Today's Headlines

Thursday’s Headlines From Around the Nation

Never let a crisis go to waste, as Rahm Emmanuel once said. Coronavirus may eventually transform transportation for the better. Click here to learn more.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on April 9, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic is a chance to change the way people travel forever: less flying, more walking, more funding for transit, congestion pricing, and turning over streets from cars to pedestrians (Fast Company). It also shows that transit is essential to urban life, even — or because — not many people are riding it right now. (City Lab)
Despite being essential, many transit agencies may be stuck in a death spiral because ridership — and funding sources — are collapsing, and it’s unlikely to recover as quickly as other modes. (Axios)
In related news, a new report suggests that people will want to switch from flying to high-speed rail post-coronavirus, and recommends that governments expand their rail networks. (Railway Gazette)
Transit advocates are rallying to protect drivers and riders — the essential workers who need trains and buses to do their jobs (Transit Center). One example is in Minneapolis, where Metro Transit and its union are working to secure 6,000 face masks (WCCO).
A Columbia University study found that the use of ride-hailing apps is linked to an uptick in crashes involving both motorists and pedestrians at pick-up and drop-off points. (TNW, Daily Mail)
Yet with much of the world on lockdown, Uber’s delivery services are suddenly a necessity. (Quartz)
We at Streetsblog are generally pretty skeptical of self-driving cars, but the World Economic Forum believes the coronavirus crisis shows there’s a place for them.
Even after a racing motorcyclist killed a man on a bike in Tampa, Mayor Jane Castor is resisting calls to close largely empty street lanes to motorized traffic to give people more room to spread out. (WFLA)
Buffalo’s Reddy Bikeshare is offering annual passes for just $1. (WGRZ)
Albuquerque is running more buses on busy routes to help riders maintain social distancing. (KOB)
Indonesia has ordered transit riders to wear masks to slow the spread of coronavirus, which is soaring this month. (Bloomberg)

Blake Aued

Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.

Today's Headlines

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.

More from Streetsblog USA

Podcast

Talking Headways Podcast: So What Is ‘Urban Disorder’ In A Post-Covid U.S.

Open air drug bazaars in San Francisco are one thing that we can agree need to be fixed.

Jeff Wood

June 18, 2026

Safety

Driverless Cars Could Save Tens of Thousands of Lives. But We Must Treat Them Like Aviation — Not Like Cars

Commercial passenger aviation has nearly zero passenger deaths per year compared to about 40,000 roadway deaths. That's not a function of driving being inherently riskier — it is a function of what our leaders decide is "safe enough."