Transportation

Low Speed Fail

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Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice as she grew taller and taller in Wonderland.

Curiouser and curiouser, said everyone paying even the slightest attention as the high-speed rail fantasy grew bigger and more expensive and further behind schedule and more incomprehensible and more ludicrous and now, yes, even possibly taller and taller in California.  read more »

Transit Carries 66.6% of 2019 Riders in September

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September 2022 was a booming month for the American transit industry, which carried 66.6 percent as many riders as in September 2019, according to data released yesterday by the Federal Transit Administration.  read more »

Will Amtrak Benefit from Telecommuting?

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Airlines carried 94 percent as many passengers in September 2022 as they did in September 2019, according to passenger counts published by the Transportation Security Administration. That’s up from 91 percent in August and 88 percent in September.  read more »

Australian Work Access: Not Yet the New Normal

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Around the world, the pandemic produced a strong increase in working at home and a reduction in traveling to work in the last few years. Even as lockdowns have generally been removed or relaxed, the share of the remote work force has greatly increased from previous norms.  read more »

Federal data shows Twin Cities light rail is the most dangerous in America

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According to federal data, people who decide to step on light rail in the Twin Cities are at more risk for being injured by an assailant than any other light rail system in America.  read more »

Poverty Level Workers Use Cars in Commuting More than Others

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One of the principal justifications of public subsidies for transit has been to provide mobility for those with low incomes. There continues to be a presumption that low-income workers rely principally on transit for getting to work.  read more »

Texas High Speed Rail: The End or Not?

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In 2012, the new Texas Central Railway announced that it would, in collaboration with the Central Railway of Japan build a high speed rail line from Dallas to Houston.  read more »

Census Data Show Transit's Devastation

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More than three times as many people worked at home in 2021 as in 2019, according to data that was released yesterday by the Census Bureau.  read more »

U.S. Auto Commuting Dips to Half Century Low

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The share of workers commuting to work by auto fell to 75.6%, according to the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS), the lowest level since before the 1970 census, which reported that 77.7% of commuting was by auto (Figure 1).  read more »

The Revenge of the Material Economy

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America’s narrow escape last week from a major rail-worker strike brought home an important truth: people who make and ship real things – let’s call them material workers – now hold the whip hand over our supposedly ‘post-industrial’ economy.  read more »