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London wants to allow cyclists to pick up one of 6,000 bikes at the 400 docking stations planned for the capital by 2010.Londoners will soon be able to hire bikes in the centre of town for short journeys, under plans announced this week by the mayor, Boris Johnson.
Masdar City, located within Abu Dhabi, is introducing personal rapid transit “podcars“.Basically, a cross between the convenience of grabbing a cab and a public bus; the podcars will be a component of Masdar City’s public transportation system.
As part of Masdar City’s car-free design; these podcars will be part of a network of electric taxis without drivers (!). The first of these podcars (also known as personal rapid transit - PRT) are set to debut this year.
Compared to most other industrialized countries, the rail infrastructure system in the United States is only in its most stunted infancy. President Obama’s stimulus package, however, is now going to help bring our nation’s transit system into the 21st century. Nine billion dollars has been allocated over the next five years to begin building a faster and cleaner high speed rail network that will not only provide many needed jobs, but will also give us more sustainable transit options and [...]

A group of local activists is working to help raise awareness about MARTA and speak out against the threatened service cuts. They hope folks will pull together this Friday to boost ridership, introduce new riders to the system, and get folks thinking about the MARTA crisis. Check out more details and what you can do to help after the jump!
The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) recommended last week that funds earmarked for transit improvements go towards keeping MARTA afloat. The transit system is unable to cover its budget shortfall and operating costs, due to strict regulations on how it spends its revenue. MARTA gets the bulk of its funding from sales tax revenue, and it’s required to spend 50% on operating costs and 50% on capital expenses. This $25 million dollars would be a band aid fix, but it certainly beats cutting a day of service, like the MARTA board was proposing.
Not everyone is thrilled about this idea.
According to this story from the AJC, the Governor says that, “Special sessions are something we shy away from.” He said that his transportation staff met with MARTA officials, but he will not hold a special session to help the transit system address its financial woes. As a commenter on the AJC article pointed out, Perdue was happy to call a special session in 2006 when a judge struck down Georgia’s gay marriage ban. Maybe Perdue meant he tries to avoid special sessions when the issue at hand isn’t one that matters to him?
I gave Governor Perdue a piece of my mind, and you can get heard too! Here’s the letter I sent to his office and contact info so you can send one of your own.

[Waiting for the Train. Creative Commons photo by Wesley Fryer]

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.
More people than ever are now using mass transit in the United States. Ridership on trains, buses, ferries and subways is at record levels, according to a survey just released by the American Public Transportation Association. Their study reports that, “despite falling gas prices and an economic recession, increasing numbers of Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2008, the highest level of ridership in 52 years and a modern ridership record”, and a 4% increase from [...]
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