The Hub 5/11/18: Clean Air Council’s Weekly Round-Up of Transportation News
“The Hub” is a weekly round-up of transportation related news in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Check back weekly to keep up to date on the issues Clean Air Council’s transportation staff finds important.
PlanPhilly: SEPTA considering an end to transfer fees as part of bus system overhaul – SEPTA riders that are reliant on more than one line for a trip pay a premium for inconvenient service. SEPTA is in in the beginning phases of a complete bus system overhaul. With SEPTA Key’s integration making it easy to have electronic timed transfers, it seems an apt time to bring an end to the dollar fee.
Philly.com: There’s no getting around the clumsy design of SEPTA’s new fare gates – Turnstiles and fences are popping up at major Regional Rail stations. Design choices that favored the old over the new and sub-par materials make the fare enclosures feel cheap and out of place.
StreetsBlog: Six Secrets From the Planner of Sevilla’s Lightning Bike Network – Sevilla, Spain has a robust cross city network of bike infrastructure, virtually all of which was built in a single election cycle. A poll showed that 90% of residents wanted cycling to be safer and more accessible, so the city set to work creating connections between neighborhoods and city center. The effort was successful, not only in increasing cycling’s mode share, but in garnering public support of city government.
CityLab: The Stark (and Hopeful) Facts About Bus Ridership – Bus ridership is down in cities across the country, manifesting in more cars on the road, longer commutes, and poorer air quality. Reversing the downward trend is going to take political will to execute system wide improvements to make busses more reliable, faster, and more accessible.
Next City: Seattle Raises the Equity Bar on Transit-Oriented Development – The Washington State Legislature has mandated that surplus land sold by Sound Transit, Seattle’s transit agency, will be required to be developed to a high affordability standard. Sound transit is in the process of expanding Seattle’s light rail network, creating pockets of surplus land in areas that will be well served by the expansion. The 80-80-80 policy stipulates 80% of suitable surplus land go to affordable housing developers, who will make 80% of units affordable to households that make less than 80% of the area median income.
Image Source: Plan Philly
