APTA | Passenger Transport
March 30, 2009

In This Issue
» NEWS HEADLINES
» PRESIDENT'S CORNER
» COMMENTARY
» APTA NEWS
» IN MEMORIAM


 
NEWS HEADLINES

‘Meet the Press’ Covers Public Transportation, Infrastructure Issues

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger—the founders of Building America’s Future, a coalition focused on the need to support the nation’s infrastructure—appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press March 22 to discuss the economy, bailouts, and stimulus funding. At times, not surprisingly, the discussion centered on transportation.

Rendell, in reference to the upcoming federal transportation authorization, stated that funding cannot remain at the same level, adding: “And the President understands ... that we have to do it in a new way.” Not to increase the funding, he said, is “a disaster for future generations. We have to change. We have to do something like the infrastructure bank: creative, innovative, visionary.”

He cited a poll conducted by Building America’s Future that “showed the American people are willing pay for infrastructure improvements, pay more taxes, if they believe it’ll be done in a nonpolitical way, if the choices made will be good choices based on cost benefit analysis.”

Bloomberg noted that “we’ve pledged to help [President Obama] in every way we can to start attacking the problems where our sewer systems and water systems are inadequate, our transportation is inadequate, whether it’s rail or air or roads.”
 When the conversation turned to traffic congestion, Schwarzenegger said: “There is no reason why we should get stuck in traffic. I mean, what we have to do is have a plan in America to see how do we move people and goods around. Is it through rail? Is it high-speed rail? . . . People want to move faster, companies want to move their goods much, much faster. We want to upgrade all of those things rather than getting stuck with that.”

Host David Gregory asked if increasing the gasoline tax was a place to start. Schwarzenegger replied: “I think one has to look at it.”

The California governor added, however, that while people are expressing a willingness to pay more for gas, “it doesn’t all have to be done through public money. We are talking here about public-private partnerships. There are many companies that are interested in coming in and financing the high-speed rail or other rail systems, light rail and so on.”

« Previous Article Return to Top | Return to Main Next Article »

APTA CALENDAR CONTACT US APTA HOME PAGE PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION
AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION
© Copyright © 2008 American Public Transportation Association 1666 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20006
Telephone (202) 496-4800 • Fax (202) 496-4321

Search Back Issues