Along for the Ride #244
London calling ❤️
Heya friends, happy Friday! (I truly don’t even know the day of the week anymore)!
Newsletter writing has been very sporadic recently, but I’m finally ready to share the reason behind that… which is that I’m moving back to London (*cue heart bursting emoji*).
Over the past three months I’ve been traveling to corners of North America previously unvisited, packing and preparing for the move, Working™️, flat hunting, hugging as many humans as my arms can hold, and attempting to stay sane (to varying degrees of success). It’s been mentally exhausting, exciting, and stressful in equal measures. I’m really sad to be leaving San Francisco and the truly phenomenal friends I’ve made here (special shout out to my run club lol), and also incomprehensibly excited to return to a city that feels like home and has so many trains (!!).
One of my favourite moments of packing was giving my couch away, and having friends move it via bike trailer lol. My friend Parker gets extra credit for then lugging my friend Cole home after. A truly multimodal moment to round out my time in SF.
Finally, my brain is swimming with thoughts from mexico city, my last moments in sf, and what I’m looking forward to in london, but I will save those (maybe?) for a december end of year recap situation. For now I’ve got bullet-pointed transportation news, and a heart full of gratitude for many a newsletter reader who wrote very sweet excerpts that I included in my visa application. I fly to London on Saturday and I can’t wait for this next chapter. Sending lots of love your way and praying for a calm Autumn for us all lol.
Japan’s bullet trains 60 years on (The Guardian)
A confused Waymo interrupts Harris’ motorcade as she leaves a fundraiser in San Francisco (Abc7)
Cruise returns to San Francisco almost a year after hitting and dragging a woman through the street (GovTech)
So many thoughts about this, I really wish my brain wasn’t swiss cheese right now and I could string together sentences about this.
Gavin Newsom (CA Govenor) has vetoed a bill that would have introduced more safety regulations for AV companies (San Francisco Chronicle)
More details about how Biden is planning to ban chinese tech in US-operated autonomous vehicles (Washington Post)
How cargo bikes are replacing freight vans in London (Bloomberg)
Traffic is being banned from London’s Oxford Street (!) (The Guardian)
Texas considers new regulations for AVs (GovTech)
Tesla brings “Full Self-Driving” mode to cybertrucks (WIRED)
Meanwhile articles are floating around talking about how in a 1,000 mile test route, with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system running, drivers had to step in more than 75 times (Jalopnik)
Meanwhile meanwhile, this is just a bad idea right?? (not the olivia rodrigo kind either)
WeRide plans to operate on the Uber platform in the UAE (Smart Cities World)
Uber makes plans to offer AVs in Austin and Atlanta in partnership with Waymo and Cruise (Waymo press release, Automotive Dive)
Uber announced the Cruise partnership late August and the Waymo partnership mid-September
Should environmentalists support gas taxes? (Journal of the American Planning Association)
Can rural communities benefit from high speed rail investments? (Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives)
Key indicators and measurement of school bikeability (Transport Reviews)
Event in Oxford, UK: Cycling in Cities; can active travel work for everyone? on October 16th - thank you Sylvia! (link)
I have plans to compile an “Along for the Ride” city recommendations guide because everybody really came through on my ask for Mexico City. There were so many great suggestions and I plan to compile it so that you too can experience the joy that is mexico city. It is so lush and lively and laid back. Please stay tuned for a google doc!
I had the extreme treat of having two friends visit in my last week in san francisco and it was so great to walk around town exploring my favourite nooks and crannies with them. San Francisco has also been putting on a show this week—the sun is ✨shining✨ and the vibes are perfect.
As I enter a period of extreme nostalgia, I’ve been listening to Leif Vollebekk’s new album which is perfect for autumn and a long moody walk as the leaves change colours. He’s a Canadian fav and the new album is really *chef’s kiss*.
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful day friends.
Sarah
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