Thursday’s Headlines

  • The company behind Florida’s Brightline, now known as Virgin Trains USA after an investment by Richard Branson, plans to start privately owned passenger rail service between Atlanta and Charlotte, Dallas and Houston, and Los Angeles and San Diego, in addition to already planned L.A-Las Vegas and Tampa-Orlando routes. (Miami Herald)
  • The editor and publisher of the Rivard Report says San Antonio is clinging to 20th-century development patterns that encourage people to stay in their cars.
  • NoVa business leaders are calling for faster, more frequent and more reliable mass transit. The D.C. region’s transportation system has helped drive its economic success, but can no longer keep up, says the Greater Washington Partnership. (Fairfax News)
  • Portland keeps showering commuters who drive to transit stations with free parking, even though it attracts relatively few riders. It should be spending that money on affordable housing near transit instead. (Sightline)
  • Drivers keep crashing into buildings in one Tampa Bay neighborhood. The Florida DOT says fixes are on the way — in one to five years. (WFTS)
  • Montgomery County, Md., has adopted a bicycle master plan that includes 1,100 miles of bike lanes. The catch: It will take 50 years to fully implement. (Bethesda Magazine)
  • Clemson University students using Uber and Lyft to get to class rather than walking or taking the bus are making traffic work in the South Carolina town. (Anderson Independent Mail)
  • An Indiana lawmaker says he’ll introduce a bill to lift the state’s ban on light rail. A similar bill failed earlier this year. (WANE)
  • Who says bike lane kill businesses? London cyclists spend 40 percent more while shopping than motorists, according to a new study. (Forbes)
  • This anti-bike lane rant has it all: victim-blaming, claims that no one rides in them, “this isn’t Copenhagen.” (Complete Colorado) Then there’s this diatribe on KTTH about Seattle raising parking fees. Want some cheese with that whine?
  • Stephen Simac

    Angie. You’re right, the Colorado ranter had it all. The comments were just as bad, even by the cyclists. They all agree that bicycle lanes are a bad idea, (which I generally agree with, but for different reasons), but think that riding on sidewalks or separate paths is safer than sharing the road with ‘speeding 2 ton Ford F 250’s’. Not statistically, although there’s damned lies and stats. Your buddy James Walker has found a new audience there.

  • neroden

    Brightline / Virgin Trains USA is only *considering* those other routes as *possibilities* for future expansion. The only routes they are actually *planning* to build are Vegas-LA and Tampa-Orlando-Miami. And they warn that they might not build Vegas-LA, depending.