Friday’s Headlines as We Close Out the Week
Lots of transit news today ... including autonomous buses (uh-oh). It's all one click away.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EST on December 4, 2020
- A New York University study found no link between riding transit and respiratory diseases like the flu.
- Speed cameras can take the racial bias out of traffic enforcement. (Smart Cities Dive)
- The D.C. Metro’s announcement that it could be forced to cut weekend rail service prompted renewed calls for emergency transit funding from Congress. (Washington Post)
- On the heels of several successful transit referendums around the country, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles wants to put an $8- to 12-billion investment for light rail, buses, greenways and bike paths on the ballot. (WFAE)
- Despite COVID setbacks and a deal with Virgin Trains falling apart, privately owned Florida rail company Brightline is planning to continue expanding and thinks it can compete with both cars and air travel. (Railway Technology)
- Portland found that the fastest drivers tended to slow down on streets where the speed limit dropped from 25 to 20 miles per hour. (BikePortland)
- Seattle’s Sound Transit signed a contract to buy wind energy to power light rail, saving $390,000 on electricity and cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent. (Railway Age)
- Philadelphia’s transit agency is committed to the King of Prussia rail line despite a rising price tag and questions about how to pay for it. (Inquirer)
- A new Milwaukee bus rapid transit line is projected to start running in October, 2022. (Journal-Sentinel)
- The time Australians have saved on commuting by working from home is equivalent to thousands of dollars a year. (The Conversation)
- Twenty streets in Toronto are slated for dedicated bus lanes in the coming decade (blogTO). But before Americans get jealous, Toronto is also removing a temporary bike lane over cyclists’ outcry.
- Germany is starting testing of autonomous buses (Intelligent Transport). Meanwhile, Waymo is building a whole fake city in Ohio to test driverless cars (Gizmodo).
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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