by Stephen Smith BLDG blog has a cool post about a book by two architects about "minor development," or small construction projects that don't require planning permission – things like sheds, garages, and extensions. It talks about recent legal changes in Europe that have encouraged this sort of … [Read more...]
A comment on rolling stock protectionism
by Stephen Smith In response to an article I posted yesterday about protectionism in public transit procurement, frequent commenter Alon Levy left this great comment about the history of rolling stock procurement in the US: What happened in the 1970s was that the rolling stock market shrank, … [Read more...]
North Jersey jitneys take off
by Stephen Smith In 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 Smith As 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 Smith Behold, 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 Smith I 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 Smith The 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 Smith The 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...]
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