Friday’s Headlines Change Their Rhetoric
Transit agencies aren't helping their own case for additional funding by continuing to emphasize COVID.
By
Blake Aued
12:09 AM EDT on June 26, 2026
- Jarrett Walker advises transit agencies to stop talking about their recovery as a percentage of pre-COVID ridership, because larger trends are outside of their control, new riders are different from the office workers who are never coming back, and ridership isn’t the only measure of success. Many transit systems emphasize coverage over ridership, anyway. (Human Transit)
- Texas Monthly took a deep dive into the capabilities of autonomous vehicles and the ethical questions about who to blame when they crash.
- Linear cities built around high-speed rail aren’t a bad idea, Lloyd Alter argues, even if the one proposed in Saudi Arabia didn’t make much sense. (Carbon Upfront!)
- Free street parking is a subsidy for wealthy car owners. (Vital City)
- Unsurprisingly, New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is at odds with the Trump administration over Penn Station renovations. (NY Times)
- Is the increased police presence on Charlotte light rail really about safety, or is it political theater? (Observer)
- Damp and warm underground parking garages are breeding grounds for mosquitoes. (Greater Greater Washington)
- The D.C. Metro’s efforts to stop rampant turnstile-jumping don’t seem to be working. (Dirt Americana)
- A new report laying out options for expanding Hawaii transit is already under fire for the costs involved. (Civil Beat)
- The Texas DOT started a website where people can report gaps in sidewalks and bike lanes. (KRGV)
- Dayton needs more protected bike lanes. (Daily News)
- A London study found that deaths from air pollution have fallen by 40 percent since the city created ultra-low-emissions zoned where most cars are banned. (The Guardian)
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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