There’s a lot of animosity in the transportation blogging world for the Federal Transportation Administration. As the Post points out, the FTA controls the transit construction strings in this country, and as BeyondDC has lamented, their processes don’t always result in the best projects getting built.

But here’s the rub: It ain’t their fault.

These days just about every city in America wants to build rapid transit. Cities that a generation ago would have laughed at anyone suggesting a new bus route are now clamoring for rail, and lots of it. Tampa has streetcars, Dallas has light rail, LA has a subway. The Mecca of car culture that is Houston just opened its first light rail line, and NASCAR capital Charlotte is about to do the same. Denver mapped out a 120-mile system, and for the last year Albuquerque has run the coolest-looking trains on the continent. And for all that (and much, much more), the FTA gets a few billion dollars a year to dole out. They *have* to be selective, because there’s just not enough money to go around.

So whose fault is it?

We’ll give you one guess.

Transit money comes from a bill called SAFETEA-LU, which allocates about $300 billion in Federal money over the next several years for transportation projects.

Guess how much of that goes to transit.
It ain’t 50%.
It ain’t even 25%.

It’s about 18%. And of that, guess how much goes to the “New Starts” program, which is the primary funding source for major new fixed-guideway capital investments.

It’s about $7.4 billion.

That’s a lot of money, obviously, but within the context of funding every new transit line proposed around the country, it’s peanuts. And it’s peanuts within the context of the greater transportation spending bill, which is still overwhelmingly aimed at building new highways.

So let’s give the FTA a break and cast blame where blame is due: Squarely on the shoulders of Congress.

BeyondDC realizes we’re a bit late on this one, but nevertheless we’d like to add our voice to the chorus of those outraged over WMATA CEO John Catoe’s plan to eliminate late-night Metro service.

Washington isn’t Los Angeles, and Metro isn’t a commuter rail operator. BeyondDC admits we’ve never been to the City of Angels and don’t exactly know how Los Angelinos view their one Metro line, but here in DC the Metro is the backbone of our transportation system. It does an awfully good job of moving commuters, but it is first and foremost an urban subway. Without Metro, this city doesn’t function. It doesn’t matter how much money it would save to do so, eliminating late-night service is simply not an option. This is old news; a couple of years ago then-CEO Dick White cut late night service and ran only two-car trains every 20 minutes. It was a disaster. Trains at 2:00 am were packed like the Orange line at rush hour. And by the way, partly because of his inability to respond to customer needs, Dick White isn’t the CEO of WMATA anymore.

Actually this is even older news that that. This is a lesson that should have been learned decades ago, back in the years of the streetcar decline: You can’t cut service and expect there to be no backlash. If you raise fares, people complain but ultimately keep riding. If you cut service, people stop riding. If you do both, as Catoe plans to do in a year or two, you may as well take a job with General Motors.

Mr. Catoe: We know you’re a bus guy. We like that about you. We hired you to fix our buses. But don’t you dare do it at the expense of our subway, and don’t think for a second that any of us buy the line that buses are as good as trains. They’re not even in the best of circumstances. Cutting late night service, even if buses are provided to mitigate the cuts, is the worst idea to come out of WMATA that BeyondDC can ever remember. The answer is No. No. Find the money somewhere else.

If this post is a bit meandering or lacks cohesion, it’s because we’re simply flabbergasted that we have to write it. This proposal should have been shot down the second after it was made. That is survived to reach the blogosphere is indefensible.

BeyondDC has gone after the Examiner’s transportation columnist Steve Eldridge a time or two in recent months, but fair is fair, and his latest column gets it right. Raise the gas tax!

Or would you rather we tax water?

The best New Urbanist center, in my opinion, is the brand new Rockville Town Center. Very mature. Very credible as urbanism.
– Andres Duany

High praise indeed from the world’s most respected New Urbanist. BeyondDC agrees: Rockville Town Square is magnificent; the best “new downtown” to come along yet. The urbanism is convincing and the architecture diverse, but thematic. It could be a bit of central London, picked up and planted amidst Montgomery County. Combined with the coming redevelopment of the Regal Theater parking lot, downtown Rockville is looking really, really good.

See BeyondDC’s small photo set of the new development, but please note that our pictures were taken last winter, while construction was still underway.

Update: Aug 2, 2007: Right on schedule, the Post today features a story about the redevelopment on the Regal parking lot block.