Wednesday’s Headlines Say Keep the Gas Tax
Stop trying to make a gas tax holiday happen. It's not going to happen (or shouldn't, at least).
By
Blake Aued
12:00 AM EDT on June 22, 2022
- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Biden administration is considering suspending the gas tax in response to rising prices (NBC News), and the president said he’ll make a decision by the end of the week (Washington Post). But a gas-tax holiday would only save drivers a few cents a gallon (USA Today). Even with minimal savings, the CEO of Target thinks it’s a dumb idea because it would increase demand (New York Post).
- Fare-free transit is becoming increasingly popular in blue cities and states as an equity and climate issue. It’s not a silver bullet to bring riders back to buses and trains, though, unless the services is also frequent enough to be useful. (Politico)
- Houston’s light-rail system racked up the most collisions per million miles in 2019, while St. Louis had the fewest and Seattle ranked in the middle, according to Federal Transit Administration data. (Seattle Times)
- Pittsburgh opened its first advisory bike lanes, where cars going in both directions share a center lane but are allowed to move into bike lanes to pass each other after yielding to bikes. (CBS News)
- Seattle’s traffic deaths hit a 16-year high in 2021. (KING)
- A bike plan in the Seattle suburb of Bothell falls short of expectations. (The Urbanist)
- Bike thefts are down in Denver but remain a concern for cyclists. (Denver Post)
- Tucson is keeping transit fare-free at least through the end of the year. (Arizona Daily Star)
- UPS’ new cargo e-bikes are now on the streets of Manhattan. (Car Scoop)
- Sorry, those Jen Psaki tweets poking fun at Donald Trump after Joe Biden took a bike spill came from a parody account. (Snopes)
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.
Read More:
More from Streetsblog USA
Friday Video: Five Bike Advocacy Mistakes You Don’t Even Know You’re Making
For one thing, make sure that political leaders who say "no" to livable streets experience consequences for their decisions.
March 27, 2026
Friday’s Headlines Take a Free Ride
Waymo has remote response teams, but when a robotaxi gets stuck, emergency responders have to get behind the wheel.
March 27, 2026
Talking Headways Podcast: Congestion Pricing Data Collection
New York's congestion pricing data whiz discusses the program's first year.
March 26, 2026
How DC’s Mayor and Council Chair Thwarted Every Effort to Better Its Streetcar
There are two reasons why D.C. doesn't have the streetcar system it was promised — and their names are Mayor Muriel Bowser and DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson, one urbanist argues.
March 26, 2026
An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Thursday’s Headlines
There's so much the U.S. could have done to insulate residents from spiraling gas prices, other than suspend taxes.
March 26, 2026
Comments Are Temporarily Disabled
Streetsblog is in the process of migrating our commenting system. During this transition, commenting is temporarily unavailable.
Once the migration is complete, you will be able to log back in and will have full access to your comment history. We appreciate your patience and look forward to having you back in the conversation soon.