Tuesday, March 18, 2008
News Mass transit advocates rally at Capitol for funding
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 2:48 PM
FUND TRANSIT State Rep. Dubose Porter, D-Dublin, stands alongside mass-transit supporters Monday and voiced the need for more cash for more options.
It's become a mantra of passionate rail and bus supporters during the current legislative session: Do something, anything, to kick start the state's static transit situation.
On Monday afternoon, the message was echoed. Members of Citizens for Progressive Transit, Georgia Public Interest Research Group, the Sierra Club, Mothers and Others for Clean Air and Georgia Brain Train Group, among others, rallied for legislators to pass a proposal that would generate cash to expand bus and rail services.
Advocates say their movement has momentum this year in the form of a state Senate resolution that was nipped and tucked last week by the House. State Rep. Dubose Porter appeared alongside the groups yesterday and said it's time to start thinking about moving people by rail.
"We cannot pave our way out of gridlock," Porter said. "This is someone from rural Georgia talking... The bill that is moving through [the General Assembly] is about allowing regions to determine their future.â€
Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, supports the need for more transit funding, but told InsiderAdvantage's Dick Pettys that the current form of the Senate's proposal reads like an "Atlanta bill." That could be a problem. Porter said that can be changed if the House dedicates the remaining penny of the motor-fuel tax that's traditionally gone to the state's general fund to instead fall under the care of the state DOT. For rural regions which lack the density upon which transit thrives, the generated revenues could go toward road projects.
Also on Monday's agenda: Release findings of a study they say shows using public transit saves money and gas and lessens our impact on the environment. Rob Thompson of Georgia PIRG presented a study that concluded metro Atlanta transit agencies reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 662,036 metric tons per year and save consumers $228 million in gasoline expenses. (Ariel Hart of That Other Paper has a report questioning some of the study's findings.) View the agency-by-agency data after the jump.
(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)
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