Monday’s Headlines Are Picking a Fight
While House Dems try to fend off the road-building lobby, Uber's CEO wants you to be able to get a piano delivered in an hour and a half.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on July 19, 2021
- Congressional Democrats are girding for battle with state DOTs and the powerful road-building lobby over a climate and infrastructure bill that dramatically shifts the balance of transportation power away from driving. (Politico)
- Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi gets the typical Maureen Dowd/New York Times Style section treatment with a fawning profile that portrays him as a great dad but does little to address his company’s shoddy safety, environmental or labor practices.
- Originally envisioned as an on-demand carpool service that later evolved into taxis hailed by apps, Lyft is bringing back its ride-sharing option. (CNN)
- Infrastructure that ignores people and bikes in favor of cars is a big contributor to inequality in public health. (Forbes)
- Researchers know that designing cities around cars is bad for human health, but which less auto-centric model is best is still up for debate. (Fast Company)
- A new University of Texas study lays out ways transit agencies can improve equity.
- Up to 30 percent of driver-pedestrian crashes in Washington, D.C. go unreported, and that percentage increases in predominantly Black wards. (City Lab)
- The Maryland DOT says it needs to cut five transit projects worth $1.2 billion to offset the loss of public-private toll collections on freeways. (Washington Post)
- Seattle planners are proposing diverting half of revenue from sources like a vehicle-miles tax and impact fees toward transit, with just a seventh going toward roads. (Washington Policy)
- Not only is Charlotte spending $6 billion on a light rail line to the airport, which won’t help the vast majority of transit riders, but the line won’t even go all the way to the airport. (WFAE)
- Universal Studios is fighting Brightline’s plans to bring passenger rail to Orlando. (Sentinel)
- Problems with Philadelphia’s electric buses are raising questions about whether the technology is viable yet. (WHYY)
- Florida Man, meet Louisiana Man: This guy was so high on life that he leapt off a bridge to escape a traffic jam. (Jalopnik)
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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