Ellensburg, WA: Transit measure passes

No. 6 Story of the Year: Transit measure passes | News | dailyrecordnews.com: "The tax money will be used to extend night and weekend bus service, expand paratransit (Dial-A-Ride) service on nights and weekends to match regular bus service eventually, add additional bus routes and relieve Kittitas Valley Fire and Rescue from providing cabulance transportation. Starting next week, some of the funding will be used to add back stops in Ellensburg for the Yakima-Ellensburg Commuter bus.

City Council member Bruce Tabb said the Public Transit Advisory Committee has been meeting, and has been looking into the next steps for expanding transit and thinking of routes."

Ever wonder why some people seem to get away with vandalism during protests?

Group is leveling the pearl. I'm in shock. #TrumpRiot pic.twitter.com/smLgvEoRQ5

— Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) November 11, 2016

Ask yourself, who wants to make protesters look like violent bums? This is a trick many hundreds of years old. The police, or people who are under pressure by police because of charges against them, dress up and break windows and start fires. They saunter through their dirty work with no hurry and no fear of arrest or even camera shyness. Somehow this is all clearly filmed by a "journalist" who then serves it up to social and corporate media. Commentators are in place and ready to be "appalled" and "shocked" by such behavior.

After the media blitz, the acts are forgotten and no one is arrested or charged.

In big events these police agents collect together and call themselves Blackbloc.

Boise bus terminal will connect buses, cyclists, and pedestrians

kivitv: "With plenty of features to note like the public restrooms, a bike storage area (fees apply), along with a bike repair station and a Boise Police satellite office, perhaps, the customer service windows will be most helpful in transitioning to the new, underground system.

Monitors are even set up so you can track your bus route."

Missoula MT fare-free public transit continues rapid growth

KPAX.com: "Projections made three years ago had our population at 116,000 and those same projections estimate the number to rise to 150,000 in the next decade.

The influx of students at the University of Montana -- as well as at the new Missoula College -- further increases demand on public transportation.

"Our ridership demand, and the demand for transit, continues to rise. And that's been a trend that we've been seeing for the better part of a decade. Looking out several years, public transportation will continue to grow and continue to be a success in Missoula," UM Office of Transportation Director Jordan Hess said."

Utah Transit Authority starts new, free Davis County trolley service

standard.net : "On Aug. 14, the Utah Transit Authority launched its Midtown Trolley service — a free bus route that runs between the Clearfield and Layton FrontRunner stations and serves nearby hotels and restaurants, the Layton Hills Mall, the Davis Hospital and Medical Center, the Tanner Clinic, the Utah Department of Workforce Services and the Davis Conference Center."

Free transit for Wasatch Front is an idea worth pursuing

Editorial: The Salt Lake Tribune: "Looked at holistically, it would be in the overall best interest of a great many people if it were free to ride the buses and TRAX trains that now serve the area, plus many more. It would help working-class people get around, reduce wear and tear on city, county and state roads, reduce and delay the need for major renovations or whole new highways and, most important of all in these parts, ease air pollution.

Adding up all those potential benefits could well produce an equation proving that it would make sense for area taxpayers — even those who never sit in a UTA seat — to fork over enough in tax subsidies to make transit a free service.

It would require a very broadly cast cost-benefit analysis that would include the value of highways not widened, potholes not filled, work and school days not missed, red air days not suffered through and heart attacks not occurring.

Also figured in would be the forgone expenses now associated with collecting fares, enforcing the rules and handling all that cash. But a free transit system has, at least in theory, so many benefits to so many people that we would be foolish in the extreme not to give it a very hard look."

In future, Utahns could see free transit, 'bike superhighways' | The Salt Lake Tribune

Catmeow Public Transit : "In future, Utahns could see free transit, 'bike superhighways' | The Salt Lake Tribune"



'via Blog this'

Everything is two-tiered in US, #publictransit no exception

The Stranger: "The Transit Riders Union (TRU), a five-year-old organization that focuses on one of the most important democratic institutions in Seattle, public transportation, is deeply concerned that the expansion of Link and Metro's service restructuring on March 26 will establish "a second-class transit system" in Seattle. Why? Because light rail does not accept the reduced fare bus tickets that 138 social service agencies around the city provide the young, those with low or no income, and the elderly."

American sprawl dragging everyone down into poverty. 1 in 3 households in trouble in Idaho.

News & Observer: "A new report from the United Ways of the Pacific Northwest found that more than one in three households in Idaho can tell a similar story. Adults in those homes are working, sometimes more than one job. Even if they're managing to keep their household incomes above the poverty line, they're not making enough to cover the basic cost of living in their communities.
...The report also found that many jobs are not located near affordable housing. That places a larger burden on public transportation, which also is often not adequate."

People willing to pay more taxes from more free buses

missoulian.com: "Interestingly, 48 percent of adults supported paying more taxes or fees if the money was spent only on transportation system improvements, while 29 percent were opposed. About 19.8 percent were undecided.

Of registered voters within city limits, 52.3 percent supported paying more taxes or fees, but that support fell to 41.9 percent in county areas.

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The most popular hypothetical mechanism to pay for those improvements was a 2-cent increase per gallon of fuel, which was supported by 59.1 percent of Missoula-area residents. Maintaining and repairing existing streets and roads was the most frequently cited preferred use for the money (37.1 percent), followed by widening existing streets and roads (19.2 percent).

A small majority of Missoula-area residents, 52 percent, ranked reducing traffic congestion as the possible action that would improve the transportation system the most."