Angie Schmitt

A new payment option rolled out by Capital Bikeshare in DC last week makes it easier to grab a bike if you just want to make a single trip. The pilot program offers a base fare of $2 to check out a bike, with additional fees after the first 30 minutes. Previously, you would have had to commit to at least an $8 24-hour pass to use the system.

Building a single parking spot can easily cost more than many Americans' life savings. In the latest issue of Access Magazine, retired UCLA economist Donald Shoup brings this point home to illustrate the huge financial burden imposed by minimum parking requirements, especially for poor households.

A driver struck and killed a woman last week in St. Paul on what Bill Lindeke at Streets.mn calls a "four-lane death road."

Better street design and getting more people on bikes -- not blind faith in helmets -- are the keys to making cycling safer, recent research has shown.

There's a rush in cities to apply new transportation technologies like ride-sharing apps and real-time transit data, as exemplified by U.S. DOT's $50 million "Smart City Challenge," which is currently down to seven finalists. Public and private entities in Columbus, for example, recently pledged $90 million to help advance the city's bid to U.S. DOT. But are cities well-equipped to navigate the landscape of tech contractors and make interventions that actually improve people's lives?

A San Francisco developer made headlines a few weeks ago when it offered tenants $100 a month toward Uber and BART in an attempt to reduce the usage of on-site parking.

It's not even a new idea at this point, having made the rounds in the media about six years ago, but the "straddling bus" concept that some Chinese cities are purportedly considering continues to fascinate people. Straddling bus stories went viral again last week, with claims that the conveyance, which only exists as a scale model at this point, can carry up to 1,400 passengers while traveling above two lanes of car traffic as fast as 40 mph, according to CityLab.

California's cap-and-trade program is one of the boldest state-level climate change policies in the U.S. By capping statewide carbon pollution and then auctioning off emissions allowances, the state hopes to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate about $10.6 billion for projects to improve energy efficiency. Among other things, that money would support various rail and transit projects, including the state's high-speed rail line.

It's cliché at this point for newspapers to label any effort to improve walking, biking, or transit as a "war on cars." The latest in this proud tradition is Seattle Times columnist Brier Dudley, who wrote recently that the city is waging "a shock-and-awe campaign targeting anyone who dares to drive in, through or around Seattle." What was it exactly that set him off?

Eliminating carbon emissions from the American transportation system can be done, according to a new report from the Frontier Group [PDF]. The tools to reduce energy use from cars and light trucks at least 90 percent are at our disposal or in advanced stages of development. The remaining 10 percent could be supplied by renewables like wind power.