T 4 America

This morning, Transportation for America (T4A) released a report, "Dangerous by Design" which gives a state-by-state ranking of how dangerous each state is for pedestrians.  While there are certainly worse states to take a walk in than California, 6,957 Californians died (of 47,700 nationally) while walking as result of a crash between 2000 and 2009.

(Ryan Wiggins is Transportation for America’s an on the ground in Southern California.  Last week he presented a primer on transportation funding at “Expanding Our Public Transit Options: Resources to Keep LA Moving Forward?” a Salon put on by Breathe L.A.  He was nice enough to share his notes with us in a two-part series.  Today we’ll focus on some legislation moving in Sacramento.  Yesterday Wiggins gave an overview of the federal picture. – DN)

(Ryan Wiggins is Transportation for America's an on the ground in Southern California.  Last week he presented a primer on transportation funding at "Expanding Our Public Transit Options: Resources to Keep LA Moving Forward?" a Salon put on by Breathe L.A.  He was nice enough to share his notes with us in a two-part series.  Today we'll focus on the federal picture.  Tomorrow on the state one. - DN)

Earlier this week, Transportation for America released a report on the state of America's bridges.  Capitol Hill Streetsblog broke down those numbers yesterday, but the numbers for California were even worse.  According to "The Fix We’re In For: The State of California’s Bridges," 11.8% of California bridges are "structurally deficient" and this figure will continue to rise as an entire generation of bridges approaches their 50-year life expectancy. Additionally the top ten most heavily traveled structurally deficient bridges in the nation are in the greater Los Angeles region.

In Pittsburgh, elderly para-transit riders get automated phone calls with the precise arrival time of their vehicle. Bus priority lanes and preferential traffic signals in the Twin Cities are improving on-time service. Here in Washington, DC, stored value on SmartTrip cards pays for Metro parking, train and bus, and it can sync with pre-tax employee transit benefits. In San Francisco, dynamic pricing varies parking rates based on supply and demand, reducing traffic and helping people find available parking spaces.

If you're a regular Streetsblog reader who's been looking for a career in fighting for transportation reform, have I got news for you.  Transportation For America, the organization that's looking out for us in the nation's capital, is looking to hire a field organizer for Southern California.  The requirements?  Knowledge of Southern California's communities, a passion for advocacy, two years of experience as a political organizer and an ability to work with, manage and grow a diverse coalition.

If the equivalent of one jumbo jet full of Americans died every month, the resulting public outcry would be deafening. Or would it?

In a report released this morning, Transportation for America (T4A) expands on its months-long effort to map transit cutbacks across the nation and concludes that 10 of the largest 25 local agencies are being forced to hike fares by more than 13 percent.