North America could learn from Brazil

São Paulo Brazil - The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., better known as the IEEE had a very interesting article in the IEEE Spectrum magazine regarding the transit operation in São Paulo Brazil. Suffice to say, São Paulo operates one of the most complex bus operations in the world and rather successfully I might add.

While the pro-rail crowd in North America still often points to Europe to show the success of rail operations, São Paulo has quietly turned the bus into something even more successful.

"People won't ride smelly buses" and "Rail attracts the riders" are just a few of the comments made by the pro-rail crowd however, they become silent when São Paulo is brought up. Why? Perhaps it is because São Paulo has turned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) into a low tech as well as low cost art form that works extremely well in a city of over 18 million people.

While there are problems with the São Paulo BRT operation, it really is no different than what one can easily experience in the US and Canada. It doesn't matter if we're talking bus or rail, the problems are the same and can even be found in Europe. Outmoded equipment, facilities that need expanded and/or improved, better speed to move riders, etc. effect every mode of transit. The big difference is the cost, both short term and long term.

While São Paulo does have rail operations as well, which are larger than the dedicated BRT operation, it's the buses that do the vast bulk of the passenger hauling. Plans are in the works to expand both bus and rail in the city with emphasis being placed on the less costly bus operation.

The BRT operations in the US and Canada are a joke compared to what is in place in São Paulo. Here, everyone and their uncle are trying to hop on the rail bandwagon which drains money out of bus operations when all is said and done. BRT is often times the last resort when a city can't even meet the relatively easy Federal standards to get a rail line. São Paulo views BRT completely different and that attitude is paying off.

Granted that São Paulo and North American cities are totally different in terms of transit usage, the fact remains that bus operations are not overlooked in São Paulo and are treated as an important part of the cities transportation infrastructure.

A few quick facts on São Paulo's operation.

• Population: 18.3 million
  
• Number of buses: 26,391
  
• Daily bus passengers: 10.5 million
  
• Bus: 1,908 routes & 34 transfer stations
  
• BRT length: 146.5 km
  
• Rail length: 270 km
  
• Subway length : 60 km
  

It seems the common folk have the right idea

Montreal PQ - In a letter to the editor in the Montreal Gazette, Dolly Tiger of Montreal states rather well that rather than spending billions of dollars on a new transit plan for Montreal, they should spend that money to fix what they have in place already.

It's a sentiment I have long held when dealing with anything political, especially public transit. Politicians and activist groups are hot to trot to spend money to roll out new and expensive toys while ignoring the infrastructure already in place. This is perhaps one of the main reasons public transit is falling apart today.

Just imagine how popular public transit could become if the transit agencies and politicians would invest in fixing what is already in place rather than building more things that puts further strain on an already strained system. The Port Authority of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh did just that in the early 1970's with very successful results. Over time it failed as they fell into the trap of ignoring what was in place and began focusing on expensive new toys and wasteful spending habits.

Having politicians and transit system administrations actually embrace fixing what is already in place most likely won't happen very often in our times. They can't get the face time in front of the media for ensuring proper funding is there to fix and improve the existing infrastructure. Because of the political treatment of transit, which is geared for new things rather than maintaining what's in place, it's easy to get government money for new transit projects but rather difficult to get money to actually run and maintain what is in place already.

While there are some flaws in Dolly Tiger's idea such as 20 minute service on every route, she is headed in the right direction. Fix what you have first before adding more. I often see letters like Dolly's and it makes me question why those in charge are so dense when the general public gets it.

Is Toledo next on the LRT bandwagon?

Toledo OH - Planners are envisioning light rail for the Toledo Ohio area even though the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority (TARTA) is in a funding crisis and has a lackluster transit operation.

This desire for rail has spurred a long article in the Toledo Blade touting the benefits of rail as well as an article in the same paper that dredges up the National City Lines (NCL) conspiracy once again even though it had little to nothing to do with Toledo eliminating their streetcars back in the 1940's.

The NCL conspiracy is another trick used to generate support for rail operations and is usually greatly exaggerated. An interesting and well documented article on the NCL conspiracy was written by Cliff Slater for the Transportation Quarterly back in 1997 (HTML or PDF available) and dispels many of the conspiracy theories. Naturally Slater's article has been condemned by the pro-rail crowd because it sheds light on the myth they love and disproves many things they have come to believe.

In Toledo's case, the rail operations were eliminated because the Community Traction Company (CTC) couldn't afford to run the aging and ever increasing costly streetcar lines and local political pressure was heavy on the company to get rid of the streetcars so they could pave over the tracks. NCL had nothing to do with the CTC's decision to dump the streetcars yet what does the pro-rail Toledo Blade bring up to generate public support for the light rail proposal?

Toledo is just another city that wants to jump on the rail bandwagon when it can't afford what it has already. I was surprised that they weren't trying to push it for development although it was brought up. The proposal was discussed more in terms of actually moving people. That's a rarity these days as using rail for actual transportation is down the list behind development and political legacy reasons.

In addition, the manner in which TARTA is funded is unstable. Ohio transit systems rely heavily on voter approved tax levees to fund their operation. Some systems have come and gone based on voters rejecting a levy. Also, TARTA has issues with communities wanting the ability to pull out of the system with little advanced notice. This situation places TARTA's funding on an even more unsecured footing.

To add an expensive rail operation that will not serve all the outlaying communities will spell major problems for TARTA. As costs go up to operate a rail line, communities that don't benefit from the rail line will balk about having to pay for it. Levy rejections and pull outs from the TARTA system will likely happen which will leave TARTA struggling even more to find the money to operate.

TARTA General Manager James Gee acknowledged the all important point which is how would TARTA pay to run a light rail line. Most systems ignore this point but Gee seems to be looking more at the whole picture rather than putting on a pair of rose colored glasses.

Toledo would be better off starting with a Bus Rapid Transit operation similar to Lane Transit's EmX operation in Eugene Oregon to establish a corridor and build up ridership. While Toledo's ridership has increased, it is still not very strong and isn't even remotely close to being able to justify a light rail line, even with falsified ridership projections.

NJ Transit employee newsletter is costly

Newark NJ - The Cherry Hill Courier Post had an interesting article about the NJ Transit employee newsletter and the costs involved to produce and distribute it. While the article was clearly biased against the costs involved with the newsletter due to the upcoming fare increases, the article provided a good look into one of the rarely considered costs that are helping to drive up the price of public transit.

The cost to produce and distribute the "En Route" employee newsletter is over $400,000 a year. While hardly a large amount considering that $400,000 is a drop in the bucket to the overall total budget, it is something that should be looked at.

I've seen many of these employee newsletters from various transit systems across the United States and only an issue or two is worth the cost of producing. Most are simply a waste of time, resources and money. Most employee newsletters from transit systems that I have seen are on the more expensive glossy paper, multi-color printing and multi-paged.

Most of what is included in these employee newsletters are management spin on issues effecting the system and many fluff pieces to fill up the newsletter. I have seen a few employee newsletters that literally were little more than free political advertising that was paid for out of the operating funds needed to run the system.

The cost of the "En Route" newsletter is rather high in my opinion. Many places can kick out a quality newsletter for less than a quarter of the $400,000 plus that NJ Transit pays to produce their employee newsletter. They're usually a little more informative as well.

NJ Transit seriously needs to look into trimming costs in this area as do all transit systems that issue employee newsletters. With the cost to provide service continuing to rise, every penny counts and these employee newsletters do nothing to keep service on the streets.

Rendell pushes for his windfall profit tax

Philadelphia PA - Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell pushed hard for his proposed 6.17% windfall oil profits tax at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) board meeting. Claiming his tax will save SEPTA, Rendell urged the SEPTA Board to lobby State Legislators to pass his tax.

Rendell projects that his tax will generate $720 million each year from any profits by oil companies that operate or sell within Pennsylvania's borders.

What this tax will do is be the catalyst for skyrocketing fuel prices and fuel shortages across the state. This will adversely effect public transit and keep them in the same exact situation they are in now while the citizens of the state have to pick up the tab through higher costs for everything.

The cost of the tax will be passed onto the consumer through higher fuel prices. In addition to costing even more to fuel a private auto, public transit as well as trucking and rail companies will be hit hard. This will force transportation costs to rise and that will be passed off to the consumer through higher prices from food, clothing, electronics and everything else the public takes for granted.

Also, given the long term history of tax money being funneled off for other things, much of this "windfall" won't end up in the public transit coffers but into political pet projects and other governmental agencies that will be screaming for their fair share of the pot of gold.

Fast Eddie's proposal is not sound. Even the spendthrift State Legislature and people from Rendell's own party see this. If rammed through, all Pennsylvanians will feel the sting from it and public transit will not be saved.

Let's face the facts here. Oil companies will pass on the costs and if the tax proves too expensive to operate in the state, they'll pull out. Shortages will then occur that will spur even higher prices due to the shortages.

This tax isn't just on "Big Oil" either but the entire oil structure within the state border. From the small wells to the retail outlets and everything in between, all will be taxed under Rendell's windfall profit proposal. Small mom & pop operations all the way up to BP will be effected and nobody will be spared.

This is just another "feel good" law that plays off the public outrage over higher prices. Punishing "Big Oil" for being greedy is a big business these days in Liberal circles and is based not off of facts but feelings. These knee jerk reactions will only serve to further destroy this state.

To quote my favorite radio host, Jim Quinn and Quinn's first law: "Liberalism always generates the exact opposite of its stated intent." Fast Eddie's windfall profit tax is a perfect example of this.

Political Perks - Busway permits

Pittsburgh PA - A story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tells of an unwritten policy that gives selected politicians and government agencies permits to drive on the Port Authority's 3 busways.

The story was brought to light when Post-Gazette transportation writer Joe "Softball" Grata apparently found out that former PAT Executive Director and former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey (R) had such a permit.

This story does bring up an important issue regarding the use of the busways. The issue is that the busways should be for buses and not for politicians and selected government agencies. The method in which PAT hands out and regulates the busway permits is ripe for abuse since there are no official regulations regarding the permits.

When built, the busways were supposed to be used for transit vehicles as well as the PAT non-revenue support vehicles. Emergency vehicles such as fire, police and ambulances responding to emergencies could also use the busway. Permits initially were issued for out of county operators to utilize the busways.

Over time, the permits began to be handed out selectively to politicians and government agencies to utilize the busways. Given the list provided in the article, the vast majority of the 73 permits should not have been issued. Most appear to be political in nature.

As there is no clear policy on who is eligible, all permits should be revoked in my opinion. Not one of the permits issued is vital for emergencies and marked vehicles responding to an emergency are already allowed to use the busway without a permit. The one rule in place is that the permit is for official business only but we all know how that goes in politics. Everything is official to them, from going to a meeting to wanting to get home after a day at work.

Roddey's permit should have been revoked when he left. There is no question about it but given PAT's reluctance to state the other individuals who hold and use the permits, it smacks of an abuse of the permits that PAT doesn't want to acknowledge.

Granted, 73 permits is a rather small number but it is still 73 people that have been given preferential treatment on the taxpayer's dime by a public agency. The politicians can sit in traffic like everyone else or hop on the bus if they want to be on the busways.

A few of the permits issued do raise flags. Why are there 4 permits for the Monroeville Police Department? What makes them so special that they need permits for unmarked cars when the East Busway isn't even in their jurisdiction? What about the other police departments that also have to have officers go into the city on business but have to sit in traffic?

Then there are the 3 PAT board members that have special permits. Why just those three?

How about the permit issued to the Federal Reserve in Pittsburgh? I'm more than sure that permit isn't for the armored truck carrying money but for one of the top management of the FRB.

PAT needs to come up with a clear policy on who gets issued permits and then keep tabs on those permits. The current method is selective and easily abused and amounts more to political pandering rather than an actual true need.

Personally I believe no special permits should be granted to any politician or agency. The only permits that should be issued should be to other transit systems for their buses. Marked emergency vehicles going to an emergency should continue to be exempted as well.

The busways are designed for bus transportation, not as a private highway for select politicians and agencies just so they don't have to sit in traffic. There is nothing that important that the select few should be granted special privileges that the rest of the public would be immediately ticketed for.

Detroit City Council narrowly approves placing deputies on buses

Detroit MI - In a narrow 5 to 4 margin, Detroit City Council voted Thursday to approve the expenditure for placing Wayne County Sheriff Deputies on board the city buses.

As I predicted the other day, there were plenty of council members that voted against this. I have not found any news story as of yet which tells why 4 of the council members voted against this measure. I can make an educated guess however and that is that these council members were afraid that it would pull money from the pet projects they have in motion in their voting districts.

This is not a political issue yet the Detroit City Council has made it one. The issue at hand is and always has been the safety of the drivers and ridership, in other words, their constituents. The claim of needing clarification on liability issues does not take that long to resolve and this was simply foot dragging by the City Council.

For the record, the Detroit City Council Members that voted against putting the safety of the drivers and transit riders above politics in Thursday's vote were JoAnn Watson, Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, Brenda Jones and Shelia Cockrel.

PAT shows its true colors

Pittsburgh PA - The head of the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT) showed the total disregard for the ridership PAT has when he made a comment in the PAT's finance committee meeting.

"Right now, if I lived in Troy Hill, I'd be buying a pair of good walking shoes," quipped PAT's CEO, Steve Bland.

Troy Hill residents are outraged over the comment as well they should be. The comment takes a slap at the residents complaints over PAT's route cut plan that left the heavily transit dependent Pittsburgh community virtually isolated from service.

Bland's comments also show the total disregard that PAT management has for providing transit service. PAT management has always had somewhat of an attitude that came off as uncaring but over the past 10 years, this attitude has gone from one of indifference to outright contempt for the ridership.

It reminds me of comedian Lily Tomlin's Ernestine character which lampooned the telephone company arrogance of the time. "We don't have to care, we're the Port Authority *snort*" could easily come from Ernestine's lips these days.

Dan Onorato, the transit loving Democrat and Allegheny County Chief Executive who pushed hard for the cuts and wants to get out of paying the County share of financing for PAT, demands Bland apologize for the Troy Hill comment. While Bland should apologize for the comment, the hypocritical Onorato should apologize as well for demanding the residents of Troy Hill be isolated by insisting on the original hack and slash route cut plan.

Steve Bland, you've earned a Lance but you do show that you fit right into PAT's management structure. The complete arrogance of the comment as well as the total lack of understanding of how the route cuts will effect communities completes your assimilation into the PAT culture.

Detroit operators walk out

Detroit MI - In response to Detroit City Council's foot dragging on the issue of placing sheriff deputies on the buses, Detroit's bus drivers walked out Wednesday. This move has been long in coming as the violence issue on Detroit's buses has been increasing for years yet the city has been reluctant to address the situation.

I have seen walk outs for ridiculous issues over the years at various transit systems but this is a serious issue and one that I do support the transit union on. City Council's lack of action for well over a year (a story I located in an archive search indicated the problem went back much further than that) spurred this move and perhaps it will motivate them to address the issue.

Then again, perhaps not. The procrastinating City Council immediately got on it's high horse and talked of intimidation by the union. "There is a way to lobby" stated Detroit Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins. Well Ms. Collins, they did lobby for well over a year and the City Council wouldn't listen.

A temporary fix went in to get the drivers back starting on Thursday. The fix is a one time deployment of the sheriff's deputies for 24 hours to "give Council the time to discuss the matter". There is no guarantee that the City Council will vote in favor of permanently placing deputies on the buses and I feel safe in saying that if there is actually a vote tomorrow on the issue, there will be plenty of council members that will want more time to drag their heels so they don't have to address the problem.

The drivers did what they had to do in this situation. The number of driver and passenger assaults is continuing to rise yet the politicians want to stall. Why? Most likely because the money used to pay for security will have to come from their pet projects and bus security won't generate the face time that pet community projects will.

Is PAT really trying to save money?

Pittsburgh PA - In yet another desperate bid to stay in it's new expensive downtown digs, Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT) officials have latched onto a new idea of leasing out it's old Manchester headquarters to State agencies displaced by the closing of the State office building in Downtown.

PAT officials whine that the old Manchester building, built in 1973, needs rehabilitated and asbestos removed before they could even think about moving back yet they have no qualms about sticking others into that environment.

Then PAT announced officially the end to metallic paints and excessive amounts of decals being slapped all over the buses to save a few bucks. This still won't end the rainbow fleet nor the inventory expenses of having multiple colors of paint stocked.

The cost provided to repaint a bus now compared to the original stripe livery is based strictly on direct labor and parts cost. It ignores the indirect costs of inventory, additional labor and their oh so precious image.

If PAT were truly serious about cutting costs they would move back to Manchester. If it's good enough, as is, for other people then it's good enough for their them. Also PAT would adopt 1 single paint color with minimal embellishment as the standard livery rather than being determined to keep a rainbow of colors stocked for repainting. A single color livery would save more than they think they are saving with the non-metallic rainbow fleet.

Granted this is nickel and dime nitpicking but all the same, PAT needs to clean up its act before it turns to cutting service and raising fares. PAT has decades of finding new ways to waste money built into its thinking. Nickel and dime issues do add up and PAT officials need to address them rather than trying to justify the them because they don't want to change their ways.

The Port Authority of Allegheny County officials earn themselves yet another Lance for trying to spin their way out of doing everything they can to save money beside cutting service and raising fares.