Friday’s Headlines

The Transportation Research Board’s 99th Annual Meeting will be held in Washington, D.C. from Jan. 12-16, 2020. Click here for more information.

• World governments spent $5.2 trillion on oil and gas subsidies in 2017, including $649 billion in the U.S. — ten times what we spend on education — according to the International Monetary Fund. The subsidies are propping up fossil fuels as alternative energy prices are dropping sharply, and are contributing to pollution deaths, the IMF says. (Forbes)
• Chinese bike-share company Meituan, formerly known as Mobike, reports that 200,000 of its bikes were stolen or vandalized last year. (Tech Startups)
• The New York Times recaps a tragic year that saw cyclist and pedestrian deaths soar in NYC, and city officials commit to building hundreds of miles of bike and bus lanes and start charging commuters who drive into Manhattan. 
• Vision Zero is failing in Denver, which recently had its deadliest year on the roads in more than a decade. (KDVR)
• Philadelphia NPR affiliate WHYY wants to see more transit improvements like the 15th Street station renovation, and for the Pennsylvania DOT to stop treating cyclists and pedestrians like inconveniences.
• Kansas City cyclists are demanding safety improvements after a driver killed a man on a bike on Christmas Eve. One city councilman has introduced a Vision Zero resolution, but a bike master plan remains on hold. (KSHB)
• By 2040, an INDY Week columnist expects North Carolina’s Research Triangle to have a complete network of light rail and bus rapid transit lines. 
• Projects like the Seattle streetcar have been hit with delays and cost overruns, but KIRO wonders whether poor decisions really warrant a federal criminal investigation.
• An Albuquerque city councilor is introducing legislation to make drive-through restaurants safer for pedestrians. (KRQE)
• Los Angeles police are stepping up patrols at six intersections where there’s been a spike in car crashes. (ABC 7)
• Ten weeks of light rail construction will disrupt train and ferry commutes in Seattle starting Saturday. The work is part of the new East Link line scheduled to open in 2023. (KOMO)
• Uber has made New York City so congested that taking one of the company’s helicopters to the airport might actually be cheaper than using the app to hail a car. (The Outline)