
News
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Uber is seeking to expand beyond the ride-sharing industry in Washington, D.C., to provide a larger transportation network for District residents. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a panel discussion on the future of mobility with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower on April 11. Both emphasized the need to...| Read more >
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In Nashville Mayor's Race, David Briley Is All Alone WIth Transit Push
Nashville Mayor David Briley, one month into his job, has invited a reporter to tag along for the nearly two-mile hike from his home to his office inside the Metro courthouse. His morning stroll isn't a daily routine, but rather an occasional exercise, and there's another purpose. Briley is...| Read more > -
Come to Seattle - Just Don't Bring Your Car With You
Recent weeks have been genuinely dizzying in terms of transportation policymaking about the future of how we get around Seattle. Mayor Jenny Durkan halted ongoing construction of the Center City Connector which would stitch two separate streetcar lines together with dedicated lanes. Her...
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Why New York City Stopped Building Subways
In the first decades of the 20th century, New York City experienced an unprecedented infrastructure boom. Iconic bridges, opulent railway terminals, and much of what was then the world's largest underground and rapid transit network were constructed in just 20 years. Then it stopped. Since... -
L.A. Is Flipping the Script on Commuting
If done right, shared modes of transportation can help underserved Angelenos and the environment. Los Angeles is primed to reinvent transportation—and this time there’s an opportunity to make things better for the local community and environment.
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A Single Way Forward on Two of New York's Biggest Problems
Consider “transit growth zones” to address both decaying infrastructure and affordable housing. As anyone who has visited New York in recent years can discern, the city is in the midst of an acute transit crisis, which has been greatly exacerbated by the feckless leadership of the notoriously...
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Fighting for Breath in Near-Highway Neighborhoods
Somerville, MA is working to reduce pollution exposure in communities where its threats loom large. In the neighborhoods straddling Interstate 93 in Somerville, residents know to keep their windows shut each weekday as commuters travel from Boston's suburbs into the city, their cars spouting...
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Weak Transit Hurting Working Class, Metro Leaders Say
Decision makers say we must link housing, transportation to better accommodate growing population, reduce costs. More than half a million new residents are expected to move into the Portland area by the year 2040. This growth has already sent shockwaves through the region with rising housing...
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Atlanta Gets an Ambitious New Transit Plan
A bill that could expand transit and unify the county-by-county patchwork that makes up Atlanta’s transportation grid has passed the General Assembly. HB 930, the so-called “transit expansion bill,” now awaits a signature from Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, who has endorsed the measure.
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Cities Need to Take the Wheel
Instead of blindly welcoming self-driving cars to their streets, city leaders have a chance to prevent tragedies like the Uber fatality from happening again. Never waste a good crisis. The awful news is that one of Uber’s self-driving cars hit and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona. If...
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Elaine Herzberg's Death Isn't Uber's Tragedy. It's Ours.
No one knows when self-driving cars will work. Until then, people are the solution. There are two kinds of tragedies: those from which nothing is learned, and those that lead to change. Now that a pedestrian has been killed by a self-driving car, let’s dispense with the fiction that safety is a...
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How Transportation Could Help Alleviate Poverty in Benton Harbor
Today, 50 percent of city residents [of Benton Harbor] live below the poverty level, 24 percent are unemployed and access to a personal vehicle is no sure thing. Many rely on public transportation—the area's low-cost Dial-a-Ride service—since the majority of jobs are located outside Benton...
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N-Judah Commuters to See Service Increase
San Francisco’s transit authority voted this week to make major changes to the N-Judah line, reducing the wait time between each rail car by three minutes in an effort to ease commuter crowding. Riders will see the frequency of the N-Judah increase from every seven minutes to every four minutes...
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RTD Is Not Increasing Fares for Low-Income Passes. At Least Not Yet.
After the Denver Post and other outlets reported last week that the Regional Transportation District is going to raise local, regional, and airport fares to make up for new discount programs that support low-income and youth riders, RTD has been on the offensive to clear up what it says is a...| Read more > -
Activist Says 'Racial Profiling' Behind Chicago's Biking Tickets Disparity; CPD Denies It
About 100 people crowded into a City Hall meeting in which community advocates and cyclists questioned why Chicago police have been giving more bike tickets in black neighborhoods than in white communities. The Tribune reported last month that about 56 percent of all bike tickets last year were...| Read more > -
Metro Approves Equity Platform
Yesterday, the Metro board approved committing the agency to advancing equity. The Metro Equity Platform Framework was approved by the board's Executive Management Committee in February, then approved by the full board yesterday. Though the term "equity" is likely understood by many Streetsblog...| Read more > -
Patients Can Now Ride-Hail to the Hospital
Uber's newest project allows doctors to call rides for their patients. For riders who don't use mobile phones, there's an analog version: Healthcare administrators can provide paper print-outs with passenger pick-up locations, driver license plate numbers, and car models. The rides can be...| Read more > -
Beyond the MetroCard: Faster Buses, Better Access to Commuter Rail, Fairer Fares
Changing the way we pay for transit is about much more than carrying around a new type of fare card. Fare policy can speed up trips, expand the service at riders' disposal, and lower barriers to transit access. In the current fare system, people who can afford the upfront cost of a monthly... -
The Overhaul of RTD's Fare Pass Programs Explained
For the past year, a group of decision-makers in the transportation arena has been trying to increase access and ridership on the RTD transit system without digging any deeper into the underfunded agency's pockets. The vehicle? An overhaul of RTD's confusing and unfair fare pass programs....| Read more > -
TriMet's New North-South Bus Line Brings Better Connections, Economic Opportunity to East Portland
Where buses are people's lifelines, the addition of a new line brings additional time and convenience to their lives while also bringing economic opportunities to surrounding communities. Jenny Glass, the executive director of the Rosewood Initiative, notes that "transportation is about...| Read more > -
The Case for Decriminalizing Fare Evasion
Nobody gets thrown in jail for not paying a highway toll or a parking meter. But for some reason people who break transit fare rules are subject to criminal penalties. In Washington, DC, jumping a turnstile is punishable by a fine of up to $300 and up to 10 days in jail. The Save Our System...| Read more > -
More Bikes Mean New Bike Businesses
While bike share is one of the most affordable transportation options in the city, the cost of a bike share membership can still be out of reach for many people. This means many low-income residents will continue to use public transit which has a low initial cost unlike a bike share membership...
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City Planner Urges Transit Equity through Community Engagement
Northeastern University Archives led a discussion on transportation equity in Boston Feb. 13 and screened a documentary about the formation of the Silver Line, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s transit line that connects both Roxbury and the South End to downtown, the Seaport...
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Kept Out: How Banks Block People of Color from Homeownership
Fifty years after the federal Fair Housing Act banned racial discrimination in lending, African Americans and Latinos continue to be routinely denied conventional mortgage loans at rates far higher than their white counterparts.This modern-day redlining persisted in 61 metro areas even when...
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Can There Be Equity in the Bike Lane?
Some cities are trying to make bike sharing more accessible — and to combat its elite image. They’re calling it bike equity. Bike sharing may be the ultimate symbol of gentrification, the province of avocado-toast loving, espresso-swilling — and mostly white — millennials. But some cities are...
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