The MT Position

Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit

This year it seems like finding new and creative ways to fund transit (without, you know, funding transit) is the big story. New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg is pushing hard on one of the latest schemes to fund transit — congestion pricing.

Bloomberg holds up London as a shining example of this new funding mechanism. On the surface, it looks great. Anyone driving south of 86^th street during certain hours (between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.) has to pay a toll. For New York they are looking at tolling cars $8 and large trucks $21. This money would be used to fund the MTA and pay for some of the infrastructure the system would require.

As they say, though, the devil is in the details. Already the New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has stated that his state’s mass transit systems aren’t prepared for the surge in ridership that could be caused by the congestion pricing and that the plan could have a lot of implications.

I’m not sure anyone is listening as both Chicago and Los Angeles have begun considering congestion pricing for their downtowns. So will it work? Well according to the London’s mayor it’s excellent.

In London they have seen a 20 percent drop in congestion, fewer car accidents, an increased transit system and better air quality. Sounds pretty good, no?

The potential problem is that London, like many other European cities, is already geared towards transit and can handle a 30 percent surge in ridership after initiating a congestion pricing plan.

Reports are out recently that New York’s subways are jam-packed with riders and the increased ridership from congestion pricing could not be absorbed by them. In fact, most of the ridership would have to be put on buses. Mayor Bloomberg’s plan calls for half the money gained from the plan to go towards a purchase of more than 350 buses.

But what about NJ Transit? Are they going to see some of that money? Won’t their ridership increase dramatically as well?

Congestion pricing sounds good on the surface, but unless you have the transit system in place to get those people who stepped out of their cars to their destinations, all it is going to do is tick people off or get them to drop some extra money and keep on driving — which kind of defeats the purpose.

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Thursday.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com

Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit

Today is the second annual Dump the Pump Day. I know, last week I promised Bill Millar would be here for a guest blog, but due to a variety of things, Bill wasn’t able to do it.

Dump the Pump Day is a great example of how public transit is viewed in the media. There has been a tremendous amount of publicity for the event, but it depends on the local coverage as to how the initiative is being perceived. Just looking around for the last few days, I’ve seen everything from media outlets championing the effort to them pointing out that it did little to increase ridership numbers last year.

What people who decry Dump the Pump as not really doing anything to get more people on the buses and trains (even for that one day) don’t get is that Dump the Pump is doing what it should be doing, it’s raising awareness of transit across the country. Would APTA and the transit agencies that support Dump the Pump like to see a huge ridership surge? Sure, but realistically, the event is getting people to look more at transit, and that’s a good thing.

As I sat down to do last week’s blog I thought about summer ridership. Actually, I sat and looked out of my office window and thought how nice it would be to be outside, but that’s another topic. Summer has its own share of distractions for transit riders. With better weather (i.e. warmer) the chances of walking or riding to your destination grows. That 15-block journey to work suddenly becomes manageable when it’s warm and sunny out. Riding your bike the full length of your trip instead of part way and taking transit the other part also becomes more likely.

What Dump the Pump does is bring transit back to the forefront of people’s thoughts. Hey, we’re out here and we’re doing a pretty good job! Come check us out!!! There are even agencies offering free rides today. What better way to get people to try out your system.

If you didn’t support Dump the Pump in the past, I urge you to do it next year. (Heck, there’s still time to hop on transit this year.) Dump the Pump is a great initiative and maybe with everyone pitching in together we can get the average Joe to stop and think for one day about giving transit a try.

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Thursday.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com

Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit

I took a regional coach bus service from O’Hare airport to Milwaukee last week and there was a couple from England sitting up front and talking with the bus driver about transit here in the United States.

At one point the driver stated that the only two places in the U.S. where there is decent transit is in Chicago and New York City. Anywhere else he told the couple the transit is just poor.

Really? Is that the perception of transit here in the U.S.? That transit is only good in our largest metropolitan areas? The problem is that it probably is perceived that way by those coming to the U.S. from abroad.

There was an article we posted yesterday (No Car? It’s Hard to Get There from Here in Wisconsin) on the transit in Wisconsin and the guidebook they are using to present it. The article points out the scarcity of transit in Wisconsin and I have to say, that if I were traveling from Europe and was handed that guidebook when I stepped off the plane, my first response would be, “This is it?”

That said, the reality is that transit in the United States is far better than it is being presented to the rest of the world. Sure, we have difficulty with rural service, but rural here is nowhere near rural in Europe. The entirety of Spain is less than 200,000 square miles. Now compare that to the United States. We’ve got a lot more ground to cover in our transit (nearly 4 million square miles).

When I was in Spain last week the thing I noticed was that transit was still transit. The rail station was just a rail station, the bus stops were just bus stops and Madrid didn’t have any less congestion than Chicago or New York. It was like I had stepped into some transit Nirvana as it had been presented to me before I headed there.

We need to get the word out that while we have areas to work on, we have lots of good transit here in the U.S. to anyone coming here from abroad. New and expanded systems are popping up everyday. And for those saying we’re still a decade behind other systems, I say give us a decade and let’s see how we catch up.

Next Thursday is Dump the Pump Day. I urge everyone to do what they can to help make it a success and get the word out that transit is a necessity more now than ever before. Check back next week for a special guest Dump the Pump Day blog by APTA President Bill Millar.

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Thursday.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com