A political change overdue at the federal government level

The recent release of an expansive plan to transform the Maryland Commuter Railroad service into a railroad passenger system not bounded only by transporting office workers to Baltimore and Washington shows the difference that it can make on which party runs the show in government.

The same is true of the Federal Transit Administration and its scoring method for supporting transit proposals for federal funding. See "Streetcar bumps into federal bias for buses," from the Portland Oregonian.

This is the same issue with the Silver Line expansion in Virginia. The federal bias for funding transit proposals is towards inexpensiveness, not success, and not success in transforming land use practices. But why should this be a surprise, given the current administration, which started a war to preserve access to relatively cheap oil, except... Oil tops $78 a barrel, but gas prices aren't likely to jump (USA Today).

From the Oregonian article:

Through the Small Starts program, Congress directed the federal bureaucracy to give streetcar proposals credit not just for moving people efficiently but for spurring growth nearby in the form of restaurants, shops, apartment and condominium buildings. Bus routes, which can easily change, do not show such corollary development.

Still, the Federal Transit Administration has balked at Congress' directive. The transit agency proposes to judge streetcars mainly by how quickly they move people over great distances. Economic development and urban housing could be considered, but couldn't be central to judging a project's worth.

When local Congressman Tom Davis was in power, instead of holding hearings on topics such as this, or how cities are pushed into a corner by sports team seeking massive subsidies, he had hearings on whether or not Washington Nationals baseball games were available on cable tv.