Brad Aaron

Think transit commuters are unwashed, uncouth bums? Subaru does. And the carmaker doesn't mind telling them so.

On the Network today, Systemic Failure highlights what is apparently an ongoing dispute between Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration -- one that could affect the development of next-gen Acela trains.

Sure, we know the movement for "sustainable" transportation and development is a front for Agenda 21, a.k.a. The UN Plot to End Private Property in the United States. But what to do?

Today, Chicago transit riders are seeing their first fare hike in four years. Though the base fare is unchanged, multi-ride passes are up, including fares for seniors and the disabled.

"To me, the single most fascinating element of politics is the alchemy by which something becomes an issue," said Chris Hayes, MSNBC host and moderator of the commissioners' panel on the politics of transportation at the October NACTO Designing Cities conference.

If you tuned in to the news earlier this week, you likely heard that in 2011 U.S. road fatalities dropped to their lowest level since 1949. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the media practically consider it cause for celebration that *just* 32,000 or so people were killed in motor vehicle crashes last year. Maybe that's understandable. In the last six decades, since the time before seat belts and padded dashboards were standard equipment, it's the best we've been able to manage.

Honda's new "We Know You" campaign includes a series of 16-second spots, presented as a medley of sorts in the ad above, which touts the safety features of the new Accord.

SF editor's note: I can personally vouch for the speed, reliability and comfort of Midttrafik, as I relied on it during my semester in Denmark. 

Over the last few decades, sports franchise owners have been hugely successful in convincing governments to give them money in the form of taxpayer-funded stadiums and arenas. A favored approach is to threaten to pull up stakes and move a team, and its attendant economic benefits, to another city.

It's all bikes, all the time on the Network today.