Facing the threat of a city government financial collapse, Mayor Dave Bing is exploring the option of privatizing Detroit's public transit services. Photo by C.J. Peters.
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: integrated transport, urban development and accessibility, air quality and climate change, health and road safety, and communications and marketing.
Integrated Transport
The International Trade Fair of Mass Transport was held this week in Bogotá, Colombia. Among the fair’s featured speakers was Luis Gutierrez, the Latin America Strategic Director of EMBARQ, the producer of this blog.
Montreal’s Bixi bike share closed down operations due to the approaching cold-weather months. The outfit is scheduled to be up and running again on April 15.
Portland, Ore.’s TriMet public transit provider expressed interest in developing two new city bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors.
Facing the threat of a city government financial collapse, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is exploring the option of privatizing Detroit’s public transit services. In a televised broadcast on Wednesday, the mayor warned that the city is on pace to run out of money by this April.
Urban Development + Accessibility
The Atlantic hosted the fourth-annual Green Intelligence Forum in Washington, D.C. This year’s forum theme was “creating the sustainable city of the future.”
New York City MTA launched a new 34th Street Select Bus Service, complete with off-board fare collection, low-floor hybrid buses, and fewer stops than its predecessor bus line.
New parking space requirements for businesses in Houston, Texas include provisions for bike parking.
The FISTA World Automotive Summit began yesterday and continues today in Mainz, Germany. Toni Lindau, Director of EMBARQ Brasil (the Brazilian sustainable transport center of EMBARQ), is speaking today on the subject of urban mobility in Brasil.
Air Quality + Climate Change
The price of oil in New York went above $101 a barrel this week – an increase of more than 2 percent.
Washington D.C.’s private vehicle fleet size increased by 4 percent between 2008 and 2011, according to a newly released study.
The 2011 Sustainable Cities Conference was held in Istanbul, gathering dozens of mayors, academic professionals, and NGO representatives from across Turkey and Europe.
Two new greenhouse gas emission standards, the Corporate Value Chain and Product Life Cycle Standards, were unveiled in China.
Health + Road Safety
Several hundred cyclists took part in the “Tour du Danger” in London this past Saturday. The awareness-building bike ride visited London’s 10 most dangerous intersections for cyclists.
A proposed U.S. Senate transport funding bill containing a clause prohibiting bicycling on federally owned roads with speed limits of, or greater than, 30 miles per hour spiked strong opposition.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) and the San Francisco Police will give 2,000 LED lights and reflectors to city cyclists during the oncoming month.
Communications + Marketing
Chevy will launch its first mass-produced pink car next year with the Chevrolet Spark. The Spark will also come in Salsa (red), Jalapeno (lime green), Denim (muted blue) and Lemonade (yellow).
San Francisco’s BART transit system produced an informational comic book to aid metro user navigation.
Vélo Québec released an exploratory document outlining what Montreal’s bicycling infrastructure might look like in 2031, and the changes required to achieve these improvements.
