The Site / The Fight

by Yonah Freemark
yfreemark (at) thetransportpolitic (dot) com

  • Le progrès ne vaut que s'il est partagé par tous.

Archives

Sao Paulo Tries New Station Seats… for the Obese

The chairs are twice as wide as normal and are designed to encourage the less-than-fit to ride the subway.

The London Telegraph reports that Sao Paulo has begun installing special seats in subway stations designed to encourage the city’s most overweight to use the transit system. Brazil’s largest city has a 40-mile subway system that carries more than 3 million people daily.

Brazil, like most advanced countries, is suffering from an obesity epidemic, and the new seats are part of a government initiative to improve the lives of those who can’t fit comfortably in typical chairs. The seats’ very different shape and identifiable

Continue reading this post »

Final Applications Submitted for Phase I of High-Speed Rail Stimulus Dollars

Applications are for projects that are ready-to-go; another round of applications is due in October.

UPDATE: I’ve published a hard-hitting (numbers-based) rebuke to Ed Glaeser on the Infrastructurist tonight. Check it out.

After submitting pre-applications in July for more than $100 billion of high-speed rail projects, states got down to business over the past month, refining and improving their plans. Now, several states have submitted final, far smaller, proposals for construction that could begin right away.

Unlike the wild deluge of applications last month, capped by California’s request for more than $20 billion — the stimulus only provides $8 billion for the program in

Continue reading this post »

Governor Bobby Jindal, Flip-Flopper Extraordinaire

After criticizing high-speed rail, Louisiana’s governor submitted a preliminary application for federal funds. Now, after being criticized for his hypocrisy, Bobby Jindal changes his mind once again.

Just last month, Louisiana informed the Federal Railroad Administration that it would request funds for a $300 million high-speed link between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The final application was due today — but Mr. Jindal has now decided not to submit it, citing concerns that the line would not be self-sustaining. Considering the general attitude of the American right, however, it seems reasonable to suggest that the governor’s decision was motivated more by an

Continue reading this post »

Still in Planning, Ambitious Honolulu Rail Transit Project May be in Financial Trouble

Tax revenues fall short in paying for 20-mile system, connecting downtown with Kapolei.

Yesterday, the Honolulu Advertiser revealed that in May the city had reviewed the costs of its planned transit system and realized that revenues over a 13-year period would be short $500 million compared to previous estimates. The news came as a bombshell for proponents of the rail line, who have worked hard in recent months to defend the credibility of the project. It gives additional ammunition to opponents who still hope to prevent the project’s construction, and were able to harp on the city’s secrecy as evidence of corruption.

Continue reading this post »

Related Posts with Thumbnails

@ttpolitic

Connect

Upcoming Transit Line Openings: 2012

Early
  • ▶ Sacramento Green Line to the River District LRT
  • ▶ Rhode Island Wickford Junction Extension CR
  • ▶ Los Angeles Expo Line Phase 1A LRT
February
  • ▶ Las Vegas Sahara Corridor BRT
March
  • ▶ Pittsburgh North Shore Connector LRT
Spring
  • ▶ Boston Fitchburg Line Extension CR
  • ▶ Miami Airport Link Metro
  • ▶ Seattle Sounder Lakewood Extension CR
June
  • ▶ New Orleans Loyola/UPT Streetcar
July
  • ▶ Dallas Orange Line Phase II LRT
Summer
  • ▶ Los Angeles Orange Line Canoga Extension BRT
  • ▶ Los Angeles El Monte Transit Center
  • ▶ New York Nostrand/Rogers BRT
  • ▶ San Antonio Via Primo BRT
September
  • ▶ Portland Streetcar Loop
Fall
  • ▶ Calgary Northeast Line Extension LRT
  • ▶ Chicago Jeffery Corridor BRT
  • ▶ Seattle RapidRide C & D Lines BRT
  • ▶ Twin Cities Cedar Avenue BRT
December
  • ▶ Dallas Blue Line Extension LRT
  • ▶ Dallas Orange Line Phase II LRT
  • ▶ Montréal Train de l'Est CR

Network

rss feed
comments feed
twitter feed
email update