Wednesday’s Headlines Go Carless

A Washington state advocacy group for the disabled is challenging everyone to give up driving for the week of Oct. 2 to find out how hard it is to get around in most parts of the U.S.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on September 20, 2023

Kgbo

It's a testament to America's car-centric infrastructure that asking people to hang up their car keys for a week sounds like asking a lot, but that's exactly what one disability rights group wants people to do so they can see how hard it is to get around without being able to drive. (City Lab)
Two MIT researchers regret their research predicting — wrongly, it turned out — that Uber and Lyft would reduce congestion, and they don't want anyone to make the same mistake with driverless cars. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Lessons learned from cities' efforts to allocate increasingly scarce curb space. (Smart Cities Dive)
A judge striking down the Minneapolis 2040 plan has led to fears that all over the country environmental laws can be weaponized against land-use reform. (Streetsblog USA)
Charlotte and surrounding cities and counties are considering forming a regional transit authority. (WFAE)
Contrary to previous reports, suburban Gwinnett County is putting a transit tax on the ballot but is not considering joining the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority system. (AP)
The Colorado DOT is ditching the 85th percentile rule that encourages fast driving, and is re-evaluating speed limits on many roads. (Colorado Public Radio)
Cincinnati is extending a ban on new downtown surface parking lots. (City Beat)
Sacramento is prioritizing people and housing over cars. (Comstock's Magazine)
Detroit bikeshare MoGo says its e-bikes are ridden three times as much as pedal-only bikes. (Axios)
Portland's transportation director wants to remove a protected bike lane from Broadway downtown that's in a high-crash corridor and took 14 years to build. (Bike Portland)
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante is defying angry motorists by closing a busy highway to cars and turning it over to cyclists and pedestrians. (New York Times)
Several German cities are offering people free passes for public transit — if they give up their driver's license. (Euronews)