National links: Commuter rail, minus the commuter

Commuter rail may need to escape the suburb-to-city, 9-5 paradigm. What happens to EV batteries when they die? A case study in fighting gentrification.

Rethinking commuter rail service post-pandemic: It’s unknown whether commuters will return to offices at the same level as before the pandemic, but whether they do or don’t, it gives transit agencies the ability to rethink regional rail for trips that don’t involve a workday commute. Some commuter railways are already looking at opportunities to operate more like rapid transit. (Jake Blumgart | Governing)

The afterlife of an EV battery: As electric vehicles become more common, scientists are ringing the alarm and pushing for a robust recycling system for used batteries. Recycling batteries is being supported by car makers as a way to use rare materials but it’s also logistically challenging. Challenges include labor costs and the dangers of disassembling with health and safety in mind. (Emma Woollacott | BBC)

Saving cities from “supergentrification”: Sociologist Jenny Stuber writes in her new book about how Aspen, Colo. has created a parrellel affordable housing market in a place where the median home price is around $4 million. She also discusses a building moratorium to quell “supergentrification” that involved height limits and public space requirements. (Phineas Rueckert | Next City)

How the Greyhound bus links America: The intercity bus industry in the United States served 16 million riders in 2019. But during the pandemic, the industry laid off or furloughed 80% of it’s workforce. If we lost the bus industry, we might lose a democratic connection between a cross-section of American people. (Sonam Vashi | National Geographic)

People working from home will spend less downtown: University of Chicago researchers believe that spending in cities will drop up to 10% because more people are working from home. The changes don’t bode well for businesses that depend on downtown workers, and foretell an uneven economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. (Ben Winck | Business Insider)

Quote of the Week

“You see these stations that are 80 years old, and they’ve got stunning tiling. They’ve got chandeliers! You think of the extra initial cost of those tiles, and light fittings. And then you say, every day, maybe 200,000 people see them. Times 365 times 80: that’s value, the emotion that has given people.”

English designer Thomas Heatherwick in the Guardian on investing in places that make people want to come together after a pandemic.

This week on the podcast, former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn joins the show to talk about the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.