Transportation

Blog

Read about problems with government transportation planning

Book Review: ‘Transit’s growth, decline and pending demise’

Who said the following? “The basic objective of our nation’s transportation system must be to assure the availability of the fast, safe, and economical transportation services needed in a growing and changing economy. … This basic objective can and must be achieved primarily by continued reliance on unsubsidized privately owned ...
Blog

Read latest on war on cars

Congestion pricing is mainly about punishing suburbanites

The privilege of working in or visiting Manhattan could soon be higher than the cost of lunch. As U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer put it in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, a proposed increase in the tunnel toll is “a greedy and unnecessary cash grab.” It ...
Blog

Read latest about war on cars

Car wars and other progressive fantasies

Thanks to the wonders of social media, it’s easy to find large communities of car-loathing, bicycle-riding, transit-loving urbanists who view cars as “death machines” and insist they are the cause of every woe known to mankind. Many of these progressive scolds would love to ban them, or at least strictly ...
Blog

Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

Cities should think twice before embracing ‘fare-free’ transit

On Jan. 1, 2020, the InterCity Transit agency servicing Olympia, Wash., and nearby cities went “zero fare.” From 2020 through 2023, the city of Tucson, Ariz., made its public transit system “free” to ride, with the council declaring “our intention to go fare-free transit.” Activists in Los Angeles have argued ...
Commentary

Is Sacramento going to pump the brakes on your car?

Will Sacramento Invade Your Car to Limit How Fast You Can Drive?

Do California lawmakers ever sleep? It seems they stay up nights coming up with new ways to intrude into personal lives. They want to control our thermostats. Bar educational choice. Erase worker freedom. Banish plastic products. Decide how we can defend our families and homes. Now one state senator wants ...
Blog

Car-less cities campaign is the latest paternalistic fad

Car-less cities campaign is the latest paternalistic fad By Steven Greenhut | February 16, 2024 Many modern urbanists like to claim the great urban writer Jane Jacobs, author of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” as one of their own. It’s easy to understand, given that Jacobs was ...
Free Cities

WATCH: Are more public transit subsidies the key to improving urban living?

Watch as Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut sits down with Professor William Anderson to discuss whether more subsidies for public transit are the key to improving urban living.
Blog

Learn about push for congestion pricing

Urbanists to suburbanites: Stay out of our trendy ‘playgrounds’

In New York, the city has introduced a “congestion tax” – effectively, a cordon tax – for all cars entering lower Manhattan. In Cincinnati, the City Council voted for a ban on new surface parking lots downtown. In Indianapolis, the state Legislature is trying to prevent the city from halving ...
Blog

Creating a bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area transit

Creating a bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area transit By Steven Greenhut | January 26, 2024 Note:  This is a longer version of an op-ed that ran earlier this week in the East Bay Times. When government agencies face daunting problems, it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to propose some “solution” ...
Commentary

A bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area’s transit problems

When government agencies face daunting problems, it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to propose some “solution” that amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic — i.e., a pointless bureaucratic revamping that does nothing to address the obvious iceberg. The latest example involves the San Francisco Bay Area’s myriad transit ...
Blog

Read about problems with government transportation planning

Book Review: ‘Transit’s growth, decline and pending demise’

Who said the following? “The basic objective of our nation’s transportation system must be to assure the availability of the fast, safe, and economical transportation services needed in a growing and changing economy. … This basic objective can and must be achieved primarily by continued reliance on unsubsidized privately owned ...
Blog

Read latest on war on cars

Congestion pricing is mainly about punishing suburbanites

The privilege of working in or visiting Manhattan could soon be higher than the cost of lunch. As U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer put it in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, a proposed increase in the tunnel toll is “a greedy and unnecessary cash grab.” It ...
Blog

Read latest about war on cars

Car wars and other progressive fantasies

Thanks to the wonders of social media, it’s easy to find large communities of car-loathing, bicycle-riding, transit-loving urbanists who view cars as “death machines” and insist they are the cause of every woe known to mankind. Many of these progressive scolds would love to ban them, or at least strictly ...
Blog

Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center

Cities should think twice before embracing ‘fare-free’ transit

On Jan. 1, 2020, the InterCity Transit agency servicing Olympia, Wash., and nearby cities went “zero fare.” From 2020 through 2023, the city of Tucson, Ariz., made its public transit system “free” to ride, with the council declaring “our intention to go fare-free transit.” Activists in Los Angeles have argued ...
Commentary

Is Sacramento going to pump the brakes on your car?

Will Sacramento Invade Your Car to Limit How Fast You Can Drive?

Do California lawmakers ever sleep? It seems they stay up nights coming up with new ways to intrude into personal lives. They want to control our thermostats. Bar educational choice. Erase worker freedom. Banish plastic products. Decide how we can defend our families and homes. Now one state senator wants ...
Blog

Car-less cities campaign is the latest paternalistic fad

Car-less cities campaign is the latest paternalistic fad By Steven Greenhut | February 16, 2024 Many modern urbanists like to claim the great urban writer Jane Jacobs, author of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” as one of their own. It’s easy to understand, given that Jacobs was ...
Free Cities

WATCH: Are more public transit subsidies the key to improving urban living?

Watch as Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut sits down with Professor William Anderson to discuss whether more subsidies for public transit are the key to improving urban living.
Blog

Learn about push for congestion pricing

Urbanists to suburbanites: Stay out of our trendy ‘playgrounds’

In New York, the city has introduced a “congestion tax” – effectively, a cordon tax – for all cars entering lower Manhattan. In Cincinnati, the City Council voted for a ban on new surface parking lots downtown. In Indianapolis, the state Legislature is trying to prevent the city from halving ...
Blog

Creating a bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area transit

Creating a bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area transit By Steven Greenhut | January 26, 2024 Note:  This is a longer version of an op-ed that ran earlier this week in the East Bay Times. When government agencies face daunting problems, it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to propose some “solution” ...
Commentary

A bigger bureaucracy won’t fix Bay Area’s transit problems

When government agencies face daunting problems, it’s not uncommon for lawmakers to propose some “solution” that amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic — i.e., a pointless bureaucratic revamping that does nothing to address the obvious iceberg. The latest example involves the San Francisco Bay Area’s myriad transit ...
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