Transportation

Beijing Bike

What a 'Bicycle Stress Map' Reveals About the Streets of Montgomery County

A new map quantifies the stress levels for bike riders on the streets of Montgomery County, Maryland.

May 19, 2016 - CityLab

D.C. Streetcar

A Sneak Peak at D.C.'s Streetcar Extension Plans

With the controversy about the value of its newly opened streetcar ongoing, Washington, D.C. has commenced with a planning process for extending the line to Georgetown.

May 18, 2016 - Greater Greater Washington

Hybrid Bus

Gold Line Busway Planning Moves Forward in Suburban Minnesota

The cities of Oakdale and Lake Elmo made their opposition to a proposed busway connecting to St. Paul known by withdrawing their support for the project. Now Gold Line transit planners are refocusing their efforts on station location decisions.

May 18, 2016 - Star Tribune

San Francisco STreetcar

Uber Partners With San Francisco Landlord to Subsidize Car-Free Tenants

A large development in San Francisco would limit parking spaces by paying for its tenants to go car free. Uber is paying part of the bill.

May 18, 2016 - The Verge

Loss of 'Situational Awareness' Caused Fatal Amtrak #188 Crash

The nation's transportation safety board determined that a distracted engineer caused one of the worst crashes in Amtrak's history, killing eight and injuring over 180 people just north of Philadelphia.

May 18, 2016 - RT&S (Railway Track & Structures)

CTA Buses

A Long-Awaited Bus Line Falls Short of Expectations in Chicago

The Chicago neighborhood of Bridgeport provides a case study of the collision between neighborhood advocacy, politics, and transit planning.

May 18, 2016 - DNAinfo Chicago

MARTA Bus

Comparing Bus Fares to Minimum Wage

A bus fare doesn't exist in a vacuum. To understand the true cost of a transit ride, one report compared bus fares to the local minimum wage, revealing Atlanta, Dallas, and Salt Lake City to have the highest fares.

May 17, 2016 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dallas Transit

Dallas Area Rapid Transit Overhauling Fare System to Improve User Experience

The changes to DART's fare system will target improvements in the user experience for residents without bank accounts or enough cash to buy monthly passes—i.e., some of the people who need transit most.

May 17, 2016 - The Dallas Morning News

Bike Lane

Federal Rule Changes Remove Obstacles to Multi-Modal Streets

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) made official a set of rule changes that overthrow an old way of thinking about street design.

May 17, 2016 - Streetsblog USA

Robert F. Kennedy Bridge

Revisiting the Legacy of Robert Moses

A visit from the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to see Robert Caro, author of "The Power Broker," provides a refresher on the works of Robert Moses and Caro's writing.

May 16, 2016 - The New York Times

Spokane, Washington

Spokane Faces Big Decision on Future of Transit

Spokane, Washington may be at a crossroads as voters consider expanding the city's urban transportation system. Some say it's key to attracting young workers and building a walkable urban environment. Others see it as a waste of money.

May 16, 2016 - The Spokesman-Review

Hudson Yards Subway Station

Cut Transit Amenities, Not Service

It's important for transit to look and feel nice, if only to resurrect its deeply tarnished image in the United States. But ridership depends on good service, not good aesthetics.

May 16, 2016 - the transport politic

Millennium Park Chicago

Will Chicago Be the Next to Jump on the Sky Gondola?

Chicago's looking for a new tourist attraction, and the sky gondola has made the short list. Private investors have proposed to construct a sky gondola as a tourist attraction crossing over the Chicago River, but will the plan fly?

May 16, 2016 - CityLab

Portland Bike Safety Signage

Portland Finds a Cheap Way to Protect Bike Lanes

It's the little things that count—especially when it comes to building safety infrastructure onto streets so that they better serve all modes of transportation.

May 15, 2016 - Bike Portland

New York City Mayor Overrides Community Board on 'Boulevard of Death' Bike Lane

After the local community board removed a protected bike lane from its plans for the redesign of Queens Boulevard, Mayor Bill de Blasio restored it, under the premise of saving lives.

May 15, 2016 - New York Daily News

Driving

Sunday Satire: What if We Shut Down Roads Like We Shut Down Transit?

Imagine if the federal government treated road safety as seriously as it does transit safety.

May 15, 2016 - City Observatory

San Mateo Bikeshare

Nation's Newest Bike Share Perhaps the Smallest

What better day to launch a new bike share program than on Bike-to-Work Day? in the Bay Area, that day was May 12. The City of San Mateo launched Bay Bikes, with 50 bicycles at 11 stations. Now the region has two programs, the other being regional.

May 14, 2016 - KQED News Fix

U-Link opening

Controversy Erupts Over Seattle's Light Rail Party Planning Expenses

Anti-transit advocates in Seattle got ammunition this week from an article about the party thrown by Sound Transit to celebrate the recent opening of the light rail extension from downtown to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington.

May 14, 2016 - The Seattle Times

Downtown Boise

Boise Tackles the Tough Question: Go Light Rail or Go Bus?

A new circulator system for Downtown Boise, Idaho is in the works, with the mayor gently throwing his support behind a light rail system. But questions over costs remain.

May 14, 2016 - The Idaho Statesman

trax light rail train in foreground, snow-covered mountains in background

Cities Discovering the Limitations of Half-Baked Rail Plans

Presenting less of an argument against transit than an argument for good transit and land use planning, Streetsblog surveys some of the country's worst performing rail lines.

May 13, 2016 - Streetsblog USA

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.