In 1997, Chinese-born entrepreneurs began regularly scheduled long-distance bus services that picked up passengers on the street. Tickets were priced so low that it was hard to fig...
The nation has long relied on federal and state fuel taxes on gasoline and diesel to fund highways. Because the more you travel, the more fuel you consume, and hence the more tax...
Transit planners in New York are trying to design the ideal subway car interior by observing existing passenger behavior, and while their designs are still preliminary, thei...
Good if not altogether surprising news for anti-sprawl advocates: Central business districts weathered the recession better than their suburban counterparts, according to a repor...
As a nation, we need to face that fact that austerity simply does not work. Our nation’s infrastructure will continue to crumble if we do not invest in its repair, and our econ...
The life of a taxi driver is hard. When cabbies start a shift, they owe about $100 to their company as payment just for the opportunity drive a taxi. They might not break even un...
Inside a high-tech effort to minimize the maddening racket in the New York underground....
Recently, the National Academy of Sciences issued a massive report analyzing how to cut U.S. gasoline use in half by 2030, and beyond that, how to reduce transportation emis...
Wilhelmina Melrose is in her 60s. She is blind and diabetic. A resident of Boston’s predominantly black Roxbury neighborhood, Melrose gets to medical appointments, exercise...
THE average price of gasoline in the United States, $3.78 on Thursday, has been steadily climbing for more than a month and is approaching the three previous post-recession peaks...
The international crossing inspired a lively feud between the public and private sectors....
The 2012 Urban Mobility Report builds on previous Urban Mobility Reports with an improved methodology and expanded coverage of the nation’s urban congestion problem and sol...
Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber, talks about how he's bringing limo service to the urban masses—and how he learned to beat the taxi cartel and city hall....
I recently spoke with George Mason University Law Professor David Schleicher about his research on land use law and economics. Here is our conversation including l...
November 25 marked the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Homeland Security Act, which created the sprawling Department of Homeland Security. Included in this new behemoth ag...
Why the growing cities of the developing world need New York–style street grids...
Since completion of the Interstate Highway System in the early 1990s, America has continued to rely mostly on motor fuel taxes at the federal and state levels to meet the n...
Can disruptive technology provide a fix for social issues?...
Willis and Vivian Bramstaedt planned to live out their days on a farm in rural Beecher, Illinois. But two years ago, they got a disturbing letter from the Illinois Department of ...
Autonomous vehicles are coming -- and sooner than you think. How the commute, the shipping industry, and the car itself will never be the same....
The answer may have been under our noses all along. Natural gas (NG), the same energy source we use to fry our bacon and to warm our living rooms, is finally under serious scru...
After Hurricane Katrina, some people argued that we shouldn’t rebuild New Orleans, not simply because it was below sea level but because the city was economically and politi...
Average moderate-income household in 25 largest U.S. metro areas spends nearly 60 percent of income on housing and transportation...
Bob Gordon released a provocative working paper (ungated) back in August that made quite a splash on the blogs. It is an extreme, more pessimistic version of Tyler Cowen&...
When I booked my ticket, taking the night train from Albany to Cleveland seemed like an offbeat idea, maybe even fun....
(This is a special article summarizing how the design of cars can change due to robocars. Consider the rest of the site for a more top level introduction to the big concepts or the...
The big opportunity of robocars isn't the cars themselves; it's how they could create a far more efficient transportation system....
“I’LL love and protect this car until death do us part,” says Toad, a 17-year-old loser whose life is briefly transformed by a “super fine” 1958 Che...
“How far should you live from work?”I pondered that question a few weeks ago after perusing American Community Survey data compiled by Charlie Gardner. It showed that ...
Thirty minutes at most, according to the wisdom of the crowds....
It’s no secret that Philadelphia has seen a dramatic uptick in cycling in recent years. The two-wheeled revolution is not a passing fad, and city planners have been ...
With discussions about on-street parking tending to focus on high-demand metered spaces in retail districts, the fact can get lost that the overwhelming majority of on-street par...
I live in New York City, so I've eaten my share of $16 hamburgers. If a hamburger costs that much, it's usually pretty good. It had better be!...
Summary of Key Information highlights the key findings of a variety of studies on the subject of climate change and its ramifications for the transportation sector conducted...
I've been looking through the mean commuting times recently released as part of the 2010 ACS estimates for metropolitan statistical areas. Although a lot has been written a...
The first 10 years of the new millennium for the U.S. airline industry is often described as the “lost decade.” During that period, virtually every U.S. legacy carrier file...
A year ago this coming Sunday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the Transportation Security Administration to do a notice-and-comment rulemaking on its use ...
In 2010 almost half of 17-year-olds, two-thirds of 18-year-olds, and three-fourths of 19-year-olds were licensed drivers. Sadly, motor vehicle crashes are the single larges...
Last week I promised you another explanation for the crazy law that was passed by the New York State Legislature, essentially outlawing small curbside bus companies. (For a madde...
Streetcars are the latest urban planning fad, stimulated partly by the Obama administration's preference for funding transportation projects that promote "livability" (meaning li...
Advocates of mass transit like to point out that it isn’t the only form of transportation that gets public subsidies. In particular, road construction and maintenanc...
Detroit Mayor David Bing has promised to demolish 1,500 abandoned and unsafe houses within the next 90 days, according to the Detroit Free Press....
In the nearly four years since it was passed by popular ballot initiative, California's statewide high-speed rail project has become a stand-alone metaphor for all of the patholo...
There are about 1 billion cars on the world’s roads today. By mid-century, forecasts have that number climbing to 4 billion. Meanwhile, Congress is mired in a debate over w...
Increasing growth in New York City’s outer boroughs has not been met with equal growth in public transport access or options, according to a report released today by the Cen...
The auto industry campaigned against the relatively bloody rise of cars in the early 20th century via TV, the term "jaywalker" and school safety patrols...
"One entered the city like a god. One scuttles in now like a rat."Almost 50 years ago, when a demolition project reduced New York City's Penn Station from a monumental vaulted hal...
Last Thursday, officials from the federal department of transportation closed down 26 bus operators who provide service in chinatowns along the East Coast, citing safety violation...
Instinct probably tells you that you’ll pay a lot more to live in a downtown apartment, above a grocery store, next to a bar strip and within walking distance of your work ...