Southern Californians, facing some of the worst gas prices in the country, are experimenting with taking public transit, as these personal stories from the Los Angeles Times attest.
"She thought about it for four years. She wanted to try it, but kept balking.
"I was scared," says Francine Choi, a Los Angeles County employee who lives in Long Beach. "I was worried I'd get mugged." And then a couple months ago, filling her BMW at a Chevron near work, she gasped when she saw the total pass $60. Then and there, she summoned the courage to do it at last.
Choi rode the Metro Blue Line to work the next day.
"Now I take naps on the way home" says Choi, 45, extolling the light-rail line between downtown L.A. and Long Beach and the $150 or so she saves by riding it every month.
With gas prices shooting into orbit, mass transit ridership is trending upward -- barely.
Car culture has stubborn roots in Southern California. The vast majority of Southern Californians are holding tenaciously to the privacy and convenience of their own cars, over the crush of humanity on the region's trains and buses."
Read the full story: Gas prices nudge Southern California drivers onto mass transit -- slowly
The Return of the Full-Sized SUV
The auto industry has decided that SUVs are the right product to market to the largest generation in U.S. history.
Two out of three transit riders in Las Vegas don't own a car
As gas and insurance prices rise, car commuting is becoming more unaffordable to working Americans, leaving them reliant on their local transit systems.
North Carolina Triangle transit ridership jumped 32% in April
Rising gas prices are prompting more Americans to consider public transit, where it's available.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Data reveals that NYC’s bet on congestion pricing has paid off
After almost two years of the program, reports show positive impacts on traffic and air quality and no disruptions to parking.
HUD modernizes 50-year-old manufactured housing framework
The Next Generation Manufactured Housing Action Plan establishes new energy-efficiency standards for manufactured homes, and new guidelines for anchoring them.
Small single-family homes are illegal in most of MA. Voters can change that
Most land zoned for single-family housing in Massachusetts requires at least 40,000 square feet of land per house.
Public steps inside U.S.’s first battery-powered train
Metra’s groundbreaking train feature modern seats and a futuristic battery car.
Companies show off AI technology, new innovation hubs at APTA Expo
Nearly 700 companies attended the American Public Transportation Association’s Expo last week, which happens once every three years.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
One Hundred Miles
County of Mendocino
planning NEXT
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority