Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Who Wants to Be a Contact Tracer?

It starts with a phone call. You may have been in contact with someone who has coronavirus, a kind-sounding voice tells you: You should...

A Post-Pandemic Reality Check for Transit Boosters

In 1918, streetcars were the top urban transportation mode in the United States. And they were packed: Americans made about 140 trips per capita,...

Will Commuters Ever Go Back to Commuter Trains?

Last year, the fiscal management control board of MBTA, Boston’s regional transit agency, faced a critical decision. With area commuters enduring the worst car...

Paris Has a Plan to Keep Cars Out After Lockdown

Returning to a Paris dominated by cars after lockdown ends is “out of the question,” according to the city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo. Speaking Tuesday...

In New York City, Density Saves Lives, Too

This is part of an ongoing CityLab series on the debate over urban density during the coronavirus crisis. For more, go here. New York’s...

How U.S. Public Transit Can Survive Coronavirus

Public transportation has been in a state of crisis since the coronavirus pandemic began. Ridership in major cities in the U.S., Europe and China...

The New York Subway Got Caught in the Coronavirus Culture War

On April 13, Jeffrey Harris, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a non-peer-reviewed study with a provocative title: “The Subways Seeded...

Oakland’s ‘Slow Streets’ Is an Emergency Measure Long in the Making

Last week, Oakland, California, announced a bold answer to shelter-in-place coronavirus claustrophobia: To create more outdoor space and safer corridors for essential travel by...

Anyone Feel Like Saving Electric Scooters?

Vultures are circling around shared micromobility. E-scooter operators like Bird, Lime, Jump, and Spin were confronting financial headwinds even before Covid-19 drastically reduced urban trips...

Coronavirus lockdowns are pushing mass transit systems to the brink – and low-income riders...

Mass transit ridership in Los Angeles and elsewhere has plummeted during the crisis. Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images ...

Latest articles

Art meets action: Revitalizing West Baltimore

In West Baltimore, our partners West North Avenue Development Authority (WNADA), Graham Projects, and Open Works hosted a community engagement pop-up to redesign West...

Time’s up! What wins has Biden notched and what has he left incomplete on...

In November 2020, we sent the incoming Biden administration a memo outlining immediate and longer-term actions we urged the new president to initiate. Four...

Los Angles Needs to Fireproof Communities, Not Just Houses

As houses continue to burn in Los Angeles, officials have already started talking about rebuilding the city. “We’re going to rebuild this remarkable community...

Riding into 2025, We Face a Pivotal Moment for Urban Cycling 

As we begin 2025, we stand at a critical point in the journey toward achieving global sustainability targets, particularly in transportation. The year marks...