Does Senator Michael Bennet support funding trains?

I just read on the California High Speed Rail Blog, that Senator Michael Bennet opposes infrastructure spending. I support him if he opposes widening more highways, but it seems that he may oppose stable long-term funding for rail as well.

I think the we as citizens of the US need to invest in jobs. The more people who are working, the higher our tax revenues will be. And if we end our addiction to oil, we won't have to spend billions on wars to get it.

RTD (Denver Metro) is having public about the budget shortfall

Denver Metro area transit needs $18 million just to keep the service that we have now. Meanwhile, a $20 billion project to widen one area highway looks like it will get federal dollars. Luckily, we do have an opportunity to make our voices heard. RTD is holding public meetings about the proposed fare increase. Perhaps together we can figure out a way to come up with the money.

Here is the schedule by date:

Monday, September 13 - all 6 pm

Aurora

Aurora Center for Active Adults

30 Del Mar Circle

Bus Routes: 6 (hourly at night) and 121 (every half hour)

Littleton

Ken-Caryl Ranch House Recreation Center

7676 S. Continental Divide Road

Bus Routes: 401 (last bus at 8:18 going east, last buses at 8:59 and 10:29 going west)

Westminster

City Park Recreation Center

10455 Sheridan Boulevard

Bus routes: 104 (last bus at 7:20 going east, last bus at 7:13 going west) Usually, I would not recommend a bus that stops so early, but the 51 stops serving this location even earlier. There are no other choices.

Wednesday, September 15 - 6 pm

Englewood

Englewood Civic Center (right next to Englewood Station)

1000 Englewood Parkway

Light Rail: D (every fifteen minutes)

Bus Routes: 0 (every fifteen minutes), 12 (hourly), 51 (hourly)

The 27 and 35 also stop here, but may stop running too early to be useful.

Thursday, September 16 - 6pm

Denver

Park Hill Golf Club

4141 E. 35th Avenue (May actually be on Colorado Boulevard.)

Bus Routes: 40 (every fifteen minutes), 44 (hourly), 24 (every half hour until 8:24, last bus at 9:24)

Denver (again)

RTD offices

1600 Blake Street (above Market Street Station)

Bus Routes: all that go downtown, take the free downtown shuttle from light rail

Northglenn

Northglenn Recreation Center

11801 Community Center Drive

Bus Routes: Depends on whether or not this location is walkable from the Wagon Road ParknRide. According to Google Maps, the nearest bus route is the 7. I will need to research further.

Monday, September 20 - various times

Boulder - 6pm

West Boulder Senior Center

909 Arapahoe Road

Bus Routes: JUMP (every half hour). The B, SKIP, DASH, 204, and 203 all stop within walking distance.

Lakewood - 7pm (note that this meeting starts later than most of the others)

Clements Community Center

1580 Yarrow Street

Bus Routes: 16/16L (every fifteen to twenty minutes), 76 (every half hour)

There is a short walk from the bus stops to the community center.

Longmont - 6pm

Longmont Senior Center

910 Longs Peak Avenue

Bus Routes: As far as I can tell, the only bus that runs in Longmont in the evening is the Boulder/Longmont bus, the BOLT. It runs hourly.

Wednesday, September 22 - 6pm

Arvada

The Apex Center

13150 W. 72nd Avenue

Bus Routes: none?

Aurora (Second Meeting)

Heather Gardens Community Center

2888 S. Heather Gardens Way

Bus Routes: none? Is the 130 in walking distance?

Littleton

Douglas H. Buck Community Recreation Center

2004 W. Powers Avenue

Light Rail: D (every fifteen minutes). You have to walk out of the station area and then across the tracks.

Bus Route: 66 (every half hour) This is the route that runs closest to the center, but any route that runs to Littleton Station is within walking distance. Just remember that most buses stop south of the station and that the center is north and east of the tracks.

Thursday, September 23 - 6pm

Denver

Quigg Newton Senior Center

4430 Navajo Street

Bus Routes: 6 (every half hour until 7:58, hourly until 10:58), 52 (hourly) Both buses stop on W. 46th and on Lipan, two to three blocks away.

Parker

Parker Recreation Center

17301 E. Lincoln Avenue

Bus Routes: none?

Friday, September 24 - noon

Denver

RTD Offices (second meeting)

1600 Blake

Bus Routes: all that go downtown. Take the free downtown shuttle from the light rail.

Well, we now know that the RTD planners are not taking the bus to these events.

Movie: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

This movie starts by showing someone being trained how to operate a train according to international standards, something that is more rare than it should be in the US. The recent remake leaves this part out, only one of the many ways that the first version is superior to the second.

This movie is more of a character study than an action film although the fact that this how people actually act makes the action more realistic. This movie is not for the overly sensitive, especially in its depiction of racism and sexism. It is all realistic, unlike the remake.

I especially like the part where the subway managers from Tokyo reveal that they understand everything that has been said around them, insults and all.

A DVD of this movie is available through Netflix. It used to be available for streaming through Hulu, but now Hulu only has clips.

Chicago

Of Interest: downtown Chicago which includes the theater district, the Chicago Board of Trade, museums, and several universities

Hotels: Of course, at all prices and qualities

Grocery Store: Several small markets downtown. A Whole Foods is visible from the tracks, but not from the station.

Other Transit: City buses run by the station. Buses in Chicago run in a grid pattern. An El station is a short walk to the north. The loop is across the bridge. Just walk straight ahead. Besides the "L", multiple bus lines also end at the loop

ATM: in station

Lockers: yes, but $3.00/an hour

Chicago's original downtown is the to east of the station. Many commercial offices have moved north to the Golden Mile, but the futures market, the Chicago Board of Trade, is still here. Most of this area is now devoted to shopping. Chicago's theater district is to the northeast of the station while bars that serve the student population are to the southeast. The lake, and the park that runs along it, is a 30 minute walk to the east.

If you are walking to the South Loop are, Van Buren is the southmost street you can walk east without having to deal with a highway or a major road. All "L" trains meet at the Loop. The red subway line runs underneath.

Amtrak and Metra trains run from Union Station to neighboring states and the rest of the country.

Chicago is the transfer hub between trains heading east and trains heading west. Daily Amtrak trains run to New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Dallas, and New Orleans and all major locations in between. Amtrak also runs multiple trains within Illinois and to neighboring states. A daily train runs to Indianapolis, IN in six hours. Also daily is train that takes four hours to get to Grand Rapids, MI. Running to the other end of Michigan, a daily train takes seven hours to get to Port Huron while three trains a day run to Detroit in five and a half hours. These two lines split at Battle Creek which is three hours from Chicago.

Trains run twice daily to Quincy, IL (four and a half hours). Along the way they stop in Galesburg where Illinois service splits from the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief. Lincoln Service runs four times a day along the Texas Eagle route to St. Louis, five and a half hours away. The last stop within Illinois is Alton. Carbondale is also five and a half hours away, although this train runs less often, three times a day, and follows the route of the City of New Orleans.

Probably the most frequent interstate train coming out of Chicago is the Hiawatha which runs seven times a day in each direction, taking an hour and a half to get between Chicago and Milwaukee. This route parallels the Empire Builder and Metra's Milwaukee District North Line.

Metra operates eleven train lines into Illinois suburbs to the west, south, and north of Chicago. The last stop of one line, Union Pacific North, is in Wisconsin at Kenosha. Metra does not run to anywhere in Indiana. Six of these lines run from Union Station while another three run from Ogilvie Transportation Center, a short walk to the north. The other two run from stations that are just south of downtown.

Most lines do not connect. Exceptions are the Rock Island and Heritage Corridor lines which both end in Joliet, a little more than an hour away. Only Rock Island runs from Union Station and it is peak hours only in the direction of commuter traffic.

Take action to put more buses and trains on our streets

A previous post mentioned the Public Transportation Preservation Act (S 3412 and HR 5418) which would provide federal money to restore bus and train service that has been cut throughout the nation.

Cars get a subsidy from every tax that we pay. We pay for cars through property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, and miscellaneous fees. Buses and trains deserve the same level of support. Some car people who want to widen a single highway in my state are looking for $20 billion in subsidies. The Public Transportation Preservation Act would restore bus and train service throughout the country for only $2 billion.

Also, to show that people in the US will ride trains, we need to actually run them. Cuts create declining ridership which gives a weapon to train opponents.

I hope that you will all send letters to your Representatives and Senators through the online petition at Change.org.

Tell Congress to pass the Public Transportation Preservation Act

Southern California by Transit

Wondering what you can see or do in southern California without a car. Riding in Riverside has three guides to help you. Most destinations are in Orange or Riverside Counties.

Amusement Parks

Beaches & The Outdoors

Museums, Zoos and Other Attractions

Riverside is the second stop after Los Angeles on the Southwest Chief. It is also on three Metrolink lines that run to Los Angeles, Orange County, and the beach. In fact, if you are at the beach and it rains, you might be able to use this site to to visit one of southern California's historic towns.

(Remember, it is almost always good when it rains in southern California.)

Amtrak and the ADA

You have may have noted that many train stations in the US are not handicapped accessible. In addition, many trains are not handicapped accessible either. You may have wondered if Amtrak is aware of this problem. According to the public relations office in Chicago, they do know that this is a problem.

Amtrak is legally supposed to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but they have not actually gotten any money to bring achieve that compliance. This the first year in my memory that Amtrak has come close to being fully funded, and they are spending that money on new train sets. These train sets should be much more accessible than the ones they have now, but it will take a few years before they are actually in service.

There are two things that you can do to promote accessible train stations. If you are concerned about a particular station in your state, you can your representatives of the state legislature. If you concerned about the overall problem, you can contact your Senators and Representative and ask them to vote to fund accessible train stations.