Monday’s Headlines
- Uber and Lyft drivers are pushing to unionize for better pay. One driver told The Guardian he made $3.75 an hour after expenses to risk his life during a snowstorm. Employees of a Lyft contractor that operates bike-shares are unionizing, too (San Francisco Examiner). Meanwhile, as Lyft prepares to go public, the unprofitable company is telling potential investors it plans to cut spending next year (Bloomberg).
- When L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Vision Zero in 2015, he promised a 20-percent reduction in traffic deaths by 2017 and a 100-percent reduction by 2025. Instead, drivers are killing more cyclists and pedestrians. (U.S. News and World Report)
- A Florida bill moving swiftly through the legislature would require two-thirds of voters to raise the sales taxes that local governments rely on to fund transportation improvements. City and county officials are calling it an assault on home rule. (Orlando Sentinel)
- Virginia will use buses, water taxis and Amtrak discounts to move people stranded by the months-long closure of six D.C. Metro Blue and Yellow Line stations for repairs. (WTOP)
- As of Saturday, Seattle's downtown transit tunnel is for light rail only, pushing 830 bus trips and 30,000 riders a day onto surface streets. (MyNorthwest)
- Charlotte is getting its first permanent protected bike lane. (Observer)
- Residents along Atlanta’s booming North Avenue say they’re seeing more collisions and pedestrian safety problems and want it to become a Complete Street. (Curbed)
- Orlando’s public bike-share, Juice, has been squeezed out by competitor Lime’s dockless e-bikes. Juice is pulling out its docked bikes now that its contract with the city has expired, but pledges to return with more dockless models. (Weekly)
- In four months of operation, the St. Louis streetcar has only sold 4,300 tickets, bringing in a quarter of expected revenue. (Fox 2 Now)
- Virginia transportation officials were forced to visit Elon Musk's Boring Company in L.A. and came away unimpressed. "It's a car in a very small tunnel," one said. (Jalopnik)
- And, finally, a lot of dummies are going to die before engineers get driverless cars right. (Business Insider)
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