Move LA is searching for funding for a universal student transit pass pilot program in LA County. Now is the perfect time: The pot of Cap & Trade dollars (the GHG Reduction Fund or GGRF) is filling up with money as new businesses come under the cap and need to buy emission allowances, and the state Legislature and recipients of GGRF money haven't figured out how to spend all that money yet. LA Metro, for example, must soon propose to Caltrans how it will use its share of Low Carbon Transit Operations Program funding. We suggest it could be a universal student transit pass program. Or at least a pilot project to start.

 From the committee in charge of the Olympic bid:

LA is the eastern capital of the US
The northern capital of Latin America
The eastern capital of the Pacific Rim
A city made up 100 nations
1000s of start-ups
18 million hard-dreaming people
Working to reinvent the city!

 This is kinda cool! Courtesy Lawrence Sims.

Further deliberations in the California Legislature on how to spend the 40% of as-yet-unallocated GHG Reduction Fund money have been pushed off until the start of the second year of this legislative session, beginning January 2016. The upside is we have a few more months to prepare a bigger statewide push for student transit passes! But in the meantime, we hope to gear up a local campaign to convince LA Metro to set aside $5 million of the agency's Low Carbon Transit Operations Program funding for a universal student transit pass pilot in LA County.

From Move LA Partner Jonathan Parfrey on his Climate Resolve blog: There’s big news out of Sacramento this week: the California Assembly failed to fully approve two key climate laws. I say: buck up. Let’s focus on this: We won some incredibly important climate bills this session. The state is now dedicated to supplying a full half of its electricity from renewable power by 2030 — an amazing accomplishment. California continues to be a climate leader. We also passed three huge climate adaptation bills that will help us better plan and invest so we are prepared for the impacts of climate change. Preparing for the inevitable effects of climate change is necessary. We’ve already had success in our adaptation efforts; winning cool roof legislation in Los Angeles means we've begun cooling our city today and for years to come. Read more on Climate Resolve's blog.

Lots has happened since Move LA worked with the Shared Use Mobility Center (SUMC), NRDC, the TransitCenter and other partners on the Live Ride Share conference earlier this year — so much that the national nonprofit SUMC is staging another conference in their hometown of Chicago. Technology keeps pushing shared use forward and now there’s a plethora of apps to integrate ridesharing, bikesharing and carsharing with transit, and some 200 start-ups providing bus and shuttle services that fall somewhere in between public transit and the private car. There's increased interest in linking transit and shared use because it's clear they need each other. Have you read Nate Silver’s recent blog post “Public Transit Should Be Uber’s Best Friend”? If not, you should read it now!

As the the cost of education has gone up and the economic fortunes of families have gone down, providing students with universal student transit passes — like Santa Monica College’s “Any Line Any Time” program — seems like a better and better idea. A UCLA study shows these passes can increase student ridership by 70% to 200% and reduce driving by a similar measure. There are empty seats on transit that students could fill. GHG emissions would go down. We could develop life-long transit riders. And the Legislature is deciding what to spend GHG Reduction Fund money on. We are asking the Legislature to set aside $25 million of the GGRF for student passes — which are an eligible expense. 15 LA County community colleges and 20 nonprofit groups have joined us in this “ask” of the Legislature. Read the letter here.

New CA Assembly Speaker will be Anthony Rendon from Lakewood! This means both houses of the CA Legislature will be controlled by Latinos from LA County. Rendon's key concerns are the environment, early childhood education, and he's good on transportation and affordable housing issues: http://www.sacbee.com/…/…/capitol-alert/article33841500.html

Check out the iTransit website and get involved!  When Governor Brown convened the Extraordinary Session on Transportation and Infrastructure Development earlier this year, transit wasn't even part of the conversation. It was all about fixing roads -- with Cap & Trade funding! (A notion dismissed by Senate President pro Tem Kevin De Leon, who said "We need serious proposals.") The conversation has come around to including public transportation, and at a press conference in Sacramento this morning, state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) and Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) were among those who urged the state Senate to pass 2 bills: SBX1 7 (Allen) would triple the diesel sales tax and raise $300 million annually for transit, including about $85 million for Los Angeles. SBX1 8 (Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo) would triple the diesel sales tax. CLICK on the iTransit link above, add your name and address, and an email will be sent to the senators who represent you! ABX1 8 (Bloom and Asm. David Chiu, D-San Francisco) and ABX1 7 (Asm. Adrin Nazarian, D-Van Nuys) will be considered by the Assembly soon.

Check it out on You Tube     Right, so you think the BUS is the LOSER? Guess again . . . because in a bus-only lane, with signal prioritization . . . Oh the irony.