Thursday, February 23, 2012

Think Transportation

The editors at Seattle Magazine have published some big ideas from citizens and transportation industry leaders on what they would do to solve the region's transportation problems.

Sometimes thinking big is to think small, think local. Inspired by these examples, what would you propose to do for the region's transportation woes, or just Snohomish County's, if money were no object?

Dedicated bus lanes and more funding for transit are on my list.

4 comments:

  1. Please read this CT Board, politicians and other American citizens who have a voice and who can make a difference!

    Here are some simple ways to solve our transportation problems:

    -Local and state funding is needed in order to help supplement the huge reduction in sales tax revenue that transit agencies rely on. The recent reduction in transit service is a huge step in the wrong direction for the citizens of Snohomish County who rely on transit. It also makes our already bad traffic much worse due to more cars on our roads.
    -Allow commercial airlines to be able to operate out of Paine Field airport. This will help local business and reduce the need for many of us to drive to SeaTac.
    -The city of Mukilteo and the state need to decide on a comprehensive and affordable plan to either upgrade the Mukilteo ferry terminal or move it to one of the proposed nearby locations.
    -Washington State and other west coast states and our federal government need to reduce regulations and open up our ability to drill for oil both onshore and offshore. The USA has been blessed with a lot of oil and a lot of natural gas. It is time to use it! Gas is so expensive now. It is time to cash in on our resources.
    -This will reduce all of our energy bills freeing up money for all of us to buy other things that we need which would also stimulate the economy and create jobs!
    -Why are we paying so much money to other countries to import oil when we have our own oil!
    -I find it amazing that our state is willing to sell off their art collection but they don't seem willing to tap into our natural resources such as oil, coal or natural gas. Yes, go ahead and sell off some art if you want, but why not also tap into our natural resources?
    -High fuel costs also cost transit agencies such as Community Transit a lot of money for CT goes through a lot of diesel fuel. If diesel fuel costed less, they could provide that much more bus service.
    -Lets be smart and use our available natural resources.
    -These are all great ways to resolve our region's transportation problems and also help our economy while creating jobs.

    Now, lets get to work!

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    Replies
    1. You're suggesting that we have an unlimited amount of fossil fuels available.

      Drilling and destroying the environment is just kicking the can down the road even further.

      We need more gas taxes and car tab fees to pay for and help incentivize the use of public transport.

      Delete
    2. there will be no new service until CT gets a new board which we pay for or a new CEO

      Delete
  2. Not drilling and using our country's natural resources is a big reason why we're all paying $4.00 or more per gallon for fuel.

    Using domestic oil will not destroy the environment any more than using oil that we import from other countries. When we use domestic oil, the USA benefits by having lower cost energy prices which stimulates our economy and lowers the cost of goods.
    It is basic supply and demand economics, increase the supply of oil and energy prices will go down.
    When gas and other energy prices go down, Americans have more money to spend on other things which helps America's economy and creates jobs which we desperately need.

    When people have more money to spend in our stores and malls, this helps local businesses and it helps Community Transit through increased sales tax revenues. Just look at CT's "Buy Local for Transit" campaign.

    Yes, we must tap into America's oil, natural gas and coal resources for these and other reasons.

    You say we need more gas taxes, however this yet again increases the cost of energy. If we can get the energy costs down, this will save all of us money and sales tax revenue will go up through other retail spending.

    If gas costs go down, we may even be able to increase gas taxes and it would still cost much less per gallon than it is now. We just have to increase our supply.

    ReplyDelete