Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Car Culture

Ad Nauseam: Auto Zone, or Twilight Zone?

By Brad Aaron | Jun 20, 2008 | 12 Comments

This Auto Zone ad is one for the ages. The dark ages. A young guy, who looks all of 17, is riding his bike down a rural dirt road when he comes upon an abandoned mid-1970s Ford Torino. A sign on the window reads, "if you can fix her you can have her." The kid […]

Georgia Governor Comes Around on Commuter Rail

By Brad Aaron | Jun 20, 2008 | 17 Comments

Display of Georgia progress at the Welcome Center on I-85, near the South Carolina border Big news out of Georgia. Governor Sonny Perdue, who in the past would have been about as likely to advocate for transit as to take his iced tea without sugar, is suddenly interested in commuter rail links between Atlanta and […]

Nets Look to Lure Fans With Free Gas

By Brad Aaron | Jun 13, 2008 | 9 Comments

Given the New Jersey Nets’ lackluster season (34-48 record, no playoff berth), the franchise is taking a page from another under-performer to unload tickets for next year. That’s right: buy 2008-2009 season tickets and the Nets will return 10 percent of the cost in the form of "free" gas, which fans will presumably burn up […]

Why Aren’t Urban Pols Talking About Transit?

By Brad Aaron | Jun 10, 2008 | 7 Comments

New light rail in Denver, Colorado With no end in sight to rising fuel costs, D.C. economics writer Ryan Avent, via Grist, offers a sharp analysis of America’s resistance to a nationwide conversation about transit, even as ridership is on the rise. Not surprisingly, some 60 years of learned auto dependence, enabled by suburban sprawl […]

America (Or 1,800 Miles of It) Through the Windshield

By Brad Aaron | Jun 10, 2008 | 1 Comment

It’s easy to tut-tut at the auto-dependent from the transit-rich confines of New York City. So, to get a taste of what it’s like out there as the era of cheap gas seemingly draws to a close, Streetsblog sent me on a road trip. My destination was Athens, Georgia, where I checked on the state […]

The Windshield Perspective, Same As It Ever Was

By Ben Fried | Jun 6, 2008 | 9 Comments

From the way back machine comes this remarkable essay, "The Last Traffic Jam," about the blind spots that plague the motoring mentality. The anonymous author, writing for Time Magazine in 1947, delivers observations about road rage and the endemic violence of driving that still apply today. The most striking passage, perhaps, is the writer’s take […]

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