Along for the Ride #250
250 newsletters later!
Heya friends, happy Friday!
Feels like a week of miracles: it snowed in London (!), and I have somehow (???) managed to write over 250 newsletters. Who knew I had 250 newsletters in me? Not I. This newsletter (and you!) have been with me since June 2018 and we’ve certainly seen some shit since then (cute pics from June 2018 below though). I’m so grateful for your continued readership, for sharing the newsletter with your friends / colleagues / enemies / lovers, and for putting up with some truly hilarious typos through the years. Here’s to more editions, emojis, and whatever else. Thanks for being along for the ride with me. ❤️
In that spirit, I want to highlight a recent newsletter from AFTR reader and friend David Levinson about how progress in the transportation sector tends to outpace user preference, using the autonomous vehicles, congestion charging, and bike lane implementation as examples. You can read and subscribe below:
States in the US are fighting to keep their transport emissions a secret
Can you guess why? It’s because they are emitting a lot. Shocking!! “Fourteen states actually increased their transportation sector emissions between 2005 and 2022 — despite a 30-percent leap in average vehicle fuel efficiency over that period and a 25-percent national decline in per-capita emissions overall, a new report finds.” Hate to see it friends.
Trump plans to ease regulations for AVs
The Independent tagline on this is “helping out the First Buddy” which is just … depressing. Tesla stock is naturally soaring making Elon Muck even richer (that typo is purposeful). GovTech has more info on how federal frameworks can be adjusted clearing the path, and Bloomberg has more details too.
Doug Ford gets backlash for wanting to remove bike lanes
Last month, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario and brother of late Rob Ford (former Toronto Mayor of crack smoking fame), announced he plans to rip out three of Toronto’s bike lanes for adding to congestion. The Toronto city council voted 21-4 to oppose a provincial bill which would grant Ontario the power to block planned cycle paths that remove a traffic lane.
“… critics say the government hasn’t produced any data to suggest the three lanes – on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue – are causing more delays than road or building construction, which often spills on to busy streets. Instead, they say, the premier, who commutes down Bloor, has based the controversial policy on anecdotal evidence.” 👏👏👏
California’s San Mateo County has made an Autonomous Vehicle Strategic Plan
San Mateo is the first county in California to make such a plan, which is shocking given the prevalence of AVs across the State. The intention for this plan is to create a strategy that builds a shared vision to meet both County and State objectives. The plan is organized around five pillars: (1) Agency readiness, (2) Infrastructure, (3) Outreach and partnerships, (4) Policy, and (5) AV pilots. I think it’s missing sustainability, safety, and congestion pillars, but that’s just me.
Spokane is planning a “low stress travel network”
Filed under: wholesome, cute, your-city-doesn’t-want-you-to-die-slash-have-road-anixiety. They are calling it the “27 by 2027 Urban Mobility Network”, and it would fortify a few of Spokane’s many existing neighborhood streets to make them comfortable for users of all ages and abilities to walk, ride a bike or use a mobility device.
Wired has a piece about trailing a Waymo vehicle around San Francisco. It is exactly what you’d expect. It’s a loooong piece about how Waymo do what they do, but lacks the critical lens of do we need what they building? Is this as revolutionary as our transportation innovations are going to get? Can we not dream bigger (aka beyond the framework where cars are the solution to our problem with … cars?).
Nuro brings L4 service to three cities
Nuro is bringing L4 deployments to Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Houston. A bit cheeky for them to consider Mountain View and Palo Alto different cities, but I digress. Like every piece of news about a new launch, this one is riddled with ~industry-leading updates~ because Nuro is a ~technically advanced business~ and we should all be ~really, really impressed~. Make no mistake, these are zero occupant vehicles (aka for deliveries), and zero people are being transported (lolsob).
Cruise to pay $500k after failure to disclose dragging a woman to NHTSA
Honestly, that fine is too small. That woman’s life was changed forever. Cruise admitted to submitting a false report to influence a federal investigation. They aren’t denying it. She was dragged 20 ft (6.1m) after the vehicle ran her over, after she’d be hit by another driver. I’m not sure there will ever be an appropriate fine for something like that.
Impact of transit accessibility on employment density
“The results show a positive and significant relationship between employment density and bus service accessibility for all industrial sectors, while the effect of light rail service is significant only for finance, real estate, insurance, food, and accommodation industrial sectors, and when FMLM modality is driving. Proximity to public transit was found to be a stronger predictor of job density than accessibility. Additionally, the effect of closeness to highway network was almost twice the effect of transit proximity for all sectors, especially for blue-collar jobs. The results also highlight that industrial sectors tend to cluster in areas with higher employment diversity but are indifferent towards higher land use diversity.”
This past Wednesday, Nov. 20th, was the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). TDOR honours the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. Human Rights Campaign highlights the intersectionality of this violence from attacks in 2023: 77% were people of colour and 53% were Black transwomen. There’s lots we can all do to change these statistics from speaking up on trans issues and advocating for gender affirming care in our own communities. Read up on local issues. Voice your support, and show up.
We can also support trans businesses (I like transfigure who ship internationally and do fun pop-culture designs). The trans agenda is to live long, happy, and healthy lives. May we support trans people in that journey 💗I saw Anora last weekend (note: not safe for work content wise lol), and it was really cute and made me laugh out loud. If you’re in the mood for a chaotic movie filled with charm, I’d recommend.
A different newsletter I subscribe to (Good Chat with Yassmin Abdel-Magied) shared this piece on How to Survice the Broligarchy: 20 lessons for a post-truth world (welp). It was a needed read, equal parts taking notes on what to do and ounces of levity to make it all feel less daunting.
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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