Monday’s Headlines to Start the Week Off Right
Lots of news out of California (hey, it's a big state). Plus the rest of the stuff you need today.
By
Blake Aued
1:01 AM EDT on September 28, 2020
- Having armed police enforce traffic laws actually does little to make streets safer. Design and education are more important. (LAist)
- A new poll found that 39 percent of California voters support Prop 22, the effort backed by Uber and Lyft to overturn the state’s gig-worker law, while 36 percent oppose it and 25 percent are undecided. (Forbes)
- Cities should be investing in infrastructure to make sure the pandemic bike boom is permanent. (Fast Company)
- The pandemic has accelerated the trend toward flexible work patterns, more walkable neighborhoods and fewer cars in cities. (The Guardian)
- The Driven has extensive coverage of Tesla’s announcement that it’s working on a new battery that will make electric vehicles cheaper and reduce their environmental impact. But experts say it’s still years off, and the company might not be able to bring down costs as much as it says.
- Federal infrastructure programs designed to build highways in the 1950s no longer give cities and states enough flexibility to meet their needs, according to a new report from the Brookings Institute.
- Off-board fare collection, dedicated lanes, stop consolidation and signal priority can help speed up buses and lure more people to ride them. (Pedestrian Observations)
- Austin has some of the worst traffic in the country; drivers killed 89 people last year; and fines and fees hit those the least able to pay them the hardest. The Project Connect transit plan is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix all that. (Austin Chronicle)
- In other news out of Austin, the city’s B-Cycle bike-share is rebranding as MetroBike and will be integrated into the public transit system. (Monitor)
- Oklahoma City opened its first protected bike lane on Bike to Work Day last Thursday. (Fox 25)
- The L.A. Metro bike-share’s “smart bikes” proved to be unpopular because of their limited service range and are being replaced. (CBS Los Angeles)
- Bike sales are up more than 50 percent in Oregon compared to last year. (Bike Portland)
- The Illinois Railway Museum is restoring one of the few surviving early-20th-century streetcars. (Terre Haute Tribune-Star)
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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