Transportation
Blog
Where Americans ride transit
A close look, however, reveals that the map is deceptive in two ways. First, it is based on pre-pandemic data. The map includes Ann Arbor, Mich.; Baltimore; Champaign, Ill.; Pittsburgh; Portland; and State College, Pa., in the 5-10% category, but none of these areas qualify today. Second, the map ...
Blog
Trading Road Repairs For Green Jet Fuel — Is This A Deal That Californians Want To Make?
Only one state, Alaska, has worse roads than California. Tens of billions are needed to repair the crumbling, cracking and cratered infrastructure. Nearly a decade ago, legislators passed a $52 billion bill to fix the problems. So, what is Sacramento thinking about? Moving fuel tax revenue dollars that should be used for road repair to fund a scheme to ...
Blog
Despite setbacks, inter-city bullet train boondoggles keep chugging along
The high-speed rail (HSR) community had a tough 2025. In April, the Trump administration nixed a $63.9 million grant to “the Amtrak Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor previously known as the Texas Central Railway project.” Justifying the decision, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy explained that if “the private sector believes ...
Blog
Lawsuit’s End Latest Sign of High Speed Rail’s Woes
An HSRA official said the decision to pull the lawsuit was made because “the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California.” In reality, it’s a tacit admission from the HSRA that it doesn’t deserve the money. At this point, it’s become rather tedious to recite the high-speed rail’s ...
Blog
Trucking and Shipping Latest Victims of California’s “Cruelest Law,” AB 5
If anyone thinks they’re seeing fewer trucks ripping up and down Interstate 5 or slogging through the perpetual 405 gridlock, it might not be their imagination. California law is strangling the freight-hauling business. There has been “a wave of bankruptcies among California trucking companies,” reports Floor Covering News, a trade publication, partially the result of the economic decline of the freight ...
Blog
Private transit worked in the past. Could it help cities again?
On the surface, Tokyo and Los Angeles couldn’t be more different — one city known for its safety, cleanliness, walkability and vibrancy, while the other is often criticized for sprawl, dysfunction and decay. But there was a time when Los Angeles was known for the former — in part, by ...
AI
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Cities should rethink their zeal for subsidizing AI data centers
Kate Gallego has had it. In her 2025 State of the City address, Phoenix’s mayor called on lawmakers to eliminate Arizona’s special tax treatment for “new data centers.” Calling it “a holdover from a time before our economy was the magnet for job growth that it is today,” Gallego declared ...
Blog
Limiting Freight Train Length More About Union Demands Than Safety
The perpetual tribulations of the high-speed rail are reported with an almost clockwork frequency, but they aren’t the only train stories in California. Freight trains might soon be getting a larger share of the attention. In their eternal search for more dues-paying members, unions want to shorten freight trains. Rail companies are naturally opposed. ...
Blog
Urbanists can slow but not stop our transportation progress
Urbanists can slow but not stop our transportation progress By Marc Joffe | May 1, 2025 California is the prime battleground between transportation innovation and legacy mass transit. While Silicon Valley is rolling out driverless taxis and testing flying cars, urbanists and transit unions are seeking more taxpayer funding to ...
Blog
Latest report shows California bullet train is really a train to nowhere
Will There Ever Be Any Good News About The High-Speed Rail?
Last month’s spike-driving ceremony was a feel-good story about the California bullet train. It was, said Gov. Gavin Newsom, a “big damn deal” that indicated “progress” was being made on a project that is embarrassingly behind schedule and almost inconceivably over cost. It was an event for public consumption that ...
Where Americans ride transit
A close look, however, reveals that the map is deceptive in two ways. First, it is based on pre-pandemic data. The map includes Ann Arbor, Mich.; Baltimore; Champaign, Ill.; Pittsburgh; Portland; and State College, Pa., in the 5-10% category, but none of these areas qualify today. Second, the map ...
Trading Road Repairs For Green Jet Fuel — Is This A Deal That Californians Want To Make?
Only one state, Alaska, has worse roads than California. Tens of billions are needed to repair the crumbling, cracking and cratered infrastructure. Nearly a decade ago, legislators passed a $52 billion bill to fix the problems. So, what is Sacramento thinking about? Moving fuel tax revenue dollars that should be used for road repair to fund a scheme to ...
Despite setbacks, inter-city bullet train boondoggles keep chugging along
The high-speed rail (HSR) community had a tough 2025. In April, the Trump administration nixed a $63.9 million grant to “the Amtrak Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor previously known as the Texas Central Railway project.” Justifying the decision, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy explained that if “the private sector believes ...
Lawsuit’s End Latest Sign of High Speed Rail’s Woes
An HSRA official said the decision to pull the lawsuit was made because “the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California.” In reality, it’s a tacit admission from the HSRA that it doesn’t deserve the money. At this point, it’s become rather tedious to recite the high-speed rail’s ...
Trucking and Shipping Latest Victims of California’s “Cruelest Law,” AB 5
If anyone thinks they’re seeing fewer trucks ripping up and down Interstate 5 or slogging through the perpetual 405 gridlock, it might not be their imagination. California law is strangling the freight-hauling business. There has been “a wave of bankruptcies among California trucking companies,” reports Floor Covering News, a trade publication, partially the result of the economic decline of the freight ...
Private transit worked in the past. Could it help cities again?
On the surface, Tokyo and Los Angeles couldn’t be more different — one city known for its safety, cleanliness, walkability and vibrancy, while the other is often criticized for sprawl, dysfunction and decay. But there was a time when Los Angeles was known for the former — in part, by ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Cities should rethink their zeal for subsidizing AI data centers
Kate Gallego has had it. In her 2025 State of the City address, Phoenix’s mayor called on lawmakers to eliminate Arizona’s special tax treatment for “new data centers.” Calling it “a holdover from a time before our economy was the magnet for job growth that it is today,” Gallego declared ...
Limiting Freight Train Length More About Union Demands Than Safety
The perpetual tribulations of the high-speed rail are reported with an almost clockwork frequency, but they aren’t the only train stories in California. Freight trains might soon be getting a larger share of the attention. In their eternal search for more dues-paying members, unions want to shorten freight trains. Rail companies are naturally opposed. ...
Urbanists can slow but not stop our transportation progress
Urbanists can slow but not stop our transportation progress By Marc Joffe | May 1, 2025 California is the prime battleground between transportation innovation and legacy mass transit. While Silicon Valley is rolling out driverless taxis and testing flying cars, urbanists and transit unions are seeking more taxpayer funding to ...
Latest report shows California bullet train is really a train to nowhere
Will There Ever Be Any Good News About The High-Speed Rail?
Last month’s spike-driving ceremony was a feel-good story about the California bullet train. It was, said Gov. Gavin Newsom, a “big damn deal” that indicated “progress” was being made on a project that is embarrassingly behind schedule and almost inconceivably over cost. It was an event for public consumption that ...