Ridership on Megabus is “well up from last year,” and starting in about two weeks the company plans to expand service to several new cities. Megabus will then serve nearly 50 major cities, all with virtually no subsidies. Megabus near Chicago Union Station.Flickr photo by compujeramey . Meanwhile, high-speed rail nuts want to spend tens […]
READ MORE“How much is sustainability worth?” asks Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Nigel Jaquiss. “Try $65 million in public money.” That’s how much taxpayers will be spending on a $72 million “green” building in downtown Portland. At $462 a square foot, it will be “perhaps the most expensive office space ever built in Portland.” The director of the […]
READ MOREThe Antiplanner wishes everyone a happy holiday. This year the Antiplanner is thankful for having had the company of Chip the Wonder Dog for more than 17 years. The photos of Chip that I’ve previously posted here were mostly taken in the digital age. I recently spent a couple of days scanning many of the […]
READ MOREThere is much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth over the so-called high-speed train in Wisconsin. A Madison newspaper that calls itself “the Progressive Voice” claims that Governor-elect Walker’s promise to cancel the Milwaukee-to-Madison train is economic treason. That makes sense if you agree with Paul Krugman that the federal government should spend a […]
READ MOREAt a recent presentation, the Antiplanner mentioned that transit is not energy efficient because most transit vehicles run nearly empty most of the time. A “gotcha” look appear on the face of an audience member, who said, “but what if more people rode transit?” Yes, and cars would be more energy efficient if they were […]
READ MOREA left-wing blog accuses Republicans of wanting to “bring transport policy back to the 1950s.” At least, the GOP is two decades ahead of where the Democrats wanted to go, considering that 110-mph intercity trains and light rail both date back to the 1930s, and streetcars to several decades earlier. Denver Zephyr traveling at 90 […]
READ MOREThe Antiplanner has long argued that transportation and other infrastructure should be paid for out of user fees, because user fees are the best indication that such projects will be truly productive. A report this month from the Congressional Budget Office reaches a similar conclusion. The report observes that “carefully selected infrastructure projects can contribute […]
READ MOREObama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan Note the cost savings: $15 billion for high-speed rail vs. $46,000 for high-speed buses. More evidence of the wastefulness of high-speed rail.
READ MOREPortland, Oregon is full of sustainability advocates who look forward to petrocollapse and “experiment” with such things as country living and learning to live as voluntary peasants. Two such sustainability advocates are trained engineers and have a blog promoting urban gardening and raising chickens as if these were somehow new ideas. Apparently, these engineers have […]
READ MOREThe Antiplanner is flying today to Helena, Montana, to speak at a Montana Policy Center forum for state legislators. I’ll be back Wednesday and I hope I won’t miss too many days of blogging this week.
READ MOREA Portland transit union leader says his members have been “victimized” by a free-market group that posted their salaries on line. But who is the real victim here: the people collecting the salaries or the people whose taxes pay the salaries even if they never ride transit? Back in June, a free-market group in New […]
READ MOREThe Antiplanner’s debate with American Public Transportation Association President Bill Millar focused on transit privatization. The Antiplanner argued that private operators would provide excellent, low-cost service where the demand for such service existed, such as in dense cities and low-income neighborhoods, while still providing adequate demand-responsive transit (like SuperShuttle) in low-density neighborhoods where demand was […]
READ MOREThe Antiplanner will be presenting a new paper tomorrow at the Cato Institute titled “Fixing Transit: The Case for Privatization.” The paper was not yet posted on the Cato web site, but you can download an advance copy. Most transit systems in America were private and profitable, if declining, as late as the 1960s. Since […]
READ MOREToday the Antiplanner is flying to Boston and MIT, where I will be one of a series of “distinguished speakers” on transportation issues. My presentation will be at 12:30 pm in the Stratton Student Center, W20-307. On Wednesday, the Cato Institute will present two events, both of which will compare the Antiplanner’s free-market views with […]
READ MOREProgressive Railroading lists a few more election results, oriented of course to pro-rail transit. That article in turn links to the Center for Transportation Excellence, a group focused on government “investment” in infrastructure, which claims that the vast majority of transportation measures passed this year (including elections prior to November). Many of the measures on […]
READ MORETea party supporters do not agree on a lot of issues, but are firm on two things: cutting government spending and protecting property rights. What do the election results mean for the future of land-use and transportation planning? On one hand, many of the results look promising for supporters of property rights and efficient (user-fee-driven) […]
READ MOREAmy Oliver Cooke, Director
Email: Amy@i2i.org
Phone: 303-279-6536, ext 107
Amy Oliver Cooke, Director
Email: Amy@i2i.org
Phone: 303-279-6536, ext 107
Foster and kinship children too often miss out on supplemental services and activities. A new breed of program called a Supplemental Educational Support Account (SESA) would provide a set amount of annual funding for each student that can be used for services such as tutoring, therapies, music lessons, specialized programs, transportation, and a wide variety
READ MOREWho knew it would be such a busy week? Before I head off to go play in the snow or jump in a pile of leaves or two — you never know with the weather here in Colorado — I thought you’d like to see the new results from the Association of American Educators nationwide […]
READ MOREAs explained by author Marya DeGrow, conflict between some Colorado public school districts and parents led to the adoption of a 1988 legislative bill that established guidelines for home education.
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