Episode 588: What Does It Cost to Build a Bus?

This week we're joined by Sofia Navas and James Nix of the NGO Transport & Environment to talk about their recent report: Ever Bigger? Car Size at a Crossroads. We discuss the increasing size of vehicles and why they keep growing. The safety issues that are tied to vehicle size increases, and the amount of parking and public space that could be lost. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week we're Han Solo, but that won't stop us from sharing some interesting news including daylighting urban streams, why we shouldn't put everything on transit, Barcelona's e-bike subsidy, and Charlotte's value created.  News Items Two ways to daylight streams - The Conversation Transit scope creep - Works in Progress Barcelona e-bike - City of Barcelona The Carbon Wave - MIT Press Reader Feedback loops - ArchDaily Charlotte light rail value - Planetizen Dead malls a thing still? - Arbitrary Lines Cities need municipal wealth funds - Urban Proxima Trumps war reduced oil consumption - Yale Climate Connections Bonus Items Robotaxis skipping the gas tax - Eno Center for Transportation Bay area exporting housing shortage - San Francisco Chronicle Did Chicago TIF work? - University of Illinois Chicago Las Vegas BRT ridership - Las Vegas Sun China's new rules for autonomous vehicles - China Daily New Zealand road user charges set - ITS International Illinois e-bike bill signed - Government Technology Heat deaths are higher than shared - NPR Where do people mix - Northeastern University Paying for bike lane removal - LA Times +++ Many thanks to Bob Nanna for our intro/outro music. Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com  

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Joshua Schank to talk about his book New Tricks for Old Bureaucracies: Improving Policy Outcomes in the Public Sector. Joshua talks about the inner workings of LA Metro, benefits of openness and transparency as well as strategic planning.  We also share frustrations about meetings, transit board structures, and agency fiefdoms. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Yale's Karen Seto and University of Connecticut's Zhe Zhu to talk about their study: The Urban Pulse. We talk about using frequent time series satellite data to measure change in cities and the processes of urbanization. The Urban Pulse - Yale School for the Environment The Urban Pulse: Diagnosing the urbanization process as spiky, cyclical, and asynchronous - PNAS +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week on the Mondays Show we are Han Solo again, but have a lot of interesting news to share.  We talk about LA's people mover change orders, a poll that finds lots of people want urbanism, and a trip along the coast of West Africa. Today's Items People mover change orders - The Hollywood Reporter Voter attitudes towards green urbanism - Data for Progress Overperforming downtowns - Patrick Kennedy West African coast - NPR E-bike town - Portland Mercury A city for families - Constructor University London's social housing - The Guardian MBTA battery trains - Commonwealth Beacon Utah cutting emissions - KUER Hold grail of downtown recovery - Challenger Cities Bonus Items Oversize vehicles in Australia - The Conversation Rooftop rainwater cuts heat - University of Manchester Delivery protection act - New York Times China heavy vehicles chewing up roads - Techy 44 Baltimore policing reform - Emerald Pages Hidden fungal networks - Brighter Side of News NC Tax break could strip cities - INDY Week Pike Place market scale back - The Urbanist Roadless rule - Field and Stream CA tire efficiency rule - Grist The modern Sears home - Groundwork Collaborative +++ Many thanks to Bob Nanna for our intro/outro music. Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're chatting with Dallas Developer, DART Board Member, and urban designer Patrick Kennedy about his recent publication, An Atlas of Intercity Highway Impacts (Available Here). We discuss the tax base removed from cities by highways, what we could have done for cities with federal transportation funding, and the long term value lost. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week we're finally doing it! We're going to Kingwood Texas and talking about the greenbelt trail system I've been telling everyone about for years. This is a storytelling episode, featuring guests John Walsh, Jerry Lunow, and Bill Neuhaus so I hope folks enjoy hearing about NASA, timber companies, bike trails, and Houston's bayous.  But also, stick around to hear how a suburban development in Texas from the 1970's mirrors and pre-dated Dutch bike planning with special guest, Streetsblog Chicago's Steve Vance. Find all Talking Headways episodes here. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week we're Han Solo and covering some of the news from the last few weeks.  We talk about delivery worker stress, Maryland's need to build a revolving loan fund, and how street network design could help us build more housing. Below are the show notes with links from the articles we mentioned.  Main Items Sydney active transport superhighways - Committee for Sydney Beauty over billboards - Reasons to be Cheerful ROAD to housing passes - NPR ROAD details - Bipartisan Policy Center EPA wants to allow more truck emissions - New York Times Maryland case for revolving fund - Maryland Matters Saving Japans heritage homes - New York Times Street design for more housing - Planetizen Curb management can reduce driver stress - Traffic Technology Today $200 rent for work from home - USA Today Trump's DOT hates bike lanes - NPR Architectural waste - Common Edge Lake Powell in uncharted territory - Utah Public Radio Bonus Items San Antonio E-bike program - Smart Cities World Oregon recycling rules face test - Governing Chicago bike lane fines - Chicago Tribune Wall street wants rents to rise - Time Magazine Policy begets voter engagement - Virginia Mercury Poland HSR plans - UA Hungary rail modernization - Daily News Hungary Zoox can start charging - The Verge Fiscal crisis facing cities - Urban Proxima Flock's cameras misread plates - C-Net +++ Many thanks to Bob Nanna for our intro/outro music. Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Lisa Jerram of APTA and Philip Plotch of the Eno Center for Transportation to discuss Eno's report: Customization, Competition, and Costs: Findings and Recommendations for the U.S. Transit Bus Industry. We discuss what agencies want in a bus and why, the differences in European and US bus markets, and why customization standardization is hard to achieve. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

We're on vacation this week but we're flashing back to Episode 482 from two years ago featuring Megan Kimble discussing her book City Limits.  Soon we'll have Patrick Kennedy on the show and some of this work goes very well with his so I thought it would be a good one to bring back. Hope folks enjoy it! This week we're joined by Megan Kimble to talk about her book  City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways. We chat about the folks fighting back against highways, the history behind building big roads, and what the future looks like for advocacy.   +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com