TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

With a brand new Amtrak Station being built in DownTown Buffalo, that really only serve's a few trains a day with very few riders...
Why not consider a Using the existing facilities as a COMMUTER Rail run from Depew to Downtown.. Residents of Amherst, Cheektowga, Clarence, Lancaster, West Seneca, & Depew.. that commute everyday in AUTOS to downtown now have a option to use a REAL commuter line from suburbs to Downtown.. The station in Depew is close to Buffalo International Airport and RT 33 and Rt 90... The attached Document shows the Empty facility on Dick rd & Walden that could be used as a commuter parking lot with a small ped bridge to get pedestrians from lot to rail siding..This is a idea that will not cost MILLIONS and remove many daily commuters that drive everyday into downtown Buffalo...
Just try it with existing Amtrak trains and see how it works... You could even have express buses drop off folks from towns futher east of Buffalo like Akron, Batavia , Lockport

Require that any community that receives federal subsidies for infrastructure improvements performs an audit on their systems and identifies components that provide a low rate of return. Those parts of the system that cost more to maintain than they generate in tax revenue need to have a plan for either a) generating new growth to pay for the infrastructure, or if and when that growth fails to materialize, b) abandoning or privatizing those segments that are too inefficient to pay for themselves.

Require communities and agencies receiving federal money for transportation improvements to perform the same analysis on their transportation systems. Prioritize funding based on the rate of return that infrastructure investment provides.
Invest only in the maintenance of existing infrastructure or in key improvements that can demonstrate a REAL return on the investment (not the imaginary cost/benefit analysis that engineers routinely do, but a financial analysis of the real improvement in property value). Let's not build anything new that we need to maintain but instead make better use of the immensity of what we have. I would target those areas that have the highest rate of return in the state and local analysis that have been performed.

Target whatever subsidies we are going to have for purchasing a home to those geographic growth areas that have been identified as having the highest rate of return. We should no longer subsidize inefficient development patterns that will cost us more money to sustain than they produce in return.

Put money into retrofitting communities to be self sufficient. This would mean transforming neighborhoods to be mixed-use with complex, urban streets. Roadways connecting neighborhoods would need to be simple and efficient, which would likely require the closing (purchasing) of accesses and reconfiguring intersections to be primarily roundabouts or secondly smart connected signals. In addition, grossly inefficient areas that have no realistic hope of generating a reasonable level of investment should be proactively abandoned or their infrastructure privatized.

Abandon "cap-and-trade" schemes. Instead, build a smart grid that would allow for "congestion-pricing" of energy demand. Sit back and watch the market create massive levels of efficiency.

Eliminate the gas tax and all vehicular Level of Service references within antiquated laws and manuals. To fund roadway improvements, adopt a tax on Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) and add congestion pricing tolls to our most congested highways. Sit back and watch the market create massive levels of efficiency.

Consider game-changing megaprojects, like Empire State train discussed earlier.

Put money in people, not infrastructure. It is small business filling needs in the market that will get us out of this long-term. There is no way to know what those needs are today - only innovators and entrepreneurs on the ground can figure that out. Small businesses do not require new infrastructure or massive investments in systems. If we are going to subsidize something, I would pay 75% of the salary of a new hire before I would extend unemployment benefits again.

Partnership for the Public Good is a community-based think tank with over 290 partner organizations. Many of our partners are concerned with both ecological justice and transportation issues. We have released several reports on these issues. Buffalo faces significant challenges when it comes to public transit. Over 50,000 households in our region lack access to a car, yet over half of the region's jobs are NOT accessible by public transit. Improving public transit in our region is imperative for promoting economic development, reducing racial disparities, fighting poverty, and decreasing air pollution. As part of your planning process, we implore you to incorporate a more robust busing system (more buses, more routes, and more frequency) as well a suggestion to expand the light rail through the east side of Buffalo to the airport. This addition will take advantage of existing public right of ways to make our public transit more accessible and efficient. We also ask that New York State reexamine its funding structure to more equitably fund WNY public transit.

1. Culture change is needed: eg employees who travel on business need to be given more time to make trip to allow them to use 'public transportation' for who;e trip [just an example]..possible moving of families from suburbia to inner city ?
2. Largest regional area possible, so businesses/people to not relocate to escape the culture change
3. much increased public accessibility to public transportation , currently many/most [?] suburbs not serviced by public transportation
4 car manufacturers need subsidy support to transition to alternate fuel vehicles.stop making combustion engines, make more sails
5. Community solar projects instead of selling and pawning off the solution to the individual home owner , owned risks
restructuring tax system [if you live in energy saving region maybe you have lower income tax rate than if you live in non participating state ?

The transportation sector is currently responsible for more than 40 percent of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions in the region, and soot and smog from cars and trucks are major contributors to lung disease and other health problems region-wide, particularly in low income communities. Preliminary modeling estimates that by 2032, the proposed program could yield monetized annual public health benefits of as much as $10 billion, including over 1,000 fewer premature deaths, and over 1,300 fewer asthma symptoms annually region-wide, among other safety and health benefits.
The associated auction of pollution allowances under the proposal is projected to generate up to nearly $7 billion annually that participating jurisdictions could invest in solutions to further reduce pollution and to improve transportation choices for rural, urban and suburban communities. Each participating jurisdiction will decide how to invest the auction proceeds.

Partnership for the Public Good (PPG) is a community-based think tank that provides research and advocacy support to over 300 partners in Buffalo, NY. Each year, we hear from our partners that lack of investment in public transit is a major concern for them and the clients they serve. Our public transit system varies in quality depending on where you live in our city, and often the poorest, most vulnerable residents in our city, those who rely on public transit the most, are the same residents who have the least access to public transportation. We need a significant source of additional income for our public transit system, and this is especially true given the climate crisis and the need to reduce vehicle miles traveled. The revenue generated from this cap and invest program would be the perfect source for public transit funding.

Funding our public transit system will make our city more equitable by making jobs, healthcare visits, and other necessary trips more accessible to all in our city, especially for the most economically vulnerable. It will also constitute major strides toward a more environmentally just city as we mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing GHG emissions and invest in communities that have historically faced (and continue to face) environmental racism. Further, this investment is especially critical in this period of COVID-19 as our public transportation system faces extreme financial uncertainty and will likely have to cut service. This is unacceptable for our city, but especially for our most vulnerable populations.

Please take action on this cap and invest program immediately, and funnel the revenues from the program into our public transportation systems with an emphasis on serving those who have been disproportionately impacted by transportation-generated pollution and other systemic inequities.

Here is PPG's report on Race, Employment and Public Transportation in Erie County: https://ppgbuffalo.org/files/documents/working_toward_equalityfinal.pdf

Given the large proportion of greenhouse gases (GHG) generated from the transportation sector (40%) (Reference 1, page 17, Reference 2, page 1) and the slow projected growth of electric vehicles (EV) within total light duty vehicle (LDV) on-the-road population increasing to only 10% by 2025 and to 25% by 2030 (Reference 2, page 3), it is important to transition people from cars to public transit where the pollution per passenger mile is a small fraction of that from driving. The daily congestion and gridlock experienced on New York’s highways and the acres of environmentally damaging parking they demand, further illustrates the importance of moving to public transit.
Disincentives for driving and incentives for using energy efficient public transit are needed to achieve the shift to transit. Investments to improve public transportation infrastructure will be critical for: (1) attracting car commuters to transit; and (2) handling increased ridership on transit as more people leave their cars at home. Transit incentives and investments will be critical for meeting CLCPA GHG reduction goals.
We therefore ask that the Cap & Invest program of New York State’s Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) be structured in a way that discourages driving (especially in urban areas) and uses the Cap & Invest revenues along with NYS general budget funds, to make public transportation a viable alternative to driving. Much needs to be done. Both capital investments for expanding high capacity transit (e.g., Buffalo’s hydro-powered light rail) and making improvements to urban transit operations (e.g., increasing the frequency of buses) are needed. Improvements to public transportation are a precondition for meeting the carbon reduction goals of the NYS Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
Further, since science tells us that we have a very short window to act if we are to mitigate the effects of climate change, it is imperative that we move quickly to reduce GHG emissions. Since the transportation sector is the biggest source of the problem, it needs to be prioritized immediately!
The Transportation Sector is Key. Transportation is the largest GHG contributing sector, at 40%, compared to just 20% for the residential sector, the next largest (Reference 1, page 17). Since we need to further reduce GHG emissions another 16% by 2025 to meet Erie County goals for meeting Paris Climate Accord goals and another 32% by 2030 to meet the NYS CLCPA goals, reductions in the transportation sector will be critical.
“It’s the cars, stupid”. Within the transportation sector, light duty vehicles, including taxis and car share vehicles, contribute the largest portion, 60%, of GHG with public transit contributing the lowest, 3% (Reference 2, page 1 and 2). Clearly, the path to meeting the NYS GHG reduction goals must include substantially reducing vehicle miles traveled by car. This is most efficiently done by converting people from mostly car-based travel in urban areas to public transit, where per passenger mile GHG emissions are much lower than for light duty vehicles, especially when we move to electric-powered transit like Buffalo’s largely hydro-powered light rail and considering the NFTA’s commitment to convert to electric buses. Given the slow fleet replacement time for LDVs and the time urgency of reducing GHG generation, transition to electrically powered travel can be accomplished faster with transit.
Clean public transit will need to play a larger role for urban commutes and mobility. Since energy per passenger mile is much lower on transit, this will also reduce the electric load on the grid and minimize the need to use carbon-based sources.

High capacity transit is needed to handle increased ridership. High capacity transit like light rail will be needed to handle the increased ridership as people choose to leave their cars at home. A typical 4-car light rail train can move 560 people every 10 minutes in each direction of service. This removes between 140 and 560 cars from the roads (every 10 minutes). Since light rail uses dedicated rights-of-way, they move at 50 MPH between stops, much faster than cars on city streets or congested highways. Buses, by contrast can carry 70 people every 10 minutes. But because buses share lanes with cars and make frequent stops to pick up passengers, they move relatively few people compared to light rail. And their slow speed makes them unable to attract large numbers of choice riders. Bus rapid transit (BRT) solutions provide a middle ground using larger articulated buses carrying 100 people per bus on mostly dedicated lanes. This competes more strongly against car-based travel, moving faster than traffic but slower than light rail.
Investments in public transit are needed. But today’s transit systems are inadequate to handle the number of people who now commute by car. This makes it imperative that we invest in improving our transit infrastructure. We need to deploy and extend Buffalo’s light rail transit system and purchase additional buses, preferable electric buses that can use carbon-neutral sources. Improvements in our public transit infrastructure will also be critical for attracting people to public transit. The need is great because we have neglected to maintain and upgrade our transit systems for many decades. Buffalo’s light rail system is mostly powered (60%) by green hydropower and needs to play a larger role in transportation solutions in Buffalo-Niagara. But it needs to be expanded to serve the larger region as originally planned.
Buffalo’s light rail system provides the foundation. In Buffalo, we already have a light rail system worth over $1 billion (in today’s dollars) along with publicly owned and available rights-of-way that can be repurposed for very cost-effective expansion. In addition to the planned light rail extension to UB’s Amherst campus, rights-of-way through Buffalo’s Eastside to Larkinville, the Buffalo Niagara International Airport and Southtowns are available and should be the next investment. We need to leverage this resource to provide a viable network of light rail connectivity, beginning with the Amherst extension and ultimately including extensions to the Eastside/Airport and Southtowns.
The Cap and Trade mechanism needs to be structured to discourage driving and provide funding for transit. The ability to meet NYS’s commitment to GHG reductions will require investments in public transit along with incentives for mode shifting. Further, viable and sustainable funding mechanisms for transit operations will need to be put in place. The extent to which these funding mechanisms also reduce the attractiveness of car-based travel, which is causing the problem, will make the shift to green transit-based solutions achievable. For example, congestion pricing / tolling along city expressways entering cities like Buffalo’s Kensington Expressway should be considered as part of the cap and invest mechanism in addition to directly taxing carbon-based fuels.
References:

1. “Erie County Commits to Paris: How Erie Can Meet US Target Reductions for Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, Erie County Executive Mark Polencarz. Jan 2018.
2. “Transforming Transportation in New York: Roadmaps to a Transportation Climate Target for 2035”, Synapse Energy Economics prepared for the Sierra Club. September 2019.
3. “New York to Approve One of the World’s Most Ambitious Climate Plans.” Jesse McKinley and Brad Plumber. NY Times. June 18, 2019.

The U.S. is controlled by corporate interests.

Years ago, in my lifetime, most trains (and subways) were put out of business by the oil and auto businesses. It has led to urban sprawl and the obliteration of good farm land. It has led to urban renewal that ruined cities and increased illnesses. It had led to grotesque slaughter of animals on highways. We need to return to good trains that save fuel and pollution, and lives, and time.

And the remaining cars and trucks need to be electric, fueled by solar and wind.

Fracking for oil and gas, digging for tar sands, is tragic in their damaging of all that the world of animals (us) and nature need to survive.

Pricing gimmicks and other "market" schemes are lame and not serious. They merely appease oligarchs--who, by the way, have extensive emergency plans to "escape" the ravages of the climate disruption (CD) they've foisted upon us by ignoring CD science and funding lying propaganda denying the existence of CD. All this to concentrate wealth into their greedy, sociopathic hands. We need moral leadership in government who will listen to the demands and solutions of the Poor Peoples Campaign to fight ecocide, racism, warmongering, poverty, and christian nationalism. This governmental leadership not only must pass meaningful legislation that embodies those solutions, but must enforce those laws and interpret them so that we all can be free and victorious in overcoming the existential threat of all of us--not just the disgusting oligarchs.