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Tag: Transit

Rideshare can Rescue Transit, If Transit Gets on Board

posted 6 months ago on March 23rd, 2018 by Leave a Comment
By Daniel Sperling and Steven Polzin This commentary is based on, “Three Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared, and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future,” by Daniel Sperling, published February 2018 (Island Press) Bad news for transit keeps rolling in. Transit ridership declined in 34 of the 40 largest metropolitan areas over the past three years. New York’s subway woes continue, Washington Metro struggles with funding and maintenance and, even in Los Angeles with its massive rail system buildout supported by $120 billion in tax increases over 40 years, ridership is declining. Explanations for declining ridership include low gasoline prices, economic growth, increasing car ownership, immigrants’ fear of using transit, homeless loitering, and safety and security concerns.  While ridership routinely… View Article

Friday Facts: August 4, 2017

posted 1 year ago on August 4th, 2017 by Leave a Comment
It’s Friday!  Quotes of note  “We got ObamaCare because Republicans didn’t take care of the health care problems we already had. Let’s not make the same mistake.” – Star Parker  “Politicians sure are generous with other people’s money.” – John Stossel  “Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.” – Thomas Paine Transportation  Poor policy: Prioritizing needs in mass transit… View Article

Report Highlights How Road Pricing Helps Manage Congestion

posted 1 year ago on July 7th, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Georgia is moving toward dynamic tolls and a network of express toll lanes in the metro Atlanta area. The I-85 high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes allow vehicles with three or more occupants to travel free; the I-75 express toll lanes have no high-occupancy mandates but on both, the tolls increase with as the level of congestion increases. Road pricing has its supporters and detractors. In its first fully digital edition, ACCESS Magazine carries an article by Brian D. Taylor on the opportunities in using road pricing to manage and reduce traffic congestion.  ACCESS covers research at the University of California Transportation Center and the University of California Center on Economic Competitiveness. The goal is to translate academic research into readable prose … View Article

AJC Publishes Op-Ed on Atlanta, MARTA TSPLOSTs

posted 1 year ago on April 3rd, 2017 by 2 Comments
The Sunday edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on April 2, 2017, published an op-ed by Foundation Vice President Benita Dodd on the new transportation special purpose local option sales taxes for MARTA and Atlanta. Her op-ed is published in its entirety below; the AJC link is here: http://www.myajc.com/news/opinion/opinion-look-future-not-past-gain-most-from-atl-splost/5h0CTF5gG9cK2ppp2ZRL4O/. OPINION: Look to future, not past, to gain most from ATL T-SPLOST By Benita Dodd April marks the full implementation of two transportation special-purpose local option sales taxes (TSPLOSTs) overwhelmingly passed by Atlanta voters in November 2016. A 0.4-cent, five-year Atlanta TSPLOST to raise $300 million has joined the 0.5-cent, 40-year TSPLOST begun in March to raise $2.6 billion for MARTA projects. The massive support is no surprise, given lofty campaign promises… View Article

Friday Facts: February 17, 2017

posted 2 years ago on February 17th, 2017 by Leave a Comment
It’s Friday!  Events  February 22: Register by MONDAY to join the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and the Institute for Justice for, “Bottleneckers,” Wednesday’s Leadership Breakfast and Book Forum with Dick Carpenter, co-author of, “Bottleneckers: Gaming the Government for Power and Private Profit.” Cobb County’s Georgian Club, 8 a.m. $30. C-SPAN BookTV will be recording this event. Information and registration here. March 23-24: The Heartland Institute hosts the 12th International Conference on Climate Change at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. The theme of the two-day conference is “Resetting U.S. Climate Policy.” Quotes of note “[U]nlike much of the Left, most conservatives handle despair like mature adults. Most obviously, we didn’t riot. In fact,… View Article

Georgia’s New Toll Lanes Help ‘Reverse’ Traffic Congestion

posted 2 years ago on February 3rd, 2017 by Leave a Comment
By Benita M. Dodd In a milestone event that occurred quietly on Saturday, January 28 Georgia entered the ranks of the few, the proud, the innovative states as a 12-mile stretch of reversible toll lanes opened on I-75 south of Atlanta. Just four other states boast reversible toll lanes. A little history: Georgia has known tolls since the 19th century (at least). Few metro commuters realize the toll origins of the roads they travel: Johnson Ferry and Paces Ferry (crossing the Chattahoochee) and Bell’s Ferry (crossing the Little River in Cherokee County), to name a few, once were ferry crossings that charged a toll before bridges came along. The St. Simons Island causeway, built in 1924 to replace ferries, was… View Article

Friday Facts: January 13, 2017

posted 2 years ago on January 13th, 2017 by Leave a Comment
It’s Friday! Events  January 26: The National School Choice Week Leadership Breakfast is keynoted by education expert Dr. Ben Scafidi, who will unveil his study on the real numbers of Georgia’s public school spending and staffing. The topic is, “National School Week: Where’s The Money?” Cobb County’s Georgian Club, 8 a.m. $30. Information and registration here.  February 22: Join the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and the Institute for Justice for a Leadership Breakfast and Book Forum with Dick Carpenter, co-author of, “Bottleneckers: Gaming the Government for Power and Private Profit.” Cobb County’s Georgian Club, 8 a.m. $30. Information and registration here. Quotes of note “To be upset by academic standards is to invest… View Article

New Year, Same Old Streetcar Named Disaster

posted 2 years ago on December 30th, 2016 by 3 Comments
By Benita M. Dodd Today the city of Atlanta begins Year 3 of operating its much-ballyhooed Atlanta Streetcar System, and so far, all that can be discerned is a lot of bally hooey. This month, the Atlanta City Council approved the final payment to URS for the design-build of the 2.7-mile Atlanta Streetcar project, making the total payment $61,630,655. That was, according to Public Works Commissioner Richard Mendoza, “$6 million less than URS originally submitted.” Not exactly. The 2014 URS contract authorized by MARTA (the transit authority designated to receive the $47.6 million federal grant for the Streetcar), was $59 million; the original URS contract, based on the preliminary design, was $52.2 million. Asked about the project’s full cost,… View Article

Atlanta Business Chronicle Quotes Foundation on Toll Lane Network

posted 2 years ago on October 17th, 2016 by 1 Comment
Dave Williams of The Atlanta Business Chronicle quotes Foundation Vice President Benita Dodd extensively in an article in the October 14-20, 2016, edition about the express toll lanes under construction on Atlanta’s north and south side. The article is published in full below and can be found online here (subscription required). State teeing up toll lane network for metro Atlanta By Dave Williams Highway technology that Georgia transportation planners are counting on to help ease metro Atlanta’s chronic traffic jams will roll out along a 12-mile stretch of Interstate 75 starting in January. For up to 90 cents a mile, harried motorists heading to work, an important business meeting or to see their kid’s ballgame will be able to move… View Article

Friday Facts: September 30, 2016

posted 2 years ago on September 30th, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It’s Friday!  November 11: John Stossel of “Stossel” on Fox Business Network is the keynote speaker at the Foundation’s 25th Anniversary Celebration Dinner and Freedom Award on Veterans Day. The Freedom Award recipient is Dr. Michael H. Mescon, “The Pied Piper of Private Enterprise” (Wall Street Journal). Cobb Galleria Performing Arts Centre Ballroom. $125 per person Early Bird Rate through September 25. Click here for information; reserve your seat here. (Checks accepted, too!)  Quotes of Note “One of the few bright spots for black children in American ghettos have been some charter schools that have educated these children to levels equal to, and in some cases better than, those in affluent suburbs. You might think that this would be… View Article

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State Senator Eric Johnson, President pro tempore, Georgia State Senate more quotes
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