Along for the Ride #261
The long-short edition
Heya friends, happy Friday.
It is so depressing to read the recent news that the Cheeto puff administration is now investigating bicycle infrastructure and climate related project, with the intent to cut funding (Streetsblog). Not to sound so dramatic, but cutting funding to these programs will cost people their lives. In the short-term, it will be road deaths, and in the long-term climate change will have profound impacts (related to human health, sea level rise, inhabitable climates, etc). Honestly, we’re already experiencing the longer term impacts now…. so…. we’re really just doubling down on the end of humanity….. greeeeeat. I keep thinking that we might not bounce back from this the way we did previously.
I know there a lot of great people on this listserv who will keep fighting the good fight, regardless of what the puff and his spineless minions do, and that is my silver lining. Thank you for caring about the future of our transportation systems, understanding how critical they are, and doing everything in your power to leave the world a lil better than we found it.
And as an aside, this week’s edition is mostly links because I have been focused on my day job 😂 and that’s the honest answer for you. Doing my best, and all that jazz.
Why European cities are going car-free (Washington Post)
Drivers in the US logged 3.28 trillion miles in 2024, a new record 🫠 (Reuters)
UK government rejects approval for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving to operate (The Telegraph)
London’s air is cleaner after introducing the Ultra Low Emission Zone (BBC)
Chicago plans to launch a “frequent bus network” with <10m intervals between buses. This is exciting and also depressing (CTA)
I’m not including any links about Tesla’s white house advertisement other than to say a combination of WTF and scream existentially into the void
But here’s a fun article about how Tesla’s stocking is crashing lol (Reuters)
Waymo expands in the Bay Area to include Silicon Valley (Bloomberg)
Austin is the new capital of robotaxi wars (Business Insider)
What is an autonomous vehicle? (McKinsey)
A good refresher for any folks needing!
Avride and Hyundai partner to expand fleet of AVs (Reuters)
Wayve plans global expansion, starting with Germany (Sifted)
Economic impact of transport infrastructure (Transport Reviews)
Passenger physiology in self-driving vehicles during unexpected events (Nature)
Parking pricing in the area of autonomous vehicles (Transport Policy)
How to turn cities into biketopias? By making it harder to drive (Wired)
What’s lost when human drivers are gone? (Wired)
Internships:
[London, UK - TfL] Multiple areas for internships and placements :)
Full-time positions:
[NYC or Remote, US - NACTO] Senior Manager, Multimodal Design and Programs
[London, UK - GLA] Principal Project Officer (Public Realm)
[Remote - Families for Safer Streets] Communications and Policy Director
[NYC, NY - Transportation Alternatives] Director of Development
[London, UK - C40] Project Manager, Strategic and Co-Chair Communications
The NACTO Job Board is a phenomenal resource for US-based folks
The saving grace of the last two weeks is that the sun came out in London and the first signs of Spring brought unimaginable joy. There were long walks through the neighbourhood, picnics in the park, and general photosynthesizing.
I also finished reading Human Acts, which is arguably one of the saddest novels I’ve ever read. One of the reviews on the cover says “universally heartbreaking” and that is very true. If you want to read a book that makes you think about how we treat uprisings and feel depressed / weepy, then this is the book for you.
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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