Wednesday’s Headlines
- Lyft and Uber are racing to cash in in the stock market before someone holds them accountable for evading labor laws (The Intercept). But is Lyft even really cashing in? Two days after its IPO, its stock started to tank as analysts’ skepticism grew (CNBC).
- Seattle is not living up to its promises for more bike lanes and greenways (KUOW). From a subway system in 1912 to the 35th Street bike lane last week, the Post-Intelligencer looks back at all the Seattle transportation plans that didn’t pan out. Sound Transit just asked the feds for $790 million for a light rail extension (Kent Reporter). Will that fall by the wayside, too?
- Phoenix is the most dangerous city for pedestrians in the U.S. because its roads are designed for fast driving — and the city doesn’t seem to care. It won’t even install crosswalks on the deadliest streets, let alone redesign them. (Arizona Republic)
- Ridership on Florida’s Brightline is 90,000 a month and rising. But is that enough for a privately owned commuter rail company to turn a profit? Owner Virgin Trains seems to think so — it’s moving ahead with extensions to Orlando, then Tampa and Jacksonville. (Miami Herald)
- Houston is already dropping one light rail line from a $7.5-billion transit plan it’s putting before voters in November — officials say two rail lines to the airport are redundant — but the money saved could go toward more bus rapid transit. (Chronicle)
- Pittsburgh officials are quietly making a Plan B in case the feds don’t come through with funding for bus rapid transit. (Post-Gazette)
- The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority will get $100 million from the New York state government over five years to improve Buffalo’s Metro Rail system. (Buffalo News)
- WSB-TV has a horrifying video of a driver in Atlanta running a stop sign, jumping a curb and hitting a young girl in her front yard. The girl is in the hospital, while the driver and a passenger ran away.
- An EU proposal to require speed-limiting and drowsiness and distraction monitoring systems in all new European cars could save 25,000 lives by 2038. (dezeen)
- I believe the children are our future: Even though GoTriangle has already pronounced the Durham-Orange light rail line dead, students still turned out to protest Duke University’s role in killing it. (Duke Chronicle)
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