Question: What’s better than a bike share program in Boston? Answer: A bike share program in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline. And according to this article in yesterday’s Globe, a solution may be closer than we think. Local officials in those areas are exploring the feasibility of this the-more-the-merrier approach,  which would expand Boston’s original bike share proposal, first introduced about two years ago, into a regional program that would serve those additional densely-populated communities just outside the city’s core.

An effective bike share program would serve as a complement to the MBTA, increasing access to hard-to-reach areas not currently served by the T, such as Arlington, Medford, Somerville’s Union Square or Cambridge’s Inman Square, reducing stress on the MBTA system at peak times like during rush hour or following major sporting events (if you’ve ever tried to fight your way onto the green line after a Red Sox game, you know what I’m talking about) and providing yet another alternative to driving, reducing congestion on the city’s roadways.

Cities such as Minneapolis, Denver and Washington, DC already have bike share programs in place–and we should join them. CLF supports a regional bike sharing initiative for Boston and other sensible transportation alternatives that get more New Englanders out of their cars and into their communities, whether that’s on foot or by train, bus or bike.

Learn more about CLF’s work to build livable cities and modernize transportation at clf.org.

Where is Maine’s future going? Regardless, it’s going there on a ZOOM bus. Or at least, that’s the hope of the 26 co-sponsors of LD 673, the bill that proposes to expand the ZOOM bus system to serve additional locations based on rapid growth in demand. The ZOOM bill was the focus of a well-attended press conference held today at the state house in Augusta by the Maine Alliance for Sustainable Transportation (MAST), the steering committee of which includes CLF’s own Jane West. The press conference featured speeches by three of the bill’s co-sponsors–Rep. Bradley Moulton (R-York), Rep. Ben Chipman (I-Portland) and Sen. Justin Alfond (D-Portland)–as well as other local transportation advocates. More >

Larry King gets a shocker when guest star, Sarah Palin, makes an intelligent and logical pitch for mass transit in Maine!

Bottom line: If you don’t want to listen to us, at least listen to Sarah. The ZOOM proposal would expand mass transit between Maine’s largest cities, increasing the current service between Portland and Biddeford and Saco and adding routes between Portland and Lewiston/Auburn and Augusta–and with full buses and park-and-ride facilities at capacity, it’s a service that Maine commuters desperately need. The proposed bill, introduced in January, would increase commuter transit options, reduce household expenditures on gasoline and diesel, increase employment opportunities and productivity and reduce government expenditures.

Want to know more? Now’s the perfect time to get on board. Speak out in support of the ZOOM bill at a public hearing this Tuesday, March 22 at 1 p.m. at the State House in Augusta. Prior to the hearing, CLF and the Maine Alliance for Sustainable Transportation (MAST) will host a press conference beginning at noon in the same location. It’s the perfect chance to learn more, get your questions answered and hear straight from the bill’s co-sponsors why they think the ZOOM proposal is essential to Maine’s development. Details at www.clf.org/events.

ZOOM Press Conference
Tuesday March 22 at 12 p.m.
Welcome Center at the State House, Augusta, ME (map)

CLF and the Maine Alliance for Sustainable Transportation (MAST) will be hosting a press conference on the new bill to expand the ZOOM commuter bus service between Portland and York County and add new service between Portland and Lewiston and Auburn and between Portland and Augusta to keep up with rising demand.

Those in attendance will include Jane West, CLF staff attorney and steering committee member of MAST; Representatives Bradley Moulton (R-York) and Ben Chipman (I-Portland), both sponsors of the bill; Nicola Wells, communications director and organizer at the Maine League of Young Voters and steering committee member of MAST; and Christian MilNeil, citizen activist. Read the full media alert >

Learn more about ZOOM

(Photo credit: BoostyTSi, flickr)

The good folks at Walk Score have been doing everyone a real service by analyzing neighborhoods on the basis of walkability.  They have on a simple and cool concept: you type in an address and it analyzes that place based on what is close enough to get to by an easy walk (restaurants, stores, coffee shops, banks, etc . . .) and it also generates a “Walk Score” (for example,  CLF’s office in Boston gets a 95 out of 100 which falls into the “Walker’s Paradise” zone) and a Transit Score^TM that rates accessibility and availability of trains and buses (CLF in Boston, in the heart of the city, gets a perfect score of 100 or “Riders Paradise” because of the 75 nearby transit routes).

At the bottom of the main Walk Score page you will notice a button that allows you to check an address against their new beta “Street Smart” Walk Score.  You can get to that directly through a blog post explaining and previewing this new mechanism.

Such tools are not perfect of course.  Anyone who has had to endure a delay ridden ride on the MBTA (the essential and beleaguered transit system serving Boston) might spit out their coffee at the suggestion they are in a “Rider’s Paradise” for example.  However, tools like this illustrate how real neighborhoods offer us, and our families, neighbors and work colleagues a chance to engage in so many of the opportunities to engage in the activities of daily life without driving.

Perhaps it is obvious – but it bears repeating – walkable communities provide us a chance to meet our neighbors and avoid burning gasoline and putting pollution (including greenhouse gases causing global warming) into the atmosphere.  And in dense communities where things are close together when we do drive, we drive less, preserving so many of these benefits.  Building such communities and the transit that supports them, is I note with pride, the mission of CLF’s Healthy Communities and Environmental Justice program and of course you can read all about it in the blog posts about the work in that program.

Maine Turnpike Authority Executive Director Paul Violette steps down after 23 years at the MTA.

A well-entrenched leader who spent decades in power of a wealthy quasi-government agency just resigned amid a public outcry over extravagant spending.  No, this isn’t another North African country unshackling itself from an autocratic regime, it’s the Maine Turnpike Authority’s Executive Director, Paul Violette, stepping down after running the MTA for 23 years.

Legislators in Augusta sought Violette’s ouster in the wake of a report released in January by the state’s Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA). The watchdog report scrutinized MTA’s complex budget and spending practices and unearthed questionable expenses including spending $1.1 million for travel and meals for employees from 2005 to 2009 and other luxurious expenditures for MTA management.  And while it is these flashy expenses that have enraged the public, a more in depth review of the report reveals that much work is needed to create an atmosphere of transparency and accountability, especially with respect to what constitutes an operating surplus–how expenses and costs are categorized by the MTA has a direct and profound impact on the quality of Maine roads that aren’t operated by the MTA.  In response to the report, the MTA disagreed with OPEGA’s characterization of the operating surplus budgeting as “ambiguous.”

The operating surplus issue is one that has been neatly and powerfully addressed by Rep. Moulton’s ZOOM bill, LD 673, by requiring the MTA to provide MDOT with at least three percent of its operating revenue and any operating surplus.  In addition, the bill seeks to get the MTA to stop spending money on road widening and instead, reallocate funds towards mass transit that will serve far more Mainers, from York, Wells, Biddeford, Saco, Portland, Lewiston, Auburn and Augusta.  For years, the MTA has spent a mere pittance on mass transit; only $8 million out of a $666 million, 10-year operating budget.  With the management shake-up at MTA, we can hope that the days of squandering are over and the time for accountability has arrived, with an immediate focus on meeting the transit needs of Maine people.

A new report from the Washington, D.C. –based Brookings Institution found that two of Maine’s metro areas drive 54% of the state’s economic output, amounting to $2.7 billion dollars in gross domestic product.  Portland-South Portland-Biddeford and the Lewiston-Auburn areas are also responsible for creating 51% of the jobs here in Maine, despite only accounting for 47% of the population.  Currently, the ZOOM bus service provides limited yet very successful service between Portland and Biddeford.

Representative Moulton’s bill, LD 673, “An Act to Expand Fiscally Responsible Transportation Through Increased ZOOM Bus Service,” seeks to improve that existing service and add a much needed route up to the economic hub of Lewiston-Auburn.  This critical and long overdue link would connect 106,539 L/A residents with 266,800 jobs in the Portland-Biddeford area, according to the Brookings Institution report.  The report notes that 60.4% of the state’s innovation workers are located in the Portland metro area.   Doesn’t it make sense to connect major population hubs with innovative jobs?  That is what the ZOOM bus bill contemplates, all with the comfort of modern wi-fi access to provide for a better connected, more productive work force.

The report also credits the Bangor area with 11% of the state’s economic output.  Imagine increasing bus service to the Bangor area after the successful implementation of the current bill to reach a trifecta of economic growth, job creation and mass transit.  According to the report, these metropolitan areas represent the engines of state economic growth and concentrate the assets critical to building the “Next Economy.”  And while that is very exciting news, the fact is, we can’t afford to ignore the mass transit connections that will help move the people of the state of Maine forward in a competitive economy.

(Photo credit: terriseesthings, flickr)

The delays commuters suffered through during the recent cold weather spell have rudely exposed the MBTA’s decaying infrastructure and serious underlying financial problems.  Many of the MBTA’s vehicles are long beyond their useful life. Because of a lack of funding, the MBTA is forced to spend money to hold these vehicles together rather than to invest in new ones, which in the long run is a great waste of resources.

A February 13 editorial in the Boston Globe points to a source of funding that could be used to help address these problems: Logan Airport’s annual parking-fee revenues.  This is a great idea, considering the airport is one of the biggest beneficiaries of both the transit system and the Big Dig, but has only contributed a limited amount of resources so far. The value of transit system to the airport could easily be monetized through determining how many riders on the Blue and Silver Lines, for example, travel to and from the airport.

Maybe we can get a conversation going before the snow melts—our public transportation system is too important for the economic, environmental and social goals of the Commonwealth to endure further delay.

Be a superhero. Take the T.

In his column in yesterday’s Boston Globe, Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser illustrates that densely developed cities are better for the environment than leafy suburbs. The column correctly states that the average household in Boston’s urban core emits significantly fewer pounds of carbon dioxide per year, in part because people in the city drive less. Unfortunately, the column also states that public transportation “does little to balance the scales”— a statement that could easily be misinterpreted to mean that the use of public transit does little to decrease carbon emissions. In fact, Glaeser’s research that formed the basis for his conclusions indicates that although city dwellers tend to use more public transportation than suburbanites, their carbon footprint is still significantly lower precisely because the emissions from transit are modest relative to the contributions of cars. Travel by public transportation emits about half as much carbon dioxide per passenger mile than private vehicles, and uses about half the fuel.

Glaeser’s message is clear. If we’re going to minimize our carbon footprint, we need to not only support denser development in downtown Boston, but also greater investment in our underfunded public transportation system.

Learn more about CLF’s work to build livable cities and innovative transportation for all New Englanders.