II in Denver Post: RTD FasTracks is still a boondoggle
The Denver Post has published an op-ed co-authored by Independent Institute Fellow Randal O’Toole & Brian T. Schwartz. It begins: With great fanfare, RTD opened its West Rail Line for business on Friday. This light-rail line was a boondoggle when it was first planned in 1997. Its even worse today. Read more: Has RTDs FasTracks been […]
Gallup Poll: Put brakes on gas tax
Two-thirds of Americans oppose increasing gas taxes, even if it means the revenue would go toward improving roads and bridges, a new polls shows.
Colorado Supreme Court Unanimously Slaps Down Public Utilities Commission; Hands Down Major Victory for Cabbies in Fight for Economic Liberty
Although the PUC found that Mile High was both operationally and financially fit to operate as a taxi business, it denied the application because it was unsure whether additional taxi services were needed in the city.
Rearranging the Park Benches
Our cities are in trouble. Most have huge unfunded pension and health-care obligations. Their infrastructure is old and so poorly maintained that it can’t power a football stadium for the full length of a game. Their schools have significantly lower high-school graduation rates than the suburbs, even after accounting for differences in incomes. Housing in […]
LaHood’s Cost-Effectiveness Rule
It was with some trepidation that the Antiplanner finally took the time to carefully read the Department of Transportation’s final rules for major transit capital grants. Long-time readers may recall that the Antiplanner is concerned about the cost-effectiveness of these grants, and urged the Department to strengthen those requirements–without much hope that the Obama administration […]
LaHood’s Legacy
As the Antiplanner noted yesterday, Ray LaHood’s lasting legacy as Secretary of Immobility is the loosening of requirements for major transit capital grants in new rules issued a few weeks ago. This is most important for streetcar fans, since the Bush-era rules pretty much predetermined that streetcars were not a cost-effective use of federal transportation […]
Goodbye Ray LaHood
Secretary of Immobility Ray LaHood has announced his intention to leave office as soon as a replacement can be found. Aside from an admirable emphasis on safety, LaHood’s main legacy will be a weakening of the cost-effectiveness requirements for transit grants so that, now, the most ridiculously expensive transit projects can get federal funding. As […]
Are Flu Vaccines Worthwhile?
Fever, headache, sore throat, congestion (of the nasal not the traffic kind)–it all sounds so easy. Having experienced the early symptoms of the flu when the Antiplanner was still in St. Louis on Saturday, then getting hit particularly hard on Sunday, I can testify that the flu is no picnic. So I have to wonder: […]
CNN Not Impressed with Vermont’s “High-Speed Rail”
Vermont officials are proud that a federal high-speed rail grant allowed them to take 29 minutes of the Vermonter schedule between New York City and Burlington. This is quite a bit less impressive than it sounds, as the speeded-up train still takes 9.5 hours for an average speed of 38 mph. By comparison, Megabus does […]
Light-Rail Inefficiency Project
Stung by the entirely accurate criticism that it is one of the worst-run transit agencies in America, San Jose’s VTA has come up with a breath-taking plan for improving its efficiency. Naturally enough, the plan is called the light-rail transit efficiency project. Click image to download an 8-MB presentation describing San Jose’s “light-rail efficiency plan.” […]
Back in the Air Again
The Antiplanner is flying to St. Louis today to speak tomorrow at a conference about the Constitution. I am not a Constitutional expert, but they asked me to speak about mobility. If you are in the St. Louis area, I hope to see you there.
The Continuing Saga of the American-Made Streetcar
Portland Streetcar, the non-profit organization that operates streetcars in Portland, is demanding that the city cough up $145,000 to fix its brand-new, American-made streetcar. Let’s take a look at the history of this car. First, the city used its own money to buy streetcars from the Czech Republic for an average of $1.9 million apiece. […]
