Driving up Interstate 77 from the south, downtown Charlotte jumps out at you suddenly. Much of that is a function of North Carolina’s inland topography — not yet Appalachia mountains, not the flat coastal plains either, but somewhere in between. The skyscrapers visible suddenly from the highway, only a few miles from the city center. Five of those high-rises are more than 50 stories tall (and 15 are more 30 stories tall) — not as many as in New York or Chicago, but moving in

We get it: transportation demand management (TDM) is hard to wrap your head around. So plain and simple, TDM is using the existing infrastructure in more efficient ways. Like reducing single occupancy vehicle trips and getting people on transit, bikes, or in carpools. TDM is all about influencing people’s behavior to use the existing built environment better. But how does TDM actually do that, you might ask. What are some tangible TDM policies? We got you covered. These are t

Kidding – of course I’ll be back but not before enjoying some fun in the sun! I’m leaving tomorrow (Friday, 27th) to Anaheim, California for ACT International’s Conference (July 28th – Aug. 1st). I had the pleasure of chairing this year’s conference, which is one of ACT’s record high attendance AND a SOLD OUT event - close to 600 attendees! Wow, I can’t wait! Before enjoying too much sun, I’ll be starting off my trip with our National board of directors’ meeting on Satu

Parking eats up an incredible amount of space and costs America’s cities an extraordinary amount of money. That’s the main takeaway of a new study that looks in detail at parking in five U.S. cities: New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Des Moines, and Jackson, Wyoming. The study, by Eric Scharnhorst of the Research Institute for Housing America (which is affiliated with the Mortgage Bankers of America), uses data from satellite images, the U.S. Census, property tax assessment of

SEPTA’s KEY turnstiles have gone into service. As the transit agency begins the introduction of the KEY on Regional Rail, the turnstile roto-arms were put in place. All fareline entrances, including the ADA gates, were activated on Monday. To enter the station: All fareline turnstiles and ADA gates will be in operation (including platform farelines by the elevators, Monday through Friday, from 6 to 8 p.m. During these hours all fares must be paid at the turnstiles before proc

On a recent Thursday morning, Emily Keeney, a 30-year-old digital marketer from Queens, N.Y., was aboard a train rolling through New Haven, riding to her family home in Somers, Connecticut, for her younger sister’s high-school graduation. In the same car, Omar Eton, a 60-year-old Hartford cancer specialist, was returning to his office after appearing on a local TV news show in New Haven. Also a passenger was Nate Evans, a 27-year-old dance teacher, who lives about 40 minutes

Lyft made a big move yesterday to not only live up to its founders’ lofty ideals, but to stake a claim as a more multimodal, sustainable transportation company that supports transit equity and safer streets. In a Medium post, cofounders John Zimmer and Logan Green outlined Lyft’s new approach to integrating bikes and scooters into its suite of services, filling in details after announcing plans to purchase Motivate, the nation’s largest bikeshare operator, for $250 million ea

In Munich, the future of public transit might be up in the air. This month, the city is discussing a plan to create a new 4.5-kilometer gondola link in the northern part of the city, linking two districts on the internal beltway that are currently poorly connected for everyone except drivers. Supported by the mayor, the regional transit minister, and even the opposition parties in the city’s assembly, it’s a plan that has a strong likelihood of being built. It’s still perhaps