TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

For 20 years I've been asking why government is so unbelievable short-sighted in the area of transportation. If you remove greed from the equation, ANYONE can see that it should cost less to take mass transit into the city than to drive. Yet the opposite is true. What a corrupt society we live in.
The TCI is exactly the kind of initiative we need - rather, needed 25 years ago. Anyone who is opposing this is doing so from greed, and is not an honest civil servant. Period.

It is imperative that we, as a society, strive for a zero carbon transportation framework ASAP. It should not be treated as a pipe-dream, but concrete efforts need to be made to attain this goal sooner rather than later, given that addressing climate change is a basic survival issue confronting all of us.

To address the climate crisis a plan is needed that holds large transportation polluters accountable for the pollution they create and invests in clean transportation solutions including:

1) More public transit and electric vehicle infrastructure in rural areas
2) Expansion of commuter rail, electric vehicles, and streets in the suburbs that are safe, walkable, and bikeable
3) Sustainable and equitable housing near transit and electric bus fleets in urban communities
4) Restoration of vehicle mileage standards established by the Obama administration that still in place in California
5) Installation of electric vehicle charging stations on federal highways and state-owned roads
6) Stop paying hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies or tax breaks to oil and gas companies and use those federal funds to create/expand clean
transportation solutions.

I support all TCI efforts to reduce and mitigate fossil fuel consumption, including stopping sprawl and tree removal, planting trees; encouraging alternative energy sources, a enacting a large carbon tax, putting tariffs on products from countries who waste fossil fuels to produce goods.
Put reuse before recycle. In sum everything that helps to reduce escalating climate change

Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) states are developing a regional policy for low-carbon transportation following the December 18, 2018, statement by nine states and Washington DC committing to:

“…design a regional low-carbon transportation policy proposal that would cap and reduce carbon emissions from the combustion of transportation fuels through a cap-and-invest program or other pricing mechanism… [and]… to complete the policy development process within one year, after which each jurisdiction will decide whether to adopt and implement the policy.”

We have run out of time. Such a plan is beyond mandatory. There is no question in the mind of any reasonable person that Connecticut should be part of this initiative, and should be in a leadership role.

I have recently learned about the Transportation and Climate Initiative and I am writing to express my support and urge decisions and actions as soon as possible.
I believe we need much more public transportation and affordable housing near transportation.
I am 69 years old and intend to give up my car within the next three years. I am doing this for two reasons: first, so that my daughters don't have the difficult task of taking it away at some point in the future, and secondly because I feel that it is the least I can do, as one person, to address our current climate crisis.
Because I am also a low-income senior, relying primarily on monthly Social Security income, it is proving to be difficult to find a place to live that is walkable and close to reliable public transportation and that I can afford.
It would be wonderful if the states in this coalition will address, and eventually solve, these problems. Thank you.

I strongly support the Transportation and Climate Initiative. The transportation sector accounts for a third of all carbon emissions so we must make changes to this sector to avert the worst of the climate crisis. We need a plan that holds large transportation polluters accountable for the pollution they create and invests in clean transportation solutions including:

- More public transit and electric vehicle infrastructure in rural areas,
- Expansion of commuter rail, electric vehicles, and streets in the suburbs that are safe, walkable, and bikeable,
- Sustainable and equitable housing near transit and electric bus fleets in urban communities.

Too much woodland has been destroyed to accommodate more and bigger roads. Too many cars are on the road and far too many single passenger vehicles because America has not made public transportation a priority. In Charlottesville, too many busses run only once an hour, making it impractical to use the bus system. The argument is that not enough people use the bus; if the buses were easy to use, many more people, like myself, would be happy to use them. Bus stops are also difficult to reach. The closest bus stops to my house are half a mile away, or more. I cannot reach two of them because it requires walking along a road with only a very narrow shoulder and no sidewalk. This should be a priority, not new and bigger roads, and more parking lots.

Despite what Trump believes, this planet is in the midst of a human caused climate crisis. Thus, we need to move away from fossil fuels as soon as humanly possible. This means making electric vehicles affordable to the average consumer and providing the necessary infrastructure for charging said vehicles. It also means improving our crumbling infrastructure and expanding mass transit. In addition, this means electing a president who, through the power of the people, can bring about these necessary changes on both a national and international level. In my view, that means ensuring that Senator Bernie Sanders not only wins the Democratic primary, but also the general election. He is the only one who truly understand that it takes creating a movement of millions of people to bring about real change. Bernie understands that real change never happens from the top down, but from the bottom up. Bernie has been working to create this movement since 2016 and has had great success. So, please do everything you can to ensure that Bernie is our next president.

Sincerely,
David Lazarus