Transportation
Blog
SF’s ‘Grand Central Station’ is more like a mausoleum
Advocates for San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center have never lacked a sense of grandiosity about their goals. “The ability to envision the future and to transform aspirations into reality is what sets leaders apart,” boasted a glossy brochure published by the joint powers authority in charge of the project. “No ...
Steven Greenhut
May 30, 2024
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: Sacramento Wants to ‘CLEAR’ Out Private Sector Convenience for Millions of Travelers
California lawmakers want to run a business out of the state. What did this company do to deserve such a penalty? Is it connected to organized crime? Did it steal clients and customers? Does it traffic in contraband? No, it simply doesn’t fit with the political class’ sense of equity. ...
Kerry Jackson
May 20, 2024
Blog
Grand Cayman’s mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit
Grand Cayman’s mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit Jeremy Lott | May 17, 2024 Washington state’s law on children in cars is quite something for parents to accommodate, as one illustrated state handout demonstrates. Your children must be in the back seat, in car seats facing backwards, for the ...
Jeremy Lott
May 17, 2024
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 ...
Steven Greenhut
May 7, 2024
Blog
Will Amtrak be the future of intercity travel? Not likely
Will Amtrak be the future of intercity travel? Not likely by William L. Anderson | April 26, 2024 One of the things I enjoy hearing each weekday morning living in Roseville, California, is the horn of the Capital Corridor Amtrak train that leaves the Roseville station at 7:07, give or ...
William L. Anderson
April 26, 2024
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 ...
Randal O'Toole
April 4, 2024
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 ...
Kerry Jackson
March 27, 2024
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 ...
Steven Greenhut
March 26, 2024
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 ...
Sal Rodriguez
March 14, 2024
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 ...
Kerry Jackson
February 23, 2024
SF’s ‘Grand Central Station’ is more like a mausoleum
Advocates for San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center have never lacked a sense of grandiosity about their goals. “The ability to envision the future and to transform aspirations into reality is what sets leaders apart,” boasted a glossy brochure published by the joint powers authority in charge of the project. “No ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Sacramento Wants to ‘CLEAR’ Out Private Sector Convenience for Millions of Travelers
California lawmakers want to run a business out of the state. What did this company do to deserve such a penalty? Is it connected to organized crime? Did it steal clients and customers? Does it traffic in contraband? No, it simply doesn’t fit with the political class’ sense of equity. ...
Grand Cayman’s mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit
Grand Cayman’s mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit Jeremy Lott | May 17, 2024 Washington state’s law on children in cars is quite something for parents to accommodate, as one illustrated state handout demonstrates. Your children must be in the back seat, in car seats facing backwards, for the ...
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 ...
Will Amtrak be the future of intercity travel? Not likely
Will Amtrak be the future of intercity travel? Not likely by William L. Anderson | April 26, 2024 One of the things I enjoy hearing each weekday morning living in Roseville, California, is the horn of the Capital Corridor Amtrak train that leaves the Roseville station at 7:07, give or ...
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 ...