Equity is a big issue in transportation these days. E-scooters are following in the footsteps of taxis, ride hailing and bike shares by leaving the poor behind. In D.C., they’re concentrated in affluent downtown, Georgetown and Dupont Circle, and none is available in the low-income wards east of the Anacostia River. (Washington Post) Citi Bike is offering $5 monthly memberships — a $9 discount — to Jersey City residents who are on food stamps. But most of the bike-share’s stations are located in affluent parts of town. (NJ.com) In Missoula, Mont., homeowners were shocked earlier this month when the city hit them with four- or five-figure bills for sidewalk construction. The Missoulian has a much more logical plan for prioritizing and paying for new sidewalks that doesn’t involve making housing more unaffordable.
On a related note, please help Streetsblog overcome website profit inequality by contributing to our annual December donation drive.
More headlines:
- Capital Bikeshare has a competitor in Montgomery County, Md., as Lime is bringing dockless e-bikes to the D.C. suburb. (Patch)
- Congestion pricing could help Uber and Lyft become profitable and persuade more users to carpool. (City Lab)
- An Atlanta study suggests that getting rid of parking and charging more for it could convince more people to get out of their cars and onto mass transit. Ya think? (Curbed)
- Sacramento has banned auto-centric businesses like gas stations and drive-throughs near light rail stations, hoping to encourage high-density development and get more people to ride transit. (CBS 13)
- London’s new cycling plan is great and all, says The Guardian, but it’s really more of a rebranding than anything actually new.
- Denver now has “one app to scoot them all,” which combines all six of the city’s bike and scooter rental companies into one handy tool. (Denverite)
- There's nothing truthy about this: Helpfully translated by Doug Gordon, "murderstrip" — painted bike lanes next to fast-moving cars — is Belgium's word of the year. (De Standaard)
