 |
Light Rail Transit Association
Light Rail for better public transport |
|
Links > Public Policy Sites: updated 1 October 2014 |
LRTA Links: Public Policy Sites
Sites which are devoted to transit policy issues, including urban planning, transportation alternatives, environmental issues, and transportation research. Also includes advocacy groups devoted to the promotion of light rail and innovative transit technologies.
Note: For groups advocating transit system development or improvement in particular cites, see the city of interest in the System Sites section.
- AORTA - Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates, a group campaigning for all suitable public transport modes in the state of Oregon.
- carfree.com - the web site that goes with the books. Carfree Cities and Carfree Design Manual propose a delightful solution to the vexing problem of urban automobiles. The case against world domination by the car using examples from many different cities. In English with translations into Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian and Serbian.
- Center For Transportation Excellence - Based in Maryland, CFTE is a non-partisan policy research centre created to serve the needs of communities and transportation organizations in the US with the goal of providing research materials, strategies and other forms of support on the benefits of public transportation, particularly light rail transit.
- Innovative Transportation Technologies - The website for information on "unconventional" transportation technologies with particular emphasis on automated people movers (and automated freight systems). Extensive material on past, current, emerging, and proposed guideway technologies for supported and suspended vehicles with details (often not available elsewhere) about particular systems (such as the Kobe Rapid Transit System operated in that Japanese city in the 1970's , the ParkShuttle system operating in Rotterdam today, as well as many, many more). Additional information on "dual mode" (conventional street or guideway) vehicles, monorails, personal rapid transit systems, and maglev systems. Also includes news, commentary, information about related conferences, and further recommended reading. A wealth of information far too large to list in detail here.
- iNS - internetwork for sustainability - News and information site, based in the Netherlands, whose goal is to make information about sustainable development ("development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs") as readily available as possible. In Dutch with a short English section.
- Light Rail Atlas - LRA is part of the WEB-site of a Dutch magazine on urban planning/design and landscape architecture, 'Blauwe Kamer'.
- Light Rail Now! Light Rail Progress - Advocacy group based in Austin, Texas which monitors the light rail campaigns in various US cities and whose site evolved out of the group's efforts to bring light rail to Austin. The site has been expanded to provide a nice news section related to current US systems and advocacy campaigns (with an event calendar) along with feature stories on successful light rail developments (and less-than-successful bus rapid transit plans). There's also plenty of background material on both the facts and myths of light rail transit (including many useful comparison charts).
- Monorail Society - Founded in 1989, this advocacy group promotes monorail systems as an alternative to other transit modes. Their site is a great one for monorail information, but don't expect to find anything positive about light rail (or any other public transit mode), however. There's news about various monorail systems in operation or development (worldwide) plus sections on why (in their view) monorails are superior to other forms of transit. There's also a world monorail systems list plus background information on monorail technology (including maglev), manufacturers, modelling, history, and more.
- The Public Purpose - Wendell Cox Consultancy's site, not generally friendly to light rail, covering international public policy, demographics, economics, and transport. Of particular note is the Urban Transit Fact Book (which includes a large collection of transport demomographics for London as well as other metropolitan areas in the US and selected cities around the globe) and contemporary commentary on transit decisions in the news.
- Transport Action Canada - formerly Transport 2000 Canada - Non-profit group based in Ottawa which promotes environmentally-sound transportation solutions (including light rail, urban transit systems, rail passenger service, and inter-city busses) across Canada. Site includes overviews of the groups goals and on-going efforts plus membership information, news items, as well as a library of other interesting publications from a diverse set of sources. In English and French
- Victoria Transport Policy Institute - Based in Victoria, Canada, the Institute is "dedicated to developing innovative and practical solutions to transportation problems" and their website provides a wealth of resources on topics such as transportation demand management, transportation cost and benefit analysis, optimal pricing, sustainable transportation, public transit, land use and parking management, plus reviews of other publications and a bit of humor as well.
- www.publictransit.us - A 'blog' about US transport issues
Public Policy Sites: top