U.S. transit agencies cautious on electric buses despite bold forecasts
Public Transit
The downside of CDTA’s Navigator card
"For most of us the card will be far more convenient than cash anyway. It was easy for me to overlook the hardship these changes will impose because I have a credit card that I can link up to my Navigator with autobuy and not think about it. I will always have enough. But for people with limited access to credit, or even those who are entirely unbanked, it will make life significantly more difficult. If they want the benefit of the day-pass rate they will need to show up in person to a few locations (primarily libraries, Price Choppers, the CDTA office) to load their card ahead of time. They will either need to do this very frequently, keeping careful tabs on how much is on there and when they will be nearby a place they can load it, so as to not get stranded, or tie up a significant amount of money at a time in their card that they can’t then spend on other things if needed. If they want to use cash they’ll need exact change, often requiring an extra expenditure or at least another stop to get. This is a classic example of the extra cost of being poor. Having an inconsistent cash flow is a sign of our times, as employers dole out shifts inconsistently, and more people rely on the gig economy. It might seem like not a big deal, and most people will figure it out most of the time, but all of those extra stops, those extra hoops to jump through, add up, especially for people who are already transit dependent. What else falls by the wayside to make this new juggling act work?"
Buses, Yes Buses, Are ‘the Hottest Trend in Transit’
The Truth
"On my way home from work two Thursdays ago, the No. 3 train I was riding stopped suddenly, just before the 72nd Street station.This, on the New York City subway, was not particularly unusual. But what happened afterward was."
“Ladies and gentlemen,” began the voice over the loudspeaker, sounding rattled. “I have bad news. A passenger just jumped in front of the train.”
Several people gasped. A woman near me jerked her head up from her phone, wearing an expression of horror. We riders did something not normally acceptable: We made eye contact with one another. A train conductor or operator speaking of a death on the tracks without euphemism: We had never heard that before."
Even transit leaders don’t rely on their own buses
"While politicians hold the purse strings, it's those on the transit agencies' boards who dictate how the systems operate."
"Board members for the two counties' agencies — Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority and Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority — are a mix of elected officials and community members."
"None of them rely on the bus for work, errands or their personal life."
"This isn't unique to Tampa Bay, or transit. Many boards are composed of people who don't use the service they help provide. But in a region roiled by transportation problems, it's worth knowing who sits on these boards and what philosophies they bring to the conversation."
The White Elephant of Tel Aviv
"Though construction began in the 1960s, the building would not be inaugurated until decades later. The station was initially designed by Ram Karmi in 1967 but eventually completed in 1993 by architects Yael Rothshild and Moti Bodek. The project became something of a white elephant, a nickname recognized rather overtly during the opening ceremony when a white elephant balloon dropped in on the festivities."
The Secret Life of a Bus Garage (Go-Ahead Stockwell)
"Each morning hundreds of the capital's buses roll out from Stockwell Bus Garage, a place that helps to keep London's life-blood flowing. But it's the people who work here that make the bus garage truly extraordinary. Made up of hundreds of people from more than 80 nationalities it is the UK's most diverse workforce."