Most adults want to age in place; that is, grow older without the need to move from their home or community. As driving becomes a challenge, though, seniors can feel dependent upon others, or isolated and cut off from their friends or public services.
Walkability and Transit Mean Independence in Golden Years More »
I’m not the creator of the below video, but I found it randomly, recently, and it was created during my tenure as a consultant for Mobility Lab, a think tank funded by Arlington County government. We had been tasked with persuading DC metro commuters to take public transit rather than drive alone to work. The time period in which this video was produced felt like a special time in Arlington County, a small but influential and wealthy county in Northern Virginia just across the river from Washington, DC.. (in fact, the county makes up the bottom left portion of the diamond shape originally conceived as the boundaries for the nation’s capital).
American cities are experiencing a major transportation shift from car-centric policies to people-oriented streets, with increased bus and bike lanes, bike-sharing, and public spaces. A TransitCenter report credits local civic groups, city leadership, and transportation agencies for these lasting changes. The report recommends strategies for reinforcing such innovations, including political support and internal advocacy, acknowledging a societal move towards walkable urban areas and the need for continued local action to sustain this trend.
American Cities’ Biggest Transportation Innovation is Decidedly Low-Tech More »
With public-transit use riding a 58-year high of 10.8 billion trips last year, it only makes sense to ask: why? Technology may be partially responsible for public transit’s record ridership, but probably not in the way you think.
Transit’s Surprising Advantage is Sitting Right in your Pocket More »
Jeff Bezos’ $250 million purchase of The Washington Post in 2014 changed the direction of the newspaper in some fairly significant ways. Among them: The Posts’s focus became less local and more global, it began expanding digital access dramatically (promoted by the Kindle, of course), and started spending some serious cash on events. One of these events is the America Answers series.
Uber has fundamentally changed the taxi industry, but its biggest disruption may be yet to come. The ride-hailing company has invested in autonomous-vehicle research, and its CEO Travis Kalanick (pictured above) has indicated that consumers can expect a driverless Uber fleet by 2030.
Uber’s Plan for Self-Driving Cars Will Make its Taxi Disruption Look Quaint More »
Washington D.C.-based shared-ride company Split was one of two transportation startups who participated in the Tech.Co Startup Competition last month, showing that Washington remains a prolific incubator of transportation-related startups, and that entrepreneurs believe there are additional transportation problems that need solving.
Sharing-economy companies like Uber, Lyft, and AirBnB continue to disrupt industries as they create services that are incredibly appealing to consumers. Whatever your opinion on these companies, the decision regarding if, and how much, they should be regulated is important. It will help determine the speed of technological innovation in the U.S. and the direction our economy takes.
It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to compete with the likes of Google, but that’s what a little start-up named Conveyal is doing. The firm creates digital tools to help transport authorities better communicate the wide array of available mobility options. Its new product is similar in functionality to Google Maps and the many consumer-based trip planners in existence.
If the 20th Century was the era of America’s honeymoon with the car, the 21st has given way to the reluctant realization that this suitor has come with some baggage – air pollution, urban sprawl, obesity, and traffic congestion, to name a few. It is not just the U.S. that is contemplating a car “divorce.” The same scenario is playing out in other parts of the developed (and developing) world, just at varying paces and in different degrees.
The only transportation demand management (TDM) program for public school faculty and staff in the U.S. has been created in Arlington County, Virginia. The program, called “ATP Schools,” is being administered by Arlington Transportation Partners (ATP), the employer-outreach arm of Arlington County Commuter Services.
Arlington County First in Nation with Program to Ease Public-School Staff Commutes More »
“One of the biggest benefits of being part of this program is learning what other companies are doing,” says Christine Ng of Environ, a science and technology consultancy that is one of hundreds of businesses served by Arlington Transportation Partners. Her compliment of ATP is captured in one of a series of videos shot at the ATP 2014 Champions Breakfast Ceremony in January and released this week.
Business Leaders Network to Make Transportation Easier in Arlington More »
Can social media be used to change a person’s commuting behavior or the way we design cities and transportation systems? There’s growing research to show how behaviors are influenced by networks, and specifically how social media can cause behavior changes that benefit society (such as decreasing energy consumption). The same principles, done correctly, could no doubt help change commuting behaviors.
A Social Media Playbook for Changing Commuting Behaviors More »
Americans took a record 10.75 billion trips on public transportation in 2014, according to annual ridership statistics released this month by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). This is up from 10.65 billion trips in 2013, with the number of trips outpacing population growth. In a year of low gasoline prices, the increase is welcome news for the public transportation industry.
Two Main Reasons D.C. Transit Ridership is Decreasing More »
Transit, bicycling, and pedestrian programs will be increasingly important in order to meet the country’s future transportation needs. That’s one conclusion that can be drawn from a new report by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) called Beyond Traffic.
U.S. DOT Study “Beyond Traffic” Calls for More Transit, Biking, Walking More »