• AORTA members meet, discuss and evaluate local, regional and national issues. We develop short- and long-range solutions to meet transportation needs. We concern ourselves with routes, schedules, stations, equipment, land use, safety, on-board services, publicity, interconnectivity and funding.
• AORTA communicates with government officials, and with operating companies and agencies, to share our concerns and ideas. We provide oral and written testimony at public hearings. We encourage decisions that are cost-effective and environmentally responsible.
• AORTA provides interactive information booths at community fairs and events. We provide speakers for churches and community groups. We publish and distribute documents that outline our analyses and proposals.
• AORTA educates officials and the public about the factors that shape our national and local transportation land-use policies, and the need for change. We recognize that the distortion of transportation economics has adversely affected the environment, the economic viability of our nation, and the health of our citizens.

Why Does AORTA emphasize rail?

• AORTA recognizes the inherent advantages of railway technology which make it suitable to meet transportation needs. Rail minimizes impact on the environment and conserves limited natural resources.
• For most corridors, rail offers the most efficient, safe and environmentally sound mode of mechanized transportation.
• A flanged steel wheel rolling on a steel rail is 10 times more energy-efficient than a rubber tire rolling on asphalt. One freight train, for example, can replace more than 100 heavy trucks, reducing labor costs, energy consumption, environmental pollution and traffic congestion.
• The Japanese National Railways' Shinkansen high speed train system, between its inauguration in 1964 and 1992, had more than three billion passenger trips without a single fatality or injury. The same volume of road travel in the United States resulted in 2,000 deaths, more than $100,000 injuries and millions of dollars in damages.

Transportation Facts.

• Highway vehicles are the single largest source of air pollution, causing tropospheric ozone (i.e., near ground level), acid rain and haze.
• The American Lung Association estimates that medical costs from gasoline fumes range from 40 to 45 cents per gallon.More than 60,000 square miles of land in the U.S. is paved for roads, equivalent to 10 percent of the nation's arable land.
• For every $1.00 spent on gasoline, 85 cents leave the local economy. For every $1.00 placed in a public transit farebox, 80 cents goes directly to local wages. That 80 cents is re-spent in the local area, purchasing more than $3.80 worth of goods and services.
• In Fiscal Year 1991, Oregon spent less than $4.00 per resident on public transportation, but spent about $180.00 per capita on road construction and maintenance.
• According to the Federal Highway Administration, roads receive an $18 billion per year subsidy from non-highway users. These statistics do not include many coast paid by taxpayers. Worldwatch Institute estimates the subsidy at $300 billion per year, or $2,400 per automobile.