Residents in the small town of Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island are starting a citywide carpooling program to help provide for people without cars after the city's underused public transit system was shut down.
"A pilot project that matches people needing a lift with drivers going in the same direction is getting rolling in Qualicum Beach."
"Its proponent, Coun. Mike Wansink, based the Good Samaritan Ride Program on a successful scheme that's been operating since 1971 in Washington D.C., where he attended university in the mid-1990s."
"Now Wansink is hoping a scaled-down program will work for Qualicum Beach, although heavy traffic is rarely an issue."
"'We don't have a rush hour; we don't even have a rush moment,' he quipped."
"'What prompted this is we lost our local transit service in town ... because of lack of ridership. We were averaging something like six or seven riders a day, and it was costing us a ton of money.'"
"The loss of buses left a few people stranded -- a big deal when 20 per cent of the population, or about 700, are seniors who don't drive."
FULL STORY: Town considers mass carpooling

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

San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning
SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.

The Tiny, Adorable $7,000 Car Turning Japan Onto EVs
The single seat Mibot charges from a regular plug as quickly as an iPad, and is about half the price of an average EV.

Trump Approves Futuristic Automated Texas-Mexico Cargo Corridor
The project could remove tens of thousands of commercial trucks from roadways.

Austin's First Single Stair Apartment Building is Officially Underway
Eliminating the requirement for two staircases in multi-story residential buildings lets developers use smaller lots and more flexible designs to create denser housing.

Atlanta Bus System Redesign Will Nearly Triple Access
MARTA's Next Gen Bus Network will retool over 100 bus routes, expand frequent service.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)