The Hub 5/21/2021: 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.
City Lab: Cities across the country need effective public transportation that is reliable and convenient. Founders at transit technology companies know that the technology exists to enhance public transit in all areas, but the country lacks policies and funding for cities to access these innovations. To resolve this, the U.S should create funding policies to drive innovations, tie funding to outcomes, and also fund transit operations along with equipment.
Next City: A growing number of activists and other professionals argue that making public transit free for all could be one tool to make public transportation more equitable. Making transit fare-free was experimented in the 1970’s and 1990’s but was short-lived due to safety, security, and higher maintenance cost concerns. But, would now be the time for fare-free transit?
Plan Philly: The President’s infrastructure plan will have a huge impact on transportation and SEPTA’s future. But Pennsylvania needs its own comprehensive plan to fund SEPTA as the agency plays a big part in reducing congestion and creating an equitable future for our region.
The New York Times: New York City’s 24-hour subway service is back after closing for more than a year due to the pandemic. Ridership is slowly increasing and many riders are excited for the returned service.
Streetsblog USA: A team of advocates conducted a comprehensive study on crashes that kill pedestrians in Portland, Oregon between 2017 and 2019. Factors such as road design, characteristics of the vehicle, and traffic laws were used to analyze the crashes. The findings revealed trends that are familiar with the constant request of safe streets advocates which includes having traffic calming measures and lower speed limits, to help keep our most vulnerable road users safe.
PHS: The Philadelphia Flower Show will be at FDR Park in South Philly, and planning a bike ride to attend is a good option. GoPhillyGo is a multimodal app that makes it easy for you to plan a trip to get to the flower show and around the city. Transportation is the nation’s leading source of greenhouse gas emissions and biking can help you to lower your carbon footprint.
Image Source: Plan Philly
