Free Republic

With the Metropolitan Transportation Authority facing a budget crisis, New Yorkers may have to dig into their pockets to help out. Under a new proposed bill, New York City residents would be required to pay a $3 surcharge on packages they ordered online, with the exception for medicine and food. Assemblyman Robert Carroll, who proposed the bill, says the online shopping fee would raise more than $1 billion a year "to fund the operating costs of buses and subways in the city of New York."

A spate of over 400 smashed subway windows in four months has the MTA on the verge of a glass shortage, transit officials said Friday. “We had a reserve of glass when this wave started in May. We’ve run through the reserve,” MTA spokesman Tim Minton said of the rash of vandalism. Since May 14, transit workers have reported 31 separate instances of broken windows on the 7 train, internal records obtained by The Post show. Smashed windows have also turned up on the 2 and 3 trains, MTA safety exec Pat Warren said — costing the agency more than...

The Queens neighborhood of Corona has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in New York City, the epicenter of the nation's outbreak. The Queens neighborhood of Corona has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in New York City, the epicenter of the nation's outbreak. (New York Health Department) NEW YORK CITY — In an almost unbelievable twist of irony, the most cases of the new coronavirus in New York City have been found in the Queens neighborhood of Corona. No New York City region has reported more positive COVID-19 tests than the zip code 11368 — which covers Corona, North...

It's time to stop throwing money at an obsolete form of travel and focus on the transportation system that is already moving more than 80 percent of passenger travel in the U.S. When most of the nation’s governors shut down nonessential businesses and directed people to stay at home, they made the mistake of keeping urban transit systems running despite a 2018 study showing that mass public transportation systems expedite the spread of infectious diseases in communities. Further, a 2011 study found that people who ride urban transit are nearly six times more likely to suffer from upper respiratory infections...

The relentless march of urbanization, in the United States and around the world, has been coming for a long time. .. America went from 8.8 percent urban in 1830 to 25.7 percent in 1870, then to a majority in 1920, and up to about two-thirds by the mid-1950s. We were 80 percent urban by 2010. North America has the most urban population in the world. But it is not alone in seeing an accelerating trend. The U.N. estimated that, in 2009, half the world’s population lived in urban areas for the first time in human history. Over 4 billion people...

For decades, politicians who propose and promote big government have done all they could to wean Americans off the convenience and freedom of cars and pack them like sardines into subways and buses, .. the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism ... Fortunes in taxpayer monies have been misspent trying to get people to travel in ways they wish not to, sitting or standing in close proximity to perfect strangers instead of in the private company of their own vehicle with their loved...

In the midst of Sunday's presidential debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, Biden blurted out that his campaign's high-speed rail plan would take "millions of automobiles off the road." This is the second debate in which the former vice president brought up the belief that bullet trains will get people out of their cars. This is, to put it mildly, extremely unlikely. Biden's campaign site calls for "the construction of an end-to-end high speed rail system that will connect the coasts, unlocking new, affordable access for every American." Would bullet trains passing through major cities scattered across the U.S....

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) recently told a progressive audience at Howard University that, “Public transit should be free.” This is just the latest call for free transit; the issue has been bubbling up around the country in the past few months, started in large part by some misreporting of events in Kansas City, Missouri. ... A 2002 study authored by Jennifer Perone and Joel Volinski of the Center for Urban Transportation Research concluded: "Based upon the findings of this synthesis, it is concluded that a fare-free policy might be appropriate for smaller transit systems in certain communities, but is ill-advised...

LAWRENCE, Mass. — Dionisia Ramos gets on the 37 bus twice a day, rooting through her handbag to dig out the fare and drop it into the slot, so it came as shock several months ago when the bus driver reached out his hand to stop her. “You don’t have to pay,” he said. “It’s free for the next two years.” Ms. Ramos had never heard of anything like this: Someone was paying her bus fare? At 55, she lives on a monthly unemployment check for $235. So saving $2.40 a day, for her trip to and from community college,...

The case for change: Understanding the current state of infrastructure in the United States In developed economies like the United States, public infrastructure is typically one of the few forms of government spending that gets support across the political landscape. Roads, water treatment systems, and power lines all contribute to a smoothly functioning economy. They can also stimulate economic growth, increase safety, and reduce energy demand.

The Q65 bus came to a stop along a residential block in Queens and a construction worker stepped onboard. He walked past the farebox without paying. The driver pushed the F5 button on his dashboard. At the next stop, an older woman with a cane climbed on and gave the driver a hearty wave. She, too, did not pay. Again the driver pressed F5. Over two and a half hours, the driver pressed F5 — the button that records fare evaders — at least 50 times, and there was still a half-hour left on his morning route. “It’s getting worse,”...

The $2.5 billion has already been spent — but California has failed to deliver the high-speed rail (on time, or at all) as promised. Therefore, the Trump administration argues, the state has to repay federal taxpayers. The Los Angeles Times quoted Stanford law professor David Freeman Engstrom, a Stanford law professor, describing Trump’s effort as a “nuclear option.” The practice of recovering money after a breach of contract, while common in the private sector, was virtually unheard of in government, he explained. “There is a reluctance to penalize misspending by local government agencies. … Almost never do those violations result...

A man hit and killed by an Amtrak train Monday morning in Moorpark had been placing flowers on the tracks for another man fatally struck on Saturday by an Amtrak train, authorities said. Monday's fatality occurred around 11:33 a.m., when a northbound passenger train from Los Angeles was traveling through the city at about 70 mph, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, which provides police services in the city. The man, described as a 47-year-old Moorpark resident, was hit near Avenida Colonia and Nogales Avenue and was pronounced dead at the scene. Tracks in the area pass underneath Highway...

Lisa Lebowitz was sitting in a delayed NJ Transit train departing Hoboken one recent Monday evening when she overheard an exasperated passenger complain about the frequency of last-minute cancellations. “Don’t worry,” Ms. Lebowitz recalled a crew member telling the passenger. “You should be good tomorrow because we take off Mondays and Fridays.” NJ Transit has been forced to cancel hundreds of trains this summer resulting from shortages of railcars, locomotives and workers. But it has also had to cancel trains because of last-minute calls from train operators saying they are sick or need time off for family or medical reasons,...

Wolf Administration Project to Improve Operations, Customer Service at 32 Transit Systems while Adding Jobs at Pennsylvania Company 3/1/2018- State College, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)held an event today to announce it has chosen Avail Technologies Inc. of State College, Pa., to implement a Fixed Route Intelligent Transportation System (FRITS) for 32 transit systems that will offer real-time service information for passengers, flexible fare payment options, and enhanced transit planning. The company currently employs 92 people, 81 of whom work at the State College headquarters, and anticipates a 10 to 20 percent staff increase because of this...

Miami-Dade’s beleaguered transit system took its worst plunge in use ever in the past fiscal year, new figures reveal. Ridership among all four transit modes declined a combined 9.6% as almost one in every 10 riders disappeared. ....just as the county is promoting plans for six new legs of mass transit in its multi-billion-dollar Smart plan....

Westminster-based Knorr Brake Co., which makes brakes, doors and HVAC systems for mass-transit rail lines, will add 200 new jobs over the next six years, the Maryland Department of Commerce announced Thursday. The company will add 30,000 square feet of space to its facility at the Westminster Technology Park, investing $2.2 million. The company built its facility there in 2013. The Maryland Department of Commerce will provide a $700,000 conditional loan through the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund to help the company expand. Knorr Brake currently has 280 full-time employees....

Officials with state and federal transportation agencies say they did not review funding assumptions for the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan's $4.6 billion metro Detroit transit tax proposal. If approved by voters on the Nov. 8 ballot, the measure will impose a 20-year, 1.2-mill property tax increase on property owners in Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Washtenaw Counties. The Regional Transit Authority’s spending plan assumes that some funds will come from both the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The money will mainly be used to expand municipal bus service in the region. “Total state...

Because of a derailment at the East Falls Church Metro station portions of the Orange and Silver lines will remain closed for the rest of the day. WASHINGTON — Service on parts of the Orange and Silver Lines will remain suspended through at least Saturday, following an early-morning derailment near the East Falls Church station that damaged two train cars, sent one rider to the hospital and scrambled passengers’ Friday morning commutes. Service on the Silver Line between the McLean and Ballston stations and on the Orange Line between West Falls Church and Ballston will remain suspended through the end...

This video was uploaded to Twitter by #BlackLivesMatter supporter “DeefrmUpt” on July 11. It quickly became a viral hit on social media.