Monday’s Headlines to Start the Week
Traffic is back, but not transit ridership, as San Francisco's BART is experiencing headed into its 51st year.
By
Blake Aued
12:00 AM EDT on September 12, 2022
- Traffic congestion is back to pre-pandemic levels, but not transit ridership. (NPR)
- A writer at the conservative Heritage Foundation makes the controversial argument that bike lanes actually make cyclists less safe. (Forbes)
- Bay Area Rapid Transit celebrated its 50th anniversary last week (San Francisco Chronicle). But the future is unclear with ridership still less than half of pre-pandemic levels and federal COVID funds running out (ABC 7).
- Boston transit officials say they’re confident the Orange Line will reopen within 10 days with new train cars. (Globe)
- Disabled Portland residents are suing the city for allowing people to camp on sidewalks, saying blocking them violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
- North Carolina’s transportation funding formula prioritizes drivers over alternatives like walking and biking. (Center for American Progress)
- A Philadelphia parking mogul is spending $100 million to acquire more surface lots in other states and build commercial developments on them. (Inquirer)
- Seattle officials are looking at ways to improve Third Avenue, the busiest bus corridor in the country. (The Urbanist)
- Orlando-area transit riders can only access 5,600 jobs within a half-hour commute, and a November referendum in Orange County on a sales tax for transportation aims to change that. (Mass Transit Mag)
- Phoenix’s South Central/Downtown Hub light rail project is halfway complete. (Fox 10)
- The Twin Cities’ Met Council hopes to find $534 million to plug a budget gap in the Southwest light rail project’s budget by the end of the year. (Star Tribune)
- Uber Eats and autonomous vehicle startup Nuro are delivering food via robot cars in Houston and Mountain View, California. (The Verge)
- Denver pedestrian advocates are seeking to decriminalize jaywalking. (Westword)
- Rhode Island announced a fare-free pilot program on its most popular transit route connecting Providence and Pawtucket. (Cities Today)
- Urbanize Atlanta wants to hear from readers on what transit agency MARTA should do with the city’s much-derided streetcar.
- Americans value prime parking spots so much that Golf Digest wrote an article about Players Championship winner Cameron Smith having his taken away after ditching the PGA for Saudi-funded rival LIV. In fact, parking is so valuable that in San Francisco a space costs about the same as a down payment on a house (USA Today).
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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