TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I support TCI because improved mass transit is vital for reducing emissions, revitalizing communities, better connecting people with jobs, supporting healthier lifestyles and unlocking new sustainable housing opportunities convenient and close to all of life's daily essentials.

Express that reducing pollution from transportation is a key component to reducing Pennsylvania's emissions
Say how public transit investments that could be made with TCI proceeds would be valuable
Ask that leaders choose the aggressive greenhouse gas reduction target that the most recent climate science tells us we need.
Urge that the policy prioritizes clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution and/or for those who don’t have access to transportation choices.

Support the Transportation and Climate Initiative
J. Michael Atherton, Ph.D.
Feb 2020


Americans pride ourselves on our problem-solving skills. We strive to have the best research and development centers in the world. The TCI supports this drive by reminding America that the world wants us to develop technology to improve transportation, safety, health, congestion, jobs and do it on a scale that makes a difference in the lives of the public. The TCI addresses the important issue of scale by taking a regional perspective.

The TCI calls for innovators to step up and make something that makes a difference. If we solve transportation problems, then not only will America improve everyone’s lives, it will make a nice profit. But, and this is a big “but”, America must grasp this opportunity now. We must stop tinkering with outdated technology and look to the future. If we fail to grab this innovation opportunity, then other countries will do it for us. Many perfectly capable, well-financed, high technology countries want to steal our lead. If that happens, then America will sit back and watch the future be taken from our hands. Do we want the world to thank Chinese technology for decongesting our urban centers? Do we want French, English, or German designers to make transit-friendly projects that reduce transit needs and offer viable options to driving? What if a combined Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese team lowers the costs for large freight transportation while cleaning its emissions? We should feel happy if anyone solves these problems, but we would feel happier if the USA did it.

We must ask who might oppose the TCI and why. Following the money seems to indicate that large corporations have the most to lose if states unify their efforts under a regional TCI. The reason is simple, when the TCI works it will cut into their profits. The region will not have to go cap-in-hand to the corporations when it solves its own problems. Unfortunately and unnecessarily corporate opposition to the TCI represents self-centered, short-term, and unproductive thinking. Such Luddites want us to tinker with their old technology so they insure all efforts funnel through them. They would not only bemoan foreign countries beating us to the innovation punch, they would also oppose regions or municipalities innovating us out of our problems. They take the divide and conquer approach. If they force isolated innovators to focus on small issues, then corporate lawyers and lobbyists can overwhelm them and make them accept corporate control. Corporations ultimately want their technology to solve what they see as a problem so they alone profit. Parochial viewpoints and solving last century’s problems with outdated thinking will fail. We can do better.

The TCI unleashes the collective thinking power of 12 highly educated and motivated states and the District of Columbia. That, by itself, dwarfs most corporate capabilities. State boundaries often interfere with problem solving, so the TCI offers a regional perspective. Since climate change, for example, ignore boundaries, so should climate innovators. Regional thinking has a distinct advantage over local-only thinking. When this powerful group sets about solving its regional problems, they will inevitably solve problems for people beyond their borders. The TCI is designed to promote this cornucopia of benefits. The TCI’s unbounded approach offers a multiplier effect for individual efforts.

For example, if you reduce vehicular pollution, at the same time, you improve public health. Mitigate climate change and you employ millions of people in rewarding jobs that will generate even more jobs. Safe, clean, cheap, and reliable transportation protects our physical well-being, it saves us time and never tests our patience, and it is light on our pocketbook. All these things accrue from solving our nagging transportation problems. The myriad spin-off discoveries that will arise from the TCI make it a gift that keeps on giving. The TCI will unlock such a volume of invention, production, and sustained activity that the rest of the nation and even other nations will send legions of people to study our example.

We should picture the goals of the TCI as equivalent to the moon landing. Call it the New England-Mid Atlantic-DC (NEMADC) based moon program. Like the moon shot it should inspire young people to dream about it and then stick around so they can contribute to this regional effort. The NEMADC moon shot offers such earthly benefits as clean air, healthy jobs, and safe, reliable, and low-cost transportation. The TCI cooperative problem-solving will design transportation to side-step congestion, to deliver us safely to our destination in a timely fashion, and to minimize travel frustrations. Our region has the management ingenuity and technical power already in place. The TCI allows us to look beyond borders so we can see a living matrix fully prepared for success.

We stand ready to take the initiative.

It is imperative that we do all we can to mitigate the effects of climate change. Implementing a comprehensive regional program could help to create safe roads for biking and walking, more frequent and reliable public transportation, greater access to electric vehicles, and a more equitable system with cleaner transportation options for everyone in the region.

We need carbon neutral transportation options starting immediately. Climate catastrophe is imminent and must be mitigated now or global civilizations will unstoppably collapse.

It’s a ridiculous idea for this State not only for its citizens but for the visitors from out of State. It’s going to affect the tourism industry and it’s going to affect people that have to travel for work. I’m probably wasting my breath but I’m a veteran and I’ve got to make a stand on what’s right or wrong and this is wrong.

Fossil Fuels companies and their lobbyists have no place in a Transportation and Climate Initiative.