The list of challenges facing transit agencies like the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is long. The list of feasible projects that can deliver solutions is much shorter.

"Bus riders continued bailing on SEPTA in 2018, bringing it to its worst ridership numbers in nearly 20 years," reports Jason Laughlin.
This is the fourth consecutive year that SEPTA has lost riders, according to data from the Federal Transit Administration. "The transit agency lost 14 million bus trips from 2017 to 2018, the data showed, an 8 percent decline," writes Laughlin.
Transit ridership is declining comes even as the population of the city is increasing.
The other angle of the story worth noting is the palpable pessimism about the prospects that the trends will change anytime soon, or that the system will be able to deliver improvements designed to win back riders..
"SEPTA has promised a bus network redesign to provide faster and more reliable service, but it will be years before it happens," reports Laughlin. SEPTA has also "been advised to eliminate transfer fees to boost ridership, but it will be another year before SEPTA decides its transfer fee policy," for another example.
FULL STORY: SEPTA keeps bleeding bus riders. It may take years to stanch the losses.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.

Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.

Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
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