✊🏙 NYC subway needs to be fixed 🚇 Driverless cars still far off 🚗 Berlin trying to save affordable rents 🇩🇪

By Radical Urbanist • Issue #15 • View online

🎆 Happy New Year, urbanists!

I hope you had a great holiday and your 2018 is going well so far.

Over the holidays, the New York Times published a fantastic series on the subway system, looking at why construction costs are so high and arguing that the government must pay whatever it costs to fix it because the subway is key to the city’s prosperity. I highly recommend reading it.

I’m also back to writing, so I’ve included a piece I wrote about Uber that has blown up over the weekend; and given how we’ve already looked at London and Paris quite a bit (see issues 2 and 8), I’ve included a couple of articles about housing and cycling in Berlin from CityLab.

Have a great week!

— Paris

Ⓜ️ Fixing the New York City subway

The Case for the Subway

LONGREAD: A great piece arguing that the subway is the backbone of the city and the leading driver of its prosperity. The city and state governments can’t afford not to do whatever it takes to fix and rebuild the system.

www.nytimes.com • Share

The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth

LONGREAD: Why does the MTA pay $3.5 billion per mile when a similar project in Paris costs just $400 million per mile? This piece investigating why MTA projects cost so much more than comparable transit investments elsewhere in North America and Europe is aggravating, but instructive. (See issue 10 for political interference in the MTA.)

www.nytimes.com • Share

Why Congestion Pricing Won’t Overwhelm the Subways

In order to put new money into the MTA, Governor Cuomo looks to be about to announce his congestion pricing plan. StreetsBlog argues the system will be able to absorb additional passengers switching from vehicle to subway in the short-term. (See issue 11 for more on congestion pricing.)

nyc.streetsblog.org • Share

📉 Uber's massive losses and driverless delay

Uber is Not Price Competitive with Transit

Uber lost $2.8 billion in 2016, is on track to lost $5 billion in 2017, and self-driving cars are much further off than the industry initially led us to believe. Uber will have to raise its prices, and the more it transforms our existing transport systems before that happens, the greater the shock will be to riders and cities.

medium.com • Share

Before Self-Driving Cars Become Real, They Face These Challenges

A great overview of the state of driverless vehicles, how autonomous tech still needs work, and how many companies in the space are pushing their timelines for cars to hit the road by several years.

www.wired.com • Share

Drivers Aren't Ready for Self-Driving Cars

An interesting argument that people are wary of self-driving vehicles, and they should be rolled out slowly when they’re ready. A poll shows 56% of Americans do not want to ride in a driverless car.

www.citylab.com • Share

🇩🇪 A closer look at Berlin

A Berlin Borough Finds the Limits of its Affordable Housing Plan

While Berlin’s rents are still much more affordable than in many Western European capitals, that doesn’t mean the city’s residents aren’t starting to feel rent pressure. However, one borough has been trying to protect its residents by using its right of first refusal to buy apartment buildings and preserve affordability. This brought to mind how Vienna owns much of the housing in its jurisdiction and rents it at affordable prices (see issue 13).

www.citylab.com • Share

Berlin's Plan to Become a City for Cyclists

Paris and London are making big investments in cycling infrastructure to get closer to the Dutch and Danish leaders, and now Berlin has a plan to join them. The Green Party has presented a new law aimed at adding new bike parking spaces, expanding and improving bike lanes, and building new bike superhighways.

www.citylab.com • Share

✊❤️ Thanks for reading, and make sure to follow me on Twitter, Medium, and Instagram for even more!

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By Radical Urbanist

A weekly list of must-read articles about the big issues facing global cities. Written and curated by @parismarx.

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