White House Sends Surface Transportation Extension Plan To Hill

WASHINGTON, DC, JULY 9 --- Today the Administration sent a brief proposal to Congress for an 18-month extension of the existing SAFETEA-LU surface transportation authorization. The text of the two-page proposal is below. The proposed extension, which must still be approved by Congress which may have its own ideas, would extend the highway and transit programs through March 2011 and provide $20B in General Funds to cover the short-fall in the Highway Trust Fund. The funds would have to be re-paid to the Treasury over 10 years. How specifically that would happen is not made clear. In previous statements, US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood indicated the desire for major reforms to be included in any extension bill. However, today’s proposal makes mention of only two or three relatively minor reforms which are detailed below.

House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar previously indicated very strong opposition to any extension and has introduced a six-year authorization bill that he hopes Congress will pass this year. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer has indicated support for an 18-month extension.

Administration Proposal for Stage 1 Reauthorization

This document outlines the Administration’s proposal for the first stage of surface transportation reauthorization, consisting of an 18-month plan to address the Highway Trust Fund shortfall and implement discrete, leading-edge capacity-building measures that a long-term reauthorization should expand upon. The following are the Administration’s core principles for this proposed 18-month reauthorization, which should be considered “Stage I” of the broader reauthorization process:

• A general fund transfer to the Highway Trust Fund is necessary to maintain its solvency.
  
• The general fund transfer should be paid for. The Administration will work with Congress to identify revenue-raising measures that will reimburse the general fund for the transfer over ten years.
  
• Stage I reauthorization should include State and MPO capacity-building measures. These measures are a “down-payment” on longer-term improvements in data-driven decision making, transparency, and accountability.
  
• As appropriate, the Stage I reauthorization should include measures to improve regional mobility and access and enhance the livability of all communities.

Highway Trust Fund Solvency

Analysis by the Department of Transportation shows the Highway Trust Fund running short of cash in late August or early September of this year. To extend the program 18 months at the baseline funding level will require $18 billion for the highway account and $2 billion for the transit account. Legislation to address the HTF shortfall should pass before August recess to avoid disruptions to state cash management and further strain on state budgets.

The Administration believes this transfer should be repaid to the general fund over the next ten years. A revenue measure that repays the general fund contemporaneously (i.e., over the two year period) is not feasible given the economic situation and the pressing needs of the transportation system. Instead, the Administration would support a range of options, including international tax enforcement proposals the President included in his budget.

Downpayment on Reform

Although an extension of the HTF is urgent, the Administration believes that this opportunity can be used to put in place a limited set of carefully thought-out reforms that can form the basis for further reforms in a full six-year reauthorization.

Investing for Performance

The Administration strongly supports improving investment decisions at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Establishing performance goals and basing project selection on merit criteria will increase returns to transportation investment, which have fallen precipitously in recent decades. The following are concrete reform proposals with 18-month costs:

Improving state and MPO project evaluation capacity (Cost: $300 million). The Administration proposes funding to help states and localities build capacity for collection and analysis of data on transportation goals. States and MPOs that choose to participate would be given funding to establish project evaluation infrastructure, including information on usage or ridership, accidents and fatalities, average speeds and travel times, and environmental impacts. This voluntary program would provide participating entities the opportunity to integrate analysis into investment decisions and prepare for improved accountability standards and merit criteria in the long-term reauthorization.

Improving project assessment tools (Cost: $10 million). As states and localities build informational and analytic capacity, the federal government must work to refine assessment tools and develop standards for cross-modal comparisons of projects. The Administration proposes funding for USDOT to develop performance goals and establish guidelines for states and localities on project evaluation.

Increasing transparency in state and local public reporting (Cost: Low). The Administration also proposes stronger requirements for tracking and reporting on the projected and actual outcomes of transportation investments that use federal dollars. These requirements would include information on project costs, timelines, and selection process as well as expected and actual outcomes of individual projects. Improved reporting requirements would increase the transparency of transportation spending and improve state and local decision-making. These requirements would also lay the groundwork for further accountability reforms in the long-term reauthorization

Regional Access and Livability Initiatives

The Administration supports efforts to improve regional access and mobility and enhance the livability of communities. Possible reforms in Stage I reauthorization could include:

• Regional Access: developing guidelines for multi-modal regional access plans, establishing local transportation governance standards and best practices, and funding approved multi-modal access plans.
  
• Livability: developing guidelines for community plans and providing funding for approved projects with special emphasis on convenience of transportation options, reductions in travel times, smart growth, preservation of open space, and more integrated responses to land use and transportation needs

New TTI Report Shows Increased Congestion Relief
Brought By Public Transportation

Cities Lose Out On Road Funds From Federal Stimulus

JULY 8 --- Large metropolitan areas around the country are getting a disproportionate amount from the federal stimulus money for roads and bridges and other transportation projects. There is a history of states giving short shrift to large urban transportation projects in favor of spending more in outlying areas, and it appears the same thing is happening with the stimulus money, according to a story in the New York Times by Michael Cooper and Griff Palmer.

“Two-thirds of the country lives in large metropolitan areas, home to the nation’s worst traffic jams and some of its oldest roads and bridges. But cities and their surrounding regions are getting far less than two-thirds of federal transportation stimulus money.”

Of the of 5,274 transportation projects approved so far (according to the New York Times analysis) “the 100 largest metropolitan areas are getting less than half the money from the biggest pot of transportation stimulus money.” Robert Puentes of the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, is more in favor of targeting the money where the most complex transportation problems are –such as the large cities. He says states are taking the “peanut butter” approach, spreading the dollars around thinly, and that may not be the best way to stimulate the economy.

A little more than half of the $26.6 billion transportation stimulus will be spent on “pavement improvement” projects, mostly repaving rutted and potholed roads. Nearly one-tenth of it will be spent to fix or replace bridges and more than a quarter of the money will be spent to widen roads or build new roads or bridges.

Many analysts see this stimulus distribution by states as a spotlight on the continuation of a troubling trend that has favored highway dependent sprawl over investments to revitalize city centers. Much of the money has been diverted to districts of powerful members of Congress rather than where it is needed the most to help bring back our cities to a healthy state.

Three quarters of the country’s economic activity takes place in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, according to the NYT story, and in most cases, that is where the largest traffic jams are.

A study by the Texas Transportation Institute released last week found that traffic jams in 2007 cost urban Americans 2.8 billion gallons of wasted gas and 4.2 billion hours of lost time.

Cleveland lost out on the $200 million needed to rebuild a 50-year-old bridge that is so deteriorated that trucks are no longer allowed on it.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Mayor Pat McCrory lamented the tiny amount –only $7.8 million of the $423 million for his state --- going to Mecklenburg County, the most populous area of the state and the home of Charlotte.

The NYT story states, “Mayors had lobbied Congress to send the money directly to cities, but in the end, 70 percent of the money was sent to the states to be divided, and 30 percent was sent to metropolitan planning organizations, which represent the local governments in many metropolitan areas.”

There is still a chance for cities to get more since large metropolitan areas were not bound by the June 30 deadline to apply for the grants. Also, Obama’s plan - $8.4 billion for intercity and high-speed rail will direct money to the cities, as will the $1.5 billion for projects of national and regional significance.

Obama has said he wants transportation projects to be directed toward ending sprawl and intends to evaluate projects on that basis. His administration will be watching to see that money from the ARRA -- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – is spent wisely toward this goal and not wasted.

“The transparency that comes with Recovery Act funds is letting us see what’s happening in real time, and that’s a good thing,” said Roy Kienitz, an under secretary of transportation for policy. “Understanding where recovery dollars go and why will help us determine how to shape long-term transportation policies with the goal of getting the most benefit for every dollar.”

Transit Improvements For South Jersey
Move Closer To Implementation

Southern New Jersey may soon enjoy better transit. The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) announced its preference for upgrading an existing rail line for restored passenger service, rather than building a new rail line in the median of a highway. This decision received widespread popular support at four “open house” meetings held in South Jersey in June, and has been hailed as a major victory by rail advocates in the Garden State.

Two of the proposals which DRPA considered involved construction of a new rail line in the median of either Route 42 or Route 55. Rail advocates preferred “Alternative 3”; restoration of service on an existing rail line, which was operated by the former Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL). For the proposed service, DRPA chose light rail over the alternative of extending the existing Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) line, an electrified heavy rail line which runs between Philadelphia and Lindenwold, New Jersey. PATCO is a subsidiary of DRPA, which also operates bridges over the Delaware River and the River Link ferry between Philadelphia and Camden.

The proposed line would extend from Camden to Glassboro, a former center for glass manufacture and home of Rowen University. The line would connect with New Jersey Transit’s River Line in Camden, and service could eventually be extended to Millville, where passenger trains ran until 1971.

DRPA’s overall plan for transit improvements in the region also calls for bus service enhancements along Routes 42 and 55. In addition, the Atlantic City Rail Line will be upgraded to include a new intermodal transfer center at Woodcrest (a station on the PATCO Line) and a new station to serve the Atlantic City Airport.

Saving Fuel, Cleaning Up The Air, Reducing Traffic

Volvo Hybrid Bus

LONDON ---Six new hybrid double deck buses will provide service on Route 141 in London. The B5L Hybrid Double Deck is made by Volvo and uses the company’s I-SAM (Integrated Starter, Alternator, Motor) technology, which was developed for use across the whole group’s heavy vehicles. No specific figure yet on fuel economy, CO2, or NOx emissions, but a Volvo 7700 Hybrid Single Deck in Gothenburg has been showing better than expected fuel economy (around 30% improvement). London might show even better results since the stops are closer to each other. Green Car Congress wrote this in 2007 about the Volvo hybrid tech: “The I-SAM (Integrated Starter, Alternator, Motor) parallel hybrid system comprises a starter motor, drive motor and alternator fit between the clutch and the I-Shift automatic transmission. It supports regenerative braking; electric launch and assist; electrification of power steering, air compressor and air conditioning; and idle avoidance.” The hybrid bus can move up to 12 MPH in all-electric mode, and over that the diesel engine kicks in. One of the main benefits of the hybrid system in an urban area will certainly be the reduced smog-forming emissions. We hope that Volvo will update us soon with those numbers. How About Natural Gas Hybrid Buses? But to go even farther in that direction - short of an all electric battery or fuel cell bus - would be to have a CNG (compressed natural gas) hybrid bus. Such a bus (they exist) would certainly have very low PM and NOx emissions compared to even diesel hybrids, which is crucial in urban areas. And if the natural gas could be sourced from methaned captured in a landfill, it would even be close to carbon neutral. Are you listening, Volvo? We all know that the more cars there are on the streets, the more traffic, the more congestion and the more idling. This is bad for the air quality in our cities and in our lungs. Luckily, science and technology have stepped up to the plate and provided us with bus tracking systems. Bus tracking systems are not uniform from city to city. Atlanta, Georgia, has a solar-powered bus tracking system called WaitLess. This system displays the in-motion buses at bus stops, so citizens, who may be thinking about taking the bus, can choose whether to wait or to walk.

Seattle, Washington, has a bus tracking system called OneBusAway which allows riders to call a number ( 206-456-0609) and obtain instant information about the bus that they are waiting for.

Not every city has this wonderful bus-stop technology, but more and more cities are adopting these practices, including Duluth. It is likely that most serious cities will have a bus tracking system within the next decade or so. Check with your local public transit authorities and find if they offer any bus tracking systems.

Meanwhile, NextBus provides a state-by-state, city-by-city, route-by-route account of buses tracked by its system. Just find your personal state, city and route, and the site will give you a prediction on when your bus will arrive, kind of like a Nostradamus for buses.

Canadian Pacific Orders Fuel Savers
For 200 GE Locomotives

JULY 9 -- GE Transportation announced Thursday that it will equip 200 Canadian Pacific locomotives with its Trip Optimizer fuel management system. The order follows revenue-service tests, involving intermodal trains of various lengths that showed fuel savings ranging from 6% to 10%, depending on territory.

Trip Optimizer, a product of Ecomgination, is described as “an advanced energy management system that optimizes fuel consumption based on a specific train’s makeup and the route being traveled. GE’s Trip Optimizer™ System determines the optimum speed profile over a trip or route to minimize travel time and fuel consumption. The optimization reduces unnecessary braking due to “running-up” on speed limits, braking before inclines, and braking to control over speeds while reducing or eliminating the variation in driving techniques between drivers.

Environmental impact

Using a sophisticated system of sensors, on-board computers, and GPS, GE’s Trip Optimizer™ System can create an optimal speed profile, typically reducing fuel consumption and particulate matter by approximately 10 percent.

Installing GE’s Trip Optimizer™ System could reduce GHG emissions by 365 tons/year per locomotive. If Trip Optimizer™ System was installed in 1,500 GE Evolution Locomotives, the GHG emission reductions would be equivalent to removing 95,000 cars from the roads for a year or the amount of CO₂ absorbed by approximately 498,700 acres of forest.

Trip Optimizer uses GPS, a digital track database, and advanced track algorithms that automatically learn the train’s characteristics throughout the trip to achieve the fuel savings.”

Lahood, Blumenauer Christen New Portland Streetcars

Photo: Streeblog.org Transportation Secretary LaHood and Congressman Earl Blumenauer examine Portland’s streetcars

PORTLAND, OR, JULY 1 -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood joined Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) in Portland today to christen the city’s new fleet of made-in-the-U.S. streetcars.

The streetcars, the first to be crafted in America in 58 years, are manufactured by Oregon Iron Works. The 65-year-old company has won agreements to build six for the city of Portland and seven for the city of Tuscon, Arizona.

Check out a close-up of Portland’s new ride after the jump, courtesy of Blumenauer’s office.

The Daily Dig - High Speed Rail Edition

• New Mexico, Colorado and Texas are applying for federal funds to study a 720-mile high speed link between Denver and El Paso. The proposed service would top out at 200 mph. (AP)
  
• California’s ambitious HSR project could still be derailed by NIBMY resistance from wealthy Silicon Valley burgs like Palo Alto. NIMBY allies in the legislature have put language in a budget bill that would require more study of things that have already been exhaustively studied. (Oregon Live)
  
• Silicon Valley’s biggest newspaper does the right thing and insists in editorial that the “poison pill” NIMBY language be stripped out of the budget legislation. (San Jose Mercury News)
  
• Florida is pushing ahead to get federal funds for an HSR link between Tampa and Orlando. The right of way has mostly been secured and would run along the median of I-4. Longer range plans would have the line continue on to Miami. (WPEC)
  
• Wyoming is interested in HSR service between Denver and Cheyenne. A study determined that pushing it farther north to Casper wouldn’t be feasible because there’s too much coal train traffic. (AP)
  
• Are you confused why the proposed bullet train line from Vegas to LA would actually run between Vegas and the shabby little exurban meth mecca of Victorville? Here’s an explanation. (LAist)
  
• Britain’s rail czar Lord Adonis says HSR should replace short haul airline travel–between, say, London and Amsterdam–within 20 years. (Telegraph)

Photo: Infrastructurist The future for the USA maybe? Japan’s N700 high-speed train set at its debut two year’s ago in July 2007.

Chaos Continues On The Berlin S-Bahn

Berlin – Nearly a week after federal authorities moved to make the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary company, which operates the Berlin S-Bahn commuter transit system, begin repetitive inspection of wheels of certain models of trains in use with the company, chaos ruled the region as hundreds of scheduled trains were canceled. More than half the fleet is affected by the inspections. The action by the German EBA came after audits by the German rail safety agency determined that the company had ignored safety directives issued after an S-Bahn train failed in-service due to a cracked wheel, as reported in D:F last week. Worst affected has been the ET 481 EMU fleet, of which there are nearly 500 train sets in operation on the Berlin S-Bahn.

Deutsche Bahn laid out a six-point plan for recovery from the chaos, after asking for the resignation of four top managers last week. Since then the company has faced massive criticism at many levels for the current situation, including critical commentary over its decisions in the past ten years to reduce in-house maintenance capability for the rail fleet and instead subcontract much of the routine maintenance to companies which supplied the rolling stock. The six-point plan includes issuing updated train schedules which will reflect reality for the next several months, increasing frequency of regional trains along the “Stadtbahn”, which is the major east-west rail corridor through the city of Berlin. Two of the tracks along the “Stadtbahn” are dedicated to the Berlin S-Bahn’s DC third rail power system and unique signaling and train protection system, but the other parallel tracks along this route are standard configuration with AC overhead electrification, on which DB will run additional regional commuter trains to make-up partially for lost capacity of the S-Bahn line. Other points of the plan include providing free services to monthly pass holders in December and increasing bus frequencies on certain routes parallel to S-Bahn routes.

Additional measures to alleviate the situation are still under discussion. The rather unique configuration of the Berlin S-Bahn’s DC third rail power supply and signaling / positive train control system rule out the short term use of EMUs from other German cities, which have AC overhead powered EMUs equipped with the national rail network’s standard PZB and SiFa signaling and train control / protection equipment. Only Hamburg has a somewhat similar standard of S-Bahn rolling stock to Berlin’s, but with a different power supply voltage and altogether different train control and signaling system, therefore this equipment is also not suitable for Berlin. Reports from various sources indicate that the Berlin S-Bahn is even looking into leasing museum / historic Berlin S-Bahn EMUs retired from the system many years ago and now placed in various museums and classic train collections, as a potential source of relief.

Traveler’s Advisory to D:F Readers –

D:F readers who may be visiting Berlin within the next 3 – 5 months should plan their visit to Berlin carefully with the knowledge that traveling within the city may be far more complicated than it was just two weeks ago. Trips which rely heavily on use to the S-Bahn system should either be avoided or replanned to use other modes of transit, including Berlin’s extensive bus, subway (U-Bahn) and street tram networks. Conventional commuter trains operated by DB Regio (RE and RB services) and by other rail companies are operating normally, if not with extra services to help commuters with avoiding the S-Bahn system. If traveling via Berlin’s S-Bahn rail network is unavoidable, then be prepared for much longer than usual intervals between trains as well as heavy overcrowding on the trains which operate. Readers can also check the Berlin transit authority web page for more updates at: http://www.bvg.de

Happy and Safe Summer to D:F Readers

To our readers – have a safe and pleasant summer – and if you can, travel this summer by Amtrak and other passenger rail providers. See you in about four weeks with more reports from Europe and beyond. - David Beale.   Photo: David Beale The juice is on – view of the newly electrified Lübeck (Germany) main train station on a quiet Saturday afternoon in July 2009. The rail station, along with the main line to Hamburg, was electrified in a major multi-million euro project during 2006 to 2008.

A Victory For Transit Riders In California,
But Will It Help Elsewhere?

Last week we reported on a victory for transit riders and managers in California. The California Appellate Division, Third District, held that funds dedicated for “mass transit” may not be used for another purpose, even for providing another form of transportation. The unanimous decision required the State to return money to the Public Transportation Account after it had been transferred to accounts for such purposes as school bus programs and special transportation for the disabled.

Proposition 116, the Clean Air and Transportation Act of 1990, required that specific tax revenues be set aside for “planning and mass transportation” purposes. In its opinion, the court used the terms “mass transit,” “public transit” and “public transportation” interchangeably.

The victory could not have come at a better time for transit providers in California, or for California’s rail and transit riders. Due to its financial difficulties, the State has essentially eliminated aid to transit this fiscal year. Funds from the 1990 Act were originally used for capital projects on the state’s rail and transit lines. Two of the largest beneficiaries of grants were MetroLink, the expanding commuter rail system in the Los Angeles area and Amtrak’s California corridors. New rail transit was built in San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose and other places since the grant program began.

While the State has announced its intention to appeal the court’s ruling to the state Supreme Court, it is unlikely that the decision will be reversed. The decision was unanimous, and the court’s construction of the applicable statutes was reasonable. It does not appear to this writer that the court made the sort of error that would cause the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, even though the Appellate Division had reversed the original ruling by the trial judge. There is also no reason for the case to go into the Federal Court system, since it concerned only issues of state law.

The Supreme Court can either decide to hear the case, or it could deny the appeal and let the recent Appellate Division ruling stand. If the Court hears the case, it could reverse the Appellate Division or specifically affirm it. If the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, California’s transit providers and riders will keep the victory they have just won. If the Court affirms the Appellate Division, the victory will be even stronger, because Supreme Court authority has greater legal standing than an opinion of the Appellate Division. Of course, if the recent ruling should be reversed, victory will turn into defeat.

It is unclear how much the California ruling will help transit providers and riders in other states. No other state is required to follow it, although California decisions can be persuasive to courts in other states, if cases in the other states raise the same issues. California opinions, especially from the state’s Supreme Court, are highly-regarded by judges in other states, and are often followed. For example, the opinions of Justice Roger Traynor, who served on the California Court from 1940 to 1970, helped set the tone for universally-accepted principles of law in the fields of negligence and statutory construction, even though these are fields where all law is made at the State (not Federal) level.

The appropriation process is different in every state, and all states have their own statutes that govern funding for transit and other transportation purposes. California is unique for its emphasis on law-making through public initiatives approved by voters. Many of California’s statutes started as “Propositions” ranging from taxation to social relationships. The controversial “Proposition 8” restricts “marriage” to heterosexual couples and was enacted by a referendum vote. When the voters enact a statute in this manner, the Legislature is bound by it.

The court’s discussion of issues concerning Proposition 116 and the California Legislature are unique to the Golden State and will probably have little persuasive value in other states. Every state has statutes, however, and the California court carefully interpreted the state’s statutes that concern funding for transit. This is the sort of issue where courts in other states could look to California for precedent.

For now, Californians have won a victory. Time will tell if it will hold, but this seems likely. If it holds, it could also make a positive difference for transit providers and riders in other states. Again, time will tell.

Understanding – And Fixing --- The Current Crisis
Requires A Deeper Understanding Of American History

This past week’s New York Times carried an important article on the current economic crisis and the Obama Government’s “Stimulus” response to it. Entitled, “Cities Lose Out on Road Funds”, it ran July 8 and was written by NY Times infrastructure specialist Michael Cooper and his colleague Griff Palmer.