Dealing with maintenance backlogs may be the best way to sell an infrastructure package to Congress and the American people.
Transportation
Posted inCoronavirus
Federal Mask Mandate Is No Defense Against Hostile Riders
The mandate gives transit, passenger rail, and airline employees new levels of authority. But enforcement remains a major challenge for anyone dealing with screaming, punching, or worse.
Posted inEnergy and the Environment
The National-Security Case for Decarbonization
Getting off fossil fuels will save a fortune in averted military misadventures.
Posted inEnergy and the Environment
The Long and Winding Road to Replacing the Gas Tax
Can Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg convince Congress that road user fees are the next big revenue thing?
Posted inCoronavirus
Cleaning New York Subways, Immigrant Workers Find Abuse
Working for the MTA’s hired contractors, an immigrant workforce is exploited and harassed.
Posted inCabinet Watch
FOB (Biden, not Bill) Pete Buttigieg Gets the DOT
The former mayor of South Bend will become the secretary of transportation, despite light experience in an area crucial to the president-elect’s Build Back Better regime.
Posted inVideos
⏩ Cleaning Up the Mess: Watch Our Nov/Dec 2020 Issue Release Event
To celebrate the launch of our November/December print issue, we gathered our writers to explore these questions with each other and elaborate on their own pieces from the issue.
Posted inCoronavirus
Public Transportation in Crisis
Their ridership slashed in the pandemic, urban and rural systems need funding, which Congress has refused to provide. Here’s how some systems are coping—and some aren’t.
Posted inCabinet Watch
Rahm Emanuel for Transportation Secretary? For Anything?
Should Biden nominate the former Chicago mayor, the Democratic base is sure to revolt.
Posted inCoronavirus
Six Months Into the Pandemic, Transit Workers Are Still Dying—With No End in Sight
Though they’ve kept working in some of the most dangerous jobs, they’re now facing the prospect of furloughs and layoffs if there’s no more federal funding for transit.