transportation

About 40% of American-made cars in 1900 were steam-powered

Thanks to recent documentaries and news stories, many Americans have woken up to the fact that electric cars aren’t such a new idea. What’s gotten less attention is that steam-powered cars were actually quite popular at the turn of the 20th century as well. From Pacific Standard: The steam-powered automobile may seem like a bit…

Flying Car Company: China Desperately Needs Flying Cars

Executives from the flying car company Terrafugia are currently in China looking for funding, leading some in the media to innocently ask if flying cars could ease Beijing’s traffic congestion. As the young folks these days might put it: LOL. From the Wall Street Journal: “China is experiencing a lot of the pains of becoming…

Economy Airplane Seats of the Future Will Be More Like First Class

BAE Systems has taken a break from submarines and warships to lavish attention on the humble cattle-class flyer. Its IntelliCabin, a system that integrates passenger controls into a touchscreen tablet interface for fliers and staff, should make standard class a bit more like first. A bit. http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2014/05/new-nuclear-sub-artful-plops-into-the-sea-beside-cumbria/ The system delivers power to each seat, so…

Train Strikes, Airbnb, Homogeneity: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

A train strike has paralyzed France, Airbnb has screwed San Francisco’s housing market, a lack of diversity has wrecked Austin, and two Southern California mayors fucked up, in two very different ways. It’s our joyously optimistic look at What’s Ruining Our Cities! A train strike is ruining France Called the worst strike in 13 years,…

This London bus stop is made entirely from 100,000 Lego bricks

An entire Lego bus stop built to Transport for London specifications has been constructed in London’s Regent Street—right in front of a toy store, of course. The route signs, the windows, even the seats are made of Lego bricks! The structure was crafted from 100,000 Lego bricks by Trueform, a company that makes street furniture,…

Photos of L.A.’s Most Famous Streets When They Were Dirt Roads

Like some of the very people who drive on them, a few Los Angeles streets have achieved the height of fame. Sunset Boulevard lent its evocative name to Billy Wilder’s classic film noir. Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard appears on millions of television screens each New Year’s Day as the route of the Rose Parade. And to…

January 2000: Truck concept vehicle from Ford called “The 24.7” featuring technologies like internet, hands-free mobile phone, real-time route assistance, weather reports and stock read-outs. [Getty Images]

Why the Same Three Typefaces Are Used In Almost Every Airport

Wayfinding signage is an invisible network draped upon our public places. And that network has to work especially hard in airports when we’re lost, hungry, and exhausted. Especially when helping us navigate in jetlagged states using strange languages, good wayfinding means sticking to clear, legible typefaces. So how do designers choose? “It’s like a spiderweb—you…

Boston’s New “Smart Mass Transit” Gets You To Work Faster—For A Price

It’s time to go to work. But instead of walking a half-mile to the nearest bus stop and waiting in the searing morning sun, you tap in your location to an app and keep sipping your coffee at your kitchen table. The bus stops mere blocks from your house and delivers you to work in…

“There’s a Bomb on a Bus”: Speed and L.A.’s Car Chase Addiction

Before I re-watched it anticipation of its 20th anniversary, I might have dismissed Speed as more tired commentary on L.A. traffic. In actuality, I was shocked at how honestly the film portrayed Los Angeles’ transportation culture in 1994. Although it did perpetuate its fair share of transit myths: Like anyone could ever get up to…

Elon Musk Wants To Make A Flying Car

“Maybe we’ll make a flying car, just for fun,” Elon Musk told The Independent yesterday. Explaining that he’d “thought about it quite a lot,” the only thing stopping him appears to be every single thing that’s kept the flying car from becoming a mainstream reality in the past 100 years. “We could definitely make a…

Animated Map Shows How Paved Roads Spread Across L.A. County

Is the L.A. of 2014 driving around on a road network built for the L.A. of the 1980s? That’s one conclusion two researchers at Arizona State University draw from their above data visualization, which uses building records from the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office to infer the age of the metropolis’ roads. Green represents the…

This Map Shows You The Fastest Way to Get Anywhere In Your City

Conventional wisdom (especially when it’s raining) whispers in your ear that you can get anywhere in your city fastest by jumping in a car. Turns out in many cases, that is probably not true. Now you can easily see which mode of transit will deliver you to your destination faster, wherever you are. This is…

Arriving Soon in Southern California: A New Golden Age of Train Travel

If we really are witnessing the dawn of a “new golden age of train travel,” there are few better places to see it take physical form than the Southland. In Orange County, the arches of the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, or ARTIC (above), have been rising across the freeway from Angel Stadium. It’s scheduled…

It’s Time to Embrace Congestion Pricing

An ambitious new transportation plan for DC announced last week includes a massive public transit expansion, additional subway line, and beefed up network of bike lanes. But the proposal that’s getting the most attention is the introduction of congestion pricing. Yes, DC wants to charge cars to enter its downtown. And more cities should. As…

Earn $10,000 By Ratting On Friends Who Point Lasers At Aircraft

After a successful trial project in several major US cities, the FBI has announced that it will reward upwards of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of anyone who intentionally aims a laser at an aircraft. Last year, 3,960 laser strikes were reported — a nasty practice with potentially catastrophic consequences. According to the…

The University of Michigan is building a mock town to test self-driving cars. The vehicles will confront all the normal obstacles of a bustling city: traffic signs, stoplights, merge lanes, construction work, streetlights, sidewalks and even “mechanical pedestrians” that dart out into the street in front of traffic.

Ask a Bike Planner How to Make Your City More Cyclist-Friendly

One of the most bike-friendly cities in the U.S. is Long Beach, a Southern California city of about 500,000 residents that most people do not even know is separate from L.A. Over just about a decade, the city has transformed itself into a haven for cyclists, implementing innovative infrastructure like bike boulevards, safety elements like…

A new Miami train station was unveiled today by All Aboard Florida, a privately financed passenger rail project that will connect Orlando to South Florida by refurbishing 235 miles of existing rail lines. This station designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is expected to open in 2016. [All Aboard Florida]

​Why Google’s Self-Driving Car Will Fail

Gee whiz, a self-driving car! Who wouldn’t want one of those? Well, if you look at what it’s trying to achieve, it’s not actually a great idea. Here’s why. Google says it’s made the Self-Driving Car for one major reason: safety. By removing the most incompetent link in the car chain — the human operator…