Free Republic

A man trying to save a dog from an oncoming train was struck and killed after he pushed the dog off the tracks, authorities said. The man, described as being in his early 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene. The dog avoided injury. The incident took place behind the property at the end of Gomes Road just northeast of Johansen High School, which is on Claus Road. The man was walking along Dry Creek with the dog and a woman when he took the dog off the leash, according to Lt. Marc Nuno of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department....

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said a vote to begin debate on a massive highway bill he is pitching is "an important first step" toward solving a transportation funding shortfall that has bedeviled Congress for a decade.  "There are lot of tired cliches about not giving up after an initial set back," McConnell said, referencing a failed test vote on Tuesday that placed the Senate's ability to pass a long-term highway bill in doubt.  "I won't subject our colleagues to any of those this morning, but I will say that last night's vote represents an important first step toward...

A bus union leader is saying that she is “triggered” whenever she thinks about private buses that are becoming popular in San Francisco. Leap, one such company, is gaining popularity in the city for their luxury buses and comfortable seating. Not all people are happy with such start-up businesses. The San Francisco Transit Riders Union, for example, is upset at companies like Leap. SFTRU for short, the union describes itself as “A rider-based, grassroots organization working to improve transit in San Francisco.” Ilyse Magy, a representative for the union, said that not only are private buses classist, but they are...

One dead, two critical and 82 hurt as DC Metro fills with smoke from huge electrical fault: Terrified passengers lie in the dark for an HOUR before help arrives - as announcers tell them to 'stay calm' *Passengers described being stuck inside a pitch-black train for 40 minutes with some lying down to avoid the smoke *One female passenger was reportedly taken to hospital after paramedics found her unresponsive. She later died *Two other passengers are said to be in a critical condition at George Washington Hospital *A firefighter was also hurt during the evacuation and was transported to hospital....

Emergency crews responded to a three-alarm fire early Tuesday morning at Penn Station, according to the FDNY. The fire happened just before 2:30 a.m. at the station, located at West 33rd Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan, the FDNY said.

An investigator Monday night said that it’ll be a long time before it’s known exactly what caused smoke to fill a Yellow Line train south of the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station Monday afternoon. A woman died; dozens of people were taken to area hospital, including two in critical condition, and Metro service still hasn't been fully restored.

Police: Family of 3 beaten up by several teens after argument with bus driver BALTIMORE —A former Maryland Transit Administration bus driver is facing several charges after a family claimed she got several teens to beat them up after one of the victims got into an argument with her. GIBSON-FISHER FAMILY Gibson-Fisher family Logan Fisher, Kristina Gibson and Christopher Fisher VIEW LARGE Mobile users tap here to watch video Former MTA bus driver Karen Murphy left district court in northwest Baltimore on Thursday after her first court appearance to answer to multiple charges of assault and conspiracy. Court documents said...

When California first put the issue of building a high-speed bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco before voters, Gov. Jerry Brown made all sorts of nifty-sounding promises about how efficient, convenient, and fiscally sound a choice the rail line would be for Californians. All of those promises have more or less turned out to be a sham by now, as the train’s costs have exploded and its deadlines pushed way back, and now it appears that that less-than-three-hour ride Californians were originally promised… well, probably isn’t. ... who really considers a mounting “wall of debt” and a slew...

'Smart growth" projects across the country aim to jam people into high-density housing near mass transit systems. Proponents think this will make people abandon their automobiles, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But new research shows "stack-and-pack" housing is an ineffective way to reduce carbon dioxide levels. Researchers at the University of California Energy and Resources Group in Berkeley used Census, weather, economic and transportation data — 37 variables in total — to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from the energy, transportation, food, goods and services consumed by U.S. households. They calculated "household carbon footprints" for more than 31,000 U.S. ZIP codes (of...

There are few things in life that progressive liberals love more than spending other people's money. When ensconced in government, they spend money for freely than a sailor in port who's been at sea for six months. Even when they're not in government, they look for ways to spend our hard-earned tax dollars by pushing ballot initiatives. One type of project in particular seems to excite liberals into a frenzy: high-speed rail. On the surface, you would think that progressive liberals and high-speed rail are an odd mix. You have to use fuel to run a train. You have to...

just six percent (6%) of American Adults use mass transit services such as buses, subways, trains or ferries every day or nearly every day. ... three-out-of-four Americans (74%) say they rarely or never use mass transit

*Disturbing Video* Woman Thrown On Subway Tracks During Violent Attack. Police keep incident secret.

MYFOXNY.COM/AP -Transit officials in New York are preparing for a total shutdown of subway, bus and train service as Hurricane Sandy continues to bear down on the metropolitan region. All service will be suspended at 7 p.m. on Sunday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to start planning for an orderly suspension of service. New York City subways and buses will start phasing out service at 7 p.m. Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road will suspend service at 7 p.m. Sunday. The city's mass transit system is the nation's largest. The subway alone has...

Amtrak announced a $151 billion improvement plan on Monday that includes 37-minute trips from New York to Philadelphia at speeds approaching 220 miles per hour (354 km per hour). However, the U.S. passenger railroad will need substantial financial support from both state and federal governments to make its ambitious plan to transform rail travel in the Northeast a reality. The railroad predicted that super-fast train trips along the East Coast could be a reality by 2040. Travel times from New York to either Washington or Boston—both about 200 miles (350 km) in distance—would also be slashed, to 94 minutes, the...

Government officials in the Washington region, as well as nationwide, are looking increasingly to bus rapid transit for new transit options as they face tightening public purses. BRT plans are under way in Alexandria and Arlington County, where buses are planned to travel from Braddock Road to Pentagon City. Alexandria expects to begin construction in July and start running buses in dedicated lanes in December 2013, said Abi Lerner, Alexandria's deputy director of transportation. Arlington expects to complete its half of the system in spring 2014. Across the Potomac, Montgomery County officials have proposed a 160-mile system with 23 routes....

Maryland’s top transportation priority should be a $5.8 billion project to widen the entire Capital Beltway, from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to the American Legion Bridge, a leading national transportation group said Wednesday. The first step would be the investment of $800 million to relieve the weekday congestion between Interstate 270 and the American Legion Bridge by widening the roadway, adding High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes and designating lanes where the direction of traffic could be reversed to accommodate the flow of the morning and evening rush hours. The Beltway recommendations topped the list of 40 Maryland transportation projects prioritized...

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley may be more skilled at implementing President Obama’s agenda than the White House itself. The Democratic governor is bringing the same big-spending, high-tax and class-warfare policies to the Free State. It’s going to cost residents a bundle. Tough economic times have forced ordinary Americans to cut back in order to get by. Not so Mr. O’Malley, who spends $35.9 billion in the budget released last month. That’s up from $34.2 billion last year and $32 billion the year before that. As Maryland Business for Responsive Government points out, the general fund budget fattened 11.4 percent last...

IN THE MAELSTROM of tax increases proposed by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), it’s easy to lose track of which are most critical. For a start, it’s useful to identify which needs have been most and longest neglected — and near the top of that list is transportation. It’s been 20 years since Maryland raised its gasoline tax, the largest source of transportation funding. As construction costs have risen, the revenue it yields has plummeted in real terms. At this point, Marylanders (like Virginians, who last saw a gas tax increase when Ronald Reagan was president) are not paying for...

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has created a set of models and scenarios to answer the objections to its earlier models and scenarios. These will be parsed in much more detail than I can do here, but it is best to note the assumptions. First, its model assumes that the rail passenger fare will always be cheaper than airfare or driving. A ticket from San Francisco to Anaheim will be $72 in 2005 dollars. This is projected out to 2030. Second, the ridership will be immense — anywhere from 28.6 million to 37.1 million. This admittedly may appear realistic compared...

More realistically, Sacramento’s Legislative Analysis Office calls the Central Valley starting point a “big gamble.” In the all-too-likely event that funding for the rest of the system never materializes, the report adds, “the state will be left with a rail segment unconnected to major urban areas that has little if any chance of generating the ridership to operate without a significant state subsidy.” It would be a train to nowhere, but at least it would go nowhere fast. As questionable as this project is, we would have less business objecting if the only money at risk was California’s. But the...