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Taxi vs. Lyft: My Commute
Monday morning I got to work in a plain old Yellow Cab. Tuesday morning I tried Lyft, one of the new smartphone-based "ridesharing" services that allows a regular person to turn his or her car into what operates much like a taxi with a pink mustache. My experience with Lyft was radically better (more on that below), but not in the ways that its marketing strategy emphasizes. I wasn't looking for my driver to be my best friend, or to feel like I was a part of a community, or to have scintillating conversations about politics before 9 a.m. I'm a mom with poky kid trying to get to work as quickly as possible, and I did that 34 minutes faster with Lyft.
Monday morning I got to work in a plain old Yellow Cab. Tuesday morning I tried Lyft, one of the new smartphone-based “ridesharing” services that allows a regular person to turn his or her car into what operates much like a taxi with a pink mustache. My experience with Lyft was radically better (more on that below), but not in the ways that its marketing strategy emphasizes. I wasn’t looking...Read more » -
Who Parked in My Spot?!
On the subject of curb parking, everyone seems to have a story—and what the stories reveal is essential to this entire series. I’ve been asking my friends, and I’ve got an earful. Listen. Soon after advertising executive Necia Dallas moved into a house in Portland, Oregon, she found on her door a detailed, hand-drawn map specifying the curb spots where each resident was permitted to park. The map, left by...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 7/12/13
Serena “Drive to a spin class at the gym! There, you can ride up imaginary hills with your fellow creatures trying to escape the perils of the sedentary life!” More evidence of the link between the sedentary lifestyle and anxiety, and all the more reason to advocate for more walkable cities: “The normal human solution, which is to walk around the world as we work, gather food, and play, is...Read more » -
A Mom’s Long Bus Ride
On one of her marathon bus commutes, DiJonnette Montgomery-Thompson watched a mother with three small children in tow get kicked off a bus and left on the side of the road because their transfers expired before they reached their destination. They had no more money to pay another fare. It’s a problem that Montgomery-Thompson, a 39-year-old student getting a degree in social work, can run into when she and her...Read more » -
Climate? Sí se puede!
Political calculus and moral calculus unfortunately don’t always line up. But when they do, it’s time to pay attention. When it comes to American Latinos and climate change, the numbers are stacking up in a couple ways. Let’s start with political calculus: The latest census reveals a major shift in the US voting population. As Latino Decisions reports, the number of Latino voters increased by 1.4 million between 2008 and...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 6/14/13
Serena I cannot. contain. my excitement. for our event with Chris Jordan next week! He will doubtless rock all your socks off, and at a ticket price of just $5, he can rock all your friends’ socks off, too. Not convinced? Check out this post from earlier this week and the trailer for his film, Midway, to be released later this year. Bonus materials: Just prior to Chris’s event, local...Read more » -
A Self-Driving Future
Cars that drive themselves seemed like science fiction just a few years ago, but recent demonstration projects have shown that the technology is already here. Self-driving car technology, pioneered by Google, has advanced so quickly that its ubiquitous presence on city streets is now simply a matter of time. Boosters say that mass-market autonomous cars are only 3 to 5 years away; others estimate at least 10 years. No one...Read more » -
Throwing Metro Under the Bus
Here’s a picture of hundreds of people who crowded into a hearing room Tuesday to protest looming and massive bus cuts at King County Metro. If this looks familiar, it’s because we went through a similar exercise two years ago. This time, if the Washington State Legislature doesn’t grant the transit agency new taxing authority to backfill an immediate $75 million budget hole, Metro says it will begin eliminating 600,000...Read more » -
Harnessing Our Dark Optimism
Editor’s note: Wilderness guide, author, and activist Kurt Hoelting was one of the organizers of a recent Whidbey Institute conference for regional champions of climate solutions entitled “Calling the Choir To Sing.” He’s been writing about the conference on his blog, Inside Passages: Conversations Around the Fire, including this post with his commentary and a transcript of the talk by Sightline’s Anna Fahey. Many thanks to Kurt for letting us...Read more » -
Talking Carbon Taxes, Free-Enterprise Style
What’s the best way to make a case for a carbon pollution tax to conservative audiences? Why not speak their language? Just listen to the outspoken conservatives who favor a tax on carbon pollution. Again and again they talk up carbon pricing with the familiar language of the market, calling for a level playing field and accountability for the true costs of energy, and touting the enormous opportunity in homegrown,...Read more »
