Friday’s Headlines Are Dirty Rotten Thieves

Where do all the stolen bikes go? Apparently, a lot of them end up with a single thief south of the border.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on June 14, 2024

Photo: FunctioningMemberOfSociety, CC

A digital sleuth who set up a website to track stolen bikes traced a bunch of West Coast thefts back to one guy in Mexico. (Wired)
There's one thing the U.S. government could do right now to protect pedestrians and cyclists — rate how safe vehicles are for the people they hit, not just the people inside. (Vox)
The owner of intercity coach company Megabus has filed for bankruptcy, saying it never recovered from the pandemic. (Bus and Motor Coach)
About 150,000 electric vehicles have been sold in the U.S. so far this year, with the Biden administration's EV tax credit saving consumers a total of $1 billion, according to the Treasury Department. (The Hill)
Hydrogen-powered bikes are even more environmentally friendly than ordinary e-bikes because they don't require mineral-heavy batteries or, in the case of bikeshares, a van to go around swapping out the batteries. (Electrek)
Jalopnik and Not Just Bikes delve into the psychology behind those absurd 15-minute city conspiracy theories.
Authorities finalized the biggest federal grant ever for the $16 billion Hudson River Gateway project to unsnarl passenger rail traffic up and down the East Coast. (New York Times)
Republicans in both Oregon and Washington state are questioning bike lanes along a new I-5 bridge spanning the Columbia River, with some wanting to toll cyclists and some wanting to deny them access at all. (Bike Portland)
The San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency is considering removing a controversial Valencia Street bike lane despite no evidence that it's actually harming businesses. (SFist)
Michigan Democrats are fast-tracking a bill that would funnel corporate income taxes to housing and transit. (Detroit Free Press)
Denver safety inspectors found more problems on light rail that have been slowing trains to a crawl, but declined to say exactly what they are. (Denver Post)
The Utah Transit Authority is planning mixed-use developments around three transit stations. (Salt Lake City Weekly)
Philadelphia is looking to add speed cameras to dangerous Broad Street. (Axios)
In 1912 Jacksonville had a 42-mile streetcar system that served 14 million annual riders. By 1936 it had been completely torn up. (The Jaxson)