Randal O'Toole

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Transit carried only 74.9% of 2019 riders in June

  Transit’s failure to recover from the pandemic is due largely to its downtown-centric orientation in most urban areas. Before the pandemic, almost half of all transit commuters in the nation’s 50 largest urban areas worked downtown, and almost half of downtown workers commuted by transit whereas less than 6% ...
Blog

Read about problems with government transportation planning

Book Review: ‘Transit’s growth, decline and pending demise’

Who said the following? “The basic objective of our nation’s transportation system must be to assure the availability of the fast, safe, and economical transportation services needed in a growing and changing economy. … This basic objective can and must be achieved primarily by continued reliance on unsubsidized privately owned ...
Blog

Post-COVID travel has recovered – except for urban transit

Highways, airlines, and Amtrak all carried more travel in August 2023 than the same month before the pandemic, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Urban transit, however, is languishing at less than 72%, and it would be even lower except that August had one more ...
Blog

Soaking rich homeowners fails in Los Angeles

Soaking rich homeowners fails in Los Angeles By Randal O’Toole  |  June 9, 2023 To help fund the $1.3 billion that Los Angeles’ City Council believes it needs to house the homeless, the city decided to impose a “mansion tax” of 4 percent on the sales of any homes or ...
Blog

Read the latest on road diets

Bicycle ridership declining even in bike-friendly Portland

According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the share of Portland employees riding bicycles to work peaked at 7.2 percent in 2014. By 2019, it had fallen to 5.2 percent. The pandemic led to a surge in bicycle sales, and the share grew to 5.4 percent in 2020 but ...
Blog

Transit carried only 74.9% of 2019 riders in June

  Transit’s failure to recover from the pandemic is due largely to its downtown-centric orientation in most urban areas. Before the pandemic, almost half of all transit commuters in the nation’s 50 largest urban areas worked downtown, and almost half of downtown workers commuted by transit whereas less than 6% ...
Blog

Read about problems with government transportation planning

Book Review: ‘Transit’s growth, decline and pending demise’

Who said the following? “The basic objective of our nation’s transportation system must be to assure the availability of the fast, safe, and economical transportation services needed in a growing and changing economy. … This basic objective can and must be achieved primarily by continued reliance on unsubsidized privately owned ...
Blog

Post-COVID travel has recovered – except for urban transit

Highways, airlines, and Amtrak all carried more travel in August 2023 than the same month before the pandemic, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Urban transit, however, is languishing at less than 72%, and it would be even lower except that August had one more ...
Blog

Soaking rich homeowners fails in Los Angeles

Soaking rich homeowners fails in Los Angeles By Randal O’Toole  |  June 9, 2023 To help fund the $1.3 billion that Los Angeles’ City Council believes it needs to house the homeless, the city decided to impose a “mansion tax” of 4 percent on the sales of any homes or ...
Blog

Read the latest on road diets

Bicycle ridership declining even in bike-friendly Portland

According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the share of Portland employees riding bicycles to work peaked at 7.2 percent in 2014. By 2019, it had fallen to 5.2 percent. The pandemic led to a surge in bicycle sales, and the share grew to 5.4 percent in 2020 but ...
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