(Photo: Popular Science)

A story earlier this week highlighted multiple dimensions of justice and automated traffic enforcement and issues of pedestrian safety. A woman received a $150 ticket from the police department that accused her of running a red light. She pointed to video of the incident and insisted that she had, in fact, stopped.

And it's true. The woman did stop. But a red light camera captured the incident and showed that she stopped in the crosswalk — a bad behavior that intrudes on pedestrian space and could, potentially, threaten pedestrian safety.

Many people reacted with fervor in favor of pedestrian rights. Should the woman get a $150 ticket for stopping in the crosswalk? Absolutely, many of you said. She's in the wrong and that's the pedestrian's space. I agree that protecting the crosswalk is important. I don't, however, believe $150 is an appropriate fine — it's punitively high and while it makes sense for running a red light, I don't believe it's at all fair or equivalent to the violation of stopping in the crosswalk. Perhaps a fine of $10 to $50 would be more in line with the crime while still providing an incentive for drivers to act more cautiously.

Red light cameras are a very 21st-century way of increasing traffic safety, and as the discussion about pedestrian safety expanded, I found myself turning back to a May 1932 issue of Popular Science to refresh myself on when our culture first turned to these pedestrian dangers. You know how many pedestrians were struck by cars in 1931? Automobiles ran down more than 310,000 people and more than 14,000 died. Cars killed more than 34,000 people total in that year, according to the author.

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Huffing it toward functionality. (Photo: flickr/brownpau)

Today Metro is publicly letting its riders know that all these weekend delays haven't been for nothing. New escalators are here! Two separate ceremonies marked the occasion this morning, at both Foggy Bottom and Union Station.

"On Wednesday, Metro General Manager and CEO Richard Sarles will mark the completion of escalator rehabilitation work at Union Station and escalator replacement work at Foggy Bottom," WMATA announced earlier this week. "The three new and seven fully refurbished escalators at two of Metro's busiest stations are the first major milestones in Metro’s $150 million effort to improve escalator reliability."

Sounds wonderful, right? Escalators have, perhaps, proved the sorest point for Metro riders who constantly find themselves treading up and down broken or out-of-service stairways. Metro began replacing the Foggy Bottom escalators this summer in a $6 million project that marks the first new escalator the WMATA system has seen in 15 years. Metro is calling these repairs "milestones" in today's press event, and sure, why not. The transit agency should tout its work with every fiber of its being.

But not everyone buys the hype. Here's the most notorious Metro escalator critics in recent memory:

Thomas Friedman: The New York Times columnist and author turned our busted Metro escalators into one of his infamous metaphors, for Christ's sake, in his latest book. They even make the opening chapter. When Friedman stares at his Bethesda station, he sees a symbol of American dysfunction. What he doesn't understand, most of all, seems to be the slow pace of repairs.

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(Photo: Spotcycle)

Capital Bikeshare continues to grow in D.C. and Virginia, with new stations added frequently and with new announcements that Walmart may fund certain Capital Bikeshare stations and that the National Park Service is in the process of establishing five stations on the National Mall. Just yesterday, Capital Bikeshare unveiled a new station at 18th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW and at 7th and R Street NW.

What does all this expansion mean? More riders and more stations to keep track of as we move forward. Even in the cooler weather of October, Capital Bikeshare clocked more than 123,000 rides system-wide.

One essential tool for tracking the bikeshare system is a smartphone app called Spotcycle, which helps bikesharing communities in what will soon be nine cities, from London to Boston to Toronto to Melbourne to D.C. Spotcycle has tested an upgrade of the app and now offers better maps and more features. The iPhone version of 3.0 officially went live on November 21.

What better time for an upgrade for D.C. bicyclists, no? Our bikesharing is expanding, and these upgraded features will be especially useful in the warmer months of 2012. Here's a glimpse at some of the app's main features:

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Joy to the world of WMATA. (Photo: YouTube/LuxRiderDC)

The end of Thanksgiving signifies Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and a million other labels ... but it also signifies the beginning of the winter holiday season. I began to hear Christmas music on the radio over the weekend while in St. Louis, and I don't expect these tunes to stop any time soon.

In that spirit, the coming season will bring Christmas carollers to our streets and even, it seems, to our D.C. Metro system. Video has emerged for the first caroller of the season, giving a rousing rendition of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" on an Orange Line WMATA train. Here's the man who allegedly gave quite a performance to riders around 9 p.m. last night:

The caroller, as you can see, is a short Asian man. He grips a Metro pole in one hand as he reads the carol from a book in the other. How would you react to this spontaneous sight on your commute? While I can see the virtue of Christmas carols sung on the street, I wonder if the Metro trains provide space that's a little too close for comfort. Imagine reading the Express next to this lone caroller. There is, after all, no escaping this man's singing once the train takes off.

A 55-year-old YouTube user known as LuxRiderDC uploaded the clip yesterday with the following message:

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The pump is killing us. (Photo: flickr/brownpau)

Last Monday I exited the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station, darkness all around me and light rain falling, only to encounter a man and a woman approaching me with clipboards.

The smiling woman asked me if I like cheap gas. Sure, I said. She asked me if I wanted to sign a petition in support of D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh's (D-Ward 3) bill on District gasoline — Bill 19-299, the Retail Service Station Amendment Act of 2011, which has floundered in the D.C. Council since Cheh and Councilmembers Jack Evans, Phil Mendelson, and Tommy Wells introduced it on May 17. The bill proposed to amend the 1976 Retail Service Station Act and prevent gasoline distributors, such as Capitol Petroleum Group's Eyob "Joe" Mamo, from owning and operating gas stations, a provision initially enacted in 2004 and nixed in 2007. Mamo controls more than 40% of gas stations in the District and is currently under investigation in D.C. and Arlington. These two people wanted me to support a bill that would end such control.

Welcome to the first big efforts of the D.C./Mid-Atlantic Affordable Gasoline Coalition, a collection of independent gas stations and other partners that has risen up against Mamo and in support of Cheh's bill, this fall. In the last two weeks, AAA Mid-Atlantic officially partnered with the coalition. The coalition's AffordableGasoline.org website, created on October 12, 2011, lists 16 member gas stations and states that members "hold ourselves in direct opposition to all forms of open and masked monopolies/price-fixing," which they as well as others such as AAA allege is happening with the wholesaler and station owner Mamo. Why do District residents pay around 20 cents more for gas than neighboring states Virginia and Maryland? Look to Mamo and the practice Cheh's bill proposes to end, the coalition says. Mamo told the City Paper the bill and this impression wrongly accused him and used his operation as a "scapegoat" for high gas prices back when the bill was introduced. But now forces have gathered to marshal public support against Mamo and resurrect Cheh's bill in a powerful way.

"We are gathering signatures to put before the Council," David Byrd, a lobbyist with Global Political Solutions, told me about the petitioners he's helped organize in the last week and a half.

The effort started on November 21 and is expected to continue through the winter holiday season. Byrd proudly notes that his people received around 100 signatures of support at one Metro station during one two-hour period on the first day. In the coming weeks, the coalition plans to begin sending representatives to ANC meetings to echo their message. The bill's passage stalled in November and discussion is delayed until January, as Councilmembers Vincent Orange and Marion Barry asked fellow members to postpone a vote indefinitely. AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson John Townsend II questions the motivations of certain councilmembers who have risen up against the legislation. Alan Suderman examined the racial dimensions of the council struggle in late September as national powers like civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Congressional Black Caucus spoke in favor of Mamo and against the bill.

"It's just a strange political calculus the Council is making," Townsend told me. "It's not about minority entrepreneurship so much as the welfare of 600,000 persons ... There are people who want to put long knives into the bill."

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(Photo: flickr/ep_jhu)

If there was any doubt that the holidays are over, here's a sad wake-up call — WMATA is back with its announcements of track work. I expect the transit agency is hoping to take advantage of these few weeks between Thanksgiving and winter holidays to get some major work done, and it's already evident in a new announcement from this morning. 

On this coming weekend of December 2 to 4, expect a whopping six Metro stations to close: Brookland, Takoma, Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Wheaton and Glenmont. As WMATA employees add rail and replace fasteners, there'll be plenty of other little changes, too. Don't expect any Red Line service at Fort Totten, for instance. There'll be plenty of single-tracking on different lines during the week. What this track work robs commuters of, as always, is time. People using shuttle buses on the Red Line should expect "30 minutes of additional travel time," people on the Orange Line should expect "20 minutes of additional travel time." And God forbid you have to use both lines. Track work has become so common as part of Metro's six-year, $5 billion plan that I rarely feel compelled to dissect it on a regular basis but we're all a little dazed from Thanksgiving — perhaps you need a reminder. The agency also announces that several changes to bus routes are coming on December 18.

More details on the track work here. Welcome home, D.C.

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Heed the red eye. (Photo: flickr/rickremington)

When 45-year-old Chen Lan, known to many friends as Ellen, traveled to D.C. for a job interview last February, she didn't expect the District to stay with and pursue her for the next 10 months. She had reserved a room at a hotel and on February 1, 2011, the night before her interview, she pulled to a stop on New York Avenue, west-bound and right where it meets Florida Avenue NE, not far from the sprawling Wendy's in the middle of that intersection mess.

As she pulled to a stop, a light flashed — preemptively so, she now thinks. The source of the light should be no surprise to D.C drivers. The city installed around 50 red-light cameras throughout the wards starting in August of 1999 after concerns about unsafe driving in the District.

Months later, Chen received a $150 ticket in the mail that alleged she had run the New York-Florida intersection's red light. She paused at the notice, however, and didn't immediately move to pay the ticket. Had she actually run a red light in D.C.? She didn't believe she had, and she followed up by examining the red-light camera video footage made available to her online.

"I looked at the video and said, no, I didn't run through a traffic light," Chen told me. "A lot of the time, when people get the ticket, they just pay."

But Chen wasn't prepared to pay for a violation she hadn't committed. She had left China more than 17 years ago due to another mix-up involving a traffic violation and came to America with hope and renewed faith in government. She was a member of the military here. Surely an appeal process would exist to save her from injustice. She appealed and included the red light camera's own video but earlier this November, she received a notice telling her she hadn't included enough information and her appeal was dismissed. She initially planned, glumly, to pay the $150 ticket in addition to another $10 appeal fee on top of the original amount, but still wonders: Why should she have to pay a ticket when video showed she hadn't committed the crime alleged against her? What lesson would she learn by paying?

"It's the capital of the country I believe so much in!" Chen said with emotion. "I came to a full stop. I did not pass the red light "

But despite Chen's video, police still see driver fault and didn't hesitate about awarding a $150 ticket when I contacted them for comment about red-light cameras and the concerns of a District driver.

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The bellowing senator of the South. (Photo: LIFE magazine)

More than 60 years ago, the nation created a popular character known as Senator Beauregard Claghorn, a parody of the unrepentant Southerner from South Carolina whose bluster and bark amused audiences all across America. You can thank The Fred Allen Show and the acting of Kenny Delmar for the fake senator's rambling bits and humor. He was a radio hit in the 1940s, and his drawl swept the nation.

Take Senator Claghorn's perfect Thanksgiving dinner, for instance, according to an issue of LIFE in 1946: "Ah ate only the part of the turkey that was facin' south ... when ah eat crackers in bed, ah only eat Georgia crackers ... Ah never eat applesauce. In among them apples there might be a Northern spy!" The only train he rides is the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. See a sampling of the character in this video here:

The absurd character, obsessed with the Mason Dixon and the joy of a good Southern drawl, made for an entertaining Washingtonian to the people of the mid-1940s. He was entirely over the top, anachronistic, and a spot-on satire. 

Claghorn, as it turns out, had his own set of traffic solutions for our gridlock-beset capital city of Washington, D.C.

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Hours and hours, stranded. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

D.C. bus drivers, here's an example of what not to do in what is essentially a Thanksgiving transit horror story. In short, a Greyhound bus driver stopped in the middle of rural Missouri, and, frustrated with her passengers, simply locked the bus at a truck-stop and left in the night. The riders spent their entire evening stranded inside the vehicle hours away from their destination of St. Louis.

The bus, traveling from Memphis, had experienced the prickly driver's behavior before. She'd already locked the bus once before and then finally left. Enough was enough, I suppose. Can you imagine waiting for the driver to return? And then no one shows up. I find myself wondering what thoughts ran through the driver's head then and wondering what she did. The District's buses have issues but none like this that I know about. As we all recall, D.C. has its own way of dealing with rowdy passengers. These Greyhound customers, at least, received a refund after such unconventional disciplinary action but arrived at their destination more than half a day late. Let's hope they all feast on the greatest of Thanksgiving meals this week to help forget the trauma.

St. Louis-based KDSK has details on the alarming incident, in which one passenger says she felt like she was being "punked":

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The joy of trains. (Photo: flickr/edenpictures)

Airports and airplanes inspire any number of reactions — and most seem to be negative. People curse the white sterility, the security lines, the hassle with confirmation codes and boarding passes, the waits, the delays. I understand the reasoning well enough. The airport might as well be a metaphor for hell in many people's minds.

I personally never minded air travel. What I liked was the sense of possibility. Airports always signified the excitement of a new destination in my mind, and navigating the gates and terminals never struck me as too confusing.

But today, as countless people take to the air for their Thanksgiving breaks, I feel it's worth revisiting one recent case against air travel. Atlantic blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates first expressed reservations about flying on our airlines in September due to all the perils of TSA. On November 1, he reiterated these concerns and a vow to avoid our planes if he could in a post called "The Time Machine." But what also caught my attention was the way he elevated the experience of riding on a train. I especially liked his thoughts on what the train can mean to an American traveler, to the romance and leisure and pause of travel. I don't inherently privilege the train above the plane but after reading Ta-Nehisi's ode, I am far more likely to look up train tickets for wherever I'm traveling on the East Coast next. Too often a train has come to mean WMATA for me; I forget that there's a whole country full of long-distance trains out there on the rails.

Coates doesn't hesitate in labeling the superiority of this transportation method:

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(Photo: flickr/brentdpayne)

American Airlines passengers pushed, shoved, and ballet-danced around one as we boarded and attempted to find our seats on a flight yesterday. Unlike my Spirit Air flights from a week and a half ago, it was wonderfully free to bring carry-on baggage, and people brought their fair share.

Once I grabbed my own middle seat, I leaned back and watched as the line of people ahead of me continued to pour into the plane and repeat the ritual. The luggage-and-seat shuffle is a familiar sight I've observed since I was a kid. Once aloft, I noticed another sight that's not so familiar — laptops all over. Today's flying experience includes not just magazines and books and earbuds but more often than ever, people pulling laptops from their bags and watching movie and TV while up in the air. The young woman in front of me, I noticed, watched Crazy, Stupid, Love with Steve Carell. The dark-haired woman next to me began tuning into the comedy Bridesmaids.

Yet the first moments of Bridesmaids raised another question for me — should people on airplanes be allowed to watch anything they want?

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Take Metro home with you. (Photo: flickr/spec-ta-cles)

Kristen Paulson specializes in "urban embroidery, thread manipulation, alternative designs, supplies, and vintage finds," according to her Etsy webpage, so it's no surprise she would find a creative way to twist and present our Washington, D.C. Metro map. Paulson, a social worker, artist, and roller derby enthusiast based out of Kansas City, crafted this simple and awesome embroidery that depicts the lines of the D.C. Metro, from Red to Blue to Yellow to Green to Orange, all represented in thread.

Photos of her delightful take on our map first emerged in mid-summer and she now sells the item for $34 on Etsy. Paulson describes the map this way:

The D.C. metro map is hand stitched with tight half stitches in vibrant floss, representing the red, orange, blue, and yellow, and green lines, on muslin fabric. Stretched on a 6" wooden hoop.

Wonderful abstract decor that will be a wonderful conversational piece for any room, shelf, or cubicle space.

What a fun creation. I definitely wouldn't mind having that on my wall.

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Here comes bikeshare. (Photo: NPS)

The National Park Service is a puzzling entity. One day, they'll seemingly let you down for no communication or follow-up regarding a bicycle hit-and-run on the GW Parkway. The next, NPS invites public comment on the five proposed Capital Bikeshare stations for the National Mall. Yes, really.

NPS had initially rejected the notion that Capital Bikeshare could come to the Mall earlier this year. The park service controls the land and didn't think bikeshare stations would be proper. But now NPS is presenting an aerial map of proposed locations, with specific dimensions and plans, and has opened a public comment period from today, November 22, to December 28. Submit your own comment for the proposal here.

The proposed locations were picked "based on their proximity to visitor destinations, access to compatible modes of transportation such as Metro and bike paths, and connectivity to other Capital Bikeshare stations. They are located in the vicinity of 'Visitor Transportation Stops' as shown on the Circulation Map for the Preferred Alternative in the National Mall Plan." Sounds good and fine. Bikeshare strikes me as a perfect way to navigate the monuments of the National Mall, particularly in warmer weather. The Mall stretches great lengths but a wealth of cultural treasures is packed relatively close. It's walkable but tiring and time-consuming, hence the rise of pedicabs and other ways to quickly move people from one spot of the Mall to another. Not far enough for car or Metro ride but not always close enough to easily walk? Biking may be the answer. Capital Bikeshare has already begun targeting tourists by partnering with hotels. Bikeshare stations make more sense on the Mall, perhaps, than anywhere else.

NPS had announced an openness to Capital Bikeshare in recent months, and it's wonderful to see follow-up as the organization's National Mall plans move forward. Here's the five spots the NPS imagines right now:

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(Photo: YouTube/MeanBlackDude)

The most notorious MetroAccess vlogger has struck again, this time bringing his camera directly into his local MetroAccess offices in Division 113 of Capitol Heights, Maryland. The driver has just released a two-month-old video that's arguably bolder than any of his prior releases — and one that directly takes on his managers at MetroAccess contractor MV Transportation, a California-based company that has run the WMATA paratransit services for people with disabilities since 2005. He has cast doubt on MV's ability to run MetroAccess in the past, and now, he shows us an abandoned dispatch center as well as improper use of company vehicles, as dispatchers allegedly left their jobs to gather with friends and drink beer for some Redskins tailgating.

The man I'm talking about is publicly known as Lez, Leslie, and MeanBlackDude, and I've spoken to him and highlighted his videos before. Here's the video, titled "Dude! Where's My Dispatch?" which I'll let speak for itself first:

"I've been having some problems," Lez tells us in the video. "They took me off the road." Apparently MV Transportation learned of one of his previous videos, where he talked to a woman about a drunk driver that left her disabled. Leslie and the woman speak together in a MetroAccess vehicle. It's a touching video and underscores the real connection that often exists between drivers and their clients. But MV apparently saw the use of the vehicle as "unauthorized" and acted against the vlogger.

Now he's fighting back against what he sees as a far greater transgression on the part of his managers. On Sunday, September 18, the Washington Redskins played the Arizona Cardinals down at Fedex Field. "I really shouldn't be doing this," Lez says as he enters the office, "but this is the biggest crock I done seen. We're in the office ... we've got four operations managers at the game, with friends, all company vehicles, and no dispatchers, not a one ... and somebody needs some assistance. One of these phones is going off." Leslie also shows us Heineken visible in company vehicles. He says they were gone for "at least" an hour.

Included with his video is the following message:

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Offloaded after the earthquake. (Photo: John Hendel)

I was glancing through Metro's third quarter Vital Signs report, released this November, and observed an eye-catching statistic:

Customer commendation and complaint rates reflected Metro’s handling of the August 23rd earthquake with a 50% increase in rail commendations that month and Metrobus challenges with on-time service resulting in a notable spike in complaints in September.

A 50% increase in rail commendations, you say?

I guess all WMATA needed was an earthquake to make people pause and praise the transit agency. As you recall, that August week was breathtaking for commuters, with an earthquake striking halfway through the week and the storm that was Irene striking a couple days later. Two natural disasters occurred and although there was the occasional moment or two of chaos, WMATA engaged in track inspections, sandbag distribution, and all other necessary methods and experienced shockingly smooth service, all while live-tweeting and maintaining an openness about what had happened.

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(Photo: flickr/elvertbarnes)

As we all know, November marks greater pedestrian dangers due to greater commutes home. But a recent jogger assault on Del Ray Avenue raises another concern — the security of our daily commutes. In light of the recent incident, the Alexandria Police Department offers the following jogging safety tips to all our region's commuters:

• Avoid running with headphones.
• Run in well lit areas.
• Try and run with a partner when possible.
• Keep a cell phone with you at all times.
• Let people know what routes you plan to take.

In other words, don't go wandering off alone, vulnerably insulated in a sonic bubble of your iPod music, and without anyone knowing where you are. Easier said than done for some people just trying to jog before or after work on a given weekday but wise points nonetheless. This advice applies to both joggers as well as pedestrians in my book. Both are equally vulnerable out there on the streets.

According to police, the assault occurred this morning at 6 a.m. around the 200 block of E. Del Ray Avenue A man grabbed the female jogger from behind and inappropriately touched her and pushed her to the ground. She screamed and caused the man to run off, fleeing toward Mount Vernon Avenue. Police describe him as "unknown race male wearing a black puffy, thigh length coat, a black skull cap and dark pants" and recommend calling Detective Kevin Thomas at 703.746.6273 or the Criminal Investigations Section at 703.746.6711 if you know anything.

Between this assault and the bicyclist injured on the GW Parkway, life has not been the easiest for northern Virginians lately here at On Foot. More than anything, I would encourage caution — and remember these tips from Alexandria police. You never know when they'll come in handy.

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Danger on the Parkway. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Five cyclists journeyed onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway on Oct. 9 for what they fancied was a "last ride" on the scenic road, given the National Park Service's recent moves to prohibit cycling on the long stretch of northern Virginia pavement. The prohibition sparked some contention between the NPS and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association earlier this year, as WABA's executive director fought for bicyclists' right to use the GW Parkway. NPS declared in early August that "the roadways of the Parkways are too narrow and unsafe to allow both bicyclists and motorists utilize the same roadway lanes."

This last October ride was hardly a peaceful one, however. As the five cyclists headed north from Mount Vernon, the bicyclists were casually riding when what appeared to be a gold or bronze Cadillac began driving up behind them about an hour before noon and not far from Collingwood Road. The driver, allegedly a white man with dark gray hair upwards of 70 years in age, veered over across lanes and apparently was mouthing something to the drivers. "He was obviously upset about them being on the Parkway," said James D. Turner, an attorney at law from Alexandria.

Suddenly chaos reigned on the GW Parkway. The driver hit his brakes, the car screeched, and smoke filled the air. One bicyclist ended up on the grass. Another faced a far worse fate. What happened next left bicyclist Phil Hepburn bedridden for six weeks with a broken hip. He still goes to therapy three to four times a week and with lasting damage to one of his legs.

"He ended up with his face underneath the muffler," Turner told me. The bicyclist was apparently "almost dead on the table."

According to the bicyclists, the driver sped off after striking them. The attorney has been friends with Hepburn for years and weeks after the October 9 incident, Turner offered a $10,000 reward for information on the driver's identity — for what the flyer called, in clear bold language, "attempted murder with a motor vehicle." Here's the flyer that Turner has presented to residents of northern Virginia, local newspapers, the Chamber of Commerce, and anyone he can think of in the last week or so:

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(Photo: Ben Schumin)

Happy weekend-before-Thanksgiving, D.C. I hope you haven't begun your travel early — among the stations WMATA has closed for track work is the Ronald Reagan National Airport Metro stop. Of all the weekends, right? Luckily I'm not flying out of town until next Tuesday evening. But if you are traveling to DCA this weekend, consider taking some of these free Metro shuttle buses.

And naturally you'll want some reading material for the wonderfully lazy Thanksgiving week, no? Let's review the biggest stories of the past week:

• "Make sure you take the opportunity to spread out." Is this the best Metro conductor on the Orange Line?

• Just where are those prime DDOT car-sharing parking spaces? I mapped them all out for you.

• The U.S. government will decide whether to mandate a new traffic-safety technology for all cars in 2013. They're testing it now.

• See where the biggest transportation donors gave their money for the 2012 election cycle.

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(Photo: flickr/dano)

Every good commute calls for a good playlist. Forget long waits for Metro trains, crowded jostling on the cars, walks that seem endless, and the bus stops to what feel like nowhere — this weekend, just sit back and enjoy the songs on your iPod or MP3 player. The right song kills all the travel stress, and in honor of that fact, TBD's On Foot blog offers you a weekly transit-themed track for your Metro playlist. The destination will come eventually, after all. In the meantime, just enjoy the ride and the music.

This week's traffic jam: "Love Train" by The O'Jays (1972)

Hear more songs for your commuting playlist here.

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Truckers adore this man on the right. (Photo: flickr/maassive)

How to explain the overwhelming politicization of transportation? We worry about how Congress is treating the enhancement funds slated for pedestrians and bicyclists, we see Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) suggesting cuts to programs like Capital Bikeshare, and we see President Obama advocating for infrastructure spending amid a fractured set of Senators and representatives. Why do parties express the preferences the way they do? One big explanation is where money goes — and from the transportation sector, the money tilts overwhelmingly in one direction.

By the numbers, the transportation sector overwhelmingly supports Republicans in political campaigns, a fact especially apparent when glancing at donations for the 2012 election cycle. By "transportation sector," I mean a very specific old guard of what transportation means. We're talking about the entrenched, dominant mode in America, the people with money. We're talking the automotive and air transport industries. And specifically, by the numbers of the Center for Responsive Politics and FEC data, we're talking about car dealers and the two big delivery services of UPS and FedEx.

Whom do transportation donors like for the 2012 elections? The two GOP princes of transportation are the presidential nominees Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who has received $482,150, and Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who has received $477,376. These two men have received by far the biggest donations of any candidate out there. And why not, right? Neither are wild cards in terms of their politics, really. They're safe and staunchly conservative in a traditional, institutional way that would benefit transportation stakeholders, the auto-driven world of gas and highways and infrastructure.

The rest of the list of top recipients is overwhelmingly Republican as well.

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