Free Public Transport Day

"Transport doesn't have to cost the earth"

New York City - Freedom from Congestion!

The paradox at the heart of traffic gridlock has always been this: car use saves time for the individual driver but takes time from everyone else. Thanks to the Balanced Transportation Analyzer spreadsheet, we have been able to put a price tag on those delay costs. In midtown Manhattan, they’re about thirty bucks per car trip. more

more on Streetsblog ---- more on Gristmill

Tell U.S. Congress - Fund transit not roads

While China invests in Rail projects...

... the U.S. Congress is prepared to use "stimulus" to build more roads. Here is a letter from a constituent to Jim Gerlach, Pennsylvania C0ngressman:

I appreciate your past support of public transportation and your concern about the TARP spending. Now I understand that Congress will vote on an economic recovery package that bows to the highway lobby by allocating 75% of transportation funding to build NEW roads. Please reconsider that allocation. Use transit expenditures to repair our roads and bridges and then use the rest to upgrade public transit. As our population ages we will become more dependent on Public transportation. We do not really want to compete with the Trucks on the highway. The population of the USA has more than doubled since I first learned to drive and the Auto is much less of a convenience. Parking lots mar our landscape. Runoff from roadways pollutes our Rivers and Streams. Our rural areas are covered with asphalt hills from expended roads.

I lived in Germany for 6 months and never needed an Auto. The city was much nicer without them. Less noise and congestion in the city center. There were small shops where I could pick up whatever groceries I needed when I stepped off the subway to walk to my apartment. Here in the USA we are forced to incur the dangers and expense of owning a car.

Please - We need a change of direction in our development of transportation

You can use the CalPirg site to send your comments to your Congressperson.

Roanoke, VA - Free service expanded

Valley Metro Star

The Star Line Trolley, a free public transportation service, was created through a partnership with the City of Roanoke, the Greater Roanoke Transit Company, Carilion Foundation, and Downtown Roanoke Inc. The Trolley operates between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with designated stops between Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Carilion Imaging Center, and Downtown Roanoke’s Market Building. WSLS

Northern Territory, Aus - All students to ride free

"It's about making sure parents don't have to rely as much on dropping students into school."

When asked if the free transport scheme could be extended to the wider community, Ms Lawrie said the government was only targeting the "most disadvantaged".

"This initiative is a first in the nation, we are the ones who have stepped up to the mark," she said.

ntnews

Pensioners ride free as well

The Northern Territory Government’s Free Bus Travel Package is providing free bus travel for Territory students from the end of January, this is added to its decision to offer pensioners free public transport travel from January 1.

This initiative is part of the Northern Territory Government’s plan to extend the bus network and increase public transport use.

All Territory (and visiting Australian students) will travel for free on the Territory’s school and public bus network from Tuesday, January 27, seven days per week.

The Northern Territory is the first in Australia to provide full free public bus travel for students, from primary school students through to University students.

Increasing public transport use aims to reduce carbon emissions and help Green the Territory. Australian Bus and Coach

Gaza crimes show desperation of oil barons

Gaza City [Xinhua net]

Cheaper crude prices have not relieved the essential problem of the U.S. oil-gas companies. They still do not control crude sources and pipeline routes. Their trillions in infrastructure: refineries, tankers, pipelines are at risk. They are murdering the people of Gaza in an attempt to get an excuse to use nuclear weapons against Iran.

If you are tired of constant oil and pipeline wars, you should join the movement for free public transit. Only public transit can break the back of the autosprawl system.

Free Transport proposed for Wales !

Free public transport for Wales, politicians urge in radical plan
Jan 9 2009 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail

...Mrs Law said: “A free, efficient, fully linked-up, public transport system would put Wales at the forefront of the sort of revolution in environmental thinking and sustainability that we simply have to grasp. We cannot afford to squander five or 10 years with a halfway house set of proposals which tinker with the challenges we face.”
...Capital costs could be raised by cancelling, scaling down or postponing at least some of the highly expensive transport projects which the Assembly Government is committing itself to... Wales online

[photo]

Komanoff and Kheel Plan win Streetsblog award

Best Out-of-the-Box Transportation Policy Thinking: With regrets to Councilman Lew Fidler ... we're going to have to give the award to Charles Komanoff for the Kheel Plan and his Balanced Transportation Analyzer. Streetsblog

Beijing, China - Free Buses for 1.6M Seniors

BEIJING, (Xinhua) Jan. 4-- From Jan. 1, with the official implementation of a new policy towards the elderly, nearly 1.6 million people in Beijing aged over 65 began to enjoy preferential treatment of taking buses and visiting parks for free.

Carfree Times & J.H. Crawford

J. H. Crawford is an inspirational writer. His words are powerful and elegant. He has provided leadership when it was not profitable or popular. You can read his work in Carfree Times magazine. Here is an excerpt (An Agenda for Barack Obama).

...Build carfree cities on a large scale. Great effort should go into reconstructing existing cities to operate without cars. The effort is immense and can keep millions of people employed for decades. Use federal lands to build land-grant cities, following the tradition of granting federal lands to achieve public purposes.

Install streetcars in cities with a population of more than 50,000. Keep cars out of their way, so that they can run to schedule. Charge no fare for these services. Attempt to install these systems using a standardized wireless light-rail vehicle....