John Hennessy III,
P.E.
The National Resource Center for Human Service Transportation Coordination (NRC) offers a state-by-state list of Transportation Plans available for viewing and downloading (PDF). The NRC was established as a result of SAFETEA-LU, with the purpose of providing “states and communities with the support they need to better integrate public transportation services with the services and demands of their human services networks.”
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AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION
This report focuses on key issues critical to private investors as they consider investments or future expansion into business serving growing passenger rail markets. It highlights national and international trends, the market potential in the U.S. future funding sources, and the need for public support.
RECONNECTING AMERICA
Since 2004, regions including Denver, Portland, Salt Lake City, Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Charlotte and the Twin Cities have been planning large transit network expansions that would move forward faster than the one-line-at-a-time production schedule that in the past had been economically and politically feasible. At the same time, smaller regions have been inspired by the benefits that transit can bring to their communities and have proposed their first streetcars, light rail starter lines and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). However these places have to compete with each other for the approximately $1.6 billion annually available in the federal New Starts funding program to build out their multibillion-dollar networks.
THE OCHS CENTER FOR METROPOLITAN STUDIES
Proponents of coal-burning power plants have suggested that the counties where they are located can reap an economic windfall through construction and permanent jobs. Their case is largely based on an economic modeling process that often relies on assumptions that are established with a high degree of uncertainty. Very few communities evaluate after the fact whether actual jobs were created.
As Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan is fond of saying, the debate in Congress has changed from how much we should spend to how much spending we should cut. The April 5 release of his proposed FY 2012 Budget Resolution, subtitled “The Path to Prosperity,” testifies to this new resolve. The New York Times’ David Brooks calls Ryan’s report “the most comprehensive and most courageous budget reform proposal any of us have seen in our lifetimes.” Although the Budget Resolution nominally addresses the FY 2012 budget, its message is likely to resound and influence the debate about fiscal policy and the role of the federal government in the U.S. economy long into the future.
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U.S. PIRG
Nuclear power is among the most costly approaches to solving America’s energy problems. Per dollar of investment, clean energy solutions – such as energy efficiency and renewable resources – deliver far more energy than nuclear power. This fact has important implications for America’s energy policy. By directing resources toward the most cost-effective solutions, we can make greater progress toward a secure, reliable and safe supply of electricity to power America’s economy.
David C. Chavern is executive vice president and chief operating officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He serves as chair of the Chamber’s Management Committee and is responsible for day-to-day operations as well as long-term planning. This includes responsibility for a range of policy, financial, administrative, and legal operations. Chavern also oversees several revenue operations, including corporate partnerships and small business outreach and membership.
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PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI–ST. LOUIS
On April 6, 2010 the voters of St. Louis County approved a tax increase for transit with a surprising 63 percent majority. The 1⁄2 cent sales tax now raises about $75 million a year to maintain the bus system and expand light rail. Seventeen months earlier a similar initiative had lost with 48 percent of the vote. With the economy in a recession in 2010, unemployment high, and the anti- tax Tea Party movement rising around the nation, the huge majority for Prop A was startling. In this paper we try to explain the success of Prop A and tease out the lessons for future tax initiative campaigns and civic coalitions.
A well-intentioned but quixotic presidential vision, to make high-speed rail service available to 80 percent of Americans in 25 years, is being buffeted by a string of reversals. And, like its British counterpart, the London-to-Birmingham high speed rail line (HS2), it is the subject of an impassioned debate. Called by congressional leaders “an absolute disaster,” and a “poor investment,”, the President’s ambitious initiative is unraveling at the hands of a deficit-conscious Congress, fiscally-strapped states, reluctant private railroad companies and a skeptical public.
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AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION
Experience over the past decade, backed by several notable research studies, shows that price increases in gasoline cause related increases in public transportation ridership. Based on that information, this report provides a model that projects future increases in public transit ridership that will accompany rising gasoline prices.
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