekday through the first 10 years of operation — about 1,600,000 roundtrips per year. That means it is costing taxpayers $13 per day for each commuter using the busway. And since the farebox recovers less than half the operating cost of bus service, the total daily subsidy per commuter is over $16. Philadelphia: Subway attack was to amuse, police say. The four teenagers who ambushed Sean Patrick Conroy in a subway concourse Wednesday [3/26/2008] chose their victim at random and attacked him for no other purpose than to amuse themselves, police said yesterday. … Police yesterday discounted robbery as a motive, and said the youths apparently launched the attack on a lark. The Editor says... If the victim had been black and the assailants had been white, the press would be having a "hate crime" field day. Man dead after beating on Center City SEPTA platform. A 36-year-old man died after being severely beaten by a gang of youths inside the SEPTA concourse near City Hall this afternoon, police said. One youth was taken into custody and police were still looking for three juveniles, possibly four, who fled the scene. Police: Subway attack was random. In a chilling confession in the murder of 36-year-old Sean Patrick Conroy, 16-year-old Kinta Stanton allegedly tells police that he and his friends went out randomly looking for somebody to beat up just for kicks. Philadelphia again: Subway Attack by Allah-shouting Assailant Caught on Tape. Police are asking the public for help in capturing a hammer-wielding attacker, who seemed to assault his prey for no apparent reason. On Monday night [9/8/2008], police released the video of the attack, in the hopes that someone can identify the man. Subway attack caught on tape. "According to the victim, the male continued to assault him and tried to throw him into the track area," said Det. Kenneth Roach of the Philadelphia Police Dept. Taylor told Action News last week that all throughout the attack, the man kept chanting something, and he distinctly recalled the word "Allah." Police were stunned that some 20 passengers onboard the train scattered, and did nothing to stop the attack. Police Near Arrest In SEPTA Hammer Attack. The attack caught on tape sent shivers down the spine of every SEPTA rider. Philadelphia police think they know who started hitting an unsuspecting subway passenger with a hammer last week. London's Sweaty, Squashed Underground Riders Balk at $7 Fares. Deran Garabedian is so fed up with the London Underground's erratic service that he'd rather walk 30 minutes to work. He's incensed that fares are going up as much as a third next year. … The cheapest cash fare in central London will rise to 4 pounds ($7.45) on Jan. 1, the third straight increase exceeding the inflation rate. It compares with cash fares of $2 in New York, 1 euro ($1.27) in Berlin and 160 yen ($1.36) in Tokyo. Serial Subway Groper Arrested Once Again. About two weeks after he was released from prison, Freddie Johnson boarded a crowded subway train in Manhattan and illegally rubbed up against a woman, authorities said. It is a fairly common crime on subways in New York. But this was no common criminal. Johnson has been arrested a staggering 53 times — the majority for groping women on the subway, police and prosecutors said. Women-only subway cars in 2008. The subway corporations serving South Korea's capital will introduce women-only cars next year to make rides more comfortable and free of groping male hands, a subway official said on Wednesday [10/30/2007]. "Sexual crimes happen frequently when the cars are packed and people are pressed against each other," the subway official said. The Editor says... When that takes effect, pity the female who -- for whatever reason -- rides the non-segregated train. Mexico City Rolls Out Women-Only Buses. Groping and verbal harassment is an exasperating reality for women using public transportation in this sprawling capital, where 22 million passengers cram onto subways and buses each day. Some men treat women so badly that the subway system has long had ladies-only cars during rush hour, with police segregating the sexes on the platforms. The Editor says... Does this have any relevance to American mass transit? Unfortunately, yes. Experience has shown that Mexicans bring various aspects of their culture with them when they come to the U.S. Who's Riding the Manchester Airport Bus? No One. The city buses that travel to the airport are nearly empty, a symptom of an inefficient system of bus routes that critics say needs to be reshaped in order to improve efficiency, convenience and ridership. In England... Muslim bus driver halts bus to pray. A Muslim bus driver told stunned passengers to get off so he could pray. The white Islamic convert rolled out his prayer mat in the aisle and knelt on the floor facing Mecca. Passengers watched in amazement as he held out his palms towards the sky, bowed his head and began to chant. … After a few minutes the driver calmly got up, opened the doors and asked everyone back on board. We can't stop the train because our GPS is broken. Passengers on a Southern [England] service from East Croydon were stunned when they were told that their stopping train would skip six stations and go direct to the end of the line in Caterham, Surrey. When they got there the driver said the reason was that the train had lost its satellite link. Paid for not taking the car to work. Amgen spends slightly more than $1 million per year encouraging the 800 employees at its Interbay campus and 200 in Bothell to bike, car pool, take the bus or share a van. That averages $1,000 per employee. San Francisco: BART Transbay speedup on hold. After pumping $80 million into the project, BART is poised to scrap its long-planned automated train-control system that was envisioned to move more cars through the Transbay Tube during rush hour, officials announced Friday [6/16/2006]. BART study considers charging more in rush hour. Bay Area Rapid Transit officials are looking at charging more to use trains during peak hours to get riders to travel at other times. BART has initiated a study that also considers increasing fees for parking in BART lots and using certain stations during rush hour to reduce congestion. Richardson contributors have rail project interests. Contracting and development executives with a financial stake in the New Mexico Rail Runner have contributed thousands of dollars to Governor Richardson's presidential campaign. They've also provided Richardson with use of corporate airplanes. The $400 million commuter rail system has been pushed by Richardson. Power outages hit NYC subway. Searing heat wreaked havoc on travel plans for New Yorkers as power outages shut parts of LaGuardia International Airport and the city's subway system during the morning rush hour. NYC Subways Adding Dogs, Armed Officers. Teams of police officers equipped with submachine guns and bomb-sniffing dogs have become a part of the landscape of post-Sept. 11 New York, patrolling around Wall Street and such landmarks as the Empire State building. Similar squads are set to begin daily patrols of the busiest sections of the city subways this month, in what officials describe as a first for a U.S. mass transit system. Machine Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway. The NYPD is pulling out all the stops to beef up safety of the subways. On Thursday it launched a new anti-terror effort called "Operation Torch," but the cost of the program is raising some eyebrows. The NYPD's new firepower consists of cops with Mp5 submachine guns, rifles, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs. New Operation to Put Heavily Armed Officers in Subways. In the first counterterrorism strategy of its kind in the nation, roving teams of New York City police officers armed with automatic rifles and accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs will patrol the city's subway system daily, beginning next month, officials said on Friday [2/1/2008]. Under a tactical plan called Operation Torch, the officers will board trains and patrol platforms…. The Editor says... The subways must be really dangerous if the cops carry machine guns. What's next, fixed bayonets? Seized on a bus: a baseball bat, six knives and two screwdrivers. A double-decker bus was commandeered by police to prevent a planned gang fight that would almost certainly have resulted in death, Scotland Yard said yesterday [5/19/2008]. Officers in Deptford, South London, arrested 24 teenagers aged between 14 and 18 and seized six knives, a claw hammer, a metal bar, a mallet, two wrench handles, a metal baseball bat, two screwdrivers, a corkscrew and a golf club. New "Heathrow Connect" Trains - do not want to go to Heathrow! A new electric train service has just started between Heathrow Airport and Paddington Station in West London, UK. … The one mile link between the last station on the mainline and Heathrow Airport itself is priced at six UK pounds, making it the most expensive train fare in the world for the distance. Madison Commuter Rail: Let Taxpayers Beware! How would you feel if you bought a fancy new DVD player for Christmas, only to find the next day the same store was selling another DVD player just as good — but at one-fourth the cost? … We know salesmen rip us off sometimes. But we don't expect that same sort of behavior from public servants, who are supposed to carefully manage our hard-earned tax dollars. Proposed Honolulu Rail Will Rocket Hawaii's Electricity Rates – Who Will Pay?: Nearly all modern-day rail systems are run on electricity. Now Hawaii has the highest electric rates in the country. So the question is, what is going to happen to prices, supply and demand when the rail project is finally built and increases demand on the system? Who is going to pay for the additional oil and other resources to augment the supply? Hawaii Superferry to Set Sail Dec. 1. Hawaii's new inter-island ferry, idled for weeks by protesters and court rulings, will resume daily service between Honolulu and Maui beginning Dec. 1, the company said. … Critics had argued the 350-foot catamaran could harm whales and damage the area's fragile ecology. Update: Superferry awaits signal from Kauai. The Hawaii Superferry, which hasn't sailed to Kaua'i since harbor protesters blocked its arrival in August, intends to resume trips there only if the community signals it wants the service restored, the company's new chief executive said yesterday [5/6/2008]. Where the buses run on time. Companies in Chile pay bus drivers one of two ways: either by the hour or by the passenger; paying by the passenger leads to significantly shorter delays. Give them incentives, and drivers start acting like regular people do; they take shortcuts when the traffic is bad, they take shorter meal breaks and bathroom breaks and they want to get on the road and pick up more passengers as quickly as they can. CTA: Chicago's Unsustainable Transit System Hurts Taxpayers. Anti-car environmentalist groups regularly denounce the automobile-based urban mobility system that prevails in Western Europe and North America. They say automobility is "unsustainable." But in Chicago, unsustainable urban transport bears the logo of the Chicago Transit Authority — CTA. The CTA, as we know it, is fiscally unsustainable, and proof can be found in budget crises that have plagued the system for decades. Chicago Taxes Jump $530 Million to Pay for Mass Transit. A year after Illinois lawmakers began discussing a plan to bail out the Chicago region's mass transit system, the final piece of the plan fell into place. The Chicago City Council in February enacted a real estate transfer tax increase, proceeds of which are to go to the Chicago Transit Authority. Update: New Heathrow Connect Trains – Now Can't Even Connect! The new trains while widely advertised as "Heathrow Connect" have now stopped connecting to Heathrow altogether! Passengers are now being advised to detrain at [the last] local stop and catch a bus to the Airport. Sane and Rational Government? According to the "The Committee for Even Minimally Sane and Rational Government," Austin, Texas, is the largest city in the country that does not synchronize traffic signals; the goal is to make driving unpleasant so people will support more "public transportation." Saw Maniac in Subway Horror. "I screamed for help, 'Please help, please help me,'" Steinberg said. "The Transit Authority people heard me — they just looked. They never stopped to help me, and that disturbs me more than anything else. I begged for someone to call an ambulance and get this guy off me. "He just kept on stabbing me, and stabbing me and stabbing me, and the transit employees kept on working and working and working." Update: Man Pleads Guilty In Power Saw Attack. A man who sliced into a postal worker's chest with a power saw inside a subway station while other people fled for their lives pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree assault. Tareyton Williams, 34, had been charged with attempted murder and faced up to 25 years in prison for the attack on Michael Steinberg last summer. He pleaded guilty in exchange for a sentence of 18 years in prison. Census Shows Commuters are Rejecting Transit. A failure of this magnitude should encourage Washington to re-examine the federal role in transit and determine whether the billions of dollars it takes from fuel taxes paid by motorists to subsidize transit is an effective use of federal money. Under current law, about 18 percent of these federal fuel tax revenues paid by motorists throughout the country is devoted to transit, thereby providing less than 5 percent of commuters with almost 20 percent of the money. Compounding this inequity, transit ridership is concentrated in just a handful of metropolitan areas. Train Defecator Hunted. Police are searching for a man who has been defecating on trains across the country, causing around £60,000-worth of damage. The offender has struck on at least 30 trains since August, mainly in the South East, smearing excrement inside the carriages. Woman dies mysteriously on Via train; others sick. With hundreds of passengers aboard, many believed to be foreign tourists, a VIA Rail train remained under quarantine in a small northern Ontario town Friday afternoon after a 60-year-old woman was found dead in a passenger coach and six others complained of feeling unwell with a flu-like ailment. It was unclear, however, whether the two sets of circumstances were connected. Uneasy rider raises a stink. Tossed off a city bus for refusing to change her fragrance, a local woman believes she was unfairly singled out just for trying to smell nice. Natalie Kuhn was getting on her regular bus route yesterday, the No. 137 Dalhousie, when she said she was told by the driver he was no fan of her perfume, Very Irresistible by Givenchy, and she had to get off. Driver to face punishment for kicking kissing girls off bus. A transit agency chief apologized Wednesday to two lesbian teenagers who were kicked off a bus when a passenger complained about them kissing. "Removing the girls from the bus was not consistent with our policy," said TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen. "I want to reiterate that we welcome all riders on our system." Cell Phone Ban May Follow Massachusetts Trolley Crash. The head of the Boston-area transit authority said Saturday he'll ban all train and bus operators from even carrying cell phones on board after a trolley driver told police he was texting his girlfriend before a collision Friday. About 50 people were hurt in the underground crash in downtown Boston, though none of the injuries was life-threatening. Update; slightly off topic: Texting Trolley Driver Is Transgendered Male. The Boston-area transit authority trolley driver who allegedly slammed into another train while text-messaging his girlfriend Friday was hired as a minority because of his transgendered "female-to-male" status and had three speeding tickets on his driving record in recent years, ABC News has learned. "Smart Growth" Research: As much as 20 percent of federal transportation funding goes to transit, which serves less than 2 percent of travelers. … Since transit service is so much slower than cars and is focused principally in the core and central business districts of major metropolitan areas, people who use transit because they do not have a car face limited mobility and diminished job prospects. Environmental regulations may be backfiring. State environmental regulations designed to reduce air pollution and encourage the use of public transportation by keeping parking lots closed until after rush hour may be backfiring because people sit in idling vehicles waiting for the lots to open. Cars are better for the environment than buses. Contrary to what transit advocates would have you believe, taking the bus is more energy intensive per passenger mile than taking a passenger car. The Mythical World of Transit-Oriented Development: In much of the literature regarding Transit-Oriented Development there is an explicit or implicit expectation that people will change their behavior to conform to the worldview of planners. … Steele Park was planned to discourage car ownership and use. The roads are narrow and parking is scarce. Public parking is only allowed on one side of each street in the development. The plan tried to encourage one-car families. "There is a direct relationship between personal mobility and freedom. No authoritarian leader really wants to see his people able to move about freely, associating with whom they please, with the inevitable exchange of ideas and information and the independence these freedoms bring. ... It is much easier to control people if they stay put or move about only on mass transit." |
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Document location http://www.akdart.com/enviro31.html Updated November 17, 2009. Page design by Andrew K. Dart ©2009 |