Transit

Last night delivered some good results -- and some disappointment -- for transit-related ballot initiatives around the country.

It's Election Day -- finally! The top of the ticket has sucked most of the oxygen out of the room, but don't forget that there are 19 transportation-related measures on ballots across the country. So far this year, pro-transit measures have an 86 percent success rate at the ballot, and there are more transportation amendments being voted on this year than any other in recent memory. Here's Streetsblog's overview of the big ones.

“Climate change is a reality… for us to sit here today and say this is a once-in-a-generation, and it’s not going to happen again, I think would be short-sighted… I’m hopeful that not only will we rebuild this city and metropolitan area but use this as an opportunity to build it back smarter.”

While New York City's first day after Hurricane Sandy was marred by paralyzing car traffic, buses immobilized in gridlock, and the delayed release of a transportation plan from Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg, this morning's commute was a different story as the plan went into effect, with partial subway service restored, HOV-3 restrictions in place and a temporary "bus bridge" between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

As the East Coast surveys the damage from Hurricane Sandy, cities are still struggling to get their transit systems back up and running.

As the flood waters recede from New York City, it looks like the effects of Hurricane Sandy are going to linger in the city's subway tunnels. MTA Chair Joe Lhota has called the storm the most devastating disaster to strike the subway system in its 108-year history.

President Obama released a blueprint for his second term yesterday, a 20-page booklet focused on job creation [PDF]. Let's be clear: This came from his campaign machine, not the White House.

This spring, there was a glimmer of hope that Webster Avenue in the Bronx would get the first center-running bus-only lanes in New York. With NYC DOT and the MTA bringing Select Bus Service to Webster Avenue, the center-running option would have been the city's boldest effort yet to implement high-quality bus rapid transit. While Select Bus Service is still in the works for Webster Avenue and bus trips are on track to improve, the project won't include center-running lanes, which do more to keep buses moving smoothly through traffic than bus lanes next to the curb or the parking lane.

Phineas Baxandall is a senior analyst at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.