New rail cars may join DART family Dallas Morning News April 10, 2004 Change may be on the way for DART’s classic yellow trains. For its next expansion, Dallas Area Rapid Transit is considering a different version of the light-rail vehicles that have plied city streets since 1996. The yellow-and-white décor would remain, but passengers would notice several major differences if the new cars hit the streets. The vehicles, known in transit circles as C cars, would be specially made additions to DART’s existing light-rail cars. (Think of a special segment that could be added to convert a two-door coupe to a four-door sedan.) The DART board of directors could decide by fall whether to order the vehicles. The new cars, which have not been used by other agencies, would start running along light-rail tracks by 2009. If the cars are installed on DART’s fleet, passengers would no longer have to navigate steps to enter the new rail car section. The C car floor is virtually even with the rail platforms, but the transit agency would have to make some modifications to existing stations. Eliminating the steps up into the rail car would make it easier for DART to comply with federal guidelines that encourage easy rail car access for people with disabilities. When DART ordered its first rail cars, companies were not making light-rail vehicles without inside steps. Instead, the agency built elevated blocks at each station that passengers with disabilities use to enter light-rail cars. “This positions us to take advantage of the emerging technology and meet access standards,” said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons. But adding the C cars wouldn’t provide as much seating capacity to two- car trains as would the addition of another full rail car. Two-car trains that are expanded have about eight fewer seats than a regular three-car train. But DART also plans to run many three-car trains that feature the expanded rail vehicles, and those will have more seats than current three-car trains. “This gives us more flexibility to adjust to capacity,” said Tim McKay, DART’s senior vice president for project management. Each C car features 24 seats. Each of DART’s 95 rail cars features 72 seats. If the C cars are used, the transit agency would be able to add seats back to the existing vehicles where passengers using wheelchairs currently ride, for a total of about 104 seats per expanded rail car. Passengers will notice the difference when train service really needs more than one rail car but does not have enough riders for two cars. The C cars would add more seats to each train, requiring fewer riders to stand during their transit trip. If purchased, the expanded rail cars would be spread throughout the DART system, not just on the new lines that will open around 2010. Before three-car expanded trains could be used, DART would have to expand at least one downtown rail station platform to accommodate the longer trains. The St. Paul station can only handle existing three-car trains, and DART is negotiating with the city about how to extend the platform without adversely affecting car and truck traffic. Lower cost is another plus of buying C cars, according to the transit agency. The C cars cost about $1 million, while a full light-rail car costs about $3 million. DART already is testing one of the C cars in use on the blue line from east Oak Cliff to Garland. The agency estimates it would need 114 C cars when rail expands to places such as Fair Park, Rowlett, Carrollton and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The cost would be $114 million, which compares favorably with the estimated $150 million cost for 50 new light-rail cars like those now in use. About $22 million of the $36 million in rail car cost savings would have to be used to make changes to existing stations and the light-rail maintenance facility. The net result for the agency would be $14 million in savings.

A snip of a ribbon in the predawn hours of April 18 will mark the re-emergence of the Canal streetcar Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) April 10, 2004 Don’t expect any fanfare to shatter the predawn quiet on April 18 as daily streetcar service resumes on Canal Street after an absence of nearly four decades. Other than a ceremonial ribbon-cutting by Regional Transit Authority executives, nothing is planned to mark the historic moment, which should take place about 3:10 a.m. when the first apple-red car opens its door to paying customers at the intersection of Canal and South Salcedo streets. A full-blown celebration has been scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend, May 29 and 30, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the last trip by a streetcar along the length of Canal Street. RTA officials say they have no idea how many riders hoping to be a part of history will show up April 18 before sunrise, when drivers begin shifts under their union contract with the agency. Transit police officers will be on hand to maintain order in case a crowd gathers. Because the RTA still will be testing streetcars throughout the night on April 17, riders will not be allowed to line up along the Canal Street neutral ground until 1 a.m. Boarding the first streetcar will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Each car can accommodate 40 seated passengers and offer standing room for another two dozen or so. 1st car cemeteries-bound The fare on the Canal line will be $1.25, the same as regular RTA streetcar and bus routes. Transfers are 25 cents. After leaving the new maintenance barn inside the A. Philip Randolph Operations Facility in the 2800 block of Canal, the inaugural Canal Street streetcar will turn right and travel toward the cemeteries located near the line’s terminus at City Park Avenue. Several minutes later, a second car will follow. Shortly thereafter, a third vehicle will roll in the opposite direction to the foot of Canal Street, and ultimately to the end of the Riverfront streetcar route at Esplanade Avenue. About 4:15 a.m., a fourth streetcar will head toward the cemeteries, but it will turn right at North Carrollton Avenue for the first daily trip along a one-mile spur linking the Canal Street line with the entrance to City Park at Beauregard Circle. On April 18, the riverfront line effectively will become part of the Canal Street route. As a result, the RTA will lower the $1.50 riverfront fare to $1.25. Since its inception in 1988, the riverfront line between Esplanade and Julia Street has been designated as an “express” route for which riders have paid an additional 25 cents. Additional cars and drivers will be on standby April 18 in case the demand is greater than expected, transit officials said. Anniversary ride New Orleans Public Service Inc., the private company that turned over operation of the transit system to the RTA more than 20 years ago, discontinued Canal Street streetcar service on May 31, 1964. It was with that date in mind that RTA officials chose the Memorial Day weekend to officially mark the return of streetcars. Although details are still being sketched out, the agency plans to hold a ceremony May 29 at 10 a.m. at Canal and Baronne streets that will feature music and speeches. Later, a streetcar carrying VIPs and visiting dignitaries will travel the route, where event planners say they hope to enlist local restaurateurs, merchants and community groups to host block parties. Among the ideas being discussed are discounted meals, sales and free samples. When the pomp and circumstance is over, customers will be allowed to ride streetcars for free throughout the weekend. The offer will be good only on the riverfront and Canal Street routes, not on the St. Charles Avenue line. New and different After more than a decade of study and design, work on the $161 million streetcar project began in January 2001. Construction crews finished laying track and hanging overhead wiring in late September. Since then, the RTA has been testing the 24 cars that will run along Canal and training dozens of drivers. Except for their color, the Canal line streetcars will look much like the venerable Perley Thomas Car Co. streetcars that run on St. Charles Avenue. Among the notable differences are the addition of air conditioning, a modern propulsion system and hydraulic lifts on both sides to accommodate wheelchairs. Installing those amenities on the St. Charles line would jeopardize its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, according to RTA officials.

LRT subsidy?; No different from roads Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) April 10, 2004 Anyone troubled by the notion that the Hiawatha light-rail line might induce development along its tracks, some of it subsidized, has an unfortunate blind spot to the nation’s transportation history. One critic quoted in a recent series in this newspaper, for example, described the line’s development subsidies as “stealing from the taxpayers.” Some influential legislators, by their rhetoric and policies, seem to agree. But that’s rubbish. The nation has a long history of beneficial public investment in transportation and related development that precedes by nearly two centuries Hiawatha and other current light-rail projects. Start with the Erie Canal, begun in 1817. Financed by the state of New York, the canal opened the eastern Great Lakes to farming, settlement and industry. By the 1830s, the canal’s subsidies had spawned so much business that the canal became a development bank for boom towns like Buffalo and Rochester, and solidified New York City as the nation’s commercial capital. The federal government entered the subsidy business in the 1860s. It granted to railroads vast expanses of free western land — 131 million acres — to induce expansion and commerce from Chicago to the Pacific coast. In concert, the Homestead Act of 1862 gave farmland to settlers near railroads. Minnesota led the nation in homestead claims in the 1860s. The state would not exist as we know it without this subsidized arrangement that benefited railroads, settlers, agriculture and industry. In 1956, the federal government launched a third wave of transportation subsidy that transformed the landscape, outlook and even the diet of the nation. The Interstate Highway Act opened 42,000 miles of fresh pavement and propelled a new suburban lifestyle. Untold billions of dollars in economic activity were triggered by the initial $27 billion Interstate investment. Without it there would be no Wal-Mart, no McDonald’s, no Maple Grove as we know them. While drivers ostensibly covered costs through gasoline taxes, the new freeways shifted enormous private and public investment outward from older cities. Suburbs routinely used subsidy to help build connecting roads, sewers, factories, office parks and shopping centers with “free” parking. The Mall of America is prominent among hundreds of local examples. The transit revival now underway across urban America is, in a tiny way, recompense for the Interstate Highway Act. Hiawatha and its paltry development subsidies are aimed at repairing a portion of the damage unwittingly done to an older city. Restoring jobs and a wide range of housing while employing rail transit to take pressure off busy freeways seems to us not a theft of taxpayer money, but a fair and worthy public investment in line with long-standing American tradition. Canals, western railroads, homesteads, Interstate highways and thriving suburbs added untold value to the nation. There’s no reason to hold the Hiawatha corridor, or any other emerging transit corridor, to a different standard.

Editorial Quit Shortchanging Dallas; Metroplex needs its share of transit dollars Dallas Morning News April 11, 2004 North Texas is tired of being shortchanged. At a time when this area needs federal transportation dollars more than ever, drivers have shelled out $1.1 billion more in gas taxes the last six years than North Texas has gotten back for road and transit projects. That imbalance needs to change right now. Dallas Area Rapid Transit is seeking $700 million in federal funds for the critical next phase of its passenger rail system. The popular service will reach its full potential with this next construction program. The transit project deserves Washington’s full support. The transportation funds will help DART build a 35-mile expansion of its light-rail system, connecting the Irving and Las Colinas urban center, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Love Field, the Dallas Medical Center, the Market Center, Fair Park, South Dallas and Pleasant Grove. This next section of the transit line finally will connect the dots for DART riders. It will give the public an easier way to reach medical facilities, provide transportation to employment centers, open up Fair Park to more visitors and provide Irving, Farmers Branch and Carrollton the system they have long deserved. Competition for transportation funding is particularly tough this year. The Bush administration is looking for ways to cut the budget and trim requests. But DART’s history of paying most of its own costs should place it at the front of the line for support. This region paid for more than 80 percent of the transit agency’s 20-mile light-rail starter line. And in 2002, DART paid for 68 percent of the 24 miles of extensions to the northeast and north central lines from local sales taxes. Few mass transit systems have records as impressive as DART’s on paying their own way. Congress currently is wrangling on the amount of budget money that will go to transportation programs. The House wants $275 billion. The Senate wants $317 billion. The Bush administration is looking for $235 billion. Regardless of the final amount for transportation, DART deserves full funding. Dallas area members of Congress are working hard to persuade fellow lawmakers. But this is a request DART has earned. And North Texas is long overdue for its fair share.

Metro chairman seeks broad base of support Houston Chronicle April 11, 2004 David Wolff, chairman and president of the commercial development firm Wolff Cos., recently took over as chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s board of directors. Mayor Bill White tapped Wolff to oversee transit policy and the Metro Solutions expansion plan, which voters narrowly approved in November. Wolff sat down recently in his Galleria-area office with transportation reporter Lucas Wall. Question: Metro has a lot of opponents in the community — 48 percent of voters cast their ballots against the expansion plan. What can you do to improve the agency’s image and promote the benefits of mass transit? Answer: It’s unfortunate the referendum had to take place before the Main Street light rail commenced operating because people really had no idea what light rail was going to be like until they could see it with their own eyes. I think the margin of victory would have been greater if it had been a few months later, but they couldn’t afford to wait. Q: But with all the wrecks, the limited destinations and slow speed of the trains, do you not think the referendum might have failed if it were held today? A: Absolutely we take the accidents seriously and are continuing to make efforts to reduce them, but generally people look at it and say, “My goodness, what this opens up for the city in terms of possibilities!” It changes our view of what the city can become. … People’s reactions, don’t you think, have been on balance favorable? People who criticize us are just looking to say something negative. Q: Safety is becoming a major concern on the first rail line, with 33 crashes so far. What else can be done to address the problem? A: We need much better traffic-law enforcement. When was the last time you saw somebody getting a ticket for being the last car through a red light? People are making illegal left turns on Main Street and getting into accidents with the train. Why are they in the habit of making illegal turns? … Running a rail line in a city that has never had a rail line before, in a heavily traveled corridor where people are not accustomed to following traffic laws, is not without its problems. But I’m hoping we can get a handle on it. Q: Are you saying the cops aren’t doing their job? A: There needs to be a reassignment of personnel. I have no reason to believe police are slacking off. But I don’t think HPD has a very active traffic enforcement division; I’ve been told that. Q: What about your vision for Metro? A: Metro has done many good things in the past. Part of my vision will be to communicate that to the community and build a broad base of support among many people. One issue lately has been the support of the congressional delegation for Metro. I want to earn the support of the entire delegation because you really can’t create a regional transportation system, which depends a great deal on federal funding, without strong congressional support. We’ve got to earn that. Q: What about U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay? He has been actively opposed to rail in Houston. What steps can you take to bring him around? A: One thing we will do is assure him that he will know everything I know when I know it in terms of numbers, projections and the like. In the past, there’s been — rightly or wrongly — a question as to whether or not Metro has been totally forthcoming with its information. … He wanted there to be a referendum. Now that’s been held, and he wrote me a cordial letter saying he is looking forward to working with me. I think Tom DeLay is “what you see is what you get.” Q: Do you ever ride the bus or train? A: I’ve taken the train. I grew up taking transit in Philadelphia. Took the trolley and bus home from school every day, and I’ve spent a lot of time on transit systems around the country and around the world. I haven’t really developed much familiarity with the bus system in Houston, but I intend to.

Analysis: A Very French Coup. They Make It All Up As They Go Along; To The City Of London, The EuroTunnel Revolt Underlines The Perverse Independent on Sunday (London) April 11, 2004 The French Revolution took place more than 200 years ago. Try telling that to the board of Eurotunnel, who were deposed last week in a coup d’etat by French shareholders. Unlike in the 1790s, this was a bloodless coup. But despite the absence of the guillotine, it was still pretty shocking. On Wednesday, small shareholders led by convicted fraudster and former journalist Nicolas Miguet hijacked a company worth around EUR1.3bn (half its value six months ago). One London-based banker involved in the talks said: “The whole shareholder action was run like a banana republic.” The Queen, who returned on Wednesday night on Eurostar from her Paris trip to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, might have half- expected to see a mob of baying French shareholders massing at the tunnel entrance. To the City, the Eurotunnel revolt merely underscores French perversity, especially when it comes to business. “It couldn’t happen here,” they say. But is corporate France, as some claim, a law unto itself, the only place where communism really works? And can it stay that way? In France, many companies are still owned by the state, especially in the utility and transport sectors, which in the UK were privatised in the 1990s. French companies are heavily unionised, making it harder to cut jobs and weakening the power of management. In the UK, the prevailing wisdom is that the market will decide whether a company survives or not; in France, the state is far more likely to intervene on “public interest” grounds. Last year the government backed a EUR3.4bn (pounds 2.2bn) restructuring package to rescue loss-making Alstom, a publicly quoted engineering firm which makes high-speed TGV trains. Alstom’s main creditor bank, BNP Paribas, made the ridiculous claim that if Alstom was allowed to fail, it would threaten the French and European financial systems because of the company’s EUR5bn debts. The French banks were not acting for the good of their fellow Europeans in supporting the restructuring. Francis Mer, the finance minister, presented them with a fait accompli: approve the plan, or the company will go into insolvency and the banks will have to write off their loans. A good relationship with the French government is worth hundreds of millions of euros in advisory fees to the banks. Over the next five years, the government is planning to privatise many of the companies it owns or holds controlling stakes in. When the government asks a banker to do something, it pays to agree. An old boys’ network further cements relations between the state and private sector. Two of the former secretary-generals of the Comite Interministeriel de Restructuration Industrielle (Ciri), a state body which advised on government intervention in the 1980s, were closely involved in the Alstom restructuring. Michel Pebereau is now the president of BNP Paribas, while another former Ciri secretary- general, Philippe Jaffre, is Alstom’s finance director. Alstom’s rivals have complained to the European Commission, with some justification, that it is receiving unfair state aid. Mario Monti, the Competition Commissioner, was furious with Mr Mer last summer after the Alstom rescue was announced without prior consultation with Brussels. While governments do not wait for EU clearance for rescue deals before going ahead, it is customary to give Brussels advance warning. It is not the EU’s first run-in with France. In October, Mr Monti announced he would take the government to court over its failure to recover EUR450m in aid to the struggling French IT company Groupe Bull. France has responded by submitting a request to Brussels to clear a new EUR520m loan, so it can repay the original aid. A couple of years ago France was censured over state aid to Credit Lyonnais, the bank which was taken back into state control then reprivatised. One of the French government’s biggest privatisation projects is Electricite de France (Edf), the huge state-owned nuclear generator and electricity supplier. The complexity of the group, which owns a swathe of energy companies in the UK including London Electricity, baffles even bankers. It has decommissioning liabilities estimated at EUR20bn, pension liabilities totalling EUR50bn and a highly unionised workforce threatening to go on strike if the company is privatised. It is hardly an attractive prospect. But the government is determined to press ahead with a share placing, so it will happen eventually. One former employee based in the UK says the company almost acts as an arm of the state: “Edf operates in an imperial way. It does not like criticism.” Nor does French luxury fashion group LVMH, which took US investment bank Morgan Stanley to court after one of its analysts was mildly critical of the company, suggesting for example that its product range was “mature”. Amazingly, the French courts ordered the bank to pay up to EUR100m in compensation. Morgan Stanley is appealing. If the ruling is upheld, it will have far-reaching consequences for corporate France. Following the original verdict, investmernt banks fearful of litigation are already reducing their coverage of French companies. An equity research manager at a German bank said it had not begun coverage of any French companies since the LVMH court case. He added that, in the longer term, less coverage of French companies by analysts would lead to fewer international investors. “Analysts have to be more careful writing about French companies. Now, when you are deciding whether to extend coverage and the company in question is French, it’s one more thing to consider. Over time, the less coverage of French companies there is, the less comfortable international investors will be in holding French shares. There will be an affect. How big it will be I don’t know.” The French government’s grip on corporate life will loosen once its privatisation programme gets under way. But this is motivated more by expediency than a recognition that state intervention prolongs inefficiency and bad management; selling stakes in companies like Edf will help to reduce its ballooning budget deficit. It is doubtful whether the Eurotunnel shareholders’ coup is in the long- term interests of the company, given that its precarious position is not due to bad management. But they can hardly be fiercely criticised when the state itself so frequently shows its contempt for the private sector and the free market. IT COULD ONLY HAPPEN IN FRANCE… French pharmaceuticals group Sanofi-Synthelabo makes a EUR48bn hostile takeover offer for Aventis, its larger rival. Aventis seeks a white-knight bid from Swiss group Novartis, but the French government indicates that the vaccines producer should be kept in French hands on national security grounds. - A French court awards LVMH EUR100m after a Morgan Stanley analyst writes a critical report about the French luxury goods company. - Alstom, the manufacturer of TGV trains and cruise ships, is bailed out with a EUR3.4bn government-backed restructuring. - Mario Monti, the EU Competition Commissioner, sues the French government after it fails to recover EUR450m in government subsidies to loss-making French IT company Groupe Bull. - Orange minority shareholders issue lawsuits against France Telecom, which is buying out the mobile phone company, saying that its offer is not high enough. - French shareholders in Eurotunnel, led by convicted fraudster Nicolas Miguet, vote out the board, which it blames for the group’s EUR6.4bn debt. - Workers at nuclear generator and electricity group Electricite de France march through the streets of Paris protesting against government plans to float a stake in the group. - Vivendi Universal’s French shareholders launch lawsuits against former managers of the media group to get them to pay EUR54m towards settling a fine in the US.

STRAPPED FOR RIDERS Millions snub subways, buses since 50� hike Daily News (New York) April 12, 2004 Millions of New Yorkers are passing up buses and subways each month since last year’s 50-cent fare hike — but the empty seats aren’t hurting the MTA’s bottom line. The 33% fare increase pumped more than $261 million into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s coffers, even though an average of 6.6 million fewer passengers rode buses and subways each month. While officials blame the nearly 4% decline in ridership on many factors, including August’s blackout and a cold and snowy winter, some riders clearly are shunning the trains and buses for economic reasons. College student Keith Williams of Coney Island said when the base fare went to $2 from $1.50, he started cutting back on subway trips. “I walk more than I take the train now,” Williams, 20, said at the Times Square station. “College students have to try and save money. [The extra] 50 cents is hard when you don’t have it.” Unlimited-ride MetroCards, like the $21 weekly pass, reduce the cost of a ride the more they are used. But Williams echoed other cash-strapped riders who said they can’t afford to shell out that kind of dough regularly. Irma Vasquez, 49, of Jersey City, who bought a single ride ticket at Times Square recently, said she, too, has changed her travel patterns. “I’m taking less trips because it’s too expensive,” said Vasquez, who is out of work. Each of the months following the May 1, 2003, fare increase saw a decline in ridership over the same period the previous year. But the drop varied wildly: In September, there were barely 1 million fewer riders than the previous September, but August saw ridership drop more than 17 million from the year before. MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said the increase in fare revenues has fallen short of what the MTA expected and isn’t enough to cover debt service, rising health care costs and other expenses that has the MTA projecting a budget gap of about $540 million next year. Officials have vowed to keep the base fare at $2, but have hinted they may cut MetroCard discounts. And last week, MTA Executive Director Katherine Lapp told agency heads to cut their budgets to bridge the gap. Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign said ridership declines traditionally follow fare hikes and eventually rebound. But he said he’s hoping lawmakers — not riders — provide any new bailouts. “I’m worried,” Russianoff said. “Their financial situation is serious. Like the MTA, I’m looking to the governor, legislators and mayor to prevent riders from taking it on the chin.” GRAPHIC FARE WELL TO PEOPLE In the nine months following the Meetropolitan Transportation Authority’s 50-cent fare hike in May 2003, subway and bus ridership fell significantly, but fare revenues went way up: - Riders Down 59,085,441 - Revenue UP $261,177,975 Figures represent May 2003-Jan 2004 vs. the same period a year earlier

Monorail Project Spends Big Money On Ads, European Director ; KIRO Team 7 Investigation Uncovers $7M Budget For Promotion KIRO-TV News — Seattle 13 April 2004 SEATTLE — The new Seattle Monorail Project is short millions of dollars — even before the system is built. But that isn’t stopping an expensive television ad from getting filmed right now. This month alone, the monorail authority will spend $1.3 million creating, then airing TV promotional ads. If that wasn’t eye-popping enough, it approved a New York production company and a French director to put the spots together. Olivier Venturini is a well-paid, prominent European film director. KIRO Team 7 Investigators videotaped the Marseille, France, native overseeing production of monorail TV ads here in Seattle. The new Monorail Authority very quietly flew him in recently to direct “educational” commercials for the yet-to-be-built transit system. Should Monorail Project Spend Money On Ads? Should the Seattle Monorail Project spend tax dollars on television ads? Yes. No. Not sure. We wanted to ask Venturini about the ads, but he ignored us. Halsne: “Just 30 seconds of your time!” Venturini: “No.” Halsne: “Can we ask you a few questions about your directing?” Venturini: [Silence] In fact, talent and crews here couldn’t say anything to us, reportedly having to sign non-disclosure contracts to be on the set. So what’s the big secret? KIRO Team 7 Investigators discovered taxpayers are spending about $640,000 for actual production of the TV ad alone, another $675,000 to air it later this month. This year’s overall advertising and “feel good” promotion budget is actually around $7 million, all spent before a single piling is poured. “We think its outrageous, simply a misuse of taxpayers’ money,” said Henry Aronson. Aronson belongs to a monorail watchdog group called OnTrack. His group can’t believe the monorail authority has the gall to hire big-money European talent for its “image-improvement” ads. “They claim it’s a job creation program, one of the basis of which they’re promoting the monorail. I suspect they’re promoting jobs in Paris,” Aronson said. Monorail Executive Director Joel Horn is defending the hiring of a European director, producer and cinematographer. “We’re bringing the best talent from around the world … to make the monorail the single biggest environmental improvement project in the history of Seattle,” Horn said. Late last week, the Seattle Film commission told KIRO Team 7 Investigators very few local actors and technicians were being used in the monorail commercial shoots. That changed after our calls. A local production company was hired at the last minute. However, the ads no doubt will have a markedly European look when they are done.

Electrified Caltrain may soothe nerves; Noise reduction would be big benefit of plan, slated for completion San Mateo County Times (San Mateo, April 13, 2004 For more than a century, the soundtrack to life on the Peninsula has been the roar of an engine, the blast of a whistle and the clang of bells on crossing arms. The Peninsula’s rail line has been responsible for countless sleepless nights and drowned-out conversations. But Caltrain has a number of projects in the works that could cut noise to unheard of levels in the County. From electrification to high-speed rail, a better night’s sleep could be coming down the line. That prospect has excited Peninsula residents, who have often had to take a stoic attitude toward the train noise — it has always been here, and it always will be. “I could hear the whistle so clear, it drove me crazy,” said Richard Silver, executive director of the Rail Riders Association of California. “It was to the point if the train came at the wrong time, you knew it.” Silver, a San Francisco resident, used to live three blocks from the Caltrain tracks in Redwood City. The problem has always been that the County grew up along the rails and, in some places, nearly on top of them. The tracks cut right through the most densely populated portion of the Peninsula and come within 50 feet of some homes, making the noise deafening for some residents. A newly released environmental review shows replacing Caltrain’s diesel trains with electric versions could reduce noise for the most affected residences from 21 percent to 100 percent, depending on which system is used. Currently more than 800 homes and apartments are in the zone most affected by Caltrain noise. Caltrain hopes to finish the $602 million-to-$865 million project by 2008, provided all the funding for the project materializes. The high-speed rail system that planners hope will one day run between San Francisco and Los Angeles would also mean millions of dollars to remove the nearly 50 grade crossings up and down the Peninsula. That would mean less noise because Caltrain could do away with the crossing arms and horn toots that are required by law at each crossing. That project is also facing serious hurdles. Gov. Schwarzenegger has recommended putting off a $9 billion bond measure for the project that was slated to appear on November’s ballot. “There is a concern that it won’t pass because of the nation and the state economy,” Richard Silver said. In the meantime, Caltrain is also continuing a program to move the horns from the tops of its engines to the undercarriages. The move concentrates the sound closer to the tracks instead of broadcasting it to surrounding neighborhoods. “I think it would be night and day,” said Caltrain spokeswoman Jayme Kunz of the noise reduction from the various projects. “You would be eliminating horn noise, crossing noise. The noise generated by the rumbling of the train would be mitigated a great deal.” The noise reduction would be somewhat mitigated by the fact that Caltrain hopes to run more trains. By 2020, it anticipates it will have 132 runs a day, up from 76 today.Staff Writer Justin

Roanoke — Trolley Study Rail Transit Online April 2004 A preliminary feasibility study into a proposed downtown heritage streetcar system is scheduled to begin shortly. The Greater Roanoke Transit Authority has agreed to spend $30,000 on the assessment, which will include a conceptual analysis, route options, operational scenarios and possible funding sources. “This is still a preliminary step to see if this is something Roanoke wants to do,” Matthew Wynn, the authority’s maintenance director, told The Roanoke Times. The plan was hatched by City Councilman Bev Fitzpatrick, a rail enthusiast who believes trolleys would help revive downtown economically and also be a tourist attraction. Fitzpatrick believes antique trolleys could be refurbished and put in service on Jefferson Street and parts of Church, Salem or Campbell avenues. The council supports the study, which should be completed in May, but some critics contend that Roanoke has an overriding focus on the past and needs to look forward instead of backward.

Shanghai maglev track is sinking Shanghai Daily April 13, 2004 BEIJING — The track of the Shanghai Maglev Line is sinking, according to Shanghai Maglev Transport Development Company. “We have been aware of the sinking of our maglev track, though very slightly,” Xia Guozhong, an official in charge of the company’s media section, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. He declined to comment on what had caused the sinking or whether it would affect the operation of the city’s maglev line — the world’s first maglev in commercial use. Some rail transport experts contacted by Shanghai Daily yesterday believe the sinking could be caused by either overpumping of underground water or faulty track foundations. But they stressed that a slight sinking or “sinking within safe range” is normal and had occurred in the city’s existing Rail Transport No.1 and No.2. It would not have severe consequences for the line’s normal operation, they said. Yu Jiakang, a senior engineer of Shanghai Tunnel Engineering and Rail Transit Design and Research Institute, said: “If the track sinks beyond its safety level, managers will have to stop the line’s operation. “Constructors can also halt the sinking of a rail track by re-consolidating its foundation,” Yu said. With a total investment of 8.9 billion yuan (US$1.07 billion), the 30-kilometer Shanghai Maglev Line, which uses German technology, links the bustling Pudong New Airport to Longyang Road Metro Station in about eight minutes. But in the first week of daily all-day operation late last month, only about one-sixth of available tickets were sold, operators said. On average, about 73 passengers travel on each trip of the train which has 440 seats. A normal ticket for each one-way trip costs 75 yuan. Critics say the line’s low traffic flow is caused by its expensive admission, poor market promotion and the line’s limited distance.

Light-rail foes announce initiative campaign Beacon Hill News & South District Journal 14 April 2004 The state Supreme Court ruled that the difference between the Sound Transit light-rail line the voters were sold in 1996 and the scaled-back, over-budget, behind-schedule one they are getting does not constitute a violation of state law. Well, says the opposition, then we’ll just have to change the state law. On a 6-3 decision earlier this year, the state’s high court ruled against the group Sane Transit in its challenge of the regional transit agency. That decision was widely seen as removing the last significant roadblock to Sound Transit’s light-rail plan. But now, a group calling itself Trust and Transit, organized by some of the same people involved in Sane Transit, is sponsoring a statewide initiative campaign that would, if it makes the ballot, passes and withstands court challenges, compel local transit agencies to go back to the voters to reauthorize projects that differ substantially from what was originally approved. “The Supreme Court, we don’t agree with their decision, that the voters have given Sound Transit discretion to change things this dramatically,” said Maggie Fimia, a Shoreline City Council member and former King County Council member. “The initiative is the only way for the public to get its sovereignty back.” While the initiative would subject to a revote any local transit project that costs 130 percent or more than was approved at the polls, travels less than 90 percent of the distance or is estimated to carry fewer than 75 percent of the passengers than originally projected, it is clear that the target is Sound Transit’s Central Link light-rail plan, for it fails by all three criteria. A revote would take place only in the taxing jurisdiction that gave the original go-ahead. Projects within six months or 75 percent of completion would be exempt. “Right now, Sound Transit is the only agency that has radically changed what the voters voted for,” Fimia said. Trust and Transit is shooting for a spot on the November ballot. To qualify, it will need to collect about 198,000 valid signatures statewide by July 2. Fimia estimates the effort will cost $400,000 to $500,000. Daniel Norton, a former chairman of the King County Democrats and a Trust and Transit supporter, said if Sound Transit indeed has the public support it claims, it has nothing to fear from the initiative. “If Sound Transit is correct, they’ll win by 60 percent,” Norton said. “That’s the support they claim they have. They always say they have overwhelming public support. If that’s the case, they’ll support it overwhelmingly.” Trust and Transit has hired Matthew Fox to manage the campaign. “It’s important to send the message that voters aren’t giving a blank check when they approve tax increases,” Fox said, “and not just for transit projects, but for all kinds of projects.”

Commuters face deluge of detours during construction The Maryland Gazette April 14, 2004 Michelle Collins and her two children couldn’t wait to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus last month in Baltimore. Alex, 8, and Sarrie Collins, 7, had been pleading for years to go. So months in advance, Ms. Collins bought tickets for a show, figuring it would be a good field trip for her homeschooled children. As part of the excitement connected with the outing, the Arnold family planned to ride the light rail into the city. But a different kind of circus greeted them when they arrived at the Cromwell Station light rail stop in Glen Burnie: orange fencing, the pulsating sound of jackhammers tearing up the sidewalk and a shuttle bus that would transport the Collinses and about three dozen others to stops along the Central Light Rail Line. The Maryland Transit Administration shut down the rail line south of Oriole Park at Camden Yards Feb. 28 so crews can complete the rail line’s $153 million double-tracking project. The work, which involves laying another track where the line has just one, is expected to be finished by Oct. 1. “We didn’t know this was going on, so this is slowing us down,” said Ms. Collins, seated on a 9:05 a.m. shuttle with Alex and Sarrie. Local shuttles, which pick up and drop off passengers at every light rail stop, run every 16 minutes from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and every 24 minutes during off-peak hours, said Richard Scher, a MTA spokesman. Express shuttles, which make fewer stops, run only during peak hours. The MTA expects to have ridership numbers for March by the end of this month and is waiting until then to analyze the profitability — or lack thereof — of the shuttles, he said. Like the Collinses, most of the other riders on the shuttle seemed to take in stride their altered mode of transportation. MTA officials hope to reopen the North Linthicum stop around July 1 and finish Cromwell Station by Sept. 1. The shuttle system has been a work in progress for would-be rail riders and the MTA. “I can’t stress enough this is a massive effort,” Mr. Scher said. “Shutting down the southern end of the light rail is something we’ve never done before.” That means adjustment, and plenty of it. On this day several people looking for a regular MTA bus tried to board, only to be turned away by driver Deborah Morton, who loudly called out, “Cromwell,” at several stops in the city to indicate she was driving a rail shuttle. Getting to Baltimore was literally just as bumpy, as the shuttle lurched forward over potholes and steel plates, and navigated around motorists. At one spot just south of the Patapsco stop, a red Ford Focus cut off the shuttle, prompting a loud blast of the horn from Ms. Morton. The bus ride, however, does provide some scenery the light rail trains didn’t. As Alex clung to his mother on this trip, Sarrie stared out the window. As the bus rolled through Baltimore Highlands, she told her mother, “Look Mommy, they still have their Christmas lights up.” For daily commuters, however, surviving the shuttle is more a matter of making the best of a bad situation than enjoying the scenery. Some read newspapers, some listen to headphones and others stare off into space. The 9:05 a.m. shuttle on this day reached downtown nearly an hour later. Ms. Collins said the last time her family rode the light rail, the trip took 20 minutes. While light rail is noted for its low ridership, both trips of this shuttle to and from Baltimore were standing room only at some points. “This is hectic. I hate it. It’s bad when you can hardly walk,” said Baltimore resident Stephanie Harris, who uses a cane. “They don’t have enough buses.” Light rail riders may not be riding the shuttles because of traffic conditions they normally wouldn’t encounter like stoplights and potholes, Mr. Scher said. “Ridership is down compared to the light rail, no question about it. There’s no way you can accurately compare riding a light rail train without dealing with traffic conditions like riding the bus,” he said. Other commuters said trying to figure out which shuttles are express and which are local is confusing. MTA officials, however, remain confident light rail riders who are not riding the shuttles now will return to the trains when construction is finished, Mr. Scher said. Ms. Harris, for one, is looking forward to being able to sit down comfortably. Many riders won’t give up their seats to the disabled. Others are just plain rude, she said. On the other end of the spectrum, United States Naval Academy employee Zachary Jeffreys is hoping his experience on the shuttles will end sooner than the others. If he had a car, he never would ride them, he said. “I’m going to get a car,” he said. “Believe me, if I had a car, no way.”

Subsiding track could sink citys magnetic levitation train The Guardian (London) — Final Edition April 14, 2004 The track under the world’s first commercial magnetic-levitation train is sinking, possibly threatening the £700m project, the newspaper Shanghai Daily reported yesterday. The 270mph “maglev” began regular operation this year. It links Shanghai’s new international airport with its financial district. Officials in Shanghai would not comment on the report. But Xia Guozhong, a spokesman for Shanghai Maglev Transport Development Company, which runs the project, was quoted as saying: “We have been aware of the sinking of our maglev track.” A spokeswoman for Shanghai’s municipal government said she had no information, but that her office was checking the newspaper report. Calls to the government’s department of major projects were unanswered. German companies spent decades and billions of dollars developing maglev technology, but searched in vain for a customer until Shanghai leaders chose the system to highlight the city’s hi-tech ambitions. While some settling was normal, too much could harm the project, Shanghai Daily quoted Chinese experts as saying. “If the track sinks beyond its safety level, managers will have to stop the line’s operation,” Yu Jiakang, a senior engineer with the Shanghai Tunnel Engineering and Rail Transit Design and Research Institute, said. Speaking to Associated Press, Mr Yu said track settling could be arrested by reinforcing subsoil. “Slight sinking isn’t a problem,” he said. “It should be possible to reinforce subsoil for the maglev if necessary.” Shanghai is built on swampy land and has long faced problems with subsidence. Officials called for stricter building codes after the collapse last year of an eight-storey building was blamed on the excavation of a nearby pedestrian tunnel. No one was injured in the collapse. Sinking tracks are not the only problem facing the maglev, which uses a powerful magnetic field to lift trains millimetres above the rails and propel them at the speed of a jet plane. The 440-seat trains carried an average of just 73 passengers a day last month, the Shanghai Daily said. At 75 yuan (£5) each way, tickets are considered too pricey for most residents. The train’s station is also inconveniently located outside of the centre of town. It was hoped the maglev would be used on other, long-distance, lines in China. But the government has ruled it out for a planned high-speed line linking Beijing and Shanghai. There has been no decision on a proposal to use the maglev on a line between Shanghai and the nearby city of Hangzhou.

Good news for Bangkok residents used to massive traffic jams as the city begins trial runs of its new subway system The Straits Times (Singapore April 14, 2004 BANGKOK — Bangkok’s commuters got their first glimpse of the city’s new US$7.5-billion (S$12.5-billion) underground railway system which will start running by August and help ease the country’s notorious traffic jams. Several thousand residents travelled yesterday on free tickets between 10am and 2pm and between a few stations when the first subway line had its trial run. Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit told reporters that after the initial six-day trial, he expected around 300,000 people to use the subway every day. The first subway line, built at a cost of US$2.5 billion by two multinational consortiums, includes 18 stations stretching 20km from the northern suburbs to the edge of bustling Chinatown. When all the lines are completed — expected by the end of the decade — the system will stretch 111km at a total cost of about US$7.5 billion. It will complement the existing elevated two-line Skytrain system which connects Bangkok’s business, shopping and nightlife districts. Mr Suriya said up to 700,000 people would soon be using mass transit systems by July. The authorities hope this will take a load off Bangkok’s increasingly congested streets. Bangkok has been on a gridlock with a growing number of vehicles being put on the streets because of the booming economy. Last year, vehicle sales grew by around 30 percent. In the first quarter of this year, they grew by 24 percent over the same period last year — but sales in March were higher than in the same month last year. The subway is being run by Bangkok Metro Company Ltd, which holds a government concession for the system. Yesterday, nine of the 18 stations were opened for the public test run. The subway is scheduled to officially debut on Aug 12 to mark the 72nd birthday of Queen Sirikit. It will be running on paid tickets from 5am to midnight after the trial period, which was brought forward to help the authorities tackle the city’s traffic problems. Fares start at 14 baht (60 Singapore cents) and each subsequent station costs two baht — so the whole line costs 36 baht. The system uses smart card tickets read by scanners. A high degree of staff training and security has been emphasised in setting up the system, which is built to American standards for fire safety and is flood-proof as well, officials said. In terms of security, the authorities had ‘prepared for 50 scenarios including those linked with terrorism’, Mass Rapid Transport Authority governor Prapat Chongsanguan told reporters. All areas are monitored on a closed-circuit television, and there are eight emergency exits spaced along the line. The trains are the same as those used for the Skytrain, but since they run underground they are devoid of the colourful advertising artworks that are a feature of the elevated system. Travellers who got their first taste of underground travel yesterday on the subway expressed the hope that it would help solve Bangkok’s traffic problems. ‘It is very good and fast. I won’t have to worry about parking or traffic anymore,’ said one traveller. But for some, riding an underground train needs some getting used to. ‘You don’t see anything on the ride. It is rather dull to just see the darkness,’ office worker Pathumrat Muanchit told journalists.

Va. Hopes to Privatize Dulles Rail Project; State to Seek Metro Approval of Deal With Partnership Washington Post April 15, 2004 After a year of exclusive and confidential negotiations, Virginia hopes to turn over to a private partnership the $4 billion project to build a rail line to Tysons Corner and Dulles International Airport. It would be the first time a Metro segment was not built by the public transit agency. Virginia officials call it an innovative plan that would save tax dollars and set an example for other transit projects across the country. Opponents say it is a sole-source deal that would benefit Bechtel Corp. and Washington Group International, which entered into a partnership to build the rail line. The stakes are high; the Dulles project is the third most expensive rail proposal in the country, surpassed only by two projects in Manhattan: a $17 billion plan to build a subway along Second Avenue and a $5.2 billion plan to extend the Long Island Rail Road from the East River to Grand Central station. Metro officials are to discuss Virginia’s unusual approach to the project this morning, when the state will ask them to agree to the deal with the partnership. Metro’s consent is needed because it would ultimately own and operate the line. The state also wants Metro to act as a technical manager to make sure the project is compatible with the rest of the subway. The project would extend Metrorail about 23 miles from West Falls Church to Dulles. The work would be done in two phases, with the first ending at Wiehle Avenue in Reston. Although much of the recent public discussion about Dulles rail has focused on how local governments would pay their share, state officials have been holding confidential negotiations with Dulles Transit Partners since January 2003. There is no opportunity for public review until the deal is signed and becomes binding. Dulles Transit Partners is made up of Bechtel and Washington Group. Until last month, the West Group, the largest landowner in Tysons Corner, was also in the partnership. The state has a draft agreement with Dulles Transit Partners for the firm to perform preliminary engineering but wants approval from the Federal Transit Administration before finalizing it. Federal officials, who have never approved a similar deal, have been studying the plan for months and hired outside expertise to help. Federal Transit Administrator Jenna Dorn declined to comment for this article. The Dulles deal would add to the number of Virginia transportation projects financed in part by the private sector. The state enacted the Public-Private Transportation Act in 1995 to get transportation projects built more quickly and efficiently and to encourage private investment. Virginia is a leader among states in striking deals with companies to build road projects. Results have been mixed. One of the first projects, the Dulles Greenway, was built for $340 million by a private firm and has struggled financially since its 1995 opening. The Greenway has never made a profit, according to the General Accounting Office. But the state did not have to pay anything toward the cost of the 14-mile road and will eventually assume ownership. Motorists who use it can cut travel time by 50 percent, according to its developers. “Virginia made a conscious decision in the ‘90s to go toward private participation. It was a political philosophy,” said Steve Cohen, who co-wrote a recent study of public-private funding of transportation projects for the GAO. “Governor Warner embraced it and modified it, but it’s something that has roots in the state. It’s unusual.” Typically, a company pays for a road or other improvement and, in exchange, gets the right to collect toll revenue to pay back its costs and make a profit. The Dulles project differs because it is a transit project, and a private contractor would not be able to recoup costs and make a profit by collecting fares. In this case, the partnership agrees to build the project at a “firm, fixed price” that includes a built-in profit margin, said Karen Rae, director of the state’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation. “They agree to build the project on time and on budget,” Rae said. “That’s the risk that haunts most of these big projects.” In the Dulles case, the public would provide the money for the rail project. The federal government would pay 50 percent, and state and local governments would pay the rest. The local share would come from a special tax district in the Dulles corridor and the state’s share from tolls paid by motorists who travel the Dulles Toll Road. The federal government has not decided whether to fund the project. Every piece of the 28-year-old, 103-mile Metrorail system has been designed, built and operated by Metro. Typically, Metro applies for the federal construction funds on behalf of Virginia, Maryland and the District and then awards construction contracts to private contractors through competitive bidding. In every case, Metro has managed environmental permitting, legal issues, right-of-way acquisition, purchasing and construction. Officials at the transit system have been unhappy that Virginia wants to hire a company to perform much of the work that Metro would normally do. Metro Assistant General Manager P. Takis Salpeas says he would be forced to lay off 55 people from the construction and engineering department as a result. Virginia wants to hire Metro as its technical consultant for the Dulles project, at a cost of about $11 million, but that is less than what Metro would have been paid had it been running the project. Virginia officials say a private firm would be more accountable and more affordable and would share in the financial risk. “What we have looked for, and insisted upon, is a deal that will be good for the taxpayers and a deal that is better than one that will be reached through conventional procurement methods,” Virginia Transportation Secretary Whittington W. Clement said. The partners have agreed to perform preliminary engineering for about $48 million, 20 percent less than the $60 million that Metro estimated the work would cost, said sources close to the negotiations. Opponents say the closed nature of the negotiations � participants signed confidentiality pledges that prohibited them from talking — coupled with the fact that Dulles Transit Partners is not facing competition for the contract, raise questions about whether the public interest is being served. “The biggest fundamental issue is the lack of competition,” said Bill Vincent, who runs a think tank that promotes bus rapid transit, an alternative to rail. “The best solution is to issue a request for proposals and get bids from several companies to come up with the best technical solution and best price.” Vincent said that Bechtel and Washington Group International are getting a sole-source contract and that the arrangement gives the appearance of a “pay to play” mentality in state government. State officials and the Dulles Transit Partners said there was competition six years ago, when Virginia received two unsolicited proposals to build transit in the Dulles corridor. After the state selected one of the proposals and began discussions, the lines of competition blurred, with some players dropping out and others merging to form a partnership that became Dulles Transit Partners. That group submitted its current proposal in 2000. Forrest “Frosty” Landon, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said it is worrisome that the state is negotiating privately to spend billions of tax dollars. “My biggest concern is that it can all be fait accompli before the public gets an opportunity to have input and hold the government accountable for how public money is spent,” he said. Vincent said that one problem with negotiating with one company is determining a fair price. “How do you know that’s the best price when you don’t have anything to compare it to?” he said. “As a taxpayer, how do I know this contract is in my best interest if there isn’t another competing proposal? There’s just no way to know.” Bechtel, he said, is involved in one of the worst examples of cost overruns in the country, Boston’s Big Dig project. In partnership with Parsons Brinckerhoff, Bechtel was hired to build a harbor tunnel and highway beneath Boston streets for $2.5 billion, but the price escalated to $15 billion. This spring, Massachusetts filed suit over the costs against the two companies. Washington Group International is an Idaho-based, global construction company that has been awarded more than $1 billion in reconstruction contracts in Iraq. Bechtel, with headquarters in San Francisco, is one of the world’s largest engineering-construction companies, and the Bush administration has awarded it about $3 billion worth of reconstruction work in Iraq. John G. Milliken, Bechtel’s lobbyist and a spokesman for Dulles Transit Partners, is a former state transportation secretary and a longtime friend of Gov. Mark R. Warner (D). He led Warner’s transition team as Warner was settling into Richmond. Milliken said he has been vigilant about keeping his work for Dulles Transit Partners separate from his relationship with Warner. “I’ve been careful not to let my professional responsibilities to the project and whatever personal ties I may have interconnect,” he said. “I’ve never talked with him personally about the merits of this project since he’s been in office.”

Capitol light-rail service targets June Tasman East line west of Interstate 880 will open concurrently Milpitas Post [San Jose area] April 15, 2004 Leading up to the planned start of revenue service on June 24, the Capitol Light Rail line will experience testing and simulated service of trains. According to Valley Transportation Authority spokeswoman Brandi Hall, testing on the Capitol line was expected to start by the second week in April. Testing on the Tasman East Light Rail line, which runs between Hostetter Road and North First Street, began in February. “It’s training under simulated service in preparation for the revenue service,” Hall said. “That’s really the last leg of the testing.” Stations on the Capitol line will be located at Berryessa Road, Penitencia Creek Road, McKee Road and Alum Rock Road. A future station is proposed for Gay Avenue. The total project cost is $166.5 million, funded primarily through 1996 voter-approved Measure B. The Tasman East Light Rail line will cost $282.4 million. Expected daily ridership on the 3.5-mile Capitol Light Rail line is 3,000 to 4,000 riders. Travel time from the Alum Rock Station to the Hostetter Station will be approximately nine minutes. The total travel time for the Tasman/Capitol line from Alum Rock Avenue to Mountain View is approximately 51 minutes. The Tasman East Light Rail project becomes the Capitol line just south of Hostetter Road. Both segments of the light-rail system will open June 24, according to Hall. Hall said the completion of the mass-transit segments will hopefully encourage more commuters to leave their cars at home and ride light-rail trains to and from work. “We’re going to really promote shopping, living and playing,” Hall said. “We’re hoping that people use the light-rail system for their everyday needs.” Hall said the Capitol and Tasman East lines will open for service on schedule. According to Hill, the opening of the lines will be significant to nearby neighborhoods. With the addition of the light-rail lines, and the promise of the coming Bay Area Rapid Transit extension to Santa Clara County, residents near the two lines will have access to an extensive multi-modal transit system throughout the county. “Neighborhoods are going to benefit from any type of transit,” Hill said. “Being able to combine one of the most northern cities in the county (Milpitas) with East San Jose … makes for a complete operation.”

Metro’s new chief is transit veteran; Once had top job in New Jersey Houston Chronicle April 15, 2004 Once again a former New Jersey transportation official is headed to Houston to lead the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Metro’s Board of Directors is expected to call a special meeting Tuesday to approve a contract with Frank Wilson, president of an international engineering and construction management consulting firm and former New Jersey transportation commissioner, to be the authority’s next president and chief executive officer. Wilson, 55, brings to Houston a three-decade career in public transportation and engineering, including serving in the top job at San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit District and as deputy director for the mass-transit systems in Chicago and Philadelphia. He has built and operated numerous transportation elements, a key asset the Metro board believes makes Wilson the perfect candidate for overseeing the $7.5 billion transit-expansion plan voters approved in November. That includes a 73-mile expansion of Houston’s controversial light rail system, the first 7 1/2 miles of which opened in January between downtown and Reliant Park. “He’s not just a visionary but a person who has operated and constructed every form of transit in cities all over the country,” Metro Chairman David Wolff said Thursday. “He’s the best. Everybody loves him.” Not all would concur with that sentiment, however. Wilson’s three-year tenure as New Jersey’s top transportation official was marked by controversy, including ethics allegations over improperly influencing the bid process for a massive statewide tollway tag system. He later agreed to pay a $1,200 “civil payment” to resolve the dispute without admitting any wrongdoing. Wolff dismisses Wilson’s critics, noting any political appointee is bound to garner enemies. The search firm Metro used to screen candidates thoroughly vetted Wilson’s background. It found nothing that would disqualify him from consideration, Wolff said, and he has the board’s unanimous support. Wilson, once formally hired next week, will succeed outgoing President and CEO Shirley DeLibero, who is retiring at month’s end. She was wooed here from New Jersey Transit in 1999 by then-Mayor Lee Brown to get Houston’s rail system under way. DeLibero, who worked under Wilson during her time in New Jersey, said she’s elated he will join Metro. “He’s a very smart guy who knows this business,” DeLibero said. “He’ll work very well in this environment.” Wilson, reached by phone at his Los Angeles office, said he’s drawn to Houston because Metro “can have a tremendous influence on how the metropolitan area grows” and said he’ll strive to “make Metro into more of an asset.” Having a voter mandate to begin carrying out a 22-year expansion plan is a great lure, he said. “I have a sense there is genuine support for the development of a good public transportation system and good integration with the other modes of travel,” said Wilson, president of AECOM Enterprises since 2000. “The general public has recognized it’s an issue, therefore they are going to demand solutions. That’s the kind of thing that excites me. I got into this career with a commitment to do something meaningful, to make a difference in how people live and work.” Wilson said Houston presents a unique opportunity as the nation’s fourth most populous city, one with a transit system that lags decades behind other places he has worked. Despite trouble with drivers crashing into trains, the launch of light rail has been successful here with strong early ridership numbers and public interest, he said. “This is a great opportunity to build on that momentum,” Wilson said.”Where else are you going to find that mix? I don’t see it anywhere else in the business right now.” The issue of what role mass transit should play in Houston has long been a politically contentious issue. Metro was formed in 1979 to improve a miserable city bus system. Its grand visions of heavy rail and monorail lines, planned over the next two decades, continually ran into opposition that managed to kill them all. Not until Brown was elected mayor in 1998 with a commitment to build light rail did a single mile of track get laid down. The fall referendum passed with only 52 percent of the vote after a fierce multimillion-dollar campaign waged by rail supporters and opponents. Some naysayers, including powerful U.S. Reps. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and John Culberson, R-Houston, have now pledged to support funding for rail expansion despite their personal skepticism that it will help relieve traffic congestion. Wolff, whom Mayor Bill White recently appointed to chair Metro’s board, has made it a top goal to mend relations with DeLay, Culberson and others in the community who have blocked rail efforts in the past. Noting Wilson served a Republican governor in New Jersey, Wolff said he expects the new president will help with the fence-mending. “He is going to bring tremendous prestige to our city,” Wolff said. “His resume is the envy of any transit authority in the country.”

Perdue’s highway plan will spend $15 billion Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee) April 15, 2004 Georgia will spend more than $15 billion over the next six years to improve roads and ease traffic congestion in metro Atlanta, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced Wednesday. The spending package includes $3 billion in borrowing from future federal road payments, a funding mechanism Perdue criticized before taking office. The rest comes from existing Department of Transportation budgets and $1.5 billion in general obligation bonds. The announcement was Perdue’s most sweeping statement yet on his plans to reduce congestion and improve air quality around Atlanta. As he has hinted since taking office last year, Perdue’s plan focuses almost exclusively on highway im-provements, not mass transit. “Georgia’s highways are a valuable economic asset,” Perdue said, defending his plan. The first changes will be more high-occupancy lanes on metro Atlanta highways and an expansion of the HERO program, the network of yellow trucks dispatched to clear accidents and stalled cars from highways. Environmentalists immediately bashed Perdue’s plan, saying road expansions only encourage more traffic and longer commutes. “We should focus on getting people out of single-passenger cars,” said Colleen Kiernan of the Sierra Club. “It doesn’t seem like Perdue is interested in that at all.” The governor insisted his plan is the fastest way to reduce traffic tie-ups, which will improve air quality because motorists will spend less tiMe idling in traffic jams. Perdue said traffic could be improved without building more highways, but he insisted most money should go to roads because that’s how most people get around. “This is not simply a build, build, build program,” he said. “We’re also putting more capacity where we need it.” The governor pointed to his planned $286 million for high-speed buses to the north Atlanta suburbs. Perdue also earmarked $211 million to expand and improve the black highway signs that alert drivers to upcoming traffic problems. But Democrats said more should be spent on mass transit, especially Atlanta’s train system, MARTA. Perdue “wants to spend $15.5 billion on roads and bridges, which we need,” said Rep. John Noel, D-Atlanta. “He only wants to spend $2 million for MARTA. That’s a pretty dad-gum small piece of the pie.” Democrats were also grumbling about Perdue’s plans for funding all these road projects. Perdue’s plans rely on a borrowing scheme that Republicans have long said was risky. The state will borrow $3 million by using anticipated federal road payments as leverage. That’s the same spending mechanism proposed by former Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat who was roundly criticized by Perdue and other Republicans for his bond proposal before he was defeated in 2002. A group of Republicans even sued over the proposal, although the state Supreme Court ultimately decided the bonds were OK. Supporters said Perdue’s borrowing plans are much less expansive than Barnes’ proposal. Only 20 percent of future federal transportation payments would be needed to repay the debt, they said. “It’s an excellent idea,” said Sam Olens, chairman of the Cobb County commission. “Many of us before thought we were mortgaging too much of our future. This leaves us with enough flexibility to handle problems down the line if we end up needing that money.” Perdue said the borrowing plan would allow Georgia to finish work in six years that would take 18 years without taking out loans. “We’re talking big numbers on these bond packages, but we’ve got big problems to address,” he said. “We’re spending a lot, but we’re not spending any more than we need.”

Takin’ The Trolley, By Golly — Hundreds Ride Daily; Usage Increase Expected The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) April 15, 2004 Normally, Ross Clayton walks just outside his Midtown residence to catch a bus to work. Tuesday, he tried something different: He walked 12 minutes to the end of the new Madison trolley line. >From there, he caught a trolley downtown, where he works as a painter at the FedExForum. “It’s convenient to where I live,” said Clayton, 46. “I’ll be using it as long as it’s not raining.” A reporter for The Commercial Appeal spent six hours riding the Madison line’s Trolley 545 Tuesday, from early morning through the afternoon. In that time, 48 people rode that particular trolley, one of five on the new $56 million line. According to the Memphis Area Transit Authority, 35,631 people rode the Madison line from its opening March 15 through April 13, an average of about 1,188 riders per day. That number includes the portion the line covers between Main and the Pinch District. Some passengers may use the trolley for that stretch, but never actually take it down Madison. Those numbers also may be skewed somewhat because the Madison line was free to riders the first week. Numbers after the free period ended March 21 show 19,627 riders, a daily average of about 853. MATA officials have estimated that within six months to a year, Madison’s daily ridership will reach 2,100. That contrasts with the downtown trolleys, which ferry about 2,600 people daily. MATA’s buses carry about 42,000 daily. MATA president William Hudson called those early Madison numbers satisfactory. “The overall ridership, I’ve been real pleased with it,” Hudson said. “I’m not awfully upset about any numbers at this point in time.” Hudson also expects those numbers to increase. “If you look at the projections of businesses moving into the Madison area . . . it looks really, really good,” he said, adding that tourism may help. Tuesday’s ride revealed a few things about those using the trolleys: Peak times appear to be morning and lunch, driver Larry Ousley said, adding that weekends and Redbirds and Grizzlies games also are big draws. Libby Moore, a transplanted Californian, uses the trolley to get to and from her job at the Gap store in Peabody Place. “I do it every day,” she said. “It’s more convenient, especially in the spring.” While most of those riding the trolley appeared to be locals, a few tourists also used the line. Bruce Williams and his family were visiting from Milwaukee, and planned to see numerous sights, including Sun Studio near the new line. After boarding, they listened appreciatively as Ousley pointed out such places as AutoZone Park. James Young of Tupelo also decided to use the trolley to check out downtown while his daughter visited the medical center. “For what I did, it’s wonderful,” he said. The signal near Main downtown, which is used to align the tracks properly so that the Madison trolleys can access Main, is still causing problems. On a ride last week, the signal caused significant delays. Ousley’s trolley was confined to the Madison tracks Tuesday because of further problems. Sue Williams wasn’t thrilled at being caught in the snafu Tuesday. “I think if it had been my first time, I probably would have given up.” Hudson said a change in software should have the problem fixed by May.

Hate waiting for the bus? Buy your own — on EBay The San Francisco Chronicle APRIL 16, 2004 If you’re looking for a super-size used vehicle for those “haul-it-all” summer family road trips, check out the 39-seat-vans that Golden Gate Transit is hawking on EBay. For a starting bid of only $1,000, shoppers at the Internet auction site are vying for the ultimate road hogs: Nine 40-foot diesel transit buses — and these aren’t just any buses, said transit agency spokesperson Mary Currie. As a provider of “long-haul” commuter service from San Francisco to Santa Rosa, the transit agency prides itself on operating “suburban coaches” that deliver “a smooth freeway ride,” she said. “We want customers to be as comfortable as they can be,” Currie said. “So, our buses have high-back, slightly reclining seats that are cushioned and well upholstered, and they have reading lights and luggage racks. They’re not your typical, barren, bare-bones plastic seating, inner-city Muni buses.” But don’t be blinded by these beauties’ signature Golden Gate Transit white-and-green striped paint job, the red-gray interior, the “curtain destination signs” — or visions of blasting your buddies with the public address system on the way to the 49ers game. These 14-year-old retired behemoths are being sold “as is” — “With all Faults,” as the EBay listing warns. You get zero cup holders, and these road warriors get a gas-guzzling 4.1 miles to the gallon. Some bus carriages and interiors have logged up to 720,000 miles, while some engines and transmissions are a nearly new 118,414 miles. “I don’t know that they’re really very family oriented,” Currie acknowledged, saying most retired buses are sold to other transit or tour operators — and those few, brave individuals who just had to own a bus. The EBay auction terms and conditions stress that the buyer has to remove his or her new bus from the transit agency’s San Rafael yard and “the buyer is responsible for any and all injury to the public, person(s), and property and for all loss or damage arising” if you mash anything on the way out. But, Currie said, given the agency’s aggressive maintenance program, “Our buses have a very good reputation as being in very good shape. They’re pretty easy to move.” Just as regular folks have learned EBay is a great place to unload every attic-clogging doodad imaginable, government agencies are using online auctions to sell off everything from pocket knives and corkscrews seized from passengers by airport security to electronics taken in police raids. When the agency test-marketed one of the aging buses last fall on EBay, it garnered nearly $6,000. That’s about $600 more than the average $5,400 sales price that it got for 30 similar buses sold through the traditional sealed-bid method. Four days into the 10-day bidding period Thursday, Bus No. 1110 had tallied 15 offers, and a high-bidder with the moniker “nemo2k4” had pushed the price to $2,280. But Bus No. 1159 was still going for a song, at $1,125. Like many California transit agencies combatting whopping budget deficits with layoffs, service cuts and possible fare increases, Golden Gate Transit is hungry to get a buck wherever it can. “Now that we’ve learned the (online auction) system and saw the response that we got, it’s easier for us and we can tell people who want to bid on our buses, ‘Hey, it’s on EBay,’ “ Currie said, adding that selling on the Internet has slashed the overhead costs of sealed bids that tied up staff with time-consuming paper-shuffling. “As your staff is less than it was in years past, you’ve got to finds ways to stretch everyone’s time and make it more efficient,” Currie said. Golden Gate Transit plans to sell 40 more of the 1989 buses in “batches” on EBay as it deploys 80 new state-of-the-art, low-pollution buses to meet higher state clean-air standards. The new fleet, which boasts the latest exhaust filters and high-efficiency engines that burn low-sulfur diesel fuel, cost a total of $28.5 million, with the federal government picking up 81 percent of the tab.

METRO-NORTH EMPLOYEES; MTA: Workers scammed pay Newsday (New York) April 16, 2004 More than 40 Metro-North employees were found over the course of almost a year to have left work when they were supposed to be repairing and inspecting cars in an upstate rail yard, Newsday has learned. Investigators with the MTA Inspector General’s Office witnessed dozens of nighttime employees exiting the Croton-Harmon facility in Croton-on-Hudson during a 10-month probe. They headed to a pizzeria, bars or simply home, staying away for far longer than their 30-minute lunch break. They escaped notice by having colleagues punch them out using a time clock that is not monitored by a security camera, or after supervisors in on the scam signed time cards with no departure time stamps, according to an Inspector General’s report acquired under the Freedom of Information Act. On one occasion in July, investigators spotted electrician James Guski leave the facility at 6:40 p.m., wearing jeans and a T-shirt. A surveillance camera at the facility caught him returning shortly before midnight, wearing what appears to be flannel shorts and sandals. Guski said in an interview that he was allowed to leave because he was on overtime, adding that an arbitrator will hear the case. Nevertheless, he was among six employees fired. Most of the abuse occurred last spring and summer. In all, 42 people were found during that period to have collected more than 260 hours of undeserved pay, the report said. With employees at the yard each earning from $15 to $30 an hour not including benefits, the lost pay totals at least $4,000. The Inspector General’s office called it likely the biggest time stealing scheme in MTA history. “This type of behavior will not be tolerated,” Peter A. Cannito, president of Metro-North Railroad, said yesterday in an interview. The railroad has since installed a stricter, computerized time registering system and installed another closed-circuit camera. Officials stressed that passenger safety was not compromised by the missed work, despite the fact that the absent employees were supposed to be conducting 60-day car inspections. “It was lost productivity, not safety,” Cannito said, noting that further inspections are done before cars are dispatched. The MTA said there is no pattern of fraud at the agency, with spokesman Tom Kelly calling the time-stealing case “individual greed and stupidity.” The scheme is the most recent of several cases of alleged impropriety at the agency. A plumber allegedly connected to organized crime working as a contractor for the agency faces trial on charges he bilked the MTA out of millions of dollars. In April, a developer renovating the new MTA headquarters downtown pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and money laundering after ripping off $1 million. Officials in the Inspector General’s Office pointed out that it was Metro-North officials who first alerted them of possible time stealing. A supervisor at the sprawling Croton-Harmon facility last year told investigators there on another matter that people might be leaving on the job. Workers on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift are entitled to a 20-minute lunch, with five minutes before and after to wash. The Inspector General’s Office set up a sting, watching employees leave the yard during work and then followed them — sometimes at high speeds — snapping pictures and videotaping. On one occasion in July, an employee who had already left the yard for more than an hour attempted to leave again but returned after spotting someone — an investigator — videotaping him from a parked car. A short while later, several other employees also returned, apparently after they were tipped off that they were being watched

Istook: Light rail doesn’t make sense for Oklahoma City The Journal Record April 16, 2004 Light rail doesn’t make sense for Oklahoma City, U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook told members of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, after ‘tooting his horn’ regarding all the other projects for which he’s secured federal funding. “We have a study, of course, that is being done with (the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority) which is not just studying light rail,” said Istook. “It is properly a study of the transportation needs of the community. What most people don’t understand about light rail is how extremely expensive it is to build and operate. For a typical system developed in recent years, the average cost is $100 million per mile of track.” A light-rail system in Oklahoma City could cost as much as $7 billion, said Istook, “most of which would come from local money.” Ridership is often less than projections would indicate, he said, and operating costs are high. Riders typically pay about 25 percent of operating costs, said Istook, while the rest is paid for through government subsidies. “It is hugely expensive,” said Istook. “The challenge is it only makes sense when you are moving people from one dense area to another dense area. You don’t have that type of density.” Highways are preferable to rail systems because they can easily transport both passengers and goods, he said. “I want to do the things that make the most sense and that give us the best bang for the buck,” said Istook. “I make it my goal to tell it straight and … separate the myths from the reality. Not everybody appreciates that kind of thing.” Istook highlighted the work he does in Congress. “I’m going to toot my horn a few times, because I think it’s important that people understand what kind of work that I’ve been doing that’s of benefit to the state,” he said. Istook said he thinks there are three parts to his job: working for America, working for the state and working “for our values, for the things that make us distinct and different as Americans, that gave our founding fathers a motive and a message, for people to be able to be free and govern themselves.” Istook said he also believes it is his job to promote Oklahoma’s values. “Oklahoma has the kind of values that the rest of the nation needs to have,” he said. “My job, as I see it, is not to take what’s happening in Washington, D.C., and come and impose it on Oklahoma. My job is to take our values as Oklahomans and take those and promote them in Washington, D.C.” But first, Oklahoma has to develop the kind of thriving economy that will make the state and its ethics more attractive to the rest of the country. “If we want the country to focus on fundamental values, we need to be the kind of vibrant place that creates opportunity, that invites people in and shares the wealth of the ideas and the spirit of Oklahoma … and still hang on to those values,” said Istook. “We need to be a source of good for the country, but we’ve got to be at the forefront of what’s going on in America to make that happen.” Istook noted that he is one of the “13 cardinals,” or one of the most powerful people in the U.S. Congress. “It’s always nice when you work your way into a position that you’re not just a member of the Congress but you’re a chairman,” said Istook. There is a world of difference in your ability to get things done as a member or if you are actually in charge of a committee or a subcommittee. “There is some $80 billion a year that comes through my subcommittee,” said Istook. “All the transportation funding for the country, be it highways, rail, waterway, aircraft, all the federal funding comes through my subcommittee. In addition to that, the funding for the Treasury Department, our good friends at the Internal Revenue Service … they have to come to me with their budget requests.” Istook noted that U.S. Sen. James Inhofe serves on the committee in the U.S. Senate that authorizes certain projects, while Istook’s committee provides the money to make those projects a reality. “I get to deal with the real dollars, not just the promises,” said Istook. “Just because you authorize something doesn’t mean its going to happen. “Here’s what happens,” he continued. “When you read a story in the paper that says Congress has just passed a bill spending one zillion dollars on something, all right, is it really going to happen? Not necessarily. All the time we pass the bills authorizing money to be spent on different things, but it doesn’t mean we’re actually going to do it. And usually, if you read the paper or listen to the news, you’re not going to know the difference, because it’s not clearly pointed out in the stories.” A “classic” example of this situation is the Interstate 40 Crosstown project it’s been approved, but it hasn’t been fully funded. “It’s very important that we get the new one in place before the old one, well, I don’t want to say falls down, but before something bad happens to it,” said Istook. Istook noted that he has managed to secure funds not only for the Crosstown, but for the Weather Center at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, for the library/learning center in Oklahoma City, for economic development in downtown Oklahoma City, for improvements on the North Canadian River, and for medical research in the state. “Medical research not only finds medical breakthroughs, but it also helps promote, when you have it in the community, the interaction of researchers and practicing physicians, and improves the quality of care,” said Istook. A few years ago, only five states received more than half of all medical research dollars in the country, he said. “That’s a scary statistic. I was able to help create a program… “Basically, it establishes a pool of money where only the states that have been left behind in past years have the opportunity to compete,” said Istook. “Suddenly, there’s a major pile of federal dollars where we have a chance to compete for it, and Oklahoma has out-competed all the other 27 states that are eligible for this. We are now one of the fastest-growing medical research communities in the country. Thanks to this program … we have about 1,500 high-paying jobs and the satellite jobs in medical research that have come to Oklahoma City in recent years.” Istook assured that group that thanks to earmarked funding he has been able to provide as chairman of the Transportation and Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee, Oklahoma will not be a “donor” state this year, sending more transportation tax money to the U.S. government than the state gets back for transportation projects. “And will not be (a donor state) so long as I am in that position,” he said.

EPA: Half of USA breathing illegal levels of smog USA TODAY 16 April 2004 WASHINGTON — Hundreds of the nation’s most populated counties are polluting the air with smog and must clean it, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday. Smog fouls the air in Los Angeles last May. The EPA says its new air quality standards are ‘strong medicine.’ Nearly 160 million people live in the identified areas, mostly in and around major cities in California and the East. The EPA notified 474 of the nation’s 3,141 counties that they do not comply with federal rules on the amount of smog allowed in air. (Related item: EPA list of areas failing standards) Each county on the EPA’s list will have to come up with solutions to reduce smog, which can range from cracking down on factories to running tailpipe tests on cars and trucks. Established in 1997, the latest standard replaced a less stringent one after federal scientists decided that smog can harm human health at much lower levels than they had thought before. High levels of smog aggravate asthma and other lung problems. Of the 474 counties, 296 were on the list because they have air that is smoggier than the EPA’s new standard. The others are on the list because the pollution they create roams into neighboring counties and dirties the air. The EPA could not say Thursday how many people actually breathe air that has more smog in it than allowed by the new standard. That standard defines air as unhealthy if it contains more than 80 parts per billion of ozone, the primary component of smog. Areas with the dirtiest air are in California — including Los Angeles, Riverside, the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento. However, other smaller cities around the country, such as Cranston, R.I., and Kalamazoo, Mich., also do not meet the standards. Smog is made of two kinds of pollution: emissions created when cars, power plants and factories burn fuel; and gases released by the use of paint, gasoline and other chemicals. When the two kinds of pollution mix in the presence of sunlight, smog is created. The EPA set deadlines ranging from 2007 to 2021 for counties to clean up their smog. The worse a county’s smog problem, the more time it has to clean up. Business groups say that counties on the list will suffer economically. The National Association of Manufacturers warns that communities “will find it difficult to meet such standards without jeopardizing local economic growth.” Environmentalists, however, say the rules don’t make counties do enough to clean up and give them too much time to clear the smog from their air.

$25m on express track buys Metro-North cars Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT) April 16, 2004 HARTFORD — The House of Representatives on Thursday unanimously approved $25 million to finish financing a $60 million purchase of 20 new cars for the Metro-North Commuter Railroad. The project, trumpeted for weeks by majority Democrats and Gov. John G. Rowland, would add 2,000 seats along the struggling, sputtering New Haven line over the next three years. While House members hailed the legislation, commuters said it’s almost too little, too late, after a horrendous winter in which an aging fleet of 30-year-old rail cars was constantly crippled by cold and storms. An equally important issue, rail riders said, is the need to somehow derail Rowland’s proposed 5.5 percent fare increase on July 1. Rep. Jacqueline M. Cocco, D-Bridgeport, co-chairwoman of the Transportation Committee, said the equipment is sorely needed to improve the depleted fleet. The bill passed 141 to 0 and was immediately sent to the Senate, which did not act on the bill Thursday. Rep. Lawrence G. Miller, R-Stratford, said during floor debate that on Wednesday an irate commuter from his town criticized him for a full 15 minutes on the telephone. “He read me the riot act,” Miller said. Rep. Carl J. Dickman, R-Fairfield, viewed the legislation as a positive step. “One of the side benefits from this bill is it will perhaps get more cars off the road in Fairfield County,” Dickman said. “This is a step in the right direction, and I’m sure my constituents who have suffered this winter will think even more so.” Cocco said that while new rail cars would take as long as three years to order, the state could acquire used rail cars from Virginia and/or new rolling stock, sooner than that. “We’re going to have to build on this every single year,” Cocco said. She said Rowland’s proposed fare hike is only a proposal subject to further bipartisan budget negotiations. But she predicted that rail riders should expect some kind of fare increase this year. “I understand what the people who ride the trains think, but there’s a huge subsidy for them already,” Cocco said. Jim Cameron, president of the Connecticut Metro-North Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council, said Thursday that the new rail cars are a drop in the bucket, as commuter face decrepit cars that are going to finally force more people onto the highways in the daily migration to work. “The new cars are old news,” he said in a phone interview after the House vote. “We haven’t heard about any progress made on the 5.5 percent fare increase.” He said that 250 of the line’s 343 cars are 30 years old and 300 to 400 new cars, costing about $3 million each, are needed. Cameron said last year’s crisis on the Metro-North line, in which dozens of cars were sidelined, was the equivalent of the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge on Interstate 95 in 1983. Yet, he said, it has failed to wake up the General Assembly. “Fares on Metro-North are the highest fares of any railroad in North America,” Cameron said. He said that while Long Island Rail Road riders pay 51 percent of the cost to operate the line, Connecticut commuters pay 75 percent, and if the governor’s fare increase goes through they would pay 79 percent. Cameron accused Rowland and Speaker of the House Moira K. Lyons, D-Stamford, of paying lip service to commuters in recent years and providing very little support. He said if the attitude doesn’t change soon, incumbent legislators will be answering tough questions during before the next election.

Brazil: High Cost Of Public Transport Aggravates Inequalities IPS-Inter Press Service April 16, 2004 Wilson Minas, a 47-year-old Brazilian father of four, gets up at 4 A.M. for a nearly two-hour commute in three different buses to make it to his job in a middle-class neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. His transport costs equal his salary: 400 reals ($ 138) a month. The only reason he can afford to make the long trek from his low-income neighborhood on the outskirts of the city is because he receives transport vouchers, thanks to a law dating to the 1980s that obligates companies to pay the commuting costs of their employees. The administration of the building where Minas works as a janitor pays him 340 reals ($ 117) a month in transport vouchers, to which he adds part of his salary to travel in mini-buses, which cost four reals ($ 1.38), but are faster and more comfortable than regular buses or trains, whose ticket prices are between 46 and 58 cents. Minas lives in Queimados, a Rio de Janeiro dormitory suburb, since that was the only place he could afford a plot on which to build a modest home, and because “the government helps finance the construction of housing only in outlying areas.” “And I can’t afford to pay rent on my salary,” he explained. Minas prefers to live in the distant suburb, where “there are no thieves, and the kids can play freely, with the door open.” He gave up on living in a ‘favela’ or shantytown near the centre of Rio de Janeiro, due to “the drug trafficking violence.” Despite the challenge of a nearly four-hour round-trip commute, Minas is one of the privileged among Brazil’s poor, because he has�a steady formal sector job that also covers the cost of public transport. The high cost of urban transport is one of the biggest factors of inequality and aggravation of poverty in the metropolitan areas of Brazil, according to a study by the Institute of Development and�Information in Transportation (ITRANS), released Thursday in Brasilia, the capital. The study, ‘Mobility and Poverty’, surveyed workers who earn less than three minimum monthly salaries (the equivalent of $ 248), a category that includes 45 percent of the urban population of this country of nearly 180 million. The study focused on people in the metropolitan regions of Sao Paulo (Brazil’s largest city), Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Recife. Transportation has become an insurmountable obstacle standing in the way of employment for the poor, Mauricio Cadaval, president�of ITRANS, told IPS. The unemployed poor tend to live in outlying neighborhoods located far from the areas where jobs are available, and they are unable to afford taking public transport to look for work. Furthermore, companies do not generally hire applicants who live on the outskirts of the city and would need to take more than one bus or train to get to their job, because that would drive up the cost of the vouchers they would have to be given, he explained. The public transport problem swells the ranks of those who are too discouraged to look for work anymore, and are not even counted among the unemployed. If there were affordable public transit, said Cadaval, the official unemployment statistics would be much higher than the�current 12 percent, because more people would be able to continue looking for work, and would figure as unemployed. The transport voucher, created to benefit the working poor, thus has a perverse effect. To avoid additional costs, employers refuse�to hire precisely those who, due to poverty, must live in more distant neighborhoods and would have to take combinations of buses, subways and trains to get to their jobs. Between 62.9 and 76.8 percent of poor Brazilians who use mass transit in the four metropolitan regions studied receive no vouchers or assistance with their commuting costs, according to the ITRANS study. The transport vouchers have thus “lost their focus” and no longer live up to the objective of fighting social inequality, of which Brazil is the world champion, said Cadaval. Brazil has the largest gap between rich and poor in Latin America, which in turn is the region with the most unequal distribution of income in the world. A large part of the transport vouchers are actually issued to employees who earn good salaries and drive their own cars to work. They then sell their vouchers to intermediaries, who resell them to users of the mass transit system, creating a black market business whose profits come from the poor, according to ITRANS. Meanwhile, walking, sometimes several hours a day, has increasingly become the only option for the poorest of the poor,�and for unemployed job-seekers, those who work in the informal economy, or workers who earn very low wages. Some people walk dozens of kilometers a day, “which takes a tremendous physical toll,” said Cadaval. The study did, however, come across at least one positive development. The growing number of schools and health care centres in impoverished outlying suburbs has given the poor access to education and health services without having to pay for transportation. But other statistics, like the huge drop in mass transit-users over the weekend, indicate that the residents of poor neighborhoods renounce recreational activities due to the high cost of buses and other means of locomotion, added the expert. The aim of the ITRANS study is to serve as a “wake-up call” for Brazil’s government and civil society leaders regarding this neglected aspect, considered “one of the dimensions of poverty” along with education, health, housing and food, and to help contribute to the development of new policies, said Cadaval.

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