Can Algorithms Design Safer Intersections?
Cities and tech firms are deploying promising new technology to gauge risks at dangerous intersections, but there’s no reason to wait on designing safe streets.
June 7, 2017
Male Cyclists Need to Stop the “Macho Nonsense” Directed at Female Riders
In the United States, women account for only a quarter of bike trips. There are many possible factors for the discrepancy: the lack of bike infrastructure, social pressures during adolescence, and complex trip patterns play a role. But one of the big things keeping women out of the saddle is that when they bike they're harassed. All the time.
June 6, 2017
Riding Transit Should Never Be a Pathway to Deportation
A sad story has been unfolding over the past few weeks in the Twin Cities, where a transit fare enforcement stop led to a man being deported. The officer who initiated the stop, Andy Lamers, has since been fired, but it was too late for the passenger, Ariel Vences-Lopez, 23.
June 1, 2017
Blaming People for Wearing Black Wins the Prize for Anti-Pedestrian Idiocy
It takes a special kind of callousness to say that pedestrians are making city streets dangerous by wearing black. And yet, that's exactly what the Seattle Times did this weekend.
May 31, 2017
This Nearly-Empty Indianapolis Parking Garage Is an Epic Waste of Public Money
Subsidized parking garages frequently turn into money-losing concrete bunkers on land better suited for something more productive than car storage. The Broad Ripple parking garage in Indianapolis, a pet project of former mayor Greg Ballard, is a spectacular example.
May 30, 2017
Miami’s Future Should Be Transit and Walking, But the Mayor’s Focused on Robot Cars
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez is in charge of executing an ambitious transit expansion plan -- but lately, in a spectacular example of missing the point, he's been talking up autonomous cars as the ultimate transportation solution.
May 26, 2017
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry Just Unveiled Her Blueprint to Fast-Track People-Friendly Streets
Nashville is known as the home of the country music industry -- and a fast-growing region of car-centric sprawl. But local leaders realize they can't accommodate more growth with an outdated, cars-first approach, so Mayor Megan Barry released an action plan yesterday that lays out an ambitious agenda to improve conditions for walking, bicycling, and transit.
May 25, 2017
Uber’s Latest Feature Reinvents the Wheels on the Bus
Uber is rolling out a new feature that will encourage people who use its shared-ride service in New York to walk to the nearest intersection, instead of getting picked up at their door. The company hopes that by avoiding looping through congested Manhattan to pick up and drop off multiple people, it will make trips faster and easier -- but Uber is trying to solve a problem that buses solved generations ago.
May 24, 2017
Trump’s Budget Is a Disaster for Transit, and His Infrastructure Plan Is a Gift to Wall Street
The Trump administration's fiscal year 2018 budget, released yesterday, includes severe cuts to federal transit funding. Amid this looming austerity, Trump wants to insert his infrastructure plan, which calls for $800 billion in private financing suited for building toll roads (if they're profitable) but not transit infrastructure. Next stop: Congress, which will consider the president's proposal before it passes a budget over the summer.
May 24, 2017
After 5-Month Delay, Judge Calls for Yet More Study of Maryland’s Purple Line
Facing pressure to issue a long-delayed decision on Maryland's Purple Line light rail, a federal judge has determined -- five months after he was given the additional analysis that he requested -- that the project needs even more environmental studies.
May 23, 2017
