Tuesday’s Headlines

  • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called on Uber and Lyft to conduct fingerprint background checks on drivers and share information with each other about dangerous drivers who’ve been kicked off one platform so they don’t sign up with the other. (Washington Post)
  • Say what? In an interview with Axios that aired on HBO, Uber CEO Dana Khosrowshahi called Saudi Arabia’s murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi “a mistake” and compared it to the self-driving Uber car that killed a woman crossing the street in Arizona last year. The statement led to calls for a boycott of Uber.
  • Light rail extensions to from Seattle to Everett and Tacoma are among the projects at risk since the passage of I-976 blew a $20 billion hole in Sound Transit’s long-range plans. (KOMO)
  • Two major newspapers editorialized in favor of pedestrian safety over the weekend. The Tampa Bay Times called for design improvements and stepping up law enforcement in St. Petersburg. The Chicago Tribune urged drivers to be more careful after one killed a cyclist in a right-hook crash.
  • A new report criticizes the North Carolina transit agency GoTriangle for doing a poor job of organizing and selling the failed Durham-Orange light rail line. (WRAL)
  • Lyft-owned Bay Wheels is resuming e-bike rentals in San Francisco this month (Chronicle), though New York’s e-Citi Bikes are still on the shelf. Meanwhile, Lyft, Lime and Razor have been selected as e-scooter providers in San Antonio (Rivard Report).
  • In Phoenix — where drivers killed 112 pedestrians last year — the city council is allocating $2 million toward better lighting and crosswalks (12 News). Never let it be said that the Phoenix City Council didn’t do the least it could do.
  • New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law encouraging cities to plan more electric car charging stations. (Tap Into Plainfield)
  • Wichita and Topeka are among the small-to-mid-sized cities taking advantage of federal grants to buy electric buses. The local utility also offered a steep discount if they charge the buses during off-peak hours. (Energy News)
  • Philadelphia is giving buses a head start at traffic signals. (WPVI)
  • This is why we can’t have nice things: KCAL discovered that hundreds of taxpayer-funded bike-share bikes in Los Angeles have been stolen and stripped for parts.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the state that Phil Murphy serves. It is the Garden State, not the Nutmeg State.