Gas Prices
Hillary Clinton Introduces Senate Version of Transit Relief Bill
Transit operators struggling to keep pace with demand as rising fuel costs strain their budgets received some welcome news on Friday. New York's junior senator has introduced a version of the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act. The bill, which would provide $1.7 billion for local transit agencies over the next two years (including $237 million for New York City), passed the House in June but lacked a Senate sponsor until now.
August 4, 2008
House Bill Makes Connection Between Transit Funding and Gas Price Relief
Here's an alternative to the "Drill Now!" mantra that doesn't involve ethanol subsidies or depleting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Earlier this month, Congressman Earl Blumenauer introduced the Transportation and Housing Choices for Gas Price Relief Act [PDF]. Blumenauer's hometown paper, The Oregonian, calls the measure a "smart bill":
July 31, 2008
Cartoon Tuesday: The Elegant Simplicity of the Free Market
Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling. Click through to view the comic in its entirety.
July 29, 2008
The U.S. Wants to “Borrow” From Transit to Pay for Highways
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday that due to declining gas tax revenues, the Highway Trust Fund would need to borrow money from its mass transit account to pay for road projects. Today's big news story was buried at the bottom of page A17 in the New York Times:
July 29, 2008
McCain: Drilling Is the Cure for What Ails U.S.
The Gas Tax Holiday may have petered out, but John McCain still has a lot of petroleum-based populism left in the tank. His latest campaign ad, "Pump," primes the audience with a little wishful thinking.
July 22, 2008
Richard Florida: Decline of the Burbs is Not Just About Gas Prices
Via Planetizen, Richard Florida argues the decline in the popularity of
suburbs is not just a product of rising oil prices, but a result of a
new "spatial fix" that is reorganizing how and where people live their
lives. From Florida's column in the Globe and Mail:
July 18, 2008
Cities Stake Claim to Being America’s ‘Best Places to Live’
In a story about the housing downturn, BusinessWeek had some numbers crunched to see where home prices have remained most stable and where they have declined most precipitously:
July 17, 2008
Rising Fuel Costs and Ridership Strain Local Transit Systems Nationwide
Transit agencies all over the country are nearing a state of emergency. At the same time that rising gas prices are leading more Americans to opt for buses and trains, transit operators are being forced to cut service and raise fares due to budget shortfalls.
July 16, 2008
Cartoon Tuesday: It’s (Not) Funny Because It’s True
This AM New York cartoon, currently making the rounds on e-mail, was surely a ridiculous exaggeration when first published in 2004. But it's not as far off the mark today. As the Times reports, Florida is the latest state to start giving away free "gas for life" as a lottery prize. And though the jackpot, in reality, is $2,600 in prepaid gas cards every year until the winner's death, some Floridians say they would prefer that prize to the game's $250,000 cash payout, regardless of which would actually be more valuable.
July 8, 2008