The House Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee heard from public transit industry leaders and advocates at its Sept. 9 hearing on “Strengthening the Ability of Public Transportation to Reduce Our Dependence on Foreign Oil.” [More]

On Sept. 16, the House approved, by a vote of 236 to 189, a comprehensive plan to address America’s energy future. The legislation incorporated the main provisions of H.R. 6052, the “Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act of 2008” authored by Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-MN), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. [More]

Hurricane Ike was no Katrina. Ike was no Rita. But for the people of Galveston, TX, Hurricane Ike was the end of the world they knew. [More]

Investigation Continues Into Fatal California Train Collision

Metrolink commuter rail in southern California resumed full service four days after a Sept. 12 crash in Chatsworth, 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles, that killed 25 people and injured 135. The accident occurred when a Metrolink train collided with a Union Pacific freight train along the stretch of shared track. [More]

APTA announced Sept. 16 that U.S. public transportation ridership climbed 5.2 percent in the second quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter in the previous year. Americans took more than 2.8 billion trips on public transportation between April and June of this year, nearly 140 million more trips than from the same time period last year. [More]

The Framework for the Future Task Force has released a draft report addressing organizational issues related to implementing TransitVision 2050. The task force is now seeking input and comments from APTA members. [More]

In the Sept. 8 issue of Passenger Transport, APTA presented the results of a recent survey on the competing challenges agencies are facing across the country due to surging ridership, increases in fuel costs, and dwindling revenues from state and local sources.

But how are individual agencies responding in their local contexts? [More]

Public transportation is on the minds of many Americans, but it`s also an important topic on the Nov. 4 ballot for municipalities in 14 states throughout the U.S. [More]

In a process that began in 2003, the Federal Transit Administration created its first Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Training and Assistance Program class.  [More]

A team of managers from public transportation agencies throughout the U.S. recently traveled to Europe to investigate ways that public transport agencies are addressing issues related to global climate change. The study mission was part of the International Transit Studies Program, sponsored by the Transit Cooperative Research Program. [More]

As the world turned its focus to Denver and St. Paul, the sites of the Democratic and Republican national conventions, public transportation’s ability to adjust to an influx of thousands of people was never more in view. [More]

Imagine operating a train traveling at 55 miles an hour and having workers laying the track you are traveling on just one mile in front of you. What would you do: Accelerate or slow down? [More]