Cities Learn From Chicago Parking Meter Debacle. Did Goldsmith?
When Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced that he was striking a deal to privatize his city's 36,000 parking meters, it was a golden opportunity for transportation reform. If all went well, the deal could have cleared a political path for higher peak-hour meter rates, curbing double-parking and congestion-causing cruising.
November 18, 2010
Report: Letting Transit Tax Benefit Expire Will Throw Riders From the Train
For many transit riders, there's another fare hike coming down the track, one that many may not even be aware of.
November 18, 2010
Real-Time Bike-Share Maps Show America’s Got Some Catching Up to Do
A fantastic new visualization of 16 bike-share systems around the world lets you see how people are using public bikes from London to Melbourne. You can watch animated graphics, for example, of bikes getting picked up in one part of town and dropped off in another during rush hour. The site, created by Oliver O'Brien, a researcher at University College London, also lets you compare bike-share usage from city to city.
October 21, 2010
U.S. DOT Unveils Full List of TIGER II Winners
The complete list of TIGER II grants has been released by U.S. DOT today, after members of Congress revealed many winners last week. In keeping with the department's livability goals, the list is filled with transit projects (especially streetcar lines), efforts to bolster the country's non-trucking freight network, and fix-it-first projects aimed at deteriorating roads and bridges.
October 20, 2010
Report: Want to Ease Commuter Pain? Highways and Sprawl Won’t Help
Imagine two drivers leaving downtown to head home. Each of them sits in traffic for the first ten miles of the commute but at that point, their paths diverge. The first one has reached home. The second has another twenty miles to drive, though luckily for her, the roads are clear and congestion doesn’t slow her down. Who’s got a better commute?
September 29, 2010
What Does American Exceptionalism Mean For Livable Streets?
Is the United States exceptional? It’s a question that’s bedeviled
activists and historians alike since the country was born 234 years ago
this Sunday. It’s also a question that’s been bugging Barbara McCann,
the executive director of the Complete Streets Coalition. She’s been at
Velo-City, a bike conference held in cycling mecca Copenhagen this year. Writes McCann on her organization’s blog:
July 6, 2010
Telling the Story of Chicago, One Train Stop at a Time
The Train Stop Guide website would allow you to rate and describe every train stop in Chicago. Image: Carfree Chicago. It’s amazing how much a strong transit system can reshape the city around it. And not just through the physical changes that transit brings, but the mental ones too. A transit system can reshape the … Continued
July 1, 2010
HUD Chief Preaches Livable Communities at Conference on Cities
At least among cabinet secretaries, US DOT chief Ray LaHood has become something of a livable streets rock star. His forceful and public support for cyclists and pedestrians and his dedication to safe driving have earned him the praise of many. By comparison, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan hasn’t made quite the same splash in green transportation circles.
June 30, 2010
Chicago Takes Tentative First Step Toward Bike-Sharing
Public bike-sharing is coming to yet another American city.
June 29, 2010
Seeing the Street as a New Cyclist
The de Maisonneuve bike path in downtown Montreal, which new cyclist Michael Shenker now avoids in favor of a different, calmer route. Photo: Carnotzet via Flickr. It’s no secret that the road looks different over handlebars than it does over the dashboard. When cycling most city streets, you see your surroundings differently: at a different … Continued
June 28, 2010