Sound Transit System Access Policy
June 18, 2013
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The Sound Transit resolution establishing a system access policy for infrastructure and improvements to facilitate customer access to transit services has been added to the Resource Center best practices.
Scoring Airport Rail Connections To Transit
June 12, 2013
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A master's thesis that establishes a numerical ranking system for airport transit connections has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.
Are We There Yet? The Popularity Of Biking
June 11, 2013
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Editor's Note: Ultimately what is new about transportation in the 21st century, in cities as well as in suburbs, is more bicycles, a better network of sidewalks, better maps and cell phone apps that make taking transit easier, and other low-cost alternatives to driving that are easy and convenient and more conducive to improved public health. In this week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? we conclude the Moving chapter with a discussion of the increasing presence of bicycles in cities plus sidebar discussions on transit outside big cities and serving rural America.
Visit the Are We There Yet? home The result of all this advocacy and all these improvements is that more people are walking and biking. Nationally, the percentage of commuters who walk or bike has increased by 10 percent since 2000. These commuters still represent a small share — just 3 percent — of all commuters. But some regions, especially those that…
Visit the Are We There Yet? home The result of all this advocacy and all these improvements is that more people are walking and biking. Nationally, the percentage of commuters who walk or bike has increased by 10 percent since 2000. These commuters still represent a small share — just 3 percent — of all commuters. But some regions, especially those that…
CTOD Releases Report Examining Opportunities And Challenges Involved In Promoting TOD
May 29, 2013
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Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has been embraced around the country as a means to achieve sustainability goals, including reduced auto dependency and traffic congestion, as well as improved economic competitiveness. However, the process of actually implementing TOD varies based on a variety of physical, economic, and market conditions.
LA Metro Wins Award for Sustainable Communities Planning Policy
May 21, 2013
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The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Countywide Sustainability Planning Policy was adopted by the Metro Board in Fall 2012, and is based on work by Metro staff and a consultant team led by ARUP, and including Center for Transit-Oriented Development partners Reconnecting America and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, as well as Fehr and Peers and Barrio Planners. We at Reconnecting America want to congratulate Metro on getting recognition for this huge step forward in sustainability planning. Separate Metro policies address sustainability in operations and construction.
Are We There Yet? Voters Champion Transit
May 21, 2013
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Editor's Note: Many voters across the country have willingly taxed themselves in order to fund major expansions of transit systems in recent years. This week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? explores this trend and the examples of Denver and Los Angeles. Unfortunately, as the report explains, in many places the dollars for construction have not been matched by funding for operations, a problem proving particularly hard on systems serving low-income, transit-dependent populations.
Visit the Are We There Yet? home Voters have proved to be enthusiastic supporters of transit ... and have stepped up to tax themselves in order to make up for the shortfall in state and federal funding. Twenty-three sales tax measures for transit were passed in 16 states in the 2008 election. These sales tax measures are sometimes criticized as regressive because they impose a greater burden on lower-income families. Many states mitigate this by…
Visit the Are We There Yet? home Voters have proved to be enthusiastic supporters of transit ... and have stepped up to tax themselves in order to make up for the shortfall in state and federal funding. Twenty-three sales tax measures for transit were passed in 16 states in the 2008 election. These sales tax measures are sometimes criticized as regressive because they impose a greater burden on lower-income families. Many states mitigate this by…
Modern Streetcar Vehicle Guideline
April 30, 2013
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"Modern Streetcar Vehicle Guideline," designed to support specification and procurement of modern streetcar vehicles by identifying and describing important technical and operating principles relating to their application, has been added to the Resource Center's best practices database.
The Tramway Revival In France
April 5, 2013
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A 2012 report on the return of tramways to France by the Ministry for Ecology, Stustainable Development and Energy has been added to the Research Center best practices database.
Are We There Yet? Not Everyone Works For Google
April 2, 2013
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Editor's Note: This week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? explores why communities need to pay attention to the ongoing reorganization of job markets in order to provide people of all skill levels with the transportation choices they need to access opportunity. This is what will make regions more competitive nationally and globally.
Visit the Are We There Yet? home [N]ot everybody works for Google or has the option of using transit. Even though transit ridership has been at record highs — transit use has increased 38 percent since 1995 — transit agencies across the country are facing unprecedented fiscal crises in this recession, and they are laying off workers, cutting back service and raising fares at the worst possible time. The transit riders who are being left stranded tend to be older, African-American or Latino. “As employers and commuters everywhere know only too well, public transportation is an essential…
Visit the Are We There Yet? home [N]ot everybody works for Google or has the option of using transit. Even though transit ridership has been at record highs — transit use has increased 38 percent since 1995 — transit agencies across the country are facing unprecedented fiscal crises in this recession, and they are laying off workers, cutting back service and raising fares at the worst possible time. The transit riders who are being left stranded tend to be older, African-American or Latino. “As employers and commuters everywhere know only too well, public transportation is an essential…
Are We There Yet? Painless Commutes
March 26, 2013
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Visit the Are We There Yet? home Some places just don’t have the density of jobs and residents and intensity of activity that justifies an investment in rail transit. Many of these communities are investing in bus and shuttle service as well as in programs that make it easier and more pleasant to carpool, walk and bike to jobs in an urban or suburban downtown, and to get healthier while doing it. Des Moines, for example, which has a population 400,000, has been investing nearly $2 million a year to make the downtown more walkable and create a network of bike lanes and trails. Google — which offers job perks that are the envy of Silicon Valley, including chef-prepared food at all hours — is trying to make commutes as painless as possible by ferrying its pampered workers on shuttles that run on biodiesel, with leather seats, wi-fi, and even room for dogs. The Google shuttle carries a quarter of the company’s…
