Streetsblog.net

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.

Florida is not a pedestrian-friendly place. According to Transportation for America's most recent Dangerous by Design report, Sunshine State cities took home first, second, third, and fourth place in the rankings of the nation's most dangerous metros for walking.

Today on the Streetsblog Network, David Levinson at the Transportationist presents some interesting explanations about why so much American road building is a poor use of funds:

It can be such a pleasure to stroll down a street that was was developed in the first part of the 20th Century, or earlier. More often than not, these places are walkable, pedestrian-scaled, and filled with storefronts. Why is it so hard for modern developers to create places like these?

Yesterday, we mentioned that some people in Washington, DC, are up in arms over a zoning rule designed to let more people move in to some residential areas. Linda Schmitt, leader of a group that goes by the name "Neighbors for Neighborhoods," is organizing against a measure that would allow people to live in existing buildings in alleyways. It was a curious complaint, because, as David Alpert at Greater Greater Washington noted, what they were all worked up over amounted to a few "cute, clean little brick house[s]."

Portland just did something that would be a big deal for any city: It removed two motor vehicle lanes on a major thoroughfare -- Northeast Multnomah Street -- and replaced them with protected bike lanes.

Remember how the Jetsons promised us flying cars? Well, futuristic visions of car travel have a way of falling short of the wild expectations.

Bus rapid transit projects in Austin, Tampa, and the Twin Cities. Streetcars in St. Louis, New Orleans, and Detroit. Those are just a few of the transit projects beginning construction or entering service in 2013, which looks to be a pretty good year for transit expansion in the U.S., says Yonah Freemark at the Transport Politic.

It's always a joy to see a new person catch the bike commuting bug, suddenly realizing that their trip to work doesn't have to be an expensive drag.