Today’s Headlines

  • BART Labor Talks Extend Beyond Midnight Deadline; So Far, No Strike (SF Gate, ABC7, CBS5)
  • Potential Transit Options if There is a Strike (KGO Radio)
  • Muni’s Failed Culture Bus Set to End August 15th (SFist)
  • Mayor Newsom Says He Didn’t Talk About Muni Crash Because No One Asked Him (SF Gate)
  • Meantime, His Environmental Chief May Be Headed to the Obama Administration (SF Gate)
  • GG Bridge District Wants Reimbursement for Lost Tolls During Doyle Drive Construction (KCBS)
  • Novato DPW to Paint Crosswalk at Intersection Where 9-year-old Girl Was Killed by Driver (Marin IJ)
  • "Cash for Clunkers" Funds Dry Up — Now Car Dealers Want More Taxpayer $ (NYT, Post)
  • Bike Culture in the UK (Guardian via Let’s Go Ride a Bike)
  • Tucson Gets Its First Sharrows, And They’re in the Middle of the Traffic Lane (TBL via Streetsblog.net)
  • Sasha

    I was disappointed, even galled, yesterday to read that Cash for Clunkers is subsidizing the purchase of vehicles with mileage as low as 22 MPG. Perhaps something is better than nothing, but it’s really sad to me that we’re going to spend over a billion dollars to improve the mileage of cars on the road in the US, and some of that money is going to buy things like pickup trucks.
    The analysis that’s made the most sense to me on this is that this program is double-dipping as a subsidy to car manufacturers, and since the average MPG of US made cars is significantly lower than those from makers abroad – especially Japanese – if this number were too high then US car makers wouldn’t get many sales out of it.
    I’m glad that bikes can be had for much less than $3500!

  • ZA

    @ Sasha – agreed! To think of what awesome bikes I could buy for a $4500 clunker credit! Even a “Transit Pass for Clunkers” would have greater benefit, for revenue-declining public transit, for bus- and train-manufacturers, and for cleared up roadspace. (sigh)