Connecticut Fare Hike Fight Continues

July 2, 2009 – 9:45 am
A CT Transit bus in Hartford.

A CT Transit bus.

[UPDATE: You can now send an e-mail to Gov. Rell opposing the fare hike by visiting TSTC's website here.]

Last week, both chambers of the Connecticut General Assembly passed a budget without bus fare increases, a victory for transit advocates in Connecticut who have been fighting the governor’s proposed 40% fare hike on CT Transit buses and 10% fare hike on Metro-North service.  However, Governor Rell has indicated that she will veto the budget because it increases income and other taxes. There do not appear to be enough votes in the legislature to override the veto, meaning that elected officials will need to renegotiate a budget.

At the urging of Bridgeport bus riders, the Transit for Connecticut coalition is circulating a petition that calls upon on Connecticut’s elected officials to oppose the fare hike and fight for transit riders in Connecticut.  If you would like to support this initiative you can download the petition here. You can also e-mail Gov. Rell through TSTC’s website.

Image: Wikipedia Commons / Adam Moreira.

By Ryan Lynch | Posted in Connecticut | Comments (5)

NJ Expands Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit

July 2, 2009 – 9:00 am
The act could benefit areas like Newark's Science Park, which is within a half-mile of light rail but not NJ Transit's commuter system.

Parts of Newark are close to light rail but not commuter rail stations.

Last week, state legislators passed the New Jersey Economic Stimulus Act of 2009, an omnibus bill designed to stimulate private sector development and job growth while revitalizing urban hubs. Sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Joe Roberts, A4048/S2299 expands the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit by broadening the definition of a “transit hub” to include light rail stations and businesses that are located along and utilize rail freight lines, doubling the geographic radius for Camden, and lowering the minimum investment needed to qualify.

The expanded tax credit program will provide a 100% corporate business tax credit to companies planning capital projects that invest at least $50 million and create or relocate 250 jobs within a half-mile of a transit station, and within one mile in Camden.

Similarly, the bill creates an Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant program to encourage redevelopment in transit villages, “centers of place,” and port and airport areas. It authorizes Newark and Elizabeth to impose a 5% rental car tax to fund local redevelopment activities.

Image: Newark Light Rail system map.

By Zoe Baldwin | Posted in Freight, New Jersey | Leave a Comment

Atlantic City Transportation Plan Misses the Point

July 1, 2009 – 1:30 pm

In May, Governor Corzine signed Executive Order 141 creating the Atlantic City Regional Implementation Group for Housing and Transportation (AC RIGHT), a task force designed to streamline land use and transportation planning in Atlantic City. Under the current system, these responsibilities are shared by 15 local, regional, and state bodies.

AC RIGHT’s stated goal is to speed up implementation of the Atlantic City Regional Transportation Plan, released by the Casino Redevelopment Authority in May. The plan includes mass transit, bike and pedestrian improvements, but its primary emphasis is on a series of road expansion projects. These include the mainline widening of the Garden State Parkway between exits 80-30; expansion of the Atlantic City Expressway (ACE) between mileposts 8 and 31; a new connector road between the airport and the ACE; expanding a Parkway interchange at Exit 40 and building new interchanges near the Atlantic City Service Area and near Ocean Heights Avenue; and widening local streets. According to the document, the modeling for these components is based upon projected future construction of “mega” casinos.

The linchpin of the mass transit component is a $500 million multimodal facility located at the Atlantic City International Airport, explicitly designed for visitors who drive to the city, with transit – specifically planned “personal rapid transport,” monorail or bus rapid transit – as only a last mile mode of transportation. To its credit, the plan does suggest improvements to the Atlantic City Rail Line, a Mays Landing-Atlantic City busway, and a new on-island local transit service that will combine and modify the elements of the existing system of bus and jitney service.

The main bicycle project envisioned is a 'Bikeway on the Boulevard,' though the illustration has oddly few bicycles.

The main bicycle project envisioned is a 'Bikeway on the Boulevard,' though the illustration, oddly, has few bicycles.

The document touches upon bike and pedestrian concepts but relegates them to recreational use for tourists, not as a legitimate means of transportation or traffic reduction. For example, the Plan recommends bike lanes,  but only  along the boardwalk. It proposes a $10 million elevated pedestrian walkway in the shopping district, and the eventual transformation of Pacific Ave. into a boulevard with 15 ft. sidewalks.  These proposals do not address the transportation and safety issues of the local population just a few blocks away from the bustling casino area. According to the 2000 Census, 40% of Atlantic City residents do not own a car and over 20% of employed residents walk to work (Statewide, 3.1% of employed residents walk to work).

While the Plan mentions linking workforce housing transportation and land use development as an early stage project, it also contains vague references to development in the Pinelands. It does not include an explanation of how the majority of the $3.7 billion in proposed projects are to be funded.

By Zoe Baldwin | Posted in New Jersey | Comments (2)

New CSX Trains Help Reduce Air Pollution in South Bronx

June 30, 2009 – 3:27 pm

On Monday, CSX Transportation unveiled four new ultra-low emission locomotives for exclusive operation at its Oak Point Yard in the heart of the South Bronx, a neighborhood long plagued by high asthma hospitalization rates, poor air quality, and disproportionate amounts of truck traffic.

The new engines, known as GenSet, were retrofitted to existing rail cars and will be used to switch cars within the Yard.  GenSet technology monitors engine idling and automatically shuts off when the train is not being used for a period of time. The locomotives will reduce nitrous oxide and particulate emissions by 80 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent.

From left to right: Rep. Jose Serrano, Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

Left to right: Bob Lieberman of Mayor Bloomberg's office, Rep. Jose Serrano, Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

Using federal Congestion, Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement dollars awarded to New York State, CSX will replace more polluting switch cars with these greener – and quieter – alternatives.  The GenSets will be in operation immediately.

At the unveiling, Congressman Jerry Nadler and Congressman José Serrano praised the company for its latest environmental achievement.   (CSX has also improved fuel efficiency by 80 percent since 1980 and has a recycling program).

Congressman Nadler, a longtime rail freight proponent and strong advocate of the Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel, highlighted the environmental benefits of rail freight for our region.  Congressman Serrano, whose district encompasses the South Bronx, praised the benefits to the area from CSX’s green investment, acknowledging the company’s role in removing thousands of diesel trucks from local streets each year.   Today, 16,000 trucks make their way through Oak Point each year, even with existing rail freight.

CSX is a relatively unknown fixture in the Bronx community, despite its environmental significance.  According to CSX, a single train carries the same load as 280 trucks.  That means fewer trucks spewing pollutants from diesel exhaust.

The GenSet locomotives were the result of a public-private partnership that will yield not only environmental, but also economic benefits to the surrounding community.  In addition to the pollution reduction, CSX creates and maintains jobs, having employed more than 2,000 people in NY by the end of 2008.

By Veronica Vanterpool | Posted in Freight, NYSDOT, New York City | Comments (1)

Dangerous Bronx Streets Get NYCDOT Makeover

June 29, 2009 – 6:30 pm
TKTKTKTKT.

Allerton Avenue will go on a "road diet," going from four car lanes to three at intersections.

Pedestrians, residents, and cyclists in the Pelham Garden section of the Bronx will have safer streets this summer as a result of a new NYCDOT design.  After two senior citizens were killed in traffic incidents and three people suffered serious injuries, the DOT conducted a study of busy sections of Allerton Ave. and Eastchester Road in the East Bronx.  The study concluded that 55% of vehicles were speeding along this mixed residential and light commercial stretch.  According to a TSTC analysis, people aged 65 years and older comprised 28.6% of Bronx pedestrians killed from 2005-2007, though they made up only 9.9% of the population. Those 75 years and older accounted for 4.7% of the total population, but 15.9% of pedestrian fatalities.

Speeding on Allerton Ave.

A study of Allerton Ave. found that 55% of drivers were speeding, regularly reaching 40 mph.

The new design for Allerton cuts down on  traffic lanes to accommodate a new bike lane in each direction, and includes a new 10 foot center median with left turn bays and pedestrian refuge islands.  Existing parking spaces and bus stops will remain intact.  On Eastchester, sidewalk extensions will shorten crossing distance. These measures will both reduce speeding and maintain a smooth traffic flow, according to NYCDOT.

The addition of bike lanes and pedestrian improvements is welcome news for this dense area, which is close to the 2 and 5 subway lines, the Bx12 Select Bus Service, and attractions such as the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Gardens, and institutions like Fordham University.   61.6% of Bronx households do not own cars, more than any downstate county outside of Manhattan.

Images: From NYCDOT presentation.

By Veronica Vanterpool | Posted in Bike/Pedestrian, New York City | Comments (9)

Report: Tri-States Spend Stimulus Wisely; Country Doesn’t

June 26, 2009 – 2:59 pm

Today, Smart Growth America released a new report detailing states’ progress in meeting the Obama administration’s goals of jump-starting the economy and laying the foundation for future economic growth. The report, “The States and the Stimulus,” finds that almost one-third of the flexible ARRA Surface Transportation Program funding committed by states so far is going to projects that increase road and bridge capacity.

Click to download [PDF].

Click to download (PDF).

However, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have so far devoted the vast majority of their stimulus funds to road and bridge repair and preservation. All three states rank in the top ten, with Connecticut committing all of its STP funds to repair and New Jersey and New York committing 96 percent and 93 percent, respectively.

Investment in road and bridge maintenance is the right way to spend money for several reasons, the report points out. Road repair and maintenance generate 16% more jobs than expansion and employ more types of workers, the report says.

The most important question for Connecticut is whether its decision to commit all of its road funding to repair represents an actual shift in state policy or just that maintenance projects were easier for ConnDOT to get out the door. As MTR has previously said, the upcoming release of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program will reveal the answer.

The same question applies to New Jersey, but NJDOT has a much stronger history of fix-it-first policy and this year told MTR that it considers road expansion “a last resort.” (Notably, New Jersey was the only one of the three states that “flexed” STP money to pay for bike or pedestrian projects, spending 4%.)

The report’s analysis is far from complete when it comes to New York, as it omits all but a handful of downstate projects and all of New York City’s projects. (The report looks only at projects approved by USDOT, and New York has been slow to get its projects through the approval process). Hopefully a future analysis will reaffirm this, to-date, positive track record.

ARRA requires that states commit at least half of their stimulus funds within 120 days of the law’s March 2 signing. That deadline falls on Monday, June 29. SGA’s report is meant to offer an early glimpse at whether states are taking advantage of the flexibility of the STP funding to fund transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects, and whether they are making fix-it-first a priority.

A handful of states spent more than two-thirds of their stimulus funding on new or widened roads and bridges. And the national average of 31 percent spent on new capacity projects is far greater than the 20 percent of STP funds devoted to those types of projects in the first two years of SAFETEA-LU. Nationally, more than 60 percent is being spent on road and bridge repair, with the balance going to transit, bicycle and pedestrian, or other projects.

By Michelle Ernst | Posted in Connecticut, Federal Policy, New Jersey, New York | Comments (2)

Tappan Zee Picture Clearing Up, But Finances Still Cloudy

June 26, 2009 – 1:40 pm

At a meeting of the Tappan Zee project’s Stakeholder Committee on Wednesday, the study team showed it was making a good-faith effort to engage communities on land use and provided more clarity on the project timeline. (TSTC is a member of the Stakeholder Committee and several of the “stakeholder advisory working groups” which meet monthly to provide input on the project.)

Transit-oriented development training began in two towns this week, and will be offered to all municipalities in Rockland and Westchester Counties in the fall. According to team leader Michael Anderson, NYSDOT views the training as a pilot program that, if successful, can be emulated in other major transportation projects. It does not include direct grants to municipalities. In the Draft Environmental Impact Statement portion of the study, the team will expand an examination of land use and other impacts beyond the immediate I-287 corridor, encompassing Orange County and locations off of the corridor where BRT routes would operate.

In the next study phase, the team will examine BRT options ranging from a dedicated full-corridor busway to bus/HOT/HOV lanes in Rockland and in-street lanes in Westchester.

In the next study phase, the team will examine four BRT options ranging from a dedicated full-corridor busway to bus/HOT/HOV lanes in Rockland and in-street lanes in Westchester.

The study team will also examine additional bus rapid transit options, most notably a dedicated busway that excludes all other vehicles, in both Rockland and Westchester Counties.

Anderson said the project team was more confident in its timelines than at earlier points, anticipating a final EIS and federal approval of the bridge and highway work in 2011, completion of bridge and highway design and the “Tier 2″ transit study by 2013, and a new bridge opening in 2017. But in a walkback of earlier comments, he said that while BRT would be implemented in “the most expedient matter” and that the goal was to have it running when the bridge opened, this was not guaranteed.  The timeline for construction of Rockland-Manhattan commuter rail would be clearer by next summer, he said.

Of the study’s many unanswered questions, the biggest is how to fund the project. Merill Lynch has signed onto the project and will help complete a financial study expected to take 5 years. Ironically, study team members said that the first year of this study was being paid for with a federal earmark and that funding for the next four years has not been identified. Hopefully that means the state is taking a wait-and-see approach on renewal of the earmark, and not that it is unwilling to fund a study of such importance.

More information on the scope of work in the DEIS, and the reasoning behind the changes to the project, is available in the recently-released Scoping Summary Report.

By Steven Higashide | Posted in NYSDOT, Tappan Zee/I-287 Corridor | Comments (4)

Streetfilm: The Case for Better Cross-Hudson Bus Transit

June 25, 2009 – 1:59 pm

Check out this just-released short film on cross-Hudson bus service, produced by Streetfilms and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. In less than 3 minutes, it lays out why bus transit across the Hudson River is important, and how the Port Authority could improve service for the 315,000 people who take buses across the river every weekday.

The report comes on the heels of Express Route to Better Bus Service, a report TSTC released last month that examines cross-Hudson bus commuting in more detail.

(A high-quality version is available at Streetfilms, and the YouTube version is available here.)

By Steven Higashide | Posted in New Jersey, New York City, Port Authority | Tags: | Leave a Comment

When Getting There is Half the Battle: NJ Aims to Improve Walk to Stations

June 25, 2009 – 12:19 pm
Ferry Avenue in Camden, near the PATCO Speedline.

Woodlynne's grant will fund improvements to Ferry Ave., where a PATCO Speedline station is located.

In 2006, NJ pedestrians got a $74 million boost from Governor Corzine’s five-year statewide pedestrian safety initiative. Pedestrians in 15 communities will see some of the first improvements funded through the Safe Streets to Transit component of the program with the recent announcement of 2008-2009 grants for sidewalks, traffic calming, and other pedestrian improvements.

The announcement is welcome news as approximately 30% of NJ residents live within a half-mile of a train station, and NJ Transit use remains near record highs despite the economy. Safe pedestrian access to transit will not only encourage ridership, but will help alleviate the need for station parking and be a boon for businesses around station areas as downtown walk-by traffic increases.

The communities that will receive grants are Absecon, Camden, Clifton, Edgewater, Egg Harbor, Elizabeth, Florence, Hoboken, Lyndhurst, New Brunswick, New Providence, Ocean City, Plainsboro, Voorhees and Woodlynne. The grants will pay for projects like adding sidewalks and curbs to the Delawanna Ave. rail station in Clifton and improving pedestrian access on Market Street in Camden.

Image: Google Street View.

By Zoe Baldwin | Posted in NJDOT | Leave a Comment

NYSDOT Lags On Federal Air Quality Funds

June 24, 2009 – 4:43 pm

The Federal Highway Administration wants its money back, and NYSDOT is obliging at the expense of two environmentally friendly federal grant programs: Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) and Transportation Enhancements (TE).

fed_funding
In the diagram above, each glass represents the amount the state can potentially spend (the apportionment) on a specific federal program. The pitcher of tea is the amount of federal money the state gets (the obligation ceiling), which can be spread among all programs.

States can only truly spend about 90% of the federal apportionments they receive, since the obligation ceiling is always lower than total apportionments. States can choose to spread their obligations evenly, funding all federal programs at about 90% — or they can fully fund some programs while underfunding others. In most states, it’s the environmentally friendly programs that suffer.

The difference between apportionments and obligations is the unobligated balance, and it accumulates over time — meaning that if a state underfunds a program in one year, it can theoretically “overfund” it in the next. But in recent years, the federal government has regularly rescinded money from states’ unobligated balances due to budget constraints.

In April, FHWA requested that states rescind, or give back, $3.15 billion in unobligated federal apportionments. New York’s share of that is just shy of $146 million.

NYSDOT has decided to distribute the rescission across five funding programs: Bridge, Interstate Maintenance, CMAQ, Transportation Enhancements, and Recreational Trails.  More than one-third of the $145.8 million rescinded is taken from CMAQ, a program meant to improve air quality through transportation projects, amounting to $49.4 million dollars, or more than 28 percent of the fiscal year 2009 CMAQ apportionment.

The relatively small, but critical Transportation Enhancements program, which pays for projects like bike, pedestrian, and streetscape improvements, suffers the biggest hit.  NYSDOT is sending back nearly $25 million in TE funding, an amount equivalent to 85 percent of that program’s 2009 apportionment.

Another third comes out of the Bridge program, which is losing $47.9 million or 10 percent of its 2009 apportionment. Almost 30% of New York’s bridges are in less than good condition and an unusually large number will become deficient over the next decade. A significant amount (11 percent) of the 2009 Interstate Maintenance program apportionment is also rescinded, along with $1 million from the Recreational Trails program.

A history of under-spending has allowed large unobligated balances to accumulate in the CMAQ, Bridge and Transportation Enhancements programs, making these programs a too-tempting target for rescissions.  When asked why those programs had large unobligated balances, NYSDOT officials told MTR that those programs tend to be far more restrictive and can require extensive modeling and paperwork. And because projects funded through those programs are often muncipally driven, the state’s cities bear at least some of the blame.  As Congress mulls over Rep. Oberstar’s transportation bill, it should consider streamlining the funding process for these environmentally-focused programs.

NYSDOT anticipates that, barring some Congressional miracle, FHWA will ask the state to rescind another $400 million before the fiscal year ends in September.  This would force the state to look beyond unobligated balances and actually de-obligate funding from planned projects, something the state has never before had to do.

Image: Surface Transportation Policy Project “decoder.”

By Michelle Ernst | Posted in Federal Policy, NYSDOT | Comments (3)