Heya friends, happy Friday!
I had hopes of writing this week’s newsletter from my Amtrak train between Truckee and Emeryville, but alas, internet service swerved me. Instead, I write to you from the comfort of my home, on the couch. Less fun than a moving train, but equally lovely.
As many folks reading this already know, February is Black History Month in the US. In past editions of this newsletter, we’ve celebrated the contributions made to urbanism, architecture, and transportation by Black people, discussed Black Futures, and examined how urban planning has historically excluded and disadvantaged Black communities (see: red lining, pre-text stops). This month will be no different, and we’ll have a section at the top of each edition celebrating / discussing / examining Black history about transportation, technology, urban design, and more. This week we’re going to start off with bike-related readings and resources!
Better by Bike | A Black History Deep Dive
Bike New York has a piece celebrating the legacy of biking in New York’s historically Black communities. It talks about a “bike boom” in Harlem in the late 19th century, and how today biking remains very common in Black communities across the city. “Black cycling remains strong, with African Americans making up 16.4% of all cyclists in the city and being twice as likely to bike as their white counterparts.”
Back in the Frame is a memoir by Jools Walker (of LadyVelo fame) about re-learning the love of biking in her late 20s / early 30s. It’s a poignant and funny retelling of the trials and tribulations of learning to bike, with a spotlight on how being a Black woman shaped her experience navigating the world on two-wheels. Jools’ also has a substack where she writes about biking and whatever else is top of mind.
The Brown Bike Gal, aka NYC’s Bike Mayor, aka Courtney Williams is truly an inspiration when it comes to advocating for safer streets that prioritize equity and inclusion. She speaks extensively about biking, hosts reflection rides, and builds community resilience through her organizing work. Bicycling.com has a write-up about her work, why she bikes, and the joy it brings:
”Having been raised with a spirit of community empowerment, it was only natural that my personal enrichment transitioned into advocacy, directed at ensuring the gatekeepers of cycling culture were mindfully extending themselves to inform other Black and Brown people how they could become involved and benefit similarly from cycling.”
How a highway expansion in Texas is linked to civil rights
Pretty cool to see communities opposed to I-35’s expansion take the case all the way to Federal Court. “Opponents of the Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT) plans to widen Interstate 35.. are taking their fight to federal court. The complaint draws on the history of I-35 as a racial dividing line, arguing that perpetuating and expanding the highway is knowingly engaging in acts of discrimination.” You can donate to Rethink35’s legal fund here.
US Army invests $100M in AV research
Filed under: womp womp womp. The AV industry was born out of the army, so this isn’t too surprising. However, it does immediately put me in this state of mind: “if the US didn’t spend $877 billion on the military every year, we would have high-speed rail right??” Right???
Accessible transit in NYC hinges on congestion pricing
A new report from NYU’s Rudin Centre has found that congestion pricing is essential to making New York’s transit system accessible, and without the funding from the policy, NYC will struggle to update infrastructure by best practices and legal responsibilities via ADA.
GM plans to cut Cruise spending by $1B per year
Nearly coughed up my dinner thinking about how one billion dollars is half of Cruise’s annual operating budget. For context, Cruise burned $1.9 billion in cash in 2023, and recorded a $2.7 billion pretax loss (!!), not including $500 million in restructuring costs from layoffs. Big oof. GM’s CEO said they plan to "refocus and relaunch Cruise." Something about that sounds very alarming to me.
Cruise is under investigation by the DOJ and SEC
And in the event you thought things couldn’t get worse for Cruise, please think again. The company is being invested by two major bodies and it isn’t looking good for Cruise. This alt article from the NYTs is titled, “Cruise Says Hostility to Regulators Led to Grounding of its Autonomous Cars” which honestly made me chuckle.
AV company Motional loses a major backer
Motional’s partner, Aptiv (the other half of a $4 billion joint venture with Hyundai) is “no longer allocating capital toward the endeavor”. Proving once again that hardware is hard, and patience is a virtue most for-profit companies don’t flirt with.
Once upon a time (in 2021), every edition of this newsletter likely read, “Unicorn company receives an ungodly amount of money to design a better car when all we need is better infrastructure”. But not this year! This year the news is like “lol, every car company is lighting money on fire, investors are running for the hills, and those in operation are kinda fucking up the execution”. So here’s to 2024.
The ongoing myth and mystique of the Apple Car
Honestly, not much to say here since Apple is so hush-hush about their car operations. But the latest news on the street is we may see a car from Apple in 2028? Will I be holding my breath for this? Nope.
Are transit oriented developments (TODs) affordable?
“Using a list of eight criteria, we identified 107 TODs in 24 rail-served regions. While 14 % of the units are designated affordable housing (DAH), the remaining 10 % are naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH). Our results also show that the very fragmented and localized approach to affordable housing provision has resulted in an uneven distribution where close to half of the 107 TODs offer none or less than 10 % of their units as affordable, while 15 % of the TODs are 100 % affordable.”
The tech industry has outgrown “smart cities”
“I never really liked the term, ‘smart cities’ because it always seemed to imply that cities without technology are kind of ‘dumb cities’. More recently we’ve seen that this original idea of the smart city has not really worked out, has not really been viable, at least in the Western Hemisphere, at least in western cities I would say. And in other parts of the world it’s really become a synonym for a surveillance city, essentially.”
I spent the last week up in Tahoe with my run club friends. We took so many modes of public transit. There were Amtrak buses, the California Zephyr, TART buses (free!), and TART Connect (also free!). To get across the state (and over state lines for under $30 per person is quite the feat, and I’m eternally grateful for every transportation planner who made that possible.
Highlights from Tahoe included:
This Alison Roman recipe my friend Renée made that I am still thinking about
This Claire Saffitz marble cake that we made for my friend Michael’s birthday
Watching Saltburn and the whole group being massively confused and awkwardly laughing throughout the entire film
Coco seeing snowfall for the very first time <3 and her little sweater which low-key gives off an ass-less chaps energy (pictured above)
On the return trip our whole group got upgraded from coach to roomettes, so Coco, my friend Drew, and I had a room to ourselves and talked about everything from healthcare to the appropriate amount of gin that goes into a gin and tonic.
Not running ever!!!
I am going to be in Montreal next week (stoked to do some winter biking!). If any readers are based in the city, please reach out! Would love to say hi.
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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