Free Public Transit

#Oil companies are on welfare

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:46:00 +0000

Big Oil Pumps Up Profits with Americans’ Cash: "This week the five Big Oil companies—ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Shell—posted massive second-quarter profits thanks in no small part to record-high gas prices and billions in unnecessary subsidies paid by American taxpayers."

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Cars kill, in, oh, so many ways.

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:09:00 +0000

Transportation and Health By the Numbers | Public Health: "Some of the statistics revealed at the workshop include:

Three trillion vehicle miles are traveled in the U.S. each year, according to the Federal Highway Research Administration.

Between 1990 and 2009 the vehicle miles traveled for passenger cars and trucks has increased by 39 percent, said David Ragland, PhD, MPH, Director of the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at the University of California at Berkeley.

Every additional hour spent in a car is associated with a 6% increase in the risk of obesity, and every kilometer walked is associated with a 5% decrease in obesity risk, said Raymond.

Thirty-six percent of adults don’t report any leisure time physical activity; 88% don’t meet federal guidelines for the recommended amount of activity.

The estimated medical costs of inactivity top $75 billion per year.

Walking and biking are the top leisure physical activities of choice in the U.S., and are also the top utilitarian physical activities.

Public transit users walk a median of 19 minutes daily getting to and from transit stops. Nearly 30 percent of transit users exceed the 30 minutes of recommended physical activity per day."

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Brussels, Belgium campaign for free public transport

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:52:00 +0000

Free Transports in Brussels: "Everyone will benefit from free transports
Free public transport is one of the best way to reduce traffic jams in Brussels. Just think about the benefit that is would be for everyone: less pollution, less noise, better and safer environment for non motorised traffic, and so on.
It also represents an important cost saving for every one, with an increase of the purchasing power as consequence. We are sure that in times of crisis like we know today, nobody will be against less expenses.
And think about the socioeconomic gains that could be achieved by getting rid of all the ticket lines, tickets and control systems. Lots of money goes to these systems which lead to nothing but a bad mood in our common spaces."

Read more....
http://freepublictransports.com/2012/01/13/campaign-in-brussels-belgium/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Transports-in-Brussels/125313980921201

U.S. to send its pit-bull to attack Iran

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:44:00 +0000

'US prepping Mideast facilities ... JPost - Iranian Threat - News: "The United States has begun taking measures to plan for an Israeli strike on Iran in order to protect US facilities in the region, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday."

The U.S. has painted itself into a corner. It has bet all its money on highways, parking lots, and bombs. Oil sources and routes are getting scarce. So, more bombs, more highways and parking lots.

You, yes you, can put a stop to this insanity. Join your local #occupy, transit-riders union, or environmental group, and raise the demand for free public transit.

Nigeria revolt shows fragility of oil-based western economies

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:10:00 +0000

#occupywallstreet supports the people of Nigeria

Goldman Sachs Sees Increasing Risk of Rising 2012 Oil Prices - Businessweek: "Nigerian labor unions said they will continue a strike that threatens oil exports from Africa’s top producer because no agreement has been reached yet with President Goodluck Jonathan on restoring fuel subsidies."

The US/UK/Japan bank empire keeps printing money, and keeps collapsing. At some point in the de-leveraging, some part of the imaginary wealth has to be backed by real production. The problem is, most of the "production" is just a billion wasteful consumer products [autos] and inefficient sprawl that depend on fossil-fuels. A million more soldiers could not unscramble this egg. The collapse will continue until enough people rise up and do something about it.

In Brazil, the fight against bus fare hikes and for free public transport

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:39:00 +0000

http://fureotubo.blogspot.com/

Tallinn Offers Free Public Transportation to All Residents

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:58:00 +0000

Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar said the city is willing to make public transportation free for its residents in 2013, if taxpayers support the idea in a poll from March 19 to 25.

The private auto, whatever it burns, is a wasteful consumer product

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:12:00 +0000

Taking Parking Lots Seriously, as Public Spaces - NYTimes.com: "As the critic Lewis Mumford wrote half a century ago, “The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is the right to destroy the city.” Yet we continue to produce parking lots, in cities as well as in suburbs, in the same way we consume all those billions of plastic bottles of water and disposable diapers."

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The 1% is splitting over oil. Thank you, #occupywallstreet

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:34:00 +0000

Time to reassess our national transportation program - The Hill's Congress Blog: "economic research concludes that the gas tax is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall cost of driving. Those who believe that motorists alone should benefit from road improvements fail to recognize the full cost of driving and the benefits of pricing it fairly.

It’s time that those who benefit the most—oil companies—shoulder more of the burden of the nation’s transportation system. More than 70 percent of our oil supply is consumed by transportation. We send $161 billion per year to countries classified as dangerous or unstable by the state department to continue this consumption."

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Split widens in 1% over #transit as oil trolls hurt business

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:51:00 +0000

The Recession Squeeze On Buses and Trains - NYTimes.com: "That alarm is not an idle one. But it comes with one piece of good news: the number of trips taken annually on public transit is now more than 10 billion and rising, compared with 7.8 billion trips in 1995, outstripping population growth and the number of miles traveled on streets and highways."

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Is the Tea Party anti-business?

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:50:00 +0000

The article below is more evidence that the tea party is a creation of, by, and for the oil industry. Their job is to shore up the the failing "gays-guns-god-[and-racism]" coalition that has traditionally allowed the oil-auto-sprawl industry to keep its trolls in office. Public transit is a huge threat to oil, but most other businesses want more of it.

The price of tea party politics in Troy, Michigan: investors walking away « Blogging for Michigan: "Lots of talk these days from conservatives and tea partiers in particular about too much government spending. Rather than seeing government spending as the investment that it often is, they see nearly all government spending as waste to be eliminated. As I wrote yesterday, tea party mayor of Troy, Michigan, Janice Daniels, led a coalition of like-minded tea partiers to kill off a transit center project that was a decade in the making, kissing off $8.4 million in federal investment funds to help make the project happen."

If you want to help speed up the demise of oil-power, join the campaign for free public transit.

Methane plumes 1 kilometer in diameter, shooting methane into the air. #agw

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:28:00 +0000

Melt of Artic seabed methane accelerating dramatically | ClimateSignals: "The scale and volume of the methane release has astonished the head of the Russian research team who has been surveying the seabed of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf off northern Russia for nearly 20 years.In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Igor Semiletov, of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that he has never before witnessed the scale and force of the methane being released from beneath the Arctic seabed."

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How can we stop the #oil and #gas wars?

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:53:00 +0000

Oil and natural-gas wars are consuming tremendous amounts of resources. The U.S. occupation of Iraq has been estimated at USD 1 trillion in direct costs alone.

Meanwhile people are sitting in their cars, sitting still in traffic jams, and the cheap oil is going up in smoke.

It is time for a change.

Communities should invest in public transit. To maximize return on that investment, do not have fares. The more people ride, the less money your town will be exporting for cars and fuel.

George Monbiot – No Bail-Out for the Planet

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:41:00 +0000

George Monbiot – No Bail-Out for the Planet: " as soon as the banks said they wanted help, they got it. On just one day the Federal Reserve made $1.2tn available – more than the world has committed to tackling climate change in 20 years."

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In current system, #peakoil equals #peakfood

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:31:00 +0000

Soaring oil and food prices threaten affordable food supply: "The current global food system is highly fuel- and transport-dependent. Fuels will almost certainly become less affordable in the near and medium term, making the current, highly fuel-dependent agricultural production system less secure and food less affordable. It is therefore necessary to promote food self-sufficiency and reduce the need for fuel inputs to the food system at all levels."

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Why #occupywallstreet must succeed, and soon. Corporatism is destroying the biosphere.

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:54:00 +0000

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.html
Methane feedback-loop is accelerating

Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.
The scale and volume of the methane release has astonished the head of the Russian research team who has been surveying the seabed of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf off northern Russia for nearly 20 years.

#occupy responds to evictions - shuts down ports

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:37:00 +0000

http://occupywallst.org/

U.S. oil dependency raising risk of world war

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:29:00 +0000

The U.S. is dependent on imported oil. It's best allies, the UK and the EU, also so dependent, are dependent on imported natural gas as well. In addition they are in serious financial trouble and heading into prolonged recession. The price of energy is critical.

Russia has plenty of oil and gas. Caspian gas is still up for grabs, but Russia and China have the upper hand in this region. Pakistan moves a step toward China every day. Mideast oil is still under U.S. control, but keeping it that way is getting more expensive.

As western financial collapse progresses, the U.S. is left with military power as its only tool. It has already been overused and the U.S. conventional war threat is losing credibility. That leaves the nuclear threat.

The U.S. will have to try to ally with China against Russia. Currently the war of words between the U.S. and Russia is flaring up.

There is, however, one other path that could be taken. The U.S. could make all urban public transit fare-free and start the gradual elimination of the private auto. This would save $trillions and lead the world into a new way of life.

There is no housing crisis. There are more empy houses than homeless. #occupyhomes

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:51:00 +0000

... there are around 3,000 empty homes in Rochester and 500–1,000 homeless people on any given night. “There’s no real housing crisis,” Acuff explained. “When you have three times more housing than homeless people, it’s not a housing crisis, it’s a political crisis. Something’s happening systemically to have all these empty houses and people sitting outside on the street...”

TheNation

Try to get one near public transit, though. More oil shock to come.

#occupyhomes - video - eviction victims fight back, get support

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:42:00 +0000

Where Is The 22 Trillion? | The Forest a Progressive Political Blog

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:22:00 +0000

Where Is The 22 Trillion? | The Forest a Progressive Political Blog: "The 22 trillion surplus revealed by Susan Swain should carry Social Security far into the future, so why are politicians so eager to place it on the chopping block? The answers to this question will have to come from Washington, but we can go back to 1983 to reveal what might be motivating the politicians to now come after the federal insurance policy that Americans have been paying into starting with their first real jobs."

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Why #collapse will not stop

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:19:00 +0000

Bond failures and bailouts will continue because it is not how much money you have, it is how much you have relative to your competition.

Different countries have different amounts of labor, military, resource, production, and financial power.

The first four require some effort to wield. The last does not. There is no braking effect.

AutoSprawl triggered financial collapse

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 04:51:00 +0000

The Death of the Fringe Suburb - NYTimes.com: "It was predominantly the collapse of the car-dependent suburban fringe that caused the mortgage collapse."

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Mother Nature makes a comment on consumerism

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:03:00 +0000

Water surrounds factories at a flooded industrial estate in Ayutthaya province November 14, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Damir Sagolj

Thailand's surreal industrial park: crocodiles but no chips | Reuters: "(Reuters) - Knee-deep in foul-smelling water, workers are piling office equipment, documents and food onto fibre boats that ferry them from one building on Hana Microelectronics' 12-acre company site to another with more space on higher floors."

Thanks to #occupywallstreet, some anti-oil crumbs fall from the table

noreply@blogger.com (fpteditors) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:54:00 +0000

APTA Commends Congress for Passing Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations Bill Which Increases Funding for Public Transportation - Mass Transit: "Although current public transportation infrastructure needs far exceed the appropriated funds, we applaud Congress for taking this action which will address important transit and highway needs and put Americans back to work. Every $1 billion in public transportation investment supports or creates 36,000 jobs. Also, for every $1 invested in public transportation, $4 is generated in economic returns."

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