The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is hosting a “Dump the Pump” video contest. The winner will get one free year on public transportation!
Currently, only two videos are on the site. Save some serious money on transportation — approximately 30%, the largest percentage, of a working family’s budget in the US goes to transportation. Submit a video today.
There won’t be only one winner.
Advocates for better, green transportation achieved great success this year with a transportation bill in the House of Representatives that could change the United States forever. Not only advocates have brought this to where it is, though. The general public, the US Chamber of Commerce, AAA, the AFL-CIO, Associated General Contractors of America, and others have brought it to where it is today. This progressive bill would reverse auto-centric federal transportation policies that have led the US into various environmental, social and economic crises for the past several decades.
Unfortunately, delay due to lawmakers’ inability to come to a consensus and the Obama administration’s reluctancy to increase gas prices at this time (which are much lower, in real terms, than they were 54 years ago) may postpone the bill for another 18 months. However, there is opportunity to take action!
The American Public Transportation Association is asking for great transit photos showing transportation that is green and friendly and will change our future.
As shown year after year, public transit is a key factor keeping our planet from warming much further than it already is! It is also one of our best bets for slowing and eventually stopping global warming in the future. Beyond that, public transit helps the environment, the economy, and you in many other ways as well.
An organization working for you to increase and improve public transportation and to fight global warming, smog, excessive traffic congestion, water pollution, hours lost from home, stress, road rage, and your car becoming your home needs your help now.
Ever get upset because you got stuck behind a bus while driving your car? Think again. That bus is saving you time. How many people are on that bus? If they were driving, how many cars would be in your way instead?
A new report by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) finds that public transit saved Americans “646 million hours in travel time and 398 million gallons of fuel” in 2007. The 2009 Urban Mobility Report identifies the great advantages of public transit for everyone, not just those who use it. The report also identifies that the cost of congestion increased in 2007 but that it would have increased considerably more (16%, or, an additional $13.7, from two years before) if it weren’t for public transit.
This week’s post is by Edward Burgess, coauthor of Environmental Defense Fund’s new report Reinventing Transit.
Last week, Congressman James Oberstar, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was slated to speak at the launch of EDF’s new report Reinventing Transit — but he got stuck in traffic! The irony was not lost on one commenter in the StarTribune.com blog who noted, “You couldn’t ask for a better footnote to the report.”
Watch our report video showing how people across the country are getting on board these innovative transit systems.
Editor’s note: Yep, that video’s changed places. Our embedding system is acting up, so here’s the video on YouTube.
Oberstar’s absence was a clear illustration of how traffic congestion is sapping time and productivity across the country. Cars stuck in traffic don’t just waste time, but they also waste fuel. This has consequences for the environment in terms of health and global warming. In fact, about a quarter of our country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from cars and trucks (see graph of breakdown of transportation sector).
Without new revenue sources from the state or region…MARTA will be forced to dramatically reduce service levels, eliminating bus routes, cutting rail service (either certain days or times, or entire lines altogether), and potentially seriously impacting the overall economic well-being of this region and state.
This is from a memo that MARTA sent to state lawmakers. Atlanta’s transit system has been dealing with a $60 million budget shortfall since December. That, combined with a dramatic decrease in predicted sales tax revenue for the coming year have put the system into crisis. For a transit system funded entirely by sales tax revenue, it’s not surprising that MARTA is having trouble making ends meet. MARTA is one of the few, if not the only, transit systems in the nation that does not receive a penny of state funding.
By now you are aware that there are many ways to prevent global warming, but I would like to focus on things that you can do to help stop global warming on your way to work. First, it is useful to know exactly how Americans are commuting to work to realize just how much improvement can be made to make commuting more energy-efficient and less of an environmental impact.
And as the human population continues to grow, it will become an increasingly desperate race to find more effective modes of transport.
In 2035, 9 million people will be more efficient and less stressed in traveling the San Francisco Bay Area if all goes according to plan. Transportation 2035 is one of the nation’s first regional transportation plans to make reducing carbon emissions integral to such a plan. This regional plan will accommodate a 26 percent population increase compared to 1990, improve their transportation, while reducing CO2 emissions by 14 percent compared to 1990.
In Oslo, air pollution from public and private transport has increased by approximately 10% since 2000, contributing to more than 50% of total CO2 emissions in the city. With Norway’s ambitious target of being carbon neutral by 2050 Oslo City Council began investigating alternatives to fossil fuel-powered public transport and decided on biomethane.
Biomethane is a by-product of treated sewage. Microbes break down the raw material and release the gas, which can then be used in slightly modified engines. Previously at one of the sewage plants in the city half of the gas was flared off, emitting 17,00 tonnes of CO2. From September 2009, this gas will be trapped and converted into biomethane to run 200 of the city’s public buses.
In this weekly series, we’ll be looking at several baby essentials that really aren’t. They may be useful in certain situations, but if money or space is tight, or if you’re just looking to simplify and reduce consumerism and waste, here’s how to get along just fine without these so-called “essentials.“
In Part 1, we questioned the crib. Part 2 bemoaned the bucket. This week, let’s scrutinize the stroller.
Passenger numbers on fuel-guzzling domestic flights fell 20% in the year to November as commuters and tourists swapped cramped airline seats for the space and convenience of the train, according to figures released yesterday.High-speed rail travel - boosted by the opening of a line that slashed the journey time from Madrid to Barcelona to 2 hours 35 minutes in February - grew 28% over the same period. About 400,000 travellers shunned airports and opted for the 220mph AVE trains.
Last year’s drop in air travel, which was also helped by new high-speed lines from Madrid to Valladolid, Segovia and Malaga, marks the beginning of what experts say is a revolution in Spanish travel habits.
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