Welcome to the FastLane: The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation

America's bus passengers need you to show your app-titude

Last week I wrote about the young winners of our aviation design challenge, the Secretary's RAISE award. And earlier this week I reminded holiday travelers, particularly college students, to use our SaferBus app to "Look Before You Book"  motorcoach trips. Today, I'm putting those two ideas together and inviting America's college students to design a better way to help consumers make smart decisions when booking their bus travel.

If you are an undergraduate or graduate student with app skills, this challenge could be for you. And if you know a college or university student with an aptitude for apps, please send them to the Safety Data Student Challenge.

Here's how it works. Our Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) uses a lot of data to determine and identify unsafe bus companies. Although much of this information is available to the public, it can be overwhelming to the average traveler. 

This is where you come in.

We need your fresh ideas and innovative solutions to translate our safety data and other resources into a web-based or mobile application that helps bus travelers quickly choose the safest bus available.

 

This is what you need to know about the challenge:

• Who: Creative college students with imaginative ideas.
• What: A mobile app or web-accessible tool that presents our safety information in a simple, intuitive way that would help the average person choose the safest bus available.
• When: January 31st, 2013

Halloween is scary enough – keep it safe by driving sober

From pumpkin carving, to costume parties, to trick-or-treating, Halloween is an exciting holiday for Americans of all ages--not just our kids. In fact, many of the ghosts and goblins you'll see this Halloween season are young adults heading out to bars, restaurants, and private homes to celebrate.

Unfortunately, sometimes the most frightening part of Halloween isn’t the spooky costumes and scary pranks. Halloween is a particularly deadly night due to the number of drunk drivers on our roads. 

If you're heading out to celebrate this year, make sure you plan a safe and sober way of getting home.

According to NHTSA, in 2010, 41 percent of all highway fatalities across the nation on Halloween night involved a driver or a motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher, making them legally drunk in most states.

That’s why this Halloween, state and local law enforcement officials across the country will be out in full force cracking down on drunk drivers with an aggressive Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement effort.

And our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is providing safety materials such as videos, posters, and social media icons to states, communities, and organizations as part of its Halloween Drunk Driving Prevention awareness campaign, which runs from today through November 4.

Drinking and driving is one of America’s most often-committed and deadliest crimes. In 2010, more than 10,000 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes; that's one every 51 minutes.

Inter-city passenger rail investments paying dividends, with more benefits just around the bend

Earlier today, I wrote about the great transportation developments the Obama Administration is supporting in America's cities. I'd also like to discuss how this Administration is creating strong, 21st century connections between our nation's cities with smart investments in passenger rail.

As you may have read, last Friday I had the good fortune to be aboard an Amtrak train in Illinois that reached a speed of 111 miles per hour. The Midwest’s vision is to connect the region’s 40 largest cities with passenger rail that delivers significantly faster trip times, more service, and superior on-time performance. That means 110 MPH trains providing direct connections to city centers and seamless transfers to other modes of transportation.

In the bottom left of the monitor in the photo above, with Illinois Gov. Quinn, U.S. Senator Durbin, and
FRA Administrator Szabo, you can see the "111" indicating our speed. Photo courtesy www.harveystock.com

In just three years, the Midwest has gone from having a vision to having the fastest trains outside the Northeast Corridor, but this Administration and its state partners have achieved much more than that one milestone, and--believe me--we have even more in store for inter-city rail travel.

Nationwide 154 different projects are addressing all aspects of rail development from laying and upgrading track to eliminating bottlenecks, developing stations, and planning for future construction.

In California, America’s first 220 MPH high-speed rail system is moving forward. This project alone will create jobs and provide a one-ticket ride between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than 3 fuel-efficient hours. That is what 21st century inter-city travel looks like.

World-class cities rely on world-class transportation

Transportation leaders from across the country are gathered in New York City this week to talk about what they are doing to make America's cities vibrant, attractive centers of activity. It's all part of the National Association of City Transportation Officials' conference, "Designing Cities: Leading the Way to World-Class Streets." And I was happy to help get things started for them this morning.

Between all that this Administration has done for transportation in our nation's cities--large and small--and all that the new transportation bill that President Obama signed this summer allows us to continue doing, there was plenty to talk about.

What does transportation have to do with making cities vibrant and attractive? Quite a lot.

A few weeks ago, I was in Los Angeles to announce DOT support for a new light rail transit line that will connect downtown L.A., nearby cities in L.A. County, and the free shuttle to LAX. Through this TIFIA loan, we're helping hard-working families gain a safe, affordable alternative to driving.

In Denver, the old Union Station is becoming a regional transportation hub and a focal point for commercial development, including new housing.

And in Dubuque, Iowa, the historic Millwork District has a chance to thrive as part of an initiative that is converting old buildings into housing, offices, and retail connected by sidewalks and streets that work for motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders.

I could go on--about the transit-oriented development that’s helping cities like Phoenix and Mesa create strong economic growth, or the streetcars connecting people, businesses, services, and activities in Fort Lauderdale, Portland, and New Orleans.

I could point to the bike paths and bike-share systems popping up in cities across the country—from Minneapolis to Miami. I could point to New York where the Sustainable Streets plan is making it safer for kids to walk to school, ensuring that seniors can get around, and creating popular public spaces.

There are dozens of other projects that demonstrate the astonishing new vitality that transportation has helped bring to our nation's cities. And every step of the way, the Obama Administration has supported the effort to create the world-class streets Americans deserve.