What a weekend, huh?! Hope you got a chance to enjoy our city in full bloom.
Below are the most notable stories that came across my inbox this past week…
Bike theft underbelly: An Australian cycling journalist dove deep into the bike theft world after responding to a Facebook Marketplace listing with the hope of reuniting a suspicious bike with its rightful owner. (Escape Collective)
Yes, Paris again: Sorry but I am still not tired of learning about how one solid elected official can make such transformational change to a major city, simply by pushing out car users from its busiest areas. (Bloomberg)
What a loser: “Donald Trump’s War On Nice Things is set to start removing bike lanes around the National Mall in Washington DC next week, because bicycles are woke and popular with Democrats.” (Wonkette)
Another Mamdani W: New Yorkers must be loving their new mayor, Zohran Mamdani. After the previous administration was hostile to bicycling, Mamdani has reversed course on a key piece of enforcement policy that will end the practice of issuing criminal citations for low-level bicycle traffic infractions. (Cycling Weekly)
Slower speeds at schools: Even bigger news about Mamdani is how he ordered NYC DOT to reduce speed limits to 15 mph on streets around all schools. They plan to have 15 mph school zones at 2,300 school locations by the end of his first team. (NYC Gov)
Deadly driving: This piece makes it clear that enforcement alone won’t save us from distracted drivers. We must create a cultural stigma around people who interact with their phones while driving. Name and shame! I’m tired of the selfish behavior. (Guardian US)
Impact of transit cuts: This story about what happened to peoples’ lives (and livelihoods) when Rhode Island’s transit authority made severe service cuts is a cautionary tale for Oregon. (Ocean State Media/NPR)
Video of the Week: Excellent overview that looks at the latest state-of-play for Waymo and Tesla AVs:
Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week. The Monday Roundup is a community effort, so please feel free to send us any great stories you come across.
Thanks for reading.
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Deadly Driving – If we’d as a society demand that offenders of various driving infractions, DUII, crashes, hitting someone, etc. have their cars taken away from them it might help get people to wake up.
Oh, and tell judges that the excuse “I need my vehicle for work” will no longer get you out of having your car confiscated. Afterall you should have thought about that before you broke the law. Crushing the offending vehicles might be a nice touch too.
Transit – as long as TriMet is an agency for enriching the already rich companies by continuing to build inflexible, overpriced, and unwanted MAX trains we’ll never have a truly functional transit system for all.
Flexible buses, bus stops, and bus drivers is where money should be spent. Full stop.