Tuesday’s Headlines Go Car-Free

Image via  Creative Commons.
Image via Creative Commons.
  • Over 90 percent of U.S. households own at least one vehicle, according to Census data. The metro area with the highest rate of vehicle ownership is Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL, at 97.6 percent, and the lowest by far is New York-Newark-Jersey City at 56.5 percent. (Yahoo!)
  • Outside of a few coastal cities, it’s not easy to get by without a car in America. Streetsblog USA alum Angie Schmitt explains how to do it, for Vox.
  • Shared e-scooters are proven to reduce car trips, and cities should be building more infrastructure to keep them off sidewalks. (Cities Today)
  • San Francisco is extending parking meter hours to help fund transit agency Muni. (Chronicle)
  • An express bus between Detroit and Ann Arbor has been a success. Next up is a bus connecting downtown to the airport. (WDET)
  • Massachusetts lawmakers filed bills to implement congestion pricing in Boston, where the average driver spends 134 hours a year stuck in traffic. (Globe)
  • Minnesota lawmakers are writing a bill to put social workers on light-rail trains to help people struggling with housing, mental health and addiction. (Reformer)
  • Fare-free transit in Connecticut has led to unhoused people riding buses all day and a spike in attacks on bus drivers. (Examiner)
  • A Colorado bill would provide free transit rides during peak ozone season. (KRDO)
  • A judge ruled that Denver’s transit agency isn’t responsible for crossing arm issues that cost a light-rail contractor $100 million. (Colorado Public Radio)
  • A driver killed a cyclist on a Portland street where the Oregon DOT had forced the city to remove a bike box. Now the city is putting it back. (Bike Portland)
  • Austin released a new urban trail plan that increases accessibility in underserved neighborhoods. (Daily Texan)
  • Berlin is planning on removing almost all car parking from a neighborhood as a car-free pilot project. But it might be going too far, even for Green Party voters. (The Guardian)

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