Friday’s Headlines

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• SUVs are a dangerous symbol of waste and excess — even if they run on batteries. (Motherboard)
• If cities want funding for light rail, the feds should require them to build more housing (Forbes). In related news, Los Angeles is actually building plenty of housing — at least, for people who have a car (L.A. Times).
• A Columbus partnership is helping employers cut down on employees’ single-occupancy trips and encourage them to use transit (Government Technology). In addition, the Ohio capital is now home to the nation’s first daily, public autonomous shuttle, funded by the Obama-era Smart Cities Challenge. The pilot program will run for a year (Bloomberg).
• Georgia Democrats want to end the state’s long-standing policy of spending gas tax revenue only on roads and bridges, and open up for the funding for transit as well. (Curbed)
• The Utah Transit Authority is considering extending TRAX light rail lines in Salt Lake City and offering service every five minutes. (Deseret News)
• The Portland Streetcar is asking for six new cars to extend the line 2.3 miles. (Oregonian)
• A proposed Boston ordinance would save people who ride transit to work a few bucks by letting them buy passes with pre-tax dollars. (Daily Free Press)
• No wonder studies show women don’t always feel comfortable transit: An NBC Washington investigation found 120 complaints of sexual misconduct by D.C. Metro employees, ranging from lewd comments to assault.
• Charlotte drivers continue to kill pedestrians at a record pace, despite new crosswalks and sidewalks. Police blamed pedestrians for “putting themselves in peril.” (Observer)
• Likewise, drivers killed 16 pedestrians in Reno last year, many of them homeless. Instead of educating drivers or designing safer streets, social workers handed out reflective backpacks, and in more than half of collisions, police cited the pedestrian. (Gazette-Journal)
• A heroic Chicagoan spray-painted bike lanes onto a deadly intersection the city has failed to maintain. (Block Club)
• Helsinki did it! The Finnish capital recorded zero traffic deaths in 2019. (Smart Cities World)