How Perugia, Italy Said Goodbye to Traffic, Hello to Improved Quality of Life

If you want to see an idyllic, small Italian city, Perugia may be the place for you. It fits all the characteristics of those beautiful Italian towns from the movies. However, it hasn’t forever. It took visionaries with a green spirit to turn the city around. National Geographic recently covered … Continue reading

2011 Sustainable Transport Award Winner: Guangzhou, China

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy recently announced the 2011 Sustainable Transport Award winner, which, as you can see, is Guangzhou, China. Its new bus rapid transit (BRT) system, which integrates bike lanes, bike share and metro stations was a big reason why it won. Here’s a statement from … Continue reading

Conversation Cars on Public Transit: A “Modest Proposal”

There’s been a pretty significant transformation on public transit in the past decade or less. Whereas riders used to start up a conversation with complete strangers on a regular basis in the past, more and more riders are plugged into their iPods, iPhones, iPads, or other electronic gadgets and stay … Continue reading

First Subway System Started How Many Years Ago?

Know when the first subway system was launched? And where? Tony Long of Wired does. He recently wrote an interesting post on the history of subway systems around the world, starting with a little bit on the first subway system, which was launched this month in 1863. Here’s the intro: … Continue reading