Why Dallas's Streetcars Got the Feds' Transportation Funds, Not Fort Worth's

Dallas Observer

Robert Wilonsky // February 17, 2010

As mentioned below, the North Central Texas Council of Governments is indeed "seeking clarification" from the U.S. Department of Transportation concerning today's announcement that Dallas is getting $23 million to fund the downtown streetcar project. NCTCOG wants to know if Fort Worth is supposed to be getting a piece of that pie -- since, after all, NCTCOG made the request on behalf of both cities in its $96 million joint grant application.

Michael Morris is supposed to respond upon his return to the office, but Cathy St. Denis at the USDOT finally responded to Unfair Park's request for a clarification. In short, she says, "Fort Worth is not a part of this. The money is just for Dallas." And why's that?

"The typical awardee averaged about one-third of their request," St. Denis says. "So we couldn't completely fund the Dallas-Fort Worth streetcar project at the requested level. And, we were impressed by how well Dallas had lined up its local match and the other requirements necessary to get the project under way."

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Cap Metro Turns Toward a 2020 Vision

The Austin Chronicle

Lee Nichols // February 19, 2010

What will Austin look like in 10 years? If history is any guide, its population will be about 50% larger, and the area will need a transit system to accommodate that.

On Monday, the Capital Metro board of directors will consider Service Plan 2020, a 370-page analysis of the Cap Metro system and recommendations on how to improve it.

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Suburban Poverty and the Transit Connection

DC.StreetsBlog.org
Sarah Goodyear // January 22, 2010

Today on the Streetsblog Network, Yonah Freemark of The Transport Politic looks at the new Brookings Institution report on suburban poverty levels and the connection to future transportation planning in those regions. Freemark, who recently wrote about how the city of Paris is extending its transit infrastructure to its traditionally lower-income suburbs, points out that the challenges to transit in American suburbs are greater. The infrastructure of American suburbs, as well as the governmental planning mechanisms, present significant challenges to reducing automobile dependence -- a dependence that weighs especially heavily on people with low incomes.

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A Shot Across the Bow for Transport Equity?

DC.StreetsBlog.org
Elana Schor // January 27, 2010

The Obama administration's warning that the Bay Area has jeopardized federal stimulus funding for its Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) project could have national consequences for other urban transit proposals that risk harming low-income riders, civil rights and transit advocates predicted yesterday.

Several Bay Area advocacy groups briefed the media on the civil-rights complaint they filed against the OAC, which the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) heeded last week in a letter [PDF] that threatened to yank $70 million in stimulus money from the project unless planners comply with federal equity rules.

Stuart Cohen, executive director of TransForm, said advocates' victorious bid to push Bay Area's transit planners to examine more cost-effective and equitable alternatives to the OAC would "have a ripple effect" as other cities re-examine how their transit plans would affect lower-income and minority riders.

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Of Ethnicity & DART Ridership

Dallas Morning News Transportation Blog
Rodger Jones // January 12, 2010

Interesting talk with DART VP Todd Plesko and spokesman Morgan Lyons on the subject of ethnicity, ridership and equity, stemming from my post on a lawsuit out of Chicago that touches on these issues.

DART's data on ridership, Plesko said, is based on surveys of riders by Austin consultant NuStats. From 2007, here's an ethnic breakdown of how DART's riders described themselves (different methodology from national study):

Rail only - 23 % black, 57 % white, 15 % Hispanic, 5 % other
Bus & rail - 61 % black, 22 % white, 11 % Hispanic, 6 % other
Bus only - 55 % black, 24 % white, 15 % Hispanic, 6 % other

Systemwide ridership: 49 % black, 31 % white, 14 % Hispanic, 6 % other

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Of Race & Transit Policy

Dallas Morning News
Rodger Jones // January 11, 2010

An item on TransportPolitic picks up on a theme you hear around Dallas and elsewhere -- that commuter-friendly trains to the suburbs get the cash and bus service for the masses gets the shaft.

This undercurrent may be one reason that some southern Dallas state reps have been decidedly cool toward the regional push to expand rail transit through some kind of new taxes or fees.

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