Wednesday’s Headlines Are Going Broke
Americans are bankrupting themselves paying for depreciating assets that they mostly drive short distances, when an e-bike would do just as well.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on June 4, 2025
- The average cost of owning and operating a car in the U.S. is now over $12,000 a year, which means a family with two vehicles is spending $25,000 a year on payments, insurance, fuel and maintenance. (Fast Company)
- President Trump’s proposed Amtrak budget would shift almost $300 million from the busy Northeast Corridor to other parts of the country (Trains). Possibly related: Paul Krugman wonders why MAGA hates New York City so much when the subway is safe and so many fewer people die in traffic than, say Florida.
- It’s illegal for the Trump administration to freeze funding for electric vehicle chargers, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. (Equipment World)
- Two congressmen introduced a bill directing the Federal Highway Administration to fast-track 10 highway projects. (Transportation Today)
- Under a recent Supreme Court ruling, federal agencies and judges can only consider the most narrow environmental impacts of infrastructure projects, not the broader effect on the climate. (Heatmap)
- The Texas legislature did not pass the “DART killer” bill that would have crippled Dallas transit (Morning News) or another bill banning road diets (Houston Chronicle).
- Seattle’s Sound Transit is considering wholesale changes to major projects as it faces federal uncertainty, rising costs and declining tax revenue. (The Urbanist)
- Blind pedestrians are suing Washington, D.C. over its uneven sidewalks. (WaPost)
- Two slimmed-down versions of I-794 and a surface boulevard are among the four options the Wisconsin DOT is considering. (Urban Milwaukee)
- Amtrak’s Borealis route between the Twin Cities and Chicago carried more than 200,000 passengers in its first year. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
- Ridership on Cincinnati’s Bell Connector streetcar has more than doubled since it went fare-free in 2019. (Cincinnati Magazine)
- Salt Lake City put a sculpture in the middle of a traffic circle in hopes of encouraging drivers to slow down. (Fox 13)
- Should dogs be allowed on public transit? (New York Post)
Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.
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