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New research from the Italian University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli into the “hedonic quality” of bus terminals and their effects on users’ consumer behavior has shown an offsetting cost-benefit that correlates to better ridership where there is a higher quality of... View full entry
Kengo Kuma’s completed design of the Saint-Denis–Pleyel metro station in Paris is one of the largest and most significant new projects highlighting the city’s push for sustainable urban renewal as a consequence of its turn as the host of the 2024 Summer Olympics. Images shared following its... View full entry
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has shared photos of its new bus shelter designs for the City of Los Angeles. The LA STAP (short for Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program) shelters are the first prototype designs for the initiative that will eventually install 3,000 shelters and 450 shade... View full entry
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has published revised plans for the new Midtown Bus Terminal. The scheme, designed by Foster + Partners, will replace the existing terminal that opened in 1950. The $10 billion facility will include a 2.1 million square foot terminal with a separate... View full entry
MAD Architects has completed their overhaul of the Jiaxing Train Station in China, described by the firm as a “train station in the forest.” Located in the city of Jiaxing, 60 miles southwest of Shanghai, the project included the replacement of an outdated train station that occupied the site... View full entry
Some 400 miles of subway tracks, half of Metro-North’s Hudson Line and several Long Island Rail Road stations are in dire need of upgrades to stave off flooding and other extreme weather exacerbated by climate change, the MTA wrote in a report published on Wednesday.
The report, called the 20-year needs assessment, is a breakdown of the agency’s $1.5 trillion worth of transit infrastructure, and details which equipment planners believe most urgently needs fixing over the next two decades.
— Gothamist
The system, which is now (finally) on a more stable financial track, needs a litany of upgrades over the next two decades, according to the breakdown. A total of 350 of the 493 elevators operated by the MTA will need to be replaced in that timeframe. Another 6,300 rail cars and 100% of all... View full entry
State officials in New York have finally slammed the door on the proposed $2.4 billion AirTrain project at LaGuardia Airport over cost concerns. The New York Times is reporting that the project was formally called off by Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday in favor of a less expensive plan that would... View full entry
The design of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s new Midtown Bus Terminal will be led by Foster + Partners, the firm and the transit organization announced recently. The Port Authority is in the process of replacing its aging 72-year-old facility and has contracted the team to... View full entry
HS2 Ltd., the British non-departmental public body behind the development of High Speed 2 (HS2) national high-speed railway, has released an updated design for its new terminus station at London Euston. Two new images, updated from 2015, show the concept design for the interior and exterior... View full entry
“It’s just another way that we can’t own our neighborhood and feel safe and quiet here because literally you have something flying over your house all day long, forever, I guess.” said Tany Ling, a singer who offers private lessons at the home she and her sister bought in 2012.
McCourt entities are buying up properties in the neighborhood, but the Lings don’t want to move. They started StoptheGondola.org to fight the project.
— The Los Angeles Times
Frank McCourt, who owned the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2004 to 2011, began proposing the $125 million project back in 2018. The initiative has come up against stiff resistance, especially from those associated with the Los Angeles National Historic Park, which abuts Chinatown. Previously on... View full entry
By 2025, commuters near the Paris suburb of Creteil should have a new way to get to work: the French capital’s first-ever public transit gondola. The new aerial tramway, which cleared its pre-construction feasibility studies this week, will be called Cable A, and will link several outlying but populous neighborhoods in Paris’ southeastern suburbs to the terminus of Metro line 8. — Bloomberg CityLab
Cable A will travel a distance of 2.8 miles with five stations along its route. It was first proposed in 2008 as a cheaper and more practical alternative to conventional transit lines, which would require extensive engineering at the site. The gondola only needs space for the pillars that... View full entry
In March 2020, Los Angeles’ public-transit agency, Metro, stopped collecting fares on its buses as a COVID-19 safety precaution. For the next 22 months, Metro waived fares for anyone who wanted to keep riding its buses, anywhere they wanted to go (as long as they wore a mask, of course). And people did keep riding. — Curbed
A spokesperson from the agency estimates that from April 2020 to December 2021 there were approximately 281 million fare-free rides, reaching about 80 percent of pre-pandemic ridership, making it the largest free-transit experiment in U.S. history. Fare collection, however, restarted last week and... View full entry
A new planned community in Utah will strive to make it possible for residents to meet all their daily needs within 15 minutes without getting in a car — and to serve as a model for other U.S. developers who want to build basic mobility into the foundations of their designs. — Streetsblog USA
Called The Point, the envisoned community will be located in Draper, Utah, and take up about one square mile of state-owned land. The development, master-planned by SOM, will specifically aim to reduce the need for cars by featuring extensive biking, walking, and transit systems. A... View full entry
French start-up EasyMile is to be the first transport provider to run a fully autonomous vehicle on a public road in Europe. The company has been authorised to run a driverless bus at the Oncopole medical campus in Toulouse, in partnership with French engineer Alstom. — Global Construction Review
The bus will operate at “Level 4,” meaning no human attendant will be on board. The authorization was granted by France’s Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Ecological Transition, on advice of the Minister of the Interior and local authorities. The bus arrives ahead of the implementation... View full entry
Red Cars didn’t just get people from Point A to Point B. They helped to create Point A and Point B. Towns like Burbank and Alhambra grew spectacularly once the Red Car reached them. Other sellers of land wised up and made sure their advertising told prospective buyers how to get there by Red Car; so did merchants and amusements. The system made even the farthest towns and neighborhoods feel connected. — The Los Angeles Times
The trolley system was not entirely undone in part by the nefarious hand of some elite corporate entities with decided interests in seeing an alternative to the then-burgeoning interstate highway system destroyed. Movies like Clint Eastwood's Changeling (2008) and (my favorite) Who Framed Roger... View full entry