Auto culture pecking all the feed out of the economy, and due to get worse as deferred-maintenance chickens come home to roost.

 $21 billion over the next ten years to help close a backlog of deferred maintenance on our state's roads, bridges and ferries. That's in addition to the 9.5 cent gas tax increase passed in 2005, which has already been fully committed and bonded out.

We Need More Public Transit

And Public Transit Needs Us

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 ~ Why public transit?

Riffing on Stuart Smalley: It's good enough, it's smart enough, and doggone it, people like it!

Americans, regardless of political affiliation, support public transit. Everyone who takes public transit contributes to decreased congestion, decreased carbon emissions, and decreased oil/gas use. It's funny to think otherwise. Public transit riders also save money.

Public transit revitalizes communities and leads to economic (re-)development. People choose public transit if given a level of service that represents something close to a comparable choice. Public funding of public transit makes sense, and smart political leadership just gets it done. Unfortunately, others still don't get it.

The demographics in America are changing. The outer ring suburbs are dying and not coming back; both empty-nest Boomers and younger Millennials want to live in livable, walkable cities well-served by public transit where they don't even need to own cars.

Why support pubic transit? It's really rather simple:



Public transit: good, smart, and people like it.

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Cross-posted to Chris B. Leyerle blog

Survey: WA Residents Support Transit, Transportation Investments | PubliCola

Survey: WA Residents Support Transit, Transportation Investments | PubliCola: "Asked whether they “support or oppose more state funding for public transit and passenger rail” in general, 63 percent said they supported it, 30 percent opposed it, and 6 percent were undecided. In the Puget Sound region, 70 percent supported it, 25 percent opposed it, and 5 percent opposed it."

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Tax Code Driving Incentives

Uncle Sam Subsidizes Cars, not Buses

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 ~ Think government is too big and spends too much money? You can write your legislator, sure. But if you have your own business, you could also take direct action to help the budget: leave your car in the garage and take the bus.

Streamline bus service celebrates 1 millionth rider - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: News

NICK WOLCOTT/CHRONICLE Roberta Stevens, 80, steps off the bus at the downtown bus depot on Friday morning. Stevens was awarded a bouquet of flowers and a gift basket for being Streamline's 1 millionth rider.

Streamline bus service celebrates 1 millionth rider - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: News: "Streamline, a Human Resource Development Council program, provides free public transportation to the Bozeman community. It was launched in August 2006 in partnership with the Associated Students of Montana State University."

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Transit Riders Union [Seattle]

Transit Riders Union: "Why do we need a Transit Riders Union?

• Deep bus service cuts were only narrowly avoided in King County…
• Public transit is under attack in cities across the country…
• Unemployment is rising and social services are shrinking…
• The planet is warming and natural resources are dwindling…
• The global economy is in crisis…"

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Transportation funding: Transit systems drive our future | OregonLive.com

By Neal R. Peirce 

Transportation funding: Transit systems drive our future | OregonLive.com: "It's straightforward, argues the New York-based Regional Plan Association (RPA). Transportation, it asserts, isn't just a question of patching a few potholes or cleaning dirty subway cars. It's a matter of the national future -- whether our economy hums or shrinks, carrying our standard of living down with it.

Illustrating its point, RPA cites the case of America's top 10 transit regions, among them New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta. Collectively, the 10 regions represent a third of America's economic output and a quarter of our population. And they're projected to grow 26 percent --90 million people -- in the next 30 years. "

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