Sunday, July 3, 2011

Public Transportation - How you can help - cazort.net

Public Transportation: There are a number of ways you can become involved in public transportation:

  • Become Familiar with Local Systems - Even if you don't frequently use your local transit system, knowing a little bit about how it works can help you answer questions and assist others who may want to use it.
  • Use It - As more people use public transportation, demand will increase and the level of funding and service will increase.
  • Promote It - Speak positively about public transportation. Buy and display gear and branding of your local transit agency.
  • Write and Talk to Key People - By making known to politicians and local business leaders that you value public transportation, you can help increase the public image of transit systems, and make people more likely to provide support.
  • Start a Parternship with a Transit Agency - If you hold a position of power or influence, you might benefit both a transit agency and your own organization by partnering with them. Examples of partnerships include colleges or universities providing some funding to the transit agency, in exchange for free passes for students, faculty and staff, or influence over the routes and schedules. Some businesses offer a program where one can buy monthly transit passes and have the cost deducted from your paycheck--this generates tax savings.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

What does it mean when auto drivers honk because of irritation?

Imagine that you were irritated about something, would you go to everyone within a 500 meter spherical radius and whine loudly?

Think about it. That is exactly what auto drivers are doing when they honk the horn because of some irritation.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

US, PA, not broke - just haven't collected the taxes


Large corporations are making record profits, paying out huge bonuses, and not paying any taxes. Many are getting gifts of taxpayer funds. Many were completely bailed out by the taxpayer and should not even be in business. Conservatives say that it's OK to have the Corporations on welfare because they provide jobs, and if they had to pay taxes they would pass-through that expense in prices. That is not true. Prices are set by the market, not by the amount of expenses. If a company cannot pay for the civil society sea in which it swims, then its business plan is unsustainable and it should drown.

If you would like to do something about this: http://www.usuncut.org/

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Let's double the parking tax and get more buses

There is a campaign to roll back the parking tax. We say, double it and give the money for more and better bus service.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

LCTA is all ‘pump’ed up by an increase in ridership | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre & Scranton PA

These riders get ready to board an LCTA bus at the intermodal center with more people opting for mass transit due to gas costs.
Pete G. Wilcox/The Times Leader

LCTA is all ‘pump’ed up by an increase in ridership | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre & Scranton PA: "According to ridership reports from the Luzerne County Transportation Authority, there were 4.7 percent more people riding county buses in the first three months of 2011 than in the first three months of 2010."

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Driver Sought In Deadly Montgomery County Hit And Run On Township Line Road « CBS Philly

Driver Sought In Deadly Montgomery County Hit And Run On Township Line Road « CBS Philly: "UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) – Police are searching for the driver who fled the scene after fatally striking a pedestrian in Montgomery County Wednesday afternoon."

The victim was walking because she had lost her job and had moved back in with parents. She did not drive because she had a disability and did not want to endanger others. When we we wake up an realize that the auto-sprawl system simply does not work.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Time to admit that car-dependency is a bad idea.


Having a car-dependent society means that all kinds of people will be driving under all kinds of conditions. People under stress, disoriented, emotional, etc. It is easy to say "people should be responsible," but where do you draw the line? Taking that bumper-sticker thinking to its logical conclusion, we should not waste money on stop signs or traffic signals.
Instead, why not just design a system that is safe for humans under a larger range of circumstances? For example: make public transit free, plant gardens of vegetables and flowers in every other street, and abolish the private auto.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Driving into the city -- to see flowers

The flower show is a time of irony. Honking horns, parking mania. Big, stinking, flora-killing vehicles descending on the city. Acres of paved-over paradise to speed the journey. The self-satisfied suburbanites pop out and scamper to the show. The beautiful flowers are locked and guarded behind cement. Heaven forbid the homeless might get to see them. Then, for the return home, the beast-vehicle is retrieved from its temporary cement cave. Home it speeds, home to low-tax, good-school, sprawl heaven.

Yo, people. You can keep living in subsidized sprawl-ville. But please stop voting against public transit. We are tired of supporting your wasteful lifestyle. We would like to make the whole city a garden and take the flowers out from behind the locked doors and the extra police protection.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

CATA may go fare free - Local | Centre Daily Times - State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate


A rider boards a CATA bus along College Avenue. CDT/Christopher Weddle

CATA may go fare free - Local | Centre Daily Times - State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate: "A state-funded study set to start later this year will analyze the universal access concept, which allows mass transit users to ride without paying a fare at that time.

While the “U-pass” system often targets student populations, the study also will analyze a scenario for broader Centre Area Transportation Authority bus riders."