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Yonah Freemark
@yfreemark
Transport / Housing / Land Use / Politics / / Le progrès ne vaut que s'il est partagé par tous / yonahfreemark.com / thetransportpolitic.com
DCurban.org/author/yonah-f…Joined June 2009

Yonah Freemark’s posts

We're frequently told that Americans drive so much because US cities were built differently, or later, or something, compared to cities elsewhere. Actually we drive so much because we systematically decimated neighborhoods that were walkable & replaced them with freeways.
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Holy crap twitter.com/PoliticsAndEd/…
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Just reminded myself that the distance between NYC and Chicago is almost exactly that between Beijing and Shanghai, and that the 1st is served by 1 train/day that takes 19 hours, and the 2nd is served by 35 trains/day that take as few as 4.5 hours.
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Median hourly wages: —Food preppers $10.22 —Food servers $10.43 —Home health aides $11.63 —Packagers $11.82 —Agricultural workers $11.89 —Ambulance drivers $12.38 —Janitors $12.55 —Funeral attendants $12.69 —Pharmacy aides $12.72 —Nursing aides $12.89 US living wage $16.07
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What Senate just passed: —$1400 checks for most —Hundreds of billions to rescue state & local public services —$30 b for transit + >$1 b for Amtrak + aid for airline/bus workers —$47 b in housing aid —More unemployment aid —Large child credits —Cheaper ACA health insurance Big.
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Paris mayor: -No more diesel cars allowed in city in 2024 -No more fossil fuel powered cars allowed in 2030 -Hopes to electrify taxi fleet soon
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Face à la pollution atmosphérique et sonore, nous devons aller vers moins de véhicules individuels et la fin des véhicules thermiques. J’ai d’ailleurs proposé que le plan de relance intègre la transformation de la flotte des taxis parisiens. #LeGrandJury
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Paris mayor announces that the city’s ring highway will transform a car lane to bus/carpool/taxi use in 2024. Highway will get 50,000 trees to reduce its air pollution effects. And 2030 plan is to eliminate a car lane in both directions.
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Replying to @Anne_Hidalgo
Les Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de @Paris2024 accéléreront ces transformations. En 2024 et au-delà, une voie sera réservée au covoiturage, bus et taxis. D'ici cette date, nous remettrons aussi de la nature partout où cela est possible, en y plantant jusqu'à 50 000 arbres.
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The thing I love about photographs like this is that they reaffirm the continued value people hold in their downtowns as places for spontaneous civic gathering. This country has done pretty much as much as possible to destroy its cities, but people keep coming back.
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Broad Street from my BFFs window! #FlyEaglesFly
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It's remarkable how cheap Musk's tunnel was to build... until you realize it only allows movement in one direction, it's 12 feet wide, it has no actual stations, and it doesn't include emergency exits. Details.
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Perhaps lost in the transport debate is that @boringcompany built a 6000 ft tunnel in LA for ~$10M with V1 (Godot). Next tunnel will be made with V2 (Line-Storm). V3 (Prufrock), aspirationally 10X better, should be operational next year. For reference: citylab.com/transportation
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What's unique about the US is not so much the Interstates—most developed countries have built national freeway systems—but rather the fact that we insisted on slamming the freeways through the middle of our cities. Look at Milan & Munich vs. Dallas & Detroit 👇
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President Eisenhower today 1956 signed act creating Interstate Highway System, called largest public works project in history:
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This is the real stunner: Americans who are 25 to 54 are significantly less wealthy than 25 to 54 year olds 30 years ago. The only age group that is significantly more wealthy are those 65 and up. Those also happen to be the people who vote and the people who run the country...
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A wow stat and chart from the great @andrewvandam: "The average millennial has experienced slower economic growth since entering the workforce than any other generation in U.S. history" washingtonpost.com/business/2020/
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Since Musk fantasized about hyperloop in 2012, >12,000 miles of high-speed rail opened in China >600 miles opened in Spain 371 miles opened in France 201 miles opened in Morocco 179 miles opened in Turkey 77 miles opened in Germany 0 miles of hyperloop passenger service opened
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"As I’ve written in my book, Musk admitted to his biographer Ashlee Vance that Hyperloop was all about trying to get legislators to cancel plans for high-speed rail in California—even though he had no plans to build it." -- time.com/6203815/elon-m
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Biden infrastructure package would be a very big federal investment in the surface transport system: -$115b fix-it-1st roads -$85b transit -$80b intercity rail -$174b for electric vehicles Top line: The package takes climate change seriously & funds transit over road expansion.
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In some ideal future in which we actually cared about reinvesting in the rust belt we'd have a high-speed rail line linking Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh, connecting the 10 million people who live in those five metro areas in two hours flat.
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INBOX: Noted train enthusiast @JoeBiden will travel across eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania during a train tour with his wife, @DrBiden, his campaign advises the day after the first presidential debate. Biden will focus on his economic message during the tour, per campaign
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Useful investigation on air movement in NYC Subway cars: - Air is replaced in cars ≥18 times/hour, far more than in offices/classrooms (helps explain why transit doesn't appear to be a vector of disease transmission). - Masks are *really* important.
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Since *2014* Paris has reduced car traffic by 22% and reduced nitrogen dioxide emissions by 11%. Why? City's massive implementation of new bikeways, elimination of significant space previously used by cars, creation of pedestrian plazas, & major improvements in transit service.
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.@Anne_Hidalgo dit vrai sur la pollution et la circulation à Paris. Depuis 2014 : 📉 - 22% du trafic automobile 📉 - 11% de la pollution au dioxyde d’azote 👉 Allons encore plus loin demain avec @ParisEnCommun ! twitter.com/franceinfo/sta…
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Replying to
There's growing evidence that: 1—high US infrastructure costs are partly a product of understaffed public sector 2—public employment is increasingly uncompetitive with private jobs in terms of salaries 3—US public agencies are too reliant on consultants, not in-house expertise
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Brandon Johnson, now ahead in Chicago mayor's race, supports: —Improved ped/bike infrastructure —Sidewalk and traffic-calming street improvements —Signal priority and "true BRT lines" —Free transit for students, seniors —Low-cost bike programs & expanded Divvy —Lower speed limits
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Everyone deserves good, reliable, convenient transit options. Everyone deserves a walkable, bikeable neighborhood. Everyone deserves clean air. We shouldn't need an equity analysis & constant public hearings to achieve those outcomes.
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I love bike infrastructure, but is this really the best we can do
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Officials are cutting the ribbon on part of the new I-66 Parallel Trail today. The mile-plus stretch from Vienna to Cedar Lane will be open shortly as well as a few other segments. 18 miles of trail total.
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MTA study claims platform screen door installation on the New York Subway would cost an average of $55 million per station. Somehow FULL AUTOMATION of Paris Line 4, including platform doors at 29 stations & new signal system, only cost €9 million per station.
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New docs obtained by NY1 show costs and challenges for subway platform doors and track intrusion technology I interviewed a man who says it's worth it - he survived falling into the tracks and being pinned under a train ny1.com/nyc/all-boroug
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Fascinating resource showing how car dependence has decimated many US downtowns. This is the ranking of downtowns by a score assessing land devoted to parking. Some of these downtowns aren't really downtowns so much as suburban office parks at this point. parkingreform.org/resources/park
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You ever see those color-coded maps of how much downtown land is devoted to car storage? @Parking_Reform has put them all in one place, and ranked 50+ U.S. cities by their parking land use parkingreform.org/resources/park
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Just spent six days in the Netherlands—by far the longest I’ve spent there. Just a phenomenal place (I know I’m not the 1st to realize this!)—very inspiring, with great lessons for creating walkable, bikeable, verdant neighborhoods & great infrastructure.
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My worry is that we're blasting ahead on a deal to vastly expand spending on highway expansion, do very little to encourage electrification, & reinforce all the worst elements of US transportation & land use patterns. All in the name of bipartisan compromise and "infrastructure."
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Republicans I’ve talked to today are cautiously optimistic about bipartisan infrastructure deal with White House
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Montréal's automated REM metro launches today for preview service from central station to the south shore. REM becomes 3rd North American automated metro, after Vancouver SkyTrain & Honolulu Skyline. Montréal already has 3rd-most-used metro on the continent after NYC & CDMX.
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So the USPS is hoping to spend $68,000 per truck on an insanely polluting gas-powered model. For comparison, the Ford Transit van costs $36,000 & makes 16 mpg on average. What am I missing here? Even if the USPS refuses to go all-electric, this deal seems off.
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Replying to @jacobbogage
USPS's new trucks from Oshkosh Defense: - get 8.6 mpg - use 110 million gallons of gasoline annually - are basically as polluting as USPS's current 30 year-old trucks EPA says USPS paid Oshkosh $482 million without doing any sort of analysis like this. washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro
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There are more riders on the New York Subways each day than users of the entire US aviation system. It is extremely safe. And then you have a Supreme Court justice with opinions.
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Replying to @mjs_DC
In a colloquy with New York’s solicitor general, Justice Alito expresses empathy for working class New Yorkers forced to brave the city’s allegedly crime-infested subways on the way home from work, asking: Don’t they need to carry concealed guns to protect themselves?
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Let's talk a little about free transit fares. Here's what I know: *Overall*, research suggests that free transit: a—increases ridership b—doesn't necessarily get people out of cars c—benefits youth, elderly, & low-income riders d—may or may not increase operational effectiveness
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What we know about USPS fleet procurement: —USPS wants 165k 8.6 mpg vans from an arms manufacturer @ 2x cost of commercial vans —Said manufacturer shifted from union plant to non-union factory —Postal services globally shifting to EVs; USPS says only 10% of new trucks will be EV
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This is both hilarious and 100% expected. Musk's car tunnel will only be able to carry 800 people/hour: way less than the convention center needs. Turns out that when you build a car tunnel, you get car-tunnel capacity. Turns out that there's a reason transit exists!
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Exclusive @TechCrunch: The @boringcompany Vegas Loop underground people mover might carry only a fraction of the passengers it promised, leaving the company millions out of pocket and the Convention Center frustrated techcrunch.com/2020/10/16/elo
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New York City dominates when it comes to carrying riders on its Subway system. But outside of NYC, the three top-ridership metro systems in the US & Canada are Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
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Replying to and
I think you meant to write: the NYC and Shanghai urban areas are roughly the same in population size, and the Beijing urban area is about twice as big as Chicago. With regard to labor laws, I think you meant to link to this:
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So... it's just a one-way tunnel with lights and no guideway, forcing cars to travel slowly toward the terminus, an underground parking lot?
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Footage of what it looks like when a @Tesla is traveling through the @boringcompany’s Convention Center Loop. #vegas #boringcompany
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Two really important changes tonight: Maryland & Massachusetts are both headed to Dem trifecta status after 8 years of GOP governorships. Could have major implications for urban policy & transport systems in the Boston, Baltimore, & DC regions.
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The urban/exurban divide is strong. Trump followers clearly believe they have the right to demonstrate violently in city centers (where they don’t live), even though we would never expect left/liberals to demonstrate violently in the exurbs. Odd contrast.
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Replying to @ByMikeBaker
Clashes. Trump people unload paintballs and pepper spray. They shot me too.
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Useful discussion of Amtrak’s ridership/coverage dilemma by . Misreadings of Amtrak’s map as implying equivalent service nationwide led me to create this 2021 diagrammatic map, the likes of which, as Jarrett notes, Amtrak wouldn’t publish for political reasons.
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Amtrak is proposing big expansions, but can't quite talk about them clearly. Here's why ... humantransit.org/2023/07/amtrak
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High construction costs in the US have a lot more to do with low public-sector capacity and limited supervision of private contractors than they do with the supposedly nefarious influence of public-sector unions, which, by the way, generally don't represent construction workers.
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My immediate takeaway: While this bill could contribute a lot to reducing US emissions, it's going to help reinforce nation's automobile dependency. No support for transit, cycling, & just a tiny bit for a walkability program—but huge amounts for tax credits for EV purchasing.
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Text for the Inflation Reduction Act is out democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/
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Paris mayor announcing free transit for kids, plus free subscription to bike share for everyone under 18.
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J'annonce aujourd'hui de nouvelles mesures pour accélérer la transition écologique à #Paris tout en renforçant le pouvoir d'achat des familles : la gratuité des #transports en commun pour les enfants et des tarifs très réduits pour les jeunes. liberation.fr/france/2019/01
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But, in the great US tradition of ignoring what's happening everywhere else in the world, DC's future Metro trains will have no open gangways, even though open gangways add capacity and allow better distribution of people throughout trains.
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The 8000 series Metro trains will have charging outlets, heated floors, WIFI, and HD security cameras. The fleet will be available in 2024-25.
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SEPTA's parallel regional rail line, the Trenton Line, currently has service only every two hours during the midday on both weekends & weekdays. Not adequate to substitute for even a small share of displaced I-95 traffic. Can SEPTA expand service?
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Replying to @PhillyInquirer
In a short briefing Sunday morning, officials urged drivers to avoid I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia. “I-95 will be impacted for a long time, for a long time,” said Philadelphia Managing Director Tumar Alexander. inquirer.com/news/live/i-95
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Traffic deaths are not spiking "despite" fewer cars on the road--they are spiking BECAUSE of fewer cars on the road. The lack of congestion encourages reckless driving.
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NYC traffic deaths spike in 2020 despite fewer cars on the road trib.al/Fm2ZzWG
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Full MTA planning study for IBX light rail project was released today. Estimates $5.5 billion construction cost (2027$) for a 14-mile project, 39-min runtime, with 19 stations, attracting 115,000 daily riders new.mta.info/document/103686
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Today, @GovKathyHochul announced that the transformative Interborough Express project will be moving forward using Light Rail. IBX will bring better access to jobs, education, and economic opportunities for some 900k New Yorkers in Brooklyn and Queens. new.mta.info/project/interb
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This would be the highest traffic crash number since 2005, and an enormous jump from the low of 32,479 in 2011. We are headed backwards on traffic safety in the US.
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DETROIT (AP) — Nearly 43,000 people died in traffic crashes last year, a 10.5% jump from 2020 as traffic increased, federal data shows.
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Woah. Imagine if we could commit to this kind of quick action to transit & non-motorized modes. We could have bus and bike lanes blanketing our cities in a matter of weeks.
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Based on the tremendous progress these crews made over the weekend, I can now say: We will have I-95 back open this weekend. We have worked around the clock to get this done, and we’ve completed each phase safely and ahead of schedule.
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I took London's Elizabeth Line for the 1st time. Beyond its beauty, speed, & technological prowess, I was struck by just how quiet it is—both in trains & on platforms. The trains enter stations at full speed, but you can hardly hear them, thanks to the full-height platform doors.
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All of Paris is car free today.
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Paris entièrement réservée aux circulations non polluantes, c'est possible et c'est ce dimanche 22 septembre. Pour la 5ème édition de la #JournéeSansVoiture, vélos, rollers, trottinettes et skateboards seront à l'honneur ! Toutes les infos : bit.ly/2Aa0iNf
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Vancouver does not allow ride-hailing services like Uber or Lyft. British Columbia has a carbon tax. The Vancouver region has substantially improved bus and rail services recently. High transit ridership isn’t a coincidence.
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Transit ridership hits a high in Metro Vancouver vancouversun.com/news/local-new
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Boston > Philly Paris > Lyon ~300 mi ~300 mi min 5 h on Amtrak <2 h on TGV $173+ for trip next Wed €22+ for trip next Wed Trains carry ~300 pax Trains carry ~1000 pax 21 trips/day 23 trips/day
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On the other hand, Texas Department of Transportation is spending $9 billion for a massive highway expansion in Houston & $5 billion to expand I-35 to 20 lanes through central Austin. It's not that it's a build-nothing nation. It's a build-highways nation.
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In CA, high speed rail costs are ballooning and the project is languishing. Yesterday, NY Gov Hochul scrapped plans to build rail to LGA, bc costs 5X'd. Today, reporting that Atlanta is indefinitely delaying its public transit service expansion plans. Build-nothing nation.
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Unmentioned: —Public transportation —Climate change —Road safety —The many Americans who do not use cars but nonetheless also suffer from inflation-related cost increases
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White House officials exploring sending Americans rebates cards to offset gas costs ran into another problem — the chips shortage, which meant US couldn’t physically produce enough cards to make the plan work even if lawmakers tried to do it, per sources washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022
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Not that I’m betting on it, but the Georgia Senate results dramatically increase the odds that the Congress passes a transformative surface transportation reauthorization prioritizing active modes, transit, intercity rail & climate protections.
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Passenger trains are only obsolete from the myopic perspective of someone who (a) has never traveled outside of the US; (b) doesn't understand how density works; (c) is constitutionally unable to recognize the truly disastrous results of a car-based society.
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Republican-invited witness at today's House hearing on passenger rail is Cato Institute fellow Randal O'Toole, who says that "the creation of Amtrak was a mistake" "Passenger trains are pretty, but they're an obsolete form of transportation."
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Last night, Houston voters agreed to let their transit agency borrow $3.5 billion to expand service: 290 new miles of traditional bus service; 75 miles of BRT, 16 miles of light rail. Passed with 68% in favor.
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Last year, almost 43,000 US residents died on the road—many killed by the massive SUVs & trucks now crowding dangerous, poorly designed highways. What would it take to reduce that number by two thirds, saving tens of thousands of lives every year?
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180 “school streets” are now open in Paris—of which 126 opened since 2020. These are school-fronting streets that have been transformed from prioritizing car traffic & largely asphalt surfaces to landscaped pedestrian-only or pedestrian-priority spaces.
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126 rues aux écoles ont été créées à Paris depuis l'été 2020 et il en existe 180 aujourd'hui. ➡ Objectifs : sécuriser le chemin maison-école pour les enfants et lutter contre la pollution.
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A great new law in DC that says that if you, employer, provide free or subsidized parking to your employee, you must either: - (a) Offer transit benefits equivalent in cost to market-rate parking - (b) Implement a TDM plan - (c) Pay a $100-per-month-per-employee fee to the city
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It’s official, DC businesses with 20 or more employees that offer free or subsidized parking to their employees must now comply with the DC Parking Cashout Law. Learn more about the law and explore your compliance options on @goDCgo's website: bit.ly/3pZXI6L
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Illinois, a state with full Democratic control & that committed to advance the emissions-reduction goals of the Paris climate agreement www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/cli, has a DOT that wants to use federal funds to: -Widen I-290 -Widen I-55 -Widen I-57 -Widen I-270
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The first phase of Honolulu’s new metro, the Skyline, opens today. Skyline has several state of the art, unique-to-US-metros features: —Full driverless automation —Open gangway trains —Platform doors
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We got a glimpse at Skyline, Honolulu’s newly launched rail system! #HonoluluRail #ElectrificationOfTransportation #SustainableTransportation #FutureOfMobility #DriveElectricHawaii #DEH #DriveElectricHI #HOLOWithUs #WeGoHOLO #RideTheSky #SkylineHNL
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Or... there is Caltrain, which takes 23 minutes to make the trip. That said, the tech industry may be unaware of the existence of conventional railways.
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#SiliconValley develops technology to carry data to space and back in seconds, yet it still takes an hour to travel a mere 18 miles from #SanJose to #PaloAlto. #tooinnovativetofail
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Apparently the "quality of life" prize went to Utah's $415 m highway widening because it includes "shared use paths parallel to the frontage roads" & "nontraditional bus service." The paths appear to be those I marked in red. You can't make this stuff up. americastransportationawards.org/utah-departmen
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Replying to @aashtospeaks
Congratulations to @UtahDOT for taking home the top prize in the Quality of Life/Community Development, large project group!
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To make US rail systems as good as those abroad: —$1 trillion (maybe more?) —Replacing Amtrak with a competent public entity capable of operations & construction —Development of regional rail systems in every metro —Massively rethinking land use near stations —More fuel taxes
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Buttigieg on rail via MSNBC: "We’ve been asked to settle for less in this country. I don’t know why people in other countries should have better train service"
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TFW the Interstate Highway System, combined with its friend urban renewal, displaced hundreds of thousands of low-income and minority families, produced massive sprawl, destroyed many of our cities, & made the US the world's biggest contributor to climate change.
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The Greatest Generation earned its name for a reason. They didn’t just fight in WWII, they built an Interstate Highway System that created jobs & propelled our economy into the future. Read @RepFinkenauer & @RepCheri's take on our chance to rebuild again: bit.ly/2QQv2ul
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