Morning links: Blues
Blue Line blues
At 88.2%, Blue Line trains had the worst on-time performance in the system. Ironically, Orange Line trains had the best performance, with 92.6% of trains on time. (Examiner)
Big ads on Metro
Looking to increase revenue, WMATA and CBS Outdoor have placed new, 5 foot display ads in the interiors of 225 Metro cars. Metro is the first system in America to have the floor-to-ceiling ads. (Robert Dyer)
Reverse bike theft
A bike owner tracked down his stolen bike on Craigslist, but despite contacting them, MPD could not spare anyone to help, so he stole it back from the thief by himself. (DCist)
Bikeshare comes to New York
New York’s upcoming bikeshare system Citi Bike, while similar to CaBi, will be more expensive and will have a required lag period between returning a bike and checking a new one out. (NYT)
Pricing confuses NYers
Most journalist and commentators in New York are confused about how bikeshare works. Most compared the prices for taking out a bike for 4 hours, when in similar systems like ours, very few people ride that long. (Streetsblog)
Where are the apartments?
With rents increasing in a sluggish economy, new apartment buildings should be springing up at a boom rate, but difficulty in financing seems to be keeping construction down and rents up. (Slate)
Walk for rewards
Londoners can now, through an iPhone app, get rewards for walking and cycling instead of taking a car or transit. Transport for London hopes to alleviate congestion on transit and roads for the 2012 Olympics and beyond. (BusinessGreen)
Highways kill hats
Many think JFK caused men’s hats to go out of fashion, but could Eisenhower’s highway system and increased driving be to blame? (NPR, David G.) (Tip: David Gorsline)
And…
Complete Streets funding makes it into Alexandria’s budget. (Patch) … Where do people struggle to pay for housing in DC? (R. U. Seriousing Me?) … Transparency still has a way to go in DC’s budget process. (Post)