Wuppertal's 117-year-old Schwebebahn monorail is a great transit system that has endured for generations.

The Schwebebahn in Wuppertal, Germany is a 13-kilometer long, suspended double-flanged monorail, and it had a perfect safety record until 1999, when a contractor's unfortunate repair error led to a derailment and the death of five riders.

Compare this statistic to the automotive carnage on our nation's roads and streets.

Having never visited Wuppertal, this is the first I've heard of it, confirming yet again that it's possible to learn something each day if you're not otherwise preoccupied with meaninglessness.

With Trains Like Schwebebahn, No Wonder Germans Love Public Transit, by Benjamin Schneider (CityLab)

Infrastructure like this makes it clear why Germany continues to produce enthusiasm for public transit, generation after generation.

My first view of the Schwebebahn was from my living room as a 10-year-old watching the Travel Channel on TV. I remember being amazed by the dinky rail cars, precariously suspended above a river by wrought iron trusses. The centenarian transit system in Wuppertal, Germany, looked like a cross between Disneyland’s monorail and the Eiffel Tower.

Years later, the Schwebebahn segment still sticks with me. After all, a great transit system that endures for generations is not only an efficient means of moving about the city, it is also a portal to an imagined future—a past vision of a better, more modern city. While visiting Germany last November, I made a point to stop in Wuppertal, half an hour from Düsseldorf in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, to see how that vision was working out, nearly 120 years into its lifespan. There may be no better place to study not only the economic and political power of high-quality mass transit, but also its social and emotional power.

I caught my first unmediated glimpse of the Schwebebahn from a hill overlooking the Ohligsmühle station, near the center of this industrial city of about 350,000 residents, just days before the system was shuttered until next summer for a fallen power rail*. Like the majority of stations on the one-line, suspended monorail system, this one stands about 30 feet above the Wupper River. I watched trains come and go with surprising frequency: The Schwebebahn runs 18 trains per direction, per hour during the day—making it more frequent than just about any transit line in the U.S., and many German lines, too. It’s also an exceedingly rare train design. The wheels sit atop the singular rail, and the trains hang below it, connected by supports that look like the Iron Giant’s knuckles ...

Try to imagine Harvest Homecoming if 95% of visitors DIDN'T drive to it -- or, "Why Public Transportation Works Better Outside the U.S."

Here's something else I've been saying ever since I began visiting Europe regularly. As Jeff Gillenwater notes:

This. Until we have local leadership that recognizes and begins implementing transportation models found elsewhere, the U.S. will fall further and further behind financially, environmentally, and socially. There’s no viable, public serving reason not to do this. It’s a huge, every day social justice issue.

The problem with squeezing tens of thousands of humans into downtown New Albany for Harvest Homecoming is that virtually all of them come by car. Granted, car-pooling is more common during such a festival. But the temporary warehousing of cars is the challenge. Just imagine if there were alternatives.

Jeff mentioned local leadership.

I suppose that's a bigger problem.

Do we have any?

Why Public Transportation Works Better Outside the U.S., by Jonathan English (CityLab)

The widespread failure of American mass transit is usually blamed on cheap gas and suburban sprawl. But the full story of why other countries succeed is more complicated.

... How did transit become such an afterthought in Americans’ transportation habits? I addressed that question in detail in an earlier CityLab piece. But to briefly summarize: Transit everywhere suffered serious declines in the postwar years, the cost of cars dropped and new expressways linked cities and fast-growing suburbs. That article pointed to a key problem: The limited transit service available in most American cities means that demand will never materialize—not without some fundamental changes ...

Because it's relatively simple.

 ... The key to great transit service is not about getting 100 percent of people to ride transit for 100 percent of trips. It’s about giving people a viable choice of getting around without needing to drive.

Figuring out how to improve transit isn’t like curing cancer or inventing a quantum computer, either. There are good, viable models of transit systems that already exist in cities that look a lot like U.S ones. They are successful both at attracting riders and at being financially viable, from places that have more in common with American cities than one might expect.

In conclusion:

In some ways, the story of American transit is not so unique. Europeans and Canadians also like to drive. Their countries have also built big expressway networks. The difference is more basic, yet profound: When transit service isn’t good, few will choose to use it.

Fortunately, improving American transit doesn’t necessarily demand multi-decade, hundred-billion-dollar infrastructure projects: It can be done by better advantage of existing space and existing vehicles, and then deploying them in ways that encourage people to actually use them.

If you're a car-centric progressive, are you really progressive at all? Or, "How American mass transit measures up against the rest of the world’s."

In Porto. It used to be cars only.

I can write a lick or two, but often words fail me -- and others already have done the job.

In this instance, it's longtime blog collaborator Jeff Gillenwater.

"Based on proximity and current population density, there should be a train, tram, or bus from our neighborhood with a fairly direct route to Louisville’s central business district at least every 10 minutes or so. Instead, as the article mentions, we spend limited resources providing too infrequent to be effective service to too many far flung areas. 

"Most people here never see what real transit is and how it works. Because of our screwed up political system, a lot of our transportation dollars come from state and federal sources. Think those candidates are focused on such direct, practical, localized solutions? Nope, usually not a genuine, non-partisan progressive among them. The few that ever display any such pragmatism are shunned as radicals within their own parties. 

"Rare that real transportation even gets a mention, outside of very temporary 'job creation' usually aimed at very expensive road building schemes that don’t actually increase daily mobility and access at all and leave us with ineffectual infrastructure we can’t afford to maintain. 

"Want me to care more about voting? Stop being so damned stupid."

Nail, meet hammer.

Why US public transportation is so bad — and why Americans don’t care, by Aditi Shrikant (Vox)

How American mass transit measures up against the rest of the world’s.

The US has bad public transit, but you probably already know that. While some cities do have impressive webs of efficient rail, for the most part, we are a car-dependent society because Americans largely don’t understand how transit should work and see no need to prioritize it.

So what it would take to bring US transit up to par? To answer that question, you have understand the differences between US transit systems and those in the rest of the world.

Free bus rides? "It is a question of political priority."

I keep returning to stories like these.

"On July 1, the entire country of Estonia will create the largest 24/7 free public transit zone in the world."

Starting in November, Madrid will make clear that downtown streets are not for drivers.

Also, I keep returning to a rant: until the moment when the Regional Development Authority begins talking about mobility solutions that involve modes of transportation like buses and light rail, as opposed to more of the same passenger cars with only the driver inside, then I'm not taking the RDA seriously.

Dant Chesser hits the Gahan ATM and solves the oligarchs' RDA funding puzzle.

What can I say, Wendy. I'm a Europhile social democratic liberal arts/humanities major.

This Petite French Town Turned a Stadium Boondoggle Into Free Public Transportation, by Laura Bliss (CityLab)

“It is a question of political priority.”

Dunkirk is a shrinking, suburban city on the northern coast of France. It’s a car town, where public buses are a mode of last resort: They represent only five percent of trips.

But when Patrice Vergriete ran for mayor in 2014, he envisioned something different: a sustainable city that allures and serves young people, families, and the elderly alike. So he made a radical campaign promise, which he thinks helped him win: make the buses free.

“I wanted to give back purchasing power to the families,” Vergriete says in an interview at CityLab Paris.

In 2015, Vergriete’s administration launched free weekend service. It was a popular move: Saturday ridership increased by 30 percent, and Sunday ridership by some 80 percent. People loved it, telling local media that they saved money and time by avoiding the stress of parking.

What’s more, passengers diversified. Before, transit in the Dunkirk area had been solely the province of the poor, the elderly, and young students. Now professionals and families—car owners, in other words—began to ride, too. They scarcely considered transit over driving when both modes cost them money, even if bus fare was as cheap €1.40, according to Vergriete. But a totally free option “made people stop and think,” he said.

Now buses in the Dunkirk region will be fully gratis, seven days a week, starting in September 2018. Dunkirk will be the largest city in France to offer such a service (though it won’t be the first).

Some people can’t believe the metro can afford it, Vergriete says. “They think it’s like magic,” he says. “They think it’s not possible, that you are a liar. You cannot pay the salaries of the drivers, for the buses, with free transport.”

But rider fares only ever made up about 10 percent of transit’s operating budget, which is about €50 million per year, he explains. The rest come from a special transport tax levied on businesses and the regional government’s operating general budget. Transit systems all over the world operate on similar budget breakdowns, where “farebox recovery” is quite low. When riders are already paying so little, “I think mayors should think about making it free,” he said. “It’s really a choice that we are making to charge” ...

Kansas City: "First they build up to the sidewalk, then they smash the entire automotive industry."

This laughable piece requires little introduction, although it's easy to imagine Team Gahan pausing the Disney flick on the VCR long enough to pop an ice cold Bud Light Mango and deploy the highlighter.

KC Conspiracy Theorists: Walkable Development Will “Devastate” Auto Giants, by Angie Schmitt (Streetsblog)

Now that Kansas City has its streetcar up and running, the city is taking the logical step of updating its zoning code to allow for walkable development along the transit route. And according to some local Agenda 21 believers, anyone who works for the automotive industry should be very afraid.

Up for a vote this Thursday at the City Council is a transit-oriented development policy that, in very general terms, calls for compact, mixed-use growth and better walking and biking conditions. It’s not a detailed zoning plan, more like a statement of principles to encourage development that pairs well with the streetcar, instead of the low-slung buildings, surface parking, and drive-throughs that predominate now. Only areas near the stations would be affected.

You might call it a common sense step to get more out of the city’s new transit line.

Or you could call it a “dangerous” law that will destroy “our freedoms.” At least, that’s the tack that a local group calling itself “Citizens for Responsible Government” has taken. A vocal opponent of the streetcar, CRG posted a paranoid screed on its Facebook page ...

Amid the screeching, a pinnacle is scaled.

We know in January of 2014, the CIty endorsed the UN’s Agenda 21. This ordinance is another step in that direction. One thing I saw missing was the crematorium where they will send those of us over 70 who can no longer get to the streetcar or walk or bike everywhere.

Hard to rebut that one, eh? I really hope the New Albany 18-wheeler lobby doesn't get wind of this powerful argument. It could put an end to the walkability reforms that won't happen, anyway.

Dunman: "Move Louisville’s absence of light rail a detriment to city’s future."

Green Line, Minneapolis, 2014

Defining the term:

Light rail is a commonly used mode of public transit in North America. The term light rail was coined in 1972 by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the U.S. Federal Transit Administration) to describe new streetcar transformations which were taking place in Europe and the United States. The Germans used the term Stadtbahn, which is the predecessor to North American light rail, to describe the concept, and many in the UMTA wanted to adopt the direct translation, which is city rail. However, in its reports the UMTA finally adopted the term light rail instead.

Then, on to the writer Dunman's customarily persuasive case.

Commentary: Move Louisville’s absence of light rail a detriment to city’s future, by Joe Dunman (Insider Louisville)

On April 14, Mayor Greg Fischer unveiled “Move Louisville,” which is Louisville Metro Government’s transportation plan for the next two decades. In its opening pages (alongside the photo of a smiling, bike-riding Fischer), the plan states its primary goal: reducing “vehicle miles traveled.” In other words, Louisville’s goal over the next 20 years is to get us to drive less ...

Snip.

If you truly want to decrease car reliance through alternative means of transit, you have to give commuters an option that provides shelter from the elements but also moves them around on a predictable schedule independent from other traffic. That option is rail.

But Move Louisville includes no plan for any kind of rail-based transit, which Mayor Fischer dismissed as unrealistic because of our city’s overall low population density.

Granted, he’s right. Much of Jefferson County has very low density, mostly because our planning policies for the past 60 years have financially incentivized sprawl or outright required it as a matter of zoning law. But just because rail transit may not make sense for every square mile of Louisville Metro, it certainly makes sense along certain routes.

Sale of two ti ... I mean, mass transit options, in Indianapolis and Louisville.

Speaking of ZZ Top ...

Something was missing when the Austin chef recreated the gate-fold meal from ZZ Top's Tres Hombres.

For those of you interested in mass transit options, two recent news items contrast Indianapolis and Louisville.

Indianapolis has an idea for rapid transit by bus, and it isn't without controversy.

The Red Line: What you need to know, by John Tuohy (Indy Star)

The Red Line would be the first leg of a long-awaited and ambitious plan to bring some type of modern mass transit system to Indianapolis. Here are eight things you need to know:

1. What is the Red Line?
It’s a planned, all-electric bus rapid transit system to run 37 miles from Westfield through Indianapolis to Greenwood. The first phase is 13.6 miles from 66th Street in Broad Ripple to the University of Indianapolis on the Southside. It would cost an estimated $96.3 million. Construction of the first leg would be paid with a $75 million federal grant and $21.3 million in local matching funds from the Department of Public Works, an IndyGo reserve fund and the Downtown tax increment financing (TIF) district fund. The entire route would rely heavily on federal funds.

(click through to read the rest)

The Louisville, international headquarters of the ORBP Cult, the headline is predictable.

Activists bemoan lack of public transit plans in Louisville’s ‘Smart Cities Challenge’ application, by Caitlin Bowling (Insider Louisville)

... Jackie Greene, who formerly led CART, and Louisville Metro Council candidate Bryan Burns already have penned their own letter to U.S. DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx criticizing the lack of citizen input and listing instances when Mayor Greg Fischer’s administration “undermined the community” to encourage non-urban development in the urban core and exurban development.

Examples provided include the controversial west Louisville Walmart, the development of the Veterans Administration Hospital in a suburban location, and the construction of infrastructure that promotes suburban sprawl.

“Louisville’s full potential will not be realized until we address the serious land use and transportation missteps of over six decades,” the letter states. “Please do not encourage the perpetuation of our mistakes by selecting Louisville as a finalist in Smart Cities Challenge.”

In New Albany ... nah, never mind.

But would they ride the bus together?

One Southern Indiana is giddy over the Regional Cities Initiative, meaning it's time to be very scared.

The reporter and I had a long and enjoyable conversation on the topic of the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative, during which I did not back away from my original assessment of the initiative as something aimed at distracting and intoxicating the usual planning and cheerleading suspects (read: One Southern Indiana) rather than helping better the vicinity.

Seriously: You want 1Si determining "quality of life" for revitalizing urban areas?

The reason I say this: Even if accepted at face value, it's a lottery scheme (a) not every area can win, and (b) a potential "win" that assumes much additional funding beyond what the state will provide, thus (c) favoring grandiose future planning (floating volleyball courts, convention centers) rather than the nuts and bolts of small neighborhood projects added together to achieve sustainable critical mass.

In short, the state constantly rigs the game to deny funding for everyday projects, instead offering a coin-flip panacea seemingly designed to inspire local politicians to begin commissioning plaques.

Accordingly, I was at the merchant meeting when Jeff Gahan attended for the sole purpose of touting the regional initiative to shopkeepers whose daily prospects are damaged by one-way arterial streets, even as Gahan plotted to delay the Speck curative another 1 - 2 - 3 years, or until doomsday -- whichever comes first.

But if big thinking is what you want, then there's only one choice. Ultimately, lateral east-west transit connections between Jeffersonville and New Albany, as an alternative to our current state of automotive connections, makes the most sense when speaking about millions of dollars. Ideally a north-south transit link with Louisville would some day come about, and then we'd be getting somewhere.

Conversely, we might stretch the Speck downtown street network plan throughout the Falls Cities area, linking it with various north-south "rails to trails" and hire mercenaries to seize the K & I Bridge so it can be returned to use.

I'm not joking.

SUNDAY EDITION | Southern Indiana leaders look to boost economic development, by Chris Otts (WDRB)

The Regional Cities Initiative, a program championed by Gov. Mike Pence and recently approved by state lawmakers, seeks to help regions like Southern Indiana develop “national brands” as places with superior quality of life – which, in turn, is meant to boost population growth in Indiana.

Compare and contrast with the Bridges Boondoggle: How the Twin Cities got transit right.

When we reserved space at an Airbnb lodging in Minneapolis for our July visit, we had no idea it was two hundred yards from a light rail station. In fact, the light rail line connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul had commenced only a short time before.

Northern Road Trip, Day 3: Twin Cities, Twins game, twin transit.

As tourists, we loved it. Here's the flip side, and the argument from economic development. I try imagining Kerry Stemler riding mass transit, and all that comes back is a view of pigs flying above the ORBP boondoggle. Couldn't his cronies have profited from the right transit project instead?

How the Twin Cities got transit right: Big projects often divide cities. But Minneapolis' light rail line is creating jobs and driving development in underserved areas, by Steve Hargreaves and Dominic V Aratari (CNN)

 ... Touting the economic and social benefits of running the line through the neighborhoods' commercial districts helped win over the local communities. Alternate plans called for the line to be built along an interstate to the south or in a freight rail corridor to the north. Travel time along these routes may well have been faster, but likely would have produced fewer overall benefits for the cities.

Thanks to motorized oligarchs like Kerry Stemler, "We still pursue an elusive automobile paradise like a swamp-lost Conquistador seeking the Fountain of Youth."

Thirty years of European travel memories are inextricably linked with public transportation.

In all those years, there has been precisely one rental car, used to explore the Irish countryside. To be sure, I've hailed taxis and been a passenger in private vehicles, but in terms of distance traveled, it's probably less than 5% riding in a car.

For the remainder of those many kilometers, it has been trains, streetcars, subways, buses, bicycles, boats and my own two feet. Any time I've had the good fortune to be in a European city of any size, having use of a car simply wasn't necessary. Berlin in September is the most recent example.

For decades, it has been my view that the single greatest marketing innovation in American history was convincing people that automobiles serve as sex organ enhancements and libido extenders. Sheer brilliance, I say.

I just wish I didn't have to drive everywhere. Sex is great, and it's even better on a tram; after all, you can use your hands for something other than gripping the steering wheel. Just don't tell this to Kerry Stemler. He might start humping his car.

Joe Dunman: Will Louisville ever be a city of transit vision? (Insider Louisville)

 ... The Bridges Project was probably inevitable, but it should have been completed decades ago. Instead, nearly 15 years into the 21st century, Louisville is pouring resources into wider highways as if it was still the 1960s ...

 ... After all, the best way to alleviate vehicle traffic is to get people out of vehicles. Other modes of transportation like light rail, subways and suburban commuter rail are efficient, time-tested ways to move people around without clogging the streets (unlike buses, which contribute to traffic). And they’re easier on individual pocketbooks, too. Owning a car is expensive. Taxes, insurance, gasoline, maintenance and all the other related costs of driving are a major financial burden. With the threat of bridge tolls looming over cross-river commuters, driving continues to lose its liberating appeal in this age of stagnant wages.

Ohio River Bridges: Centuries of transportation perspective.

Due to rising fuel prices and other costs, TARC is having budget issues again. Routes are threatened and fare increases have been deemed necessary. Hoosiers are trapped again as our state is a minor player owing to its paltry contributions.

Indiana provides TARC approximately $1.2 million (less than 2% of its total budget) annually for transit service in the Hoosier state. TARC typically subsidizes the remaining costs of the service from other funds.

If Indiana doubled its commitment to $2.4 million per year and then agreed to set aside an amount equal to its share of the Ohio River Bridges Project to pay for it, the doubled TARC obligation would be covered in full for more than 500 years.

If Indiana only set aside what it has agreed to pay for the Drumanard tunnel and East End approach in Kentucky, it would cover the doubling of TARC funding for more than 300 years.

Likewise, if Indiana provided 10 times as much transit funding annually, the Bridges amount would cover its TARC obligation for over 100 years. The tunnel and eastern approach amount alone would cover over 60 years.

Separate but equal but not really (wink, wink).

The City of New Albany has recently spent an amount on Spring Street Hill Road nearly double the state's total $1.2 million annual TARC outlay to fund transit in the whole of Southern Indiana.

That poorly located, two-fifths mile of engineering accident serving a very limited but very specific population was deemed a high priority necessity for all the goofy reasons Bob "adverse and disproportionate are good, right?" Caesar and a handful of well placed others could muster.

But cut multiple bus routes on which other parts of the city depend for work, groceries, trips to the doctor, etc.? Shucks and shrugs all around. Sorry about your luck.

Given that we're about to spend another million or so on Governor's Balls and the like patting ourselves on the back for 200 years of ongoing something or other, isn't it about time we address the blatant, class-based attitudes that fuel our politics as much now as they did when Washington C. DePauw owned our government?

Doomed to dependence on automobiles and foreign oil. That's some way to live.

If all the pain and agony surrounding the ORBP genuinely purports to address any semblance of what the Louisville area's transportation needs will be in 50 years, then why is mass transit not a part of the ongoing conversation? At the end of the day, the reason why I oppose the ORBP paradigm so strenuously is less about tolls or Kerry Stemler's breathtaking arrogance than the fact of its sheer expense and auto-centric scale effectively precluding civilized public transportation construction for THE REST OF MY LIFE.

Links are to articles in OSIN. Beware of pop-ups.

Bridges forum: It’s still about the money

$2.9B bridges project recommended

Tucker: "Louisville’s transportation solution."

There are some good ideas in this list, which I noticed after my reference earlier this morning to a southwest bridge. I particularly like numbers one and nine. Don't neglect to follow the link and read Tucker's pre-list commentary.

This is how we do it: Louisville’s transportation solution, by Brian Tucker (at Insider Louisville)

So, after having read and listened to the “man on the street,” here are a few ideas that will most likely be ignored by the powers that be.

Because this is how we do it.

1. Dismiss and divest of all power every single person sitting on the Bridges Authority board.
2. Throw away all the studies, drawings, and opinions of those on the board, take them to Standiford Field, tell them “thanks, nice try” and kiss them goodbye.
3. Repair the Sherman Minton bridge assuming it can be repaired.
4. Get started on building an East End bridge tomorrow.
5. Make plans for a southwest Louisville bridge the day after tomorrow.
6. What is old is new again: Make use of the K&I railroad bridge by allowing bus traffic and by giving mass transit vehicles the right-of-way.
7. Encourage bus ridership by jacking up parking rates at meters and garages downtown, by lowering bus fares and by compelling local businesses to help subsidize expanded bus service.
8. Get the mayor to make Bus Rapid Transit a priority. He brought it up during the campaign and has been running away from it ever since.
9. Establish a commission comprised of both citizens and business owners to discuss transportation infrastructure in Louisville. Force the commission to have legal, open meetings and put the resulting ideas on the ballot.

To be living in a city on a river is a nice thing as long as people can cross the damn thing.

When we solve this, we win.

Lets get with it.

Beyond the Bridges Project, Part 1.

If Kentuckiana ever decides to pursue transportation solutions, Streetfilms has done us a favor with its 10-part video series, "Moving Beyond the Automobile", which provides a primer on strategies implemented around the country and worldwide. We'll share a couple at a time, though any of them could act as antidote to the "our way is the only way" poison to which we've become so accustomed.

Backward ever since.

Courtesy of Bill Vandervoort at the Chicago Transit and Railfan Web Site, a time line of mass transit in New Albany and Jeffersonville:


JEFFERSONVILLE/NEW ALBANY TRANSIT HISTORY

1888 - Ohio Falls Street Railway Co. introduces streetcar service in Jeffersonville.

1889 - Ohio Falls Street Railway Co. sold to Jefferson City Railway Co.

1891 - New Albany Street Railway Co. introduces streetcar service in New Albany.

1893 - Kentucky & Indiana Bridge & Railroad Co., jointly owned by three steam railroads from Indiana, electrifies trackage across Ohio River and introduces multiple unit electric train service between Louisville and New Albany, Indiana. Service is known as the "Daisy Line". And was standard gauge, unlike the Louisville streetcars, which were broad gauge.

1894 - New Albany Street Railway Co. sold to New Albany Railway Co.

1902 - New Albany Railway Co. sold to New Albany Street Railroad Co.

1903 - Southern Indiana Interurban Railway introduces service between Jeffersonville and New Albany. Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. formed, and acquires Jefferson City Railway Co., New Albany Street Railroad Co., and Southern Indiana Interurban Railway. Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. arranges with Big Four steam railroad to operate service across Ohio River bridge into downtown Louisville, and lays its own standard gauge track within Louisville.

1905 - Daisy Line service assumed by Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. lays additional rails on Ohio River bridge, enabling broad gauge streetcars to operate between Indiana side of bridge and downtown Louisville, sharing bridge with standard gauge steam railroads.

1912 - Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. reorganized as Interstate Public Service Co., controlled by Samuel Insull.

1925 - Interstate Public Service Co. becomes subsidiary of Midland Utilities Co., also controlled by Samuel Insull.

1929 - First highway bridge across Ohio River to Jeffersonville completed. Bridge Transit Co. formed to operate bus service across bridge. Interstate Public Service Co. soon after discontinues local streetcar service across Big Four bridge.

1930 - Interstate Public Service Co. reorganized as Public Service of Indiana.

1932 - Samuel Insull resigns from Midland Utilities Co.

1932 - local streetcar service in Jeffersonville and New Albany replaced with buses.

1934 - Daisy Line sold to New Albany & Louisville Electric Railway, and bus service in New Albany sold to Home Transit, Inc. New Albany & Louisville Electric Railway and Home Transit are both under same ownership. Bus service in Jeffersonville would eventually be operated by Jeffersonville Bus Lines, which in the early 1950's would be acquired by Bridge Transit Co.

1946 - Home Transit replaces Daisy Line streetcars with buses, due to of conversion of connecting Louisville Railway Co. streetcar line to buses.

1954 - New Albany & Louisville Electric Railway officially renamed The Daisy Line, Inc.

1973 - Bridge Transit Co. ceases operations. The Daisy Line assumes operation of the bridge route, thus operating bus routes over both Ohio River bridges. And Home Transit assumes local bus service in Jeffersonville.

1976 - The Daisy Line ceases operation, replaced by Free Enterprise System.

1983 - Transit Authority of River City acquires routes operated by Free Enterprise System.

"It might have been nice if Clere had provided some context for his 1920s/1930s comparison."

As usual, my colleague Bluegill provides laser-directed insight with respect to yesterday's Clere Channel press release. See also today's Cheers & Jeers for a "sigh of relief" from Tribune reader Sam Johnson, who mentions that most elusive of American political traits, compromise, in his cheer.

Jeff Gillenwater has left a new comment on your post "After 143 long days, Clere finally notices the ORBP, gets all cutesy, repeats discredited Stemlerisms -- and says nothing."

I realize that actual education isn't the point of propaganda but it might have been nice if Clere had provided some context for his 1920s/1930s comparison.

Car ownership rates then were low and mass transit availability high, i.e., a majority of people did not depend on autos and auto-centric bridges to get to work or for other daily activities. As an investment, the Clark Memorial Bridge was built to serve a certain segment of the population for what was still a relatively specialized purpose. People had real transportation options and a tolled automobile bridge was not only easily avoidable but of little to no use for most.

Now, commuting workers, students, shoppers, hospital goers, etc., have far fewer such options and auto bridges operate as near monopolies. The two situations aren't directly comparable. Suggesting they are is misleading.

A transit friendly sports edifice? Which planet is this?

As a woebegone fan of the Oakland Athletics, I follow a blog called New A's Ballpark. In recent days, the blogger has been reporting on visits to major league ballparks around the country, and today's entry is from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the city's new field has drawn rave reviews in this, its first season. As you read, think about Louisville's new arena ... and where you'll be parking, in the absence of thoughtfulness about transit options.

Day 11: Target Field

Target Field may be the most transit-friendly ballpark in the nation. It was designed as both a ballpark and a transit hub, with a light rail station alongside it, a commuter rail station underneath it, and weatherproof bus platforms adjacent to it. It’s an extremely clever and convenient arrangement, which paid off for me in a big way.