Transit
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Atlanta’s Streetcar Investment Is Not Paying Off
Unable to assemble new funding from the state to significantly improve the rapid transit system, the city of Atlanta chose to focus on a cheaper-to-implement streetcar line. But more than two years after launch, ridership on the streetcar is falling far short of expectations.
March 9, 2017
Why Cities Are Starting to Decriminalize Fare Evasion
With renewed public attention on the excessive criminalization of poor people and people of color, some transit agencies and law enforcement officials are reevaluating their fare evasion policies.
March 8, 2017
A Fixation on Parking Threatens Transit Progress in Atlanta
Darin Givens is frustrated with how Atlanta is planning for the future. “We don’t feel like the city is building transit that fits needs, or places that fit transit,” says the founder of local advocacy site Thread ATL. “You see nodes of density nowhere near a MARTA station or a regular MARTA bus. We’re not matching development and transit.”
March 2, 2017
Transit Ridership Falling Everywhere — But Not in Cities With Redesigned Bus Networks
Transit ridership decreased in almost every major American city last year. But there were two notable exceptions -- Seattle and Houston. Those two outliers share one thing in common: In addition to expanding light rail, they're both redesigning their bus networks.
February 24, 2017
In Atlanta, Transit Service Lags Behind a Booming Population
Since 2000, the Atlanta region has grown by more than 1.5 million people, or over 25 percent, but transit service is not keeping up. Both rail and bus ridership on MARTA, the major regional transit provider, have fallen dramatically in recent years.
February 23, 2017
Decline in NYC Bus Ridership Concentrated in Manhattan and Brooklyn
New Yorkers have been giving up on the bus, with a 16 percent drop in ridership between 2002 and 2015. An analysis of each borough by Eric Goldwyn shows the bus ridership decline has been concentrated in Manhattan and Brooklyn. There may be several factors at work, but worsening traffic congestion is almost certainly a culprit.
February 21, 2017
Introducing a New Streetsblog Series: Getting Transit Right
With more American cities raising impressive sums to expand transit, the question of how to invest effectively is increasingly essential. So far, few places have hit on a policy combination that makes transit more useful to more people. To help cities "get transit right," Streetsblog is launching a new series about which transit strategies are working and which are not.
February 16, 2017
What American Commuter Rail Can Learn From Paris
In the U.S., regional rail is mostly good for one type of trip: the commute. But in Paris, regional rail is oriented toward all types of trips, and people ride throughout the day, not just at rush hour. One key to success is running frequent, predictable service all day long.
February 13, 2017
Downtown Seattle Added 45,000 Jobs and Hardly Any Car Commuters
Transforming from a car city to a transit city is no easy task. Just ask Denver and Los Angeles, which have spent billions to build rail systems but struggled to reduce solo car commuting rates. But Seattle shows it can be done: The share of downtown commuters who drive alone dropped from 35 percent in 2010 to 30 percent last year.
February 10, 2017
The Top 10 Bus Corridors Where DOT Should Make Streets Work For Transit
New York City bus service is the slowest in the nation and riders are abandoning the bus in droves, even as the city's population steadily increases. To win people back over to the bus, the advocates at the Bus Turnaround Coalition have pinpointed 10 routes where DOT can make service faster and more reliable.
February 9, 2017