- Taxi services have seen an uptick in business since the coronavirus outbreak, but many drivers are taking precautions like sanitizing their vehicles, refusing rides to the airport and cutting back hours (Bloomberg). Virginia Sen. Mark Warner is urging Uber, Lyft and delivery services to compensate drivers who may have come into contact with the virus so they aren’t incentivized to keep working and spread it to others (Tech Crunch), which Uber says it will do (Reuters).
- Replica — a spinoff of Google parent company Alphabet subsidiary Sidewalk Labs — is offering cities data to help them plan more efficiently. However, it won’t say where the data comes from. (Fast Company)
- Virginia lawmakers passed bills to raise the gas tax — part of which will go to transit (unlike in many states) — crack down on reckless driving and drivers’ cellphone use, and allow police to use cameras to catch speeders. Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to sign the bills. (Washington Post)
- Florida lawmakers want to replace yellow-flashing crosswalk signals with red-flashing ones, saying drivers are more likely to stop on red. But such a law could actually put pedestrians in danger, because the red signals are 10 times as expensive, so cities might rip out the yellow ones and not replace them. (ABC Action News)
- Sound Transit wants to lower its $124 fare evasion fine and do a better job of advertising discounted fares. But it won’t decriminalize fare evasion, as some transit systems have done. (Seattle Times)
- Traffic deaths rose by 17 percent in Portland between 2015 and 2018 despite Vision Zero (Willamette Week).
- It’s hard to believe that liberal Berkeley hasn’t adopted Vision Zero yet, but the the city council is only now considering it. (Daily Californian)
- Greater Greater Washington has questions for D.C. city council candidates — but no answers yet — many of them having to do with development patterns and transportation.
- Twin Cities transit ridership fell by 2.7 percent in 2019. (RT&S)
- London cyclists are using bike-mounted video cameras to report bad drivers to the authorities. (Forbes)
- The New York Post threw a pity party for Manhattan drivers who are paying hundreds of dollars a month to park. One guy even has to keep his collection of vintage cars in New Jersey. Oh, the humanity!
Today's Headlines
Tuesday’s Headlines
By Blake Aued
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
Friday Video: Connecting the Dots Between Trump, Transit Cuts, Walkability Rescissions, Big Oil and Union Busting
Take a ride with More Perfect Union and learn about capitalism.
October 3, 2025
Is Sec. Duffy Holding NY Transit Hostage To Negotiate Away The Rest of America’s Transportation Future?
The federal Transportation secretary is using two large transit projects as a bargaining chip to bully Congress into passing a budget that could be disastrous for communities across the country.
October 3, 2025
Friday’s Headlines Shut It Down
The government shutdown looks like it will be just another excuse for the Trump administration to cancel transportation projects unless blue states bend the knee.
October 3, 2025
Can Pedestrian Pop-Ups Go Permanent in the U.S.?
Can temporary pedestrian pop-ups spur permanent change?
October 3, 2025
Talking Headways Podcast: Healthy Architecture, Healthy People
It is very unusual for an architecture project to pay any attention at all outside of the property line. And that has to change.
October 2, 2025
Report: A Third of Americans Can’t Rely On Cars — And 16 Million Have No Access At All
So why do we plan our cities like everyone can and does get behind the wheel every day?
October 2, 2025
