President Obama today announced a national network of high-speed passenger rail lines with funding revolving around the $8 billion in the Recovery Act plus $1 billion per year for the next five years.

The investment provides a much needed kick-start to modernize the aging U.S. passenger rail system into high-speed “bullet” trains, able to transport people over long distances efficiently, reliably and comfortably in addition to helping to take drivers off the road and reducing pollution in populated areas.

Currently the nation’s only high-speed rail service exists in the Northeast corridor (NEC) from Washington to Boston. The ten high-speed corridors identified to be potential recipients of this new federal funding include lines in California, Pacific Northwest, South Central, Gulf Coast, Chicago Hub Network, Florida, Southeast, Keystone, Empire and Northern New England. Under the plan the NEC will have an opportunity to compete for funds to further improve services to riders in its busy area. Below is the map showing the high-speed rail lines being considered, courtesy www.whitehouse.gov.

What we’re talking about is a vision for high-speed rail in America.  Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city.  No racing to an airport and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes.  (Laughter.)  Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination.  Imagine what a great project that would be to rebuild America.

Now, all of you know this is not some fanciful, pie-in-the-sky vision of the future.  It is now.  It is happening right now.  It’s been happening for decades.  The problem is it’s been happening elsewhere, not here.

In France, high-speed rail has pulled regions from isolation, ignited growth, remade quiet towns into thriving tourist destinations.  In Spain, a high-speed line between Madrid and Seville is so successful that more people travel between those cities by rail than by car and airplane combined.  China, where service began just two years ago, may have more miles of high-speed rail service than any other country just five years from now.  And Japan, the nation that unveiled the first high-speed rail system, is already at work building the next:  a line that will connect Tokyo with Osaka at speeds of over 300 miles per hour.  So it’s being done; it’s just not being done here.

There’s no reason why we can’t do this.  This is America.  There’s no reason why the future of travel should lie somewhere else beyond our borders.  Building a new system of high-speed rail in America will be faster, cheaper and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already overburdened aviation system –- and everybody stands to benefit.

Among other dignitaries attending this momentous event are Vice President Joe Biden and Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Transportation and Infrastructure Chair James Oberstar along with other members of Congress. Public transportation leaders in attendance included American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Chair Dr. Beverly Scott (MARTA, or Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) and APTA President William W. Millar. Vice President Biden said in his speech:

With high-speed rail system, we’re going to be able to pull people off the road, lowering our dependence on foreign oil, lowering the bill for our gas in our gas tanks.  We’re going to loosen the congestion that also has great impact on productivity, I might add, the people sitting at stop lights right now in overcrowded streets and cities.  We’re also going to deal with the suffocation that’s taking place in our major metropolitan areas as a consequence of that congestion.  And we’re going to significantly lessen the damage to our planet.  This is a giant environmental down payment.

Here’s a video clip showing portion of President Obama’s announcement, courtesy CNN, March 16, 2009.

President Obama Unveils High-Speed Passenger Rail Plan for Ten Corridors is a post from: CleanCarTalk

A couple of positive public transportation statistics for 2008. According to a recently published ridership report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Americans took public transportation to an all-time record of 10.7 billion trips in 2008. That’s 29.3 million trips per day on public transportation and a 4 percent increase over 2007. It was also a modern ridership record that has not been seen since 52 years ago (1956).

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported that vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) on American roads dropped by 3.6 percent in 2008 compared to the previous year. Here’s a video courtesy CNN, March 9, 2009.

It was no surprise to see ridership increase when gasoline passed the 4 dollar mark last year in some places, but ridership kept growing toward the end of the year when gas prices actually dipped below an average of $2 per gallon. So people are still getting on the buses and trains and leaving their cars at home.

Whether this is a permanent shift in Americans’ driving habits or just a temporary downturn until the economy turns around, one thing is clear. This is the time to grab the opportunity and invest, build and modernize our public transit system. It’s a great opportunity because it has clearly shown that the American public are willing to ride public transit if safe, convenient, and affordable services are available. The $8.5 billion provided by the stimulus package will help, but the government should provide even more funding to ensure the momentum is not lost. It’s a favorable scenario for public transit growth.

The sad part in all of this is the many people who are not taking public transit because they don’t have a job to go to. But that’s a topic for another day.

So are you doing your part and ride public transit? What’s not working in public transportation in your area? Share your public transit riding stories with us.

Public Transit Ridership Hits 52-Year High: an Opportunity to Improve and Invest in Public Transit is a post from: CleanCarTalk