Public investment in highway efficiency should always be the first priority for transportation funding, so long as there are still significant gains to be made. For example, there is no question that improved traffic flow at the Entrance to Aspen, and possibly other locations along the Highway 82 corridor,... Read more →
Transportation Planning – Discussing Mass Transit (In Context)*
RFTA is organized under Colorado state law as a Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). An RTA is a tax district which can fund projects related to “any highway, road, street, bus system, railroad, airport, gondola system, or mass transit system”. In contrast, the RFTA board, made up of elected... Read more →
Discussing Mass Transit Part IV – Cost vs. Benefit
How much is spent? Comparison of expenditures for different transit systems is generally based on annual Operating and Maintenance (O&M) costs. Capital costs, as the federal government explains, “…rise and fall…so comparison of data for various years has little value because of the differing... Read more →
Discussing Mass Transit Part III – Who’s Minding the Store?
Once upon a time, the rail corridor that runs the length of the Roaring Fork Valley was purchased by local governments, with the help of the federal government. A Corridor Investment Study (CIS) was completed by RFTA in 2003 to serve as a long range plan for the use of the old rail bed. The scope of... Read more →
Discussing Mass Transit, Part II How Much is Enough?
Transit is very conducive to empirical analysis. Translation: Since you can count, measure and time every detail of a transit system, the use of real information to evaluate what the public is getting for its money is both easy and advisable. Otherwise, without some factual basis to evaluate what... Read more →
Discussing Mass Transit Part I
Discussing Mass Transit Part I Who is Served? With apologies to Abraham Lincoln, some of the people can ride the bus all of the time, all of the people could ride the bus some of the time, but not all of the people will ride the bus all of the time. And it’s not a matter of how much room is on the... Read more →