Tanya Snyder

Bless His Heart: Sen. Carper Still Thinks Congress Could Raise the Gas Tax (News Journal) NEC Portal Bridge Chokepoint Could Be Fixed, Would Cost $940M (AP) Japan’s Maglev Train Opens, Reaching Speeds Over 300 MPH (Daily Mail) Texas Transportation Council Drops Trinity Highway Boondoggle From Plan (Dallas Morning News) WISDOT Presses Forward With Expensive and Unnecessary … Continued

Amid all the hand-wringing in Congress about transportation funding is one simple fact: The federal gas tax has been unchanged at 18.4 cents per gallon for 21 years. During that time, rising fuel efficiency and inflation have chipped away at how much the tax brings in and eroded the value of what remains.

Has the stupor worn off yet? Election Day was last Tuesday, and we'll be living with the results for years. But Beth Osborne, a former Hill staffer and U.S. DOT official now at Transportation for America, says the changes on the Hill are no big deal: Nothing was getting done anyway.

It’s time to rev up the annual fight over parity between federal transit and parking benefits for commuters. Members of Congress hope this might finally be the year to get it done.

Uber is celebrating. DC passed an Uber-legalization law that Uber thinks cities the world over should follow. The problem is, most cities have much more tightly regulated taxi industries than DC, with a far higher cost of entry. In those cases, letting Uber get away with providing taxi services while complying with none of the rules is unfair. The taxi companies have been screaming about this for a while now. Uber's response is something like, "Catch me if you can, old geezer." DC's contribution to that conversation strengthens Uber's position.

Experts Doubtful That the New Congress Will Pull Off a Transpo Solution By May (WaPo) Tax Policy Center Studies the Variety of State Solutions to the Federal Funding Shortage States and Cities Vote to Pay More for Transpo — Why Can’t Congress? (National Journal) Reps. Blumenauer, McGovern Push for Transit Benefit Parity (The Hill) It’s Time … Continued

This Friday, more than 200 movement leaders for safe transportation will gather in New York City for a symposium on Vision Zero -- how New York and Sweden did it, and how their city can too. New York’s leadership on the issue has been inspiring: If you can make it (to zero) there, you’ll make it (to zero) anywhere.

NYC’s Biggest Subway Hub Opens Today (AP, NY1) All the Election Proves Is Cities Are Weak and Subject to Rural Domination (Salon) Yeah, Transpo Funding Probably Won’t Get Solved During the Lame Duck (The Hill) Despite Losses in Neighboring Counties, Tampa Will Go Forward With Transit Vote (TBO x2) Repeal of Automatic Gas Tax Increases Will Cost … Continued

Whether Tuesday’s election left you feeling elated or devastated, there’s one happy story we can all rejoice in: Clayton County, Georgia, will finally get transit service.

In Washington, DC, if a driver crashes into a person on foot or on a bike, and that person walking or biking is deemed to be even 1 percent at fault, he or she cannot collect any damages from insurance.