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 case against world domination by the car using examples from many different cities.
• 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. The site has ridership trend information (press releases and data from various sources), success stories (including Denver, Portland, St. Louis, Washington, and San Jose), a special section on responding to transit critics (with summaries of and links to organizations whose members take a stand against transit... and responses to myths they are float about transit), another on election issues (including year-by-year results of transit-related ballot measures in the US), and a resource library for advocacy groups. (Some features require Acrobat.)
• 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. Also features an editorially selected database of links in about 30 diverse section (such agriculture, politics, society, and transportation - with about 135 links in the transportation section as of March 2003).
  Added 12 April 2003
• 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.
• Moving the Economy - MTE is an initiative of the City of Tronoto, Canada, in association with other organizations, that works to promote and develop economic benefits, opportunities, and innovations in sustainable transportation as they relate to both Toronto and to other cities around the globe. Site has considerable background information on the economics of sustainable transportation (including extensive references), descriptions of MTE's own projects and events, as well as summaries of other sustainable transportation efforts.
• Promotram - French advocacy group founded in 1998 (as an affiliate of the Federation Nationale des Associations des Usagers des Transports) to promote light rail and tram systems (on rails, not tires) in France. The website outlines the group's approach (including acting as a media resource), summarizes current developments across the country, provides assorted advocacy materials, and details how people can help by both joining and contributing. In French.
• The New, New Electric Railway Journal - A project of the Free Congress Foundation and successor the The New Electric Railway Journal magazine, the site offers "a mix of  hot news, accurate transit facts and the ruminations of Free Congress's Paul Weyrich and Bill Lind". Basic statistical information on most US rail transit systems (current and proposed) plus commentary articles (about 24 as of October 2000) on the state of light rail in the US. Also summaries of the Foundations' recent policy studies.
• 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.
• The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal - Frequently updated (almost daily) with "informed but opinionated commentary and analysis on urban transit topics", the mission of this site is to "monkeywrench the anti-transit forces" by debunking the myths they promote. It's highly interesting reading with plenty of statistics and cross references to back things up plus links to other pro-transit (and anti-transit) sites.
• 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, "hotlines" (published most every week), and recent issues of their (about quarterly) Transport Action publication as well as a library of other interesting publications from a diverse set of sources.
• 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 - "Presenting original fact-based, 'in context' research and analysis of public transit operations, technical, and financial issues", this new (as of October 2002) site is updated with commentary by Michael D. Setty and Leroy W. Demery (both of Carquinez Associates) every few days. There's also a library of original research (on topics such as loading and cost issues) plus resource materials from other sources. Some features require Acrobat.
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• Urban Planning and Transport - All about the need for transport to be an integral part of urban planning.