Growing Interest in Driverless Cars
As the nation’s transit industry slowly implodes from the weight of political control, the replacement for transit is getting some attention in the press. Researchers from the University of Parma are sending two driverless cars from Italy to Shanghai. Researchers at Ohio State University have received a $1.5 million National Science Foundation grant to develop […]
Transit Has $77.7 Billion Maintenance Backlog
A new report from the Federal Transit Administration says that America’s transit agencies need $77.7 billion to bring their systems up to a state of good repair. This report is an update to a previous report that just looked at seven of the nation’s leading transit systems (Boston, Chicago, New Jersey Transit, New York, Philadelphia, […]
Washington Metro Takes Action!
In an article worthy of The Onion, the Washington Post proclaims that “Dupont Circle escalator incident prompts Metro to take action.” The incident in question was the breakdown of the giant, 130-foot escalators at the Dupont Circle Metro station, which forced patrons to walk or, in some cases, crawl over handrails to adjacent escalators. The […]
It’s Not Health Care ‘Reform’; It’s Exploitation
by Brian Schwartz Scratch a health care “reformer” and you’re likely to find a health care exploiter. As ObamaCare’s provisions and taxes begin and resistance builds through lawsuits and state-level measures, it’s important to see the exploitative motives driving increased political control of your medical care. Health control advocates won’t stop with ObamaCare (HR 3590). […]
Airfares Taking Flight?
Delta and Northwest have merged, and now United and Continental are merging. So naturally someone raises the specter that airfares are going to go up. “Concentration in any industry leads to higher prices,” says someone who claims to have analyzed the airline industry for 40 years. I don’t know what industry they have been analyzing, […]
And Your Point Is?
Matthew Yglesias is somehow offended by the Antiplanner’s recent post on Cato’s blog about the huge decline in the productivity of our socialized transit industry since 1970. He never addresses or even acknowledges any of the arguments made in my article. Instead, his problem is that the article “fails to acknowledge any government role in […]
Back in the Air Again
The Antiplanner is in Nashville today speaking to the Tennessee Road Builders Association. Contrary to the claims of some, this is a rare event for me; I think I’ve only spoken to one road builder association in the past, and that was close to ten years ago. I won’t actually speak until this afternoon, so […]
Comments on FTA Cost-Effectiveness Rule
The Antiplanner has prepared several pages of comments in response to the Federal Transit Administration’s request for comments on its cost-effectiveness rule. I haven’t actually submitted this document to the FTA yet, so if you have any suggestions I am open to them. Comments are due on August 2. You can submit your comments via […]
Is Portland’s Plan Working?
A new census of downtown Portland employers reveals that, for the first time since the annual census began in 2001, the number of downtown workers taking transit to work exceeded the number driving in 2009. This isn’t because the number taking transit to work increased — it declined by 6 percent — but because the […]
The Problem with Transit
Table 12 of the historical tables supplementing the 2010 Public Transit Fact Book reveals that, since 1970, the number of workers needed to operate America’s public transit systems has increased by 180 percent. Table 38 reveals that, in the same time period, the cost of operating buses, trolley buses, light rail, and heavy rail (the […]
Demonizing Mobility
Planners have tried to demonize the freedom people gain from auto ownership by calling them “auto dependent.” Now they are demonizing air travelers by calling them “binge flyers.” As energy efficient as trains? So what? We’re still going to demonize it. We know binge drinking consists of drinking so much for so long that the […]
Streetcars for Charlotte, Cincinnati, Ft. Worth, & St. Louis
The Department of Transportation has announced $290 million in “livability” grants, including $25 million each for streetcars in Charlotte, Cincinnati, Ft. Worth, and St. Louis plus $5 million to extend a streetcar line in Dallas. “Streetcars are making a comeback because cities across America are recognizing that they can restore economic development downtown,” the DOT […]
