Disrupting Friday’s Headlines

Elevator pitch: Buses, but they only seat six people, and you have to book one ahead of time.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on May 16, 2025

Peter Fazekas

First Uber tried to replace carpooling. Then it tried to disrupt the taxi business. Now it's trying to recreate buses with fixed-route rides that have 20-minute headways — except they won't be buses; they'll be three-row SUVs. (TechCrunch)
Conflict of interest much? The Federal Railroad Administration is hiring major Trump donor Elon Musk's Boring Company to help design a Baltimore tunnel, despite its lackluster track record on previous projects. (New York Times)
Robotaxi company Waymo is recalling 1,200 autonomous vehicles to address a software glitch that caused several crashes. (Los Angeles Times)
People have been flocking to Sunset Dunes Park ever since San Francisco created it out of what was once the seaside Great Highway (CityLab). Drivers are still mad about it, but now they're also shifting their ire to the San Rafael bridge, blaming bike lane for traffic gridlock (San Francisco Chronicle)
A bill in support of a high-speed rail line connecting San Antonio, Austin and Dallas appears dead in the Republican-dominated Texas legislature. (Fort Worth Report)
Seattle is building a $700 million tunnel that could accommodate a train. It's not a subway, though. Instead, it's a massive stormwater drainage pipe to collect runoff largely created by roads and parking lots. (City Observatory)
Memphis Mayor Paul Young's budget includes a $5 million boost in transit funding, but some advocates argue that's not enough. (ABC 24)
Philadelphia is adding "speed slots" to Lincoln Drive to slow down drivers. (WHYY)
The Knoxville city council approved $1 million for a new greenway. (WBIR)
The Congress for New Urbanism is giving a University of Colorado student an award for his plan to revitalize Denver's Arapahoe Square.
Further proof that the kids are alright: Arizona State students created a real-time tracking app for the Tempe streetcar. (KJZZ)
An e-bike influencer caught it on video when a cop nearly vaporized him while he was riding in a bike lane. (Electrek)