- Fining poor people for walking won’t keep them from dying — only redesigning roads to be safe for everyone will do that. (Talk Poverty)
- Now that Uber and Lyft have shareholders who will pressure them to turn a profit, the era of cheap fares is over. (Fox Business)
- A Georgetown University study of Washington, D.C. Uber drivers found that half of them live below the federal poverty line. (Business Insider)
- Minneapolis has gotten rid of free parking downtown — which is good, since there’s no such thing as free parking (Star Tribune). But how will they enforce the law? A federal appeals court ruled that chalking tires to see if drivers overstay their welcome is unconstitutional. (NBC News)
- Los Angeles is using cellphone data from 5 million people to reimagine its bus system. What officials found is that buses are too slow, don’t come at the right times and don’t go where people want to go. (Wired)
- The D.C. Metro wants companies bidding on a huge contract for new subway cars to consider building a factory in the area. (Washington Post)
- Portland cyclists will gather for a “No More Deaths” memorial on Wednesday to honor a woman killed by a driver on a dangerous section of Broadway. (Bike Portland)
- New bike shares are coming to Staten Island, N.Y. (Streetsblog), Mobile, Ala. (NBC 15) and North Little Rock, Ark. (Arkansas Times)
- Officials in Phoenix — where traffic deaths have doubled since 2010 — are developing a Vision Zero plan (Arizona Republic). But one councilman warns that it’s “an insane scheme … to force people out of their cars.” (12 News) He’s not entirely wrong — about the second part, at least.
- Elon Musk claims that Tesla will put a million self-driving taxis on the streets next year. We’ll believe it when he puts a man on Mars. (Vanity Fair)
As far as reimagining bus systems goes, my experience is that when you’re on time, the bus is late, but when you’re late the bus is on time. Other than that, they are hit and miss, but usually faster than walking if you’re going more than two miles.