transportation

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US Prisons Leave Driving to Greyhound

Convicts unescorted in transfers; feds say there's little risk

(Newser) - Federal convicts regularly transfer themselves between prisons unescorted, riding public transportation without a guard in sight, WFAA-TV reports. Some 5,300 have switched prisons on their own since April 2006; 54,000 have headed to halfway houses. And in 2003-05, 77 escaped while en route. “It’s an inherent...

'Job Sprawl' Sucking Work From Downtowns to Suburbs

(Newser) - More and more US companies are setting up shop in suburban areas far from urban centers in a trend known as “job sprawl,” USA Today reports. Though urban jobs increased overall from 1998-2006, a Brookings Institution report shows the share of employment opportunities within 3 miles of downtown...

Stimulus Flows Into Patchwork of Road Projects

Thousands of small p

(Newser) - Although the stimulus package that Barack Obama signed last month contains eye-watering sums, the earliest projects out of the gate are far from monumental: widening a highway in Kansas, resurfacing some roads in Missouri. More than a dozen states have announced their plans to spend their share of the $50...

Obama Pushes 'Shovel Ready' Projects for Stimulus

$150 billion in plans ready to go across US

(Newser) - The US has 19,000 public projects ready to go, with the potential to infuse $150 billion into the economy and put thousands of people to work, NPR reports. President Obama is pushing for immediate approval of the $700 billion economic stimulus bill to start paying for the work, but...

DC Cuts in Half Inaugural Crowd Estimates

Transit survey shows about 2.5M are heading for the capital

(Newser) - Washington officials have sliced in half earlier estimates for the number of people expected to swarm Washington for the inauguration, the Washington Post reports. The original projections, as high as 5 million, were founded on the election’s historic nature, while revised numbers are based on talks with transport companies...

GOP's LaHood Will Take Transportation Post

Illinois congressman was retiring from seat

(Newser) - Barack Obama has chosen Illinois congressman Ray LaHood, a Republican, for the post of transportation secretary, Bloomberg reports. Obama is expected to make the announcement by the end of the week. LaHood, 63, had already announced his retirement from Congress this year after seven terms. He has a reputation for...

Infrastructure Revitalization Is Right and Right

A conservative argues for investing in water, energy, transport

(Newser) - Conservatives who fear that investing in the nation’s infrastructure goes against core Reaganite values need to get over it. Our aging energy, water, and transportation systems are in dire need of corporate dollars and ingenuity, but “the private sector alone cannot handle the job—and the states are...

US Infrastructure Is a 'Bridge to Almost Nowhere'

Infrastructure spending is critical, but not on bridges to nowhere

(Newser) - Recently the House passed an $18 billion infrastructure bill, and Barack Obama has indicated that he'll ask for billions more in spending to create jobs while improving the nation's roads and bridges. But as New York Times columnist David Leonhardt writes, insufficient investment is only part of the problem. At...

UPS, FedEx Jump to Fill DHL's Holes

Big Brown targets customers with ad buy, in talks to add DHL load

(Newser) - After DHL announced yesterday it was vacating the US express-mail market, UPS and FedEx ratcheted up efforts to snare as many of the Belgium-based company’s customers as possible, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. DHL handles 1.1 million shipments per day, 5% of the express and ground market in which...

Strapped Schools Say Bye to Bus Rides
 Strapped Schools
 Say Bye to Bus Rides
glossies

Strapped Schools Say Bye to Bus Rides

New generation can tell grandkids they walked to school

(Newser) - As high gas prices strangle US school budgets, more officials are cutting back where it hurts student scores least: school buses. Some schools are limiting or redesigning bus routes, but others have nixed busing entirely, leaving thousands of kids to hoof it under adult supervision. Some parents object, but many...

More US Drivers Take Swing at Golf Carts

Popularity soars, but safety issues could sideline vehicles

(Newser) - Faced with high fuel prices, many Americans are leaving the hot rod at home and  zipping around town in golf carts. But the country club staple’s trip from the fairway to Main Street hasn't been entirely smooth, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports. Rules governing their use vary from...

Fuel Costs Squeeze Services for Native American Tribes

Social service delivery, rides for elderly hit by skyrocketing prices

(Newser) - Higher gas prices are forcing Native American tribal governments to cut back on transportation services, reports Reznet News. The Rosebud Sioux tribe provides its police, education and social services departments with transportation, as well as rides for the elderly and trips to medical appointments. But with coffers running on empty,...

High Gas Prices Fuel Transit Boom

Mass transit winning converts across the country as gas price soars

(Newser) - The soaring price of gas is driving people across America out of their cars and onto mass transit, the New York Times reports. Buses and trains are up 5% or more in cities like Boston and New York, where mass transit is already a popular alternative, but the biggest leap...

Bumped From Your Flight? Airline Could Owe You $800

Feds double amount passengers can receive over overbooked planes

(Newser) - Passengers who get bumped off overbooked flights will be eligible for up to $800 for their inconvenience, the Los Angeles Times reports. The US Department of Transportation today doubled the amount passengers can receive, with the exact figure depending upon the ticket price and how long it takes passengers to...

Is Cell Chatter Killing the Cab Ride?

Constant gab has drivers, riders at odds

(Newser) - Where cabbies and riders once chatted, they now gab on cellphones—and it's getting under people's skin. "Sometimes passengers, they don't even stop talking to tell me where to go," one cabbie said. But one rider blames the drivers, who often speak in other tongues: "I always...

Climate Change Could Snarl Travel Plans in Future

Driving and flying is about to get more unpleasant

(Newser) - As if the notion of heat waves and rising sea levels weren't bad enough, climate change also has the potential to royally screw up your travel plans. A new report shows that increased flooding in coastal areas could put a serious kink in road and rail travel, not to mention...

Car Sharing Firms to Merge
Car Sharing Firms to Merge

Car Sharing Firms to Merge

Zipcar and Flexcar to merge into 50-city, 5,000 car network

(Newser) - Car-sharing firms Zipcar and Flexcar will merge this week under the Zipcar brand, which has the largest network of the two. The firms, both 7 years old, rent cars by the hour, rolling gas, insurance, parking, and maintenance costs into a $7-$15 hourly rate and an annual membership fee. Cambridge-based...

Airline Delays Continue; Complaints Up

Flights on time just 72% of time, government survey shows

(Newser) - Customer complaints about airlines were up sharply in August—double the level a year before—as delays hit nearly 30%, according to a government report released today. The on-time rate was 71.7%, down from 75.8 last year, a survey of the 20 largest US carries showed, less than...

Prez Orders Action to Reduce Flight Delays

Panel will produce plan to cut traffic at Kennedy Airport by end of year

(Newser) - After a summer of nightmarish ordeals for airline passengers, President Bush yesterday ordered his transportation secretary to sit down with the airlines and do something to reduce delays and improve treatment of travelers by next summer. “There’s a lot of anger amongst our citizens about the fact that,...

LA Still Leads in Traffic Delays
LA Still Leads in Traffic Delays

LA Still Leads in Traffic Delays

But Ventura, Inland Empire are catching up

(Newser) - Los Angeles and Orange counties are still tied for No. 1 in the nation in traffic delays, a study published today by the Texas Transportation Institute concludes. Motorists in either county lost an average of 72 hours in rush hour traffic in 2005—almost 2 work weeks. LA and Orange...

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