Wednesday’s Headlines

12:01 AM EST on February 6, 2019

By Blake Aued

Vancouver has seen an increasing in biking, walking, car-shares and transit ridership since banning Uber and Lyft, even as fewer people are using transit in most cities. Still, many residents and the tourism industry are clamoring for ride-hailing. Will it augment the transit network or compete with it? (Slate)
Electric scooters seem to have outpaced one of the U.S.’s earliest municipal bike-share programs in Denver, leaving questions about whether such options can coexist with commercial ventures. (Government Technology) St. Louis, too, will soon be without rental bikes, thanks to the private sector. One company has already withdrawn, and now Lime is replacing its bike fleet with electric scooters. Meanwhile, Spin might join the e-scooter fray. (Post-Dispatch)
The Phoenix City Council will vote today on setting an Aug. 27 election date for a referendum on light rail. Opponents want money earmarked for light rail spent on roads instead, and gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. (KJZZ)
Complete Streets are spreading in California, where pedestrian deaths are up 7 percent and cyclist deaths are up 8 percent. (San Jose Mercury News)
The Oregon legislature is considering a bill that would override Portland’s regulations on ride-hailing companies, including requirements for driver background checks and insurance. (Willamette Week)
Worried about “scooter hell,” the Orlando Sentinel urges the city government to look to other cities to figure out how to deal with the influx of dockless e-scooters.
A Boston city councilor calls for making the T — the city’s bus and subway system — free. Free transit would increase ridership, improve equity and help fight climate change, Michelle Wu argues. (Globe)
Nashville groups are pushing for a crosswalk at an intersection where drivers have killed two people on foot in the past four months. (WKRN) University of Texas students are also calling for bike lanes in Austin after a bus driver killed a cyclist last week. (Daily Texan) In Phoenix, a vigil was held for a 5-year-old boy killed by a truck driver. (Arizona Republic)
A Jacksonville, Fla., Uber driver says two off-duty police officers he picked up attacked him, using racial slurs. (Action News Jax)

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