Monday’s Headlines to Start a Warming Trend
- The $1.9-trillion American Rescue Act passed the Senate on Saturday with $30 billion for transit agencies intact. Now it has to go back to the House one more time before landing on President Biden's desk. (New York Times)
- As lawmakers discuss new infrastructure funding, $2.4 billion from decade-old earmarks for transportation projects is still laying around unspent. (Washington Post)
- Cash-strapped transit agencies are getting into the real estate business, doing things like selling off little-used parking lots for development. This has the added benefit of creating new pools of potential riders who live near stations. (Fast Company)
- You probably already knew this, but here's more evidence that induced demand means widening roads is pointless, because more cars will always fill them up again. (City Commentary)
- Free-market conservatives and anti-capitalist leftists can both agree on something: Get rid of parking minimums. (Forbes)
- Charging market rates for parking could bring in millions of dollars for cities. (The City Fix)
- Although 90 percent of transit riders wear masks, bus drivers still have to deal with irate passengers and sometimes don't have enough masks to pass out to people who don't have them. (The Conversation)
- Ohio legislators restored funding Gov. Mike DeWine wanted to cut from transit and even added more. But transit still only accounts for $200 million of the state's $8-billion transportation budget. The bill also eliminates increased penalties for distracted driving. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
- Columbus is lowering downtown speed limits and improving crosswalks and intersections as part of the Ohio city's Vision Zero program. (Underground)
- Minnesota lawmakers are close to a bipartisan agreement that would let transit agencies reduce penalties for fare evasion. (MinnPost)
- A Berkeley group wants police to stop enforcing traffic laws and transfer those functions to unarmed DOT civilians. (Berkeleyside)
- Do you feel lucky? If not, you may want to avoid buses and streetcars in Missouri, where a bill to allow guns on transit is advancing. (Tulsa World)
- And, finally, wow, our friends at Streetsblog NYC are really going after the cops.
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