A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by noted author and vaccine inventor, Dr. Paul Offit. Offit, probably most well known for his book Autism’s False Prophets was in town to raise money for a group that aims to vaccinate every child in the world and he spoke about his [...]

While recent reporting on the ongoing contract negotiations between our fair transit agency and the union representing most of its workforce seems to indicate that a strike is unlikely, there’s no reason we shouldn’t all have our strike contingency plans. Since my commute is just under two miles, I’ve been a bike commuter for a [...]

A bicyclist in Washington D.C. claims that a bus driver nearly ran him over, verbally assaulted him, and the police refused to write up the incident. The blog Greater Greater Washington published this bus vs. bike showdown that raises issues very relevant for us in Philadelphia. After reading this, I have a few questions I [...]

(Please note corrections to the gender references of the original story teller.  My apologies for the mistake!)
And I can call it a “great” story because this one did not end in tragedy as so many cyclist versus motorist stories do.  Ariel at Urban Direction talks about her his recent encounter with a particularly impatient and [...]

Following up on Ben Bradlow’s introductory explainer piece about how the stimulus money will get to this region, I wanted to post a link to this Philadelphia Business Journal story (via SEPTA Watch) from Friday that indicates SEPTA is expecting about $200 million.
The salient parts:
Under the $790 billion plan, which is expected to receive a [...]

I know it may be a little “pie-in-the-sky” to be thinking this big, but I can’t help but agree with SEPTA Watch and Dan U-A at YPP who both wonder whether we can use the stimulus debate to effect some real, revolutionary change and expansion for SEPTA.  Unfortunately, judging from the way the stimulus package [...]

Greater, Greater Washington once again comes to the valiant defense of cyclists like me who think that in exchange for me giving up my right to drive and clog our city’s urban streets, I should be able to make my own decisions at stop signs and red lights.
Again, lets get all of the caveats out [...]

When Mayor Nutter announced his original round of budget cuts to close a $1 billion five-year shortfall back in November, one item that may have gotten lost in the crowd of cuts was a proposal to end snow plowing on smaller or “tertiary” streets.  Expected savings: $8 million over five years.  Expected location of pain [...]

Several days ago I wrote about how folks in D.C. are unhappy with the otherwise highly praised Metro for its hesitancy to share its schedule info with Google and therefore become part of Google Transit.  I wrote about it because, unfortunately, our own regional transit authority was also outside of the Google-verse.
According to SEPTA Watch, [...]

Alan and I seem to have fallen into a pattern in which I defend the rights of cycling commuters while he takes the side of motorists.  Mind you, neither of us are advocating for people in either group who wantonly disregard traffic laws or engage in any kind of activity that intentionally puts people in [...]