Gov. Haslam plan would allow local referendums for transit funding

tennessean : "The proposed $6 billion Middle Tennessee regional transit system, endorsed by Barry following a lengthy community input process called nMotion, involves a wide assortment of transit options including light rail, commuter rail and bus rapid transit both within Davidson County and connecting to outlying counties.

Historically, public referendums on transit have a mixed track record of both passing and failing elsewhere in the U.S., but transit projects found widespread support during the most November election. Voters in Atlanta, Indianapolis, San Jose, Raleigh, N.C., Portland, Ore., Charleston, S.C. and others each passed referendums focused on transit funding."

Arlington Renewing Efforts Toward Public Transportation

CBS Dallas / Fort Worth: "In the past, Arlington has balked at diesel-powered buses on its streets and light rail.

Now though, Arlington could select buses that use clean-burning compressed natural gas.

But Arlington’s mayor is taking it even further. He imagines an automated, electric shuttle connecting places new developments like Texas Live!, downtown, shopping areas and UT Arlington."

America needs reliable public transportation

The Crimson White: "American cities are plagued by sprawl. We have torn cities apart, transplanting the vital wealth and residents to distant suburbs and 
filling in the gaps with more and more asphalt. What has resulted is a 
hellscape of highways, interrupted only temporarily by fast food drive-thrus and uninspiring strip malls. We have taken the vastness of our 
country and paved every inch we can get our hands on.

The United States lacks something 
that virtually every other highly-
developed nation possesses: a reliable public transportation system."

Public Transport Supporters: Mass Transit Has Mass Appeal for Tennessee

Murfreesboro News and Radio: "While work to the state's thousands of miles of roads is no doubt on the list, public transportation advocates want to remind Haslam that mass transit also is key to solving traffic and mobility issues.

"Roads and bridges are obviously critically important," says Jason Spain, executive director of the Tennessee Public Transportation Association. "If we're talking about a comprehensive look at our infrastructure system in Tennessee, it has to include public transportation."

#Autosprawl collapse - here are the numbers for one town

The Real Reason Your City Has No Money — Strong Towns: "Thus, Lafayette has a predicament. Infrastructure was supposed to serve them. Now they serve it.

All of the programs and incentives put in place by the federal and state governments to induce higher levels of growth by building more infrastructure has made the city of Lafayette functionally insolvent. Lafayette has collectively made more promises than it can keep and it's not even close. If they operated on accrual accounting -- where you account for your long term liabilities -- instead of a cash basis -- where you don't -- they would have been bankrupt decades ago. This is a pattern we see in every city we've examined. It is a byproduct of the American pattern of development we adopted everywhere after World War II."

The solution is to make buses fare-free and start unwinding autosprawl.

Tennessee - We can't build our way out of congestion

Public News Service: "“We've reached a point where it's no longer feasible to think that we can just build our way out of congestion issues in the urban areas, and in the rural areas, it's an issue of mobility, connecting people with jobs, doctor's appointments, schools."

This month the Tennessee Transit Coalition – comprised of Spain's group, as well as AARP and the Tennessee Disability Coalition and others – delivered 1,000 signatures from 60 counties to the governor's desk, letting him know that public transportation is a priority for their communities."

Study shows Tennesseans want more biking, walking, and #publictransit

Times Free Press : "NASHVILLE — As Gov. Bill Haslam prepares to recommend a gas tax increase to address state transportation needs, a newly released survey says a majority of Tennesseans also support greater public investments in biking and walking trails, as well as sidewalks and public transportation."

In Georgia, poor people stranded by car culture

masstransitmag : "The lack of public transportation in Glynn County was identified in the last year as the No. 1 challenge the community faces. Studies have linked poor public transportation directly to perpetuating poverty and joblessness in Glynn County.

"Over 30 percent of the children in Glynn County live in poverty households and 45 percent live in single family households," Ennis-Roughton told the BATS members and Don Masisak.

Masisak is with the Coastal Regional Commission and recently presented a proposal and cost estimate for a transportation system.

Ennis-Roughton said further that, "Car ownership is not economically feasible for the majority of those living in poverty, an issue exacerbated by the fact that Georgia ranks No. 1 in the nation for the cost of car ownership," she said in the letter, citing a CNN report. "Isolation from community assets and resources, including youth activities and health services, keeps the impoverished community stranded in a repetitive cycle of hopelessness.""

CARTA announces half-a-million dollars in funding for public transportation

Live5News.com : "Sen. Marlon Kimpson and Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority officials today announced $500,000 in funding from the S.C. Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism for public transit in the Lowcountry.

Sen. Kimpson worked in the Senate to secure the funds, which will be used to tangibly improve the transit experience for hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors beginning early next year."

Arkansas - Service frequency critical to #publictransit ridership

NWADG : "Layza Lopez-Love, a Los Angeles native who works at Community Clinic in Springdale, attended Tuesday's meeting. Lopez-Love said she has not used public transportation in Springdale, not for lack of desire, but because of lack of availability. She frequently rode the bus in Los Angeles, and if she could improve anything about Springdale public transportation, it would be expanding the frequency of bus routes.

"I often hear from other people who use the bus that it runs so infrequently that they are often waiting outside," Lopez-Love said."