Transit

Today, Walk Score -- developer of the popular method for evaluating neighborhood walkability (and filling out NCAA tournament brackets) -- announced its first ranking of cities by Transit Score, a measure of the "usefulness" of a city's transit system. On a 100-point scale, New York and San Francisco took the top two spots with scores of 81 and 80 respectively, while Boston (74), Washington D.C. (69), and Philadelphia (68) round out the top five (see the full rankings).

Since 2010, rapid bus service has been running on Manhattan's First and Second Avenues. By nearly all accounts, it's been a success. Bus speeds are up 15 percent. Faster trips mean that the M15 has defied the trend of sinking ridership on Manhattan buses, adding 4,000 more passengers per day.

As first reported by the Daily News this morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo has nominated former Governor David Paterson to serve as the newest member of the MTA board.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer made the state of New York City's transit system one of his top policy issues in the run-up to next year's local elections, saying in a speech this morning that finding new revenues for transit would be his top priority in Albany if elected mayor.

Lloyd Dobbler, John Cusack’s generation-defining character in Say Anything, notably said, “I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career.”

Fordham-area residents know Select Bus Service better than anyone. The city's first rapid bus line opened along Fordham Road in 2008, and by all accounts it's been a success. Bus speeds are up 20 percent, and that's lured 30 percent more riders. In fact, Bronx residents like Select Bus Service so much, they're asking for more of it.

It was never about cost overruns. It was never about New Jersey's share of the price tag. Chris Christie's decision to kill the ARC tunnel under the Hudson River was always about two, and only two, things: the governor's unwillingness to raise the state's rock-bottom gas tax and his desire to make a name for himself among national Republicans.

Transportation infrastructure is big business. With tens of billions of dollars at stake, nobody tracks the financial health of the state's transit and road systems more closely than the construction industry. And right now, the future of transportation funding in New York is hazy indeed.

For many who have heard of Medellín, Colombia, the name brings to mind the drug-related violence of the 1980s and 1990s, when it was often described as the most dangerous city in the world.