Thursday’s Headlines to Start a New Era

Face it, most of the news yesterday was about Amtrak Joe:

• Bloomberg compared President Joe Biden’s daily train commute from Delaware to Lincoln’s whistle-stop tour.
• After the inauguration on Wednesday afternoon, the Bidens walked to their new home. (New York Times)
• Among President Biden’s first actions as president were to sign executive orders rejoining the Paris climate accords and canceling the Keystone XL pipeline. (CNN)
• Biden’s dreams of passing a huge infrastructure bill will require finding a funding mechanism that’s not politically toxic. (Politico)
• Incoming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has an opportunity to make a big impact on transit and climate change. (NRDC)
• Until Buttigieg is confirmed, Lana Hurdle will run the DOT (White House). Hurdle, a career civil servant, had been the deputy assistant secretary for budget and programs.
• Philadelphia cyclists and transit riders are big fans of Buttigieg. (WHYY)

In other news:

• It’s not specific to transportation, but Vice has a guide to finding the right public official to talk to and convincing him or her to do what you want.
• Proposed high-speed rail between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore could run every eight minutes during peak times and carry 18 million people a year, according to an environmental impact statement. (WaPost)
• More federal COVID funding announcements: Tampa received $31 million for transit (Governing) and the Twin Cities’ Metro Transit will get $186 million (MSN).
• Shared moped company Revel’s expansion during the pandemic coincided with a spike in traffic deaths in New York City. (Bloomberg)
• Italy’s 500-euro subsidy for bikes and e-scooters triggered a massive micromobility boom. (Eltis)
• A new Chinese maglev train can reach speeds of 385 miles per hour. (CNN)