Wednesday’s E-xcellent Headlines

• Fast Company declared 2023 the Year of the E-Bike, with their “enticing cocktail” of low cost, convenience, health benefits and fun. Self-driving cars were a contender until their safety record took a hit, and high interest rates made continued investment iffy.
  • On the other hand, two Engineering.com staffers took two rides in a Waymo and declared them perfectly safe, duh.
• More than any city outside of China, Bogota tried to solve the traffic caused by a huge population influx with public transportation. But due to its own popularity, corruption and a lack of subsequent investment, this predecessor to modern bus rapid transit ultimately failed to live up to its potential. (New York Times)
• Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she is deliberately targeting the richest drivers by seeking to tripe parking rates for SUVs in an effort to reduce emissions. A referendum will be held in February. (The Guardian)
• Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis visited Raleigh to tout the Biden administration’s $1 billion investment into service to Richmond. (ABC 11)
• If Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell wants the third time to be a charm, he’s going to have to rely on voters’ trust, because there isn’t much time to put together a plan before another transit referendum in November 2024. (Tennessee Lookout)
• Baltimore’s Red Line would connect Black working-class neighborhoods on the eastside of the city with job-rich areas in the west. (Transit Center)
• Metro Cincinnati’s regional transportation body is proposing a referendum to give the city its fair share of representation on the board, based on population. (WCPO)
• Disabled advocates say Philadelphia’s new intercity bus terminal is a nightmare to navigate. (Inquirer)
• Landslides attributed to climate change are wreaking havoc on Southern California’s coastal rail corridors. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Velo caught up with Cambridge, Massachusetts — the first city in the U.S. to mandate protected bike lanes — and found that streets are safer, but the naysayers are still restless.
• In the latest instance of a driver using a vehicle as a weapon, a woman drove her Jeep into a group of “Israelis for Christ” gathered on a Billups street corner. (KTVQ)
• Carmel, Indiana may be the roundabout capitol of the world, but this Indianapolis plan for the I-65/I-70 interchange puts them to shame. (Star)

source https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/12/13/wednesdays-e-xcellent-headlines