Transportation

PolitiFact Gets the Facts Wrong 0
- April 5, 2012
Charlie Hales is the Portland city commissioner who admitted that rail transit doesn’t lead to economic development, so he demanded that the city subsidize such development. Then, he persuaded the rest of the city council to build a streetcar line, subsidized development along that line, and proudly proclaimed that streetcars led to economic development. He […]
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Breaking Promises 0
- April 2, 2012
The high-speed rail ballot measure that California voters approved in 2008 made two promises: first, that fares would cover operating costs; and second, that trains would carry passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just two hours and forty minutes. The first promise will be hard to keep but no one will know for […]
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Congress Extends Transportation Bill 90 Days 0
- March 30, 2012
The Senate reluctantly agreed to a 90-day extension of the 2005 transportation bill. This means the federal government will continue to spend more money on transit and highways than it collects in gas taxes and other highway fees. Senate Democrats rancorously blamed the 90-day extension, as opposed to the two-year extension passed by the Senate, […]
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Brinkmanship 0
- March 29, 2012
Having failed to pass a reauthorization bill, Congress has only a few hours to extend the current law, which expires on Saturday. On Tuesday, however, the House failed to pass a 90-day extension to the law. On Wednesday, it failed to pass a 60-day extension to the law. Supporters of an extension are are making […]
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Hiding in the Bills 0
- March 28, 2012
One of the special-interest provisions in the transportation bill that passed the Senate a couple of weeks ago is a requirement that operators of passenger trains be licensed by the Surface Transportation Board. There is one and only one exception: Amtrak. Supposedly, this could give Amtrak an edge when it competes with other companies for […]
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Dreams of Trains 0
- March 27, 2012
Speaking of dreams, some of the Antiplanner’s best dreams involve riding intercity trains, particularly riding in a dome car. I had my first ride in a dome car when I was a young boy and my family took the Northern Pacific North Coast Limited from Portland to Fargo, during which trip I spent most of […]
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