Today’s Headlines

  • Trump Administration Wants to Expedite Road Expansion Projects (USA Today)
  • Quartz Questions Whether Ride-Hailing Services Are Out to Kill Public Transit
  • Suburbanites Mad About Paying More to Park at Metro Stations (WaPo)
  • Mayor Landrieu Doubts Trump Infrastructure Plan Will Help Rebuild New Orleans (AP)
  • Fort Lauderdale Mayor: Wave Is Key Cog in Future Transit System (Sun Sentinel)
  • Cleveland Transit Advocates Propose Uber and Lyft Tax to Fund Buses (Plain Dealer)
  • Aspen, CO, Looks to Extend Free Transit and Bike-Share Programs (Aspen Times)
  • Maryland Transit Will Equip More Baltimore Buses With GPS (Baltimore Sun)
  • Tampa Bay Times: Closing Bayshore Is “Extreme,” But Tampa Needs Car-Free Zones
  • Bike-Share Closer to Launching in St. Louis, Memphis, and Blacksburg, VA (St. Louis Public Radio, Commercial Appeal, Roanoke Times)
  • Stephen Simac

    Read the opinion by the Mayor of Ft. Lauderdale, my hometown. He’s in favor of a streetcar/trolley system called the WAVE, basically because they’ve gotten a hundred million in funds to build it and will be cut off from other funds if they turn back now. Everyone admits that ridership will be low, travel will be slow, with minimal transit benefits compared to the costs of BRT, while dozens of mature oak trees will be cut down to make room for power line towers.
    I wrote him several years ago before planning had gotten too far, warning him about the expense and low ridership of nostalgic trolleys, (pointed to several examples) and suggested the city go innovative with the CycleTrain! instead. No response. I served on their bicycle and pedestrian safety committee in 1981 and 2, with same results, no response to any of our recommendations.