TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

I urge the state of Vermont to join the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). I urge the governor to support it. Transportation is one of the most (if not the most) significant sources of greenhouse gases in Vermont. A clean and healthy environment is one of Vermont’s strongest assets. I urge Vermont to join other progressive northeast states and become part of this important coalition.

I for one am old enough to remember the pollution that filled or skies, poisoned our water and burned our lungs in the 60's-80's.
There is absolutely no reason to return to those days of filth.
We must keep moving forward and continue to strengthen and enforce pollution standards.

Human caused climate change is one of the biggest threats to life on earth and we need solutions now. We cannot keep stalling when it comes to doing something about this great problem we are facing. Transportation is one of the leading causes of carbon pollution and we need the TCI to address this problem. I am grateful that I live in a state that is willing to do something about this great threat while the federal government is choosing to worsen the problem. I hope that Massachusetts, along with other states, joins this much-needed initiative.

This is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. It is being destroyed as are many others by detrimental forces that can be mitigated. Other countries are stepping up. The USA is not. We are destroying the only planet we have and I cry for my grandchildren and their descendants! At the very least, we need a low-carbon transportation policy!

Our northeastern U.S. has a huge percentage of all our country's traffic and the infrastructure is out of date, constructed mostly in the mid-20th century, and is not suitable for the super heavy traffic and a lot is just worn down. This area needs both new state of the art highways throughout the region, and most notably super-efficient high speed zero emissions public commuting trains from state to state.

LOCALLY: Local public transportation STINKS!!!! Maybe big cities like Boston and NYC are okay WITHIN the city limits, but public transportation needs to be NOT just WITHIN each city (like now in Maine where they are limited to just a city and maybe immediate suburbs.) Public transportation needs to provide commuting from city to city to city (cities and towns that are 30, 40, 50 miles apart), etc. so people can live without cars and get back and forth (with multiple times a day trips to choose from) from one city to another town to town to city efficiently---without using the once a day Greyhound where you’re stuck overnight (no money to pay for a hotel) till the next trip back home in a city 40-50 miles away--and rumors have Greyhound possible eliminating its remaining trip to cities in Maine anyway.

Current “Public” transportation is far too limited---especially here in Maine!!! There is NO regular frequently run (multiple times a day) public transportation between Portland and Lewiston and Augusta and Bangor!!!!! People are stuck with ONCE a day (erratically off schedule) Greyhound. Or the twice a day Concord Coach----both of those commercial bus companies have only one stop per town! Those are NOT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION that can stop at bus stops every couple of blocks within each town or city!!!

CARS are NECESSARY in Maine!!! After a car rusts out and one’s too poor to buy even a used car, then living without a car is "living hell" because we CANNOT get anywhere we want to go with Maine's very limited "public transportation" joke!! Portland’s Metro brags how much it has expanded--that bragging makes me angry--because IT DOES NOT GO TO LEWISTON, AUBURN, AUGUSTA, and BANGOR!! It does not go to WINDHAM, GRAY, GORHAM and ALL the other towns people commute to and from!!!!

Metro is only WITHIN the Portland area and one still has to WALK long blocks from the closest bus stop to where they're going just as it has been for 50 years!!!! Metro has no right to brag!!!!

Portland’s Metro IS responsible for Greyhound CUTTING OUT IT’S MORNING RUN between Portland and Lewiston!!!! When Metro added a Brunswick line---Brunswick had been on the Greyhound Lewiston to Portland route---Greyhound JUST STOPPED THEIR TRIP!!!! Metro does NOT replace the Greyhound route all the way to and from Lewiston!!! So Metro COST RIDERS the loss of that trip between those two cities!!!!!! Concord Coach does not go to Lewiston---it goes to Auburn and only twice a day!!!!

Public transportation has to be from city to town to city to town to city to city, etc.!!!!!! Without that PEOPLE NEED CARS!!! People without cars ARE STUCK and VERY LIMITED to where we can go!!!!!

We are in need of clean transportation solutions for our own health and the health of where we live. I want my children and grandchildren to grow up healthy in a beautiful state with a wide variety of flora and fauna. Spending time outdoors is incredibly important to human health and the air needs to be clean for everyone to take advantage of this deep human need. In addition to the advantages for local residents, a clean and healthy outdoor environment brings in ecotourism dollars as well.
Virginia needs to join the plan to reduce emissions. Some solutions might be the installation of a railway up the I81 corridor to reduce semi traffic; installation of high-speed passenger trains like they have in China (they're fast, smooth and very efficient); mandates on increased fuel efficiency in vehicles and farm equipment; subsidies to encourage people to buy fuel-efficient, hybrid and electric vehicles; more and better public transportation in high-density areas to reduce car use and pollution from idling cars stuck in traffic; more bike paths for commuters built into city and road planning (they have a wonderful system of bike paths in the Netherlands); subsidies for farmers who reduce their use of fossil fuels through the use of fuel-efficient or solar-powered farm equipment, more animal and people power, etc.; encouraging development of electric and solar-powered or augmented semi trucks and many more options.
This policy in particular needs to invest in clean transportation in areas that are already heavily polluted and in economically depressed areas. If we ignore the needs of the poor and underserved, we are not truly improving things, we're just sweeping them under the rug.
I am delighted and grateful that this is a bipartisan effort to improve our state and our nation. In this time of deep polarization, it is encouraging and of vital importance for the two sides to work together on policies that affect us all and will affect Americans for generations to come.

While I lack the expertise to suggest "the how", I urge that we collectively work for the reduction of emissions. The heavy truck traffic on the interstate highway passing along the eastern boundary of our township noticeably affects our air quality. Personally, it seems obvious to me that a large part of the solution must include the shift of an increasing percentage of goods, particularly those travelling long distances, from truck to rail.

Thank you both for your efforts and consideration of the needs of rural, as well as urban, populations.

As a Philadelphia senior citizen, I receive a free transit card for Regional Rail, subways and buses. I am saddened and frustrated by the fact that, despite the excellent urban transit infrastructure, our transit system is not better resourced to communicate with the public, and that trains run so infrequently during non-peak hours and weekends.
Allocating more money to educate the public would increase both ridership and awareness of how mass transit users help decrease everyone's carbon emissions. Better apps to communicate real time arrival of buses, billboards at stations that announce when the next bus or train is expected would greatly minimize the stress of being a mass transit user.
We also need cheaper intercity trains. Adding cheap private buses has been a very popular move, but we need more trains to reduce highway congestion. All this, plus expanding public transit, takes dollars that need to be provided.