Thursday’s Headlines
- Transportation is the No. 1 source of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report from Environment America. The report recommends that all new cars and light trucks sold after 2035 be electric, all buses should be electric by 2030, and the U.S. should double the number of people who walk, bike or take transit within 10 years.
- Uber and Lyft rides produce 69 percent more carbon than the trips they displace, because most people who use the ride-hailing apps would have walked, biked or taken transit instead. (The Verge)
- Even the oil and gas company BP thinks it’s a good idea to limit greenhouse gas emissions, as Virginia’s Ralph Northam and several other East Coast governors are proposing. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
- An environmental group wants San Diego to ban the purchase of gas-powered vehicles that cost more than $50,000. (Car and Driver)
- A plan to pump $300 million a year into New Jersey transit would raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest corporations. (NJ Biz)
- Hypocritical Connecticut lawmakers who want transit in their districts blocked toll hikes that would have funded it. (Hartford Courant)
- A former San Francisco consultant is Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s choice to become the city’s first transportation director. (Chronicle)
- The Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has appointed two transit veterans to oversee the system’s bus and rail operations. (CBS 46)
- Des Moines is spending $3 million to build 7.5 miles of sidewalks in 19 locations. (KCCI)
- A Portland lawyer is suing the city for allowing drivers to park too close to intersections, which endangers pedestrians by making it hard to see. (Bike Portland)
- A Rochester driver hit a cyclist, then had the audacity to sue the man he hit for $700 in damage to his car. (City Newspaper)
- The Metro was not inevitable. From underground streetcars to monorails, Greater Greater Washington outlines the history of Washington, D.C. transit plans.
- City Fix has a rundown of Germany’s new plan to get people walking (Streetsblog covered it, too).
- ICYMI, Mardi Gras edition: New Orleans residents furnished a pothole and listed it on Airbnb. (City Lab)
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