Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
From a Reader: Seven More Questions For the Transportation Conference
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Last week, I published a list of seven questions I had as the Transportation Conference Committee started meeting. I was examining the politics, not the policy. Turns out some readers wanted to hear more about the policy. I asked the Cap’n what his questions would be. The reply: Meanwhile, reader Ryan Richter sent in his […]
Walk Score Calculates City Bikeability, and Minneapolis Comes Out on Top
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The people behind Walk Score, the real estate rating service that goes by the slogan “Drive Less, Live More,” are out with a new rating system, based on hard data, that should prove useful to prospective city dwellers: Bike Score. The company launched the Bike Score website today, using its new algorithm to rank the ten […]
Seven Questions About the Transportation Bill Conference
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The first meeting of the transportation bill conference committee started today at 3:00. (To familiarize yourself with the participants, see Ben’s reports on the House and Senate conferees.) We’re live-blogging it, beginning to end, on Streetsblog Capitol Hill. It’s unusual for conferences to meet in public, and leaders have indicated that this won’t be the […]
Mapped: Dramatic Changes on London Streets in the Congestion Pricing Era
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For the last nine years, private motorists entering central London between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. have paid a fee (currently £10 or US$16.22) to drive on the city’s scarce street space. The revenue from the congestion charge is plowed into the city’s transit system, and as Transport for London has amply documented, many Londoners […]
FHWA: Small Investments in Bike/Ped Infrastructure Can Pay Off in a Big Way
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If you ever doubted whether a small investment in biking and walking could have a large impact, here is your proof. The last transportation law, SAFETEA-LU, provided four communities with four years of funding to build an infrastructure network for nonmotorized transportation (a fancy way of saying “sidewalks and bike paths”). It wasn’t a lot […]
Have a Question for Secretary LaHood? Ask It Here
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Last spring, Ray LaHood’s office approached Streetsblog seeking reader questions for the transportation secretary’s monthly video blog series, On the Go With Ray LaHood. His aides have repeatedly told me that of all the blogs and organizations that got a similar shot, Streetsblog readers were the most engaged and asked the most insightful questions. LaHood […]
Five Ex-Secretaries Map Out a Communications Strategy For Transportation
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If 80 percent of the American people agree that federal infrastructure investment will create jobs, and two-thirds say better infrastructure is important, why is the call for a robust transportation bill being made in whispers? And why is Congress already two and a half years late in producing one? There are many political reasons — […]
Patent Troll Sues Transit Agencies For Releasing Real-Time Transit Info
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Lloyd Dobbler, John Cusack’s generation-defining character in Say Anything, notably said, “I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career.” Martin Kelly Jones lives by a similar creed. He doesn’t make or sell anything. Instead he makes his living by attacking transit agencies for using real-time tracking technologies that he […]
House GOP Tries to Horse-Trade Senate Bill For Keystone Pipeline
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In another desperate attempt to push forward their fossil fuel agenda, House Republicans have indicated that even though they’ve been incapable of passing a transportation bill, they’re willing to go to conference committee and pass the Senate bill. All the Senate Democrats have to do in return is approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Our sources […]
Census Breaks the News We Already Knew: The Exurbs Are History
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Last week, the New York Times and USA Today reported that Census numbers had confirmed the death of the outer ring suburbs, or exurbs. The latest numbers, capturing the year (actually 15 months, April 2010 to July 2011) since the last Census, showed a major shift away from the settlement patterns from 2000 to 2010. […]
Can a 100% Private Passenger Rail Line Turn a Profit?
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Public-private partnerships have recently become a popular policy prescription for the prospect of reviving inter-city passenger rail. But now, a private company is setting out to do it alone – no public support needed. Florida East Coast Industries has announced that it will start operating passenger service between South Florida and Orlando in 2014. They’re calling […]
Why Bicyclists Are Better Customers Than Drivers for Local Business
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Do local and state officials tune out when you try to talk to them about bicycling? Are they unconvinced by arguments about public health, transportation options, or clean air? Do business leaders send you packing when you suggest building new bike lanes and bike parking, fearing that the loss of car parking will keep customers […]