Try Our Daily Newsletter for Free

Category Archives: Blog

Mondays 175: The City That Lost Its Zoning

July 14, 2025

This week we’re Han Solo but we’ve got some great items to discuss with you all. We talk about how Salt Lake lost its street design, how Charlottesville lost its zoning code, and the importance of transit to the justice system. Below the fold are the show notes:


(Unedited) Podcast Transcript 540: Localities Subsidize the State DOT

July 9, 2025

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we’re joined by Adie Tomer of Brookings to discuss a paper he and his team wrote about the idea of regional block grants. He discusses the local subsidies going to state DOTs and how more local funding could mean more regional collaboration on infrastructure. To listen to this


It’s Not Just About the Bus

Who knew the discussion about free transit was so contentious? Well, we all kinda did because it’s been a debate for the last decade in our specific policy circles. But with the election of Zohran Mamdani to be the NYC mayoral candidate for the democrats, the debate has gone off the charts. Friend of the


Flash Flood Alley and My Scarred Knee

July 8, 2025

I didn’t mention this yesterday perhaps because I was still in shock, but the tragedy on the Guadalupe River continues to sit heavy in my mind. Most summers when I was in middle and high school I went to a summer camp somewhere in Texas with my Boy Scout troop. We went to Possum Kingdom


Freedom as Told by Young People

When I was younger I walked to school starting in third grade in California, then after I moved to Texas I biked around the neighborhood and went to the pool in the summer with my friends by ourselves. One of my favorite things was riding to the baseball card shop, just a 15 minute bike


Mondays 174: A Bike Share Triathlon

June 30, 2025

This week we’re Han Solo again, but we discuss lead pollution and serial killers, PM 1 micro-pollution,  and how ICE raids are reducing transit ridership in Los Angeles. Below is a full linked article list: Main Items ICE raids lead to low LA ridership – LA Times Tinier particles data finally collected – Washington University



Libraries as Information Transportation

I get questions from time to time about how we pull together so many news items each day. My process includes RSS feeds through Feedly collected over the last 15 years or so and key word searches in Google News as well as social media. All in all I skim 1,500 news items every day.


Denial Turns to Delay

June 24, 2025

In Florida, the State DOT is requiring all new BRT projects to hit 6,000 riders if they are going to take a dedicated lane. It also means existing bus lines could lose their lanes unless they get higher ridership. It’s just another example of state pre-emption going after active transportation facilities and complete streets for


A Positive Soundscape

Last week’s Talking Headways podcast featured Chris Burdik’s book Clamor which discusses sound and noise in detail and I wanted to bring it back up today not really as a counter to the Washington Post item on electric vehicle generated sounds but as a reminder that there should be more considered of the urban soundscape


Podcast

Explore More