In any transportation network, there are "holes" — places and/or times that travelers are not well served. There may be gaps in carpool lane coverage, times when buses don't run, or missing links between arterials which push traffic onto local streets. Sometimes these holes become intimidating obstacles to people who have no car, are elderly or disabled, need affordable transit to get to school or work, or have other difficulties using the system.
The Transportation 2030 Plan (T2030) being designed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) includes a goal, recently re-titled "Access to Mobility", to improve service for those who, due to age, disability, or income status, have difficulty using the existing public transit network. The Commission also dedicated $216 million in new funds over the 25-year horizon of the plan to support "lifeline services".
By broadening the goal in the new plan, the Commission has signaled its intent to look at the wider universe of mobility barriers for individuals, saying, "MTC must consider the needs of all travelers in striving for an equitable distribution of mobility benefits. Certain segments of the population have fewer mobility options and therefore require special attention in transportation planning: households without a car, school children, older adults, and the disabled."
MTC has convened a task force of stakeholders to determine how to implement the new goal, including establishing priorities for use of the new funding. The discussion has been complicated because many of the groups overlap. For example, some people are elderly and disabled, others are elderly and low-income, some children are low-income and disabled, etc. Furthermore, there is not a clear definition for each of these groups, and each faces its own unique transportation needs, some of which are being met and many of which are not. (See sidebar for MTC definitions). The new funds, while a good start, are not enough to meet the growing needs of all these constituencies.
In the 2001 RTP, the predecessor to Transportation 2030, the Commission established a Lifeline Transportation Program, to address the mobility needs of low-income persons. The Lifeline Transportation Program Report specifically focused on the ability of fixed-route transit to meet the needs of low-income neighborhoods, and used concentrations of welfare-to-work households to identify low-income communities.
Since then, MTC has continued to focus on transportation improvements in communities with many low-income residents, including preparing Community-Based Transportation Plans in as many as twenty-five disadvantaged communities (see December 2003/January 2004 issue). These Plans are intended to confirm the gaps identified through the 2001 Lifeline Report, prioritize those most critical to be met, and to identify potential strategies and cost estimates for addressing them. In some cases, the most appropriate solution may not be adding more bus service, but rather developing other types of non-traditional projects such as vanpools, guaranteed-ride home programs, or neighborhood shuttles.
A recent MTC staff report indicates that "lifeline transportation" needs are met at least partially through the provision of fixed-route public transit service, Americans with Disability Act (ADA) paratransit services, grants available through the federal Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program, MTC's own LIFT (Low Income Flexible Transportation) program, and additional resources including dedicated school service provided by transit agencies. Other MTC investments, such as the Transportation for Livable Communities and Housing Incentive Program, also are targeted in part to disadvantaged communities, with 73% of TLC capital grants made in needy communities.
According to an advocacy coalition, the Transportation Justice Working Group, the new funding is probably only 10% of what is needed in the region to fully serve the unmet transportation needs of groups which often have difficulty with access to the system. The coalition claims that the total cost of filling the gaps has not been accurately estimated.
In addition, some would argue that an investment in low-cost student bus passes, for example, will do little to help disabled riders who need an investment in additional low-floor buses or better paratransit. Members of MTC's Elderly and Disabled Advisory Committee have told the Commission, "We believe that the Lifeline Transportation Program should fund the development of transportation infrastructure for all transportation disadvantaged populations in the Bay Area."
In response to the issues raised by the EDAC and others in the task force, Commission members have clarified the ways in which the new goal will be achieved. The title of the goal was changed from "Lifeline Mobility" to "Access to Mobility", reserving the term "lifeline" for strategies intended for low-income persons, as has been the case in the past.
The Commission also clarified that the $216 million in new funding is designated for low-income communities. Of course, due to the overlaps, service to low-income residents often benefits other groups as well. A case in point is the 70-90% of fixed route transit service which is estimated to serve lifeline transportation needs, and which obviously serves many other riders as well, including more well-to-do elderly, disabled or children.
Stakeholders will now be asked to develop recommendations for meeting other mobility needs included in the goal statement. These could include improvements to paratransit and accessibility to fixed route service, safety for pedestrians and wheelchair users, and school transportation.
The Access to Mobility Task Force will seek to reach consensus on developing principles to be included in the T2030 plan. Such principles may include identifying gaps through planning processes such as the Community Based Transportation Plans, creating a process to evaluate the program's outcomes, advocating for new funding, and expanding the program through cooperation with other agencies. Pilot projects can be used to stimulate innovation and flexibility. There has already been considerable discussion on ways to leverage funds by coordinating with existing services outside the formal transportation network, such as shuttle services operated by nonprofits or healthcare providers.
Some strategies may not require additional money, but rather changes in policies and in awareness, such as rehabilitating older neighborhoods with transit accessibility in mind, or finding ways to keep offices near transit affordable for social services agencies which serve transit-dependent clients. These might be integrated with MTC's Transportation and Land-Use Platform.
Connie Soper, MTC staff, notes that the lifeline transportation needs in the region are constantly changing. "We are in a different place today than a year ago," she says, because changes in the economy have affected how people use the transportation system to access work, childcare and health services. The principles for the Access to Mobility programs which will be included in T2030 will need to be general enough to apply to 25 years of such changes, but specific enough to give guidance and hope to those who are striving to plug the holes in the network so that everyone can use transportation services.
Leslie Stewart
In a bold move to curb motor vehicle emissions, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), the Metropolitan Transportation (MTC), and the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) are offering free rides on BART during the 2004 smog season (from June 21 to October 15). On the first five weekdays for which Spare the Air alerts are issued by BAAQMD, BART passengers will ride free when they enter a station by 9:00 a.m.
BAAQMD issues a Spare the Air alert the day before ground-level ozone is expected to exceed the health-based national ozone standards. Ozone is a pollutant formed in the atmosphere from the chemical reaction between volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the presence of sunlight. On calm, sunny days, ozone and its precursor compounds are not dispersed by air currents, but accumulate at ground level. On these days, Bay Area residents are asked to curtail pollution-causing activities. Because cars are the primary source of NOx, using transit instead of driving solo is a good way to "spare the air."
To focus attention on the campaign, BART has wrapped seven cars in eye-catching, deep blue signs reading "Spare the Air, Ride BART" that contrast sharply with the silvery color of the rest of the train. These decorated cars, the first ever for BART, will be used mainly on the Pittsburg/Bay Point and the Dublin/Pleasanton lines. BAAQMD and BART staff created the wrap as well as other signage placed at all BART stations.
Riders who get free morning commute trips on Spare the Air days will have to pay the fare to ride home in the evening, but they will still get a bargain. A one-way fare compares favorably with the cost of gas, bridge tolls and parking fees. The average BART trip is 13 miles long and costs $2.65. Fares range from a minimum of $1.25 to $6.05 for the fare from Pittsburg/Bay Point to Millbrae.
The program is expected to cost about $2 million. Most of the funding for this historic partnership, $1.78 million, will be provided from Federal Congestion Mitigation for Air Quality (CMAQ) funds administered by MTC. The Transportation Fund for Clean Air (TFCA), administered by BAAQMD, will provide the remaining $220,000. TFCA money is generated by a surcharge on motor vehicle registration fees collected in the nine Bay Area counties by the Department of Motor Vehicles and returned to the area of origin.
Since the BART program is a component of its 2004 Spare the Air effort, the BAAQMD is publicizing the free-ride program with postcards and flyers, and providing administrative services. BART is concentrating on encouraging new people to ride BART. To measure increased Spare the Air ridership and determine if goals are met, BART will use methods that have been proven to be accurate, yet will not confuse or intimidate riders who are not familiar with the system.
Free public transit rides to improve air quality have been offered before, but not on this scale. In the Bay Area, the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority, which operates Wheels buses, increased ridership by 15-17 percent when it offered free rides on Spare the Air days during the 2003 smog season. The program will be repeated in 2004.
Other small-scale programs in various parts of the country have offered free rides, but not on a regional scale. With 100,000 commuters riding BART in the morning, this free ride program is the most ambitious in the United States, said BAAQMD's Teresa Lee.
Adelia Sabiston
Three Nonprofit Groups Augment Smart Growth Planning
There are many ways to define "smart growth", some more controversial than others. For the Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities, smart growth is one approach to achieving sustainability for the region. According to Andrew Michael of the Bay Area Council, who is active in the Alliance, the Alliance is not only supportive of the Smart Growth Strategy for the region (see June/July 2004 issue), but is also watchful to see that the agencies and the region "don't lose sight of the vision".
The Alliance's vision is contained in the Compact for a Sustainable Bay Area, which was crafted in 1997 to describe how "the three E's"—Environment, Economy and social Equity—play key roles in achieving improved quality of life for the Bay Area now and in the future. Alliance members are a diverse group of business and development interests, environmental and social equity-focused nonprofits, regional agencies, and others, including LWVBA. Within the Alliance, these members have organized themselves into caucuses based on each of the 3Es. The Steering Committee includes representatives from PG&E, the Sierra Club, Urban Habitat, and the Bay Area Council, in addition to the president of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).
As a means of bringing the Compact to life, the Alliance began its Regional Livability Footprint Project, which was later merged with the Smart Growth Strategy process. The Alliance continues to monitor and contribute to the implementation of the Smart Growth Strategy, with Alliance representatives seated on the Regional Agency Coordinating Committee.
The Alliance is a sponsor or participant in several regional initiatives related to sustainability and smart growth. One is creation of a regional report card which identifies and measures indicators of how well the region is doing in meeting criteria for regional sustainability. The first report card on sustainability appeared in August 2003. In June 2004 an update was issued, as well as a more detailed report on the indicators relating to families and communities, produced in collaboration with the Northern California Council for the Community and the United Way of the Bay Area.
The Alliance has worked with a consultant, Redefining Progress, to add two innovative measurements to these report cards, the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) and the Ecological Footprint. The GPI adjusts the Gross Domestic Product indicator commonly used to evaluate economic health, adding values for socially desirable but non-monetary contributions such as volunteer work and subtracting value for transactions which society would prefer to avoid, such as environmental cleanup. The Ecological Footprint quantifies the use of ecological resources in the region compared to what is available. The Bay Area Ecological Footprint, which is similar to that for the country as a whole, shows that if everyone on earth consumed resources at the same level as the region, five planets would be needed to supply the demands.
The regional report card is a way to evaluate what needs to be done. The Alliance also looks at what has already been accomplished. Quarterly Alliance meetings have "showcased" successful smart growth and other planning efforts around the region, community by community, looking for common strategies, best practices, and suggestions for changes in regulations and other government actions. The Alliance also sponsors a Sustainability Roundtable and hosts a Web-based report on local efforts called "Faces of Sustainability".
A series of Smart Growth Conversations among Alliance members, chaired by the Bay Area
Council's Michael, has covered the Smart Growth
Strategy, housing in the Bay Area, and jobs growth and
infill, looking for common ground. "The
Conversations were aimed at bringing together partners to
more strongly advocate for changes that are positive
for smart growth," Michael says. "We are about to
go out with three major efforts to work more
aggressively toward these changes." The three areas
of focus are 1) reducing the fiscalization of land
use which results from current state budget policies
on financing local government, 2) reforming the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to
accommodate smart growth, and 3) improving the ability of local
government to finance infrastructure through changes such as reducing the vote
threshold for approving taxes. The Alliance has been following legislation in these
areas and working with statewide smart growth organizations, supplementing
the efforts of ABAG and the Smart Growth Working Group.
Putting money behind policies is also important, and the Alliance has helped to form and fund the Community Capital Investment Initiative, to attract private investment to projects in the 46 most impoverished neighborhoods in the Bay Area. The initiative includes the Smart Growth Fund, the Community Equity Fund, and the Bay Area component of the statewide California Environment Redevelopment Fund for cleanup of "brownfield" properties. Over $150 million has been raised for investment. Projects which have already been funded through the Smart Growth Fund include upgrading a strip mall in Vallejo, and rehabilitating housing in several of the target neighborhoods.
The Alliance may offer the best opportunity for addressing those parts of the Smart Growth Strategy which are not explicitly a part of the charge of an individual regional agency, such as regional planning for open space or affordable housing.
While the Bay Area Alliance has usually played a support role for agencies working on smart growth, the Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC) has tried to lead them toward the goal, pressing agencies for stronger links between transportation and land use and better support for transit. TALC's 90 members are primarily environmental, labor and housing organizations. Stuart Cohen, TALC's Executive Director, says his organization is pleased with the direction that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is taking with the proposed Transportation/Land Use Platform (see June/July 2004 issue).
The component which TALC feels is particularly worthy of attention is the commitment by MTC to condition funds for major transit expansion projects on supportive land uses which will enable the transit projects to be cost-effective investments in infrastructure. Cohen says, "Out of all the items [in the Platform], the concept of conditioning regional funds is by far the most powerful—but a policy can sound good and make not a bit of difference if the criteria that are adopted and the method by which they are implemented are poorly crafted."
Greenbelt Alliance and the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California, both TALC members, have assisted TALC in a 7-month coalition process to create criteria that could be applied to transit expansion proposals submitted to MTC for funding. Proposals which meet the criteria would facilitate transit-oriented development, provide incentives for affordable housing near transit, protect open space, and ensure that transit investments are accompanied by good planning and design in the communities they affect. Cohen says, "Smart growth is not just density—we need communities that are desirable places to live and walk. We shouldn't just think of how do we get people someplace—we should think in terms of civic centers and destination points that also have a transit station there."
The criteria offer specific suggestions about policies such as the required net density for development within a certain distance of a bus stop or rail station, or maximum parking requirements. "Instead of talking in broad terms about what cities should do, we want to show what is really needed to make the policies work, like shared parking," says Cohen.
The criteria, which will be released publicly in August, are structured with the hope that they will be readily accepted by local jurisdictions. "We are striving for something implementable," says Cohen. "We are not looking at any infringement of local control." The criteria will be used as a basis for advocacy by TALC and its member organizations as MTC integrates the Platform into the Transportation 2030 Plan in Fall 2004.
As MTC prepares the Transportation 2030 Plan, most of the environmental analysis will be based on the Smart Growth projections prepared by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), Projections 2003. However, one alternative in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will base land use on the Smart Growth Scenario in the October 2002 final report from the Smart Growth Strategy/Regional Footprint Project (see August/September 2002 issue).
This alternative, called the TRANSDEF Smart Growth Alternative, will be added to the EIR as part of a lawsuit settlement between MTC, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund (TRANSDEF) and Citizens for a Better Environment. Unlike the Bay Area Alliance and TALC, TRANSDEF is a small group, known primarily for its spokesman, David Schonbrunn, a regular critic of regional agencies.
According to Schonbrunn, "This alternative will test aggressive Smart Growth land use against the more `realistic' modified sprawl of Projections 2003". A product of ten years of advocacy by TRANSDEF, the alternative will present ideas and approaches that haven't been seen before in MTC's regional transportation plans, he says. It will invest most of the transportation expansion dollars in cost-effective transit. "TRANSDEF's transit network will be much more cost-effective than past MTC practice, partly because it is designed in conjunction with future land use, and uses pricing mechanisms as incentives for transit use," Schonbrunn claims.
TRANSDEF's development of an alternative transportation plan based on the Smart Growth Scenario represents another way in which non-agency groups are supplementing agency work and using the Smart Growth planning process to change the future of the region.
Leslie Stewart
For more information:
Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Development, http://www.bayareaalliance.org; Andrew Michael, Bay Area Council, 415-981-6600, amichael@bayareacouncil.org
Transportation and Land Use Coalition, http://www.transcoalition.org; Stuart Cohen, 510-740-3150, stuart@transcoalition.org
Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, http://www.mtcwatch.com; David Schonbrunn, 415-380-8600, david@schonbrunn.org
Gathered from here and there, this is our annual collection of interesting concepts that are too good (or too outrageous) to file and forget.
Editor
The East Bay Regional Park District recently opened a new playground which can be used by all children, including those with disabilities who cannot reach or use traditional playground equipment. The barrier-free playground at Roberts Regional Recreation Area, on Skyline Blvd in Oakland, was a joint project between the Oakland Rotary Club and the park district, with additional financial support from foundation grants. Children will find specially adapted equipment such as swings, support equipment and ramps for wheelchairs, and entertaining interactive playwalls. It adjoins an existing swimming facility which is also fully accessible to those with disabilities. It is the third such playground in the country; a fourth is in the planning stages in Concord.
For more information: http://www.ebparks.org/new.htm#roberts
Backing into diagonal parking could be easier and safer, according to Alan Strachan, a Santa Rosa developer, who has persuaded the city to consider a test of a concept he found on the campus of the University of Tucson. Planners say that the idea is also used in Seattle and a number of other cities.
Under the back-in plan, diagonal parking spaces are angled away from on-coming traffic. Drivers pass a space and then back into it, a technique not too different from parallel parking but with fewer turns of the wheel. Drivers pulling out of the space find it easier to see oncoming traffic, particularly if they are parked beside a larger vehicle. If diagonal parking replaces parallel parking on a wide street, it can add spaces and create a traffic-calming effect. Santa Rosa is scheduled to review plans for a pilot project later this summer.
For more information: Gene Benton, City Traffic Engineer, Santa Rosa, 707-543-3010
The City of Seattle's Way to Go, Seattle program has done a series of demonstration studies in which a variety of households were asked to use one less car for six or nine weeks. Participants were also asked to keep a daily record of how they traveled during that time. Most participants were able to use trip planning, car pooling, and alternative forms of transportation to make the trips they would otherwise have made in their extra car. The 86 households which took part saved an average of $70 per week apiece in transportation costs, and many sold a "surplus" car or switched to a more fuel-efficient vehicle after participating in the study.
For more information: http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/waytogo/demostudyolcc.htm
A letter-writer to the Oakland Tribune suggested that the city raise money for its budget by making all on-street parking paid parking, with permits in areas which have no meters. "Parking lot and mini-storage businesses would prosper," wrote Liz Taylor, while driveways and garages could save owners money if used as originally intended. An added bonus could be improved access for emergency vehicles on narrow streets. So far, the City of Oakland has not implemented her suggestion.
Looking at new cars? The EPA Green Vehicle Guide rates vehicles by both fuel economy and emissions. The guide shows that not all vehicles with good fuel economy are good for the air; diesel vehicles are cheaper to drive but emit more soot and oxides of nitrogen, a smog precursor. However, better fuel economy does mean less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. The Green Vehicle Guide is online at http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles.
Los Angeles Harbor and a Fresno switching yard will be home to two diesel/electric hybrid locomotives for a period of five years. The Green Goat® hybrid locomotives will be leased to rail operators by the manufacturer, RailPower Technologies Corp., which also manufactures a smaller engine, the Green Kid®. The locomotives cut oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulates by 80-90% and diesel fuel use and greenhouse gases 50-80% compared to conventional yard locomotives in the same horsepower range, according to the manufacturer. They use small diesel engines and large banks of recyclable lead acid batteries. Residents of neighborhoods close to the harbor or rail yard will benefit from reduced emissions and quieter operations.
The Los Angeles Harbor locomotive is funded through the California Air Resources Board's Carl Moyer program, and the Fresno-based locomotive is funded through the state NOx and PM Emission Reduction Credit Program.
For more information: http://www.railpower.com
In the Bay Area, the 511 BikeQuest Website provides a map of all bikeways in the region. In Southern California, a Website allows a bicycle rider to find the easiest, or most challenging, route for any bike trip. The site asks for origin and destination, as well as riding skill level and comfort factors such as dealing with traffic, then generates a customized route complete with map. It also contains a calculator which allows riders to calculate how much pollution the trip would have created if taken by car instead of bicycle. The site was funded with a grant from a Southern California Air Quality Management District committee.
For more information: http://www.511.org; http://www.bikemetro.com
"Trucks only" would be the rule on a proposed new "truckway" included in the latest transportation plan for Southern California. The truckway would run from the Los Angeles port of San Pedro east to Barstow, a distance of 142 miles, and would consist of two lanes in each direction separated from the existing freeway by barriers. Trucks would pay tolls of 38-80 cents a mile, and the revenue would be used to pay off an estimated $16.5 billion in tax-exempt revenue bonds needed for construction, with additional revenue going to support maintenance and operation of the dedicated lanes. Planners have suggested that allowing long double or triple trailer trucks to use the tollway would make it particularly attractive to truckers. Long trucks are currently banned in California; however, they are allowed in neighboring states. Although this particular proposal is still in the early planning stages, it is one of a growing number of toll road variations currently being discussed around the state.
For more information: http://www.scag.ca.gov/jumpstart/pdfs/jsQnArev1.0.pdf (PDF file)
Engineers at Oregon State University have developed devices that measure how many miles a vehicle is driven between stops at the gas pump, then use that mileage to calculate a fee that's added to the charge when the driver refuels. The road use tax would replace the current per-gallon gas tax under a plan being tested by the state of Oregon and the Federal Highway Administration. With many cars getting better gas mileage, particularly in hybrid vehicles, gas tax revenues are dropping relative to the number of miles driven, and officials are interested in a method of tying the tax more closely to actual road use.
The system combines wireless Global Positioning System and odometer technology with short-wave radios, with one device in the vehicle and a second device installed at the gas station. It is intended for use in personal, light-weight vehicles. Rates are equivalent to the current per-gallon tax, but the system could be set in future to charge a different rate for driving at peak hours or in congested areas. The pilot project is slated to end in 2007. The federal government does not intend to mandate such a system, but a number of states are evaluating it. Issues such as mass production and distribution of the devices, as well as installation by vehicle manufacturers and gas stations, also would need to be resolved.
For more information: http://www.odot.state.or.us/ruftf/
Plans for Sacramento's future could include putting a roof over a stretch of Interstate 5 that is below ground and covering it with new city blocks full of office buildings, parks and homes. The proposal would replace the visual and physical barrier of the freeway with a mixed-use community and reconnect downtown Sacramento with Old Sacramento and the Sacramento River.
For more information: http://www.cityofsacramento.org/BridgingI5/documents/newsletter-fall2003.pdf (PDF file, 1.9MB)
It's not exactly an auto mall, but a corner of the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station becomes a used-car lot on weekends. Under one-year permits granted by BART and the City of Pleasanton, Bob Morris of Novato runs a "park and sell" lot on Saturdays and Sundays at the station. The permit from the city restricts sales to operable cars only, with no test drives, vehicle inspections, repairs or sales of parts. Customers hoping to find a buyer may park a car for two days for $25; BART receives a percentage of the fee. While initial response was slow, similar lots have been successful in Marin and Sonoma, and BART officials hope this may become a successful use for underutilized parking lots on weekends.
For more information: http://www.thecarlotonline.com
Recycling electronic waste has gotten easier in Piedmont, where residents can request pickups of obsolete or broken equipment four times a year, with the assurance that nothing will go into the landfill. Under a contract with Republic Services, the city provides pickups of computers and small electronic items. Items are taken to the Alameda County Computer Resource Center, a nonprofit recycling center, which donates working equipment and disassembles and recycles non-working equipment. Residents are billed for any recycling fees, and donations are tax-deductible.
For more information: Republic Services, 1-800-320-8077
The High Speed Rail bond measure is now scheduled to be on the November 2006 ballot. The measure includes a portion of the funding for a new Transbay Terminal. (December 2003/January 2004)
The EIR for the new Transbay Terminal was certified, but two lawsuits have been filed challenging its adequacy. (December 2000/January 2001)
Ted Droettboom has been hired as the staff person for the ABAG/MTC Joint Policy Committee. Mr. Droettboom's background includes many years with the City of Vancouver, BC, where he was also involved with regional planning issues. (February/March 2004)
County transportation sales tax measures were placed on the November ballot in Contra Costa, San Mateo, Marin and Sonoma Counties. Napa County will not have a measure on the 2004 ballot. The SMART rail measure will be on the ballot in 2006. (October/November 2003, February/March 2004)
A list of projects to be funded from the first year of the increased bridge tolls authorized by Regional Measure 2 has been created by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission based on submissions by local jurisdictions and transportation agencies. Requests for funding in 2004-05 exceed the amount of toll money anticipated in the first year. Federal authorization to use bridge tolls for transit operations is still pending. (December 2003/January 2004)
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