Streetsblog

Thursday’s Headlines Are Free for Everyone

Boston's Michelle Wu is far from the only mayor to push fare-free transit recently. Plus, ad campaigns that try to shame people into safety rarely work.

By Blake Aued

12:00 AM EDT on June 16, 2022

Thursday’s Headlines Are Free for Everyone

From Boston to Olympia, mayors are embracing fare-free transit as a way to address inequality. (Politico)
Safe-driving ad campaigns mostly don’t work, and the money could be better spent on other strategies, like speed-limiting technology or designing safer roads. (Slate)
The Biden administration is now taking a serious look at a gas-tax holiday (The Hill), which is a bad policy that doesn’t help drivers much, doesn’t encourage alternative modes and siphons money from transportation.
Remember the time a self-driving Uber killed a woman who was crossing the street in Arizona? (Clean Technica)
The Massachusetts Supreme Court blocked a Prop 22-style gig worker referendum that’s backed by Uber and Lyft. (CNN)
The latest plan for Austin’s Project Connect calls for closing “The Drag,” a popular strip near the University of Texas campus, to cars. (American-Statesman)
San Francisco museums want voters to allow cars on JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park again. (Examiner)
Nashville Mayor John Cooper wants to ban sidewalk vendors in some parts of the city, saying they get in the way of pedestrians. (Tennessean)
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has approved bike lanes on 11th Street, along with reducing vehicle lanes, pedestrian refuges, and more. (Houston Public Media)
Milwaukee County is overhauling its transit system in an effort to lure riders back and avoid a budget shortfall. (Wisconsin Public Radio)
The Pittsburgh Port Authority is now Pittsburgh Regional Transit, a name meant to better reflect its mission as, you guessed it, a regional transit agency. (Post-Gazette)
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants to transform the city’s ring road into a green belt. (Eltis)