Transportation
Blog
Read about the latest victory in the war on cars
A Great Highway . . . But Not for Driving
Prop. K will permanently close a two-mile stretch – more than half its length – of the four-lane highway along Ocean Beach between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard. It will become a public recreation space. The idea goes back to the early days of the COVID-19 panic. “In response to ...
Blog
When Ambition And Ideology Outpace Reality And Prudent Policymaking
Turns out the electric trucks aren’t selling well, so manufacturers will be able to build more diesel trucks than regulations were allowing them to. Yet again, the state tacitly acknowledges that its net-zero ambitions are unrealistic. It was a lesson learned late, though. Several states that followed the California model ...
Blog
Read the latest about California's high speed rail boondoggle
Despite the promises, bullet train is lesson in ‘sunk costs’
Unfortunately, California officials pay no attention to sunk costs, which are reflected in the spending for the California High Speed Rail System. If there is a classic lesson regarding “sunk costs,” the ongoing project of building a bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles is the poster child. Yet, ...
Blog
Buses should be transportation, not homeless shelters
“At night time, from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., the homeless have nowhere to go,” a man who posted a video of a downtown-to-Santa Monica Metro bus filled with slumbering homeless told the Los Angeles Fox affiliate. “So they all get on the buses and they ride the buses all ...
Blog
Read latest on BART's push for higher taxes
BART pushes to raise taxes to subsidize falling ridership
The pandemic is well behind us, yet transit ridership levels nationwide – and in the San Francisco Bay Area in particular – have only recovered somewhat from pre-pandemic levels. In fact, those pre-pandemic levels weren’t particularly great as transit ridership has been falling for years. Despite California’s reluctance to invest ...
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
Read latest on war on cars
Congestion pricing is mainly about punishing suburbanites
The privilege of working in or visiting Manhattan could soon be higher than the cost of lunch. As U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer put it in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, a proposed increase in the tunnel toll is “a greedy and unnecessary cash grab.” It ...
Blog
Read latest about war on cars
Car wars and other progressive fantasies
Thanks to the wonders of social media, it’s easy to find large communities of car-loathing, bicycle-riding, transit-loving urbanists who view cars as “death machines” and insist they are the cause of every woe known to mankind. Many of these progressive scolds would love to ban them, or at least strictly ...
Blog
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Cities should think twice before embracing ‘fare-free’ transit
On Jan. 1, 2020, the InterCity Transit agency servicing Olympia, Wash., and nearby cities went “zero fare.” From 2020 through 2023, the city of Tucson, Ariz., made its public transit system “free” to ride, with the council declaring “our intention to go fare-free transit.” Activists in Los Angeles have argued ...
Commentary
Is Sacramento going to pump the brakes on your car?
Will Sacramento Invade Your Car to Limit How Fast You Can Drive?
Do California lawmakers ever sleep? It seems they stay up nights coming up with new ways to intrude into personal lives. They want to control our thermostats. Bar educational choice. Erase worker freedom. Banish plastic products. Decide how we can defend our families and homes. Now one state senator wants ...
Read about the latest victory in the war on cars
A Great Highway . . . But Not for Driving
Prop. K will permanently close a two-mile stretch – more than half its length – of the four-lane highway along Ocean Beach between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard. It will become a public recreation space. The idea goes back to the early days of the COVID-19 panic. “In response to ...
When Ambition And Ideology Outpace Reality And Prudent Policymaking
Turns out the electric trucks aren’t selling well, so manufacturers will be able to build more diesel trucks than regulations were allowing them to. Yet again, the state tacitly acknowledges that its net-zero ambitions are unrealistic. It was a lesson learned late, though. Several states that followed the California model ...
Read the latest about California's high speed rail boondoggle
Despite the promises, bullet train is lesson in ‘sunk costs’
Unfortunately, California officials pay no attention to sunk costs, which are reflected in the spending for the California High Speed Rail System. If there is a classic lesson regarding “sunk costs,” the ongoing project of building a bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles is the poster child. Yet, ...
Buses should be transportation, not homeless shelters
“At night time, from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., the homeless have nowhere to go,” a man who posted a video of a downtown-to-Santa Monica Metro bus filled with slumbering homeless told the Los Angeles Fox affiliate. “So they all get on the buses and they ride the buses all ...
Read latest on BART's push for higher taxes
BART pushes to raise taxes to subsidize falling ridership
The pandemic is well behind us, yet transit ridership levels nationwide – and in the San Francisco Bay Area in particular – have only recovered somewhat from pre-pandemic levels. In fact, those pre-pandemic levels weren’t particularly great as transit ridership has been falling for years. Despite California’s reluctance to invest ...
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 ...
Read latest on war on cars
Congestion pricing is mainly about punishing suburbanites
The privilege of working in or visiting Manhattan could soon be higher than the cost of lunch. As U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer put it in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, a proposed increase in the tunnel toll is “a greedy and unnecessary cash grab.” It ...
Read latest about war on cars
Car wars and other progressive fantasies
Thanks to the wonders of social media, it’s easy to find large communities of car-loathing, bicycle-riding, transit-loving urbanists who view cars as “death machines” and insist they are the cause of every woe known to mankind. Many of these progressive scolds would love to ban them, or at least strictly ...
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Cities should think twice before embracing ‘fare-free’ transit
On Jan. 1, 2020, the InterCity Transit agency servicing Olympia, Wash., and nearby cities went “zero fare.” From 2020 through 2023, the city of Tucson, Ariz., made its public transit system “free” to ride, with the council declaring “our intention to go fare-free transit.” Activists in Los Angeles have argued ...
Is Sacramento going to pump the brakes on your car?
Will Sacramento Invade Your Car to Limit How Fast You Can Drive?
Do California lawmakers ever sleep? It seems they stay up nights coming up with new ways to intrude into personal lives. They want to control our thermostats. Bar educational choice. Erase worker freedom. Banish plastic products. Decide how we can defend our families and homes. Now one state senator wants ...
