#Freetransit for Rapid City students "low-hanging fruit"

blackhillsfox : "Allender has proposed amending the RapidRide Transit rates to be free for students in Rapid City.
He says the city has a low graduation rate and low attendance rate and believes this proposal would either provide students better access to school or eliminate one more excuse for why students aren't making it to their seats.

Allender says, "This public transportation change is one thing that I consider to be low hanging fruit, an easy, relatively inexpensive change to an existing system, which will give better access to people who need it.""

Poor workers pay to subsidize sprawl, but get no benefit

Chicago Reporter: "Roseland resident Eric Drane is familiar with that long haul. Drane, 39, commutes 40 miles to a Romeoville electronics distribution warehouse where he drives a forklift. Unlike Davis, who depends on public transportation, Drane, a married father of four, can at least drive to work. But he says he’d rather take public transit – if it was available.

“It’s murder on your car going from here, putting 30 to 40 miles every day on an older vehicle,” said Drane, who drives a 1998 Buick that has 200,000 miles on it.  “I’m like one car breakdown from not having a job myself.”"

Save the planet: Take public transit now and then

Chicago Tribune: "The case for better public transit goes beyond fighting climate change. It helps the unemployed find jobs; it saves commuters valuable time; it makes cities cleaner, quieter and less congested. But its value as an effective and available way to fight climate change gets too little attention. Pending zero-emission cars and espresso-vending power plants, getting more Americans on to public transportation makes sense."

Getting On Board: My Conversion to Supporting Mass Transit

Inside INdiana Business: "Those observations took me back to my days in Madison. Without metro transit getting me to and from school, what were my options? And that was simply to attend classes. What about those who need transportation for their livelihoods to get to and from their jobs – jobs that pay for the basic necessities? Better transportation options allow them to shop at retailers or eat at restaurants that are desired versus convenient. It provides the means to make appointments and meetings, visit libraries and parks, and participate in civic activities. Mass transit makes it possible for not a majority but many to do the simple, everyday things that make Central Indiana a better place for them to live and work.

I may not use public transportation, but others who live, work and play in this community will. My coworker who doesn’t like to drive; the friend for whom “being green” means being happy; the barista at the too-far-to-drive coffee place who now has a reliable way to get to work. Mass transit will allow all of them to live, work and play better. Doesn’t anything that makes those in our community live fuller lives also make this same community a better place for all of us to live?"

Baby-steps, but important ones, toward #publictransit in #sprawlurbia

The Ball State Daily :: Does Muncie need more public transportation options?: "“If we made trains look cool, if we made mass transit look like something that is cutting-edge or part of not only to address socioeconomic issues but also business development, it would address some of the Republican concerns and their opposition,” he said. “Until the public decides that it is something to be supported, by whatever measures, it’s going to sort of be in limbo.”

Marta Moody, executive director for the Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Plan Commission, does federal transportation planning for all modes of transportation.

She said public transportation is important — much more than people realize. 

“Public transportation is as much a quality of life issue as your bike lanes, as your sidewalks and as your parks," Moody said. "It is a community amenity.”"

People in Oklahoma beg for #publictransit to continue

enidnews.com: "Smith said it would be devastating not to have the service.

"It would be great if we could expand the services. I would be all for that. I remember years ago when they used to run till 10 o'clock at night. I miss the Saturday dispatcher, but I understand how those things have happened, and they're cost-saving measures and it's worked out.

"At the bare minimum, if we can at least keep what we have now, that's fabulous. Just please, please, I implore all of you, not to ever do away with the Enid Transit because it will have devastating consequences in so many of our lives. We appreciate that you do have the service available for us, and just want it to continue.""

Hearing speakers express support for public transportation

enidnews.com : "Elda Jones said she has used Enid Transit for eight or nine years, after moving from Alva because there was public transportation available in Enid. She uses the service two to three times a week.

As a volunteer at Loaves & Fishes of Northwest Oklahoma, Jones sees others using the service as well. 

"To see the clients coming in and shopping and going home, they have to take public transportation. There's no other way, and the food is necessary, they've got to have the food," she said. "I know that the public transportation is not making money, but it's not there. It's for a public service." 

Several users of Enid Transit expressed a desire to have the service expanded beyond the 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours offered Monday through Saturday.

Among them, Diana Smith said she is a legally blind resident of Enid.

"Without the Enid Transit, I could not go to work every day," she said."

Poor #publictransit traps abuse victims in their homes

The Grand Island Independent: "Crisis Center Executive Director LexAnn Roach said the lack of transportation can even mean domestic violence and sexual assault survivors stay with or stay in contact with an abuser.
“Without their jobs or without the means to get their children to school or to attain other needed services, they have no hope of having an independent life away from that abuser,” she said.
Grand Island attorney Ron Depue, who formerly chaired the United Way board and its fundraising campaign, said now that Grand Island has reached metropolitan status due to population growth, the bar is higher for the services that need to be provided.
“As a community, I think we’ve fallen short of accepting responsibility to provide effective public transit,” he said."

Tourism exec in Minneapolis proposes #freetransit for all

Star Tribune: "Thus, I propose making all public transportation free for residents and visitors.

Tallinn, Estonia, a city with a population slightly larger than that of Minneapolis, already has successfully done it, though its free transportation is available only to city residents. We would need to offer free public transportation to everyone in order to create a notably unique, destination-defining enticement that people would mention in the same breath as Mall of America and niceness when discussing travel to the Twin Cities.

Furthermore, making public transportation free would reduce traffic, if only somewhat in the short-term, and give struggling families better access to jobs and other resources. It’s a public-relations trifecta. Of course, people aren’t going to book vacations exclusively based on the allure of free transportation like they would Disney World. But combined with the current surge of our profile as an outstanding and affordable place to visit and live, it could help boost us into the travel planning echelons of San Francisco and New York."

Portage, Indiana, not walkable

nwitimes.com: "Matt Chandler, who is blind, said Portage isn't set up for people to walk from their houses to stores."