CMT to begin television campaign during the Olympics

Click here  to watch the first of the transit education spots. They go the air Friday during the Olympics.

Back in Business

We have had some technical difficulties with our site, but now have the blog up and running again. Also look for us on facebook. CMT is focused on educating the public about the importance of transit, even to the non users. We have numerous anecdotal evidence of people who do not use transit having been negatively affected by the cutbacks Metro made in March after the unsuccessful vote. Well, everyone will have another chance on April 6. (See the ballot language in the previous post.) Turnout is important. Transit users in North County in November 2008 didn't pass the transit measure by enough to offset losses in South and West County. Inner ring suburbs were great with totals in the 70%+ range. To find out more about the campaign go to www.advancestlouis.com or to find out about the volunteer effort to to www.moremetrolink.com.

Ballot Language

This is the language for the April 6, 2010 Transit initiative:

"PROPOSITION: Shall the County of St. Louis impose a countywide sales tax of one-half of one percent for the purpose of providing a source of funds for public transportation purposes including the restoration, operation and expansion of MetroLink, MetroBus, disabled and senior transportation, in addition to an existing sales tax of one-quarter of one percent for the same purpose?"

Transit Alliance Meeting November 12

Some 50 St. Louis area organizations have come together to work on a new effort to pass a half-cent sales tax in St. Louis County to restore lost MetroBus and MetroLink service and to begin setting aside funds for a MetroLink expansion. The meeting is 9 a.m., November 12, Room 300 of Brookings Hall. Organizations who wish to become involved in the Transit Alliance should contact CMT at tshrout@cmt-stl.org. We are looking for an April 2010 vote.

Bus vs. Car

Here is an interesting video of a campaign in Sweden about the bus vs. car. Click here.

Metro Funeral

Miss MetroLink is at it. The Beacon has a great article about the MetroBus funeral Friday night.
Click here.

SB 477 Dead

Despite the valiant efforts of Senator Robin Wright Jones, it appears SB 477 is not going anywhere this year. The bill, introduced by Senator Jones at CMT's request, would have allowed for the creation of the Transportation Development District of the entire St. Louis City and County. The new district could have asked residents of the district to approve additional funding for the operation of Metro and the expansion of MetroLink. A district would have had the advantage of combining city and county voters in deciding the fate of transit funding. Currently the city and county voters decide separately with the result being a minority of far west and south county voters holding back the region's transit funding by their low support of transit funding.

Senator Eric Schmitt of Glendale in St. Louis County delayed the vote at least twice on the Senate floor which resulted in the bill never reaching a vote.

T-4 America testifies Before Congress

CMT is linked with a number of organizations across the United States working for Congress to adopt a truly reformative transportation bill. The organization is called T-4 America which is headed by James Corless. Yesterday James testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on the goals of T-4 America. These are some of them..

Ensuring Accountability by Measuring Performance

Transportation for America further recommends that Congress establish National Transportation Performance Targets for states and regions to evaluate progress on achieving the National Transportation Objectives.   This combination of measures should be powerful drivers of change since no single measure can fully assess achievement of a particular national goal, since all are complex, are dependent on many variables, and have multiple ways in which they can be evaluated.  Consistent with typical planning horizons, targets could be set for 20 years.   Financial rewards and penalties based on progress toward NTO’s should serve as a basis for accountability.

Transportation for America recommends the following key performance targets be embedded in new transportation legislation as a means for ensuring national progress toward the National Transportation Objectives:

• Increase the share of surface transportation facilities in a state of good repair by20% in 20 years;
• Reduce traffic-related crashes by 50% in 20 years;
• Reducing per capita vehicle miles traveled by 16% in 20 years;
• Triple walking, biking, public transportation, and passenger rail use in 20 years;
• Reduce the transportation-generated CO2 levels by 40% in 20 years;
• Reduce vehicle delay per capita by 10% in 20 years;
• Increase the share of freight carried on rail by 20% in 20 years;
• Achieve zero population exposure to at-risk levels of air pollution in 20 years;
• Reduce household expenditures on housing and transportation by 10% in 20 years;
• Increase by 50% the number of essential destinations accessible within 30 minutes by public transportation or a 15-minute walk for low-income, senior and disabled populations in 20 years; 

To read the full testimoney click here.