- 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
Breaking: US DOT Pulls Grants For Projects That Aren’t Focused on Cars
The Trump administration bias for "vehicular travel" — and the burning of fossil fuels that it requires — rears its ugly head again.
September 16, 2025
Seattle’s Human Population Is Up, But Its Car Population Isn’t
Urbanists have long been making that case that growth in Seattle is the most climate-friendly and easiest to support with transit and infrastructure. And it's happening.
September 16, 2025
Tuesday’s Headlines Stay Safe
Political rhetoric notwithstanding, you're much safer on a bus or a train than in a car, or walking or biking near cars.
September 16, 2025
Monday’s Headlines Are Going to M-A-R-S, Mars!
Acting NASA director Sean Duffy apparently has too much on his plate to do any research into transit safety.
September 15, 2025
How Millions For Transit, Walking, and Biking Could Vanish On Sept. 30
The Trump administration may be deliberately slow-walking contracts for hard-earned transportation dollars.
September 15, 2025
