Coronavirus

New data shows we're struggling to curb distraction while driving. Is it time to talk about curbing driving instead?

A classic book on transit gets an update for a radically transformed world. And, yes, Elon Musk gets a little shade.

A lot of Americans traded long commutes for short errands during the pandemic — but whether that swap resulted in more or less driving is a consequence of policy choices.

"This growth won't continue forever without being facilitated by more infrastructure investment, [and particularly] safety infrastructure."

Covid-19 transformed many U.S. cities' approach to sustainable transportation forever. But how did it transform the lives of sustainable transportation advocates who developed lasting symptoms from the disease?

Together, the key players in transit — riders, elected officials and decision-makers, staff and consultants, and advocates and media — have the power to rebuild a stronger transit system, one that is financially sustainable and positioned to carry the masses into the future. But only if we each do our part and we trust each other to do the same.

Pedestrian deaths are continuing to skyrocket as the pandemic drags on — and since 2019, analysts say the death rate for walkers has eclipsed the rate of population growth by a factor of at least nine. According to the latest fatality estimates from the Governor's Highway Safety Association, U.S. drivers killed 3,434 people on foot in the first six months of 2022, an increase of five percent over the same period the prior year — and a staggering 18 percent increase over the number of walkers who died in early 2019, the last year before the pandemic.  The group also pointed out that those numbers can't easily be explained by non-traffic-related factors, noting that since "2019, the last pre-pandemic year, pedestrian fatalities have surged 18 percent in just three years – nine times faster than U.S. population growth."

The surge of traffic deaths in the first year of the pandemic can't be completely explained by quarantine-emptied roads that made speeding easy — and new data on who, exactly, was involved in those crashes may lead to more questions than answers.

Here are three core reasons why Amtrak routes are having a hard time — and some signs of hope.