June 7, 2010
If California's sweeping greenhouse emissions reduction law, SB 375, is to succeed, the state will have to do a better job of providing public transportation, a new report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) has determined.
The 2009 law, known as the Sustainable Communities Strategy, by Sacramento Sen. Darrell Steinberg, the Senate Pro Tem, and based in part on Sacramento's "Blueprint" land use process, requires metropolitan areas to design growth so that new communities are less dependent on automobiles. The ULI report concludes the law could help urban areas become more economically and environmentally sustainable, if implemented correctly.
The report authors say more public transportation, including buses, trains, light rail and shuttles, will be a key factor in allowing communities to be built more densely.
"The coverage and efficiency of these services must keep pace with the anticipated increase in urban and suburban density," the report says. "Improving the service levels and ongoing investment in transit capital improvements and operations creates transit certainty, a critical factor for supporting the growth of compact communities."
Transit agencies statewide, however, including in Sacramento, have been cutting service and raising fares for several years during the economic downturn. Sacramento Regional Transit will eliminate 20 percent of its bus routes and will reduce light rail service on June 20 as part of budget cutbacks. Officials also have been forced to temporarily shelve plans to expand light rail to Cosumnes River College.
The report says the state must work past the current "volatile" state of transit finances, and find more stable annual revenue sources, including possibly charging drivers fees for using some roads or lanes during congested periods or charging drivers fees per mile they travel.
The report also says transit agencies should use technology to provide better services for customers, including message boards telling transit users when the next bus or train will arrive.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/07/2804804/transit-improvement-key-to-state.html#mi_rss=Business#ixzz0qNx5wN48
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