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Legislature OKs mass transport office
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Posted on Sep 28 2005
The Senate passed yesterday a House-approved measure that aims to create a transport office that would develop a mass transportation system in the CNMI.
The Senate approved House Bill 14-318, which proposes a CNMI Office of Transit Authority within the Office of the Governor.
The bill, authored by Rep. Clyde Norita, provides that the office would be a recipient of federal grants from the Federal Transit Administration.
Norita earlier noted that the CNMI has been eligible for these grants but it failed to apply for them. The CNMI government, he said, could have applied for a little over $2 million from fiscal years 1994 to 2003.
Through the proposed office, he said the government can apply for grants from FTA and use it to assess the Commonwealth’s transportation needs and develop a viable public transportation system.
The Department of Commerce is also pushing for a similar proposal. The department has drafted its own mass transport plan, which is projected to be implemented beginning next year.
Based on the department’s 2005-2010 Public Transportation Development Plan, a task force shall be created and a recommendation report on the proposed program shall be submitted to the governor and the Legislature within this year.
By February 2006, it shall apply for a grant with the Federal Transit Administration. A gradual implementation of the program shall begin in August 2006.
The department said the goal “is to establish a public transportation system that provides for an improved mobility of our citizens and the transportation of goods and services.”
The agency said it came up with the idea in view of the Commonwealth’s anticipated growth and economic opportunities.
The public transport system shall include varied transportation options such as buses, carpools, vanpools, curb-to-curb paratransit service, and rain train or a monorail system.
Through FTA, the federal government would provide financial assistance and training to local transit systems and planning organizations.
