- Miami-Dade Mayor Downgrades Transit Expansion Plan, Swaps Out Rail for BRT (Miami Herald)
- Bush Transportation Secretary Mary Peters Pushes for More Public-Private Partnerships (NYT)
- Audit Finds Utah Transit Authority Keeps Costs Down, But Struggles With Ridership (Salt Lake Tribune)
- Despite Demand, Transit Expansion Stalled in Santa Rosa County, FL (Pensacola News Journal)
- Downtown LA’s Streetcar Loop Looks Like a Very Bad Idea (LA Weekly)
- It’s Time to Put a Lid on I-5 Through Downtown Seattle (Crosscut)
- Bay Area Bike-Share Opponents Cite Gentrification, Corporate Sponsorship, and… Parking (Daily Californian, Examiner)
- New Haven Politicians Aren’t Quite on Board With Protected Bike Lane Plan (Independent)
- Elon Musk Shares His Vision of Our Robot Car Future at National Governors Association (Futurism)
- For Some Reason, Cars Are Still Allowed in Seattle’s Pike Place Market (Stranger)
Miami-Dade’s Mayor is right. The expense of expanding rail without the ridership figures to justify the expense is foolish, and forecasts are often wrong. Incremental development may not be as flashy politically, but it’s definitely more responsible fiscally and the effects are more immediate. Plus with buses, corrections can be made to routing and stop spacing with relative ease and minimal cost, which cannot be done with fixed infrastructure like rail. Constituents don’t just want new toys, they want responsive, flexible local government and investment that generates results. Hopefully this starts a trend.
As to LA, the Expo Line has reached the hoped for ridership of 2030 as of this year.