Study: Federal Funding Means More Bike Commuting
Bicycling is at a tipping point in many American cities. Bike-share systems are multiplying rapidly, infrastructure that used to be seen as novel is now commonplace, and commuting rates are growing. There are many explanations for this cultural shift, but here’s one not to be ignored: federal funding.
July 12, 2013
Another Swing (and a Miss) From Anderson Cooper’s Show on High-Speed Rail
My apologies, readers: Anderson Cooper did another segment slandering high-speed rail last month and it’s taken me this long to bring it to your attention.
July 8, 2013
Car Ownership May Be Down in the U.S., But It’s Soaring Globally
Two weeks ago, transportation researcher Michael Sivak brought us the news that there are fewer cars per person in the U.S. now than there were a few years ago – and that the number isn’t expected to rise again.
July 5, 2013
Anthony Foxx Takes Office As U.S. Transportation Secretary
Anthony Foxx, who resigned yesterday as mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, was sworn in today at 11 a.m. as the new U.S. secretary of transportation. The Department of Transportation sent the following information in a press release after the ceremony:
July 2, 2013
Senate Offers a More Multi-Modal 2014 Transportation Budget Than House
Last week, a House panel envisioned some big cuts to next year’s transportation budget. TIGER and high-speed rail would get nothing, Amtrak would get slashed, and ixnay on all that green “livability” crap. (And that's practically a quote.)
June 27, 2013
Anthony Foxx Confirmed Unanimously as U.S. Secretary of Transportation
After a remarkably smooth and uncontentious process, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx has just been confirmed by the full Senate as the 17th U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Not a single senator voted against -- or even abstained from -- his confirmation.
June 27, 2013
APTA Goes After Transit-Harassing Patent Troll
For years, transit agencies and other companies have been harassed by a patent troll seeking to extort them for "settlements" when they use real-time vehicle tracking technologies. ArrivalStar and Melvino Technologies, offshore firms led by one Martin Kelly Jones, claim to hold the rights to those ideas.
June 26, 2013
Has America Already Hit “Peak Car”?
In 1901, there were 10,000 motor vehicles in the United States.
June 21, 2013
The Defense Department’s Embrace of Livability Will Save Money — and Lives
On Tuesday, we wrote about the Defense Department’s new rules for the design of their bases and installations. These rules make smart growth the law of the land on hundreds of vast military installations in the U.S. and abroad. There’s more to the story: In this post we examine how a smart growth development model will bring wide-ranging benefits to the defense complex.
June 20, 2013
New Pentagon Mandate: Make Military Bases Livable, That’s an Order!
This article is the first in a series about the U.S. military’s new embrace of smart growth planning.
June 18, 2013