While much attention is focused on new technologies, the potential of existing transportation modes has never been fully realized.
"The tools we need to change transportation are right there in front of us," writes Henry Grabar. He argues that it is not the new, flashy technological innovations and visions—the hyperloops and self-driving cars—that are going to improve mobility. Instead, revisiting the technologies we already have, such as elevators and bikes, are what will truly transform the world.
"The bus is another overlooked piece of technology that could do far more. In most American cities, buses are hard to depend on because they run infrequently, slowly, and often on routes that are holdovers from streetcar systems abandoned decades ago. Give a bus its own lane, its own route, its own authority over signals, and it can permit car-free land use to flourish alongside," urges Grabar.
The issue ultimately is about cities designed for and prioritizing cars and driving. "Even here, in a nation of unprecedented personal wealth and plentiful land, the car-centric system has pushed up against the limitations of space, proving expensive to maintain and impossible to scale," says Grabar.
FULL STORY: The Hyperloop and the Self-Driving Car Are Not the Future of Transportation
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
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U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
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AI Traffic Management Comes to Dallas-Fort Worth
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City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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