As we plan our coverage for the year ahead, we’re looking back at Next City’s most impactful and interesting reporting on transportation and urban mobility in 2024.
From zero fare transit to Vision Zero strategies, our reporters are examining how cities, transportation agencies, startups, organizers and residents are working to create transportation networks that are more accessible, reliable, safe and sustainable.
Alongside editor’s favorites, we’ve included the most-read stories of the year. All of these articles showcase Next City’s mission to deliver solutions journalism that explores how to build more equitable cities.
For more, see our most popular stories across the board for 2024. Or check out our annual Solutions of the Year magazine, an 80-page print edition highlighting 2024’s 24 best ideas for making liberating cities from systems of oppression.
Philly Is Giving Free SEPTA Rides to 25,000 Low-Income Residents. No Strings Attached.
In August, the City of Philadelphia began a two-year Zero Fare pilot program, distributing 25,000 SEPTA Key cards (valued at $204 each) for unlimited free rides. Most participants don’t need to take any action to enroll – but many also are hesitant to believe the program is real.
“Transportation has been identified as a barrier for folks seeking employment, especially in Philadelphia, because of the high poverty rate,” says program director Nicola Mammes. Over 20% of Philadelphians live below the poverty line, and 50% of those households don’t own a car. – Maylin Tu, April 2024
Another Car-Sharing Startup Is Dead. Why Is Car Sharing So Difficult?
In August, Gig Car Share announced it would be shutting down at the end of next month due to “decreased demand” and “rising operational costs.” It is the latest setback for the car sharing model, which once seemed like a critical component of the future of mobility. Gig’s shutdown follows recent failures by Mercedes-Benz’s Car2Go, GM’s Maven, BMW’s Reach Now, Uber’s Car Next Door and Blue Indy, leaving only a few local operations in the United States alongside Zipcar’s fixed model.
“The short answer is that the costs didn’t work out,” says Colin Murphy, director of research and consulting at the non-profit Shared-Use Mobility Center. “In general, I think that free-floating just adds a layer of labor costs on top of a very low-margin business.” – Nithin Coca, November 2024
America’s Biggest Universal Basic Mobility Experiment Is Taking Place in L.A.
In May, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and LA Metro launched the biggest Universal Basic Mobility experiment ever attempted in the U.S., giving 1,000 South Los Angeles residents a “mobility wallet” — a debit card with $150 per month to spend on transportation.
It’s the biggest experiment in Universal Basic Mobility in the U.S., but it is not the first. “Mobility wallets are catching like wildfire,” says Mollie D’Agostino, executive director of the new Mobility Science, Automation, and Inclusion Center at UC Davis. – Maylin Tu, January 2024
Chicago’s Unique Bike Giveaway Program Is a Win for Mobility Justice
A report on the first two years of the country’s biggest free bike distribution program says it’s proven an “effective, cost-efficient model for getting bicycles into users’ hands for transportation” in disinvested neighborhoods.
CDOT has distributed over 2,000 single-speed, pedal bicycles out of its goal of 5,000 and is expected to continue through 2026. It pairs these with bike security, safety equipment and optional maintenance classes.
In total, the program cost the city about $652 per distributed bicycle. After the giveaway, about 28% of survey respondents said they rode their bike three to five weekly, and about 12% said they ride near daily. – Lucas Frisancho, July 2024
What If Non-Drivers Helped Plan Our Transportation Systems?
Imagine a highway department staffed entirely of people who do not drive. Maybe they ride as passengers in cars sometimes, or drive when out of town on vacation, in other countries where more people drive, where driving is easier, more comfortable, and more convenient. Our perspective of what a transportation system should look like would be heavily influenced by what people walking, rolling, and taking transit need. Would we be able to know what would work best for drivers at a highway interchange? Probably not.
And yet the inverse of this is the reality for most of the people in charge of our transportation system — to the point where it’s still revolutionary to suggest that engineers or planners get out of their cars and try walking or biking a road project to experience how it works for people outside of cars. – Anna Zivarts, excerpt from “When Driving Is Not An Option”
SEPTA Is Facing a Doom Spiral. Could a New Philly Arena Save It?
After years of proposals and community protests, Philadelphia might be getting a brand new downtown arena. Among the major concerns is the expected increase in game-day traffic. According to a city-commissioned traffic analysis, to avoid catastrophic congestion, 40% of fans must take transit to the stadium.
One recommended solution is to include a transit pass with every ticket. It’s called transit validation: For every ticket sold to an event, a transit pass is included free of charge. The concept is a no-brainer for cities and transit agencies, but also for people who drive to games, notes Donald Shoup, professor of urban planning at UCLA. “If you were going to drive to the game, wouldn’t you be happy if you thought that everybody else was taking the bus?” he says. – Maylin Tu, October 2024
Pennsylvania Legalized Speed Cameras. You Won’t Believe What Happened Next.
Roosevelt Boulevard is a wide, fast 12-lane arterial that runs through multiple densely populated neighborhoods in northeast Philadelphia. In 2018, the Pennsylvania legislature approved a pilot program to place speed cameras along Roosevelt Boulevard. And the results are in: Speed cameras save lives, according to a study from the University of Pennsylvania. – Maylin Tu, July 2024
Individualism Is Making Public Transit Worse
When you complain that transit doesn’t start where you want it to start, doesn’t end where you want it to end, and doesn’t go all the time, you’re describing inadequate public transit. With adequate funding and in the context of good city planning, public transit can do all of these things for vast numbers of people, though not for everyone and possibly not for Elon Musk.
But Musk’s other point is fundamental. Public transit does expose us to a bunch of random strangers, and this is its superpower. In the most effective public transit, different people with different purposes and destinations find the same vehicle useful at the same time. At its most successful, a transit system’s ridership is as diverse as the city or community it serves. It’s full of all kinds of people making all kinds of trips, all being a bunch of random strangers to each other. – Jarrett Walker, excerpt from “Human Transit”
Evanston’s Streets Have Become Safer for Cyclists. Here’s How.
Following a coordinated, yearslong effort to slow down drivers, Evanston has seen traffic-related injuries in the last decade fall by nearly half and the city went five years without a death, state records show.
Advocates and officials say Evanston’s success has bolstered the argument they’ve made for years: forcing drivers to slow down, especially in ways that expand designated spaces for cyclists and pedestrians, make streets safer for all users. City officials say they’ve achieved that goal through a coordinated and centralized effort that incorporates feedback without letting drivers, business owners or even local elected officials undermine their vision for a safer and more accessible public way. — Alex Nitkin via the Illinois Answers Project
What Paris Can Teach Other Cities About Removing Roads
Can removing a road make it easier to drive more freely elsewhere? A major study of 63 roads and squares closed to motor traffic in various European cities (mainly in Britain and Germany) suggests that it does. In many cases, cars disappeared altogether, rather than being displaced into parallel streets, lessening the dreaded congestion.
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, made the same claim, but the court disagreed, holding that the research was inadequate. However, actual measures of traffic levels before and after the road closure along the Seine, announced the week the court handed down its decision, indicated a reduction in motor traffic in nearby areas. Five years after she became mayor, people make 200,000 more trips by Métro than before — every day. – Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet, excerpt from “Movement: How to Take Back Our Streets and Transform Our Lives”