February 3, 2010
Friends,
The countdown is on! The Friends of Transit 8th Annual Conference is just over three weeks away. Registration is open—visit www.friendsoftransit.org for conference details and registration information. Please keep in mind that the past two conferences have been sold out and seating is limited. So, if you are interested in attending please sign up soon.
Last week we told you about the two panel discussions that will take place at the Conference. The Moving Forward panel discussion will focus on what’s next for transit in the Valley. The panel will be moderated by Rick Pilgrim from the URS Corporation and panelists include: Jane Morris, Assistant Aviation Director for the City of Phoenix; Marc Pearsall from the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) and Shannon Scutari, Director for Rail and Sustainability Services at the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) .
Jane Morris will give us an update on the Sky Train project currently under construction at Sky Harbor Airport. She will have a new animation that is being developed to show how METRO Light Rail and the PHX Sky Train Stations will be connected at 44th Street. She would like to hear feedback from the transit experts and advocates in the room about this animation before it is used in the community.
Marc Pearsall will provide and update on the three commuter rail studies that are nearing completion at MAG and present an overview of the findings and potential next steps. He will also discuss preliminary efforts underway for the Western High Speed Rail Alliance.
Shannon Scutari will discuss the state's efforts to establish rail and transit as core competencies for ADOT and to work with its partners to expand these opportunities throughout Arizona. She will also give us an update on efforts to bring intercity rail between Tucson and Phoenix.
Join us on Friday, February 26 to these and other speakers talk about the ways we can keep moving forward in developing transit as part of a balanced regional transportation plan. Register now at www.friendsoftransit.org!
In the News:
Valley Metro challenges public to adopt new transportation habit, Valley Metro, February 1, 2010
Downtown-UA streetcar may hinge on US grant, Arizona Daily Star, January 31, 2010
Surprise maintains presence on Valley Metro board, The Arizona Republic, February 1, 2010
Regional bus service faces funding challenges, The Arizona Republic, February 1, 2010
Upcoming Events:
WTS Metropolitan Phoenix Brown Bag Lunch
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Sky Harbor Airport, Terminal 3
Don’t forget to visit Friends of Transit on the web at www.friendsoftransit.org!
| Valley Metro challenges public to adopt new transportation habit
Declares February as ‘Try 1 in 5 Month’
Valley Metro News Release
Feb. 1, 2010
Phoenix, AZ — Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority is making it easier to conquer the commute this February, as it visits workplaces to help workers find alternatives to commuting alone.
Valley Metro and Governor Jan Brewer have declared February as “Try 1 in 5 Month” and challenge commuters to leave the car at home one day per work week. Commuters can save $70 per month by not driving alone in their cars, according to the AAA report “Your Driving Costs.” Carpooling and vanpooling, using public transportation, telecommuting, biking or walking to work can save as much as $840 in annual car-related costs. Some drivers report saving $156 a month due to the length of their commute, according to Valley Metro data.
“Some are predicting a surge in gas prices this spring, but planning ahead to try another form of commuting can save money,” says David Boggs, executive director of Valley Metro RPTA. “Even if you do not live near a bus or light rail route, other Valley Metro services can help you save money on your commute.”
In February, employees from Valley Metro’s Business Services department will visit select workplaces and show colleagues how to find a carpool partner using the free “ShareTheRide” online ride-matching system at ShareTheRide.ValleyMetro.org. It calculates the personal financial and environmental impact of not driving alone. ShareTheRide also maps bus and light rail routes serving a particular commute. Business Services representatives also will demonstrate how to load bus fare and will discuss the Valley Metro vanpool program, which helps groups of 6-15 commuters drive their own van to work together.
Quick stats about ShareTheRide*:
· 7,952 total users
· 190,413 calendar entries showing how they’ve opted to commute to work
· (bus, light rail, carpool, vanpool, walk, telework or drove alone. Only 7% drove alone.)
· 6.5 million miles of travel logged
· 3.7 million pounds of GHG saved
· 188,861 gallons of gas saved
· 109 companies are using the system to track Trip Reduction Program efforts
· Adding 1-2 additional companies per week
· Adding more than 800 new users each month
*Since launch on April 22, 2009 and as of Jan. 29, 2010
Valley Metro/RPTA provides eco-friendly public transit options to residents of greater Phoenix and Maricopa County, including a clean-fuel bus fleet, low-emissions light rail, a bio-diesel Dial-a-Ride fleet, online carpool matching and bus trip mapping, and bicycle and telework assistance. Funding is provided by local, state and federal revenues; and administered by a board of 15 governments working to improve and regionalize the public transit system. Follow Valley Metro RPTA on Twitter and Facebook.
All service and projects funded by the Proposition 400 Regional Transportation Plan funds, approved by Maricopa County voters in November 2004. | Downtown-UA streetcar may hinge on US grant
Rob O'Dell
Arizona Daily Star
Posted: Sunday, January 31, 2010 12:00 am
For years, planning for the revitalization of downtown and growth at the University of Arizona has included a modern streetcar connecting the two as a key cog - a streetcar officials believed was assured federal funds once the right plans were in place.
But as federal funds have dried up due to the recession and other demands, Tucson is now pinning its hopes on winning a highly competitive federal stimulus grant of $69 million - a grant for which there are seven times as much in requests as there is money. Winners should be announced within weeks.
If the city gets the full amount it requested, combined with $88 million from the Regional Transportation Authority, it can push forward with construction plans that could have pieces of the streetcar line operational by 2012.
However, if the city receives only part of the money, it could be forced to build in phases, perhaps taking on the middle section of the system, from roughly the Tucson Convention Center to the UA's Main Gate.
That would put wheels on the tracks and show progress, but come up short of what voters were told to expect when they approved the RTA, and short of providing the service the city and university were banking on.
City planners are already looking at other funding options if they don't get the full grant. But the likelihood of success and how long it would take are impossible to predict, which could mean a long delay for the other two legs, from downtown to the west side of the Santa Cruz River and from the Main Gate northeast through campus.
If the city is rejected completely - which city leaders dismiss as a possibility - the short- and medium-term future of the project would be on hold. The city would then need to fund the entire project through other means - such as a congressional earmark or the Federal Transit Administration's "small starts" transportation program, from which the city has received limited funding in the past.
"If we get all of it, we'll start immediately," Mayor Bob Walkup said, adding that if the city got part of the money, it would start the project and then try to find the rest elsewhere. "Everybody start praying for the end of next week," he said.
The city and university all in
The city has already spent $12.2 million on the project, including $4.9 million on design for the tracks and $7.3 million for management consulting to oversee the design because the city doesn't have the expertise to handle it. It has not yet begun to buy the trolleys that will run on the tracks.
City officials also intend to spend $14.5 million, taken from the street-repair fund, to build the Cushing Street Bridge over the Santa Cruz, which would push its commitment to the streetcar to nearly $27 million before any track is laid or trolley cars purchased.
Developers from the east end of downtown to the west side have touted the streetcar as the reason they plan to spend millions to try to revitalize downtown.
"It binds downtown together from the university to the west side," said Larry Hecker, a board member for the Tucson Downtown Partnership. "It is the backbone of what the city is trying to accomplish."
In addition, the UA has staked its plans for the coming years on the streetcar coming through campus, thinking students could use it to avoid driving to campus and to travel between downtown and the campus.
The UA is starting to look for private partners to build student apartments downtown, an investment city leaders have long coveted.
"It's kind of fortuitous that our need for growth and our interest in downtown is happening at the same time as this streetcar plan," said Bob Smith, the UA's associate vice president of planning, design and construction.
Without the streetcar, Smith said, the UA would slow its downtown plans.
If city gets less than $69M ...
Walkup said the city would start to move forward with some of the streetcar work and try to find other funding to make up the difference if the city is not successful in getting the full $69 million.
He said there are five or six other sources where the city could apply for money, so if even partial funding from the feds comes through, the city will start construction while looking for the rest of the money, Walkup said.
The February grant, however, is the city's best shot at getting most of the funding it needs to get the streetcar work started, officials say.
City Transportation Director Jim Glock said building between the Main Gate and TCC makes sense if that's all the money the city gets, because it gets the project started and the design of that stretch is further along than the rest anyway.
RTA Executive Director Gary Hayes said the authority will consider releasing its full $88 million to pay for a short line, if it can get assurances the city will come up with money to finish the job.
That's a significant shift for the RTA, which, until now, has been reluctant to release any money until the city had its more than $70 million obligation locked down.
But Hayes said he wouldn't release the money if he thought the city would only build the middle segment and not finish the job. He said the RTA plan calls for the whole streetcar line to be done within 20 years, so if it was phased but then totally complete within 20 years, the RTA would consider that consistent with what voters approved.
"That would put the onus on the city to put together a package to how they are going to fund the rest," Hayes said.
One potential source is the FTA's "new starts" and "small starts" program, from which the city sought money before, without success.
Earlier this month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood rescinded a requirement that made projects meet a "medium" standard of cost-effectiveness to qualify for funding - a standard Tucson's modern streetcar does not meet.
The new rules make it easier to meet the FTA's minimum standard, and allow it to consider the project's potential economic development impact, and its environmental, social and congestion-relief benefits.
Leaders hopeful
City and regional leaders are high on the streetcar's chances, suggesting LaHood or even Vice President Joe Biden could come to Tucson to announce the city is getting the full $69 million for the streetcar.
Hecker and city transportation officials said they heard a rumor Biden called Walkup to tell him that he would come to Tucson to announce the grant. Walkup said Biden never called him to say that. Instead, he talked with Biden's staff when he was in Washington, and they said they would recommend to Biden that he travel to Tucson if the city gets the grant.
Given there were $10 billion to $12 billion worth of requests for the $1.5 billion in grant money, Walkup said he will be "thrilled" with a grant in the $40 million to $50 million range.
Modern streetcar, by the numbers
• Total streetcar cost: $163 million, plus $14.5 million for Cushing Street Bridge
• Total project: $178 million
• Regional Transportation Authority contribution: $88 million
• City contribution (through federal grants): $75 million
• Federal money already received: $6 million | Surprise maintains presence on Valley Metro board
by Lily Leung
Feb. 1, 2010 12:41 PM
The Arizona Republic
Surprise is maintaining a high-profile presence on a regional transportation group despite a change on the City Council.
Mayor Lyn Truitt has been elected secretary of the Valley Metro board of directors, a group of elected leaders who oversee mass transit and roadwork.
Truitt was chosen late last week and will serve one year. He succeeds former Councilman Joe Johnson, who was voted out of office last fall.
Earlier this month, Truitt said it was important for Surprise to maintain a presence on the board, given that transportation is the city's biggest issue.
Transportation officials say the city's stretch of Bell Road is the most congested surface street in the state. Surprise also faces other transportation challenges, such as half-finished streets, a result of the building slowdown.
City officials had hoped a $185 million bond package could help fund much-needed projects, such as an interchange at Bell Road and Grand Avenue.
But the initiative fell flat, with more than 70 percent of voters saying no to the city assuming millions of dollars of debt to pay for capital projects.
Other appointments to the Valley Metro board were:
• Phoenix Councilman Michael Johnson, chairman.
• Tempe Vice Mayor Shana Ellis, vice chairwoman.
• Peoria Vice Mayor Ron Aames, treasurer. | Regional bus service faces funding challenges
Feb. 1, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
NEWSMAKER Q&A
Lauri Wingenroth, assistant director of Phoenix's Public Transit Department, was the guest last week on Live Talk, discussing the impact of a tightened budget on services around the Valley. Here are excerpts from the interview, which can be found in its entirety at aztalk .azcentral.com. Wingenroth, who has been with Phoenix since 1983, leads a staff of 40 employees, whose responsibilities include fiscal services, technology services and fare systems and services.
1. The regional sales tax that supports transportation, which runs through 2026, is projected to raise $1.9 billion less than expected for bus service. What's the proposal for dealing with this?
The Regional Public Transportation Authority created a working group with two representatives from each member agency to study the current plan's costs, revenues and projects, and to recommend changes to address this shortfall. Several cities, especially Phoenix, fund large portions of the region's bus system from their own local revenues, so the danger of potential budget reductions made cooperative, flexible approaches to the regional tax even more critical.
2. What will be the effects on the average transit user, both in Phoenix and across the Valley?
In Phoenix, average transit users will benefit, because instead of paying for capital projects like building park-and-rides and maintenance facilities, the regional sales tax will help support operation of the central core of the Valley's bus system and related paratransit service. This reduces bus-service cuts that could be needed due to other revenue declines, such as in our own Transit 2000 sales tax. Unfortunately, a few bus routes with very low ridership may be reduced or eliminated Valley-wide and the potential for future bus-service expansions is greatly hampered.
3. What did it take to get so many cities, with such different circumstances, to come to an agreement?
A facilitator helped us reprioritize the plan, primarily by interviewing us, summarizing cities' needs, and providing a framework and process for finding common ground.
4. What other funding challenges do you face?
Like every other city, Phoenix has seen decreased tax revenues as a result of the recession. Even funds from our dedicated sales tax can't meet the demand for transit service when people aren't able to spend. Phoenix also receives around $9 million a year from Lottery funds which must support transit service. About $1 million of that was cut by Arizona state budget actions in November, and the remaining $8 million is proposed to be eliminated. |  |
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