Monday’s Headlines
- Seven months after a self-driving car killed an Arizona woman who was crossing the street, Uber wants to start testing autonomous vehicles on public roads again. (The Verge)
- Lyft drivers are joining their Uber counterparts in suing to be considered employees rather than contractors, meaning labor protections like minimum wage laws would apply to them. (Tech Spot)
- Carmaker General Motors recently unveiled two electric bikes it plans to start selling in 2019. (USA Today)
- The Portland City Council officially approved the Southwest Corridor light rail line. It's the most expensive project in TriMet history at $2.6 billion, and is expected to carry 20 percent of the traffic between Portland and nearby Tigard once it's completed. (KATU)
- Unlike many near-useless streetcars (coughAtlantacough), Milwaukee's The Hop, which started running Friday, is designed to serve downtown residents, not tourists, connecting housing with shopping rather than museums with sports arenas. (Journal Sentinel)
- Detroit's People Mover, on the other hand, is a prime example of transit that doesn't really go anywhere or serve anyone. It sure is fun to ride, though. (City Lab)
- Seattle is stepping up enforcement on drivers who block bike lanes, bus lanes and intersections. Mayor Jenny Durkin also wants to change state law so the city can use red-light cameras to catch violators. (KIRO)
- More talk that a Democratic win on Tuesday could revive Trump's infrastructure bill. (Yahoo, Barron's)
- California Gov. Jerry Brown made a rare campaign appearance in San Francisco to, um, rail against Prop 6, which asks voters to repeal the state's new transit- and road-funding gas tax hike. (Chronicle)
- Even Alec Baldwin gets road rage. The actor was arrested Friday in New York and accused of punching a man in a disagreement over a parking space. (CNBC) And, of course, StreetsblogNYC blamed free parking as the real villain.
- A streetcar named "Look Out!": One of New Orleans's historic rail cars hit a garbage truck last week. (NOLA.com)
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