The MT Position

Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit

Labor Day weekend begins this evening for those of us unlucky enough to still be in the office today. For some the weekend has already begun as I write this. But for the commuters in the San Francisco area, the real work begins at 8 p.m. tonight when the Bay Bridge closes for a hopefully speedy facelift.

Labor Day weekend has long been seen as the end of summer and the designated weekend for family vacations. How many movies and television shows have revolved around that proverbial long-distance family vacation and the hijinks that ensue along the way?

The interesting thing about all those movies and TV shows is that the majority (if not all) of them revolve around a car trip — usually a long one with multiple family members crammed into a car. How many “family vacation” movies can you remember that revolved around travel on public transit? For that matter, how many of us can remember family vacations that revolved around travel on public transit?

I know I can tell you a dozen stories about growing up in Western Wisconsin and the various trips my family took during the summer, but all of them start with “as we packed the car, my brothers did something annoying … again.” It’s not like public transit was totally foreign to us, but we did live in the country and my dad, being a truck driver, was more than used to being behind the steering wheel for a long haul. We never thought anything about it.

If you’re out traveling this weekend, or planning to, think about taking public transit (if you aren’t already). The Bay Area officials are hoping people make that decision as they work to finish up the Bay Bridge by Tuesday morning. With any luck, commuters won’t notice a hiccup in their daily travel. Hopefully those making the big family vacation trips this weekend there will do so via public transit.

I wonder if Hollywood every thought about portraying a family vacation any other way than the “car trip.” Of course, they would probably say that the suspension of disbelief probably wouldn’t extend that far.

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com

Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit

To look at that title up there at the top of this entry, you’d think I was referring to the I-35 bridge collapse or something along those lines. Not exactly.

I am actually referring to the crumbling infrastructure of our funding system. Yeah, I know it’s crumbling more of in a symbolic sense than actually, because really, funding is still out there.

What sparked this notion was a comment on a transit blog that Amtrak’s problems could be solved if a fraction of the money spent on highways was given to the agency. The thing is, as we’ve found out with the aforementioned bridge collapse, the national highway systems need help themselves.

Our infrastructure is literally falling apart across the country. It’s not like highways are necessarily under-funded, but the continual upkeep (especially in those northern states with harsher winters) drains funds faster than they can be provided.

This is why I say our funding system is crumbling. It’s really at the heart of this problem. The U.S. is far better off than most of the world when it comes to gas prices and yet people cringe at the thought of an increased gas tax. Congestion pricing? It’s been proven that it works, yet convincing people that it will reap benefits in the U.S. has been a monumental undertaking.

So without new taxes or charging people for using roads, where is the money going to come from? The U.S. is not in desperate straits. That’s Chicken Little thinking. But it’s definitely driving down that pathway paved with good intentions.

The thing is what do we need to do to slam on the brakes and get it into reverse?

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com

Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit

It’s that time of year again. According to my unofficial calendar, we’re entering the fifth season of the year — football season! (Of course, growing up in the Midwest, my dad always said the fifth season was “construction season.”)

I’m a big pro football fan. Growing up in my family, it was root for the Packers or leave the room … either of which was easy to do up until the 90s. We didn’t get to a lot of Packer games, though. Traveling to historic Lambeau Field was a lengthy trip. But I’ve made the voyage on more than one occasion.

These days getting to the “Big Game” is getting easier. In the last week or two I’ve received emails from several agencies touting their bus and rail services to games. And it’s not just football, CATS in Charlotte, host to this year’s Annual Meeting, has regular service to NASCAR events.

And the best part about these events is not only that they can offer added money to an agency because they are extra service, but special routes like this do not have to be at standard fare prices. CATS charges $20 a pop for their rides to the NASCAR races. And the service has done remarkably well for them.

And what better way to keep inebriated fans off streets than offering them a ride home. That’s a win/win for everyone involved.

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com

Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit

In the wake of the homerun record being broken and all the talk swirling around that, I got to wondering how often do you test employees in your agency for drugs or alcohol? No, not “performance-enhancing” drugs, more like performance-impairing drugs.

I checked around and most places did the customary testing during the application process. What surprised me was that most, but not all, did random testing. Most places said they relied on their staff to observe whether or not someone was potentially under the influence of drugs or alcohol and then test them. This fell under the classification of reasonable suspicion.

Of course, it was nearly across the aboard that people were tested if they were involved in an accident. And don’t take this as meaning just operators. The policy applied to everyone from the operators to the mechanics and basically everyone else in the agency.

But what if you could test all of your operators before they went out on the road (or rails)? A recent article discussed a Nissan concept car with built-in testing sensors. The car has odor sensors on the driver’s and passenger’s seats that test alcohol levels. The gearshift tests hand perspiration when grabbed. And they even have a dash-mounted camera that measures driver awareness (be it alcohol or sleep-related).

The system sends audible alarms (bells, a voice) to the driver or tightens up the seatbelt if they look like they are not paying attention. It will also lock out the ignition if it senses the driver isn’t fit to drive.

This isn’t the only system like this in place. Volvo has a breathalyzer device built in as part of some of its seatbelts, which the driver has to blow into to start the car.

Any system like this is going to be expensive, but how useful would this be across your fleet? If it could prevent even one accident should someone get behind the wheel without being noticed, wouldn’t it be worth it?

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com

Posted by Leah Harnack
Associate Editor, Mass Transit

“We hate sprawl and despise density”

The audience laughed as Greg Nickels, Seattle’s Mayor and co-chair of The U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Task Force, made that statement at APTA’s Sustainability and Public Transportation Workshop during his opening address.

We all laughed at his wit, though we all know what we’re up against. How do we convince political leaders and communities that public transportation isn’t just beneficial, it is necessary for the future of our communities? How do we ensure transportation is integrated with land-use planning? With all of the emissions transit agencies reduce by reducing the number of cars on the road, why aren’t they receiving credits from cap-and-trade programs?

Of course some communities are further along than others.

During a later presentation, John Inglish, UTA general manager/CEO, mentioned that he remembers the “social period,” when the bus was considered for poor people or people that didn’t own a car. Past tense? As uplifting as it is to realize there are places where this is the case, it’s disheartening when I realize I’m one that lives in a city that still holds on to the “social period” belief.

One of the great things about the conference was realizing that the questions I’m often challenged with were the same questions others were asking so that we could all be better prepared to face them. I often hear from people that the “environmental concerns are exaggerated” or that “it’s just a natural process for the earth to go through temperature changes.”

Thank you to Paul Marx for raising this concern to Ron Sims, county executive, King County, Seattle, Wash. Sims, a captivating speaker whose passion and emotion left the audience standing in applause at the end, gave a simple response. His response was basically yes, the world has gone through dramatic changes before, but scientific evidence shows that it has never been at this accelerated rate and that human emissions of greenhouse gases are causing temperatures to rise so quickly. He also questioned why people wouldn’t think that reducing our emissions to have clean air wouldn’t be reason enough to demand change.

The other question I face in my community is not only how do you make people aware of the changes they could make, but how do you convince them that it is something they need to do. It was across the room from me, but I believe it was Ron Tober who brought up a similar concern asking how one gets his or her mayor to support the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Nickels responded that each community is different and you have to find the local drivers that get the community on board. He acknowledged that it is easier in some parts of the country than others, but with cities signed on to the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in every state, he maintained that it can be done.

His response really can apply to anyone; community members, politicians, family or friends. Find the local drivers and get them on board. Some are easier than others. Convincing my husband to take a bus to O’Hare so we don’t have to deal with parking and sitting in traffic isn’t a difficult battle. Convincing people in my community that the local transit agency isn’t just a “government-run organization” that wants to “waste tax-payers’ dollars” isn’t quite so simple.

I’ll keep trudging along, doing what I can, working with others that are trying to better our communities. It’s conferences such as these that inspire motivation and incite my determination.

Actually, there was one more question I had after the conference. How many other attendees took Metro’s 194 from the airport to the conference?

-Leah Harnack
leah.harnack@cygnusb2b.com