Public Transit

Public Transportation Key To ‘Great’ Neighborhoods

Three urban planning scholars of Arizona State University and MIT have published a study critiquing the American Planning Association’s selection of “Great Neighborhoods.” The study’s writers take issue with the fact that these “great neighborhood” rankings fail to take into account affordability or social diversity, while being lauded as a definitive voice in the field. …

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Residents Of Helsinki, Finland, May Not Need To Own Their Own Cars By 2025

In at least one Scandinavian city, owning your own car may not be necessary a decade from now, thanks to the forward-looking plans of the government of Helsinki, Finland. While the goal of eliminating the need for private car ownership in that capital city within 10 years may seem incredibly ambitious, it’s a laudable initiative, …

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Seattle’s Secret Rainy Day Bus Stops

If you’re like me and have been seeing Boston’s rain-activated poetry pop up on your Facebook feed, but have been thinking, “Man, I wish this involved public transportation,” Seattle has the answer for you. It’s no surprise that Rainworks, the company behind the “Invisible Spray” that appears when pavement is wet, hails from the rainy city of …

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Paying Employees To Not Drive In Washington, DC

Donald Shoup pointed out many years ago that if companies pay the costs of parking for their employees, a common fringe benefit (and an expensive one, at that), those employers are essentially giving “an invitation to drive to work alone.” Shoup continues to explain that it is time to level the playing field and has been promoting a …

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Push Back On Trump’s Transit Disaster

Day after day, we witness backtracking in our country. Looking at the big picture, after nudging tenaciously year after year, the hurdles some of us thought we had energy to overcome are set up once more like barricades to common sense and dignity. Some of the hurdles that we thought determined environmentally and socially compassionate forces had overcome slip …

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California High-Speed Rail Moves Forward

On December 16, the California High-Speed Rail Authority apparently issued a Request For Qualifications (RfQ) amongst train-operating companies — for the guidance of planning and early stage-operations of the planned Central Valley to Silicon Valley bullet train. To explain that more simply, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has begun looking for a train operator for the first …

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Seattle Streetcar Expansion Put Into Limbo

Owing to questions about the value of the project, Seattle’s proposed First Hill Streetcar expansion has been put on ice by the Seattle Department of Transportation, according to recent reports. The new plan is apparently for the Seattle Department of Transportation to revisit the plan “with stakeholders sometime in 2017.” The reason for the decision …

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$9,641 = Annual Savings Taking Public Transportation In USA

Also published on CleanTechnica. Riding public transportation is a vital means of saving money, money that can much more happily be spent on other things than on owning, driving, and maintaining a car. Transit riders can forget about auto insurance, car payments, fuel costs, tuneups at the mechanic, expensive broken car parts, etc. The American Public …

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Bicyclists Surpass Drivers In Copenhagen!

Also published on CleanTechnica. Those of us who try to keep abreast of urban planning and clean transportation news are familiar with the benefits of bicycling in terms of pure air, livability, quieter streets and homes, space and resource efficiency, a stable climate, and public life. We’re also aware that some places are much better than others. …

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MARTA Modernizing Transit Fleets

Via CleanTechnica: There’s good news on the transit front from Atlanta. Atlanta, long infamous for its car-oriented development, is now focused forward with an eye toward sustainable redevelopment. A MARTA initiative has been focused on modernizing transit fleets. Atlanta travelers will enjoy one of the newest fleets nationwide — after using some of the oldest in the country for years. Boosting ridership …

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Denver: Include Affordable Housing If You Want To Build Higher

Denver City Council has shown some heart and is conscientiously planning redevelopment within underdeveloped areas of the city. Incentives toward development all too often exclude those most in need, but Denver City Council voted to require affordable housing if developers want to build higher. Along with density and walkability, Denver rightfully wants some affordable housing with …

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Parody Of Transit Service Alerts — Amusing Excuse Generator

A parody of MBTA transit updates (service alerts) is an amusing Excuse Generator that wants you to lighten up if you’re delayed in Boston. Most of us don’t like interruptions to our work or play. If interrupted, we must adjust our attitude. Stay flexible. Stay peaceful. Maybe laugh. It may not get you where you want …

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Public Transit Saves Lives … A Lot of Lives

How long since you passed a sad traffic accident? Consider this: A person is 10 times safer taking public transportation for a commute than driving. You are 90% safer if you take public transportation (for commutes). The finding comes from a new study by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). The study, The Hidden Traffic Safety Solution: …

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$200 Billion In Funding For Public Transportation

Via CleanTechnica. $200 billion in funding for public transportation could make a big difference in the air everyone breathes. It could make a difference in the day-to-day mobility of many travelers. As US elections near, there is a definite tone within the US political system. This election cycle grasps for our vote. I think about all the money spent …

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Seattle Light Rail Ridership Grows 83% With Expansion, Blows Away Expectations

Driving in Seattle or from Seattle to areas in the Puget Sound is a drive in congestion — a drive in overwhelming lanes and lanes of cars. Ridership has boomed more than expected on light rail in Seattle, and perhaps this is a reason why. The regional transit authority now has more plans to grow this more efficient option — …

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San Francisco Cuts Corporate Bus Stops, Car Use Increases

Things change, people change. Many believe it is time to embrace more change. Adapting to change is something one cannot avoid in my opinion, but it’s easier when changes don’t mean backtracking. A story from San Francisco highlights that more tech workers, who were recently shuttling to work from the city to the suburbs, are now commuting alone in cars …

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Atlanta’s MARTA Will Pilot Soccer + Transit Program

In what may be the first location of a future “Station Soccer League” in Atlanta, MARTA’s Five Points transit station will be home to a small soccer field, which will be suitable for 5-on-5 and futsal-style games. The new pilot program came about through a partnership with Soccer in the Streets, a nonprofit organization that …

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First Quarter of 2016 Shows 2.6 Billion Public Transportation Trips!

The American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) First Quarter 2016 report shows 2.6 billion trips taken on public transportation in the U.S. – for those 3 months alone. This .4% increase compared to the previous year may be partially due to rises in employment, as 60% of commutes are for work. More employed people = more commutes …

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California Judge Rules in Favor of High-Speed Rail

According to The Fresno Bee, a Sacramento, California, judge recently denied the efforts of Kings County Board of Supervisors to halt production of a high-speed bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles. This is yet another advancement for the project which has been held up in litigation and bureaucracy for the last several years. …

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Top 20 Cities for Saving Money via Public Transportation

The American Public Transit Association (APTA) recently released its February Savings Report. The association releases a monthly savings report in order to analyze how much money the average two-person household can save by taking public transportation and using one less automobile. The average commuter is looking at a savings of more than $754 a month …

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Chicago Transit Authority Decreases Slow Zones

Not faster than a speeding bullet but Chicago‘s public transportation has achieved the city’s fastest train service since 1997 according to ChicagoNow.com. Blogger Kevin O’Neil recently wrote about Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) completion of many track modernization projects over the last 4 years. The construction and repairs have resulted in a record low  5.5%, level …

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Georgia Government Denies Public Transit Expansion

While it looked like Atlanta, Georgia’s Metropolitan Area Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) was on its way to receiving much-needed funding and updates, the bill that would have enabled this was killed in the legislature late last week. It was reported that the bill would have allowed Fulton, Dekalb, and Clayton counties to levy a half-cent …

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Russia Unrolls Autonomous Trains

A Rostec company, the V. Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design, recently deployed its newest software for autonomously controlling trains on Russian lines. The “driver-less train control” software will deploy first in Circle Line, Moscow Metro. The fully autonomous trains will be responsible for everything but opening and closing the doors — and even …

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Nike Sponsoring A New Bikeshare In Portland

Portland has been the #1 large city for bicycling (in the United States) for a long time, considerate and supportive of bicycle commuting. The city shows that planning and consideration make a difference, and the city has even gone without any bicyclist deaths from accidents for several years. The latest news from Portland (other than this) is that Nike is sponsoring a …

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