Recent Streetsblog CALIFORNIA posts about Transit

Transit Union Slams DRIVE Act

By Melanie Curry and Tanya Snyder | Aug 3, 2015 | No Comments

Yesterday, the Senate passed both a three-month transportation extension and a six-year reauthorization bill (albeit with three years of funding), which the Senate hopes to workshop with the House in the fall. The bill’s name itself — the DRIVE Act — raised the hackles of transit advocates. Looking deeper, it seems those advocates have more […]

Deadbeat Chris Christie Sticks It to New Jersey Transit Riders, Again

By Brad Aaron | Jul 16, 2015 | No Comments

As expected, the New Jersey Transit board of directors has approved a 9 percent fare hike and service cuts, again making transit riders the victims of Governor Chris Christie’s budget shell games. New Jersey’s gas tax is the second lowest in the U.S., and has not seen an increase since 1988. Christie has refused to […]

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How to Undermine Transit: Surround it with Sprawl

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 10, 2015 | No Comments

New Jersey is the most population-dense state in the country, and many residents get to work via one of its several transit systems. But too many of New Jersey’s transit stations are surrounded by single-family housing, severely limiting the number of people — especially low-income people — with convenient, walkable access to transit. Some entire […]

When Transit Goes Down at the Polls, Here’s Some Advice on How to Regroup

By Ben Fried | Jul 6, 2015 | No Comments

Last week, voters in the Vancouver region rejected a half-cent sales tax to pay for a package of transit infrastructure and service expansions necessary to handle growing demand. Even in the city of Vancouver, the measure fell shy of a majority. Polling revealed that most “No” voters didn’t trust the regional transit agency, TransLink, to […]

Killing a Transit Project Isn’t Going to Fix Your City’s Parking Crunch

By Ben Fried | Jul 2, 2015 | No Comments

Yesterday Streetsblog USA ran a post from Michael Andersen about how Newark fixed the glut of parked cars on Mount Prospect Avenue, the first street in New Jersey to get a protected bike lane: Instead of letting people park in the bikeway, the city started charging for parking. With a price on parking, people stopped […]

Washington State’s Faustian Bargain to Fund Transit

By Brad Aaron | Jun 30, 2015 | No Comments

Washington Governor Jay Inslee and state legislators have agreed to enable funding for a major Seattle transit expansion, but the deal comes with drawbacks. If approved, the state would fund a $15 billion package of transportation projects and, separately, authorize Sound Transit to raise $15 billion to expand light rail via regional taxes. Martin H. […]

Minneapolis May Drop Parking Minimums Near Transit

By Brad Aaron | Jun 12, 2015 | No Comments

Whether you own a car or not, if you live in a city, there’s a good chance you pay for parking. Building parking spots is expensive, but most cities require developers to build a certain amount of parking per residence, driving up the cost of housing. Nick Magrino at Streets.mn reports that Minneapolis is rethinking […]

Mayor, Eight Supervisors Promise to Ride Muni Every Day Until June 22

By Aaron Bialick | Jun 3, 2015 | 1 Comment

The SF Transit Riders Union’s challenge to ride Muni for 22 days kicked off yesterday with late sign-ons from Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisors London Breed and Mark Farrell, who had initially declined to commit. Supervisors Katy Tang and Malia Cohen still declined, and Supervisor Norman Yee has not confirmed a pledge since he tweeted […]

Today in Bad Ideas: “Uberizing” the Public Transit System

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 1, 2015 | No Comments

A recent guest editorial in the Denver Post argued that “it’s time to Uber our bus system” with privately operated demand-responsive service downtown. While contracting out some bus operations can work, writes Jarrett Walker at Human Transit, the notion that the “demand responsiveness” of Uber will translate to transit routes carrying thousands of people every […]

Overcoming the Barriers to a Seamless Bay Area Transit Experience

By Ratna Amin | May 22, 2015 | No Comments

Ratna Amin is SPUR’s Transportation Policy Director. This piece originally appeared in SPUR’s The Urbanist. The Bay Area’s prosperity is threatened by fragmentation in the public transit system: Riders and decision-makers contend with more than two dozen transit operators. Inconsistent transit experiences and disjointed planning and investment make our transit system less efficient, less usable, […]

Applying the Parklet Strategy to Make Transit Stops Better, Quicker

By Aaron Bialick | May 20, 2015 | No Comments

San Francisco’s parklet revolution has broadened the possibilities for how curb space can be used. Now, city planners in SF and the East Bay are taking the idea in a new direction: using temporary sidewalk extensions to make transit stops more efficient and attractive. Three different names for the concept have emerged from planners at […]

How a More Inclusive Bike Week Can Help Move Us Toward “Bike Life”

By Sahra Sulaiman | May 15, 2015 | No Comments

“I can honestly say my faith in humanity has been restored today,” Joey said Wednesday as we popped his back tire back on his bike and I packed up my patch kit. “If I ever see you in the street again, I promise I’ll pay you back somehow.” His declaration was quite sincere. He was […]

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