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Transportation
Campaigns and Elections:
 2009
Election Monitoring & Results
CFTE is monitoring communities around the country
considering ballot measures in 2009. Check out our regularly
updated list of possible transit campaigns.
November 2008 Elections:
Read Press Release
Visit CFTE's Election Resources & Issues page to find helpful information for planning and executing a successful campaign.
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Lessons
Learned In 2007
Voters Decide to “Keep Mecklenburg Moving”
By Alan Wulkan, founder and a managing partner of InfraConsult, LLC
On November
6, 2007, 70% of the voters in Mecklenburg
County defeated an attempt to repeal the county's existing ½-cent
transit sales tax. At first glance, it might appear
this was an easy election to win since the tax had been in
place since 1998, transit ridership was at record levels,
and Charlotte was about to open the South Corridor Light
Rail Line, but nothing would be further from the truth.
Public Transportation
Use Substantially Reduces Greenhouse Gas
An independent scientific
study supported by the American Public Transportation
Association has identified transit use as a major component
of the nation’s climate change strategy. The study, Public
Transportation’s Contribution to U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction, shows that when
compared to other household actions that limit carbon dioxide
(CO2,),
taking public transportation can be more than ten times
greater in reducing this harmful greenhouse gas.
Recent News Stories:
Kalamazoo, MI "Lower voter turnout boosts transit tax" Kalamazoo News, May 7, 2009
Grand Rapids, MI "The Rapid transit system may lose $40 million in state, federal funding for silver line after voters reject millage" The Grand Rapids Press, May 6, 2009
Madison, WI "Tax increases approved to pay for rail projects" Chicago Tribune, May 1, 2009
2009 News Archive
2008 News Archive
2007 News
Archive
2006
News Archive |
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REGISTER NOW FOR TIC 2009!
2009 Transit Initiatives and Communities Conference
The 2009 Transit Initiatives and Communities Conference will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah from May 31 - June 2, 2009.
Visit Modal Citizen: A Blog by the Center for Transportation Excellence
Modal Citizen is a new forum for analysis and discussion of the latest in transportation ballot initiative news. Join us!
October 2008 Report: Reconnecting America has released a new report, Jumpstarting the Transit Space Race, which documents the surge of interest in transit and recommends a transit-building program to help make the U.S. energy-independent and create jobs.
August 2008 Report: The Transit Cooperative Research Program has released a new report on the Effects of TOD on Housing, Parking, and Travel. The research looks at the actual transportation performance of 17 built TOD projects with the objective of providing original and reliable data to help seed new professional guidance for building TODs.
May 2008 Report: The USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics and the Initiative and Referendum Institute have released Direct Democracy and Land Use: Eminent Domain and Big Box Development at the Local Ballot Box. The findings of this report, which takes an in depth look at land use ballot measures, may be helpful in the planning of other ballot measures. For a hard copy of the report, please contact the author, Phyllis Myers, at srsmyers@earthlink.net
2006 CFTE Report:
Transportation
Finance at the Ballot Box: Voters Support Increased
Investment & Choice
CFTE analyzed transportation ballot measures from 2000
- 2005. This report documents key trends in these elections
and the implications for transportation finance. From
2000 - 2005, voters in 33 states approved ballot measures
totaling more than $70 billion. Transportation measures
have an amazing 70% approval rate with voters.
More Information
on the Report
Press Release
Gas Prices & Transit Use
Evidence mounts that rising gas prices are translating
into rising, and sustained, public transportation ridership.
Washington Post: Stung at the pumps, More hop on bus
New York Times: Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit
USA TODAY: Ridership is up, but fuel costs strain transit agencies
USA Today: Interest in mass transit, carpools, scooters jumps
2005 Ridership Report
Solving "Oil Addiction"
Public transportation can dramatically reduce the nation's
dependency on foreign oil by cutting energy consumption.
New research outlines the energy and environmental value
of transit.
Read this report and others in 'Trends in Transit'
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