Public Transit

The chairman of New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman officially announced his resignation Wednesday that is widely expected to be a precursor to a run for mayor of the city.

The MTA tweeted that its chairman, Joe Lhota, will be stepping down on Dec. 31 after a little more than a year on the job at the helm of the agency that runs the largest public transportation system in the U.S. The MTA said Lhota, who has run the the transit agency since November 2011, will be replaced by MTA Vice Chairman Fernando Ferrer on an interim basis.

Lhota is a former aide to New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani (R). He is thought by New York political observers to be considering a run to replace outgoing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I). 

The chairman of New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is resigning to consider a run to replace New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to media reports.

MTA Chairman Joe Lhota is planning to step down on Friday from his post atop the MTA, which runs the largest public transportation system in the U.S., the New York Daily News reported late Tuesday evening.

The decision follows Lhota playing a high-profile role in the swift restoration of the city’s subway service after the system sustained widespread damage during Hurricane Sandy. Lhota, who was been at the MTA since November 2011, previously worked for former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani (R). 

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood touted the inclusion of the extension of Washington, D.C.'s MetroRail to Dulles International Airport in a recent list of good transportation projects for the environment on Wednesday. 

The San Francisco-based Sierra Club included the rail line in a list of 50 good and bad transportation projects that was released earlier this week.

The extension, which is currently under construction and scheduled to open by the end of 2013, will be identified on future Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) maps as the Silver Line.

LaHood said in a blog post on the Department of Transportation's website that the project was not just good for the Washington, D.C., area — he said it would benefit the whole country.

"Metrorail is not just the Washington area’s metro system," LaHood wrote. "It is America’s metro system. People from every state in the country — and from every corner of the world — use Metro in our capitol [sic] city. We need to connect the region's busiest international airport to America’s metro system — and the opportunities that come with it."

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A merger between U.S. Airways and American Airlines could be getting ready to take off.

Elsewhere in aviation, holiday shopping at airports is on the rise.
 
Also, the Department of Transportation has fined Vision Airlines for canceling flights.

In public transit news, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is considering a fare increase.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) said Monday that ridership on public transit systems across the country has been increasing for nearly two years and urged lawmakers not to cut funds in a deficit deal.

The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group said that transit ridership has increased for seven consecutive quarters, including a jump to 201 million riders in the first three quarters of 2012.

The 2012 increase represents a 2.6 percent hike in public transportation use in the period from January through September.

APTA President Michael Melaniphy said the numbers should caution lawmakers against cutting any transportation funding in a deficit-reduction deal to prevent the country from going over the so-called "fiscal cliff." 

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said Thursday that they expect between half a million and 800,000 attendees to use public transportation for President Obama's second inaugural next month.

That's less than half of the 1.5 million riders that used the Metro to attend the president's first inauguration in 2009.

"Metro is planning the same level of transit service it provided during the 2009 Inauguration, although attendance is not expected to reach the historic levels of four years ago," the transit agency said in the report.

Officials from Amtrak and other northeast U.S. public transportation agencies briefed a Senate committee Thursday on the damage that was sustained by transit systems last month during Hurricane Sandy.

"When we look at what we really lost in terms of revenue, we're at about $30 million just in terms of the few days that we were out of business. And then direct cost to get things fixed was another $20 million," Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman told members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee's subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security.

Amtrak shut down routes in the northeast in anticipation of Sandy, as did intra-city mass transit systems in cities like Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia and New York City.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The New York Post is under fire for publishing a photo of a man about to be hit by a New York City subway train..

Ford Motor Co.'s Chinese sales in November were up 56 percent from last year.

Companies are submitting bids to drill for oil at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Washington, D.C.'s MetroRail subway system has unveiled its plans for operating its new Silver Line extension to Dulles International Airport.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has created a safety song and dance.

Amtrak has reached an agreement to continue using a bridge between Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Ontario, Canada.

Montana's Billings-Logan International Airport is planning a $9 million runway renovation.

The website SmartMoney.com has ranked the best airlines for five different kinds of flights.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Chevrolet will feature Apple's popular Siri voice-activated assistant in its cars next year.

An app has been released to allow airline passengers to rent cars from their arrival gates.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has said it will not pass on costs for recovering from Superstorm Sandy to its riders.

Auto purchases generated most of Florida's sales tax revenue this year.