Public Transportation Expansion Plans

wtok.com: "Plans are in the works to expand public transportation into more parts of East Mississippi. It was just last month when public transportation service was restored in Meridian. Organizers for that effort are calling the service in Meridian a 'stepping stone' for things to come. "

We know how fat you are by where you live in Atlanta

slate : "Consider Atlanta. The average working adult in Atlanta’s suburbs now drives 44 miles a day. (That’s 72 minutes a day behind the wheel, just getting to work and back.) Ninety-four percent of Atlantans commute by car. They spend more on gas than anyone else in the country. In a study of more than 8,000 households, investigators from the Georgia Institute of Technology led by Lawrence Frank discovered that people’s environments were shaping their travel behavior and their bodies. They could actually predict how fat people we are by where they lived in the city."

The alternative to the #trinitytollway is two words: public transportation.

Dallas Morning News: "Yes, expanding public transportation to make it really viable is expensive. But so is building freeways that are already overcrowded the day they are opened. With the coming population density, public transportation is inevitable. Why not spend the money once now, instead of twice —first for highways and eventually for public transportation?"

Miami #freetransit created economic boom. Should be expanded.

Miami Herald Miami Herald: "According to a recent study published by the Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA), Miami’s downtown area has emerged as a “dynamic urban center … a destination to live, work and play.” Since 2000, downtown Miami’s population has increased more than 99 percent, from 40,466 to 80,750 residents. The Brickell area alone, which is served by six Metromover stations, recorded a 151 percent increase in population between 2000 and 2014. The number of households in greater downtown has more than doubled in the past decade."

Burlington, NC, woman has a job, but no way to get to it

The Times News: "“The many nonprofits that we serve daily and talk to on a regular basis are very excited about the possibility for public transportation and hope whatever has delayed that vote on the $5 and any other concerns can be rectified so people can get that public transportation that they need so desperately,” Norwick said.

A woman said Tuesday morning she had to get a ride to the Women’s Resource Center and wanted to find out whether transportation was available because she was employed but had no way to get to her job, Watson said."

‘Tourist trolley’ vs. public transit: Will locals actually use the new streetcar line?

The Lens: "I live just blocks from the Elysian Fields terminus, and I can see no benefits to public transportation in my area from this costly new infrastructure."

Houston continues to grow subsidized sprawl

Houston Chronicle: "The city suffers today from low-density suburban growth (or sprawl), which without serious public transport creates major dependence on the automobile. Consider that 2.1 million additional cars on our roads translates to an additional 17,640 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions every day.

The situation has risen in part by more than a century of developer-driven radial centric growth, and, as the capital of the oil industry, by a relentless dependency on the automobile."

Kasim Reed wants 45% of transportation funding in metro areas for transit | Political Insider blog

ajc : "The long-awaited transportation blueprint didn’t offer any recommendations for a mass transit funding split, but suggested a historic investment to the growth of transit. It pointedly said lawmakers should encourage the “development of responsible, well-funded and coordinated public transportation” in metro areas."

Thousands of Nashville students take advantage of free MTA rides

tennessean: "Thousands of Metro students are taking advantage of Mayor Karl Dean’s program that allows them to ride city buses for free.

More than 4,600 students - grades 9 through 12 - are riding Metro Transit Authority buses for free just by showing their student IDs. It’s all part of Dean’s StrIDe program."

Confirmed: Sprawl and Bad Transit Increase Unemployment

Metro Jacksonville: "A new study [PDF] from researchers at the U.S. Census Bureau, the Comptroller of the Currency, and Harvard University, however, addresses those shortcomings and confirms the original theory of spatial mismatch: Geographic barriers to employment — sprawl, suburban zoning, poor transit – do indeed depress employment levels."