Transit Service
Seattle's First Hill Streetcar 'Soft Opened' on Saturday
The long-delayed First Hill streetcar offered its first trips to the public last weekend in Seattle. Big questions about the operation and effectiveness of the streetcar still remain.
Seattle's New Light Rail Extension: On Time and Under Budget
Seattle, home to the most infamously bungled infrastructure projects in the country (the Bertha-blocked tunnel), has managed to do something rare for any city: complete a transit extension on-time and under-budget.
Providence Scraps Streetcar Plans in Favor of an 'Enhanced' Bus Line
Citing the drastically reduced costs of a bus line, the city of Providence is hoping to replace its proposed streetcar line with the Providence Enhanced Bus Circulator. The new proposal requires federal funding to display a similar flexibility.
Beer Company Paying for Transit on New Year's Eve in Washington, D.C.
Miller Lite is shifting from its normal lobbying expenditures in the nation's capital to pick up the tab on the ride home for those taking transit. Here's to getting home safely, tonight and every other night.
Chicago Launches Loop Link BRT Service
Until this weekend, CTA buses in Downtown Chicago averaged a speed of 3 mph. The Loop Link is designed to improve those results.
Portland to Test Stop Thinning to Speed Up Streetcars
Responding to the leading complaint about the Portland Streetcar—that they move too slow to be useful compared to other modes—service will temporarily make fewer stops along routes in the Pearl District and Downtown.

27,000 Passenger Complaints Show Room for Improvement on Miami-Dade's Metrobus
An investigation of passenger complaints provides the starting point for an in-depth investigation of the service provided by Florida's largest transit system.
BART Squeezing Every Inch of Capacity While Waiting for Reinforcements
BART expanded service in September in a display of the lost art of making the most of what they've got.

D.C. Metro's Mea Culpa: Bad Service Responsible for Declining Ridership
While cities like New York and San Francisco's transit systems are bursting at the seams, D.C. Metro's rail system lost 5 percent of its ridership between 2010 and 2015. This week Metro acknowledged some of its fault in that trend.
5 Tips for Analyzing Transit Service
Esri offers insights into five new ways to analyze the success of transit service in cities of all kinds.

One Fare Card for All 26 Transit Agencies in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County has dreamed the impossible dream—and will now provide transit access to all of its transit agencies with the use of one fare card.
Dallas Puts New Downtown Light Rail Line on the Fast Track
The Dallas City Council has given preliminary approval to a proposed light rail line, currently called D2, which would add service capacity to the downtown core.
A New Algorithm to Predict Train Delays
An algorithm developed in Sweden adds an extra layer of reliability for rail commuters.

Olympic Hopes Move the Finish Line for Los Angeles Rail Plans
The city of Los Angeles is leveraging its hopes as the U.S. candidate to host the 2024 Olympics to ramp up rail construction to an "extremely aggressive" timetable.

Op-Ed: Dallas' Rail Plans Are Bigger Than All the Rest
The Dallas Morning News thinks it's safe to say that no city in the United States compares to the ambition of Dallas when it comes to planning for rail transportation.

Uber Looking More and More Like Transit: Is that Good or Bad for Transit?
A spate of media coverage responded to the news that Uber had released a new feature called "Smart Routes."
Still Waiting on the Universal Fare Card for U.S. Transit Systems
Some people dream of jet packs, others dream of using a smartphone to navigate between transit systems and modes without needing to stop to buy a new fare card.

How Politics Poisoned U.S. Public Transportation
Vox brings out the subtleties in explaining the underperformance of the U.S. public transportation system.

Bus Rapid Transit Without Dedicated Lines—Finding Out the Hard Way
San Diego's bus rapid transit line, open for nine months, hasn't improved transit service along El Cajon Boulevard. Critics blame cuts to the original plan.
Report: Nashville's Transit Fit for a Smaller City
The Nashville Metro Transit Authority recently released a "State of the MTA" report, detailing the system's need for additional funding to improve in pace with the needs of a growing populace.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research