Transportation Alternatives

Got a transit vision? Check out how several cities struggled and then rebounded.

A map of the city's most reckless drivers shows how prolific the problem of super-scofflaws is in the five boroughs.

Before the advent of the car in the 1960s, sleeper trains were America's primary method of long-distance transportation — but today, it's more often seen as a luxury. Is it time for that to change? With the recent fear of air traveling, is the time for...

America's oldest city-wide Vision Zero goal is turning 10. What can other cities learn from their experiences?

New York City has raised the bar in recent years for rolling out bicycle improvements and reclaiming public space from automobiles. While San Franciscans have come to expect major delays for bike projects as the norm in their city, New York, the only American city more dense than SF, has zoomed ahead by adding roughly 20 miles of protected bike lanes since 2007, with more on the way. After each new NYC bikeway is built, injuries to all users decline and bicycling increases along the corridor.

While many Americans may not think riding a bus is the sexiest form of transportation, the reality is that a majority of public transit trips in the U.S. are taken by bus. The numbers are even higher in the Bay Area. Every one of the hundreds of thousands of passengers who boarded a bus in the last year has a story to tell and there are probably lots of Streetsblog readers who would love to share a tale about their favorite line. So why not nominate it as the best bus route in America?

Yesterday marked an important day for livable streets in San Francisco. In coordination with the Castro Street CBD, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, and the Mayor's Office of Greening, the nascent Great Streets Project (GSP) co-hosted a roundtable discussion about how to start and manage successful public spaces, with particular emphasis on the proposed street closure and public plaza at 17th Street and Market Street. 

One of several ways I drove down my productivity when I worked at Transportation Alternatives in NYC (think SFBC with a livable streets angle) was to click through the websites of the hand-made bicycle manufacturers who participate in the annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show competition, ogling the master craftmanship displayed there.  No bicycle maker appealed more to my sensibilities and my lust for a unique bike than Vanilla Bicycles, based out of Portland, Oregon (warning: bike porn, NSFW, if you need to do any more work today).

Park(ing) in Park Slope, Brooklyn, May 6, 2006. The sign says, "Public space reclamation in progress."