Thursday’s Headlines

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• Amtrak has chosen another chief from the airline industry, hiring William Flynn, the former freight and charter company Atlas Air Worldwide CEO,  to succeed former Delta executive Richard Anderson. (NY Times)
• After a devastating recession followed by a decade of growth, cities are starting to see new signs of financial trouble, with revenue declining, manufacturing jobs leaving and pension payments looming. (Wall Street Journal)
• Public transit isn’t quite the disease-spreader many people think it is, so if you do catch coronavirus, it probably won’t be on the train. (Vice)
• The average American spends 16 percent of her income on transportation. CNBC profiles cities like Kansas City and Boston that have made transit free or are debating it.
• Privacy groups have joined Uber in fighting Los Angeles’ effort to collect ridership data from the company to target infrastructure investments (Smart Cities Dive). Well, if the data is private, why is Uber collecting it in the first place? 
• A Washington, D.C. bill would let employees who don’t drive to work “cash out” their employers’ free parking, taking the value of the parking in cash instead. (Greater Greater Washington)
• The Houston Metro is planning upgrades to two bus routes, including giving buses the ability to change red lights. (Chronicle)
• Louisville’s first bus rapid transit line cut travel times in half. Two more BRT lines are coming, and eventually, maybe light rail. (Courier-Journal)
• Bike rentals are down since e-scooters came to Tampa, but both are likely here to stay. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Nashville doesn’t have much money to pay for whatever plan Mayor John Cooper comes up with in September. (Fox 17)
• Opposition to transit is nothing new. Almost 100 years ago, Baltimore residents stormed City Hall ready to throw down over a streetcar line on the Alameda. (Sun)
• Imagine that. Here’s a fast-food restaurant that’s actually asking for less parking than the city requires. (DeKalb Daily Chronicle)