Wednesday’s Headlines

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on March 20, 2019

A referendum in Atlanta's largest suburban county, Gwinnett, on joining the metro area's transit system and investing a 1 percent sales tax in rail and buses failed by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin (AJC). The race was always about, well, race, as City Lab reported. Timing and turnout were issues, too. Although some Republican elected officials supported the referendum, they didn't want pro-transit voters to help Democrats in the 2018 election, when 56 percent of voters in the formerly deep-red county wound up backing Democrat Stacey Abrams for governor. Turnout for the oddly timed referendum was less than 20 percent of 543,000 registered voters, and it skewed older and white — traditionally anti-transit constituencies. Streetsblog has more background.
In pitching its stock to investors ahead of an IPO at the end of March, Lyft is casting itself as a company committed to ride-hailing to differentiate itself from Uber, which has ventured into areas like food delivery and freight hauling. (Reuters)
A big infrastructure package — unlikely though it may be — will be required to achieve long-term economic growth, according to a new White House report. (Washington Post)
Lyft would invest $50 million in Chicago’s bike-share, Divvy, adding more than 10,000 e-bikes and 600 stations to the network, under a contract extension proposed by Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and the city DOT. (Smart Cities Dive)
Charlotte’s light-rail ridership is trending up, and the city has an ambitious plan to expand the system. But where will it find $8 billion? (Observer)
New York City is dramatically expanding its speed camera enforcement program, which has proven success in reducing crashes and recidivist speeding. (StreetsblogNYC)
As cities struggle with increasing demand for curb space, Boston has designed a pickup and drop-off zone in the Fenway neighborhood. (WGBH)
The Twin Cities’ Metro Transit won’t close light-rail trains to the general public during the Final Four like it did for the Super Bowl. (Pioneer Press)
Sacramento, Calif., is the latest city to crack down on dockless bike and scooter parking. (CBS 13)
The Federal Transit Administration, which took over safety oversight of the D.C. Metro in 2015 after a series of mishaps, is transferring it back to a newly created local commission. (NBC Washington)
It’s really just a sit-down electric scooter, but mobility company Gotcha insists on calling its latest three-wheeled product — unveiled at South by Southwest last week — an “e-trike.” (Industry Leaders)

Blake Aued

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