FTA
Streetsblog LA
BRU Sets Sights on President Obama. Urges Overruling of FTA Decision on Metro Civil Rights Complaints
The Federal Transit Administration seems pleased with the progress being made by Metro to change the way it does business to be in compliance with federal civil rights statutes. Rather than requiring major changes to the way Metro does business, the FTA seems content with changes to its outreach and reporting methods. The FTA began a Civil Rights Title VI review of Metro last year after complaints from the Bus Riders Union and other civil rights and transit advocacy groups. These groups hoped the FTA would reverse the over 1 million hours of cuts to bus service that Metro has ordered since the end of a judicial consent decree mandating increases in service expired in 2008.
April 25, 2012
Advocates Respond: What to Make of the FTA’s Civil Rights Report on Metro
fta civil rights compliance review for L.A Metro
December 19, 2011
BRU to Metro: Let Public in on Civil Rights Remedies
Yesterday, the Metro Board of Directors discussed the recently released FTA Report detailing Title VI Civil Rights violations at Metro. The Source called the discussion "by far the liveliest part of the meeting," but it also showed ongoing confusion about what the report means and what is the best way to meet the complaints.
December 16, 2011
FTA Chooses Crenshaw Line for Federal Fast Track, Will It Lead to Faster Start Date?
Yesterday, the White House announced that the Crenshaw Light Rail Line is one of fourteen projects nationwide selected to be part of an expedited federal review so that construction could proceed more quickly. This announcement was met with praise from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Senator Barbara Boxer and County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Ridley-Thomas even went so far as to ponder whether accelerating construction could lead to enough funds becoming available to construct the Leimert Park Station that has been environmentally cleared but not funded.
October 12, 2011
FTA: Transit Maintenance — Not Just Expansion — Will Grow Ridership
Aging infrastructure across the country has become an enormous safety risk. It’s also becoming an economic hazard.
October 5, 2010
Metro Misses Out on Federal “New Starts” Funding
Earlier this week, Streetsblog Capitol Hill's Elana Schor wrote about the transit agencies across the country that received federal "New Starts" funding. As is common knowledge now, Los Angeles was shut out, receiving $0 in federal funds in this round of funding from the federal government for the two projects for which they applied, the Regional Connector and the Subway to the Sea. Yesterday at The Source, Steve Hymon explained why Los Angeles was shut out, but also made the case that the most populous county in the country deserves a share of federal dollars.
February 4, 2010
Miami, Sacramento, Boston Transit Projects Still Seeking Federal Approval
Amid the good vibes yesterday
over new federal funding agreements for transit projects in New York
City, Oakland, Hartford, and other metro areas, the Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) also offered a spell of bad news to a few local
proposals that are still working to meet the agency's standards for
aid.
February 3, 2010
Feds Propose to Expand Opportunities for Biking and Walking to Transit
When it comes to infrastructure improvements that encourage more people
to walk or bicycle to transit stations, how long will commuters be
willing to travel? The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has
officially answered that question, proposing a significant expansion of
the rules governing how close bike-ped projects should be to transit in
order to receive government funding.
November 16, 2009
Senate’s New DOT Spending Bill Eases One Transit Funding Barrier
During the lengthy process
of pursuing a "New Starts" funding agreement with the U.S. DOT, local
transit officials are often at the mercy of cost-benefit calculations
that have failed to keep pace with evolutions in transport planning.
But one aspect of that slog could soon change, thanks to Sen. Patty
Murray (D-WA).
August 11, 2009
Senators Hear From Obama’s Transit Chief-in-Waiting
One of the Capitol's sad, secret truths is that members of Congress
often skip committee hearings on issues of vital importance to their
states -- and today's confirmation session with Peter Rogoff, the
president's nominee to lead the Federal Transit Administration (FTA),
was no exception.
May 14, 2009