With atonement and repentance in the air today, the transit advocacy nonprofit Transportation Alternatives released a feature on the Web site rollingcarbon.org that calculates the carbon footprint of New York City commuters.

Visitors to the site can choose one of seven transportation options (bus, car, hybrid car, taxi, subway/train, bike, walk) and calculate the daily carbon emissions of their commute. According to the site, a 10-mile train ride emits 5 pounds of carbon dioxide, while a car commute of the same distance emits 24.4 pounds.

In addition to calculating daily emissions, the site also has a few transportation factoids (did you know that one out of four transit trips in the U.  read more »

We're a few weeks late to the game on this, but last month New Jersey Transit launched a new Web site and accompanying promotional video to hype its proposed multibillion-dollar set of rail tunnels under the Hudson River, known as the Access to the Region's Core project.

With ominous music playing in the background, a deep-voiced narrator warns, "Our mobility is at risk. Today's transportation system is at the breaking point."

Worth a quick look, the video spells out some of the regional transportation problems that exist today, and offers ARC as the solution. The tunnel would connect more trains from New Jersey into a new set of tracks and platforms just north of Penn Station.  read more »

If you’ve ever wanted to take an afternoon siesta on a patch of green grass right by Columbus Circle, today is your day, New Yorkers! Thank the fourth annual Park(ing) Day, a one-day global event where city parking spaces are transformed into oases.

The event, first held in San Francisco in 2005, was celebrated by 70 cities across the country. Transportation Alternatives, a reform-minded pedestrian advocacy group, sponsored the event in the city, and helped over 50 community groups, artists and businesses access permits for the festivities.

In the West Village, Community Boards 2 and 4 commandeered a parking space outside the gourmet supermarket Balducci’s, and were visited by virtually all of the area’s politicians, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.  read more »

On Friday afternoon, Senator Hillary Clinton announced proposed legislation which includes $237 million in new funding for New York City's mass transit system. The bulk of the cash will go toward the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in an effort to prevent future fare increases.

"One of the best ways to save money, help the environment, end our dependence on foreign oil and free our roads up is mass transit," Senator Clinton said during a press conference in the middle of Grand Central Station.

She stressed the need to alleviate congestion, which she said costs the country $68 billion per year, and highlighted the efforts of countries like France and China, whose investments in mass transit dwarf those of the United States.  read more »

"The Q is a solid train. And Ditmas Park is our amazing, affordable, tree-lined little secret (shh!). But please don't let south Brooklyn turn into Williamsburg! It's lovely as it is without hordes of Facebook-addicted, angsty, post-college types in skinny jeans! Keep it quiet and nerdy--much better that way." ["Brooklyn, The Borough: Can the Q Be the Next L?"]

A congressional push is on to up funding for public transportation nationwide. And not a moment too soon, given rising oil prices. From this morning's Wall Street Journal:

Data being released Tuesday by the American Public Transportation Association show the number of riders on mass-transit systems is growing at an accelerating clip. After rising 2.5% in 2007 from 2006, public-transportation use increased 3.4% in the first quarter of 2008 from the same period a year earlier, and 5.2% in the April-to-June period.

I love the Q train. O.K., I love the B, too, but it's the Q that's stolen my heart.

When I moved back to Brooklyn in January, the biggest factor in finding an apartment was its proximity to this train line, and especially to the 7th Avenue station (a nice change of pace after riding the G train for three years). It's just far enough into Brooklyn that I am in a quiet, residential neighborhood, but also only the third stop into the borough, easily depositing me anywhere I need to go in Manhattan.

Like the L train of the early ‘00s, the neighborhoods along the Q/B line have seen new crops of people popping out of its stations along a path rumbling through central and southern Brooklyn, from Downtown, Park Slope, Midwood and Ditmas Park, through Sheepshead Bay and, via an expert right turn, Brighton Beach and Coney Island.  read more »

ST. PAUL--One of the more headline-grabbing stories involving Amtrak and New York of the past few months was a congressman's proposal for the federal government to take bids to create a two-hour train from New York City to Washington, D.C.

The far-off, years-long, multi-billion dollar idea, which has passed the House and awaits a final resolution with the Senate, came not from anyone in the city, or from the Northeast at all, but rather from a conservative Republican from northeastern Florida, Representative John Mica.

On Wednesday, I briefly caught up with Mr. Mica, who was speaking on a forum on transportation issues here at the University of Minnesota.  read more »

Even at the height of the Thursday morning rush, Roosevelt Islanders have time to stop and talk about transportation. That's because they're likely watching two or three or four F trains go by, packed to the doors with Manhattan-bound commuters.

As newcomers flock to Roosevelt Island, transportation on and off the 147-acre landmass is becoming increasingly challenging. The temporary suspension for upgrades of the island's iconic tram next spring will only exacerbate the situation.

"We're at capacity," said Jonathan Kalkin, who's on the board of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), which manages the island. "Sometimes you do have to wait--especially in the morning--for another train, depending on how gutsy you are, how much New York is in you to push through.  read more »

The Chinese government plans to introduce by 2012 a new generation of bullet trains that run for long stretches at 236 miles per hour. That's about half the speed of your average passenger jet. More here in the British press.

Will the U.S., particularly its train-happy Northeast, ever produce such fast rail? You know the answer, but more here anyway.