Lyft and Amtrak by Charles Fulton licensed under Creative Commons.

More and more transit agencies are partnering with ride hailing companies, but there are still concerns about the latter's impact on transit. San Franciso is getting a glorious new transit terminal. How the ancient Roman Vitruvius helped shape the way modern cities are designed.

Transit and ride hailing hand in hand: According to a new report, 27 transit agencies have joined forces with ride hailing companies since 2016 to provide service in areas that are relatively bare. These partnerships come in all shapes and sizes, including subsidized rides and substituting for paratransit services. But there are still questions about whether they are ultimately helping or hurting transit ridership. (Laura Bliss | CityLab)

San Francisco's Transbay Terminal opens soon: On August 12 buses will finally pick up and drop passengers off at the new $4.2 billion Transbay Terminal in San Francisco. The terminal includes a basement where high speed and regional trains will come in 2029 at the earliest, as well as a rooftop park. The project took eight years to complete but looks to be a welcome addition to the city. (John King | San Francisco Chronicle)

The Roman who shaped our cities: An estimated 95% of manuscripts and books from Greek and Roman times were destroyed by war and fire. Fortunately, this didn't include the work of Vitruvius, whose work helped shaped the way modern cities are designed. His work De architectura goes over how to develop a site for a new town, building types for civic events, and organizing trade. (Theo Mackey Pollack | The American Conservative)

Another summer, another hate rally: It's been about a year since hate groups marched in Charlottsville, killing Heather Heyer and injuring other counterprotesters. Since then, US cities have tried to add local policies and strengthen safety measures an incident like this never happens again. These protections will be tested in DC this weekend as “Unite the Right 2” rallygoers descend on the city Sunday. (Sarah Holder | CityLab)

Chicago could test flexible pop-up licenses: Chicago may allow entrepreneurs to open pop-up shops in empty spaces without needing on-site inspection and without being tied to a particular location. City officials hope the flexible proposed licenses will help stop the spread of vacant storefronts, particularly in economically-challenged neighborhoods. (Elizabeth Blasius | The Architect's Newspaper)

Quote of the Week

“I was talking last week with a zoning and planning lobbyist in Charlotte – a guy whose planning background doesn′t stop him from generally hewing to a basic free-market approach. He said he′s starting to believe cities should consider housing affordability as part of the basic package of infrastructure the local government provides.”

Mary Newsom discussing changing thoughts about providing affordable housing around the country. (Naked City)

On this week's podcast, Susan Henderson talks to us about connecting form based codes and transportation.