The Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority and the New Elected Board of Director
by Eric Miller | Oct 25, 2024
You are probably aware that another election season is upon us, although what you may or may not realize is that there is an election for a completely new transit board of directors for the Omaha region. The Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority of Omaha, better known as Metro, is electing a board of directors for the first time ever. This seven-member body elected by citizens of the City of Omaha will replace the current Mayor-appointed (and City Council-approved) board of five members. The new board will take over in January 2025. How did this come to be? Anyone that has been following my previous articles will remember discussing the new regional transit authority that Metro is transitioning into. A regional transit authority with an elected board has been in discussion for many years. I remember bringing up this idea with Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers about 20 years ago, thinking that this would be a good way to introduce less politics into transit and get a board of...
Council Bluffs Linkages PEL Study – Revolutionizing How we Connect Omaha and Council Bluffs
by Eric Miller | Oct 18, 2024
The Council Bluffs Linkages PEL study started quietly earlier this year and is now off and running with the first public outreach event held last week and a public survey that will be available until October 25, 2024: https://fhu.mysocialpinpoint.com/council-bluffs-linkages Just what is a PEL, you ask? It stands for Planning and Environmental Linkages, which is a fancy phrase to say that it is the next step in a federal planning process to apply for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding for a capital project. Specifically, a PEL represents a collaborative and integrated approach to decision-making that considers environmental, community, and economic goals early in the transportation planning process and uses this information, analysis, and products developed during planning to inform the environmental review process. This study will allow Council Bluffs to move on to a formal environmental study. PELs are used for a variety of transportation projects including highways,...
Washington DC Streetcar In Focus
by Eric Miller | Sep 2, 2024
An essential part in implementing any major project is to visit similar projects to see how others were done and learn from them, both the good and the bad. An advantage with public transit projects is that they are extremely easy to visit and test the user experience. I am always curious to see how other streetcar systems work and what that means for what we are building in Omaha. There are currently at least 14 operating modern streetcar systems in the United States (there are more streetcar systems if you count heritage trolleys and light rail systems that operate more like streetcars). I have visited several of these and would like to share some anecdotes, starting with the DC Streetcar. I visited Washington DC in mid-August 2024 as part of a transit conference and set out to experience it firsthand. This is particularly important as there are some similarities with the Omaha system: Operates in mixed traffic. Is run by a private operator (RATPDev). Does not charge a fare. Uses...