Transportation
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
Read latest from Free Cities Center
Misusing ‘externality’ theories to bolster government power
In a recent article, economist Timothy D. Terrell pointed out problems in modern economic theory that deal with what economists call externalities, or spillover costs, noting that in a world in which value is subjective, attempts to find objective ways to allay costs are elusive and generally end in failure. ...
Blog
Read latest on California's failing transit systems
Transit systems battle crime to restore fallen ridership
Although I usually drive, sometimes I take the bus in Orange County, the last time a year ago. As you might expect in car-centric Southern California, almost all the other riders were poor people, some no doubt recent immigrants of unknown official status. I know many recent immigrants, and the ...
Blog
What California can learn from African buses
What California can learn from African buses While the Golden State splurges on infrastructure, African cities show the greater efficiency of decentralized private transit. By Scott Beyer | July 20, 2023 California, faced with its long-infamous traffic problems, wants taxpayers to embrace transit. It has spent decades funding high-speed rail, ...
Blog
Transit bailout will only delay the day of reckoning
Transit bailout will only delay the day of reckoning By Steven Greenhut | June 29, 2023 It was inevitable that the California Legislature would bail out the state’s ailing public-transportation systems, which are facing dire fiscal crises as federal pandemic aid dries up. Although he had resisted a cash infusion ...
Blog
Read about CA's war on suburbs
To reduce costs, California also needs to build new suburbs
The three myths that have led to this predicament are the following: Nuclear power and natural gas power causes unacceptable harm to the environment; reservoirs and desalination plants cause unacceptable harm to the environment; and single-family homes nestled in sprawling suburbs cause unacceptable harm to the environment. These are myths. ...
Free Cities
Marc Joffe – How can California transportation policy better serve customers?
Transportation expert Marc Joffe of the Cato Institute joins Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center for a discussion of how to transform transportation policy in California to better serve customers and focus on transportation engineering rather than social engineering. They also discuss the current state budget debate over a ...
Free Cities
Latest Free Cities Center video
Watch: How can California transportation policy better serve customers?
Watch transportation expert Marc Joffe of the Cato Institute tour the Walnut Creek BART station with Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center. They discuss how to transform transportation policy in California to better serve customers and focus on transportation engineering rather than social engineering.
Blog
Read excerpt from new Free Cities Center book
Providing us with the transportation that planners want
One need only spend a little time on a transit-oriented social-media page or reading the thoughts of urban-focused writers to detect a certain disdain toward the automobile, suburbia and the construction of road and freeway lanes. Such attitudes are not outliers, as any quick search of New Urbanist and pro-transit ...
Blog
Read latest on state's misguided transportation priorities
‘Induced demand’ a poor excuse not to build highways
Economists are known for different worldviews from others, and the gap usually is wide between economists and urban planners. Economist Thomas Sowell famously has said, “There are no solutions, only tradeoffs,” thinking that most planners reject out of hand. One contentious issue separating economists (or at least those that believe ...
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 ...
Read latest from Free Cities Center
Misusing ‘externality’ theories to bolster government power
In a recent article, economist Timothy D. Terrell pointed out problems in modern economic theory that deal with what economists call externalities, or spillover costs, noting that in a world in which value is subjective, attempts to find objective ways to allay costs are elusive and generally end in failure. ...
Read latest on California's failing transit systems
Transit systems battle crime to restore fallen ridership
Although I usually drive, sometimes I take the bus in Orange County, the last time a year ago. As you might expect in car-centric Southern California, almost all the other riders were poor people, some no doubt recent immigrants of unknown official status. I know many recent immigrants, and the ...
What California can learn from African buses
What California can learn from African buses While the Golden State splurges on infrastructure, African cities show the greater efficiency of decentralized private transit. By Scott Beyer | July 20, 2023 California, faced with its long-infamous traffic problems, wants taxpayers to embrace transit. It has spent decades funding high-speed rail, ...
Transit bailout will only delay the day of reckoning
Transit bailout will only delay the day of reckoning By Steven Greenhut | June 29, 2023 It was inevitable that the California Legislature would bail out the state’s ailing public-transportation systems, which are facing dire fiscal crises as federal pandemic aid dries up. Although he had resisted a cash infusion ...
Read about CA's war on suburbs
To reduce costs, California also needs to build new suburbs
The three myths that have led to this predicament are the following: Nuclear power and natural gas power causes unacceptable harm to the environment; reservoirs and desalination plants cause unacceptable harm to the environment; and single-family homes nestled in sprawling suburbs cause unacceptable harm to the environment. These are myths. ...
Marc Joffe – How can California transportation policy better serve customers?
Transportation expert Marc Joffe of the Cato Institute joins Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center for a discussion of how to transform transportation policy in California to better serve customers and focus on transportation engineering rather than social engineering. They also discuss the current state budget debate over a ...
Latest Free Cities Center video
Watch: How can California transportation policy better serve customers?
Watch transportation expert Marc Joffe of the Cato Institute tour the Walnut Creek BART station with Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center. They discuss how to transform transportation policy in California to better serve customers and focus on transportation engineering rather than social engineering.
Read excerpt from new Free Cities Center book
Providing us with the transportation that planners want
One need only spend a little time on a transit-oriented social-media page or reading the thoughts of urban-focused writers to detect a certain disdain toward the automobile, suburbia and the construction of road and freeway lanes. Such attitudes are not outliers, as any quick search of New Urbanist and pro-transit ...
Read latest on state's misguided transportation priorities
‘Induced demand’ a poor excuse not to build highways
Economists are known for different worldviews from others, and the gap usually is wide between economists and urban planners. Economist Thomas Sowell famously has said, “There are no solutions, only tradeoffs,” thinking that most planners reject out of hand. One contentious issue separating economists (or at least those that believe ...
