Welcome back to TheCityFix Picks, our series highlighting the newsy and noteworthy of the past week. Each Friday, we’ll run down the headlines falling under TheCityFix’s five themes: mobility, quality of life, environment, public space, and technology and innovation.

Mobility

The Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transit System has caught the eye of several transportation agencies across the globe looking to emulate the success of the less-than-one-year-old mass transit system.

Ontario’s Hamilton Spectator compares light rail transit and bus rapid transit and, based on cost and efficiency, BRT comes out on top but “suffer[s] an image problem.”

The University of California Irvine predicts in a report released Thursday that a high-speed rail line would generate 127,000 jobs in the Los Angeles area.

With negotiations stalling over the past four years, Tel Aviv’s government has pulled its support for a proposed light rail project in the Israeli coastal city.

Quality of Life

The U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the International Basketball Federation are launching a global road safety campaign to reduce traffic crashes featuring basketball super stars to spread the campaign’s message.

A new study from Singapore shows that public opinion of the public transport system as well as its education system has fallen in user satisfaction for the third year in a row.

The number of Americans projected to travel over this Labor Day weekend will increase 9.9 percent from 2009, with 34.4 million travelers taking a trip at least 50 miles away from home, according to AAA.

Environment

Finland is laying down a carbon-neutral “green highway” with electric charging and biofuel stations along the roadway for alternative fuel vehicles. The Scandinavian nation aims to “set an example to the world.”

Boulder, Colo. has launched a voluntary program called Driven to Drive Less calling on citizens to go car-free for one day based on the color of their car.

Public Space

Johannesburg’s beautification of public spaces around the Rea Vaya BRT stations has landed the city’s Development Agency two nominations for Business and Arts South Africa Awards.

A study released by the University of Munich reveals that parking minimums for development projects feeds into urban sprawl in urban and suburban areas.

The New York Times looks at the ironic plight of expertise-rich India. A plague of crumbling infrastructure over decades leaves one asking: “Where are the civil engineers?”

Technology and Innovation

Get a load of this: Volkswagen unveiled the “Bio-Bug” — a sewage-powered vehicle prototype that can reach speeds of up to 114 miles per hour.

The New York City-based Social Bicycles System, or SoBi, could help bikesharing go mainstream, with the help of GPS-enabled smartphone technology that allows cyclists to locate, check out and park their bikes.

Our friends at SeeClickFix unveiled a website redesign with new widgets, an updated dashboard, a “top performing cities” ranking and a universal API plugin.