Kate Hinds

New Jersey Transit says it could be next fall before service is restored to pre-Sandy levels. And the cost of its damage is now pegged at $450 million -- a $50 million increase over previous estimates.

Speaking Wednesday at a board meeting, NJ Transit executive director Jim Weinstein said the agency was still assessing the damage and putting together its request for federal aid. The $450 million figure includes approximately $100 million in damage to rail cars and locomotives, as well as approximately $20 million in lost revenue. Weinstein said insurance will be covering the damage to rail cars and locomotives, and the agency is also submitting a request to the Federal Transit Administration for funding.

But full recovery will take more than money. During the storm surge, replacement parts for rail cars and locomotives were damaged. And these are not off-the-shelf items. So Weinstein says bringing service back to pre-Sandy levels will take some more time. “All of the equipment back? I mean we're talking the better part of a year,” he said.

Right now, service is at about 94% of pre-Sandy levels. Weinstein said that number will increase further in March, when repairs are complete at Hoboken’s electrical substation, allowing the electric trains that ply the Gladstone and Morris & Essex Lines to operate again. Right now those lines must use diesel locomotives, which are slower than electric.

Also on the agency’s agenda: finding a more flood-proof rail yard. During Sandy, trains and equipment were stored in low-lying rail yards. Officials have maintained there was no need to move them because the areas had never flooded before. But now, the agency is looking to expand a rail yard south of New Brunswick to provide a safe harbor for trains and equipment during future storms. When asked if the new storage facility would be in place in time for hurricane season, Weinstein answered tersely.

"No, I don't want it to be in place by the next hurricane season," he said. "It will be in place by the next hurricane season."

Top stories on TN:
NY MTA Might Re-Open The Old South Ferry Station, Just Don’t Ask When (link)
School Bus Workers Face Cold Reality of Strike (link)
Virginia Governor Now Says He’s Willing To Compromise On Gas Tax (link)
Mishandled Baggage Hits a New Low — And We Mean That In A Good Way (link)

A Tesla "showroom" at a mall in New Jersey (photo by kate Hinds)

President Obama's State of the Union: "We buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil than we have in twenty." (@WhiteHouse)

And: "I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good...America’s energy sector is just one part of an aging infrastructure badly in need of repair. Ask any CEO where they’d rather locate and hire: a country with deteriorating roads and bridges, or one with high-speed rail and internet." (White House)

So: "Tonight, I propose a “Fix-It-First” program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs." (@BarackObama)

Here's what 'fix it first' really means. (Slate)

Object lesson: the U.S. keeps building more highways -- while letting the old ones crumble. (McClatchy; h/t Streetsblog)

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How will the next mayor of New York City treat bike lanes? Advocates worry, but one city official says "the great bike war is over, and the opponents lost.” (New York Times)

The same city official emphasized his point on Twitter this morning: "Liu says rip up bike lanes Liu approval: 28% Bike lanes: 66% Is Liu angry at bike lanes because they're more popular?" (@HowieWolf)

Congressman John Mica (R-FL) is introducing legislation to end Amtrak's "monopoly" on rail service. (The Hill)

A February deadline on New York’s process to allow hydrofracking will be missed, with Governor Cuomo’s Health Commissioner now saying he needs more time to complete an ongoing health study. (WNYC)

After a five-month court battle, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has released its economic study highlighting the impact bridge tolls have on the New York Container Terminal. (Staten Island Advance)

Electric vehicle maker Tesla and the New York Times are trading accusations over a review of one of the company's cars. (NPR)

Silicon Valley: where mass transit goes to die. "For decades, the Bay area has thrown federal, state and local money at new commuter-transit projects, while the share of Silicon Valley residents who use mass transportation has barely budged." (Bloomberg; opinion)

Broward County’s revamped schools bus service was supposed to save big money this year, but those savings came in much smaller than expected. (Miami Herald)

Five Logan Airport cab stand workers have been charged with taking bribes for allowing taxi drivers to jump ahead in line. (AP via WBUR)

So many people are adorning Paris bridges with "love locks" that officials worry the added weight could make the bridges unsafe. (Wall Street Journal)

California is the only state that legally allows motorcyclists to lane split -- and now there are some new rules in place. (Air Talk - SCPR)

Let a MetroCard be your canvas: a new exhibit highlights tiny works of art on NYC fare cards. (Link)

Look up on the MetroCard! (painting by Jean-Pierre Roy; photo courtesy of RH Gallery)

Wait -- did someone say MetroCard? Check out this one commemorating Grand Central's 100th anniversary. (TN Tumblr)

Clarification: in Tuesday's Morning Stories, we referenced GM, Chrysler and Ford's lobbying efforts. Only the first two companies accepted government bailouts. Ford did not.

Baggage claim at Sacramento International Airport (photo by D.L. via flickr)

Not only are you more likely to get to your destination in one piece, your luggage will too.

According to the DOT, last year U.S. carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.09 reports per 1,000 passengers. In 2011, that rate was 3.35.

The DOT is also releasing data on tarmac delays, cancellations, and arrival times. Read below for the whole report.

Airlines Report Lowest Mishandled Baggage Rate in 18 Years in 2012 

The nation’s largest airlines reported their lowest rate of mishandled baggage for a year during 2012, and set high marks for on-time performance, the fewest long tarmac delays, and a low rate of canceled flights.

According to the Air Travel Consumer Report issued today by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the reporting carriers posted a rate of 3.09 reports of mishandled baggage per 1,000 passengers, an improvement on 2011’s rate of 3.35 and their lowest rate of mishandled baggage for a year since this data was first reported in September 1987.

The 15 largest U.S. airlines also posted an 81.85 percent on-time arrival rate during 2012, the third highest annual performance in the 18 years the Department has collected comparable data. The high was 82.14 percent in 2002, followed by 81.96 in 2003. The 1.29 percent cancellation rate for the year also was the second lowest rate for the past 18 years, with the lowest being the 1.24 percent mark set in 2002.

In addition, there were 42 tarmac delays longer than three hours on U.S. domestic flights in 2012, down from 50 delays in 2011, which was the first full year the rule limiting tarmac delays was in effect. This follows the Department’s rule, which took effect in April 2010, setting a three-hour limit for aircraft carrying passengers on domestic flights to sit on the tarmac. Exceptions to the time limits are allowed only for safety, security or air traffic control-related reasons.

Between May 2009 and April 2010, the final 12 months before the rule took effect, the carriers reported 693 tarmac delays of more than three hours. Since August 2011, U.S. and foreign airlines operating international flights at U.S. airports have been subject to a four-hour tarmac delay limit.

“This remarkable decrease in flight delays, tarmac incidents, cancellations and mishandled bags is a tribute both to the hard work of the airlines and the Department of Transportation’s oversight of the aviation industry,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.   “We will continue to work with the carriers to make air travel more convenient and hassle-free for consumers.”

The monthly Air Travel Consumer Report also includes data on chronically delayed flights and the causes of flight delays filed with the Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by the reporting carriers. In addition, the report contains information on airline bumping as well as customer service, disability, and discrimination complaints received by DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division.  This report also includes reports of incidents involving pets traveling by air, as required to be filed by U.S. carriers. Calendar year 2012 data are contained in the report in a number of areas as well as data for December 2012.

A news release on the Air Travel Consumer Report is available at http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/airlines-report-lowest-mishandled-baggage-rate-18-years-2012 . The full consumer report is available at www.dot.gov/individuals/air-consumer/air-travel-consumer-reports. Detailed information on flight delays is available at www.bts.gov.

Top stories on TN:
Audio Postcard: Digging Out of the Blizzard, Dodging Icicles (link)
Snow Plow Tracking Site Too Popular for Its Own Good (link)

A Newark subway station (photo by Kate Hinds)

2012 was the safest year for airlines globally since 1945. (New York Times)

President Obama delivers the State of the Union address tonight. (White House)

Some Boston sidestreets have not yet been plowed, and Mayor Menino is counseling patience. (Globe)

Virginia's governor says he's ready to make a deal for transportation funding. (Washington Post)

A Houston Metro train conductor is also a muralist -- and his artwork appears along some train tracks. (KUHF)

France is likely to help India build its first high-speed rail line, which will run from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. (Deccan Herald)

Are helmet laws discouraging kids from riding bicycles? Or are they shifting to skateboards and roller blades? (Wall Street Journal)

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Philadelphia bus drivers are urging SEPTA to reposition outside rearview mirrors, contending they create a blind spot that endangers pedestrians. (Inquirer)

Newark's subway system is largely unknown to outsiders -- but not to the producers of the Batman movie franchise. (Star Ledger)

A high-ranking Los Angeles Metrolink executive resigned following a scathing report that revealed accounting irregularities, poor management and record-keeping that made it difficult for board members to understand the railroad's financial situation. (Los Angeles Times)

GM and Ford -- Detroit's rescued automakers -- have rebuilt their D.C. lobby shops and are ready to spend big to influence lawmakers. (Politico)

Striking Bronx car wash workers returned to their jobs after winning a fight against the boss they say wrongly fired them. (NY Daily News)

Although it's illegal to ride a bike on Kigali's tarmac roads, some Rwandan bike taxi drivers risk it anyway. (All Africa)

New York Post opinion: the biggest risk facing the subway system is not track deaths -- it's that the MTA won’t have enough money to expand its transit system as ridership grows.

Rapunzel takes Phoenix transit riders on a system tour in the latest music video from the Valley Metro transit system. (Valley Metro)

Top stories on TN:
Here’s How to Track Snow Plows Block by Block, in NYC and Boston (link)
Massachusetts Bans Cars Statewide During Blizzard, Boston Shuts Subways (link)

Clearing snow from Boston's Green Line (image via MBTA)

The Northeast's post-blizzard, Monday morning commute: almost normal. Almost. (WNYC)

Listen along as one snowed-in New Haven area reporter attempts to exit her house. Somebody hand her the snow shovel! (WNPR)

House T&I committee chair Bill Shuster (R-PA) thinks the federal government should have a role in funding infrastructure – and he's holding a hearing to prove it. (Transportation Issues Daily)

Chicago's plan to install 100 miles of protected bike lanes is running into a road bump thrown down by the state, which has jurisdiction over some of the selected roadways. (Chicago Tribune)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to to require that all new cars and light trucks are equipped with "black boxes" starting in September 2014. (Marketplace)

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New Jersey may vote to prohibit red-light traffic cameras from issuing tickets for right turns on red. (Star Ledger)

When DC’s new Silver Line opens, Fairfax County will double its total number of Metrorail stations and rearrange a big part of its bus fleet. (Washington Post)

Litigation means tomorrow may never come for New York's Taxi of Tomorrow. (New York Times)

It's been six years since a transit worker was killed on a NYC subway track. (NY Daily News)

Copper thieves are preying on California's traffic signals and street lights. (Mercury News)

Network Rail has apologized after a signalman got stuck in a toilet, causing delays to train services. "The driver of the 15:13GMT Hereford to London service got out of his train and walked to the signal box to investigate. It was then discovered the signalman was stuck in the Victorian building's outside toilet."  (BBC)

Video: watch a "skid steer" clear the tracks of the Green Line. (Boston Globe)

Top stories on TN:
Transit Tracker: In Case of Travel Disruption, Watch This Space (link)
Purple Line Design Will Stop if Maryland Doesn’t Get More Transpo Funding (link)
Connecticut Gov Wants Transpo Funding to Fill Budget Holes (link)
Golden Gate Bridge Switching to All Electronic Tolling (link)

And snow it begins. (Photo by Kate Hinds)

New York-area readers: Wondering if the trains are running? What about alternate side parking? Check out Transit Tracker here. And WNYC's storm tracker is here.

All Boston commuter rail and transit is shutting down today at 3:30. (Globe)

New York privately sold $500 million in bonds to meet a payment deadline for the new Tappan Zee Bridge. (Bloomberg)

The head of National Transportation Safety Board said the FAA should reconsider their approval of the Dreamliner's lithium-ion battery. (NPR)

Poll: MARTA riders have stronger connections than nonriders to Atlanta region. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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American Airlines and and US Airways may merge. (Marketplace)

Chicago transit officials are planning to spend up to $2 billion on a new generation of rail cars to modernize the nation's second-largest mass transit system. (AP via WBEZ)

In a surprise development, Portugal's government said it had managed to secure funding for a high-speed rail link between Lisbon and Madrid, despite categorically stating last spring the project had been definitively shelved. (Portugal News)

Thailand's plans to invest 52 billion dollars in upgrading its railways to put it at the forefront of efforts to connect the region by rail, the Asian Development Bank said Friday. (The Nation)

A Bay Area designer's national vision for high-speed rail is getting some attention. (KQED; map by Alfred Twu)

Top stories on TN:
Officials: As Construction Site, World Trade Center Vulnerable To Floods (link)
A Bike Lane Grows in Manhattan (link)
New NYC Subway Map Zoomable (link)
Virginia Transportation Funding Plan Dies in State Senate (link)

Could be useful this weekend (photo by Kate Hinds)

Design work on two of Maryland's biggest transit projects would stop after June 30 if the state does not approve a transportation tax increase. (Washington Post)

Flying to or from the Northeast this weekend? You might want to think about changing your schedule. (Weather Channel)

"America is one big pothole right now," said outgoing transportation secretary Ray LaHood. (The Hill)

Quiet cars are coming to Toronto's transit system. (The Star)

The FAA has approved one crew-only flight for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. (New York Times)

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Boston's transit system is running an animal-based courtesy campaign. Don't squawk on the phone! (BostInno)

Beverly Hills has opened a new fueling station for its fleet of vehicles that run on compressed natural gas. (KPCC)

A team of designers have knitted together California's transit systems and produced a nifty new rail map. (FastCoExist)

WATCH: one year of NYC subway commuters, in three minutes.  (Slate; video)

COMMUTERS: 2012 from Rebecca Davis on Vimeo.

Members of the public line up to speak at the Community Board 7's bike lane meeting (photo by Kate Hinds)

The Upper West Side's 'bike lane to nowhere' will finally go somewhere.

After lengthy debate -- not to mention two months of committee meetings -- Manhattan's Community Board 7 voted Tuesday night in favor of a extending the Columbus Avenue bike lane from 59th Street up to 110th Street.

The lane, which currently stretches from 77th to 96th streets, is the only protected on-street bike lane in the neighborhood. The extension will connect it to another protected lane running south of 59th Street down Ninth Avenue, as well as bring the city's bike network north to the fringes of Harlem.

The vote came after four hours of debate and public testimony. One of the sticking points for many board members was how the lane will traverse the so-called "bow tie" around Lincoln Square, where Broadway and Columbus intersect (map). Some board members wanted to defer the vote until the city's Department of Transportation came up with additional safety amenities for that segment, and several amendments to the board's resolution were proposed. (TN will have the text when it is made available.)

But at the end of the night, the board voted 26 to 11 (with one abstention) in support of the full lane, with calls for ongoing dialogue with the DOT about its implementation.

This reporter's unofficial tally of public testimony (photo by Kate Hinds)

The evening had its moments of levity. When debate opened, one board member raised his hand and said that he had a couple of questions about "the second amendment."

Pause.

"Oh, I thought you were talking about gun control," Andrew Albert, the co-chair of the transportation committee, said dryly. The room broke up.

On Wednesday, DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan sent an email expressing her satisfaction with the board's vote. "The community’s ringing support will swing an even safer Columbus Avenue into high gear,” she said. “This project started with the community and Columbus is now a safer street with 100% of storefronts occupied. Residents, businesses and the entire community have seen that this project works.”

The DOT says construction of the bike lane extension will begin this summer and should take two months to complete.

Columbus Avenue bike lane, September 2011 (photo by Kate Hinds)

Top stories on TN:
As Virginia Debates Transportation Funding Plan, EVs Put Gas Tax Under Microscope (link)
The High Cost of Traffic: Time, Money, and Climate Change (link)
NYC Ready to Launch Taxi E-Hail Technology (link)
LaHood: There’s a “Sense of Urgency” on Transit Aid (link)

Brooklyn Bridge (photo by Peter Kelly via flickr)

Google sees self-driving cars being available to consumers in three to five years. But regulators and the insurance industry aren’t so sure it can happen that quickly. (Bloomberg)

North Carolina republicans are battling the mayor of Charlotte over the city's light rail line. (WCNC)

Luxury hotels around the world are offering a new perk to business travelers: bikes. (New York Times)

Connecticut mulls tolls, but after years of free driving, it's going to be a hard sell for residents. One possible selling point: the state's $1.2 billion budget hole. (Wall Street Journal)

Meanwhile, after funding billions of dollars of roadwork through debt, the Texas DOT is two years away from a severe drop in funding unless lawmakers find more cash. (Texas Tribune)

Tel Aviv municipal workers painted a car into a handicapped parking spot -- then towed the vehicle away. (NPR; video)

Starting this summer, the U.S. Postal Service will stop delivering mail on Saturdays but continue to deliver packages six days a week. (Washington Post)

Traffic engineers look for alternatives to Jersey's jughandles. (Asbury Park Press)

To advocate for slower subway speeds while entering stations, the New York City transit workers union is going to hand out mock blood-splattered MetroCards with the Grim Reaper on the back. (NY Daily News)

Want to paint your living room Brooklyn Bridge brown? Surplus paint can be yours, perhaps for as low as $3 a gallon. (New York Times)

Think you get excited when you see a train coming? You've got nothing on this three-year old girl. (Link)

The world's tiniest car (at least according to Top Gear) makes you look like a "Lego astronaut." (Slate; video)

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Welcome to your commute, drivers. (Graphic courtesy of TTI)

Urban automobile traffic is better than it was at its peak in 2005 -- but the cost of traffic congestion is on the rise.

The 2012 Urban Mobility Report -- a ranking of traffic congestion from Texas A&M's  Transportation Institute (TTI) -- says the total financial cost of congestion in 2011 was $121 billion, or about $818 per car commuter. A big piece of that is wasted fuel, which the report says reached a total of 2.9 billion gallons.

But worse still than mulling that over is a new addition to the report: the tally of annual carbon dioxide emissions attributed to traffic. The TTI estimates it at 56 billion pounds – or about 380 pounds per auto commuter.

The E.P.A. considers carbon dioxide a major factor in climate change, and estimates that transportation accounts for about one-third of the country's CO2 emissions, second only to the generation of electricity.

Harder to quantify financially is wasted time: the TTI says the average car commuter spent an extra 38 hours traveling in 2011, two-and-a-half times worse than the 16 hours in 1982.

The report also measures a "planning time index," which show how much time drivers need to be sure they'll arrive at their destination.

(Example: according to Google Maps, a trip from TN's offices in lower Manhattan to JFK Airport should take 30 minutes. But New York's PTI is 4.44 -- meaning drivers should allow 133 minutes to cover the worst-case traffic scenario. Meanwhile, the transit combo of the subway to the Air Train should take a little over an hour, says Google Maps.)

The report comes at a time when many states are struggling with how to replenish transportation funding coffers strained by aging infrastructure and increasingly diminished returns on the gas tax. Virginia is eying a new sales tax, Connecticut is debating new tolls, and some of Los Angeles's freeways are no longer free. Meanwhile, New York's MTA -- the nation's largest transit system -- estimates it sustained $5 billion in damage from Sandy.

Unsurprisingly, the TTI says the nation's largest urban areas see the worst traffic. DC tops the list for the fourth year in a row, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Boston. Although car traffic overall is down from a 2005 peak, as the economy recovers, the numbers of cars on the road is increasing.

The report offers up some suggestions. It cautions that there's no one-size-fits-all approach, but offers up a range of solutions from increasing capacity to developing land more densely. "Improving transportation systems is about more than just adding road lanes, transit routes, sidewalks and bike lanes," says the TTI. "It is also about operating those systems efficiently."

That last sentence probably will cause tension headaches for local transportation officials who have been trying to wring every last dollar out of their budgets. Funding was flat in the latest surface transportation bill.

But Slate contributor Matthew Yglesias offers up another solution, albeit one that has yet to be passed in an American city: congestion pricing. "Naturally an underpriced valuable commodity leads to over consumption," he writes. "Charge people enough money to eliminate routine congestion and you'll find yourself with fewer traffic jams and an enormous pool of revenue that can be used to maintain your basic infrastructure and upgrade your bus service."

Read the full report here.

Top stories on TN:
NASA’s Moon Mining Robot (link)
Maryland to Raise Speed Limit on New Highway (link)
Sandy Aid Funds for Transit Start to Flow (link)
Virginia to Crack Down on Texting While Driving (link)

My other car is a cat bus: a school van in Japan (photo by Chrissam42 via flickr)

Boeing has formally filed a request with the FAA to allow the company to resume test flights of 787 Dreamliners. (CNBC)

Federal and state oversight of gas drilling is still thin. "The ratio of wells to inspectors remains extremely high, and the volume of waste being pumped underground has ballooned, driven in large part to the boom in drilling made possible by fracking." (Pro Publica)

Why homelessness is a transportation issue: "public agencies better equipped to run trains or pave highways must often act as the first responders to homelessness." (Atlantic Cities)

Mexico's president wants to re-energize passenger rail in his country. (Washington Post)

New Jersey has begun addressing how it will pay to maintain its roads and bridges if residents begin to switch at a more rapid pace to alternative-fuel vehicles. But don’t expect any answers anytime soon. (NJ Spotlight)

Naming a NYC subway station after the late mayor Ed Koch is a non-starter, says the MTA. (New York Post)

Traffic will shift to a newly built Tappan Zee span in 2016. (Journal News)

As bicycle-pedestrian crashes increase in Tokyo, the government has announced criminal charges will be pressed against cyclists who repeatedly ignore red lights. (Japan Times)

The incoming CEO of a rail company told British politicians that investor confidence in the UK rail industry “couldn’t get much worse." (Telegraph)

New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission is starting a one-year pilot program February 15 that will bring the hailing apps to Manhattan for the first time. (WNYC)

The company linked to a tour bus involved in a deadly crash in Southern California failed more than a third of federal vehicle safety inspections in the last two years. (CBS)

A new idea for redeveloping Penn Station involves making a community college an anchor tenant nearby. (New York Times)

Two Missouri state senators are proposing a 1-cent sales tax for 10 years to pay for transportation needs. (AP via KSDK)

Tonight: Manhattan's Community Board 7 votes yea or nay to extend the Columbus Avenue bike lane. (Link)

Data viz: how people get to work in England and Wales. (Guardian)

We salute you, whimsical school buses of Japan. (Jalopnik)

Invention of the day: a bike that doubles as an air filtration system. "Using an IKEA perforated garbage can, moped helmet, fighter-pilot breathing mask, wheel-powered generator, and home air filtration system, the entire contraption uses human energy to clear the air." (Inhabitat; video)

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Top stories on TN:
Ed Koch, Staunch Supporter of Transit, Inadvertent Boon for Biking, Dies at 88 (link)
To Replace One Station After Sandy, A Cost of $600 Million (link)
VIDEO: The Secrets of Grand Central Terminal (link)
And: check out pictures of Grand Central's 100th anniversary celebration on Tumblr.

Could this station be renamed for former NYC Mayor Ed Koch? (photo by jpellgen via flickr)

A group of NYC officials want to name a subway station after mayor Ed Koch. (New York Post)

The batteries for Boeing's Dreamliner are now allowed to fly only if they're not attached to a Dreamliner. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

At least eight people were killed in a tour bus crash in Southern California. (CBS)

Republican lawmakers want to give Texas utility companies "extraordinary protection" from lawsuits over hiking and biking trail injuries. (State Impact Texas)

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is proposing to spend as much as $400 million to purchase homes wrecked by Hurricane Sandy, have them demolished and then preserve the flood-prone land permanently, as undeveloped coastline. (New York Times)

DOT watch: the head of the NTSB is being mentioned as a possible replacement for Ray LaHood. (Wall Street Journal)
And Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says to take his name off the list. (The Hill)

The operators of LAX have virtually ignored legal requirements to reduce effects on the environment by dispersing growth in commercial flights to other airports in the region, says a new report. (Los Angeles Times)

New Jersey's state senate transportation committee will discuss banning jughandles -- aka the "Jersey Left." (Star Ledger)

Lawmakers in Utah want to greatly expand where 80 mph speed limits may be allowed on the state’s freeways. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Confirmed: that skeleton found in a Leicester parking lot is King Richard III. He was killed in battle in 1485. (BBC)

Why your NYC subway could have been late last week: cable theft, conductor abuse, water main break, stupid behavior. (NY Daily News)

Gas prices are beginning their seasonal slide upward. (Marketplace)

Ann Arbor is planning a bike share program. (AnnArbor.com)

How transit agencies are using Pinterest. (Transit Wire)

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Top stories on TN:
How Grand Central Terminal Survived the Wrecking Ball – And Lived to 100 (link)
VIDEO + PICS: As Grand Central Bustles, A New Station Is Clawed From The Rock Below (link)
Basketball Arena Spurs LIRR Ridership Spike (link)

(photo by Kate Hinds)

Grand Central Terminal's 100th anniversary celebration is today. (MTA)

According to NYPD data, 155 pedestrians and bicyclists were killed in NYC traffic last year. (Streetsblog)

America's carbon dioxide emissions last year fell to their lowest levels since 1994, according to a new report. (Guardian)

It will now be May at the earliest before D.C. taxis will be required to accept credit cards. (Washington Post)

The curse of the NYC taxi medallion. (Capital NY)

Sales of Chrysler’s cars and trucks increased for the 34th consecutive month in January as sales increased 16%. (Detroit Free Press)

Trespassing on Alabama's school buses has happened nearly 24 times in two years. (Alabama.com)

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New York City will begin enforcing bike delivery rules in April. (Crain's NY)

The team designing the new Tappan Zee Bridge will meet the public next week. (Journal News)

New Jersey has set up a consumer protection website so potential buyers of used cars can check to see if a vehicle was damaged during Sandy. (Star Ledger)

Seattle has issued an RFP for bike share vendors. (Curbed)

During one Brooklyn Nets game this week, a neighborhood group found 77 parking and/or idling violations. (Atlantic Yards Watch)

Woolworth's has introduced "bus-stop shopping" at bus stops in Australia. (Yahoo)

Prince Charles rode the London Underground for the first time in 33 years. (Telegraph; video)

Top stories on TN:
How Grand Central Terminal Transformed America (link)
Pittsburgh Not Enforcing Tow Truck Licensing Rules (link)
DC Bike Share Visualizer Shows How Neighborhoods Use CaBi Differently (link)
Va. Gov’s Plan to End Gas Tax Goes Before Committee (link)

Crater of Luz by Oscar Tusquet Blanca, Toledo Metro Station (photo by By 0ne, Two, Three CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said fixing Muni is now on his to-do list. But does this mean his office will stop raiding the transit agency for funds? (Bay Citizen)

To curb its smog problem, Beijing is shutting down more than 100 factories and ordering one-third of government vehicles off the streets. (New York Times)

Slideshow: take a tour of some incredible art in subway stations around the world. (Condé Nast Traveler)

The TSA is training airport security screeners in Newark to be more empathetic and speak less condescendingly. (Star Ledger)

Just over a month after putting the brakes on a plan to raise tolls, officials with the New York State Thruway Authority confirmed that they will be laying off almost 8 percent of its workforce. (Times Union)

Congress members from the Houston area checked out security at the Port of Houston. (KUHF)

NYC school bus strike update: the union wants Mayor Bloomberg to reconsider what it calls a “cooling off” period so drivers and escorts can go back to work while stakeholders search for cost savings in the expensive school bus contracts. (SchoolBook)

Volkswagen has installed a huge photovoltaic array at the company’s compound in Chattanooga. (Wired)

China's largest auto parts maker has won government approval to buy A123 Systems, an American manufacturer of electric car batteries. The result might be a huge loss of potential jobs in America. (Marketplace)

Thousands of DC Metro riders were stranded after a tunnel fire -- and some of them "self-evacuated." (Washington Post)

Enough about who will take over for Transportation head Ray LaHood. What will he do when he leaves the DOT? (Washington Post)

Three months after Sandy, Hoboken is slowly getting back to normal. (WNYC)

Aiming to “reclaim jihad from Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists alike," a group of Muslims is funding a "My Jihad" ad campaign in the DC Metro. (Washington Post)

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Grand Central Depot, completed in 1871

New York's Grand Central Terminal turns 100 this year. But when it opened, "it was neither grand nor central," said writer Sam Roberts, the author of Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America. He talked about the origins of the iconic transit hub on Wednesday's Leonard Lopate Show -- and how it wound up transforming Midtown, spurring the growth of the suburbs, and even contributing to westward expansion.

But its origins were rooted in Cornelius Vanderbilt's competitive streak, said Roberts. The man known as "The Commodore" had taken control of the New York Central Railroad ("ruthlessly," said Roberts, "in the way robber-barons did in that day").  Meanwhile, Penn Station was being built on the other side of town by the rival Pennsylvania Railroad company, and the Vanderbilts "wanted to say 'we have the best and biggest railroad terminal in the world,'" said Roberts.

"They didn't own the land, but they did own the New York State Legislature," he added, "which made it a lot easier."

Grand Central (photo by Charlie Herman/WNYC)

Top stories on TN:
BREAKING: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood: I’m Out (link)
PATH Service Restored Between Hoboken-World Trade Center (link)
A Pay-Per-Mile Road Tax Could Target Transpo Funding — But It’s Years Away (link)

The new Loyola Avenue streetcar line in the New Orleans Central Business District. (Photo by Infrogmation of New Orleans via flickr)

Presumably one of Ray LaHood's last official acts: opening the new streetcar line in New Orleans. (Times-Picayune)

Boeing knew there were problems with the Dreamliner's lithium-ion batteries even before this month's fires. (New York Times)

It's not easy being a transit advocate in Atlanta. "Even if we change hearts and minds all over Atlanta and Georgia...we’re never going to be in a situation where we’re going to start recreating a massive subway-heavy infrastructure like New York." (Atlantic Cities)

A new survey shows Chicago transit riders want to know exactly when their next ride is—and be more comfortable while they wait. (WBEZ)

New York State is building a new Kosciuszko Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens. (New York Daily News)

Reading the transpo-political tea leaves: what does it mean that NJ Transit is hiring a deputy executive director? (The Record)

New Jersey's Turnpike Authority is borrowing $1.4 billion to widen the Turnpike and get rid of traffic lights on the Garden State Parkway. (Star Ledger)

Ford's unhappy European surprise: the automaker stands to lose close to $4 billion in Europe in two years’ time. (Forbes)

Ever wonder what the U.S. would look like if every region in the country had unlimited funding for all of its public transit dreams? Welcome to the transit fantasy map. (Fast CoExist)

Designer Massimo Vignelli -- who created two versions of the NYC subway map -- does not like American Airlines' new livery. (Creative Review)

Larry Hanley, the head of the Amalgamated Transit Union, talks about NYC's school bus strike on today's Brian Lehrer Show. (WNYC)

Check out a photo of Harlem in 1949 labeled "parking congestion." (Hemmings)

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Hoboken's PATH station (photo by Sean Marshall via flickr)

For the first time since Sandy struck the Northeast 13 weeks ago, PATH trains will roll once again between Hoboken and the World Trade Center.

Governors Christie and Cuomo announced service between the two hubs will be restored in time for the Wednesday morning commute.

This marks the first time PATH service will return to its normal weekday schedule since Sandy. The PATH system suffered $700 million worth of damage during the storm (PDF), and the Hoboken station was particularly hard hit. It took seven weeks just to open the station, and partial overnight service was restored on January 9th. Meanwhile, NJ Transit just reopened the Hoboken Terminal waiting room Monday.

Top stories on TN:
NJ Transit Hoboken Terminal Reopens Post-Sandy, Sort Of (link)
NY MTA Outlines How It Will And Won’t Act To Prevent Subway Deaths (link)
NJ Rail Services Return Days Shy of Sandy’s Three Month Anniversary (link)
Bus Rapid Transit Looks Set for Growth in Oregon (link)
SFO Airport Now Has City’s Most Valuable Art Collection Outside Museums (link)

Sign on corner of Central Park West and 81st Street (photo by Kate Hinds)

The $50.5 billion dollar Sandy Relief package has passed the US Senate and will now head to President Obama's desk for his signature. Included in the bill: $10.9 billion for transportation projects. (WNYC)

Chicago planners are moving forward with a major BRT line. (WBEZ)

And: transit ridership increased in Chicago last year. (CTA Tattler)

Barack Obama's new chief of staff -- a dedicated bike commuter --  won't be allowed to bike to work anymore because of security concerns. (HuffPo)

Twenty-four Boston commuter rail conductors, banned by federal and MBTA rules from ­using or even carrying phones, are now armed with 'Conductor Companions:' specially programmed iPhone 4s that cannot send texts or e-mails, download applications, browse the ­Internet, or make calls, except to 911. (Boston Globe)

Diesel and some hybrid cars will now have to pay London's congestion pricing charge, prompting accusations of moving the 'green goalposts.’ (Daily Mail)

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Airbus warned the airline industry of risks related to lithium batteries almost a year before two safety incidents grounded 787 Dreamliners built by its chief rival Boeing. (Reuters via Chicago Tribune)

Meanwhile: just how much money will the Dreamliner debacle cost Boeing? (The Takeaway)

Daimler has signed a three-way agreement with Ford and the Renault-Nissan Alliance to jointly develop future hydrogen fuel-cell technology. (Washington Post)

Singapore is doubling the size of its rail network in order to put 80% of households within a 10 min walk of a station. (Railway Gazette)

NYC is taking down the "Don't Honk" signs. (NYT)

IBM Is harvesting location data from millions of cell phone users because that "rich geospatial information in real time ... reveals how people move through the city." Meaning: better bus lines. (Motherboard)

Officials at the Port Authority, which controls the 16-acre World Trade Center site, are planning to tear up a 4-year-old deal to allow the NYPD to run security at Ground Zero. (New York Post)

Although the Tappan Zee Bridge is not going to fall down, "it routinely sheds chunks of concrete, like so much dandruff, into the river below." (New York Magazine)

Striking public transportation workers in Athens have defied a court order to return to work. (AP via NYT)

One architect's portrayal of Minnesota's transit future looks kind of ... alarming: A viewer's choice finalist for this year's videotect awards takes a stab at a dystopian future in which "several autonomous robotic creatures work tirelessly to maintain our sprawling vehicular highway system." (Tyler Short; video)

Videotect 2: Drift from Architecture Minnesota on Vimeo.

Top stories on TN:
Why One San Francisco Bike Lane Design Is Upsetting Drivers and Cyclists (link)
99% Invisible Explores Design for Airports (link)
Video Mapping Bike Paths of the World: See What a Ride Looks Like from Handle Bar POV (link)
Cruise ships: A Luxury for the Rest of Us (link)

Cape May, NJ (photo by Sugar Pond via flickr)

About half of all kids hit by cars in Chicago are within a block of a school. (Chicago Tribune; graphic)

Mayors and state officials are encouraging the elderly to move to cities for both the infrastructure and the social interaction. (Politico)

New Jersey Transit is turning 30. (Star Ledger)
And: the transit agency will reopen the Sandy-ravaged Hoboken Terminal tomorrow. (The Record)

San Francisco is proposing $200 million worth of changes to its cycling network in the next five years. "Building 12 new miles of bike lanes, upgrading 50 miles of existing paths and installing more than 20,000 new racks are all part of the plan." (San Francisco Examiner)

Fresh off a legal victory that allows him to remain in office, Toronto mayor Rob Ford is vowing to investigate a subway newsstand contract. (Globe and Mail)

Rebuild or retreat: a look at the Jersey shore, post-Sandy. (WNYC)

Construction of California's high-speed rail network is supposed to start in just six months, but the state hasn't acquired a single acre along the route. (Los Angeles Times)

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The biggest carbon sin: air travel. "One round-trip flight from New York to Europe or to San Francisco creates about 2 or 3 tons of carbon dioxide per person." (New York Times)

Two oil barges hit a railroad bridge, spilling crude oil into the Mississippi River. (Reuters)

Lawyers for TransCanada -- the company building the Keystone XL pipeline -- obtained a permanent injunction against groups protesting the project. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

Former President George W. Bush sold the pickup truck he used on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, for $300,000. (The Hill)

Japanese car maker Toyota has reclaimed its position as the world's No. 1 car maker by sales. (Wall Street Journal)

The Middle East region needs to spend $100 billion per year on infrastructure. (Al Arabiya)

Boston's transit system is expanding digital advertising throughout its stations. (BostInno)

Polar fleece, wool, and the occasional coyote: some bike commuters from NYC's bedroom communities log 600 miles a month, and don't stop riding until it's colder than 10 degrees. (New York Times)

Meet the rabbi who comforts NYC transit workers after traumatic subway events. (New York Daily News)

Subaru -- already popular in states that have sketchy weather -- is moving beyond Portlandia and targeting Texas and Tennessee. (NPR) No, you go!

Top stories on TN:
Metro’s Expansion Plans Include New Tunnels (link)
NY City Council: DOT is Flouting Law on Safety Stats (link)
Alexandria To Consider Registration For Bicycles (link)

Times Square (photo by Michael McDonough via flickr)

NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg wants to create Super Bowl Boulevard: for the four days preceding next year's Super Bowl at the Meadowlands, ten blocks of Broadway would be closed to traffic to make way for a free, open-air football-entertainment extravaganza. (Capital New York)

The future of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline is now in the hands of the State Department. (NPR)

The NTSB is nowhere near finishing an investigation into a battery fire on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, raising the prospect of a prolonged grounding for the aircraft. (Reuters)

Why is it taking so long for the PATH train system to recover from Sandy? Massive flooding damage and ruined equipment that's not easily replaceable. (Wall Street Journal)

The president of the Maryland state senate is considering a bill that would raise $300 million for new transportation projects by raising the state's gas tax. (WAMU)

Meanwhile, Virginia is trying to figure out how to raise $1.5 billion to repair and replace the state's worst structurally deficient bridges. (WAMU)

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As the NYC school bus strike enters its second week, livery cab drivers are picking up more fares. (New York Times)

Boston's transit system might extend T service past 1am on a "limited basis." (Metro Boston)

Toyota and BMW are working together on next-generation batteries for green vehicles called lithium-air. (AP via Detroit Free Press)

The Port Authority is replacing all 3,336 fluorescent lamps inside the Holland Tunnel with high-efficiency LED lights. (Jersey Journal)

A Rhode Island lawmaker wants to pass a law to stop motorists from driving with dogs in their laps. (Providence Journal)

Remember that old Nike commercial, where the woman runs out of a NYC subway car to buy a pretzel from a street vendor, then sprints to catch up to it at the next station? A man conducted a similar exercise, sans pretzel, on the Paris Metro.