News Headlines

More than 10,000 transportation projects have now been expedited or created, due to funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on November 12.

"These projects are not only providing new opportunities for hard-hit workers and businesses during tough economic times, but helping lay a strong foundation to support our 21st century economy," said Biden. "This is a significant milestone on the road to recovery, but we continue to work every day to create more jobs and drive economic growth.”

Shelley Poticha, senior advisor for sustainable housing and communities at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), gave APTA staff and guests an enticing vision of what the agency will undertake in the near future, as HUD goes about reforming various programs and policies—including those in which HUD collaborates with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

HUD is “completely aware of the value of transit” in pursuing its mission, she told a packed room at a November 10 discussion at the APTA offices in Washington, as part of APTA’s “Transportation Tuesday” speaker series. She went on to discuss several possible reforms of programs where housing and transportation intersect.  For more details, look to the next issue of Passenger Transport.

Save the Date

Sign up now for the 2010 APTA Transit CEOs Seminar, January 30-February 2, 2010, at the Hutchinson Island Marriott in sunny Stuart, Florida—with sessions on leadership theory, management practices, trends in labor relations, technology, organizational restructuring, and more.

In the Media

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the thousands of Philadelphians who rely on public transit are relieved that the union strike is over.

Good Morning America featured an interview with a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway operator who stopped her subway in time to avoid hitting a woman who had fallen off the platform.

The Boston Globe reported that the Mexico City's Metrobús has received an award from Harvard University for a bus rapid transit route that Metrobús opened along a major avenue in 2005, reducing congestion and air pollution.

The Associated Press reported a striking example of why riding public transit is safer than driving—even when the car costs twice as much as a hybrid bus.