Politics
The Balance of Public and Private Transportation
What Is The Balance of Public and Private Transportation?
Yago (1983) emphasizes that a growing body of evidence in organizational studies, urban political economy, and urban history indicates that historically derived institutional processes in the economic and political organization of transportation appear to affect its relationship to urban growth... read more »
Fragmentation of Political Authority, Centralized Planning, and Highway Lobby Interests
How Does Fragmentation of Political Authority, Centralized Planning, and Highway Lobbying Interests Affect Public Transportation?
Case studies at various levels of government examine the formal organizational changes in units of transportation planning (Davis, 1965; cited in Yago, 1983). The proliferation of governmental units dealing with transportation blocked diversified transportation development (Levin and Abend, 1971; cited in Yago, 1983)... read more »
Transit Regulation and the Shift from Public to Private Transportation Modes
How Does Transit Regulation Influence the Shift from Public to Private Transportation Modes?
Transit regulation quickly ensued (Jensen, 1956; Cheape, 1980; cited in Yago, 1983). Regulation depoliticized transportation, removing it from the public sphere of urban politics to the forums of appointed, business-oriented state regulatory commissions. This organizationally insulated transportation decisions from the public by the de facto disenfranchisement of the urban population... read more »
Public Versus Private Control of the Transit Industry
How Does Public Control Compare With Private Control of the Transit Industry?
As Cheape (1980, 211) notes in his comparative study of US transit systems before World War I, transit expansion in the early 20th century represented a social overhead investment to encourage regional development by private enterprise (cited in Yago, 1983). The needs of mechanization and transit service were subordinated to these developmental goals... read more »
Governmental Pricing and Subsidy Policies Create Transit Inequities
How Do Governmental Pricing and Subsidy Policies Create Transit Inequities?
Inequities result not only from inaccessibilities of urban transportation, from the structure of job and residential locations in the metropolitan region, and from the distance and duration of work-related travel but also from the pricing and subsidy policies of local, state, and federal transportation agencies... read more »
Transportation Policy - Control of Transit Companies, Fare Structures, and Planning Goals
What Is Los Angeles' Public Transportation Policy?
Ecological theory about transportation has been largely incorporated into urban and transportation planning (Lowry 1959; Hansen 1959; Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, & Co. 1975; Daniels, 1972; Putnam, 1975; Cheslow & Olsson, 1975; cited in Yago, 1983). In these planning models, as well as in Federal transit funding formulas, the ecological and spatial structure of cities are used to prescribe transportation policy thereby reinforcing existing travel patterns and promoting highways as solutions to congestion (Yago, 1983)... read more »
Allocation of Public Transit Funds in Los Angeles
How Are Public Transit Funds Allocated in Los Angeles?
In Los Angeles the rail networks constitute a small portion of the public transport network, which is made up primarily of bus routes frequented by lower income individuals that do not have access to a car. It seems an inefficient allocation of resources then, for the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) to spend more money on advancing and extending the rail lines, since the buses service more people... read more »
The Role of Government in the Development and Implementation of Public Transit
What Is the Role of Government in the Development and Implementation of Public Transit?
Government has played a role in public transportation's development and implementation from the very beginning. Transportation industries are heavily regulated, which is no surprise considering the railroad industry was one of the first industries in the United States to face government regulation. Price, entry, exit and operating rules have all been subject to governmental control (Winston, 1985)... read more »