DOMINIC MONCADA: "With gas prices constantly increasing, a lot of public transit agencies are trying to find ways to modernize their system -- anything that has a better cost benefit for an agency."

New Orleans is laying down new tracks to expand its system. Other cities including San Francisco, California and Portland, Oregon, are also expanding their systems. In Portland, a streetcar line opened in two thousand one. It covers six-and-a-half kilometers and has about twelve thousand daily riders. A second line is set to open this year.

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CHRISTOPHER CRUISE:Do you ride a bike to work or to get around town? Local officials in Washington, DC, wish more people would. The city government in the District of Columbia started the Bikeshare program in September of two thousand ten. Today, there are more than one hundred thirty stations around the city where members can get or return a bike. In all, the nation's capital and neighboring Arlington, Virginia, have more than one thousand Bikeshare bicycles.

FEMALE RIDER: "I love it. I use it every single day to get to school."

People can buy memberships for a single day, three days, one month or a full year. Chris Holben is the project director of Washington's Capital Bikeshare program.

CHRIS HOLBEN: "We have about twenty thousand annual members who can walk up take a bike out. We also had about ninety thousand visitors use our bikes. Those were tourists or people here for the day".