As the number of jobs in Seattle explodes, the city is grappling with how to make room for all the population growth that’s expected to follow. The city’s “Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda” maps out a strategy to do so, focusing mainly on infill development in denser areas near transit. Most of the city, however, is zoned for single-family […]

Cyclists should pay their “fair share” for streets — it’s a favorite complaint of newspaper commenters worldwide. So Walker Angell at Network blog Streets.mn decided to figure out what exactly a “fair share” for cyclists — and pedestrians — would be. Here’s his analysis: Three factors influence the cost that a person and their vehicle (or just a vehicle […]

Hard to believe, but one of the biggest transit agencies in the U.S. — WMATA — is moving to eliminate eight hours of late-night Metro service per week. The whole system will simply not be available for those eight hours, and people in D.C. are livid. How would those cuts affect transit riders? At a recent public meeting on the […]

What impact will self-driving cars have on cities? The range of potential outcomes is enormous. In the best-case scenario, private car ownership gives way to shared fleets of autonomous cars, freeing up vast amounts of land that used to be devoted to vehicle storage. Then there’s the scenario promoted by Tesla, in which everyone owns their personal autonomous […]

Where bicyclists were once a trickle in Philadelphia, they are now a steady stream. Bike commuting in central Philadelphia is on the rise, according to a recent report by the Center City District, which found about 1,400 cyclists entering the center city from the south during the peak rush hour. Randy LoBasso at the Bike Coalition […]

“Shared spaces” are streets where driving is allowed but walking and biking take priority. They are designed without curbs, signage, and other typical markers that separate cars from people on foot. The design cues are subtler. Everyone mixes together in the same space, and drivers travel slowly enough that they can make eye contact with pedestrians. Can […]

In cities considering a light rail project, it’s common for transit opponents to suddenly cast themselves as big believers in bus rapid transit. They don’t really want to build BRT, they just want to derail the transit expansion. The light rail advocates then have to make their case not only on the merits of the project, but also in relation to […]

City leaders from around the world are meeting right now in Quito, Ecuador, for the summit known as Habitat III — convened by the United Nations to map out a strategy for sustainable urbanization as more people flock to cities. Demographers forecast enormous populations shifts to urban areas in the coming decades. The nature of this growth will have profound effects […]

Rents continue to rise in cities across the U.S., and Pittsburgh is no exception. Noting the escalating housing costs in walkable neighborhoods, Alex Shewczyk at Bike Pittsburgh looks at how transportation and housing policy can coordinate to make places more affordable. We know from resources like the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing+Transportation Index that transportation costs are a large household expense […]