Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has called for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to add safety oversight authority for light and heavy rail systems as well as bus systems. [More]

On Nov. 17, a bipartisan group of seven Senate committee chairs and ranking members sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) emphasizing the need for a six-month extension of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) that expired on Sept. 30—and has continued to operate through short-term extensions attached to continuing resolutions. This extension will ensure sufficient time to complete the surface transportation authorization legislation. The senators urged Reid and McConnell to file cloture on the motion to proceed on the extension, citing job creation and economic recovery as reasons. [More]

Metro Transit introduced commuter rail to the Twin Cities metropolitan area Nov. 16—opening 10 weeks ahead of schedule—and $10 million under budget. It began revenue service that morning on the 40-mile line between Big Lake and downtown Minneapolis by providing 1,207 rides. [More]

Federal, state, and local elected officials joined community leaders and representatives of Los Angeles Metro Nov. 14 to dedicate the new Edward R. Roybal Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension. The light rail line opened to the public the following day. [More]

The National Journal Group hosted a Nov. 17 Transportation Policy Lunch that featured Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and a panel of transportation policy experts.

At the event, Carper called for climate change legislation to channel additional revenue generated from selling carbon credits toward efforts to reduce Americans’ reliance on automobiles in favor of public transportation, bicycles, and other emission-free forms of transportation. [More]

Valley Metro in Phoenix opened the Superstition Springs Transit Center in Mesa, AZ—the first construction project in the agency’s 23-year history—with ribbon-cutting ceremonies Nov. 5. The new facility provides access to five regular bus routes and LINK, Valley Metro’s Bus Rapid Transit service, with six bus bays and 80 new parking spaces. [More]

Thomas F. Prendergast, a longtime employee of public transportation agencies in New York City who more recently served as chief executive officer of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (TransLink) in Vancouver, BC, is returning to the city as president of MTA New York City Transit, effective Dec. 1 [More]

Carolyn Flowers has been named the new director of public transit for the city of Charlotte, NC, and chief executive officer of the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), effective Jan. 4, 2010. [More]

As if to emphasize the fact that the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) in State College, PA, has moved fromoffering only traditional fixed route and paratransit service into the realm of mobility management, the authority has announced that the expansion of its CATACOMMUTE program is one of its biggest successes over the past year. [More]

Crowds gathered in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal at 11 a.m. Nov. 11 for Veterans Day ceremonies conducted each year by MTA Metro-North Railroad. [More]

What do a jilted gas pump, an upbeat musical portraying the joys of avoiding traffic, and an inspiring call to action to save the planet have in common? They took the top three awards in APTA’s recent “Dump the Pump” contest for online videos generated by public transportation riders. [More]

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) recently received two 2009 Working for Clean Air™ awards from the North Texas Clean Air Coalition (NTCAC). The award program recognizes outstanding workplaces in North Texas for clean air, sustainability, and green initiatives. [More]

Representatives of Metro in St. Louis recently joined state and local elected officials to celebrate the grand opening of the public transit agency’s new $4.3 million paint facility. [More]

Continental Public Transit has been acquired by Constellation Software’s wholly owned affiliate Trapeze Software Inc., and is now operating as Trapeze ITS—a separate company within the Constellation Group. [More]

The ORCA (One Regional Card for All) smart card, which serves six public transit agencies throughout the Puget Sound region of Washington State, is preparing to shift from paper transfers to electronic transfers on Jan. 1, 2010, for trips that involve transferring between agencies. [More]

On Nov. 10, Shelley Poticha, senior advisor for sustainable housing and communities at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), shared the ways her agency aims to reform its programs and policies that affect transportation, by working with DOT. [More]

Approximately 36 percent of APTA members have submitted votes on the proposed changes to the association’s bylaws and governance and committee structure as of Nov. 13. Voting remains open, and APTA needs to hear from all its members to complete the process. [More]

APTA is seeking abstracts through Nov. 30 for presentations at the 2010 APTA Transportation and University Communities Conference, April 10-13 in Athens, GA. [More]

For too long, Florida has put off investing in commuter rail and all of us are paying the price. Florida’s long stretches of highway combined with increasing traffic congestion have made traveling between major cities difficult and time consuming. This constricts our productivity and the state’s overall economy. Just building more roads is not a solution; we need high-speed and commuter rail. [More]

In the next few weeks, the Senate will decide whether to heed calls here in California and around the country for increased high-speed rail investment. [More]