Your morning transportation speed-read:

San Francisco's Bay Area Transit System is bracing for another protest.

Ford and Toyota are working together on electric powertrain technology for trucks and SUVs.

The outgoing White House car czar is defending the auto bailouts of 2008 and 2009.

Southwest Airlines is preparing for its merger with AirTran Airways.

The funds will be used for improvements along the Northeast Corridor, said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement.

An improvement program for airports should be in the Department of Transportation's budget next year, the trade association representing airports said Monday.

In a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Airports Council International-North America President Greg Principato argued that the program meets the job creation and economic growth criteria laid out for federal agencies by White House budget officials.

"As you begin to prepare your Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal, I urge you to consider the impact airports have as local economic engines in communities across the country," Principato wrote Monday. "Now is the time for airports to invest in infrastructure, safety and security projects that not only benefit the traveling public but also create jobs and spur growth in cities and towns around the United States."

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Rep. Michele Bachmann is doubling down on her vow to drive gasoline prices below $2 per gallon if elected president.

Airlines will not be able to leave international flights on the tarmac for longer than four hours and have to pay passengers more if they bump them from oversold flights under new Department of Transportation rules set to take effect this week.

Under the new rules, the DOT will fine airlines $27,500 per passenger if they leave international flights stuck on airport runways for longer than four hours and require airlines to pay passengers double the value of their tickets up to $650 for short delays from being bumped and $1,300 from long delays.

Airlines will also have to refund bag fees if passengers' luggage is permanently lost.

The rules are set to take effect Tuesday. The DOT plans to implement additional passenger protections early next year.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Transportation Security Administration has increased the number of bomb-sniffing dogs it employs.

A man was arrested for feeding birds near a California airport.

Iowa has pulled out of a Midwest high-speed rail coalition.

A pilot was killed in a midair collision over southern New Jersey.

Huntsman said Sunday that Bachmann's comments about lowering gas prices to under $2 a gallon if elected president were unrealistic.

Rep. Jackie Speier suggested BART may have gone "too far" when it shut down cell service to control a protest.

New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport needs to either be drastically renovated or replaced, the city's Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D) said this week.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported this week that Landrieu is calling for airport officials to consider plans for either vast improvements and an expansion to his city's airport or building a brand new one altogether.

"We think there's a direct correlation between air service we have at the airport and the type of business growth we see downtown," Landrieu's chief economic development assistant Amie Quirk told the paper. "We have to keep the facility competitive in order to lure the air service, and we think that by doing that, we'll create a better environment for bringing more businesses here and creating more jobs."