Yonah Freemark
Recent Posts
Data: Other Countries Are Building Transit While the U.S. Falls Behind
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"While the world is building out ever more accessible transit systems, the US appears to be falling behind."
What the Inflation Reduction Act Will — And Won’t — Do For Sustainable Transportation
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The Inflation Reduction Act is expected to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by channeling funding through tax credits, loans, and grants — but it's not a silver bullet.
What the US Can Learn from the European Approach to Controlling Vehicle Emissions
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The US transportation sector isn’t adapting quickly enough to the climate crisis by reducing emissions. A better adaptation strategy will require not only shifting how people move by getting them out of cars and onto bikes and public transportation, but also replacing the vehicle fleet with more efficient automobiles that are less reliant on fossil fuels.
The First Step to Ending Pedestrian Deaths? Tax Heavy Cars In Cities
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Washington is the first city in the nation to propose a targeted charge by vehicle weight, but even that ambitious policy falls short of similar weight charges in other countries.
Why French and US Road Deaths Went In Dramatically Different Directions
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Here's how American states and cities can look to the French example for approaches to improve road safety.
Why US Cities Are Investing in Safer, More-Connected Cycling Infrastructure
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Many US cities have committed to the Vision Zero goal of eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe injuries. One key approach for many cities is improving bike lanes and other facilities. But are cities actually changing the way they invest in cycling infrastructure?
Analysis: Fed Support for Transit Would Increase Equity
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Under funding public transportation causes low-quality service and low ridership. It also forces people with low incomes to buy cars and encourages increased carbon emissions. Additional federal transit operations support could improve mobility access for communities nationwide.

Too Little, Too Late? A Decade of Transit Investment in the U.S.
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The Transportation Research Board’s 99th Annual Meeting will be held in Washington, D.C. from Jan. 12-16, 2020. Click here for more information. The following article originally appeared on The Transport Politic. It is reposted here with permission. It’s been a busy decade for many cities throughout the U.S. From coast to coast, they’ve been building up […]
As Transit Expands in Los Angeles, Will Walkability Follow?
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Even as the region's rail network grows, too many stations remain engulfed by single-family housing and park-and-ride lots.
Los Angeles Bus Service Declined as Rail Expanded
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Given the tens of billions of dollars that L.A. will spend on transit over the next few decades, it's all the more important to invest it in ways that will be useful and attract riders. But since 2014, ridership has been dropping.
The Bus Network Redesign in Indianapolis Will Be Like Launching a Brand New Transit System
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What Indianapolis is doing deserves attention, especially from other spread-out American cities looking to spend their transit dollars as efficiently as possible. The big change is a complete reshaping of bus service, which will be like setting up a brand new transit network.
As Jobs Sprawl Outside Indianapolis, Transit Tries to Keep Pace
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The suburbanization of jobs in Indianapolis has put more and more entry-level positions far from the urban transit network - out of reach, in other words, for many people without advanced degrees who need those jobs. But to their credit, suburban employers and local governments have been working together to make the best of this situation.