Many favor mass transit (Indianapolis Star)
In Indianapolis, as in other places, they're finding strong support for new light rail lines. "A new poll has found nearly three-quarters of people surveyed would support using taxpayer money for mass transportation, a critical question for proponents of a light-rail line for which funding has yet to be found."

MTA may have to cut commuter service (LA Times)
But in Los Angeles, we find "The next potential victims of the nation's credit crunch: nearly 1.5 million people who ride buses and trains each weekday in Los Angeles County. Transit officials say riders could soon be facing serious service cuts.

That's because the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority might have to quickly come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to pay investors under terms of deals it made involving American International Group, the troubled financial and insurance giant."

Credit Crisis May Force Metro to Pay Millions (Washington Post)
L.A.'s not alone; the financial crisis is a stumbling block for San Francisco and others. "Metro and 30 other transit agencies across the country may have to pay billions of dollars to large banks as years-old financing deals unravel, potentially hurting service for millions of bus and train riders, transit officials said yesterday."

"In addition to Metro, affected agencies include transit systems in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago."

Who says Americans won't ride mass transit?
Salon has a great article on the phenomenon of transit systems hit hard by the rise in ridership - they've got a great opportunity to win people over, but not the funding to keep service levels as high as they should be.
"The rise in mass transit ridership should be great news. Not since the OPEC oil embargo and energy crisis in the '70s have famously car-centric Americans been so eager to shell out for a bus fare or a train ticket and leave the polluter in the driveway. Automobile transportation is one of the largest chunks of the country's carbon footprint, so the more that Americans opt for trains and buses, the more that footprint could shrink."

"But the news isn't all that sunny. In fact, the mini-exodus from driving has exposed significant cracks in the country's mass transit systems, which are struggling to accommodate new riders. Having spent decades forsaking the bus and the train for the convenience and privacy of cars, Americans are now finding that the buses, streetcars, trolleys and trains that they left behind are strapped for cash, if they still exist at all."

"'All across the country, public transportation systems are experiencing capacity problems,' says Virginia Miller, a spokeswoman for the American Public Transportation Association. 'Due to the high costs of fuel, systems' budgets are being severely impacted.' A survey of 115 of the association's members found that 60 percent of the systems are considering fare increases, while 35 percent are experiencing service cuts. 'It's ironic that at a time of record ridership we don't have the funding to expand public transportation systems," says Miller.'"

Shaping the 2009 Transpo Debate: Rockefeller Foundation’s Nick Turner (Streetsblog)
And if you want to come out of this roundup with a slightly more sanguine outlook, think of the money that the Rockefeller Foundation is putting into organizations working toward transportation solutions at the federal level. Streetsblog has an excellent interview with a representative of the foundation.

Aaron Naparstek (Streetsblog): "If Rockefeller Foundation’s investments in transportation policy reform work well and pay off in the way that you hope, what kind of outcomes will we see in the coming years?"

Nicholas Turner (Rockefeller Foundation): "I think that we would be looking at a recognition that -- and again this might be incremental and slow based upon our political system -- but an eventual recognition that transportation should be seen as a tool to achieve a variety of other social benefits and ends. Transportation is not an end in and of itself but it should be a tool to enhance quality of life for people. We need adequate investment in a range of transportation options so that people are not spending 90 minutes a day or two hours a day stuck in their cars, away from their family, sitting in traffic and angry about it. Transportation policy should serve our climate imperatives, and have to take into account that by 2020 and 2050 we really ought to be hitting some benchmarks for the reduction of our emissions. Transportation should serve social equity. It should be seen as a tool that enhances opportunity for individuals and helps them to prosper, to move up the income ladder, to be connected to good jobs. Finally, federal transportation policies and funding should be directly related to broader national economic prosperity. It has to be thought of as an investment. If this country is to continue as an economic force globally, what kind of transportation networks do we need?"

Photo credit: Fred Boniface