Tuesday’s Headlines
The micro-mobility revolution might be drawing nearer, but it’s not here yet. Rides on shared bikes and scooters doubled between 2017 and 2018, showing a thirst for alternatives to cars. But three quarters of Americans still drive to work alone — a figure that’s barely budged since 2010. (City Lab) Working with the same National … Continued
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on April 23, 2019
- The micro-mobility revolution might be drawing nearer, but it’s not here yet. Rides on shared bikes and scooters doubled between 2017 and 2018, showing a thirst for alternatives to cars. But three quarters of Americans still drive to work alone — a figure that’s barely budged since 2010. (City Lab)
- Working with the same National Association of City Transportation Officials data, Seattle Bike Blog concludes that Seattle is bucking the trend of growth in docked bike-shares and e-scooters. While companies are pulling dockless bikes out of cities like Charlotte (Observer), because Mayor Jenny Durkin has been reluctant to allow scooters, dockless bikes are still thriving in Seattle.
- Sidewalk Labs has been developing lots of ways to help cities gather data to use for transportation planning but have a Big Brother vibe. Now the Alphabet subsidiary is working on technology that will let people know when they’re being watched. (Tech Crunch)
- A steep hill at a Portland university is posing a challenge for engineers on the Southwest Portland light rail line. An aerial tram or funicular might be needed to get riders up it. (Oregonian)
- Minneapolis broke its single-day light-rail ridership record on Apr. 8, when the city hosted the NCAA basketball national championship game. (Star Tribune)
- Boston is urging surrounding cities to get onboard with Vision Zero. (WWLP)
- In a bold move for conservative South Carolina, the Charleston Post and Courier editorial board endorses Complete Streets.
- Uber is working with the University of South Carolina — where a young woman was murdered after getting into what she mistakenly thought was an Uber — on new safety initiatives. (Geek)
- Toyota is among the companies investing $1 billion in Uber’s effort to invent a self-driving car. (Ars Technica)
- Maybe robot cars aren’t so bad, when you think about these drunk-driving Texas twins who, in two separate cars, hit a couple of deputies working a fatal crash. (Houston Chronicle)
- And maybe cars are already self-aware. A Connecticut woman’s SUV mysteriously ran over her after she got out to check on a parking-brake problem. (Stamford Advocate)
Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.
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