WMATA, the DC region’s transit agency, is in crisis. DC is a rarity among major American cities, with transit mode share declining over the last decade. In the past year, the federal government took over WMATA’s safety oversight authority after a number of embarrassing failures, culminating in the whole Metro being temporarily shut down. Confidence in the agency is in short supply. On […]

Since Mayor Bill Peduto assumed office in 2014, Pittsburgh has been a city that doesn’t shy away from changing its streets. Most recently, two more protected bike lanes are now slated for downtown, and of course Peduto made a splash partnering with Uber to test autonomous vehicles on city streets. Paul Mackie at Mobility Lab (a think tank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia) recently […]

Employees at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have to accumulate 13 years of service time before they get an on-site parking permit. To get a sense of how much employees become invested in this system, check out this YouTube video of one man’s elation the day he gets his parking privileges (and notice how towering parking garages dominate […]

The concept of the “captive” transit rider — the idea that there is a fixed number of people who ride transit because they have no alternatives — is deeply flawed. Among other problems, it overlooks how low-income people without cars are sensitive to the quality of transit and will choose not to use poor service. And yet discussions of […]

U.S. DOT estimates that total freight volume in the country will grow 45 percent by 2040. If that sounds like a reasonable guess that will help plan for the future, think again. Predictions about freight growth usually turn into justifications to widen highways. David Levinson, an engineering professor at the University of Minnesota, says at his blog the […]

Montgomery County, Maryland, just outside DC, is getting ready to do something that could set a precedent for American suburbs — build a bus rapid transit network. The 82-mile system should offer a huge boost in job access, especially for people without cars. Pete Tomao at Greater Greater Washington is especially interested in how the effort might help reduce economic inequality within […]

What do modern ride-hailing services mean for the future of transit? Serious observers think companies like Uber may help complement or substitute for bus service in spread out areas that aren’t well-suited for fixed-route transit. And ride-hailing may help transit agencies provide paratransit services. But one thing that any technology based on space-hogging cars can’t do is replace high-capacity city transit systems. A recent Uber ad suggested otherwise, […]

American kids don’t walk and bike to school much anymore. Even after some modest progress in recent years, only about 20 percent of 5- to 14-year-olds walked or biked to school in 2012, compared to 48 percent in 1969, according to the National Center for Safe Routes to School. Driving kids to school has picked up a momentum of its own […]