Transportation
Blog
Robotaxis offer real-world solution for urban traffic congestion
Waymo is the Autonomous Vehicle division of Alphabet/Google, which for two decades has mapped almost every road in America. The cars are electric I-Pace Jaguars made in Austria by Magna Steyr and, he said, quite luxurious. Other cities hosting Waymos include Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and San Francisco, also covering ...
Blog
Trucking and Shipping Latest Victims of California’s “Cruelest Law,” AB 5
If anyone thinks they’re seeing fewer trucks ripping up and down Interstate 5 or slogging through the perpetual 405 gridlock, it might not be their imagination. California law is strangling the freight-hauling business. There has been “a wave of bankruptcies among California trucking companies,” reports Floor Covering News, a trade publication, partially the result of the economic decline of the freight ...
Blog
Private transit worked in the past. Could it help cities again?
On the surface, Tokyo and Los Angeles couldn’t be more different — one city known for its safety, cleanliness, walkability and vibrancy, while the other is often criticized for sprawl, dysfunction and decay. But there was a time when Los Angeles was known for the former — in part, by ...
Blog
Los Angeles Faces an Olympian Task
The city and county of Los Angeles have struggled to jump-start home and business reconstructions eight months after wildfires destroyed Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with only 17 permits issued for the Palisades and fewer than 300 for all the affected areas combined. State and local officials have waived myriad building ...
Blog
The Train To Nowhere Goes Somewhere – Maybe
The promise of a bullet train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco, and maybe even extending to San Diego to the south and Sacramento to the north, was broken longer before ground was broken in 2015 for the project. The route has been shortened, the construction timeline endlessly extended, and ...
Blog
Never Gonna Give You Up: Will High-Speed Rail Ever Be Scrapped?
Critics say the troubled project should be abandoned. They correctly point out that incurring sunk costs is a better outcome than continuing to spend tens of billions on a dream that is unlikely to be completed, and if it is, won’t be anything like the modern system promised to voters ...
Blog
Limiting Freight Train Length More About Union Demands Than Safety
The perpetual tribulations of the high-speed rail are reported with an almost clockwork frequency, but they aren’t the only train stories in California. Freight trains might soon be getting a larger share of the attention. In their eternal search for more dues-paying members, unions want to shorten freight trains. Rail companies are naturally opposed. ...
Blog
California cities may now dodge bullet train destruction
In his May budget revision for fiscal year 2025-26, which began on July 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom earmarked $1 billion a year for the next 20 years from the state’s cap-and-trade system toward the rail project. Like the wounded Black Knight in the “Tis but a scratch scene” in “Monty ...
Blog
Radar love: Do automated speed cameras make cities safer?
Radar love: Do automated speed cameras make cities safer? By D. Dowd Muska | May 23, 2025 Earlier this year, San Francisco garnered national headlines when it activated California’s first “speed safety cameras.” The city-county’s ticketing tech, however, wasn’t the focus of the spotlight. Under the state law authorizing the new system, “drivers with low ...
Blog
What will California cities do if the bullet train is derailed?
What will California cities do if the bullet train is derailed? By John Seiler | May 16, 2025 California cities face numerous needs for mass transit at the local level. But lurking over any plans is the California High-Speed Rail project, which has soaked up funds since voters approved it ...
Robotaxis offer real-world solution for urban traffic congestion
Waymo is the Autonomous Vehicle division of Alphabet/Google, which for two decades has mapped almost every road in America. The cars are electric I-Pace Jaguars made in Austria by Magna Steyr and, he said, quite luxurious. Other cities hosting Waymos include Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and San Francisco, also covering ...
Trucking and Shipping Latest Victims of California’s “Cruelest Law,” AB 5
If anyone thinks they’re seeing fewer trucks ripping up and down Interstate 5 or slogging through the perpetual 405 gridlock, it might not be their imagination. California law is strangling the freight-hauling business. There has been “a wave of bankruptcies among California trucking companies,” reports Floor Covering News, a trade publication, partially the result of the economic decline of the freight ...
Private transit worked in the past. Could it help cities again?
On the surface, Tokyo and Los Angeles couldn’t be more different — one city known for its safety, cleanliness, walkability and vibrancy, while the other is often criticized for sprawl, dysfunction and decay. But there was a time when Los Angeles was known for the former — in part, by ...
Los Angeles Faces an Olympian Task
The city and county of Los Angeles have struggled to jump-start home and business reconstructions eight months after wildfires destroyed Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with only 17 permits issued for the Palisades and fewer than 300 for all the affected areas combined. State and local officials have waived myriad building ...
The Train To Nowhere Goes Somewhere – Maybe
The promise of a bullet train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco, and maybe even extending to San Diego to the south and Sacramento to the north, was broken longer before ground was broken in 2015 for the project. The route has been shortened, the construction timeline endlessly extended, and ...
Never Gonna Give You Up: Will High-Speed Rail Ever Be Scrapped?
Critics say the troubled project should be abandoned. They correctly point out that incurring sunk costs is a better outcome than continuing to spend tens of billions on a dream that is unlikely to be completed, and if it is, won’t be anything like the modern system promised to voters ...
Limiting Freight Train Length More About Union Demands Than Safety
The perpetual tribulations of the high-speed rail are reported with an almost clockwork frequency, but they aren’t the only train stories in California. Freight trains might soon be getting a larger share of the attention. In their eternal search for more dues-paying members, unions want to shorten freight trains. Rail companies are naturally opposed. ...
California cities may now dodge bullet train destruction
In his May budget revision for fiscal year 2025-26, which began on July 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom earmarked $1 billion a year for the next 20 years from the state’s cap-and-trade system toward the rail project. Like the wounded Black Knight in the “Tis but a scratch scene” in “Monty ...
Radar love: Do automated speed cameras make cities safer?
Radar love: Do automated speed cameras make cities safer? By D. Dowd Muska | May 23, 2025 Earlier this year, San Francisco garnered national headlines when it activated California’s first “speed safety cameras.” The city-county’s ticketing tech, however, wasn’t the focus of the spotlight. Under the state law authorizing the new system, “drivers with low ...
What will California cities do if the bullet train is derailed?
What will California cities do if the bullet train is derailed? By John Seiler | May 16, 2025 California cities face numerous needs for mass transit at the local level. But lurking over any plans is the California High-Speed Rail project, which has soaked up funds since voters approved it ...
