Uber Makes Traffic Worse

You can call Uber and Lyft from your phone and get a ride. Smooth, right? But with all those rideshare vehicles picking up and dropping off fares, city streets are more congested than ever. Video from Streetfilms.org.

More:

“How to Fix New York City’s ‘Unsustainable’ Traffic Woes,” Laura Bliss, CityLab

Update:

“A new study says services like UberPool are making traffic worse,” Faiz Siddiqui, Washington Post

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NYC: In a Hurry? Get On a Bike.

” … a huge share of taxi and bike-share trips cover comparable distances in New York City. In 2014, nearly 34,000 trips were taken using the Citi Bike system per day, while more than 400,000 trips were made by taxi. About 55 percent of the taxi rides spanned less than two miles; so did the average bike-share trip.”

“On average, the researchers found that taxis hailed within range of a Citi Bike station were a slightly faster option than grabbing the rental bike. But when travel distances were shorter, and at times when roads were more likely to be congested, the difference in travel times dropped. On weekdays, more than half of trips shorter than 3 kilometers (about 1.8 miles) went as fast or faster on Citi Bike than in a cab. Citi Bike’s advantage is stronger as trips cover less distance: between 20 and 36 percent of weekday trips shorter than 2 kilometers (about 1.2 miles) went faster on rented spokes than in a backseat.”

— “In New York City, Bike Share Is Faster Than Cabs When It Matters,” Laura Bliss, CityLab

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Rush Hour

“Rush Hour,” a short film by Fernando Livschitz.

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How Bert Rolls

Nice training wheels, Bert. See you on the bike path.

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Amtrak Avelia

Amtrak will begin to introduce new Alstom Avelia trains to Acela routes in the Northeast corridor in 2021. High-speed rail is the prefered mode of travel for the faceless wraiths of the future, judging by the video (they should have used this song). Read more here.

Video by Meconopsis.

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America’s National Road System

America’s national road system: The Federal Highway Administration looks back on a century of America’s public roadways.

More highway history here.

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American Trains Suck. Why?

Why are American passenger trains so bad? Wendover Productions explains.
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Chris Christie: Unindicted Co-Conspirator?

With the conviction of two former aides in the “Bridgegate” trial last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been cast in an “unflattering light,” to quote the Wall Street Journal. The governor denies prior knowledge of the politically motivated plan that tied up traffic on the George Washington Bridge for four days, but the conviction of his former aides validates the existence of a conspiracy, and another aide took a plea deal. Gov. Christie cancelled weekend campaign appearances with GOP candidate Donald Trump after the verdict.

Governor Christie now heads President-elect Trump’s transition team. Maybe he’ll be named Secretary of Transportation since he knows so much about bridges, buses, highways, rail transit, and tunnels.

More:

“After the Bridgegate Verdict, Chris Christie Comes Off As the Guiltiest of All,” Andrew Rice, New York Magazine

“Reminder: Trump Believes Own Transition Chairman Was Involved in Bridgegate, Which Is Now Officially a Felony Conspiracy,” Ben Mathis-Lilley, Slate

Update:

“Pence Replaces Christie as Head of Trump Transition Team,” Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg Politics

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Women: Stuck in Traffic

The highway is a gendered place, and women pay the biggest price for road congestion.

“Traffic increased a great deal when women moved into the labor force. But this is not exactly what accounts for the gender gap. In the 1950s, car trips that were work-related accounted for about 40 percent of all car use. Today that number is less than 16 percent. The vast majority of car trips are made for various errands: taking children to school, picking up groceries, eating out, going to or from daycare, shopping, and more shopping. And it’s women who are making most of these trips. It’s a less acknowledged portion of the ‘second shift,’ which typically highlights women’s disproportionate contribution to the division of labor inside the household even when they are working outside of the household as well.”

— “Contrary to Stereotypes, Women Lose More Time in Traffic Than Men,” Tristan Bridges, Pacific Standard

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Streets of Los Angeles

Driving in Los Angeles in the 1950s. Film from the King Rose Archives.

h/t: The Old Motor

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