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67 Congress Members Tell Feds: Measure the Movement of People, Not Cars
The federal government hands states about $40 billion a year for transportation, money they can basically spend however they want. The result in many places is a lot of expensive, traffic-inducing highways that get clogged with cars soon after they're finished. Can measuring the effect of all this spending lead to better decisions?
July 28, 2016
Can a Major Minneapolis Transit Project Survive Regional Dysfunction?
The Twin Cities' Orange Line bus rapid transit project ought to be a slam dunk. According to Sean Hayford O'Leary at streets.mn, it will provide frequent service and travel times similar to the region's successful light rail lines, which carrying tens of thousands of passengers daily. At just $150 million to construct, the Orange Line will be a bargain.
July 27, 2016
Tim Kaine Took a Stand Against Cul-de-Sacs
Even though the Democratic Party's strongholds are in cities, we probably won't hear much about urban transportation and development policy at the Democratic National Convention this week. City issues seldom get much play when political parties are focused on scooping up swing votes in the suburbs.
July 26, 2016
This Week: Rally for Safe Streets on Staten Island’s North Shore
With major development projects slated for the north shore of Staten Island, activists are pressing the city to reimagine Richmond Terrace, where more than two hundred people have been injured in traffic since 2012, as a safe street for walking and biking. A rally to "Complete the Terrace" highlights the slate of events on the calendar this week.
July 25, 2016
Will More Bike-Share Systems Opt for “Smart Bikes,” Not “Smart Docks”?
When Portland launched its bike-share system last week, it became the biggest American city to go live with a "smart bike" model. The system allows users to drop off bikes anywhere within the service area, as opposed to the more prevalent "smart dock" model, where users pick up and return bikes only at fixed stations.
July 25, 2016
Elon Musk’s “Master Plan” Won’t Work for Cities
Earlier this week tech entrepreneur Elon Musk released his updated "master plan" for Tesla, including some thoughts on how autonomous mini-buses will supplant today's transit and "take people all the way to their destination." Like every Musk pronouncement, this one got a lot of buzz -- but it also drew some healthy skepticism.
July 22, 2016
Portland’s Long-Awaited Bike-Share System Gets Off to an Impressive Start
Tuesday was a very exciting day in Portland, as the city celebrated the launch of its long-awaited bike-share system, Biketown. The network makes 1,000 bikes available in an eight-square mile area of the city.
July 21, 2016
Seattle’s New Park-and-Rides Cost a Fortune But Won’t Move Many People
Seattle area voters will vote this November on a $53 billion transit expansion package. But along with new light rail lines stretching across the region, Seattle will also be getting a publicly owned parking empire.
July 20, 2016
Houston FTW: Transit Execs Aim to Fix Sorry Bus Stops
The lousy state of American bus stops is a serious problem. Transit riders say bad waiting environments are one of their top concerns, according to a recent survey and report by TransitCenter [PDF]. That's why Streetsblog is highlighting some of the sorriest bus stops in the nation this month.
July 19, 2016
This Week: Rally For Better Bus Service
As subway ridership reaches historic highs in NYC, bus ridership has gone down -- which DOT's recent "Mobility Report" attributes to slow speeds exacerbated by traffic congestion. The good news is that we know how to fix the problem: Off-board fare collection, signal priority for buses at intersections, dedicated bus lanes, and buses that carry more passengers can all get transit riders moving faster on city streets.
July 18, 2016