The Other Side of the Tracks

TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 129: explores a series of transit funding mechanisms with a primary focus on traditional tax- and fee-based funding; and common business, activity, and related funding sources. The report includes an online regional funding database that provides an extensive list of funding sources that are in use or have the prospect of being used at the local and regional level to support public transportation. A user manual for the database is also available online.

A planned light-rail line in Detroit has received a financial boost, with the Kresge Foundation and Detroit's Downtown Development Authority approving contributions worth a combined $44 million. The Detroit Free Press reports the project is more than halfway toward a funding goal of about $120 million.

Honolulu's planned $5.4 billion commuter train won't be pulling into East Kapolei until late 2013 at the earliest. However, the character of communities surrounding the area's three planned stations will depend in part on the outcome of a series of community meetings that start this week. Community members attending that workshop will hear presentations about the train, which is expected to support a city growth policy that directs development to the 'Ewa plain. Attendees then will be asked to provide input that will be used to tailor rules governing housing density, parking and pedestrian amenities around train stations planned for Kapolei.

The Federal Highway Administration reported that motorists drove 108 billion fewer miles last year, a 3.6 percent drop from 2007 levels. While significant, this reduction - which has an impact on gasoline tax revenues - is far less severe than the reduction in travel experienced by toll roads across the country. The continued drop in toll road use on well regarded facilities like Orange County, California's 91 Express Lanes brings into question the long-term sustainability of tolling as a form of revenue collection compared to the more modern gasoline excise tax.

Every now and then, looking at the cars around me, I wonder how this will all turn out. With falling house prices the real estate bubble has become obvious, but the car bubble remains almost unremarked.