Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Post

🚌 Embracing the Ride: How Public Transport Elevates City Life 🌆 This morning, as I enjoyed a smooth ride to work on the Washington DC Circulator bus, I reflected on the critical role public transportation plays in urban environments. Efficient, reliable public transit systems like the DC Circulator aren't just about mobility; they're about accessibility and opportunity for everyone. Whether it's a student heading to class, a professional en route to the office, or residents attending local events, public transportation provides an affordable, eco-friendly alternative to driving. It reduces traffic congestion, lowers emissions, and even helps in enhancing the local economy by increasing access to different neighborhoods. Moreover, public transit fosters community connections, bringing together people from all walks of life. It's more than a convenience; it's a lifeline that supports diverse needs and creates a more inclusive cityscape. Let's continue to support and advocate for the expansion and improvement of public transportation systems in our cities. It’s not just about getting from point A to B; it's about ensuring that everyone can participate fully in urban life. #PublicTransport #SustainableCities #UrbanMobility #WashingtonDC #Inclusion

It's getting hotter out there! Public transportation is a vital lifeline for many. But waiting for a bus in the scorching sun can be a miserable experience, deterring ridership and impacting public health. This is where a brilliant, cost-free solution comes in, a Public-Private Partnership for shaded bus stops. Imagine a network of bus stops equipped with ADA-compliant shaded benches, thanks to a collaboration with COA. This innovative approach offers a win-win situation: • Improved Rider Experience: People waiting for buses can find much-needed relief from the sun, making public transportation a more attractive option. This encourages ridership, reducing traffic congestion and pollution. • Cost-Free: The beauty lies in the 100% cost-free and maintenance-free, public-private partnership. Local companies can sponsor these shaded structures, gaining awareness, while the city avoids upfront construction, repair, and maintenance costs. Beyond convenience, shade offers a significant public health benefit. Heatstroke and heat exhaustion are real dangers, especially for vulnerable populations like children and the elderly. Shaded bus stops can help prevent heat-related illnesses, promoting the well-being of citizens. Don't let your city be a hotbed for hardship. It's time to rethink the bus stop experience. Partnering with COA can create a more comfortable, sustainable, and rider-friendly public transportation system. Let's beat the heat, together. Please reach out for the details on COA's Public Space Seating Partnership. #funding #usmayors,  #citymanager #cityplanning #municipal #municipalities #publicspaces #publicspace #transit #bus #commuting #transit #cityscapes #cityliving #townplanning #townplanner #transportationsolutions #transportation #transportationplanning #transportationindustry #transportationsystem #benches #bench #busshelter #publicprivatepartnerships #publicprivatepartnership #publicworks #publictransportation #mayor #mayors

Let’s keep a close look at New York as they become the first city in the US to implement congestion charges to reduce commute times and fund mass transit. Cities in Europe have been doing this for years with great success. If we are to reduce congestion in Toronto we need to look at ways other world class cities are tackling it. Simply removing bike lanes and building more highways is old school thinking that has proven in effective. #turnthetide https://lnkd.in/gYAZ55pM

"No Bus Stop Seating? No Problem. (Actually, There Is Definitely a Problem.)" "Across the country, ordinary people have taken to filling in the gaps in their local transportation systems." It doesn't have to be this way!😣😣😣 By partnering with COA municipalities can implement innovative ADA-compliant public space seating for bus stops and other areas that offer significant advantages: • Zero Cost to Taxpayers: Our partnership provides benches and concrete pads at no cost to taxpayers. We assume the financial burden of purchasing, installing, maintaining, and repairing the benches. • Reduced Municipal Manpower: No municipal labor required. We handle the cleaning of the benches and the area around them. • Minimized Risk Exposure: Municipalities avoid the risks and liability issues. We indemnify the municipality. • ADA Impact: Benches are not just a convenience; they're a bridge to a more equitable transportation system. How Does It Work? We install and maintain benches in public spaces, such as bus stops. We generate revenue through sponsorship sales and share a portion of the revenue with the municipality, creating a sustainable revenue stream for the municipality. By embracing our partnership, you can: • Free Up Budgetary Resources: Redirect funds to other pressing needs, such as infrastructure improvements or social services. • Improve Public Perception: Demonstrate a commitment to community well-being. The elderly, pregnant women, people with disabilities all deserve a place to sit and wait with dignity. • Enhance Public Spaces: Clean and well-maintained public spaces with benches create an inviting environment. Why spend millions in taxpayer revenue when you can join over 300 cities and towns enjoying a cost-free, maintenance-free, and worry-free program? Reach out for a no-obligation brochure, or to set a 15-minute informational presentation. Making people’s lives easier is good for everyone.  #AQOLFA #funding #usmayors  #citymanager #cityplanning #municipal #municipalities #publicspaces #publicspace #transitadvertising #busriders #publictransportation #publictransit #transitauthority  #transit #bus #commuting #transit #cityscapes #cityliving #townplanning #townplanner #transportationsolutions #city #townhall #towns #citycouncil #transportation #transportationplanning #transportationindustry #towncouncil #transportationsystem #benches #bench #busshelter  #publicprivatepartnerships #publicprivatepartnership #publicworks #publictransportation #mayor #mayors #publicworks #bus #citymanagement

Buses connect our neighborhoods and communities equitably and serve as a lifeline for millions of residents. Compared with peer regions, the Chicago region dedicates very little roadway space for public transit. Transit agencies serving cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, Minneapolis, Houston, and Phoenix all have over 100 miles of transit-only or transit-priority roadway lanes. Chicago has less than 15 lane miles in this category. Our bus riders deserve better, and the RTA is excited to see a City Council committee hearing for advancing Western Avenue BRT. Western Avenue is one of the busiest bus corridors in the Chicago region, with more than 20,000 rides per weekday and connections to four Chicago Transit Authority rail lines and one Metra Commuter Rail line. These riders deserve fast and reliable service on their way to work, school, healthcare centers, and visits with family and friends. Building BRT on Western is an efficient way to upgrade service, boost the local economy, and improve quality of life in surrounding neighborhoods. The RTA commends many area aldermen for their interest in and support for Western Avenue BRT and we look forward to Chicago Department of Transportation and CTA discussing the future of this project with the council committee members. 🚇 #urbanplanning #publictransit #transportation #busrapidtransit #chicago

New York City buses are the slowest in the nation, averaging less than eight miles per hour, thanks to abundant traffic congestion and a dearth of dedicated bus lanes. More than one in three New York City bus riders spends an hour or more commuting, the longest commute time of any mode, and are more likely to lack alternatives like subways or protected bike lanes. New Yorkers who rely on the bus are more likely than the average New Yorker to be foreign-born, low-income, and people of color. These inequities are policy choices, but so are the solutions: Bus lanes can speed up buses by 50% and move more than six times as many people as the same space devoted to car traffic, but just 2% of New York City streets have them. Read more:

Fantastic article on the power of micro-transit in bridging transportation gaps in rural Massachusetts. A must-read for anyone interested in equitable, flexible transit solutions. Check it out! https://lnkd.in/e889BTPd

An excellent example of good government creating a new rural public transit service in Western Mass! The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, BERKSHIRE REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY, and FRANKLIN REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY were collectively awarded $4.5 million through MassDOT's new Regional Transit Innovation Grant (RTIG) for two new bus routes that will connect Pittsfield to Northampton and North Adams to Greenfield. These three vital regional transit authorities (RTAs) have partnered together to collaborate in running this new service, which will utilize MassDOT-owned coach buses that were previously purchased for an intercity bus service known as BusPlus. Other significant news thanks to the funding awarded through the RTIG: MeVa Transit was awarded $1.9 million to create a new route as well as to expand service on an existing route, which will reduce travel times from almost an hour-and-a-half to just 15 minutes! In terms of the new route, it will allow riders to travel between two communities in less than an hour, whereas now it takes over two hours with two transfers. Finally, microtransit pilot programs in the Town of Rockport, City of New Bedford, City of Revere, and City of Chelsea and a pilot bus route by the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) were also awarded funding. #mapoli #publictransit #massdot #publictransportation #mobility #mobilityforall #rtig #innovaton #grants

"One of my first experiences with an American public transit system occurred at this bus stop in Houston, TX. My able-bodied, non-driver self was greeted by nothing but a pole in the ground with no amenities to improve my 15-minute wait time in the heat. Compounded by the lack of safe connectivity to adjacent businesses, it made for an unpleasant experience—but a "normal" one in most American cities." The elderly, pregnant women, people with disabilities – all deserve a place to sit and wait with dignity. A report by the NCDJ found that a lack of accessible seating at bus stops is a major barrier to public transit use for people with disabilities. Benches are not just a convenience; they're a bridge to a more equitable transportation system. COA offers turnkey partnerships that provide 100% of the costs and capital expenses associated with purchasing, installing, cleaning, and maintaining ADA-compliant public space benches and concrete pads. Reach out for details and a brochure. #usmayors  #citymanager #cityplanning #municipal #municipalities #publicspaces #publicspace   #transit #bus #commuting #transit #cityscapes #cityliving #townplanning #townplanner #transportationsolutions #city #townhall #towns #citycouncil #transportation  #transportationplanning  #transportationindustry #towncouncil #transportationsystem #benches #bench #busshelter  #publicprivatepartnerships #publicprivatepartnership #publicworks #publictransportation #mayor #mayors #publicworks #bus #citymanagement    

I’m not a transit expert, but I have been commuting in New York City for 35 years, so I feel I can insert myself into the debate over congestion pricing. My solution is to pass a law to implement this plan in ten or more years, on a symbolically significant date. Let’s call it July 26, 2038–the 250th birthday of New York State. Here’s the context along with my rationale. Competing interests have created stagnation about a major policy proposal. The government, representing a forward-thinking, equity-minded coalition, wants to reduce traffic in the city and encourage more climate-friendly transit, while other interest groups, primarily professionals who rely on their vehicles for their work, are fighting against it. My solution is to ground policymaking in the greatest good over the long haul, tempered by compassion and empathy. I think about my father, who commuted to Manhattan from the outer boroughs for nearly 50 years to his job as a service worker. This new cost would be devastating to him, were he still working. He would rightly ask why he, probably feeling uniquely targeted among city dwellers, should bear this cost. He would be faced with difficult decisions in order to absorb or get around the cost to preserve his own, admittedly self- and family-centered lifestyle. He would no doubt see these choices as lose-lose. His experience represents a broad swath of delivery workers, taxi drivers, and on and on that form a significant portion of our economy. Were he to start his career with this congestion pricing factor already in place, however, Hypothetical Dad would have made different decisions at the outset. Perhaps guided by a citywide and statewide ethos of sustainability and racial justice (neither of which we have now, but which are at least suggested by policies such as congestion pricing), he would set up his career and commute to live within the boundaries established by this plan. Fast forward 10 or 14 years. Someone starting out their career in this environment would be in exactly the same place as Hypothetical Dad. And those who are currently advocating for the unsustainable car-focused world we have now will have plenty of time to make the arrangements they need to live and work for a better planet and society. The same, to a smaller extent, is true for those currently in the workforce; they would have a decade or more to plan a new approach—and could tie their change to a communally important date, building a sense of pride in a shared endeavor. Of course, the counter-argument to my proposal is that we don’t have time for dithering. The climate crisis is urgent; there is no time to lose. I agree. But by forcing a policy we need now, when we aren’t ready for it, all we have is gridlock. And nobody wants that.