- San Francisco Business Times: BART leader: How S.F.’s fancy private buses could be a win for everyone
- Contra Costa Times: BART to Oakland airport shuttle ridership rising, but fare decried
- San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area pollution agency wants to ban open fireplaces
- San Jose Mercury News: San Jose, S.F. traffic: Getting worse but still better than L.A.
- Marin Independent Journal: San Francisco Bay Trail: Hike, eat, drink and play
- San Francisco Examiner: SF bicyclists feel road repair requests are being ignored
POLITICO Morning Transportation for 4/1/2015
By JENNIFER SCHOLTES and HEATHER CAYGLE, with help from Kevin Robillard
DeFAZIO WANTS TO ADDRESS OIL VOLATILITY: House Transportation ranking member Peter DeFazio said he hopes to use the upcoming PHMSA reauthorization as a way to address the stabilization issues related to crude-by-rail transportation. “I would like to address volatility,” he told MT before the recess, admitting it would be a difficult issue to take on. “That would be tough, but one way to address volatility would be to allow the railroads to charge discriminatory tariffs. If you want to ship that stuff, you’re going to pay a lot more money than if you ship a stable crude that is messy but isn’t going to blow up.”
Market signal: “I’ve long supported that for the railroads. They should be able to charge more for … volatiles because that would send a market signal for people to conform,” he added. The current Pipeline Safety Act expires after September.
Sound familiar? A group of Democratic senators rolled out a bill (http://politico.pro/1xh0AND) last week that takes aim at several crude-by-rail issues, including volatility. “This bill is showing our impatience with the fact that we’re in a rulemaking process that doesn’t include volatility, and we think that it should,” Sen. Maria Cantwell said last Wednesday.
Where the FRA stands: FRA acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg has said oil stabilization came up during the rulemaking process for the tank car regulations pending at OMB, but FRA has limited authority in that area and it would have drawn out the rulemaking process. “To have added something like [stabilization] to the rule, first of all, now, it would slow it down incredibly. But to have added that at any point, I think would have slowed it down significantly, and also, it would’ve brought additional agencies into the rulemaking,” she said during a reporter roundtable in March.
Skepticism in North Dakota: Industry experts are arguing that North Dakota’s new regulations that cap the vapor pressure of crude oil fail to factor in what happens to the fuel during transit, calling into question whether the rules will make oil train shipments safer. Reuters reports: “The new rules, which take effect on April 1, aim to contain dangers by spot-checking the vapor pressure of crude before loading and capping it, … but safety experts say gas levels can climb inside the nearly full tankers, so the checks are a poor indicator of explosion risks for rail shipments.” http://reut.rs/1EyVjDQ
GIF DU JOUR: Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx reacting to Mike Allen asking him to “help a brother out” at Monday’s Playbook Lunch: http://bit.ly/1IlKGCb. Allen was asking Foxx for his advice for Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter as the City of Brotherly Love gears up to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Foxx was Charlotte’s mayor when the city hosted the 2012 DNC. Hat tip to Ben Goldman for the mad gif skills.
TRANSIT UNION SUING OVER CHICAGO ELECTION: The Amalgamated Transit Union filed suit (http://politico.pro/1GcWBDo) against the Chicago Transit Authority on Tuesday, claiming CTA is retaliating against workers for backing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s challenger in a heated runoff. ATU alleges the authority is violating the First Amendment by ordering employees not to talk about the election at work, even while off-duty, and threatening fines and discipline for noncompliance. ATU International President Larry Hanley told Heather he thinks the order is coming from Emanuel’s office because the union endorsed his rival, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
‘King Rahm’: “We have run into a unique situation in Chicago when King Rahm — I mean Mayor Emanuel — has decided that workers can’t talk to workers in the workplace about the upcoming election,” Hanley said. The Emanuel campaign declined comment, but a new poll shows the Chicago mayor with a huge 28-point lead over his challenger (http://politi.co/1GJ5THH).
CTA WEIGHS IN: “The ATU is alone, among the more than 17 unions that represent CTA workers, in seeking to violate long-standing state laws that prohibit political activities on government property and government time, at taxpayer expense,” CTA spokesman Brian Steele said, adding that “political activity — regardless of who it is for or against — is prohibited.”
IT’S WEDNESDAY — AND APRIL! Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
It’s April Fools’ Day, and on this day in 1932 a German newspaper ran a photo of an inventor riding high on a flying bike. Thank you, Hoaxes.org, for the transportation-related prank roundup: http://bit.ly/1I1il7w. Trick us, Tweet at us:jscholtes@politico.com or @jascholtes, and hcaygle@politico.com or @heatherscope.
“I had the carburetor cleaned and checked with her line blown out she’s hummin’ like a turbojet…” http://bit.ly/IqT6zt
WANTED: WILL HUNTING OR EQUIVALENT GENIUS: Congress can’t save the nation from the transportation crisis alone, Secretary Anthony Foxx says, but maybe some unassuming whiz kid could swoop and fix the grid. “If we’re going to build a transportation system fit for the Era of Big Data, Washington won’t be the place where we find all the answers,” Foxx said in the speech he prepared for an audience at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday.
“I believe in the ‘Good Will Hunting’ approach, in the idea that genius can come from anywhere. The idea that sometimes, if you leave an equation on a chalkboard, then a Matt Damon might come along, and he will find you an answer. And that’s sort of what Beyond Traffic is. It’s an equation on the chalkboard, data on the page. And we hope that someone will come along and take the study to their apartment, or their garage, or their university. And we hope that they will read that data and develop a concept that, literally, redraws the map.”
Stuck in the past: The nation is using a transportation funding structure developed before the 43-year-old secretary was born, he noted. “Even science fiction in 1956 couldn’t imagine the challenges and technologies within our reach today, like driverless cars. Even George Jetson drove his own car to work.” And the U.S. is investing in the transportation system “as if the country were shrinking, not growing,” Foxx complained. “The stakeholder community is stuck. And so is Congress. And everyone has a vested interest in the status quo,” he said. “Bottom line: We are woefully unprepared for the future.”
BLUE DOGS CALL FOR HIGHWAY HEARING: As the Highway Trust Fund deadline creeps closer, the Blue Dog Coalition is pressuring the House Ways and Means Committee to hold a hearing on the issue, something the committee hasn’t done in several years. “With the insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund looming, we believe Congress must act in a bipartisan manner to ensure that we are able to make critical investments in our nation’s aging infrastructure to boost the economy and put more Americans back to work,” fifteen of the coalition’s members wrote to committee Chairman Paul Ryan and ranking member Sander Levin. A committee spokesman responded with “no update” when asked if a HTF hearing was on the horizon. The letter: http://1.usa.gov/1ywCPfN
MT MAILBAG: It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a bird that smacked into a plane. Five House Democrats are urging DOT to pick up the pace in getting special radar installed at every airport to detect birds, citing the fact that at least one plane hits a bird each day and has to divert landing. In a letter to Foxx, the lawmakers argue that managing wildlife near airports can somewhat reduce the risk of hitting birds, “but current practices, such as shooting or poisoning large flocks of birds, have proven largely ineffective. This is highlighted by a fivefold increase in the number of wildlife strikes over the past two decades.” Check it out: http://1.usa.gov/1GJdYfL
PARKS GROUP SLAMS GROW AMERICA: A group that goes to bat for national parks is criticizing the new transportation plan DOT rolled out this week that suggests nixing $240 million in guaranteed funding for national parks roads. “GROW AMERICA fails our national parks,” Laura Loomis, a spokeswoman for the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. “It’s baffling that as our National Park System prepares for its centennial with an expected increase in visitors, including young children and their families, our parks remain rife with dangerous roads and deteriorating bridges.” The federal government has barely increased its spending on roads in national parks over two decades, and the group argues that national parks should be first in line for federal gas tax funds since they are often ineligible for state and local road money, Kevin explains: http://politico.pro/1CJkRvP
UBER BATTLES PLAY OUT ACROSS THE GLOBE: While a group of taxi drivers and garage owners have filed a lawsuit this week challenging New York City’s policies on Uber, a French court decided not to ban the company’s lowest-cost services and the Toronto Police began to crack down on UberX drivers. Meanwhile, down in New Orleans, Uber supporters plan to rally this morning outside City Hall as the city’s transportation committee meets to consider rules for ride-sharing companies:http://bit.ly/1BMV6XC. The Wall Street Journal reports that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners this week approved a white paper (http://bit.ly/1G4e3eX) that will guide state officials in developing insurance rules for this new brand of transportation service: http://on.wsj.com/1yxcPkn.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
-Federal Railroad Administration chief advocates more ticketing of those trying to beat trains. AP: http://abcn.ws/1CKQyov
-Google Maps turns into Pac-Man maze for April Fools’. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1xxs2qz
-Delta offers passengers GPS devise to monitor traveling pets in real time. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/19HFtsA
-Mayor Muriel Bowser pledges to finish D.C. streetcar line. AP: http://cbsloc.al/1F15ADH
-Lufthansa says Germanwings pilot reported deep depression. New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1CKP2mb
-Big rigs often go faster than their tires can handle, leading to wrecks and blowouts. AP: http://apne.ws/1xuRzAA
-NHTSA closing five-year investigation into diesel-powered VW autos without ordering recall. The Detroit News:http://bit.ly/1HhxBJZ
-Canadian airspace friendly to U.S. drones. The Guardian: http://bit.ly/1EX37dn
-“The brutal battle of the world’s most boring cars.” Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/1ywk7Vq
-Insurance firms are setting aside $300 million for Germanwings tragedy. USA Today: http://usat.ly/1OV2Kbi
– Toll battles mount as states seek cash for ailing roads. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/19EVLT0
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 60 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 182 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 588 days.
Tags: transportation