by Stephen SmithIn the past few years, a relatively new phenomenon seems to be taking hold in cities across North Jersey: the jitney. Similar to the dollar vans that ply the streets of Brooklyn and Queens, jitneys carry more than a taxi but less than a full-sized bus, and run semi-regular … [Read more...]
“Buy American” drives up cost of transit
by Stephen SmithAs if America's public transportation networks weren't hobbled enough by union wages and pensions, the Obama administration's "Buy American" pandering is adding to the burden. One streetcar line in Houston has been sent back to the drawing board because it didn't comply with … [Read more...]
Lazy link list
by Stephen SmithBehold, a list of links that's turned into a list of short paragraphs:1. The greater DC area is considering a "massive new toll system" – 1,650 miles of "variably priced" lanes – along with a "500-mile rapid transit bus system" along the toll roads (in my opinion, a BRT would … [Read more...]
Enforced price ceilings on private parking lots
by Stephen SmithI wrote last week about a tendency in developing Asian countries to emulate the most anti-market Western planning policies, but I didn't realize it was this bad. Paul Barter writes: Would it surprise you to know that some cities control the price of parking even for … [Read more...]
Internalizing positive transit externalities
by Stephen SmithThe Wall Street Journal ran an article a few days ago claiming that the MTA's recent NYC transit cuts have lowered real estate prices along train and bus lines that have been axed. While it's not a quantitative study, the anecdotes are compelling: "The buyer who buys in Astoria … [Read more...]
Food deserts and zoning
by Stephen SmithThe other day I put up a post detailing the restrictions that small-scale restaurants and food carts face, but I should mention that grocery stores and supermarkets also face similar restrictions. Like restrictions on restaurants, they end hitting poor, urban, black … [Read more...]
Deregulating food
by Stephen SmithUrban planners like to discuss heavy things – roads, buildings, cars, trains. Food, though an integral part of humans' lives, generally doesn't enter into the equation as more than a footnote. This may be because food service is governed by different departments than buildings, … [Read more...]
Exporting (sub)urbanism: Kuala Lumpur and the communist world
by Stephen SmithAdam Martin at William Easterly's development blog Aid Watch has a post up warning about the tendency among developing nations to adopt Western styles wholesale, even if such styles are not even efficient in their countries of origin. He posits this as a sort of developmental … [Read more...]