Making the Cut
Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit
I don’t know about you, but for me news tends to be cyclical. It’s probably the nature of media with someone breaking a story and everyone else running to find a similar story in their neck of the woods. That being the case, you tend to see a bunch of similar stories float to the surface (It’s an epidemic!) and then suddenly fade away as something else catches the public’s eye.
Last year seemed to be the year of the strike. Granted, when the transit system in NYC goes on strike, everyone pays attention — and for good reason. But all of the sudden it seemed as if everyone was going on strike. New York and Denver led the way, but every strike seemed to get national coverage.
This year the big story looks to be funding issues. Sure, funding issues are an omnipresent issue for public transit agencies, but so far this year we’ve heard of severe budget deficits looming for agencies in Newark, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Chicago among other places.
What has happened to our transit funding? We all know that the government works slowly, it’s the nature of the beast. Even though SAFETEA-LU was passed, the money authorized it still had to filter down through several layers of bureaucracy before it would be seen by local agencies. But now it seems that agencies all over the country are checking out their bank accounts and finding out they’re about to bounce a few checks.
Service cuts and fare increases are being considered by all of these agencies as last ditch efforts to prevent them from shutting down. Are we at a crossroads as an industry where we need to reduce service? Has the general populace turned against public transit? Is the sky falling?
Well, the answer to most of these questions is no. (Still not sure about that last one…) The industry isn’t collapsing in upon itself. APTA ridership numbers show that public transit is up more in recent years. And with gas prices on the rise again, the desire for more transit will increase as well. So is this all the media then? No. The stories are out there, even if they are getting more coverage than they may normally get.
What it is time for is the industry to start looking for new revenue streams. Sure, sales taxes have been and are being used, but maybe more agencies need to look into them and other taxes. How about public/private partnerships? I hear the oil companies are doing real well these days, it may seem against their nature to fund public transit, but who knows.
What I do know is that while it may seem bleak at times with stories of fund shortages and pending service cuts dominating the airwaves, the industry is still strong. It will survive and it will get bigger and better — it has too.
Thanks for reading the MT Position, our weekly blog updated every Thursday!
February 15th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
It is indeed ironic that when Federal Transit Assistance is growing faster than the rate of inflation and is one of the few Federal discretionary programs that is growing, and ridership is up, that some systems are facing draconian cuts. That is because operating funds are a state and local affair and there is absolutely no consistency of support nationally. Also at any level of government operating funds are not sexy – there are fears by some policymakers that the money is going into a black hole and there are no ribbon cuttings for running buses and trains day in and day out.
I propose that as part of SAFETEA-LU reauthorization the issue of transit operating be tackled head on. I am not proposing a return to Federal Operating funds or increasing the flexibility of existing funds (beyond the 100 bus coalition plan), although everything should be on the table – I am suggesting at least stronger incentives for state and local support of public transportation operations. And even transit unfriendly regions would take notice if it were not just incentives tied to transit funding (some regions might forgo their federal transit money) but tie all surface transportation funds to higher levels of support for public transportation operations.
February 25th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
If a former head of CIA; a CEO of an international energy project financing bank & a member of the Council For Foreign Relations; and a reputable member of Congress who has made repeated well substantiated presentations with regard to Peaking Oil are to be believed, we are closing in on a transportation emergency. These individuals are James R. Woolsey; Matthew Simmons; and Rep. Dr. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MA), respectively. Google them for details.
In WWII we had an opportunity to fall back to a large residual, if neglected, network of railways: branchlines, street & interurban electric railway plant that helped carry the war traffic + keep the homeland mobile. No such fallback now, when fuel allocation/gas rationing gets in our face. I state this as inevitable, taking the position stated by the three gentlemen above very seriously.
Additional threat to homeland not existing in the 1940’s is ability of adversaries to render dysfunctional our electronic computer systems with Electromagnetic Pulse generators, either by nuclear detonation in outer space, or more likely, Tesla coil affairs in individual automobiles would work just fine. US railway systems are presently being protected by “Faraday Cages” around critical solid state chips and circuitry. We have a long way to go to harden the transportation systems.
It is here suggested that we work with National Guard, Shortline Rail Association, and the Departments of Transportation in all the States and Counties as well: to inventory all dormant rail corridor, including feasible downtown warehouse locations for local rail/delivery trucking interface. Forgive the railway orientation here- more than adequate constituency is at hand for the bus methodology.
The rail network must be vastly expanded in capacity & reach, linked as much as possible to stand-alone renewable energy source, grid connected where appropriate. But again, the grid-connected energy dedicated for rail must be engineered to instantly disconnect in grid failure so the rails keep running. Hopefully we will have at least a decade or so to enable these infrastructure installations; I believe & fear greatly that we do not.
What is at hand is a very focused system of trunk lines, diesel powered and deliberately maintained at a very tight equilibrium between traffic demands & capacity. Somehow we need to add on the peripheral lines that can bring us back to the more rail-focused transportation methodology & neigborhood connectivityof the first 150+ years of the rail system, in America. One formula will include public-owned rights-of-way to enable contract operators to work exempt from taxation on marginal corridors. Re-establishing railway operating battalions in all the State National Guard organizations is requisite, to establish cadre of trained individuals that can be utilized near home, or dispatched to national disaster regions, etc.
Savvy responsibles will get the idea. A notable statutory precedent is found in the US Congress “Post Roads Act” of July 10, 1838, designating ALL Railroads as part of a network; Guarantors of Commercial & Societal Cohesion… We will sorely need just this sort of operating mindset and infrastructure when the crises come!
The capitalization must come from the full panorama of sources, public & private. The Defense budget can minimally finance the National Guard role (and a fleet of perishables & maintenance cars for training & emergencey standby). The corridor & equipment capital comes from transportation fuel tax, special local, state & federal appropriations, developer’s fees, the list is long and must be! Neighborhood contactors are at the bottom of the food chain, but most important because they can help with the very localised victuals/necessities of life warehousing & distribution centers at the end of the lines…
Yes, I know this is a “Transit” column, but it has become somewhat of a curious thing, the way the transit officials of the USA have so much disregarded the once common requisite transit infrastructure partnership with rail freight carriage since 1950 or so….
Come, let us reason together!
April 19th, 2007 at 1:58 am
Interesting theme have mentioned. With pleasure I shall support.
And in general, good blog