Comments on: Today’s Headlines

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:54:53 +0000

Why did I say the MTA? I meant Newsday. It has nothing to do with the MTA. Am I losing my mind?

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:12:22 +0000

Here's Long Island's week of carnage, courtesy of the MTA:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-liacci-pg,0,5210574.photogallery

By: Moser

Moser — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:34:28 +0000

In terms of recent history, the Highway Trust Fund problem is that Congress authorized more transportation spending in 2005 but provided almost no new revenue. Combine that with recently skyrocketing construction and materials costs, and transportation agencies around the country are doing less with less. McCain is completely out to lunch on this score and people should be throwing the Minnesota bridge collapse in his face every time he gets going with this gas tax holiday.

By: Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:48:44 +0000

That would be 2008 amico.

By: Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:48:11 +0000

I actually think the McCain proposal ought to be labeled the Bin Laden Support Act of 2006.

By: Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:47:12 +0000

Aye, aye captain.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:21:43 +0000

Had gas vig been converted to a percentage when the price was low no one would have even noticed.

Ooh, wow, Nico! Better yet, it should have come out to a lower rate than the existing per-gallon rate - but then shot up with gas prices! Adjustable-rate taxes.

By: Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:15:21 +0000

My favorite angle on the gas price thing is that gas taxes are already being cut. When it was pegged to a particular cents per gallon in place of a percentage it was guaranteed that if the long term price of gas went up the long term tax take in real dollars (the kind you have to use to buy commodities not the kind you use to determine fare increases) would go down. That is of course what actually happened and why the trust fund is shrinking like the Wicked Witch of the East.

Had gas vig been converted to a percentage when the price was low no one would have even noticed.

By: rlb

rlb — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:02:38 +0000

The numbers of the gas tax moratorium astound with stupidity:
Average American family buys 20 gallons per week, costing them about $4 in taxes, $200 dollars per year. A modest amount even for lower class families.
100 million American families contribute $400 million to the government per week in gas taxes, $20 billion per year - about five times what the federal government gives to the nation's passenger rail system.

By: matt

matt — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:01:51 +0000

a cyclist was killed on allen and stanton this morning. saw it on my way to work.

By: Larry Littlefield

Larry Littlefield — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:48:26 +0000

Here's another article, on Zipcar, I just came across.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23747341/

By: Larry Littlefield

Larry Littlefield — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:32:27 +0000

Another article that may not seem to have much to do with transportation, but it does.

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/tech/20080416/19/2493

"On April 15, after months of negotiations, Verizon announced it would file an application with the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications to offer video service throughout the city. If that application is approved, it will be the company's cue to ramp up its installation of fiber optic cables to every home in New York and start offering its FiOS package of Internet, video, voice and even wireless for those customers who really love a one-stop-shop."

One the wrong end of debts and retiree benefits, with public serivces likely to decline, future NYers will have to find low-cost alternatives they can arrange for themselves. One of those is bike commuting. Another is telecommuting, which this would enable.