What surprises lurk within the climate system?

IOPscience: "For generations, our civilization has been building a climate debt, borrowing from the stability of the future to power the economic growth of the present. Through the combustion of fossil fuels, as well as agriculture, deforestation, land use change, and waste, human activities have disrupted the natural carbon cycle, increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) by almost 50% and methane (CH4) by 250% relative to pre-industrial levels [2]. Even as this climate debt continues to grow, it is now coming due: the heat trapped by these and other greenhouse gases is raising global temperature, affecting heat and cold extremes, heavy precipitation and drought, sea ice and ice sheet melt, sea level rise and coastal flooding, and many other aspects of the climate system [3] that can harm human health, the economy, food supply, water availability, and even national security [4–6]."

Commuters Save More than $1,000/Month by Choosing MBTA Over Cars

masstransitmag : "December Transit Savings Report. Individuals who ride public transportation instead of driving can save, on average, more than $809 per month.

These savings are based on the cost of commuting by public transportation compared to the cost of owning and driving a vehicle. These costs include the Dec. 21, 2016, national average gas price ($2.25 per gallon, as reported by AAA) and the national unreserved monthly parking rate.



APTA releases this monthly Transit Savings Report to examine how an individual in a two-person household can save money by taking public transportation and living with one less car.
"

Cars busy killing people and wrecking environment in Maine

Central Maine: "I-295 traffic volume rose 12 percent from 2009 to 2015 — to an average of 1.18 million vehicles a day — and it’s expected to keep going up. “Volume is really pressing capacity at times, in particular at the commute times,” Joyce Taylor, chief engineer for the Maine Department of Transportation, told the Press Herald last week."

As the biosphere overheats, US is busy killing Muslims to get more oil

Bloomberg: "Global temperatures continue to shatter records this year, rising to within less than one degree of the level that scientists say would be catastrophic, according to the United Nations."

Activists Demand Boston Public Schools Expand Transportation Program « CBS Boston

CBS Boston: "“I think that if we are promising young people free education, that part of that is getting to and from schools. So there shouldn’t be a cost to families,” says Sheena Collier, of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative."

US in #autosprawl meltdown, can't afford subsidies

Maine Public: "“If government can’t provide safe, efficient infrastructure, what can it do?” McLean asks. “So people, I think, understand the need for money, for funding of infrastructure projects.”

But McLean, who co-chairs the legislature’s Transportation Committee, also believes that it doesn’t go far enough. He says the state needs to come up with some additional revenue sources beyond the gas tax in order to avoid borrowing nearly every year to to fix roads. He says even if voters approve question six the state will not have enough money on hand to make all the needed repairs accumulated because of deferred maintenance."

Car culture spends billions on cars, leaves poor, old, disabled stranded

Bangor Daily News: "The transit study called for running a bus on an hourly basis on weekdays from Wal-Mart in Thomaston to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport with multiple stops in between.

But without government subsidies, the fees would have been too great to make it work, Karker said.

Christopher Merritt, owner of Schooner Bay Taxi, also served on the committee. While on the panel, he expressed reservation that a regular bus service would be successful."

In Maine, #publictransit allows seniors to be part of community

Bangor Daily News: "“And it makes you more part of the community,” she said. “You get more connected, more aware of our similarities.”

Kelly is a member of Transportation for All, a Bangor-based group facilitated by Food AND Medicine, a Brewer nonprofit, that aims to increase use of the city’s Community Connector bus system and, ultimately, expand its service area and hours of operation. The bus system also serves Brewer, Hampden, Orono, Veazie and Old Town."

http://www.bangormaine.gov/communityconnector

Keeping Public Transportation Public

The Heights: "So if the privatized Commuter Rail has already proven faulty, why is there a push to outsource still more MBTA services? It would seem the powers that be need a scapegoat for the T’s fiscal and performance woes. But it certainly shouldn’t be the people who have slaved to keep a broken system running. Cutting jobs or outsourcing work to the lowest bidder backed by cut-rate labor isn’t going to help an already failing system."

People in Connecticut feeling the pain of sprawl ... it's going to get worse, not better

masstransitmag : "The high cost of commuting by Metro-North to New York City was brought up by Pete Ziegler of Milford. "You've got to give us a break," he said. "I pay $275 a year for my parking. I'm going to be paying $445 to take the train; then I have to take the subway. It all adds up.""

Connecticut getting slapped by the reality of supporting cars

Bristol Press: "Raising fares may be a necessary evil, but it’s particularly troubling coming in conjunction with significant budget cuts. For tens of thousands of commuters in Connecticut, Malloy’s proposal simply means the same old same old — higher prices for a transit system that fails to meet the demands of its ridership."

Dover, NH, seeking more #walkability

fosters.com: "The elements included in that visioning process include: “a walkable community complemented by citywide pedestrian, bicycle and wheelchair accessible features using appropriate benches, signs, lighting, crosswalks and bicycle racks; a public transit system that serves the entire community; traffic-calming measures to manage speeds and ‘pass through’ traffic in the downtown and neighborhoods; physical and directional signage improvements designed to facilitate legal, safe traffic flow for vehicles and pedestrians throughout the city.”"

11 beaches you can get to via public transportation

boston.com : "You don’t need a car to get to the beach. Here are New England beaches that are accessible by public transportation."

Massachusetts law encourages driving to work

wbjournal.com : " "The scenario creates a financial incentive for commuters to drive to work, rather than use public transportation or vanpool."
The difference between the two caps also causes headaches for human resources departments, which have to reconcile the two limits, supporters said."

Billions are spent for autos and sprawl, but "price tag too high" for buses

BDN Maine: "Bangor likely won’t see longer bus hours or new routes for the Community Connector anytime soon. At the Bangor City Council’s budget workshop on April 27, city residents called on the councilors to extend bus service by at least two hours. While the councilors were in agreement that the bus service eventually should be extended, they concluded the price tag was too high."

Todd Litman: Walk-friendly cities are smarter

burlingtonfreepress : "He shifted between data sets (fewer car commutes generally correlate with lower obesity rates and more prudent investments in real estate) and sacred cows (do electric cars do anything to solve vehicular-propelled issues of safety, congestion, road and parking costs, sprawl, habitat destruction and the sedentary habits of drivers?).

Litman grew up in Whittier, Calif., steered by the car-cultures of greater Los Angeles.

"You learn from places that have conspicuous problems," he said.

As an adult, Litman moved to Vancouver Island, where he founded and now directs the nonprofit Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

It's a spot he said embodies an underrated virtue: walkability.

Burlington and other Chittenden County urban centers, he noted, openly aspire to that claim."

Transit serves everyone, whether we ride or not

Medford Transcript : "Transit serves everyone, whether we ride or not. Every taxpayer in the Commonwealth should be rooting for the new team to succeed in saving the project, including all of the planned stations, including the Route 16 station, and the complete community path for walkers and cyclists, and not only to avoid wasting tax dollars already expended."

Providence fights over parking. Best solution? Fare-free buses.

golocalprov : "Tegu said Hope Street businesses are looking for customers to spend longer periods of time in that particular neighborhood so that all of the businesses benefit. The businesses there don't want their customers to feels rushed because of parking meters.

"We're not a downtown district where folks park, shop an hour, and then leave. We're more of a destination where people can potentially spend the whole day," said Tegu. 

Parking meters, she said, put a dent in that plan. Instead of meters, the city should look for ways to attract people, not deter them. In the long run, she said, that would create more revenue.

Merchants aside, some community activists believe parking meters can be beneficial."

Public transit sucks in the US for a simple reason. Autosprawl profitieers WANT it to suck.

Public Transportation Woes Are Not Just In Boston | Infrastructure & Construction Law: "Crisis in public transportation is a result of neglect over time and boils over, resulting in what we currently see in many major cities.  Things like chronic lack of investment, poor management, and a culture not conducive to implementing preventative measures, are just some of the contributing factors."

MBTA eyes discounts for low-income riders in the future

This is an old trick. Means testing. More costly bureaucracy, just to keep an unsustainable autosprawl system going. By making all buses fare-free, a city will save much more in reduced congestion, less parking subsidy, less pollution, and better health than it would "lose" in fare revenue.

The Boston Globe: "As the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority considers fare increases, advocates for low-income residents are encouraging the agency to implement something new in the state: discounts for those customers who have the hardest time paying."