DOT rules have been tilted against public #transit - but you knew that

Mass transit vs. highways: The Department of Transportation rule that is killing American cities. - Slate Magazine: "The existing rule, sadly, evaluates proposals almost exclusively on the basis of how much time a new rail line shaves off commutes. But taking a train station-to-station rather than driving a car door-to-door is guaranteed to be slower unless traffic jams are severe. This has biased new mass-transit construction in favor of a very particular kind of project: First identify a highway that’s already extremely congested and where widening it is either politically or logistically impossible. Then build commuter-rail tracks in the highway median. Put the stations far apart from one another so that trains can cruise at maximum speed for a long time. Surround the stations with parking lots. Driving your car to a park-and-ride station and taking the train downtown is now cheaper and perhaps faster than the average trip on the congested highway."

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Traffic Makes U.S. Less Energy Secure | Rob Perks's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

Traffic Makes U.S. Less Energy Secure | Rob Perks's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC: "According to SAFE, in 2010 drivers in U.S. urban areas were estimated to have wasted 1.9 billion gallons of fuel -- equivalent to approximately 4 entire days of highway petroleum consumption -- idling in traffic for 4.8 billion hours. (Over the past decade, that wasted time and fuel cost us almost $1 trillion!) By 2030, SAFE estimates that more than 3 billion gallons of fuel will be wasted in the U.S. each year by commuters."

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Got #transit? If not, you are not ready for the future

Red Line Now: Moving Baltimore into the 21st Century: "It's just common sense. More transit is good for everyone. The cities able to compete in today's economy are those that invest in efficient, well connected transit systems that tie residents and jobs together. Cities that do not invest in transit will be left behind."

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What You didn’t See on the News Last Night- Protesters March to Mark GITMO 10th Anniversary

What You didn’t See on the News Last Night- Protesters March to Mark GITMO 10th Anniversary: "What you probably didn’t see last night on the news amid all of the VERY important new madness coming out of the Republican Presidential primary in South Carolina were the demonstrations timed to note the tenth anniversary of the shame that is GITMO. "

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Occupy Congress #Jan17 #j17

http://www.occupyyourcongress.info/
http://wiki.occupyyourcongress.info/index.php?title=Main_Page