Transit
Shutdown: Congress Prepares to Furlough One-Third of U.S. DOT Staff
Looks like we’re heading for a real, honest-to-goodness government shutdown tomorrow due to a childish Congressional food fight over budgets and health care. Already this year, thousands of government employees faced furloughs due to sequestration, and now they're looking at an indefinite unpaid leave. It'll last until Congress can play nice and make a deal on the budget and health care, and who knows when that will be.
September 30, 2013
Census: American Bike Commuting Up Nine Percent in 2012
Congratulations, America. We're biking to work more than ever before.
September 19, 2013
Poor Transit Access and Wisconsin’s Staggering Black Incarceration Rate
The state of Wisconsin imprisons a higher proportion of black men than any other state. Almost 13 percent of the state's African American men are behind bars -- nearly twice the national average. In Milwaukee County, according to a recent report from the University of Wisconsin-Madison [PDF], more than half of black men in their thirties have served time in state prison.
September 18, 2013
Lawmakers Push to Permanently Upgrade Transit’s Second-Class Tax Benefit
While the rest of the Capitol prepared for President Obama's visit to lobby members of Congress on Syria military strikes, three lawmakers gathered under the hot sun with transit advocates to push for a more bread-and-butter issue: tax benefits for transit riders.
September 10, 2013
After the Addition of Bike Lanes and Plazas, Manhattan Traffic Moves Faster
After several blocks in the heart of Times Square were pedestrianized and protected bike lanes were added to five avenues in the middle of Manhattan, motor vehicle traffic is actually moving more smoothly than before, according to the latest release of NYC DOT's annual Sustainable Streets Index [PDF].
September 9, 2013
In DC, the Danger of Enraged Driving Is on the Rise
Road rage is boiling over. Twelve percent of people surveyed in the Washington, DC, metro area said they often feel “uncontrollable anger toward another driver.” The number of people reporting such feelings has doubled since 2005, according to the Washington Post, which conducted the survey.
September 4, 2013
Notorious Patent Troll Forced to Stop Targeting Transit Agencies
A patent troll who persistently sued transit agencies for using technology that gives passengers real-time arrival information won't harass any more transit providers under the terms of a settlement reached in federal court yesterday.
August 22, 2013
BTS Releases Confusing, Erroneous Transit Stats
I was all set to write a feel-good story about how the latest report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics [PDF] shows that transit ridership is up and driving is down. I made up my mind to write that story before I even looked at the report, so sure was I that that was the message.
August 16, 2013
Jarrett Walker: Empty Buses Serve a Purpose
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.
August 14, 2013
Meet Streetmix, the Website Where You Can Design Your Own Street
Last fall, Lou Huang was at a community meeting for the initiative to redesign Second Street in San Francisco. Planners handed out paper cutouts, allowing participants to mix and match to create their ideal street. Huang, an urban designer himself, thought the exercise would make for a great website. Now, after months of work beginning at a January hackathon with colleagues at Code for America, it is a great website.
August 12, 2013