By Ron Sifen

The Georgia Public Policy Foundation has produced an outstanding “Plan B” transportation plan. It was developed by transportation professionals to cost-effectively address our real transportation needs.

One of the major reasons why the TSPLOST failed is because many voters understood that the projects list squandered most of the money on projects that would not improve the flow of traffic in the region, and did not address the region’s real transportation needs. If implemented, Plan B would actually improve mobility throughout the region. Read more »

By Ron Sifen

Most people agree that one of the reasons that the TSPLOST failed was because government lost the trust of voters.

TSPLOST supporters want to believe that all of the distrust is only because of the Ga. 400 toll debacle. They refuse to admit that voters figured out that most of the money was going to projects that would not help to reduce traffic congestion on our roads. The projects list also contributed to the increased distrust of government. Read more »

By Ron Sifen

Voters in Cobb County and the entire Atlanta region have spoken and delivered the following clear message.  It is not the job of government to invent boondoggles on which to spend our money, and then increase our taxes to pay for boondoggles.

Many groups did a great job of putting together factual information and getting the information out to the public without much money.  The Traffic Truth group, Tea Party groups, along with the Sierra Club and NAACP, plus the phenomenal analysis performed by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and Reason Foundation, and numerous state legislators who were outraged over the projects list, all worked together to inform the public about many things that were wrong with the TSPLOST.  Several columnists also helped. Read more »

By Ron Sifen

The TSPLOST was supposed to be about reducing traffic congestion.

The Atlanta Regional Commission has conceded that the TSPLOST projects list will do little to reduce regional commute times. The ARC says they are defining “alleviating traffic congestion” as meaning increasing the number of people who can reach a point in the region within 45 minutes. The ARC has conceded that this has nothing to do with improving the flow of traffic, and that it will have an insignificant impact on reducing commute times. Read more »

By Ron Sifen

TSPLOST supporters have brought in a Washington, D.C. developer, Chris Leinberger, who is also a consultant on urbanism and smart growth, to race-bait the TSPLOST.

Leinberger told the Cumberland Area Community Improvement District board last week that “MARTA really stands for ‘Moving African Americans Rapidly Through Atlanta.’ You’ve racialized it. The white suburban neighborhoods and places have completely ignored the economic development potential that MARTA could have been and will be in the future.” Read more »

By Ron Sifen

Last week, Cobb DOT presented its interim report on the Connect Cobb – Northwest Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis.

I have been talking about huge cost differentials for different kinds of transit for a long time. This report confirms how extreme these differentials are. (Please note that Cobb presented national averages, and not Cobb-specific cost projections for this corridor.)

Costs to build:

* Light rail: $40 million to $120 million per mile

* Bus Rapid Transit (or BRT): $4 million to $50 million per mile

* Express Bus: $1 million to $2 million per mile.

Annual costs to operate and maintain:

* Light rail: $13 million to $33 million

* Bus Rapid Transit: $4 million to $29 million

* Express Bus: $4 million to $10 million Read more »