Transit

Starting in January 2019, service on the L train west of Bedford Avenue will be suspended for 15 months to allow for Sandy-related repairs. The only way to keep hundreds of thousands of people moving is to dedicate significant street space to buses on both sides of the East River. But at a presentation to elected officials on Friday, the MTA and DOT did not indicate that bus lanes are part of their plan, except on the Williamsburg Bridge itself.

The Trump administration's fiscal year 2018 budget, released yesterday, includes severe cuts to federal transit funding. Amid this looming austerity, Trump wants to insert his infrastructure plan, which calls for $800 billion in private financing suited for building toll roads (if they're profitable) but not transit infrastructure. Next stop: Congress, which will consider the president's proposal before it passes a budget over the summer.

Facing pressure to issue a long-delayed decision on Maryland's Purple Line light rail, a federal judge has determined -- five months after he was given the additional analysis that he requested -- that the project needs even more environmental studies.

Sound Transit is beginning to build a light rail line between downtown Seattle and its booming eastern suburbs. It's expected to eventually carry 50,000 riders each day. Parts of the route will run on highways, and the expectation is that the rail line will reduce traffic congestion. This is often how transit projects are framed -- as congestion cures -- and that's a problem, says The Urbanist's Doug Trumm.

Criminal justice advocates gathered outside City Hall this morning to call on Mayor de Blasio to fund discount transit fares for poor New Yorkers.

Bright red bus lanes are being painted in downtown Baltimore as the city prepares to launch a revamped bus network in just over a month.

With so much transportation funding going toward highways, it's tempting to support any transit investment as a step in the right direction. But not all transit investments will produce service that helps people get where they need to go.

Toronto's busiest surface transit route could get a big upgrade as part of a year-long pilot project -- if it clears the Toronto City Council this summer.

Today is the grand opening for the QLine, Detroit's 3.3-mile, mixed-traffic streetcar on Woodward Avenue. It's getting tons of local press attention, but TransitCenter reports that the Motor City's true transit renaissance is not due to the streetcar, but the city's successful, under-the-radar turnaround of its bus system.