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
How to Sell Developers and Employers on Transit-Oriented Development
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Developers and employers think transit access is great. But if the hurdles are too high, they’ll forgo it — choosing locations that shackle people to car dependence. That’s the finding of a recent report by University of Minnesota researchers Yingling Fan and Andrew Guthrie. Fan and Guthrie propose a number of policy changes for the […]
Photo Contest: Send Us Your Pictures of Kids on City Streets
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Two weeks ago, I posted some thoughts on raising kids in cities and right away, the comments section and Twitter lit up with a fruitful discussion of urban and car-lite parenting. The staff at Streetsblog and our partners at the Alliance for Biking & Walking love to see kids riding red wagons to day care, […]
BTS Releases Confusing, Erroneous Transit Stats
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I was all set to write a feel-good story about how the latest report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics [PDF] shows that transit ridership is up and driving is down. I made up my mind to write that story before I even looked at the report, so sure was I that that was the […]
500+ Complete Streets Policies in Place, But Not the Most Important One
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This week, complete streets advocates came together in Washington, DC, to celebrate the passage of the 500th complete streets policy. That happened in Memphis more than seven months ago, but perhaps the delay in marking the occasion was fortuitous: There are now at least 25 more policies to celebrate. Each of these policies is really just […]
Jarrett Walker: Empty Buses Serve a Purpose
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Most transit agencies have been through some version of this scenario: In one part of the city, buses drive around stuffed like sardine tins, while elsewhere they can be all but empty. Car drivers mock the empty buses in low-density parts of the city. Some elected official picks up the banner, demanding that the transit […]
Crawlable Urbanism: Cities Are for Kids, Too
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All of a sudden, I feel like all anyone is talking about is whether it’s a good idea to raise kids in the city. I’m raising a kid in the city. I feel great about it when she has a blast on the back of the bike, or makes friends on the bus, or gets […]
Rasmussen: Americans Want More Federal Support for Transit
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Rasmussen Reports, the polling firm that got the 2012 election completely wrong, asked 1,000 Americans last week how they feel about public transportation [PDF]. The takeaway they reported was this: “74% Rarely or Never Use Mass Transit.” On the flip side, 6 percent said they used transit every day or nearly every day, and another […]
Ft. Belvoir: Pioneering the U.S. Military’s Brand of Smart Growth
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Ft. Belvoir, just south of Washington, DC, has been infusing military base planning with a smart growth mentality since before it was cool. While new guidelines in the past year have compelled all U.S. bases to start building smarter and more efficiently, Ft. Belvoir has been working under a master plan that champions walkability and connectivity […]
U.S. DOT Launches “Everyone Is a Pedestrian” Campaign
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UPDATED 5:43 p.m. with more details from NHTSA on eligible grant activities. Yesterday, U.S. DOT launched a new campaign called “Everyone Is a Pedestrian,” including $2 million in grants that will be awarded to as many as six focus cities for pedestrian safety education and enforcement initiatives. While $2 million is peanuts in the grand scheme […]
Credit Rating Agencies Uneasy About Toll Roads as Americans Drive Less
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Toll roads aren’t the cash cows they used to be. The assumption that the roads will “pay for themselves” is no longer a reliable one, and credit rating agencies are taking notice. In Orange County, California, traffic on the San Joaquín Hills toll road is half what was projected. A recent toll road extension outside […]
Transportation Funding Bill Dies Unceremoniously in Both Chambers
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A few short hours after the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $594 billion defense spending bill, Republicans blocked the $54 billion transportation and HUD bill from coming to the floor for a vote. House Republican leadership had blocked its own THUD bill the day before. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Politico that Republicans had […]
Infographic: U.S. DOT Promotes the Health Benefits of Active Transportation
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“Transportation investments that support active travel — like greenways, trails, sidewalks, traffic-calming devices, and public transit — create opportunities to increase routine physical activity, improve health, and lower health care costs,” writes U.S. DOT’s Todd Solomon this morning on Secretary Anthony Foxx’s Fast Lane blog. “The same investments promote sustainability.” All of these numbers are testament to […]