Bus Rapid Transit

Nashville's bid to build its first high-capacity transit line is dead, the Tennessean is reporting today. It's a victory for the Koch brothers-funded local chapter of Americans for Prosperity and a defeat for the city's near-term hopes of transitioning to less congested, more sustainable streets.

If you're searching for reasons to feel positive about the future, the street transformations pictured below are a good start. Earlier this month we asked readers to send in their nominations for the best American street redesigns of 2014. These five are the finalists selected by Streetsblog staff. They include new car-free zones, substantial sidewalk expansions, superb bike infrastructure, awesome safety upgrades, and exclusive transit lanes.

Buenos Aires is fast becoming one of the most admired cities in the world when it comes to reinventing streets and transportation.

Cleveland's Healthline is widely viewed as the best bus rapid transit project in the country -- and for many good reasons. Running on dedicated center lanes, the Healthline isn't bogged down by car traffic on the most congested portions of its 7.1-mile route. With about 14,000 daily trips, the Healthline has increased ridership nearly 50 percent (though some of that is attributable to elimination of redundant routes), and local officials credit it with spurring billions of dollars of development nearby.

And, side note: The giveaway for our spring pledge drive has changed since we recorded this podcast. Now, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a package of zines and books by feminist bike activist and writer Elly Blue. Thanks for your donation!

If you ever want to show someone that it's possible to change streets and cities for the better, Google Street View can now help you do it.

Annie Weinstock is the regional director for the U.S. and Africa at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

All across America, city buses are waiting. Waiting at stoplights, waiting behind long lines of cars, waiting to pull back into traffic, waiting at stops for growing crowds of passengers. And no, it's not just your imagination: Buses are doing more waiting, and less moving, than they used to. A recent survey of 11 urban transit systems conducted by Daniel Boyle for the Transportation Research Board found that increased traffic congestion is steadily eroding travel speeds: The average city bus route gets 0.45 percent slower every single year. That's especially discouraging given how slowly buses already move, with a typical bus averaging only 13.5 mph.