Streetsblog
Thursday’s Headlines As We Turn the Corner
By Blake Aued
- The pandemic has shown that even if we could eliminate congestion, our roads would remain equally deadly. (Frontier Group)
- Amtrak wants to expand, but it might face pushback from some local communities, especially in the South. (New York Times)
- An Illinois congressman wants to quadruple the amount the federal government spends on transit so it matches the amount spent on highways. (Streetsblog Chicago)
- Switching to electric heavy-duty trucks and buses by 2035 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4.7 million tons and save 57,000 lives, according to a new Environmental Defense Fund report. (Clean Technica)
- Hybrid buses are cleaner than diesel, but unfortunately they’re also really hard to maintain. (Next City)
- Two environmental and mobility advocates argue that gas taxes are racist and regressive, and should be replaced by a tax on new vehicles, a carbon tax or a surcharge on luxury vehicles. (Public Cola)
- In the future pedestrians might be forced to wear reflective clothing so autonomous vehicles can see them. (Treehugger)
- Tesla has finally admitted that its cars with “Full Self-Driving Capability” cannot actually drive themselves. (Los Angeles Times)
- An electric air taxi startup doesn’t even plan to make flights until 2024 and is somehow already worth $6.6 billion (CNBC). Meanwhile, New York reps are trying to ban air taxi flights over the city (Gothamist).
- Houston drivers continue to park in bike lanes, even after the city banned it. (KPRC)
- Supporters of the Loop Trolley in St. Louis are asking for $1.2 million to restart it as a free service after the city decided to stop funding it last year. (KMOV)
- Vision Five? Ann Arbor has about 20 to 30 injuries and deaths a year as a result of car crashes, and wants to cut that number to single digits by 2023. (MLive)
- Cincinnati Red Bike won a $200,000 grant to make the bike-share network more equitable. (WOSU)
- What will happen to the friends we make on our transit commutes for people who never go back to the office? (Marketplace)
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