Rail
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Obama Dismisses Gas Tax “Gimmick”
With primaries in North Carolina and Indiana less than a week out, Barack Obama seems to have taken Streetsbloggers' advice with this ad explaining why a suspension of the federal gas tax, as called for by Hillary Clinton and John McCain (among others), is a sham. It's a masterful spot: the swelling orchestral score, the shots of everyday North Carolinians nodding in agreement as the candidate links the lie of the "short-term quick fix" gimmick to the need for fundamental change in Washington.
May 1, 2008
Obama Endorses Pricing as “Thoughtful and Innovative”
Last month Barack Obama released details of a vaguely encouraging transportation platform, pledging investment in rail and "livable communities." Today the Democratic presidential candidate endorsed congestion pricing.
March 27, 2008
Is America Finally Getting Interested in Passenger Rail?
Despite fierce and prevalent Amtrak hating, and although I have yet to hear any presidential candidate discuss it, nationally syndicated columnist Neal Peirce suggests that "the stars are finally coming into alignment" for improvements of America's passenger rail system. He writes:
December 10, 2007
Kunstler: Parking Plans Are Based on “Faulty Assumptions”
If you're the type of person who has been following the Yankee Stadium parking garage story, or the Hudson Yards zoning story or the story about the city block in Prospect Heights that's being leveled and turned into a gigantic surface parking lot, you may enjoy James Howard Kunstler's column this week. The author of The Geography of Nowhere and The Long Emergency, has lately noticed that many American towns "are obsessed to the point of mania with the issue of parking and more generally the management of cars, and much of their spending is directed to those ends." He writes:
October 10, 2007
Crowds Heed Amtrak’s ‘All Aboard’
It looks like Aaron and Susan Donovan are just two of many that have recently replaced air travel with train travel. Daniel Machalaba of The Wall Street Journal reports on a significant increase in ridership on the passenger rail system over the last year, and the trend seems to be intensifying. Meanwhile, Amtrak has improved its service and its allies in Washington have noticed. The House recently passed a fiscal 2008 funding bill with $1.4 billion for Amtrak:
August 23, 2007
Transit-Oriented America, Part 4: The Trains
This is Part 4 of a five-part series on U.S. rail travel. (Parts 1, 2 and 3.)
August 23, 2007
Delivering the Goods to a Growing New York
In June, NYU's Wagner Rudin Center of Transportation Policy & Management teamed up with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council to host an event focused on current and future freight needs in the New York metro region. Their report cited increased consumption and congestion as serious challenges to moving goods in and around the city:
August 23, 2007
‘Triboro RX’ Could Provide More Transit Opportunities
For the Regional Plan Association, Michael Frumin visualized their plan for a rapid transit line in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx that could be built almost entirely on pre-existing rail and would connect with at least twenty existing subway lines. The "Triboro RX", which originated in the 1996 Third Regional Plan, could provide effective transit between these boroughs at a fraction of the cost of most transit projects.
June 29, 2007
