Heya friends, happy Friday!
Lots of new folks this week (20!), so a very warm welcome to new readers. I write Along for the Ride on a weekly basis to bring you bad jokes and various typos related to the future of our transportation systems. I also use the last section of the newsletter to share random tidbits about my life (what’s catching my attention, etc. Usually it’s Coco, a lil toy poodle that I don’t own, but who is often in my care). It’s great to have you here.
Secondly, because this is my newsletter I also get to shout-out my wonderful friends on their birthday and this weekend is a whomper: to Tookie, Sylvia, Rosie (who designed the artwork of this very newsletter!), and my dad (!)… happy birthday!!! My days are infinitely more fun with your jokes, company, and memes. Hope you all have beautiful days and feel ze sprinkles of love I send your way.
On y va!
A big ol’ welp on congestion pricing
Here to present you with multiple perspectives on NYC’s failed progress on congestion pricing. I shared my opinions in last week’s edition, but let’s leave this weeks edition with a solid why can’t we have nice things 😭 whhhhhhhy.
Without congestion pricing, will the subway go broke? [New York Magazine]
MTA will shrink infrastructure program after congestion pricing pause [Bloomberg]
Cities know how to improve traffic. They keep making the same colossal mistake. [Vox]
Opponents of Hochul’s move to halt congestion pricing may go to court [NYTs]
Business owners are buying into a bogus myth about driving [Vox]
Let’s keep the focus on the ‘congestion’ part of congestion pricing [Streetsblog]
China is testing more AVs than any other country
The NYTs has a deep dive on China’s expansive autonomous vehicle testing programs. Across the country there are over 16 cities with testing programs on public roadways, with at least 19 Chinese automakers working to bring autonomy to even more cities. Read on for more insights into the Chinese market, and how cities and OEMs partner to define operating areas and share learnings.
Wales lowered it’s speed limit; vehicle damage claims plummeted
Wales was one of the first countries in the world to introduce legislation for a default 20mph speed limit in metropolitan areas last year. In response, vehicle damage claims in Wales fall 20% since the speed limit cut, according to Rob Clark, head of motor underwriting at esure (UK insurer). Naturally, people revolted at the blanket application of the speed limit, but the results speak for themselves.
San Francisco’s close calls with AVs
NBC interviewed crossing guards across in San Francisco about close calls with AVs, and nearly 1 in 4 crossing guards say they have experienced a “close call” with an AV. Anecdotally, if anybody here works for an AV company, I beg thee to look into the intersection of Cole and Frederick in San Francisco where on an almost daily basis I watch AVs enter the intersection while a pedestrian is still in the cross walk. I thought we could maybe design rolling stops out of AVs, but I guess not.
Los Angeles City Council votes in favour of stricter monitoring of AVs
Filed under: a win and a model for other cities. LA City council members approved recommendations to monitor and address issues with autonomous vehicles in the city. The council also backed three bills in the state Legislature aimed at providing municipalities more power to regulate AVs, and to gain access to testing data.
Redesigning cars around pedestrian safety
“Why has the government failed to address the fact that large, heavy vehicles are deadlier to pedestrians and cyclists than smaller cars? There is actually a way to make cars safer for everyone — and it includes changing how the government rates a “safe car.” In Europe, government regulators test new vehicles to see how dangerous they are for pedestrians and cyclists and include that information in their safety ratings. They’ve been doing it for years. The US does no such thing.”
Waymo issues a software recall
After one of their cars drove into a street pole (somethings one actually can’t make up). The recall is specifically related to the mapping software used by the vehicles. “News of the recall.. comes after an incident on May 21 when a Waymo driverless car [sic] was traveling to pick up a rider in Phoenix, Arizona. The car hit a light pole at 8 miles per hour, causing some damage to the vehicle but no injuries.”
Tesla partners with Baidu to clear hurdles for operations in China
Tesla is working with Baidu to upgrade their mapping software, providing lane navigation. Partnering with Baidu would allow Tesla to run their “Full Self-Driving” program on China’s public roads.
In another realm of the Tesla extended universe, JP Morgan is on record saying that Tesla likely won’t make money from an autonomous ride-hailing service for years (Quartz).
Shenzhen-based Minieye Technology, an autonomous driving start-up, has filed for IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company has yet to turn a profit and has gone through at least 17 rounds of fundraising. So naturally they would go public.
Cruise continues to inch its way around Texas
Last week Cruise re-launched manual testing in Dallas, and this week they have their sights set on Houston. Just like Dallas, Houston’s service will feature safety drivers until further notice. It does not appear the company will pick up passengers for a while yet either.
Meanwhile, The Verge is also reporting that GM is continuing to invest $850m into Cruise. GM’s CFO, Paul Jacobson, announced the investment onstage at Deutsche Bank’s Global Auto Industry Conference in New York City (an event I read the name of and thought sounded like my own lil corner of hell).
Why Black households are more burdened by vehicle ownership
“Previous assessments of transportation spending between races did not differentiate by vehicle ownership status, depressing overall transportation spending by Black households, which are three times as likely as White households not to have access to a car and, thus, spend comparatively little on transportation. When these experiences are isolated, 76% of Black households with vehicles are burdened by transportation spending compared with 60% of White households. Black households with vehicles allocate more of their total average annual spending to transportation regardless of income, and disparities in transportation burden are present even in high-earning households.. This adds to concerns of disparate safety and environmental impacts of automobility experienced by Black households, for example, higher rates of pedestrian fatalities and risk of childhood asthma from vehicle exhaust fumes.”
Car-free cities don’t feel radical
They just feel nice. As evidenced by this reflection on Montreal’s open streets:
“Montreal is European-ish, but it’s a distinctly North American city, with a style and layout that fits comfortably into the American Northeast/Mid-Atlantic urban corridor. So it’s hopeful to see this sort of thing done in an identifiably “American” setting.
But I’ve been thinking about something deeper here: nothing about this feels radical. It isn’t evident at all that politically divisive fights or, to some people, newfangled ideas about low-carbon transportation went into these urban transformations. One cannot really discern any modern planning concepts which might sound wonky and technocratic if described.”
Coco hung out with me for a lil over a week while her real* family was on vacation. Never thought I would become a small dog girly, but there really is something to be said about a dog that fits in your bike basket. So anyways, here is a selection of cute coco pics from this past week <3 the first pic is her beside a sticker that reads “death monsters ahead”.
If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I love Paddington 2. I am infamous for being the person at the party who gets a little bit tipsy and tells complete strangers that they must watch Paddington 2 (no you don’t need to watch Paddington 1, and yes, you will cry—I don’t make the rules). This week my friend Debs hosted a movie night in her background, and we gathered around tucked into blankets and Paddington 2 worked its magic.
And then this week we were blessed with a Paddington 3 trailer (I can’t believe they recast Mrs. Brown). Eeep!
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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