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Transit to Jobs Equals Economy


By Fawn Johnson, Correspondent, National Journal

"Trying to market a city without transit is like trying to sell a cell phone without a camera." That was one of the take-home messages from a speaker at an urban planning conference earlier this year, according to my friend who was there. The room was full of city planners who are trying to convince businesses to settle in their areas. Transit is considered key not just because it gives people an easy way to get to work, but it also signals to the private sector that a city is healthy enough to invest in itself.
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Melaniphy believes the public and local leaders are way ahead of Congress in terms of willingness to finance transit. APTA spent much of the last year simply trying to protect existing federal funds from being cut in a two-year highway bill. Around the country, the attitude was different. In 2012, local initiatives to tax more for transit had a 79 percent passage rate. Last year, the rate was 76 percent. "The mayors get it," Melaniphy said. The state of cities' transit systems are among the top five questions asked of city officials by businesses looking to locate there.
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<a href="http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2012/12/transit-to-jobs-equals-economy.php">http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2012/12/transit-to-jobs-equals-economy.php</a>;
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Will This Boost Transit? Maryland Promotes Driving on $2.5 Billion Tollway


by Angie Schmitt, Streets Blog

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Now Tracey Johnstone at Greater Greater Washington reports that state transportation officials find themselves in the contradictory position of trying to drum up more car trips, even though Governor Martin O’Malley has set a laudable transit ridership target:
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<a href="http://streetsblog.net/2012/10/18/will-this-boost-transit-maryland-promotes-driving-on-2-5-billion-tollway/">http://streetsblog.net/2012/10/18/will-this-boost-transit-maryland-promotes-driving-on-2-5-billion-tollway/</a>;
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Finally a decent Baltimore rail system map


From Beyond DC

For years Baltimore has lacked a consolidated rail system map. Rather, they had separate maps for the Metro-Subway, light rail, and MARC, even though all are run by the same agency. This made navigating the city’s rail system unnecessarily difficult, since users hoping to transfer between the various rail modes had to consult multiple maps.

Finally, late in 2011, a consolidated rail map for Baltimore was published. It’s not the world’s greatest example of graphic design, actually it’s quite awful from that perspective, but at least it’s functional. It is easily the most fully integrated rail system map I’ve ever seen for the city.

image

The map is one part of an entire series of new transit maps produced by MTA for the Baltimore region. There are several interesting maps in the series, including a diagrammatic bus system map (as opposed to a geographical one), and a WMATA map showing MTA bus connections.

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APTA: As Gas Prices Mount, Transit Savings Approach Historic Highs


By Andrea Bernstein, Transportation Nation

The American Public Transportation Association issues  monthly reports on how much people can save by taking transit — using something in the $9500-a-year range. This month, the number is $10,126, with New Yorkers saving almost $15,000 a year, Bostonians $13,675, and San Franciscans $13, 339.

The savings are based on the cost of commuting by transit vs. owning, insuring, parking, maintaining, and keeping gas in a car.   It’s based on the idea that households with transit can do with fewer cars.

Here’s their savings chart:

 

 

City Monthly Annual
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14 Baltimore $858 $10,301
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http://transportationnation.org/2012/04/18/apta-as-gas-prices-mount-transit-savings-approach-historic-highs/
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MTA responds; plus, more bad bus stories


B' Spokes: This story from Baltimore Brew may be of interest for those of you following Baltimore's bus issues: <a href="http://www.baltimorebrew.com/2012/03/14/mta-responds-plus-more-bad-bus-stories/">http://www.baltimorebrew.com/2012/03/14/mta-responds-plus-more-bad-bus-stories/</a>;

I'll highlight this:
“That being said,” he continued, “drivers are trained to look for people standing up.” - Terry Owens, a spokesman for the Maryland Transit Administration

I would like to ask where is that written on bus stops so people know to stand up? Too much one sided &quot;education&quot; and unnecessary rule making if you ask me.
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Rural Senators Propose Tax Increases for Urban Counties


[B' Spokes: I find this rather humorous as rural residents need more road miles per person them urban dwellers so they should be taxed at a higher rate to support their expensive road addiction. I will also note that I could summarize our transportation &quot;problems&quot; as how to handle all that rural traffic trying to come and go from urban areas. So shouldn't those causing the problems be taxed at a higher rate? The problem with sprawl is people move out from urban centers to get cheaper homes but then pay more in transportation costs, and then complain about that expense, sorry you can't have cheep across the board. So all this is about is complaining how expensive it is to use a car in rural Maryland and all we are trying to do is give everyone more affordable options and reduce the number of cars clogging our roadways, which should be supported by everyone. ]
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<a href="http://towson.patch.com/articles/rural-senators-propose-tax-increases-for-urban-counties">http://towson.patch.com/articles/rural-senators-propose-tax-increases-for-urban-counties</a>;
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