Kate Hinds

Top stories on TN:
Another Study Finds Fewer Young People Getting Driver’s Licenses (link)
Advocates: Thanks, NY MTA, For Restoring Some Bus / Train / Subway Cuts. Now Where’s The Rest? (link)
Interactive Map: NJ Traffic Fatalities Up in 2011 (link)

(image courtesy of Delhi Traffic Police's Facebook page)

Facebook as traffic camera: The Delhi Traffic Police are encouraging locals to upload pictures to Facebook to report traffic offenses, and it's netted 22,000 violations so far. (India Today)

If San Francisco doesn't come up with $650 million in toll hikes and new city taxes to connect a terminal, the state's high-speed-rail line from Los Angeles will dead-end several blocks from downtown proper. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Businesses and individuals will soon be able to buy naming rights to Virginia highways -- and "the company's name will also pop up in front of potential customers on smartphone directional apps and Internet maps." (Washington Examiner)

On this morning's Brian Lehrer Show, the founder of Rivendell Bicycle Works and author of Just Ride: A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike, offers up biking advice. (WNYC)

Some bicyclists are using helmet cameras as "black boxes." (New York Times)

The Atlanta region's historic transit tax vote is a little over a week away, and the city's mayor is trying to rally support for it (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Meanwhile, opponents of the sales tax are also pounding the pavement. (WSBTV.com)

Countdown to Olympics: an artist turned a traditional London double-decker bus into a mechanical sculpture of an athlete doing push-ups. Pictures at Daily Mail; video at Sky News.

Traffic crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists have risen since 2005 in Charlotte due to distracted drivers, jaywalkers and miles of busy city roads without crosswalks and sidewalks. (Charlotte Observer)

Staten Islanders want to revisit a plan for the long-stalled South Shore ferry, which could shave almost an hour over the commuting time to Manhattan. "The road's already built," said a state senator. "It's called the Raritan Bay." (Staten Island Advance)

New York's MTA unveiled new digital art at the Bleecker Street 6 station. (NY1)

Bob Yaro op-ed in Crain's New York: Amtrak's $151 million proposal to modernize the Northeast Corridor is good for our region's economic growth.

Top stories on TN:
US DOT Head Ray LaHood to Transportation Nation Readers: Transpo Bill is “Highway Centric” (link)
NYC Transit Says G Train Expansion Permanent, Adds New Bus Routes (link)
No Launch Date For NYC Bike Share (link)
Space Shuttle Enterprise Makes Public Debut in NYC (link)

The George Washington Bridge at night during a holiday (photo by wallyg via flickr)

The Government Accountability Office is investigating the practices of tolling agencies -- including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. “Recent toll hikes on some bridges have raised questions about whether transportation authorities are remaining accountable to their congressionally approved compact," said a GAO spokesperson. (Star Ledger, The Record)

After falling for three years in a row, the number of automobile fatalities in New Jersey rose in 2011. (NJ Spotlight)

Detroit's bus rapid transit system could be operational in two years, say advocates. (Detroit Free Press)

Biking boom: there are 450 bike share programs worldwide. And: "about 133 million (bicycles) were produced last year, a nearly 600% increase from 1960 and more than twice the number of cars manufactured in 2011." (Fortune/CNN/Money)

A social design firm in Chicago is trying to raise money for "the mother of all transit apps." Such as "everything from information on stroller and wheel chair-friendly routes, to knowing the exact weather conditions at the point of departure, to accumulated financial savings from ditching the car, to suggested coffee pit stops along the morning commute." (Good)

The US DOT hasn't decided yet where to build a new air traffic control center that will serve the busy New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia metro areas. (AP via Washington Post)

The French government is criticizing automaker Peugeot over layoffs, leading Peugeot to say the government is undermining investor confidence. (BBC)

New York Daily News opinion: tearing down the Sheridan Expressway would prioritize people over traffic.

Tampa and Charlotte won't get a temporary bike share program during the political conventions because the cities lack bike paths and bike lanes. Instead, they'll get a "supply of 20 peculiar-looking vehicles that seat up to eight passengers who pedal while a driver steers them through an approved route of downtown streets." (Tampa Bay Times)

NYC is shopping around for new Staten Island ferries. (Crain's New York)

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is altering its free speech-related policy after discovering that a private school and church in West Oakland used unaccompanied children to solicit funds at stations after school and at night. (Bay Citizen)

New York City subway riders captured video of various parts of the system flooding during Wednesday's extreme thunderstorms. Click the link for videos of "a geyser spewing cigarette butts" in Grand Central Terminal, and a subway stair-turned-water park. (Gothamist)

 

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city’s long awaited bike share program won’t launch in July for technical reasons: "Until we get it working perfectly, have these private companies d...

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (photo by Colby Hamilton/WNYC)

New York City won't commit to a new launch date for its vaunted bike share, the largest planned for North America.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered the first explanation Thursday for why the city’s bike share program won’t launch in July: technical reasons.

At a ribbon cutting ceremony in Harlem's Sugar Hill, the mayor was asked when the program was going to be up and running — and what the problems were.

He replied: “Well, its software isn’t working yet. And just rest assured we’re not going to put out any program here that doesn’t work.”

He went on to acidly comment that New Yorkers’ attitudes towards bike share seemed to be evolving. “What’s fascinating is there was a lot of screaming that ‘we don’t want bikes’ and now everybody’s screaming ‘we want ‘em now.’ We’re just not going to do it until it works. There’s no government money involved whatsoever here, the only thing about a delay — if it turns out there is one — is that people won’t be able to use something that we think is phenomenally popular. But until we get it working perfectly, have these private companies do it to our satisfaction, we’re just not going to put it out.”

Calls to Alta Bicycle Share (the company operating the system), as well to the New York City Department of Transportation, weren’t immediately returned. A spokesperson for the City Hall wouldn’t provide further information beyond confirming the Mayor’s comments.

Previous speculation about the delay focused on money and timing. New York City’s bike share program is unique among its peers in that it’s entirely privately funded. Citibank, the program’s main sponsor, wasn’t formally on board until the end of April. Until the sponsorship money was firmly in hand, the city couldn’t begin production. Which meant New York had only a couple of months to turn around 7,000 bikes, 420 stations, and a functional payment system. Some sources TN spoke to wondered if that timeline wasn’t too ambitious.

Caroline Samponaro, the director of bicycle advocacy for the nonprofit Transportation Alternatives said, “no one in any other city in the world remembers the start date.”

 

You can listen to the audio from the mayor's remarks below.

For his latest "On the Go" video Q&A, the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary fielded questions from Transportation Nation readers, who grilled him about the new transportation bill (MAP 21) and high-speed rail.

"We think that the MAP 21...is probably a little highway centric," says LaHood, but "I think we're on the right track" when it comes to bike and pedestrian improvements.

In response to a question about the prospects of high-speed rail in the Northeast, LaHood said that the federal government is investing $3 billion in rail upgrades along the corridor. "Amtrak is doing well," he said, pointing out that ridership is  booming. While not talking specific timing for fast trains along the Boston-to-DC route, he said "the future is very bright" for rail in the Northeast.

Enough of transportation. What will the secretary be watching at the summer Olympics? It turns out he's a swimming aficionado ("people have to train very, very hard") as well as a basketball fan -- but he deftly sidestepped the current debate over whether the 2012 U.S. basketball team is the equal of the "dream team."

 

Top stories on TN:
Front of NYC’s MetroCard Now Prime Ad Space (link)
Port Authority Says Bayonne Bridge Will Be Raised In Time For Super Ships (link)
California Governor Signs Bullet Train Bill (link)

Roads signs in the Massachusetts Berkshires (photo by Dougtone via flickr)

California's newly signed high-speed rail bill will bring transit upgrades to the Bay Area -- but it's going to take a while. (Wall Street Journal)

The city councils of Oakland and San Leandro, California, approved a BRT route linking the two cities. (Mercury News)

New York City is mulling sweeping changes to how street food is prepared and sold. (WNYC)

Ocean County (NJ) officials have approved $600,000 to plan and build the next segment of its popular bike/pedestrian rail trail. (Asbury Park Press)

Anaheim is about to launch California's first bike share system. (KCET)

One Rockland County legislature wants New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to commit to studying a future mass transit system for the Tappan Zee Bridge. (Journal News)

Boston Herald: Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick paved some roads in the Berkshires so Michelle Obama could avoid potholes. (Link)

Is American Airlines dragging its heels on a merger with US Airways? (NPR)

New York transpo roundtable: quick conversations with Charles Fuschillo, Joe Lhota, James Vacca and Janette Sadik-Khan. (City & State)

Eight city slogans -- from the obvious to the less so -- and what they might mean. (This Big City)

Republicans want to privatize some air traffic control towers. (The Hill)

Train drivers in East Midlands, England, plan to strike for three days during the Olympics. (BBC)

A new report says Delhi's BRT system is a failure and it should be scrapped. (Times of India)

 

The look of NYC’s iconic subway MetroCard could dramatically change — for a price.

Your Ad Here (photo by Kate Hinds)

The New York MTA is hoping the MetroCard could dramatically change -- for a price.

The transit agency is now soliciting ads for the front of the cards, which, barring a color switch from blue to yellow, have been more or less unchanged since their 1993 introduction. Previously, ad space had only been for sale on the back.

The agency has been trying to increase ad revenue for some time. It's wrapped subway cars in ads. It runs commercials on digital panels positioned outside subway stations (see below). It's exploring selling ad space in subway tunnels. It runs ads on its website.

Example of a "digital urban panel" ad at a subway station (photo by Kate Hinds)

According to the MTA's rate sheet, it costs anywhere from 18 to 51 cents per card to advertise on the back of MetroCards, with a minimum order of 50,000 cards. An agency spokesman said that while rates for the front are unpublished right now, they'd command a "premium." But once companies buy in, they have free rein to redesign the MetroCards any way they see fit.

Paul Fleuranges, the MTA's senior director of corporate and internal communications, said "the only (design) constraint is the big black band on the bottom." In other words: the front no longer would have to say MTA -- or even MetroCard. And it sure doesn't have to be yellow. Just leave the magnetic strip alone.

(Fleuranges did say that the "insert this way/this side facing you" text below the black strip would likely remain on the card.)

"It's valuable real estate if you're an advertiser," said Fleuranges, who said that no deals had been inked, but that a few companies had made inquiries.

To sweeten the deal for potential advertisers, he said, the MTA can target where the cards are sold. "We can microplace your card in up to ten stations," said Fleuranges. So if advertisers wanted their cards sold only at stations along the Lexington Avenue line between 14th and 86th Streets in Manhattan, they'll be accommodated.

In an email that accompanied the press release, MTA chairman Joseph J. Lhota said: “Millions of New Yorkers carry MetroCards with them everywhere they go, and use them multiple times a day. For those with a message and a desire to reach millions of people in a novel, attention-getting way, there is no better way to advertise.”

 

It's been a busy summer of new transportation initiatives, from the (delayed) bike share program to new rules about bicycle delivery, East River ferry service, speed limit "slow zones", and more. Kate Hinds, producer/reporter with Transportation Nation, discusses the latest transit news.

Top stories on TN:
DC’s Silver Line Reaches Construction Milestone (link)
Duane Reade Moves To Electrify Some of its Fleet (link)
Westchester: You’re Throwing Us a Three-Mile Transit Bone on the Tappan Zee Bridge; Give Us Nine More, Please (link)

Copenhagen bike riders signal for a turn. (Photo CC by Flickr user Mikael Colville-Andersen)

Denmark's biking superhighway -- an 11-mile-long path between Copenhagen and Albertslund-- is now open for business. And: city employees armed with chocolates are handing them out to cyclists who adhere to the rules of cycling. (New York Times)

Construction is underway on San Francisco's Central Subway -- even though the city's MTA doesn't know if the federal government will award it almost $1 billion in funding. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Chicago's transit authority wants to spend $205 million to upgrade its bus and rail repair facilities. (Chicago Tribune)

Boston is doubling the number of security cameras it has on its transit system. (AP via WBUR)

San Francisco's Muni paid thousands of dollars in bonuses to top executives for meeting or exceeding on-time performance goals, even as the agency inflated its on-time rates by as much as 18 percent. (Bay Citizen)

The Ohio governor's plan to privatize the Ohio Turnpike was overwhelmingly panned in its first public hearing. (Plain Dealer)

Following a heat-related derailment, Metro officials have revised their criteria for determining when to slow train speeds during periods of extreme heat. (Washington Post)

Dozens of traffic signs have been destroyed in one Auckland neighborhood because "prostitutes use these street sign poles as dancing poles...The poles are part of their soliciting equipment and they often snap them." (Telegraph)

The U.S. is sending TSA agents to Britain to provide additional security for U.K. airports during the Olympics. (New York Daily News)

DC's cabbies, riding a wave of new taxi regulations, "now waver between outrage and despair." (Washington Post)

A parking-garage employee drove a sport-utility vehicle into an open elevator shaft, injuring two workers and wedging an automobile inside the Upper East Side facility. (Wall Street Journal)

Over 200 London cabbies blocked traffic in Parliament Square for two hours Tuesday to protest the controversial Olympic Route Network along the city's roadways. (Atlantic Cities)

If local New York politicians are working through the five stages of grief over the lack of a comprehensive mass transit system for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, they might be moving closer to acceptance.

Tappan Zee Bridge (photo by waywuwei via flickr)

If local New York politicians are working through the five stages of grief over the lack of a comprehensive mass transit system for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, they might be moving closer to acceptance.

On Tuesday's Brian Lehrer Show, Westchester County executive Rob Astorino -- who has criticized Governor Andrew Cuomo's plans for Tappan Zee Bridge in the past -- today sounded a conciliatory note.

"We're basically all on the same page," said Astorino.

His remarks come after Rockland County executive Scott Vanderhoef told TN last week that he had dropped his insistence that a full bus rapid transit system be built now.

Vanderhoef said today on the Brian Lehrer Show he understood the financial realities.  "I agree with the governor's comment: ultimately, this is being paid for by our residents in some form or fashion. It's just you can't think only short term... it has to be long term."

Brian also asked if the old bridge would be retained as a bike/pedestrian bridge. "No," said Vanderhoef bluntly. "You'd have to pour an awful lot of money into that existing bridge."

Listen to the entire 16-minute interview below.

Top stories on TN:
DOT: NYC Bike Share Will Not Launch in July (link)
Commuter Nation: How America Gets to Work (link)
To Combat Counterfeiting, NJ Transit Goes For Ultraviolet Tickets (link)
D.C. Battle with ‘Arrogant’ Uber Continues: To Regulate Internet Cabs or Not? (link)
Private Ferry, Floated By Municipal $, Flourishes In New York (link)
Bike Modification Lets You Ride on Train Tracks, Probably Get Hit by Train (link)

A Olympic lane on the A12 (photo by sludgegulper via flickr)

The Brian Lehrer Show will talk about the Tappan Zee Bridge with Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. (WNYC)

Three buses carrying athletes to London's Olympic Village lost their way and took four hours instead of 45 minutes. (New York Times)

Minneapolis and St. Paul are adding new residents by the thousands, reversing a decades-long trend of population losses to the suburbs and possibly reordering priorities for things like spending on highways and transit. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

The federal DOT now has the power to withhold grant money to urban transit systems that don't make safety improvements. "That's not a tool we want to use, but it is a tool we will use to ensure that agencies are stepping up and making the appropriate transit safety investments," FTA head Peter Rogoff said. (AP via ABC)

California state regulators ordered Expo Line officials to replace a flawed piece of track that could trigger a derailment and also fix an automated safety system that has not worked properly since the line opened in April. (Los Angeles Times)

NY's MTA said it's willing to look at integrated fares for subways and bike share as it moves towards a smart card system -- in 2015. (Gotham Gazette)

Unless Congress acts later this year, some federal transportation programs -- like the FAA, New Starts, and Amtrak -- will be subject to automatic cuts of nearly 8 percent. (Transportation Issues Daily)

News to us: the Nassau County town of Long Beach has a bike share program.

Two NJ towns have certified that the timing of their red light cameras are in compliance with state DOT regulations -- paving the way for the municipalities to soon begin issuing tickets at affected intersections again. (Gloucester County Times)

Auto dealers in Houston's 10-county metro area sold nearly 32,000 cars, trucks and SUVs in June — an increase of nearly 90% over June of last year. (KUHF)

How to get Chicago drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks? Use mimes.  (WBEZ; video below)

Top stories on TN:
Crowded Midtown Manhattan Gets a New Avenue: 6 and 1/2 Ave (link)
NYC to Use Inspections to Combat Dangerous Bicycle Delivery Riding (link)
Is BRT Coming to D.C. Suburbs? (link)
DC Metro: We Need Rail That Can Handle Hotter Temperatures (link)

A bus stop in Konagai, Japan (image courtesy of Inhabitat)

The NJ DOT commissioner is enforcing a dress code after seeing employees wearing "really worn dungarees, with T-shirts and sneakers hanging out. Flip-flops. It got really bad...T-shirts with Harley-Davidson, political opinions, all kinds of stuff.”  (Star Ledger)

A software problem caused DC's Metro to experience two system-wide shutdowns this weekend. (Washington Post)

New York's MTA is looking at restoring some of the service that was cut in 2010 -- and the Bronx and Brooklyn look to be the biggest beneficiaries. (New York Daily News)

Los Angeles Times op-ed: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's ambitious transit plan is good for the city -- but it falls short of his own goals, and he's hamstrung by Congress. (Link)

And: more on Beverly Hills High School's opposition to the Subway to the Sea. (New York Times)

The New York Times takes a look at the Atlanta area's upcoming sales tax-for-transportation referendum. "Although little would be done to improve the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s beleaguered train system and less than 1 percent would go to bike and pedestrian projects, the money would bring a light-rail train for people who work near Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." (Link)

Games Lanes reserved for Olympic competitors, officials and sponsors could be suspended if London traffic is gridlocked. (Telegraph)

Is Toronto's subway suicide prevention program working? In the first year of a program that saw special phones installed on all Toronto subway platforms, crisis counselors slowed or stopped trains 17 times -- and the incidence of suicide was halved. (The Star)

Britain will invest 9.4 billion pounds ($14.6 billion) in its rail network over the next several years as the government tries to boost the ailing economy. (Bloomberg News)

Chicago-area rail commuters could be using their smartphones instead of paper tickets to ride Metra trains by next summer. (Chicago Tribune)

Talk about distracted drinking and driving: Fiat is making "the first standard-production car in the world to offer a true espresso coffee machine." (USA Today)

A Bronx car-wash owner who failed to pay his workers minimum wage will spend weekends in jail for the next four months. (New York Daily News)

Bon anniversaire, Vélib: Paris's bike share system celebrated its fifth birthday yesterday. (Le Monde)

Take a photo tour of the world's most awesome bus stops. Fruit-themed shelters in Konagai, Japan? Air-conditioned stops in Dubai? It's in there. (Seattle Post Intelligencer)

Top stories on TN:
Interstate? Close Enough (link)
PIC OF THE WEEK: What Amtrak High-Speed Rail Trains Will Look Like in 2040 (link)
NYC Approves 17% Cab Fare Hike (link)
Texting-While-Driving Tickets Quadruple in New York (link)
Trucking Key Reason Oil Service Company Moves to Small Eastern Montana Town (link)
Congressman Nadler: Families That Fly Together Should Be Seated Together (link)

A Rolls Royce jet engine made out of LEGO (photo courtesy of Gizmodo)

Sarah Palin has endorsed Sandy Adams over her primary opponent in her closely watched race against fellow GOP Congressperson (and House T&I committee chair) John Mica in Florida. (Politico)

Google Maps now has walking directions for 44 African countries. (Google's Lat Long Blog)

A Maryland county executive says building the area's BRT system could take 20 to 30 years, rejecting a recommendation by a county task force to build it in nine years. (Washington Post)

Progress on America's rail system will be incremental, say experts -- think "higher-speed rail," not "high-speed." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

A UCLA analysis of Japan's Shinkansen bullet train and its impact on the growth of cities along its route calls into question claims by state officials that California's high-speed rail project will create up to 400,000 jobs. (Los Angeles Times)

Behold: the world's first jet engine, made entirely out of LEGO bricks -- 152,455 of them, to be precise. (Gizmodo)

New signage is making Manhattan's 6 1/2 Avenue -- a string of public pedestrian plazas in midtown -- a reality. (DNA Info)

Newsday opinion: county executives' questions about the Tappan Zee Bridge are legitimate -- and delaying a key vote on the project is "the only real leverage these leaders have to get information."

A coalition of activists protesting the MBTA's recent fare hikes are organizing mass fare evasions today and calling it "Boston Fare Strike Day." (BostInno)

Rickshaw bling is all the rage in India. "Decorating my rickshaw isn't just a business investment, it's also my passion," says one driver. (NPR)

The New York City Council wants to crack down on electric bikes. (New York Daily News)

Kickstarter project of the day: A companion book to a photo exhibit finds 40 former Miss Subways and asks "whether they’ve lived up to their dreams." (link; video below)

Police in New York have written over 20,000 tickets since the state’s texting-while-driving ban took effect a year ago – more than four times the amount from the year prior.

(Photo by Kate Hinds)

Police in New York have written over 20,000 tickets since a more stringent texting-while-driving law took effect in 2011 – more than four times the amount than in the prior year.

"These tickets should send a resounding message to all drivers: keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel," said Governor Cuomo in a press release.

The law went into effect on July 12, 2011. It made driving while using any portable electronic device a primary, rather than just a secondary offense -- meaning that drivers can be stopped solely if they are found to be using such a device while driving.

When he signed the bill into law last year, Cuomo said it was "common sense — but sometimes you need law enforcement, and you need laws, to remind society of common sense and enforce common sense."

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has called texting while driving "a national epidemic" and said it's responsible for about ten percent of all traffic fatalities.

A county-by-county breakdown of tickets issued before and after the law can be viewed below (source: NY Governor's Office).

COUNTY	TICKETS ISSUED 7/12/10- 7/12/2011	TICKETS ISSUED 7/12/2011-7/12/2012
ALBANY	75	539
ALLEGANY	5	14
BRONX	91	900
BROOME	22	103
CATTARAUGUS	10	45
CAYUGA	9	76
CHAUTAUQUA	23	130
CHEMUNG	27	92
CHENANGO	4	40
CLINTON	16	73
COLUMBIA	5	54
CORTLAND	22	85
DELAWARE	1	18
DUTCHESS	59	324
ERIE	226	1,418
ESSEX	6	10
FRANKLIN	5	27
FULTON	5	21
GENESEE	8	50
GREENE	11	16
HAMILTON		1
HERKIMER	11	52
JEFFERSON	12	73
KINGS	540	3,234
LEWIS	4	31
LIVINGSTON	23	50
MADISON	19	75
MONROE	110	687
MONTGOMERY	17	45
NASSAU	162	505
NEW YORK	807	3,714
NIAGARA	73	214
ONEIDA	38	126
ONONDAGA	797	479
ONTARIO	8	87
ORANGE	67	292
ORLEANS		8
OSWEGO	14	46
OTSEGO	7	61
PUTNAM	22	75
QUEENS	401	3,334
RENSSELAER	21	163
RICHMOND	157	205
ROCKLAND	69	151
SARATOGA	42	326
SCHENECTADY	18	69
SCHOHARIE	4	9
SCHUYLER	3	4
SENECA	8	41
ST LAWRENCE	12	265
STEUBEN	14	108
SUFFOLK	185	908
SULLIVAN	5	32
TIOGA	13	67
TOMPKINS	20	139
ULSTER	54	246
WARREN	15	166
WASHINGTON	10	21
WAYNE	6	74
WESTCHESTER	148	720
WYOMING	3	18
YATES		2
TOTALS	4,569	20,958

 

 

 

(photo by caribb via flickr)

(UPDATED 3:37) Families who travel by plane have probably had the experience of being told they can't be seated together -- and that their only recourse is to hope their fellow passengers are willing to switch seats.

It's disconcerting -- and becoming more common. Because as airlines ramp up policies that charge additional fees for aisle and window seats, it's getting harder for people to request seats together without paying a premium (as AP reported earlier this year.)

This tension has led to headlines like "Do Airlines Hate Families?" (One answer to that question, from the Los Angeles Times, is no -- but they "love revenue more.")

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has proposed legislation called the Families Flying Together Act of 2012. It would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to direct each carrier to “establish a policy to ensure, to the extent practicable, that a family that purchases tickets for a flight with that air carrier is seated together during that flight; and (2) make the policy…available to the public on an appropriate Internet Web site of the air carrier."

According to an emailed statement, Nadler said “air travel is complicated and expensive enough for families without adding new stresses. Families should not be stuck paying hidden fees, or buying ‘premium’ seats, simply because they wish to be seated together on crowded flights.  It is positively absurd to expect a two or three-year-old to sit unattended, next to strangers, on an airplane.  It is up to air carriers to make their seating policies clear and easily accessible to the public.”

But Airlines for America, an industry lobbying group, called the legislation unnecessary. Steve Lott, the group's VP, said "airlines have always worked cooperatively with their customers to seat parties, including those traveling with children, together. The great news for consumers and families is that the airline industry is hugely competitive, and customers have choices of airlines and different products within airlines." He added: "As with all other products and industries, it is the market that can—and should—determine how air travel is priced, not the government.”

 

 

 

Top stories on TN:
Newark Gets Its Very First Bike Lane (link)
Private Company Doing Poor Job Maintaining Public Bus Shelters in NYC (link)
PHOTO: Is This the Snowiest Road in America Right Now? (link)
How Are Houston’s HOT Lanes Working? It Depends. (link)
Want to Be on an NYC MTA Survey Panel? (link)

You can tell the season by the type of C train (photo by Adam Fagen via Flickr)

In New York, the type of C train that's running depends on the season. (New York Times)

The cost of Boston's Big Dig, including interest on borrowing, has mushroomed to nearly $24.3 billion. (AP via Boston Globe)

Experts say LA's recently opened Expo light-rail line has a serious track flaw that could lead to higher risk of train derailments -- and repairing it is complicated. (Los Angeles Times)

Metro-North is testing a mobile app that would let passengers purchase and display tickets via smartphone. (Crain's NY)

NJ Transit approved a budget that doesn't increase fares. (AP via Wall Street Journal)

Cap'n Transit says although there's too much park-and-ride action in NJ Transit's plans for its Northern Branch corridor, "they aren't going to pave paradise to put up these parking lots." (link)

Charlotte is unveiling its bike share program today. (Charlotte Observer)

Meanwhile, San Francisco's bike share won't launch until as late as January. (Streetsblog)

Milwaukee's proposed bike share program cleared its first hurdle: a city council committee vote.  (Journal Sentinel)

New York City officials unveiled a long-awaited plan to encourage developers to build new office skyscrapers in the aging district near Grand Central Terminal by allowing them to build higher and denser. (Wall Street Journal)

Depending on your take, Toronto's OneCity transit plan either “never happened -- it was a press conference," or it "went down in flames." (Globe and Mail)

China opened a new high-speed rail line between the eastern metropolis of Shanghai and southwest China's city of Chengdu. The 293km ride (about 182 miles) now takes just over 90 minutes. (Xinhua)

A subway worker was burned by the third rail at the 72nd Street IRT station. (New York Daily News)

As Americans drive less miles, ethanol makers are trying to persuade gas stations and motorists to buy fuel that contains more ethanol. (New York Times)

French car maker Peugeot Citroen plans to cut 8,000 jobs and close an assembly plant outside Paris as it struggles to contain mounting financial losses. (BBC)

Has Saratoga's County Clerk "created a secretive process" to dole out special license plates to "her political cronies"? (Albany Times Union)

Top stories on TN:
NY Gov Cuomo: We’re Paying for the New Tappan Zee With Tolls — And Mass Transit Would Increase Them Even More (link)
Will SunRail Change Central Florida’s Driving Habits? (link)
NYC Cab Drivers Push for Fare Hike Ahead of TLC Vote (link)

London Tube poster (photo by Tom Page via flickr)

American Airlines is looking for a merger or another investment deal as a path out of bankruptcy. (Wall Street Journal)

A transportation test-run for the London Olympics raised fresh fears about the city's ability to cope. (Guardian)

BART has exonerated a police officer who shot and killed a knife-wielding homeless man on the Civic Center platform last July. (Bay Citizen)

Your congestion datapoints of the day. "Avoid driving in Warsaw, Rome, and Brussels. They’re even worse than LA." (Felix Salmon/Reuters)

Caltrain began testing a real-time train arrival system. (KGO-TV)

How are Houston's HOT lanes working? (KUHF)

Most urban jobs are near some sort of mass transit stop but most workers face impractically difficult commutes via public transportation -- a consequence of suburbanization. (Wall Street Journal)

Don't like your new Chevy? Now you can return it for a full refund as long as the car has fewer than 4,000 miles on it. (Los Angeles Times)

DC's Council passed the taxicab modernization bill, but removed the amendment which would have required Uber to charge minimum fees five times those of regular taxis. (DCist, h/t GGW)

Inmates at one Brazilian prison can reduce their sentences in exchange for generating power via bicycle to help illuminate the town at night. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

Riding a bus carries race and class biases. "Can a city actually successfully gentrify its bus system?" (Atlantic Cities)

Meanwhile, one writer talks back: "Why is it a problem that in massively diverse international cities we don't have "enough" white people on the bus?" (Human Transit)

(editor's note: TN talks about race and mass transit in our documentary "Back of the Bus." Listen here.)

China’s auto sales rose 9% in June as buyers rushed to beat possible limits on car registrations aimed at curbing traffic. (Detroit Free Press)