Tanya Snyder

Most transit agencies have been through some version of this scenario: In one part of the city, buses drive around stuffed like sardine tins, while elsewhere they can be all but empty. Car drivers mock the empty buses in low-density parts of the city. Some elected official picks up the banner, demanding that the transit agency stop flagrantly wasting taxpayer money by running these money-losing routes.

All of a sudden, I feel like all anyone is talking about is whether it’s a good idea to raise kids in the city. I’m raising a kid in the city. I feel great about it when she has a blast on the back of the bike, or makes friends on the bus, or gets excited about pressing the beg button at the corner. I feel a little less certain when we toddle down the sidewalk and come upon guys peeing on the dumpster or passed out on the stoop. When I look at the test scores for our neighborhood schools, I get a knot in my stomach.

There Goes the Neighborhood: Older “Broken Hip-sters” Take Over the City (WSJ) Boomers Tire of Suburban Life, Move Downtown (WaPo, Switchboard) Elon Musk’s Hyperloop Might Not Really Be So Much Cheaper Than HSR (WaPo) Capital Bikeshare Expands Farther and Farther Outside the City (WTOP) Buses Can Run Faster (But Not Much Faster) on Freeways, But … Continued

Cantor: Don’t Worry About Government Shutdown; Our Efforts to Do So Are Futile (WaPo) If Distracted Driving Is So Dangerous and So Widespread, Why Are Fatalities Falling? (Bike Portland) Could Demand for Oil Peak Before Supply? (WaPo) Opposition to UK’S HS2 Grows With Cost Projections. (Sound Familiar, California?) (NYT) Speed Cameras’ Windfall Show Just How Much … Continued

Rasmussen Reports, the polling firm that got the 2012 election completely wrong, asked 1,000 Americans last week how they feel about public transportation [PDF]. The takeaway they reported was this: “74% Rarely or Never Use Mass Transit.”

Ft. Belvoir, just south of Washington, DC, has been infusing military base planning with a smart growth mentality since before it was cool. While new guidelines in the past year have compelled all U.S. bases to start building smarter and more efficiently, Ft. Belvoir has been working under a master plan that champions walkability and connectivity since 1993. But two major changes in the last decade forced the base to put all the pieces together and become a true trailblazer in on-base livability.

UPDATED 5:43 p.m. with more details from NHTSA on eligible grant activities.

Maryland Invites Private Investment to the Purple Line (GGW) New Truck Safety Regulations Aren’t Enough to Placate Advocates (The Hill) Less Freight Moving By Truck, More By Rail Among NAFTA Partners (JOC x2) New Park Capping I-70 in St. Louis Re-Connects Arch With Downtown (Fast Lane) Philly Is Turning Away From the Automobile, But Developers Can’t … Continued

Toll roads aren’t the cash cows they used to be. The assumption that the roads will “pay for themselves” is no longer a reliable one, and credit rating agencies are taking notice.

High-Level Transit Coalition Wants Congress to Reauthorize Parity in Tax Benefits (The Hill) Aren’t We All Driving Less and Owning Fewer Cars? Still, Auto Sales Are Spiking. (BizJournal) The Suburbs’ Descent Into Poverty — and the Way Back Out (Salon) Are the Suburbs Dying or Just Evolving? A Conversation With Leigh Gallagher (WaPo) Jarrett Walker: Stop Designing Transit … Continued