Month: November 2009

  • Tweaking the RTP for Climate Change

    Metro is reporting that TPAC (Transportation Policy Alternatives Committee – the technocrats) had a discussion about the impacts of climate change policy on the Regional Transportation Plan, but the momentum still appears to be for the status quo on the project list: Other TPAC members, while acknowledging the importance and urgency of reducing greenhouse gas…

  • Dutch Move to VMT Tax

    Via the Streetsblog network. The Dutch cabinet has agreed to reduce vehicle ownership taxes and impose a new tax based on kilometers driven (complete with GPS tracking – privacy protections are promised). The new tax will be higher during peak driving hours. The government is predicting reductions in both emissions and congestion.

  • Google Controls the Value of Your House

    This complaint off the Google Transit e-mail list today: The walk score of the homes in Great Neck are artificially low in www.zillow.com which is a home valuation web sitedue to the fact that the MTA or the LIRR trains do not provide them with the transit data. This has depressed the home prices in…

  • Cul-de-sacs Kill!

    Update: 11/20/09 The slides are now online. Original Post: 11/5/09 I’m attending the Congress for New Urbanism Transportation Summit here in Portland this week (where I’ve had the opportunity to meet several other transportation bloggers!). For me the highlight presentation on opening day on Wednesday was about the safety affects of different street network types.…

  • Talking to Conservatives About Rail Transit

    Streetfilms has a great video with William Lind, a conservative transit advocate, about how to talk about transit in terms that conservatives will appreciate. I would also note that the late Paul Weyrich, who co-founded the Heritage Foundation, was a trail transit advocate, evening making that point while serving on an infrastructure panel for the…