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News In Motion

The movement of People, Goods and Ideas.

NIM is TranSystems' e-newsletter distributed to more than 10,000 subscribers nationwide. The electronic publication features top news and expert commentary on target market segments in the transportation industry.

$7.3 million OKed for downtown 'bus rapid transit'

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration is channeling more than $7.3 million in tax increment financing toward a “bus rapid transit” line downtown, according to his transportation and economic-development spokesmen. READ ARTICLE

Airports get into the fitness craze for stressed travelers

Jennifer Purdie recently had to figure out what to do with a two-hour layover at San Francisco International Airport. READ ARTICLE

America's crumbling transportation infrastructure

It's hard to claim that America's transportation system is in great shape. READ ARTICLE

Architecture Billings Index Remains Positive for Third Straight Month

On the heels of consecutive months of strengthening business conditions, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has now reached positive territory three months in a row. READ ARTICLE

Caught On Cam: Bridge goes boom!

After decades of use and months of planning, it took just seconds for Ohio's Fort Steuben Bridge to come down. READ ARTICLE

DART beefing up security on trains, buses

Increasing security on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail network is a move the agency had no choice but to make. READ ARTICLE

False Recovery 2.0: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like 2011

Let's play "Name That Year of the Recovery." READ ARTICLE

First Train Operates Over NCDOT's Piedmont & Northern Railroad Corridor in More Than 20 Years

The first train in more than 20 years operated on the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT) Piedmont & Northern Railroad corridor (P&N) today from Gastonia to Mount Holly. READ ARTICLE

Google Transit: How (and Why) the Search Giant is Remapping Public Transportation

You can’t talk to a Googler for very long without hearing them recite the company’s mission statement: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. READ ARTICLE

High-Speed Rail Construction Set for West Coast

Construction is slated to begin later this year in the route hosting the nation's most ambitious design for high-speed rail service - Los Angeles to San Francisco, according to The Daily Californian. READ ARTICLE

Highway interests in Kansas try to run GOP tax plan off the road

Contractors, cities and counties on Thursday tried to slam the brakes on a proposal by House Republican leaders that would divert $350 million in highway funds to pay for a cut in the state income tax. READ ARTICLE

How safe is the cargo on passenger flights?

The call came into the London Metropolitan Police bomb squad in the early hours of the morning. READ ARTICLE

A Step Further...

The interception of explosive devices being shipped by air cargo on passenger planes was a coup for the intelligence services and an exemplary example of allies working together to stop international terrorism. READ COMMENTARY

How to Get a Permit for Your Driverless Car

About a year ago, Bruce Breslow, the newly appointed director of Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles, was invited to Mountain View, Calif., to test one of Google’s driverless cars. READ ARTICLE

How Twitter Traffic Follows Air Traffic

Twitter has a reputation for linking people through interests rather than geography. READ ARTICLE

Look out JaxPort, here comes Brunswick

Brunswick’s port is closing fast on Jacksonville’s long-held title of the nation’s second-busiest port for shipping automobiles. READ ARTICLE

A Step Further...

Consider the importance of port competition, growing globalization, and the role that an independent corporation can play on US distribution patterns. READ COMMENTARY

Looking for a conversation piece? MTA to sell wooden subway benches

Those iconic wooden subway benches - which have served straphangers and the homeless for generations - now can be yours for a mere $650. READ ARTICLE

Loot confiscated by TSA turns into revenue for states

From samurai swords to hatchets to snow globes, the Transportation Security Administration collects tons of unusual objects each year that passengers try to carry onto planes. READ ARTICLE

March 31 deadline for transportation legislation

U.S. lawmakers dug in on Friday for a rough fight over transportation legislation that was forced off the road by partisanship and skepticism about where government is going to find the money to pay for infrastructure improvements. READ ARTICLE

Motor vehicle travel demand continues long-term downward trend in 2011

Despite an improving economy, motor vehicle travel declined markedly in 2011, continuing a downward trend with major implications both for infrastructure revenue and infrastructure needs. READ ARTICLE

Obama wants to cut corporate tax rate to 28 percent as part of overhaul

President Obama wants to significantly lower the top corporate income tax rate to 28% as part of a broad overhaul that would raise an additional $250 billion from businesses over the next decade by eliminating many loopholes and other breaks, according to a senior administration official. READ ARTICLE

A Step Further...

Many corporate leaders are going to be concerned about the fine print of this legislation. READ COMMENTARY

Q+A: Will Moscow talks unleash carbon trade war against EU?

A group of nations opposed to an EU law forcing all airlines to pay for their emissions meets in Moscow this week to debate possible retaliation, raising the risk of a trade war. READ ARTICLE

Shippers hope for grants to improve rail tunnels

Shippers such as lumber mills in southern Oregon are seeking millions of dollars in government grants to improve railroad tunnels and increase freight capacity in a region that state officials say is heavily dependent on trucks and planes.
READ ARTICLE

Surging gas prices threaten to derail economic recovery

Just as the recovery is finally looking real, surging fuel prices are once again looming as a major threat to the financial health of U.S. consumers and the broader economy. READ ARTICLE

Tales in Motion: Pluto, Old Buddy, Old Pal

Goodness, how long had it been? While I was looking for Pluto’s phone number I came upon some stories about the ‘incident.’…2006! That long. It was 2006 when Pluto was officially stripped of the title of ‘planet,’ and demoted to the ranks of plutoid. How had I ever let so much time pass?
READ ARTICLE

That's a lot of transportation news...what's it all mean?

The Friday Night (or Thursday Morning) fights, that’s a good way of looking at the highway bill during this recess week, a whole string of opponents squaring off against their opposites. Let’s take a look at some of these match-ups.
READ ARTICLE

Transportation bills to get tune-up during recess

It may be recess, but House and Senate leaders are working overtime this week to make the massive transportation bills more attractive to skeptical lawmakers. READ ARTICLE

Update to the Freight Goods - Drivers of Transportation Index

Oil and Iran Could be the story of the week READ ARTICLE

UPS Buys European Online Fulfillment Firm

Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. has acquired European consumer delivery specialist Kiala SA/NV, which is based in Brussels. READ ARTICLE

A Step Further...

It will become easier for online retailers to do business direct to consumer thanks to a move that UPS made overnight. READ COMMENTARY

What is Holding Up the Senate Bill?

The Senate voted 85-11 to proceed with debating MAP-21, so why did everything then ground to a stop? READ ARTICLE

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That's A Lot of News

What's it all mean? The warning blender.

TranSystems Transportation Activity Index, February 23 2012
Impacts of Oil Price Escalation and Mitigation Strategies

We dusted off the "playbook" from 2008, a time when West Texas Intermediate hit $147 a barrel to see what happened in the transportation sector and how companies reacted. Brent North Sea Crude was selling at a significant deficit to WTI, and only got to a high of about $122 a barrel. There has also been a lot written about oil prices of late - for the transportation industry in which it often is the second largest cost expenditure across all of the modes (second to labor only), it is a big deal. READ COMMENTARY