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Carolyn Flowers
, Senior Advisor of the Federal Transit Administration led a panel of five in the Priorities for Workforce Development special session at the TRB Annual on January 12, 2016. The panel focused on tackling the pressing workforce needs in the transportation and transit industry.
Ben Siegel
, Senior Policy Advisor of the Office of the Secretary (DOL) introduced DOL's effort to leverage partnerships across federal departments to enhance reach and impact of workforce programs. Joe Calabrese, Center Board Secretary and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority addressed strategies for cultivating future leadership in transit agencies. Nat Ford, CEO of Jacksonville Transportation Authority, discussed the development of a multimodal, community-based approach (JTA's Back-2-Work Model). Marion Colston, Director of Strategic and Organizational Planning with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority provided an overview of the many partnerships LA MTA has established with local and regional workforce, education and research institutions to create a successful workforce development model. Xinge Wang, the Center's Deputy Director shared the Center's experience and success in leveraging industry resources and expertise to build Ladders of Opportunity through its National Training Consortia and transit apprenticeship programs.
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Uber drivers are getting creative in their fight for basic workplace rights
Last August 31, Takele Gobena, an Uber driver, stood alongside Seattle City Councilman Mike O'Brien at a news conference, complaining that his Uber earnings came to less than the federal minimum wage after factoring in gas, insurance, and other costs. At the press conference, Gobena, a 26-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia, hailed O'Brien's plan to introduce legislation that would allow Seattle's Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize and bargain collectively, even though those companies insist their drivers are independent contractors and not employees. A half-dozen drivers flanked O'Brien, holding signs saying, "Drivers need a voice."
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Electronic message boards that don't work. Inadequate bathroom facilities. A bus ticket machine that's had an out-of-order sign on it for months.
These are a few of the issues on display at Detroit's Rosa Parks Transit Center, which opened in 2009 at a cost of $22.5 million. Unfortunately for those who rely on the center at Michigan and Cass avenues to catch a bus or transfer to another, they're not new concerns. The city is planning approximately $625,000 in improvements this year and an additional $225,000 in 2017. But those investments, along with the addition of security cameras and other fixes in 2015, may fall short of what riders and transit advocates say are needed.
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International Transportation News
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Changes are coming, big changes.
There's a new person in charge of Edmonton's transit system, and he's planning to overhaul the whole thing. Eddie Robar started his new job as manager of ETS a few weeks ago, and the biggest thing on his radar is the city's system-wide review of all bus routes. "Part of what drove me to Edmonton was the transit strategy coming up," said Robar, who oversaw a similar overhaul in Halifax during his four years as transit manager there. Robar calls his last transit review in Halifax, which was still pending council approval when he left, an "unprecedented overhaul."
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Mayor Matt Brown went to bat for London's rapid transit dreams on Monday in Toronto. The province's Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs is looking for input on the 2016 budget, so Brown floated London's $388-million dollar request that will fall under the "Moving Ontario Forward Program." The initiative has set aside $15-billion dollars to bolster public transit and other infrastructure projects outside of the GTA. City staff have detailed four options ranging in price from $260-million to $1.2-billion, with London pledging to spend $125-million with hopes that the provincial and federal governments will fund the rest. Speaking afterwards to AM980, Mayor Brown said he told the provincial committee that Council prefers the hybrid option of light rail and bus rapid transit.
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City officials are ready to embrace a state program aimed at making sure streets are safe for everyone who uses them. At the Jan. 4 meeting, City Council expressed interest in pursuing a "Complete Streets" program for the city. Complete Streets are designed to improve safety for all kinds of transportation modes, not just for vehicles but for pedestrians, bicyclists and the disabled. In October, the city and the state Department of Transportation hosted a workshop on the program, part of a nationwide movement launched in 2004 by the National Complete Streets Coalition.
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Building Transportation Infrastructure
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Santa Rosa is taking a hard look this week at why so many people say they want mixed-use developments within walking distance of train stations but no one is building any. In a joint study session before the City Council and Planning Commission at noon Tuesday and at several public forums through Thursday, a group of land-use consultants will explore this gap and suggest paths to bridge it. Santa Rosa theoretically encourages higher density developments mixing housing and commercial uses around downtown and Coddingtown Mall, where Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit will operate two of its busiest stations when service begins later this year.
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Chapel Hill Transit will make one more push for public input this week before drafting its recommendation for the future bus-rapid transit corridor planned from Eubanks Road to Southern Village. BRT relies on dedicated lanes, priority at traffic signals and platform-level boarding to deliver more efficient bus service. There are three options for putting BRT buses on the road: in lanes shared with car traffic, in a dedicated side lane, or in dedicated lane down the center of a major road, such as MLK Boulevard.
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The Nebraska Legislature is in session, and new bills are flowing in to the clerk's office. Here are reports from reporters of the Nebraska News Service. By Seth Olson, Nebraska News Service LINCOLN--A variety of legislative bills introduced since last week relate to Gov. Pete Ricketts' stated goals of boosting Nebraska's economy by improving the transportation infrastructure. Transportation bills Transportation-related bills include: LB960, the Transportation Innovation Act, introduced at the governor's request by Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, would create the Transportation Infrastructure Bank Fund by transferring $150 million from the state's cash reserve fund for roads and expressway construction projects. LB799, introduced by Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln, would include capital acquisition costs in the Nebraska Public Transportation Act's assistance program, allowing public transit systems to use state aid to purchase buses and fund other capital expenses in addition to supporting operating costs.
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Building Transportation Infrastructure
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Mankato Free Press - January 11, 2016
The city took a step Monday night toward getting a regional public transportation system from concept to reality. The City Council approved a job description for and authorized recruitment of a temporary staff member who will help to organize the routes and structure of a new transit system. The person for the job, once found, will be paid using grant money from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
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Advocates have been planning a Red Line light rail for years to increase access to jobs. Governor Hogan has other plans.
Last week, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake his new plan for revitalizing West Baltimore called Project C.O.R.E., a $700 million commitment to, above all things, eradicate blight. What many West Baltimore residents and activists had been calling for are better transit options to get them downtown and to neighborhoods in East Baltimore where the jobs are. Up until Hogan took office, they had that coming. The state had approved a 14-mile, west-to-east Baltimore transit project called the Red Line, something called for as early as 1965, and that has been in the works since 2002. Hogan has offered little insight to the public about why he so quickly extinguished the transit project.
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Albuquerque Business First - January 12, 2016
Two new reports say Albuquerque Rapid Transit will improve access to jobs and residences and spur upwards of $3 billion in new property development near the transit corridor. Business owners and concerned citizens have been vocal in their opposition to the city's plans for a new rapid transit system along the Central Avenue corridor, claiming that construction during its implementation could put struggling stores out of business and criticizing the city's planning of the project as "piecemeal" and uninformed.
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