Portage Indiana excited about new #publictransit investment

EDITORIAL: Public transportation is on a roll: ""Portage is very excited about this opportunity to enhance our community with easily available public transit," Snyder wrote to NIRPC in late November.

"For Portage and Hobart to consider public transportation is a great thing and could introduce a new era," NIRPC Deputy Director Steve Strains said.

Among the options are cooperating with existing transit agencies in the region.

In addition, a new "Triangle Service" is set to begin in mid-January, serving Michigan City, LaPorte and Purdue North Central. That bus service is a three-year experiment using mainly federal funds, although Michigan City, LaPorte and PNC are chipping in as well.

We hope the Hobart, Portage and LaPorte County services are successful."

More NWI communities want to expand public transit

nwitimes: "A new "Triangle Service" is ready to start up in mid-January among Michigan City, LaPorte and Purdue University North Central, LaPorte TransPorte's Tom MacLennan told a meeting of the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission's Transportation Policy Committee on Tuesday.

The demonstration bus service is being funded for three years mainly with federal funds. Michigan City, LaPorte, LaPorte County and Purdue North Central are contributing local funds.

In another sign of the growing interest in public transit, Hobart and Portage are both ready to embark on feasibility studies of instituting public transit, said NIRPC transit planner Belinda Petroskey."

Chicago's Millennials Don't Like To Drive, Want More Public Transit

DNAinfo: "Millennials are drawn more toward living in urban communities than other generations. That means places where cars are less necessary and walking, biking and public transit are more of an option."

Pipeline project: 30-inch oil pipeline would be largest originating in N.D.

New oil pipeline will cost billions and create spills. Why not make buses fare-free? Then we would not even need the oil.

Jamestown Sun: "Energy Transfer Partners LP of Dallas says it expects to have the $3.7 billion, 1,100-mile Bakken Pipeline completed and in service by the end of 2016.

It would be the largest crude oil pipeline originating in North Dakota, said Justin Kringstad, director of the state Pipeline Authority."

Missouri to invest big money in obsolete #autosprawl system

Five Things You Need To Know About Transportation Tax | St. Louis Public Radio: "The St. Louis region – which in MoDOT’s case means St. Louis, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Jefferson County and Franklin County – would receive about $1.49 billion over the 10 years. Most of the projects on a draft list are aimed at shoring up roads and highways, including major work on Interstates 270, 70 and 170."

Why not make public transit free?

Star Tribune: "So why not free public transit? Imagine the increase in ridership. Think of the decrease in automobile traffic and pollution. How much would local business benefit from the increase in foot traffic that free public transit would likely bring? Would you pay an extra $50 a year for such a system? Would you pay $100? How much would it actually cost the average taxpayer? And what about downtown businesses? We ask them to add a tax to their services to help pay for football and baseball stadiums. Perhaps a tax to pay for something people actually need is in order.

Free public transit is an idea whose time has come. It’s affordable, it’s logical and it would make Minnesota the talk of the nation — perhaps even the world."

In Chicago, some find public transit fares linked to school attendance. #youthpass

wbez : "Barbara Radner is director of DePaul University’s Center for Urban Education. She believes the reduced fare system comes with its own set of challenges. She – and a lot of school staff, parents and kids WBEZ talked to – said what kids have to go through just to get a reduced pass is way too convoluted."

Compare with Taiwan, where kids and elderly have reduced fares, but everyone uses the same card and the fares are sorted electronically. Kids go to school on public transit in great numbers.

Greenest thing a household can do -- #publictransit

huffington post : "Switching to public transportation offers an immediate alternative for individuals seeking to reduce their energy use and carbon footprints. This action far exceeds the benefits of other household energy saving activities."

Chicago Best Restaurants withing 10 min walk of CTA L Stop

Chicago Best Restaurants - CTA L Stop: "we're making that a whole hell of a lot easier by mapping out one restaurant for every single stop -- so you can eat right after getting off the L -- that's both 1) awesome, and 2) less than a 10min walk away."

BP spills oil into Lake Michigan

Occupy Chicago: "Monday afternoon, an estimated 1,638 gallons of oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, leaked into Lake Michigan, poisoning the source of drinking water for 7 million people in and around Chicago.

The BP Refinery on the lake’s shore has admitted responsibility, but has yet to take action to ensure the safety of our drinking water and ecosystem."

Cities competing for who has the best #publictransit

A Rider's Take on Expanding Indy's Public-Transit System | IM Feature Articles: "Indy’s public-transit system currently falls well short of those in the cities it competes with for jobs and visitors. With 346 buses, Cincinnati has nearly double the public transportation we do. And Minneapolis and Charlotte have already invested heavily in light rail. Indy budgets approximately $65 million annually for a fleet of just 155 buses, which isn’t nearly enough for a city our size. Sure, implementing Indy Connect’s plan would be expensive up front: The group estimates it would take $1.3 billion to build the first phase in Marion and Hamilton counties over a decade, requiring a .3 percent increase in those counties’ income tax. But the yearly operating cost of $136 million would be comparable to the amount our competition already spends."

Chicago study exposes impact of 'transit racism"

Amalgamated Transit Union: "According to the working paper, African-Americans spend more time than any other group getting to and from low-wage jobs in Chicago. The increased time adds up to 70 minutes per week for men, and 80 minutes per week for women. That’s 80 minutes that can’t be spent on overtime, running errands, or supervising homework according to the report’s author Virginia Parks. “And you’ve got to pay for 80 minutes of extra daycare,” she says, on top of higher transit and automobile costs."

Central Indiana catering to #carfree lifestyle

New attitudes have fed Indianapolis area's apartment boom: ""(People) our age really enjoy being able to walk to places, bike to places and to save money on gas and car insurance and car bills," she said. "We enjoy being Downtown, because there are so many things to do and places to see.""

Poor are caught in sprawl trap

How we can make our cities greener and more equal at the same time | Grist: "Sprawl has trapped many Americans in poverty: Unable to afford a car, maintenance, insurance, and gasoline, they cannot get from their suburban homes to jobs. For many middle-class Americans, their car is an albatross, forcing them to spend too much money just getting to work everyday. That’s one reason that a recent Harvard study found that transit-rich coastal cities such as New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Boston ranked among the country’s top 10 metro areas for economic mobility, while auto-dependent Southern cities such as Atlanta and Jacksonville ranked near the bottom."

Mag Mile among 20 Chicago streets recommended for ‘car-free’ zones

Chicago Sun-Times: "A civic group is proposing that parts of 20 Chicago streets, including the city’s vaunted Magnificent Mile, be turned into “car-free” zones — which could mean complete bans on all trafffic to the more modest dead-ending of a street into a plaza."

ACTION ALERT: Support Faster, More Reliable Transit on Ashland Avenue and Across Chicago!

Active Transportation Alliance : "Momentum is building for bringing world-class transit to Ashland Avenue and other parts of Chicago, but your help is needed to keep it going.

You may have heard that CTA recently announced exciting plans to implement Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Ashland Ave. between 95th St. and Irving Park Rd. Imagine if taking transit on Ashland meant 21st Century service that’s faster, more reliable, and more like taking the train. The first phase of this project will run from 31st St. to Cortland St."



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EDITORIAL: Valparaiso moving on public transportation

nwitimes : "Valparaiso is planning for a bus/train depot as part of a transit-oriented development. It's a sign of the popularity of public transportation.

Valparaiso operates both the V-Line, for routes around the city, and the ChicaGo Dash, to take commuters and sightseers to and from Chicago.

The ChicaGo Dash and V-Line buses have become so popular that the city has outgrown the existing bus station."

College students recognize that cars are a pain

University Campuses Are Transportation Trailblazers - post-automobile world: "“University and college campuses are at the forefront of encouraging news ways to get around that don’t depend on personal cars. Public officials who want to stay ahead of the curve should be taking notes,” said Baxandall."

System doesn't work, people. Does. Not. Work.

Photo / AP

Mangled metal, victims' screams mark US pileup - World - NZ Herald News: "Within seconds, traffic along snow-covered Interstate 94 in northern Indiana had become a mile-long pile of debris after whiteout conditions swept in during Thursday's evening commute. Three people were killed and nearly two dozen were injured."

Report: More Chicagoans Turning To Public Transit, Biking As Driving Declines

Progress Illinois: "Fewer people in the Chicago "urbanized area" are driving, while more are biking and taking public transportation, a recent report from the Illinois PIRG Education Fund shows.

The national study examined the changing transportation trends in America's 100 largest urbanized areas, which are defined as regions larger than a city but smaller than a metropolitan area."



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America is on board with public transportation

nwitimes : "Anyone using the South Shore or other public transportation had better grab the first empty seat.

Ridership grew nationally by 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2013. That amounts to 39 million more trips taken on rail and bus over the same quarter last year, the American Public Transportation Association recently reported."

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Chicago reduced fares a bureaucratic nightmare

Great Moments In Public Transportation and Government | I've Got The Hippy Shakes: "It really started about a month ago. Each month I buy a pass to ride the CTA and Pace. That's unlimited local buses and trains. Works in the suburbs, too. The pass cost $100. I've been doing it for so long that I really don't know the price of a single ride. Then a friend suggested I try to qualify for a reduced fare handicapped pass."