Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Today’s Headlines

U.S. motorists set a record by driving 3.225 trillion miles last year — and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao thinks that’s a good thing. (Transportation Today) In Houston’s immigrant communities, many people walk to bus stops. But a third of streets in one such neighborhood lack sidewalks, and the ones that do exist are often obstructed, […]

Uber drivers in Los Angeles are considering going on strike after the company — valued at $120 billion — cut their per-mile pay by 25 percent (Gizmodo). Maybe other states should follow the lead of Connecticut, where a bill would guarantee Uber and Lyft drivers 75 percent of the fees charged to passengers (Mirror). Vision […]

Uber and Lyft drivers are pushing to unionize for better pay. One driver told The Guardian he made $3.75 an hour after expenses to risk his life during a snowstorm. Employees of a Lyft contractor that operates bike-shares are unionizing, too (San Francisco Examiner). Meanwhile, as Lyft prepares to go public, the unprofitable company is […]

Drivers are killing pedestrians in greater numbers in part because people are increasingly forced to walk in places that were built on the assumption that no one would ever walk there, like freeways and wide surface arterial roads. Authorities have responded mainly by blaming victims, rather than provide safe places for people to walk. As […]

Transit advocates are criticizing President Trump’s proposed budget for cutting transportation funding and failing to take advantage of an opportunity for infrastructure investment (Smart Cities Dive). Meanwhile, Trump’s Federal Transit Administration continues to allow projects to languish by refusing to disburse the funds it does have (Streetsblog). Most Streetsblog readers probably don’t agree with Trump […]

A referendum in Atlanta’s largest suburban county, Gwinnett, on joining the metro area’s transit system and investing a 1 percent sales tax in rail and buses failed by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin (AJC). The race was always about, well, race, as City Lab reported. Timing and turnout were issues, too. Although some […]