Along for the Ride #201
New york city, corgis, and my mom's new bike
Heya friends, happy Friday!
I am currently writing to you from NYC with a floofy corgi named Murphy sat beside me. A few of you have emailed to hang out and I promise I will respond to you today (!!). Being in New York City is so nice because (1) mass public transit is an actual dream and (2) I get to see so many friends (shout-out to Frank, Vidula, Maria, Chris, and so many others who have made appearances in my first 48 hours). In extra bits and bobs I’ll share more musings on New York City and the very exciting news about my mom’s new bike (we love).
But first, the news (in bullet point form because time is a commodity, and I am prioritizing spending it with ze people):
The NYT published a piece called “Along for the Ride, with no one behind the wheel”, and I feel extremely validated for naming my newsletter this five years ago 😂
Are AVs kosher and can you use them on Shabbat? [fascinating read + perspective] (The Jerusalem Post)
Amtrak’s monopoly comes to an end, and faster trains are set to make their way to America (The Washington Post)
Speeding violations dropped 30% after camera enforcement was introduced in New York City (Streetsblog)
Cruise rolls into Seattle and Washington, DC for data collection (TechCrunch)
Amazon’s Zoox has had 42 crashes in San Francisco since January 2022 (SF Standard)
Apple gets a patent for a retractable steering wheel (9to5mac.com —> what a name for a website 😂)
The US government wants to know more about Tesla’s elusive Elon-mode (Clean Technica)
Railway stations as public spaces (European Planning Studies)
Cherish your Uber drivers, soon they will be robots (The Economist)
The robotaxi experience: are cities ready? (The Atlantic)
It’s a weird time for driverless cars [sic] (The Atlantic)
Tesla is wrong: AVs should not focus on single-passenger transit (Forbes)
Dogs, dogs, dogs: This week I said goodbye to Coco and said hello to Murphy (pictured here helping me write my newsletter). Grateful as ever for the furry floofs who make life cuter / sweeter.
Bopping around Prospect Park: Yesterday morning I caught my sweet friend Chris for a zip around Prospect Park before they return to San Francisco. Fun fact: Chris is a biiiiig transit advocate and they make the coolest transit merch and you can support their work / browse their collections here:
My mom bought a bike: my mom bought a bike! She refuses to send me pictures of her riding it (beginner’s jitters), but I promise to track that down because it is guaranteed to be adorable. From SUV driver to bike rider is the character arch I hope we all have.
I will say I have reverse parenthood happening with this new change (in the “please tell me you’re biking safe roads and proceeding with caution and I need to know you’re safe at all times” kind of way). If any other pro-bike kids have converted their parents into bikers and managed to not turn into helicopter children please teach me the ways.
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
