Monday’s Headlines That You Need
Transit agencies around the country could go into a death spiral during the pandemic unless Congress steps in to help. Plus other news.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on July 20, 2020
- Transit agencies around the country could go into a death spiral during the pandemic unless Congress steps in to help (New York Times). And the plunge in ridership is a big blow to climate (Inside Climate News).
- White supremacists are increasingly using cars as weapons to mow down Black Lives Matter protesters. At least 72 such incidents — many intentional, although some were accidental — have been recorded in 52 cities over the past two months. (NBC News)
- Politico has a takedown of Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a frequent critic of President Trump and potential future presidential contender whose transportation policies are just as regressive, in particular his decision to cancel the Red Line in Baltimore.
- While cities are reshuffling street space during the pandemic, they should give buses a greater share. (The City Fix)
- As part of its effort to become the one-stop shop for transportation and integrate transit into its app, Uber acquired Routematch, a company that sells software to transit agencies for data management, dispatching, booking and ticketing. (The Verge)
- Lyft is providing partitions for some of its drivers to separate themselves from potentially COVID-positive passengers — but less frequent drivers will have to pay for their own. (CNN)
- A Minnesota bond issue includes funding for bus rapid transit on two of Minneapolis’s busiest transit lines. (MinnPost)
- Alexandria received state funding from Virginia for BRT on one of its busiest corriders. (WTOP)
- Funding for future Vision Zero projects is in peril after Mayor Jim Kenney slashed $2 million from its budget. (Billy Penn)
- A coalition of neighborhood groups, activists, businesses and nonprofits is working to make streets safer in Providence. (ecoRI)
- Minneapolis is allowing Bird and Lyft to bring scooters back this summer, with requirements that they distribute a certain number of bikes in high-poverty neighborhoods. (Fox 9)
- A Canadian drivers’ association is working with Toronto to boost bike-sharing. (Intelligent Transport)
- Elon Musk gets dunked on again, as PC Magazine says the machine learning needed for autonomous vehicles just isn’t ready yet, despite the Tesla CEO’s claims to the contrary.
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.
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