Wednesday’s Headlines Go Small

Is the era of big-ass trucks over? It's too soon to tell, but for now, consumers are turning to more reasonably sized (and priced) vehicles.

By Blake Aued

12:09 AM EDT on April 10, 2024

File photo: Gersh Kuntzman

Sales of full-size pickup trucks are declining as consumers choose smaller, more affordable options (Automotive News). It also looks like American automakers miscalculated when they decided to focus their electrification efforts on huge, expensive vehicles that most people can't afford (Quartz). Good news for the cyclists and pedestrians they smush!
A Republican political consultant says GOP candidates will pay a price at the polls for turning EVs into more culture-war fodder, since most of them are made in swing states like Georgia. (Politico)
Tesla settled a lawsuit blaming the company's misnamed Autopilot software for the 2018 death of a California man who died while behind the wheel but doing something other than driving. (New York Times)
House Democrats are including $555 million for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and $184 million for other transit agencies in their proposed state budget, an increase of 41 percent over current funding. (WGBH)
Miami-Dade is going to back to the drawing board on a $2.5 billion bond package because leaders angered voters by not including any money for better transit. (Bloomberg)
Advocates say Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's proposed $1.3 billion transportation levy is less than half of what the city needs to meet its environmental, mobility and equity challenges. (The Stranger)
The Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority unveiled plans for a mixed-use development around its Indian Creek station. But first come the parking garages. (AJC)
St. Louis is turning three dangerous downtown roadways into complete streets. (First Alert 4)
Salt Lake City is adding bike lanes to a major thoroughfare, but backed down from plans to reduce the number of car lanes. (Tribune)
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is planning to shut down the Circulator bus as part of a plan to close a $700 million budget gap. (NBC Washington)
Spokane's first bus rapid transit line took just nine months to hit 100,000 riders, making it the second-most popular bus line in the city. (Mass Transit)
San Francisco transit agency Muni's train control system apparently still uses floppy disks. (Trains)
Streetsblog editor Gersh Kuntzman's "criminal mischief" campaign against license plate scofflaws got some more attention from "This American Life" and "The Daily Show." (Streetsblog NYC)