In This Issue

	Metro Backs Mayor's Plan to Speed up Transit Projects
	Task Force finds NYDOT Wasted $210M
	AASHTO calls for Major Expansion of Highway System
	Pennsylvania Gov. Calls Special Session on Transportation
	Hampton Roads Transit Cuts Employee Perks
	Battle Likely over Tunnel to Finish LA-Area Freeway
	Airline Consumer Protection Rules take Effect
	Southwest Airlines Fined for ‘Bumping’

Metro Backs Mayor's Plan to Speed up Transit Projects

LOS ANGELES – The mayor of Los Angeles' proposal to greatly accelerate construction of a dozen transit projects and expedite highway improvement projects in Los Angeles County was recently endorsed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors. The so-called 30-10 initiative--still on the drawing board, would cut construction time by as much as 20 years using federal assistance for a series of light rail, subway and rapid transit projects throughout the county.

Voters approved the highway and transit project list, including the Westside subway extension, in November 2008 under Measure R, which authorized a half cent sales tax to fund local transportation projects. The MTA board also agreed to accelerate a variety of highway projects included in Measure R and the county's long-term transportation plan.

"This has never been done," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who sits on the MTA board, "and I am not sure we can say with a straight face it will be done. But when you see unemployment of up to 14%, when you see the dirty air and its health consequences, and when you see the opportunity to create 166,000 jobs, we have to do something."

Task Force finds NYDOT Wasted $210M

A legislative task force in New York is reporting that the state transportation department wasted over $210 million in unnecessary expenditures during the past year. The 12-member task force reported NYDOT also wasted funding in independent contracting, project cost overruns, employee overtime and unnecessarily replacing steel signs and concrete barriers.

The biggest waste identified by the New York Senate Task Force on Government Efficiency was $46.5 million outsourced to independent contractors, which the panel said could have been done in-house. NYDOT spent an additional $43.8 million on outside consultants, which lawmakers said also could have been accomplished mostly internally. According to the task force, paperwork delays cost the DOT $10 million in additional spending.

AASHTO calls for Major Expansion of Highway System

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is calling for a massive overhaul of the nation’s transportation infrastructure through a series of new reports, which make the case for increasing the nation’s transportation capacity. State transportation officials have identified their most urgently needed capacity expansion projects that are also critical for rebuilding the economy.

"Our first report, Unlocking Gridlock, shows that we are experiencing system overload,” said John Horsley, AASHTO's executive director, at a news conference in Dallas, this week. “While congestion levels declined with the recession, congestion is now returning, costing millions in lost time and productivity. Capacity increases are needed in transit, rail, and particularly in highways.”

The reports cites areas needing significant capacity expansion ranging from one of Texas’ most congested highways, Houston’s U.S. 290 Corridor, to the expansion of the I-15 CANAMEX trade corridor in Nevada.

Pennsylvania Gov. Calls Special Session on Transportation

The rejected plan to toll I-80 forced legislators in Pennsylvania to re-convene in special session to look at alternate methods of bridging the state’s $472 million transportation funding gap. Gov. Ed Rendell has called lawmakers to meet May 4; they are expected to look at various options including tolls on I-95 and more local responsibility for transit projects, according to the Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Rick Geist.

Geist contends the state cannot resolve its funding predicament, which includes the state’s position as the highest number of structurally deficient bridges in the nation, without public-private partnerships for projects like tolling I-95. “The cost for our whole state construction program is $1.8 billion,” Geist said. “You realize we can’t do it.” Geist added that only additional lanes added to I-95 would be tolled, under his proposal.

Hampton Roads Transit Cuts Employee Perks

The head of Hampton Roads Transit is on a mission to “reduce unnecessary spending” within the agency, such as providing company cars to 19 of its employees and providing health insurance to some employees without requiring them to pay premiums. Philip Shucet, who was hired Feb. 1 on a one-year contract as president and CEO of HRT, said, “We’re spending the public’s money,” Shucet said. “As a public agency, I need to see the benefit staring me in the face.” Shucet replaced HRT’s previous president, Michael Townes who resigned earlier this year under criticism for overruns on a Norfolk light rail project.

Shucet said the spending cuts are “a matter of fairness,” and that ending company-car privileges alone will save HRT more than $180,000 a year. Nineteen employees, including several vice presidents, have been driving company cars. The 22 employees receiving no-premium health insurance will now pay the same amount as the other 800 HRT employees.

HRT board members applauded Shucet’s actions, which include eliminating the agency’s membership in International Association of Public Transport, citing costly trips overseas for executives to attend conferences. Board Chairman Jim Wood said Shucet “is doing exactly what we hired him to do. Philip has already saved us tens of millions of dollars. For a public agency, benefits are supposed to be equal.”

Also this week HRT unveiled an online tracking tool to allow the public to track the agency’s efficiency in completing tasks. The “HRT Performance Dashboard” operates similarly to the Virginia’s VDOT Dashboard, allowing users to view the agency’s performance across multiple fronts including budget matters and The Tide light-rail project. Shucet said the tool will provide transparency in the face of recent criticisms for cost overruns on The Tide project. “When the agency knows everything you do is right out there for everybody to see, it puts a different picture on the face of accountability,” Shucet said.

Philip is doing amazing things at HRT. His leadership breathed new life into VDOT eight years ago. The kind of accountability that he brought to VDOT will reinstate confidence in HRT so it can deliver its mission. TW

Battle Likely over Tunnel to Finish LA-Area Freeway

SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. – Plans to dig a tunnel to complete a Southern California freeway has critics and advocates preparing to battle over the 4 ½-mile gap between two heavily congested routes. Pasadena residents have fought for a half century against proposals to close the gap from the end of State Route 710- a major trucking and commuter 23-mile thoroughfare from Long Beach that ends abruptly just east of Los Angeles – and Interstate 210 in Pasadena.

Residents are preparing to fight the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board’s consideration of whether to pursue the concept of digging a tunnel to connect the region’s freeway network and put an end to the thousands of cars that overflow onto Alhambra city streets to travel to other freeways.

Regional transportation planners have recommended MTA consider an environmental study of the tunnel, to be funded by some of the $780 million set aside by a LA County transportation sales tax measure approved by voters in 2008 to deal with the issue. The MTA board also has the option of completely killing the tunnel idea.

Airline Consumer Protection Rules take Effect

Air travelers will now be protected by new consumer protection from the federal government, which will prevent lengthy tarmac delays on domestic flights under new rules that took effect Thursday, April 29. Secretary Ray LaHood said these rules should not lead to large increases in the number of canceled flights as some have predicted.

“Everyone knows the rules going in – the passengers and the airlines. We expect carriers to take steps to avoid tarmac delays and cancellations by adjusting their schedules and providing timely information to passengers,” Secretary LaHood said. “A little extra planning will minimize disruptions while ensuring that passengers are not trapped aboard airplanes indefinitely.”

Under the new rule, domestic flights may not keep passengers on the tarmac for more than three hours without allowing them to deplane. The rule also contains prohibitions for airlines scheduling chronically delayed flights and the designation of an airline employee to monitor flight delays and cancellations. In addition, beginning at the end of July, airlines will be required to display on their website flight delay information for each domestic flight they operate.

This is an example of what happens when the private sector doesn’t police themselves and government steps in. It’s never nice and usually painful. The answers do not lie in greater fines, but may be found in better and more responsible management on the part of the airlines. TW

Southwest Airlines Fined for ‘Bumping’

The U.S. Department of Transportation fined Southwest Airlines $200,000 this week for failing to follow federal regulations when denying ticketed passengers seats on overbooked flights. Federal law requires airlines to offer “bumped” passengers a voucher for another flight or cash compensation, or both, depending on the circumstances.

An investigation found that in 2009, on “numerous instances,” Southwest either failed to compensate bumped passengers the appropriately (up to $800 for involuntary bumps) or did not inform them they were entitled to cash instead of a voucher, the U.S. DOT said. The agency did not specify how many cases were investigated. Southwest spokesperson Brandy King said in a statement that the violations occurred on only a small number of flights and vowed that the airline would improve procedures to reduce such problems reoccurring.

Federal law allows airlines to book more passengers than the available seats on a flight to account for no-shows, but airlines must offer compensation to any ticketed passenger denied boarding. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is the second-busiest airline in the nation in number of passengers carried annually. Most of the DOT fine can be waived if Southwest remains in compliance over the next year.