Month: October 2010
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Why Transit Agencies Expand Capacity While They Cut Service
The past couple of years have been bittersweet for American transit riders. While the Obama administration's TIGER grant program and livability initiatives have spurred investments in new streetcar and bus projects, service cuts and fare hikes have been the order of the day in cities large and small, as transit agencies cope with shrinking revenues brought on by the recession. It can be frustrating for transit users to witness the construction of expensive new facilities while they’re paying more for less service.
October 22, 2010
The Shrinking American House: Sign of a Cultural Shift?
They say it's a sign we're coming back to earth as a result of the recession. And perhaps it signals a growing environmental awareness. Certainly, the loss of cheap and easy credit is a factor, as well.
October 22, 2010
If You Come, They Will Build It: Notes on Livability From Rail~volution
Those looking for hope in this era of transit service cuts took heart from the words of William Millar, President of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), at Rail~volution yesterday. In his keynote speech, Millar reasons to hope for a better future -- despite the fact that 84 percent of APTA members were cutting service, raising fares, laying off personnel, or delaying projects this year due to budget cuts.
October 21, 2010
Real-Time Bike-Share Maps Show America’s Got Some Catching Up to Do
A fantastic new visualization of 16 bike-share systems around the world lets you see how people are using public bikes from London to Melbourne. You can watch animated graphics, for example, of bikes getting picked up in one part of town and dropped off in another during rush hour. The site, created by Oliver O'Brien, a researcher at University College London, also lets you compare bike-share usage from city to city.
October 21, 2010
BART Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Oakland Airport Connector
After decades of political wrangling, BART is on the verge of building the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), a $484 million, 3.2 mile automated people mover that will connect the Coliseum BART Station with the Oakland international Airport. BART held a ceremonial groundbreaking yesterday with most of the significant East Bay political establishment, two weeks before the agency gives the Parsons/Flatiron/Doppelmayr team the order to proceed with design and construction.
October 21, 2010
Can Suburbs and Sustainability Coexist?
Can discussions of sustainability and the built environment progress without devolving into a city-versus-suburb grudge match? Over at Grist, former Streetblog Network manager Sarah Goodyear is asking that question. To say that all suburbs are bad, and all cities are good, from an environmental standpoint, oversimplifies a complex problem, and as Goodyear points out, sorting through is awfully important:
October 21, 2010
East Bay Regional Parks Gets $10 Million TIGER Grant for Bike and Ped Trails
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced $600 million dollars in TIGER II grants today and the only project in Northern California to make the cut was the East Bay Regional Park District's proposal to fill in seven key gaps on the 200-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail system that runs across Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
October 20, 2010
U.S. DOT Unveils Full List of TIGER II Winners
The complete list of TIGER II grants has been released by U.S. DOT today, after members of Congress revealed many winners last week. In keeping with the department's livability goals, the list is filled with transit projects (especially streetcar lines), efforts to bolster the country's non-trucking freight network, and fix-it-first projects aimed at deteriorating roads and bridges.
October 20, 2010