Kate Hinds

How to know you're a transit nut: your first impression upon seeing the video for the Korean pop song/brain worm known as "Gangnam Style" is "wow, the Seoul subway sure looks clean."

The song -- by the rapper known as PSY -- was highlighted this weekend on both NPR and Saturday Night Live. It has become the first Korean pop song to top the U.S. iTunes chart, in no small part because of the absurdly lavish dance scenes scattered around city settings, including a love scene in the sparklingly clean Seoul subway system. But now it has really arrived: a parody of the video, partially set in the New York City subway, is making the internet rounds.

But back to first impressions: what do you think? We haven't ridden the subway in Seoul -- although we watch with great interest its creative ad campaigns. In this comparison of New York's 1 train and a Seoul subway car, we don't think the #1 fares too badly.

Guess which subway car belongs to NYC.

Side note: we feel confident predicting that the original "Gangnam Style" video will spawn the hot Halloween costume this year. You heard it here first.

That, or the Danish "cool bus driver" from the most heroic public transit ad ever.

Top stories on TN:
NYC’s Disabled Can Now Call A Cab Without Wave Or Whistle (link)
U.S. DOT Gives $60 Million to Clean Energy Transit Projects (link)
Just Try to Find a More Heroic Ad for Public Transport than This (link)

(image by brianc via flickr)

Planners are busy remapping many of the biggest bus routes in Fairfax County as the Silver Line looms. (Washington Post)

The U.S. Treasury Department is resisting a push by General Motors to sell the government's entire stake in the auto maker. (Wall Street Journal)

The U.S. will file a W.T.O. case against China over cars. (New York Times)

Now it can be told: New York City's long-awaited subway transfer between the Broadway-Lafayette IND and the uptown 6 at Bleecker Street will open later this month. (2nd Ave Sagas)

Meanwhile, fare hikes will likely come to NYC next year, and here's what they could look like. (NY Daily News)

More bicyclists on Philadelphia streets means fewer accidents, which could create momentum. "If more biking means safer biking, safer biking is likely to produce more biking." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

How much should it cost to charge an electric car? The market is wrestling with that question, but one thing is clear: "free is just not a sustainable model." (Wall Street Journal)

India will begin constructing the country's first high-speed rail line next year. (Hindustani Times)

Car sharing is taking off in San Francisco, but there are a few bumps in the road. (San Francisco Chronicle)

A Holocaust survivor was killed by a parking car in Brooklyn. (NY1)

Pedestrian and motorcycle fatalities are on the rise in Nebraska and Iowa. (Omaha.com)

New York Daily News op-ed: before the city's bike share opens, "bike paths need to flow like bloodstreams: We need networks, not snippets." Author: Norman Steisel, who is suing the city over a Brooklyn bike lane.

A Glasgow subway station is getting a new mural. (BBC)

She's a supermodel! She's pregnant! She's married to an NFL star! And she bikes! (Daily Mail)

On our Tumblr page: it's pedestrian vs. pedestrian in a video game of Streetpong -- played while waiting for the light to change. Video here.

Top stories on TN:
PICS: Proposed Lowline Underground Park Debuts “Solar Harvesters” for Subterranean Photosynthesis (link)
Back Story: How San Francisco’s Market Place Came to Be (link)
DC “Pioneer” in Walkable, Transit-Friendly Neighborhoods (link)

Yes, this once roamed San Francisco. (Image courtesy of Curbed SF)

Major fossil fuel companies are financing an ad campaign to defeat President Obama, while his former allies in promoting wind and solar power are sitting this one out.  (New York Times)

Atlanta's transit agency is being criticized for being secretive about the process for choosing the next MARTA head. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

A woolly mammoth tooth and jaw were uncovered during construction of San Francisco's Transbay Terminal. Age: approximately 10,000 years old. (Bay Citizen)

Transpo wishlist items for Rockland County (NY) residents: mass transit across a new Tappan Zee Bridge, resurrect the West Shore Line, and more bike lanes. (Journal News)

Blasting on NYC's Second Avenue Subway construction site resumes today after last month's incident. (WNYC)

British Columbia's helmet law could hamper use of Vancouver's planned bike share program. (Globe and Mail)

High schools across the country are requiring safety classes for students who want to park at the school. "Every day, I've got the largest group of at-risk drivers in this county in my parking lot," said one principal. "I'd like to think that they've been taught at least once what to do and not do behind the wheel." (USA Today)

Democrats and Republicans pedaled "bike buses" to both conventions. "The love of self-propulsion crosses all party lines." (FastCoExist)

The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia for denying a KKK group’s application to adopt a one-mile stretch of road as part of the Adopt-a-Highway program. (WXIA)

Career advice: don't get drunk at a Fashion Week party and speak in a vulgar fashion to women, especially those who write for Gawker, because you will be fired from your job at the Port Authority. (Wall Street Journal)

Could London get elevated (and tolled) bike lanes? (FastCoExist; video)

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Top stories on TN:
NYC Straphangers Could Lose Last Bit Of Bonus On A Multi-Ride Metrocard (link)
Interview: Space Elevators Inch Closer to Reality (link)
The Transportation System Chicago Never Got (link)
Deal on 9/11 Museum Reduces — But Doesn’t Eliminate — Port Authority’s Financial Exposure (link)
Lawsuit Says DC Airports Authority Can’t Raise Tolls To Pay for Rail (link)
HUD Secretary Highlights Central Florida Commuter Line as Sprawl Fighter — and Economic Driver (link)

Planes at Newark Airport (photo by George Wesley and Bonita Dannells via flickr)

The NextGen air traffic control system is behind schedule and over budget -- making airlines wary about paying their share of the costs. (Washington Post)

And: half of the nation's airport delays can be traced to the New York-New Jersey-Philadelphia airspace. (Star Ledger)

Vancouver's proposed public bike-share program will start with 125 stations and 1,500 bikes. (Vancouver Sun)

Survey says: Americans want more public transit -- they just don't want to pay for it through taxes. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Thursday protest alert: activists say Los Angeles County Metro is pushing out working class people and small business owners as the transportation agency develops land. (KPCC)

Ten more retired Long Island Rail Road workers have been charged with falsely claiming to be disabled so they could obtain federal disability pensions. (New York Times)

Should bicyclists have to pay to get on a Key Biscayne causeway? One politician says yes; others are not so sure. (NBC Miami)

Chicago's transit board approved a "de-crowding" plan, despite howls of protests over service cuts. (Chicago Tribune)

Canadian auto workers are preparing to go on strike. (Detroit Free Press)

Photos: the space shuttle Endeavour is preparing for its final journey to the West Coast. (Los Angeles Times)

China will start selling rail tickets via smartphone. (Xinhua)

More than 50 Lukoil gas stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania jacked up prices to more than $8 a gallon as part of a protest. (AP via NY Daily News)

A guide to turning subway crushes into your "street sweetheart." Tip: those sound-leaking headphones can work to your advantage! (NYU Local)

Singapore is ramping up bus service -- and many new lines will run parallel to rail. (Channel News Asia)

Get a jump on your holiday shopping: Neiman Marcus will be selling a special edition John Varvatos Chrysler 300C. (Marketplace)

Neon colors are back in style: it's Fashion Week on TN's Tumblr page.

Proposed Wells Street Subway

WBEZ has taken a deep dive into Chicago's transportation history and uncovered some items that were once on the city's wish list.

• in the 1950s, the city considered tearing down the Loop "L" because it was thought the  "iron girdle" was retarding the expansion of the central business district

• a grade-level rail line (Ravenswood) was going to be lowered into an open "cut" in the ground

• the west leg of the Red Line -- which now terminates at 95th Street -- was supposed to go to 119th Street

More pictures -- and the story -- can be found here: Part I; Part II; Part III

Want to see more transit what-ifs? Check out New York's lost subways.

Top stories on TN:
Rethinking San Francisco’s Main Drag (link)
Maryland County Debates Joining DC’s Bike Share Program (link)
This is What Air Pollution Sounds Like (link)
PHOTOS: Waiting for a Train, Montana-Style (link)

(photo by Kate Hinds)

House Republicans at hearing: Amtrak should privatize more and "needs to get out of the commuter rail business." (The Hill)

Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Corrine Brown says holding an Amtrak-bashing hearing on 9/11 was "insulting." (Politico)

Georgia's Cobb County unveiled a plan for high-capacity bus service into Atlanta. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

For two decades, one of the most commonly used type of rail tanker has been allowed to haul hazardous liquids even though transportation officials were aware of a dangerous design flaw "that almost guarantees the car will tear open in an accident, potentially spilling cargo that could catch fire, explode or contaminate the environment." (AP via Bloomberg)

Gallery: eleven Seattle intersections that are dangerous for pedestrians. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Four of the five members of the Massachusetts state transportation board dismissed by Governor Deval Patrick last month have been appointed to a new, larger board charged with overseeing state highways and public transportation. (Boston Globe)

Bike sharing comes to Philadelphia. Kind of. If you squint and look at it sideways. (Philadelphia Daily News)

Traffic noise can take a toll on health. (NPR)

From wedding dresses to ruby slippers: a peek inside Long Island Rail Road's lost and found. "A Spider-Man backpack sat near a Louis Vuitton handbag, not far from a pink razor scooter, a hookah pipe and an oversized salad bowl." (DNA Info)

Passengers love New York's East River Ferry, but doubts remain about its long-term viability. (New York Times)

You can't tip this: check out the world’s first gyroscopically stabilized, two-wheeled all-electric motorcycle-esque vehicle. (TechCrunch)

Those were 25 tough miles: the man who used a Capital Bikeshare bike to compete in a DC triathlon tells all. "If I said it was a breeze, I'd be a liar. Whoever said that trail was flat, should try riding it on a Bikeshare." (DCist)

 

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Oil pump near Taft, California (photo by Anna Conti via flickr)

Researchers in California have translated air pollution into futuristic soundscapes.

The website Atlantic Cities reports that scientists at University of California-Berkeley collected air samples from different locations across the state, then assigned tones to the different chemicals they found.

The authors write: "You can actually hear the difference between the toxic air of a truck tunnel (clogged with diesel hydrocarbons and carcinogenic particulate matter) and the fragrant air of the High Sierras."

Give it a listen.

According to the researchers, Bakersfield -- a town situated in California's Central Valley -- sounds a lot like Oakland's Caldecott Tunnel.  This is "the result of fresh hydrocarbons from a main trucking highway and oil and gas fields surrounding the sampling site."

Despite decades of progress, Southern Californians are among those at highest risk of death due to air pollution. The American Lung Association gives failing grades to more than half of California's counties.

Read more over at Atlantic Cities.

Top stories on TN:
Special Report: How Transit Is Shaping the Gentrification of D.C., Part 1 (link)
Bidding “Irregularities” Delay D.C. Taxi Upgrade (link)
Amtrak On Track for All-Time Ridership Record (link)

Constructing the WTC transportation hub (photo by Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

Photos of the transformation of the World Trade Center site. (WNYC)

Warning to Amtrak from Mitt Romney and Republicans: You're on your own. (AP)

Meanwhile, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing today on "the high cost of Amtrak's monopoly mentality." (link)

New York Times: reckless drivers who hit people face few penalties in New York. (link)  Read TN's investigation "Killed While Cycling: Why So Few Fatal Bike Crashes Lead to Arrest in NYC" here.

Toll cheats in Maryland have cost the state millions in lost revenue, but the state isn't going after them. (Washington Post)

Traffic congestion and bad driving continues to plague Cairo. One root cause: "Egyptians learn to drive from friends or family...and licenses are generally awarded without a road test." (New York Times)

Bicycling in China: not for the fainthearted. "Cars are not scared of you, they don't care about the traffic lights. Those riding the electronic bikes too. Almost every day I see a traffic accident. It is also difficult to find a place to park a bike because it is easy for it to be stolen," said one Shanghai resident. (Guardian)

Bay Area bus company AC Transit said it invalidated a $13 million contract after acknowledging the company had financial ties to two members of its board of directors. (The Bay Citizen)

Ridership is up on Detroit buses since a private company took over, but lateness still plagues the system. (Detroit Free Press)

Southern California's commuter rail, Metrolink, is previewing the country's first $200 million crash prevention system known as "positive train control technology." (Los Angeles Times)

A longshoreman strike could cost the New York-New Jersey region $136 million a week in personal income and another $110 million in economic output. (Star Ledger)

A local politician wants to name one of the Staten Island ferries after former NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani. (DNA Info)

(photo by Aaron Hockley via flickr)

Amtrak had its single best month ever this July, and the railroad says when it closes the books on September, it will have set ridership records for each of the last 12 months.

Joe Boardman, Amtrak's CEO, said in a statement Monday that "the demand to travel by Amtrak is strong, growing and undeniable" and that the railroad is experiencing "improved management and financial health.”

The railroad says it's on track to break last year's record of 30.2 million passengers.

Read Amtrak's press release here.

Northeast Corridor passenger? New York commuter?  Read TN's tips on how to get the most out of Penn Station here.

Top stories on TN:
In Texas It Will Soon Be Legal to Drive at the Wind Speed of a Category 1 Hurricane (link)
Pink Fire Trucks Stop In Montana (link)
Proposed Silver Line Toll Hike Vexes Virginians (link)

New York vs. Chicago (image courtesy of Chicago Tribune)

Bench vs. bucket? Chicago's new trains have scoop seats -- but according to New York's MTA, passengers prefer bench, because scoop seats force "people to squeeze or leave an empty seat." (Chicago Tribune)

New York State has requested a $2.9 billion loan from the federal government to construct the new Tappan Zee Bridge. (Journal News)

Over the past 18 months, city of Rochester employees have committed at least 119 red light violations while driving city vehicles -- but they won't have to pay. (Democrat and Chronicle)

Pedestrian fatalities are rising sharply in Minnesota. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Car wash workers in Queens voted to unionize. (New York Times)
To learn more about the conditions car wash workers say they work in, read TN's story here.

Cars that run on natural gas will get a leg up in meeting new fuel economy standards. (Politico)

An Upper East Side resident fought for years to get a traffic signal on his block -- not just a pedestrian crossing sign that has "one of those nice pictures that means ‘floor it.’” (New York Times)

Maryland commuters turn their train rides into a "high-speed happy hour." (Washington Post)

How Portland (OR) became bike paradise: "The city is so bike-friendly that when auto club AAA sought suggestions from Portlanders, roadside service for bicycles was one of the biggest requests." (USA Today)

Cycling in Toronto: "how I broke my teeth and how it could all be different." (Toronto Star)

The Los Angeles Auto Show is holding a competition to design the police car of the future. (Detroit Free Press)

Happy 40th birthday, BART. (Mercury News)

Top stories on TN:
New York City Council Debates How to Rein in Rogue Commercial Cyclists (link)
Rail Hauls One Million of Barrels of Oil A Day From North Dakota’s Oil Fields (link)
The Bailout: By The Actual Numbers (link)

No, you can't use Uber to hail this. (photo by Caitlyn Kim/WNYC)

New York City says taxi hailing apps aren't allowed -- for now. (New York Times)

You can drive 85: a 41-mile stretch of a toll road in Texas will soon have the fastest speed limit in the country. (Houston Chronicle)

In New Jersey, there's been no progress to end a dispute over a plan to issue federally compliant driver’s licenses, and a court hearing on the matter is looming. (Asbury Park Press)

A plan to implement bus rapid transit in Nashville is facing delays. (The Tennessean)

The TSA has 18 new Twitter accounts. (Security Management)

The head of Boston's transit system will fly to Seoul this weekend to grill executives of a South Korean company that has fallen two years behind on contract to build commuter rail coaches for the T. (Boston Globe)

Ford is moving ahead on a plan to introduce more models into Europe -- including the iconic Mustang. (Marketplace)

An electric truck assembly plant in the Bronx will begin producing vehicles by the end of the year. (Crain's New York)

Politico opinion: want to understand the difference between Obama and Romney? Check out their differing views on fuel efficiency standards.

A group of New Haven residents crowdsourced a bench so they'd have a place to sit while waiting for the bus. (New Haven Independent)

French automaker Renault donated two electric cars to Pope Benedict XVI. (Washington Post)

Portland's bike rental shops are fretting about the financial impact of bike share. (Oregonlive.com)

Florida's energy regulators are trying to get a handle on electric cars. (WFSU)

Check out these photos of the New York City subway system from the 1980s. (Daily Beast)

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm brought the DNC to its feet with her defense of the auto bailout -- and the use of a lot of car metaphors. Hashtag of the day: #granholming. (TPM)

A NYC DOT staffer handing out examples of educational material to members of the New York City Council (photo by Kate Hinds)

Businesses should be financially liable if their delivery people disobey cycling rules.

That's a goal of a package of four bills under discussion in the New York City Council. The legislation aims to educate commercial cyclists, as well and put teeth into rules that are already on the books. One of the bills would give the Department of Transportation the authority to issue civil fines to employers who don't post signs in the workplace about traffic laws, or fail to provide lights, helmets, bells and vests to their delivery people.

Jimmy Vacca, who chairs the council's transportation committee, said one of the main goals of the legislation is to take some of the burden off of the NYPD. "The New York City Police Department has been asked to do more with less for long enough," he said, "and commercial cycling enforcement in that agency has not been a priority."

The legislation piggybacks on a campaign currently underway in the DOT. This summer, the agency created a six-person unit tasked with educating businesses about commercial cycling rules. "This unit has already gone door-to-door to over 1,350 businesses," said Kate Slevin, an assistant commissioner for the NYC DOT, at a City Council hearing on Thursday. Its efforts are focused on Manhattan's restaurant-heavy West Side right now; it will expand to the East Side, as well as Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood, by the end of this year.

Enforcement starts in January, when the unit's inspectors will begin issuing $100 tickets to businesses that aren't in compliance.

But whether a six-person unit can ensure that thousands of businesses are obeying the law is a big concern of the council -- not to mention the fact that moving violations are still under the purview of the NYPD.

"The extent of the problem that I see is tremendous," Vacca said, citing complaints about delivery people riding on sidewalks or against traffic. "I want to make sure that this unit has enough people in it to make everyone understand that the days of yesterday are gone."

He said he agreed with an idea that Council Member Peter Koo had floated earlier in the hearing about using the city's traffic agents to help enforce the rules. "What are they trained to do, just give summonses to people? ... It's an extension of their existing responsibility."

Sue Petito, a lawyer for the NYPD, tried to put the kibosh on that line of thinking. "It's a different body of laws and regulations," she said, "completely different from what their current mandate is."

Meanwhile, Robert Bookman of the New York City Hospitality Group said he wanted the council to cut restaurant owners some slack. "I just can't understand the logic of why an employer should get a summons for an employee who is provided with a helmet who chooses not to wear it," he said.

A spokesperson for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said her office was reviewing the legislation and the findings from today's hearing.

(Minutes from the meeting can be found here. Read the legislation on the City Council's website.)

Top stories on  TN:
NASA’s Historic Giant Crawler Gets a Tune Up for Modern Times (link)
NY Legislature Considers 45% Toll Hike for Trucks (link)
Hacker Charity Helps Detroit Buses Take Tech Leap: Real Time Arrival Info by Text (link)
Will This DC Bridge Become a Park? (link)

Charlotte's light rail system (photo courtesy of The Brian Lehrer Show/WNYC)

China has approved 25 urban subway and rail projects. "Forty Chinese cities will have subway systems by 2020, bringing the total track length to 7,000 km, 4.3 times the current length." (Xinhua)

As the economy rebounds, so does traffic in the Bay Area. (Silicon Valley Mercury News)

Chicago's pedestrian safety plan -- which aims to end all pedestrian deaths over the next decade -- is now officially in effect. (Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun)

Big changes are afoot for Seattle's bus system, and the biggest one is the end of its 40 year downtown "ride free" zone. (Seattle PI)

Connected vehicles could triple highway capacity, says a new study. (NBC News)

Nelson Mandela's daughter is fronting a new United Nations campaign to highlight the problems of road safety. "We lose 1,000 children a day in road deaths, and the highest killer of children above the age of 10, worldwide, is road accidents,” said Zenani Zindzi. (AP via Washington Post)

Charlotte's light rail system is helping convention goers avoid the bus woes that plagued Tampa. (Tampa Bay  Times)

California's bullet train is better for the environment than cars or flying, says a UCB study. (East Bay Express)

Don't look for US DOT head Ray LaHood at the Democratic National Convention. (The Hill)

Hoboken is mulling over two very different plans to develop NJ Transit's 52-acre space downtown. (Jersey Journal)

Letter to the editor from a baseball fan: if the Orioles want more people to attend games, they need better public transportation. (Baltimore Sun)

 

An illustration for a park proposed for Washington's old 11th Street Bridge. If realized, the park would span the Anacostia River, linking the Capitol Hill neighborhood with lower-income Anacostia. (Ed Estes/Courtesy of D.C. Office of Planning)

A plan to turn DC's old 11th Street Bridge into a pedestrian park is gaining traction. "What we're proposing to do is to transform this old freeway into a place of active recreation," says one supporter. The city of D.C. and some locals are on board with the idea, but worries about gentrification -- and how to pay for the project -- are hurdles that must be dealt with.

Read more -- and hear the story -- at NPR.

Top stories on TN:
Big Three Automakers Post Double-Digit Sales Gains (link)
Arlington Schools Not Backing Down On New Busing Rules (link)

Hoboken Terminal (photo by JJ Hall via flickr)

Los Angeles is chopping down 400 trees to make way for the space shuttle Endeavour's final journey. The California Science Center says it will replant double what it's cutting down. (Los Angeles Times)

Taxi-hailing app Uber is coming to New York City -- but it may not be legal. (New York Times)  And other cities have the same issue --read Transpo Nation's earlier coverage of DC's Uber battle here.

Meanwhile, two other taxi hailing apps are vexing cab companies in San Francisco. (Bay Citizen)

Moving crude oil through the U.S. often involves aging pipelines -- a particularly pertinent issue in Texas. (State Impact)

Wisconsin's DOT was in violation of federal civil rights rules for years. Not only did the agency not have a plan for complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but it has also been ignoring requirements to gather data about the impact of their actions on minorities. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) Want to learn more about civil rights and transit? Give a listen to the Transpo Nation documentary "Back of the Bus: Mass Transit, Race and Inequality."

GM is doing better -- but so is its competition. So is 'better' good enough? (NPR)

Real-time bus arrival information is now available in Detroit. (Detroit Free Press)

Are falling oil prices being fairly passed on to consumers in the U.K.? England's Office of Fair Trading is launching an investigation to see if competition is being curtailed. (BBC)

NJ Transit's plan for developing Hoboken Terminal will be presented to that city's council tonight. "Proposed for the Hoboken Terminal’s surroundings is a commercial office building that would fund the reconstruction of NJ Transit’s antiquated bus terminal, create new open spaces and a marketplace, improve pedestrian access and provide new bicycle pathways and storage." (Star Ledger)

Boston's subway system is testing new biologic agent detectors. (AP via Boston.com)

Is the country's largest food distribution center going to be poached by New Jersey? The deadline for exclusive negotiations between New York City and the Hunts Point market has passed. (Crain's New York)

Growing numbers of Orlando employers are telling workers to stop texting while driving, even though the Florida Legislature has failed to outlaw the practice. (Orlando Sentinel)

Detroit, c'est nous: new film “Detropia” chronicles the frustration of the city and how what is happening in Detroit is a reflection of the rest of the United States. (Marketplace; trailer here.)

The Staten Island Advance is skeptical about the borough's new rapid bus service and wonders if the express buses will get stuck behind local ones.

The New York Daily News frets about bicycles on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Would no one miss Penn Station if it disappeared? (New York Times) But until that day comes, here are some Transpo Nation tips for surviving it.

GRAPHIC: how do driverless cars actually work? Short, non-visual answer: GPS, tachometers, altimeters, gyroscopes, and something called LIDAR. (Economist)

Political reporters, stop complaining about covering the presidential race. You could be assigned to the transportation beat. (Washington Post; opinion)

Ford Focus Electric (CC) by Flickr user Kevin Krejci

The recovery has been very good to the U.S. auto industry.

General Motors said Tuesday its August sales were double the company's expectations and are up 10 percent over 2011 numbers. Ford reports its numbers were up 13 percent. And Chrysler had its best August in five years, posting gains of 14 percent.

These numbers come at a fortuitous time for President Obama, who is making the $85 billion bailout of the auto industry a key talking point of his re-election campaign. Speaking Monday at a United Auto Workers rally in Ohio, Obama told the crowd: "If we had turned our backs on you, if we had thrown in the towel like that, GM and Chrysler wouldn’t exist today."

Read more about auto sales at NPR.

Top stories on TN:
Detroit Insiders Dish on Feasibility of New Fuel Efficiency Standards (link)
This Woman Created an Underwater Wheelchair to Feel the Freedom of SCUBA (link)

At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte (photo by Jody Avirgan/WNYC)

The Obama campaign will air an eight-minute video on the effect of the $85 billion auto bailout on Wednesday night. (Detroit News)

Meanwhile, check out Google's driverless car, which is on display at the Democratic National Convention. (Tweet via Detroit News reporter David Shepardson)

NYC's taxi fare increase will start going into effect today. (AP via WNYC)

Delays plague NJ Transit buses in the overcrowded Port Authority Bus Terminal. (Wall Street Journal)

The federal government is preparing to exercise its new authority over public transit safety in the states. (The Hill)

A truck containing Secret Service equipment was stolen -- then ultimately recovered -- in Detroit. (Detroit Free Press)

Case study: Istanbul is using BRT as a band-aid when it really needs a suture. And it's not alone. (Atlantic Cities)

Plastic not accepted: a technical glitch caused MARTA vending machines to demand cash only this weekend. (CBS Atlanta)

Traffic jam in the Toronto area? Blame undisciplined drivers. (The Star)

Hoboken's car sharing program is having positive results, but some locals are complaining about the parking. (New York Times)

Sydney has released a draft of its new $100 billion, 20-year master transportation plan. (The Australian)

Bus drivers in Auckland -- locked in a pay dispute -- are striking every Monday for the next nine weeks. (Radio New Zealand)

What can bridge the divide between Democrats and Republicans? Atlanta's airport. (Marketplace)

Video of the day:  a white fox steals a girl’s ticket on the Metro — and she follows him to a world between the subway and the surface. Talk about your unexpected subway encounters!

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Top stories on TN:
BREAKING: Bloomberg: NYC Bike Share to Launch in Spring (link)
Key Politicians Throw Support Behind Cuomo’s Tappan Zee Bridge Plan (link)
On Eve Of New Law In New York, Long Distance Bus Haulers Jockey For Curb Space (link)
NYC Mayor Bloomberg: No Date Yet for Bike Share Launch (link)
Montana’s State Fair Highlights Agriculture — And Oil Drilling Equipment (link)

Pipeline construction in Texas (photo by Ray Bodden via flickr)

A Texas landowner says TransCanada threatened him with legal action if he didn't allow the Keystone XL pipeline to run through his property. (NPR)

Meanwhile, when this type of oil spills, "it's a whole new monster." (NPR)

The Obama administration will make nearly half a billion dollars in unspent highway funds available to states that promise to use the money to create jobs and improve transportation. (AP via Washington Post)

California transportation officials have spent millions of dollars making overpriced, unjustified repairs to houses the state owns in and around Pasadena -- houses it purchased years ago to bulldoze for a never-built highway. (Los Angeles Times)

Brooklyn Boulevard? A 2.5 mile stretch of Brooklyn's Fourth Avenue will get a massive safety upgrade -- and maybe even a new name. (DNA Info)

The ACLU wants to know why nearly 500 police departments in 38 states are photographing -- and possibly storing -- vehicle license plates. (Marketplace)

New York Daily News editorial: the pedestrian is always right, says NYC Council's Jimmy Vacca. And "cars are, overwhelmingly, the biggest threat to pedestrian safety in our city." (link)

Can't find legal on-street parking in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood? Go ahead, park on the sidewalk -- you won't be ticketed. (San Francisco Chronicle)

An aviation-company executive contends he was not picked to serve on the board of Orlando International Airport because he would not raise money for Republican Gov. Rick Scott. (Orlando Sentinel)

An estimated 6,500 drivers were fined for Olympic motoring offenses, Transport for London has said. (Telegraph)

Residents of Naples, Florida, won't get to vote in November on whether they want to allow JetBlue to land at the Naples Municipal Airport. (Naples News)

A NYC subway conductor saved a trapped kitten from the tracks of the Franklin Street shuttle. (New York Daily News)

 

The Tappan Zee Bridge (photo by Joseph A. via Flickr)

The county executives of Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties are finally giving their official blessing to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's $5.2 billion plan for a new Tappan Zee Bridge -- now that he's agreed to form a task force to firm up future transit options.

The current bridge plan includes dedicated bus lanes, but no timetable for bus rapid transit on either side of the Hudson River crossing.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino says that discussion is now back on the table. "Unless there was going to be some transit options," he said, "this bridge would just have the same old congestion and pollution and problems that the current one does. It would just look shinier."

Astorino has been pushing for a 12-mile BRT corridor. He said that he, Rockland County executive Scott Vanderhoef, and Putnam County executive MaryEllen Odell have been in talks with the governor for a month.

The transit task force will make recommendations within a year.

The county executives sit on a council that must unanimously approve the Tappan Zee Bridge plan to make it eligible for federal funding. That vote had been delayed, but now it is expected to move ahead quickly.

Governor Cuomo has spent the summer lining up local support for the bridge. On Thursday, he sent out a delighted email trumpeting the executives' support.

"Building a new, better bridge to replace the Tappan Zee and ending the dysfunction that has delayed this project for over ten years has been a top priority since I took office,” he said. “County Executives Robert Astorino, Scott Vanderhoef and MaryEllen Odell have consistently supported our efforts to replace the Tappan Zee and I am pleased that they are pledging to vote for our plan to build a safer, transit-ready bridge that will reduce congestion, provide a dedicated bus lane, and create tens of thousands of jobs. We will continue to work with local leaders and stakeholders as we move forward with one of the biggest and most critical infrastructure projects in New York.”

Thursday's announcement also won support from another corner: advocacy group the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which has long been pushing for mass transit options for the new bridge. The group's executive director, Veronica Vanterpool, said in an email that "this bridge project is taking a turn for the better." She added: "A firm commitment from Governor Cuomo’s office for dedicated bus lanes on the span from day one is a real victory that will improve commutes for bus riders and drivers from the day the bridge opens. But, without additional measures for bus rapid transit in the future, the bus lanes themselves will do little to address the mobility needs of the I-287 corridor. This initial investment shows that the governor’s office has moved beyond the rhetoric of “transit-readiness” to a concrete transit provision."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (center), flanked by Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro and Brooklyn City Council member Domenic Recchia at the New York Aquarium (photo by Arun Venugopal)

[The Mayor said on Friday the system won't launch until next spring.  Here's our post on it.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn't putting a date on when New York's delayed bike share program will be up and running. The program was to have launched July 31, but that date came and went. The mayor has attributed the delay to unspecified software issues.

"We're trying to figure out when we can put a date that we're sure or reasonably sure that it will work," Bloomberg said Thursday.  He also said, without explanation,  the city is "getting very close."

Bloomberg was speaking at a press conference trumpeting the new shark exhibit at the New York Aquarium.

New York's bike share, at 10,000 bikes, is by far the largest planned bike share anywhere in North America. The next largest system is in Washington, which is about a fifth that size.

An ambitious bike share program in Chicago has also been delayed, and a vendor who lost the bid has sued, saying that city's transportation commissioner, Gabe Klein, had a conflict because he was a consultant on Alta's bid to New York City. A spokesman for the Chicago mayor has said Klein recused himself from the Chicago negotiations and that the suit is baseless.

Alta is also the vendor for Boston's "Hubway" bike share. That program was also delayed by several months, though officials there declare the system a success and are expanding it.

On Thursday, Bloomberg said the reason for the delay is straightforward.  "Look," he said. "Everybody wants to say there's a secret agenda here. The software doesn't work. And putting it out when the software doesn't work, it wouldn't work. Period. And so we're trying to figure out when we can put a date that we're sure or reasonably sure that it will work. And we're trying."

"Everybody - a lot - the fascinating thing is those people who screamed they didn't want bicycles are now screaming 'where are they' so I guess we've come a long way and [are] going in the right direction. Nobody would put it out quicker than me."

Alta Bicycle Share, the company picked by New York City last September to run its program, was supposed to have had at least 1,000 bikes on the street on or before July 31, according to its contract with the city, which Transportation Nation has obtained.

Thereafter, Alta was supposed to have added at least 75 stations per ten business days, building to 7,000 bikes by September 30.

Bloomberg said Thursday there were no penalties for a delay.

"It's all private money. And the people who've put up the money, particularly the two big sponsors, Citibank and MasterCard, are fully aware of what's going on and they have been as supportive as you possibly can be. The city loses because we don't have bicycles, but the city doesn't lose any money or anything, and we all want to get it done as quickly -- but you've got to do it right."

The city's Department of Transportation and Alta have been ciphers on the delay. Even Citi Bike's official twitter account has been dark for a week.

 

 

Image from bike share contract (photo by Kate Hinds)