VERY interesting and comprehensive diary entry by The Overhead Wire on DailyKos this morning. Here's his summary:
The Federal Transit Administration(FTA) has issued a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) for the New and Small Starts program that provides funding for major fixed guideway capital projects such as Light Rail, Heavy Rail, and Bus Rapid Transit. The proposed rules are alarming on a number of levels. Most notably in that they downgrade the importance of land use and economic development despite congressional direction to the contrary, and they propose to redefine the definition of fixed-guideway to include transit funding for highway lanes that use tolling schemes.
He has other issues with the rules as well. Here are his points, click through to the post to read the detail:
1. It would allow High Occupancy Toll lanes to qualify for New Starts funding - 2. It would make the dreaded cost effectiveness INDEX the primary factor in deciding the fate of funding for New Starts projects - 3. The rulemaking pushes cheap not completely dedicated guideway bus projects - 4. The importance of Land Use and Economic Development measures are reduced or ignored by the FTA - 5. Could lower ratings for cities who are trying to address future rather than current congestion issues -
The diary encourages everyone to contact their CongressCritters, urging them to block the rule changes.
