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POLITICO Morning Transportation for 8/13/2015
By JENNIFER SCHOLTES, with help from Lauren Gardner, Adam Sneed and Heather Caygle
PILOT REPORTS OF DRONE SIGHTINGS LEAP DRASTICALLY: Following a substantial uptick in pilot reports of drone sighting this year, the FAA is trying to send a signal that the agency is in fact levying civil penalties against drone operators flying in restricted airspace and has dozens of open enforcement cases. Just in the first eight months of this year, pilots have reported more than 650 drone sightings — definitely a whopping increase from the 238 sightings in all of 2014. “The FAA wants to send out a clear message that operating drones around airplanes and helicopters is dangerous and illegal,” the agency warned in a written statement Wednesday night. “Unauthorized operators may be subject to stiff fines and criminal charges, including possible jail time.”
IT’S THURSDAY: Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Reach out: jscholtes@politico.com or @jascholtes.
“I’m really sorry, Steven, but your bicycle’s been stolen.” http://bit.ly/1JUXfs1
BLUMENTHAL DEMANDS FRA STOP LAGGING ON PTC PENALTIES: Sen. Richard Blumenthal called out the FRA on Wednesday for giving “scant information” in its latest report on positive train control implementation about how the agency actually plans to penalize rail operators that aren’t in compliance. “The report provides a general schedule of fines, notes that FRA has discretion in their implementation, and just vaguely cautions that penalties ‘could’ be ‘substantial,’” the senator wrote to FRA acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg. “More than just rhetoric, the FRA must demonstrate that willful or even negligent failure to set deadlines and meet them will have meaningful consequences. Railroads must have clear incentive to implement PTC by the Dec. 31 deadline — which remains current law, despite ongoing debate in Congress. The disciplinary regimen must be real and realistic with a penalty approach that recognizes good faith efforts and punishes intentional violations.”
A refresher on that latest PTC report, which details how more than 700 trains will need another three to five years to install the safety technology: http://politico.pro/1HADakz.
Except that one: Up in Connecticut, The CT Monitor reports that Blumenthal wants to spare his home state from PTC penalties: “While Blumenthal is calling for tough punishment for those rail companies, he’s willing to make an exception for the state of Connecticut, which, like the nation’s railroads must implement PTC because it owns hundreds of miles of track in the state. The Connecticut Department of Transportation said PTC would not be implemented on the tracks the state owns in Connecticut until 2018, at least two years after the deadline. … Blumenthal said the state is making a ‘good faith effort’ to comply with the federal regulations regarding PTC … ”
METRO DERAILMENT DIVULGENCE FURTHER BRUISES PUBLIC IMAGE: Just as Metro was beginning to recover from the public outrage spurred by the fatal smoke incident earlier this year, the transit agency’s interim general manager admitted this week that Metro had known about the track problem that caused a train to derail last week. The AP reports (http://cbsloc.al/1DOGsFI) that interim general manager Jack Requa said Wednesday that the faulty track was discovered on July 9. “I don’t want to mince words, but this was totally unacceptable,” Requa said. “It’s Metro’s responsibility totally.”
FOXX GETS SUED: A woman trying to recover money in a bankruptcy case is suing Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, claiming that a now-defunct bus maker paid Foxx to be its general counsel but that he “spent little to no time” at the company’s offices, the Wall Street Journal reports: http://on.wsj.com/1EnBOtl. The secretary held the position as general counsel while he also served as mayor of Charlotte.
TSA PLANS ARLINGTON ESCAPE: As cool as it is to work across the street from Costco, officials at TSA headquarters are planning to give up their Pentagon City digs in about two years to move five Metro stops south to Alexandria (but closer to Springfield than Old Town). ARLnow.com reports (http://bit.ly/1IJ26Kz) that GSA “touted the new lease as a money-saving move that will save taxpayers more than $95 million over a 15-year lease. The government is paying rent of $36 per square foot, more than 25 percent below projected market rents, and getting $50 million for tenant fit-out costs and moving expenses.” So TSA employees: You better get your fill of those $1.50 Kirkland hotdogs while you can.
FCC MOVES TO BESTOW MORE AIRWAVE ACCESS ON AMTRAK POLICE: Upon the urging of lawmakers, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is circulating proposed rules to allow Amtrak police to tap into some public safety frequencies other law enforcement agencies use. Pro’s Alex Byers explains that “current regulations block railroad police from licensing or operating on public safety spectrum. But several members of Congress from states along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line have written [to] Wheeler in the last several weeks pressuring him to give Amtrak police access to the airwaves, a move they say would have been helpful in May during the Amtrak train crash in Philadelphia that left eight people dead. Wheeler circulated the little-noticed item last month, according to FCC documents, but the agency’s commissioners have not completed the voting process yet.” More from Pro: http://politico.pro/1NbGMRk.
AIRLINES DUKE IT OUT OVER BIG-BUCK LAX FLYERS: Spurred by a desire to court Hollywood types, several major airlines continue to up the ante at LAX as they all fight for high-paying, A-list flyers who want red carpet treatment on LA-to-NY routes. Bloomberg Business explains that “LAX is one of a handful of major U.S. airports where no one carrier dominates — each of the four biggest airlines now holds market share between 14 percent and 18 percent. … To court the most desirable passengers, the airlines have been rolling out amenity-laden cross-country flights, lie-flat business-class seats, vented compartments that can house a pet and a slew of more flights. … Up next are fancy new terminals: Delta, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co. are spending more than $1.3 billion renovating facilities there. … The stakes shouldn’t be underestimated. Flights between L.A. and New York’s Kennedy will produce almost $1 billion in revenue this year, more than any single route in the U.S., according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.” The story: http://bloom.bg/1gCm9ki.
HOW DEMS COULD TACKLE THE UBER ECONOMY: Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have found themselves in a tough spot as they try to support booming new companies like Uber and Lyft without alienating organized labor over concerns about independent contractors. But The Washington Post explains how they could bridge that gap by focusing on “a broader conversation about the future of work in a 21st-century economy.” It includes new protections for part-time workers and making sure companies don’t designate workers as contractors just to reap tax benefits. More from the Post: http://wapo.st/1IHQibs.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
— Freight volumes fell in July as slow exports, consumer spending weighed. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1P8pYJl
— The four types of millennial travelers. CityLab: http://bit.ly/1Pm58H1
— Metro boosts video surveillance on buses to fight assaults on drivers. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1N4Wezt
— After reaching an agreement with NASA, Google began using U.S. airspace to test its drone delivery system, with plans to conduct additional tests in California. The Guardian: http://bit.ly/1Plllwbb
— Working together to improve our nation’s transportation. Op-Ed, The Lincoln Journal Star: http://bit.ly/1JTP2Ev
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 78 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 50 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 456 days.
Tags: transportation