Streetsblog

Friday’s Headlines to Round Out the Week

Every city seems to have a different approach to mask wearing on transit. (Oy, are we still doing this?) Plus all the other news from yesterday.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EST on February 5, 2021

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s confirmation boosts hopes for a massive infrastructure bill. (Smart Cities Dive)
Chicago is not enforcing President Biden’s new mandate that all transit riders wear masks (Sun-Times). Philadelphia is encouraging mask-wearing, but not fining riders like New York (WHYY).
Los Angeles Metro CEO Phil Washington is leaving in May and may be headed to the Biden administration. (Streetsblog LA)
Congress members in the Washington, D.C. area are sponsoring a bill to stabilize Metro funding by providing $1.7 billion a year for the next decade. (WaPost)
Washington, D.C.’s new Vision Zero law, modeled on one in Cambridge, is being closely watched by other big cities. Any time road work happens, it requires the city to build a bus or protected bike lane if one’s been identified in future plans. (City Lab)
Rad Power Bikes just got a buttload of funding. (Electrek)
Denver’s Regional Transportation District, which has laid off 300 employees during the pandemic, received $203 million from the latest coronavirus relief bill. (OutThere)
Salt Lake City’s plans for busy 300 West include sidewalks, a protected bike path and narrower car lanes. (SL Tribune)
Madison is thinking about banishing bikes and buses from mostly pedestrian State Street, where cars are already not allowed. (Isthmus)
Australia has run into political problems taxing land that skyrockets in value as a result of infrastructure projects — a practice known as “value capture” that can help fund those projects. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Also from Down Under, The Driven says e-bikes are succeeding where other bike-shares failed because they appeal to a broader demographic.
An American diplomat’s wife accused of killing a UK teen while driving in 2019 was working for a U.S. intelligence agency at the time, calling into question her diplomatic immunity. (New York Post)
British officials say they want half of all trips to be made on foot or by bike within the next decade, but they’re still pushing forward with an expensive road-building program. (Forbes)