Brigham Young University plugs their library service by capturing potential users’ attention through a parody of the popular Old Spice commercials, via YouTube An old axiom in libraries is that when the economy goes down, library patronage goes up. Therein…
Research Roundup: High-Speed Rail, Transportation Statistics, Transportation Taxes
We want to periodically highlight current transportation and transit research that is particularly useful or timely. Several new reports were issued recently that caught our eye and deserve review in addition to inclusion in our daily Transportation Headlines. Image via…
History Pin: Google In Partnership To Take On “Augmented Reality” & Map The World’s Photos And Stories
Image via Information Aesthetics We recently highlighted The Museum of London’s efforts to create an augmented reality iPhone app from a set of geotagged images in their collection. With the images plotted on a Google Map, history comes alive as…
Blue Line At 20: Welcoming The First Metro Rail Project And Its Continued Success
As we discussed last week during our look back at early rail links between Los Angeles and Long Beach, Wednesday is the 20th anniversary of the Metro Blue Line. When the light-rail cars began rolling on Saturday, July 14, 1990,…
Blue Line At 20: Looking Back At Early Service Between Los Angeles And Long Beach (1902-1961)
Pacific Electric Railway On First Day Of Operation to Long Beach, July 4, 1902 (via Metro Library Flickr) Next week, Los Angeles’ first contemporary rail project turns 20 years old. The Metro Blue Line running between Los Angeles and Long…
What CicLAvia Might Look Like: Scenes From "Oaklavia" And Other Car-Free Street Events
Image via Sunday Streets SF In just a couple of months, Los Angeles will begin an experiment with temporary street closure of streets for CicLAvia (promotional video can be found here). Inspired by Ciclovia, a weekly event in Bogota, Colombia,…
1922 Los Angeles: Unprecedented Growth, Congestion And A Plan For Relief
We recently discovered a fascinating 1922 PhD. dissertation from University of California, Berkeley that is a treasure-trove of various maps and charts. J.M. Terrass wrote his Study and Plan of Relief of the Street Traffic Congestion in the City of…
Subway Wraps: Innovative Transit Revenue Streams (Not Sandwiches)…
We’ve written before about the financial crunch facing most transit operators in the current economy, but many agencies are countering difficult decisions with new ways to supplement revenue beyond the usual raising of fares and cutting staff and service. Last…
Sustainability In Transportation: A New International Exhibit And Metro Library’s Up-To-The-Minute Resources
An international exhibit on sustainable transportation opens today in New York titled “Our Cities Ourselves,” a joint program of the Institute for Transportation and Development policy and the AIA Center for Architecture. Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term inclusive of…
Lost Parkways Of Los Angeles: The 1946 Proposed Interregional, Regional And Metropolitan Plan
In the long history of transit planning in Los Angeles, early documents focused on relieving congestion with new street plans. Shortly after phenomenal growth in both area and population before World War II, various studies and reports outlined ambitious plans…
Who Let The Data Out?: Comparing Transit Systems’ Open Data Elements
Washington D.C. is the latest transit agency of note to open its data to the public – and they are going all out to take the lead in this area in order to improve service. The agency is creating a…