Streetsblog, Oct 2020 Study: We Can’t Fix Transportation-Related Climate Emissions With EVs Alone: And a major shift to public transit and active modes is the only realistic answer. By Kea Wilson Oct 2, 2020 The U.S. can’t simply electrify its way out of the transportation-related carbon disaster — and thinking that it can might actually delay what really works: shifting people …
Is It Time to Rip Out the Farebox?
Governing Magazine. Making public transit free might seem a crazy idea, but it has benefits that can outweigh the costs. It’s widespread in Europe, and more American transit agencies should give it a serious look. THOMAS DAY AND ANDY WAKEFIELD, INTUEOR CONSULTING | OCTOBER 1, 2020 | OPINION We don’t charge a fare for people to enjoy a walk through …
From garden streets to bike highways: four ideas for post-Covid cities – visualised
As the pandemic wreaks havoc on existing structures, we look at some visions for post-Covid cities – and how they hold up Chris Michael, Lydia McMullan and Frank Hulley-Jones in The Guardian, 25 Sep 2020 There is a huge, looming, unanswerable question that overshadows our cities, like an elephant squatting in the central square. Will a Covid-19 vaccine or herd immunity return us …
In a Commuting Utopia, Efficient Housing Location Could Cut Travel by One-Third
Posted on September 29, 2020, SSTI, by Saumya Jain Most states and local governments are either interested in defining vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduction goals or already have these in place and are actively working toward VMT reduction. Often these goals are approached either by promoting alternative travel modes or through policy incentives. In a recent article, Canadian researchers ran an optimization model …
Free or reduced-fare transit pass programs structured (where a large group of potential transit riders—such as all students at a college or all employees in a large firm—periodically pays a lump sum to a transit agency) can be good for both riders and transit agencies
UC Davis, Aug 2020, by Saphores, Jean-Daniel, PhD; Shah, Deep and Khatun, Farzana https://escholarship.org/uc/item/74m7f3rxTo gain a better understanding of the current use and performance of free and reduced-fare transit pass programs, researchers at UC Irvine surveyed California transit agencies with a focus on members of the California Transit Association (CTA) during November and December 2019. Fifty-nine agencies, representing a broad …
The Real Reason Buses Were Losing Riders Even Before COVID-19: Labor off-loaded to gig economy workers averaging $9/hr rather than union labor
By Kea Wilson, StreetsBlog, Aug 26, 2020 Bus ridership had dropped like a stone even before COVID-19 — and if we want to stanch its decline, we need to end public subsidies to car drivers. That’s the conclusion of a Georgia Tech study that reviewed national bus-ridership data and found that the number of passenger trips declined every year from 2012 …
Covid Flight From Transit Forces Shift to Riders Without Choices
August 17, 2020 by Courtney Rozen, Bloomberg, Covid Flight From Transit Forces Shift to Riders Without Choices Public transportation leaders are rethinking how to serve riders who depend on them, as they adjust to the possibility that many commuters who abandoned mass transit during the Covid-19 pandemic will never return. Half the nation’s remote workers prefer to work from home …
Battery Powered Trains will be 35% Cheaper Than Hydrogen, Study Concludes: Plus the price of batteries keeps dropping
Oliver Cuenca of International Railway Journal reports that the battery-powered trains cost 35% less to buy and operate than hydrogen trains. The batteries don’t have to be replaced as often as fuel cells, either, so maintenance costs will be lower. If the trains operate during the daytime, they can be charged at night with the same cheap electricity, just like people …
Can Big Data Use In Transportation Planning Reduce Infant Mortality Rates?
By Genna Gores February 1, 2018 StreetLight When most people think about transportation, they think about planes, trains, and automobiles – maybe even ferries. But infrastructure, technology, and our transportation networks do more than help us travel. They also have socioeconomic impacts. Getting from point A to point B efficiently is not only a matter of convenience. It can be a matter …
Nimble transit planning needed during the pandemic, says Transit Center analysis
By Michael Brenneis, SSTI, Nimble transit planning needed during the pandemic, says Transit Center analysis Posted on July 30th, 2020 in Multimodal, News Transit agencies have experienced steep bus ridership declines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bus ridership in greater Boston dropped about 80 percent, for example. But the drop wasn’t uniform: Essential workers still needed to get to work, and many relied …