Stories worth reading – August 6, 2015

Good afternoon. Here are a few curated stories we’re reading and talking about this week.

First, did you catch these stories from the T4A blog?

A proposal in the U.S. House could send more transportation funding to local communities
From the T4A blog
ISTA provides local communities access to a larger share of federal transportation funding by setting aside a portion of statewide transportation money and allowing communities to compete for funds to pay for their innovative and ambitious transportation projects. Those awarded funds will provide the greatest return on investment and ensure every dollar is spent on the most cost effective project.

10 things you need to know about the Senate’s DRIVE Act
From the T4A blog
Though the Senate finally moved beyond repeated short-term extensions to the nation’s transportation program with a multi-year bill, their DRIVE Act is also major missed opportunity to give cities, towns and local communities of all sizes more control over and access to federal transportation dollars. Here are nine other things that you need to know about the Senate’s bill.

The Senate’s multi-year transportation bill misses the mark on multimodal freight
From the T4A blog
The Senate’s multi-year transportation bill recognizes that efficient freight movement is important, but the bill prioritizes freight moving on highways over that moving by rail, air, ports and pipelines.

Headlines

How Car-Centric Cities Like Phoenix Learned to Love Light Rail
Governing
To those who fought for it, light rail in Phoenix was always about more than shiny new trains and faster travel times; it was a machine to transform urban life. Advocates in Phoenix, like those in many other cities, claimed light rail would introduce a whole new type of development, one that would appeal to both working millennials and retired snowbirds. Less developed neighborhoods would morph into walkable communities. Residents who live along transit corridors would be able to hop on a train to see a show, catch a game, head to class or get to work. The transit system would attract new residents, new businesses and new jobs, making the region competitive for years to come.

So Congress wants to get serious about highways?
Politico
Are we stuck? Maybe not. This is not the first time Congress has faced an impasse on an important issue. On budget issues, it happens frequently. Congress has found ways to resolve budget impasses. Maybe those techniques could preserve our infrastructure, too. Here’s a blueprint for how it would work for transportation.

If autonomous vehicles rule the world: From horseless to driverless
The Economist
The difference is that self-driving vehicles that can be summoned and dismissed at will could do more than make driving easier: they promise to overturn many industries and redefine urban life. The spread of driver-assistance technology will be gradual over the next few years, but then the emergence of fully autonomous vehicles could suddenly make existing cars look as outmoded as steam engines and landline telephones. What will the world look like if they become commonplace?

Congress Should Look Beyond the Gas Tax
New York Times
But even the gas tax will eventually become ineffective at raising sufficient money for road and mass transit systems. That’s because as Americans increasingly buy more efficient hybrid and all-electric cars, they will use much less gasoline and diesel. Congress thus needs to consider proposals for putting fees on the number of miles people drive on public roads.

The Most Persuasive Evidence Yet that Bike-Share Serves as Public Transit
CityLab
The denser the urban environment (particularly for rail), the more bikesharing provides new connections that substitute for existing ones. The less dense the environment, the more bikesharing establishes new connections to the existing public transit system.

Lyft to lobby on a range of issues
Politico
Ride-share company Lyft has registered to lobby on a range of issues, including “transportation and environmental issues in the 2015 highway reauthorization bill; shared economy issues including labor, consumer safety, privacy, technology; commuter tax benefits,” according to Senate lobbying disclosures.