Breakfast links: Lies, damn lies and statistics

Bus stop 2020

A team at MIT has designed a bus stop of the future. “Riders can plan a bus trip on an interactive map, surf the Web, monitor their real-time exposure to pollutants and use their mobile devices as an interface with the bus shelter. They can also post ads and community announcements to an electronic bulletin board at the bus stop, enhancing the EyeStop’s functionality as a community gathering space.” Called the EyeStop, it even looks like Apple designers had a hand. (Boing Boing, Jaime)  (Tip: Jaime)

Traffic counters for DOD ignore bicycles

Gorove/Slade traffic consultants counted traffic for NNMC, but had no instructions to count bicyclists. Some counters were treating them as cars if they rode on the street, others as pedestrians only if they were walking their bicycles, and others ignored them entirely. (Two Black Tires)

LaHood Rebuts George Will

USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood fired back at George Will for criticizing the idea that some people want to travel by other modes than driving. “We have to create opportunities for people who want to ride a bike or walk or take a streetcar,” said LaHood. “The only person that I’ve heard of who objects to this is George Will.” (Boston Globe, JB)  (Tip: JB)

Think of the children

Much of the growth in VMT over the last few decades stems from non-commuting trips, especially trips with children. This suggests that carpooling, HOV and toll lanes, and ending free company parking are much less important than smart growth policies to promote 5-minute living. (Ken Archer)  (Tip: Ken Archer)

Downtown back on top

Extrapolating from the current demographic trends, downtown is on the rise as a desirable location, especially for retailers, argues Newsweek, while our nation has more retail than demand in exurban mall locations. (Cavan)  (Tip: Cavan)

Carless households down

More households in DC don’t own cars, but region-wide, car ownership is up, with about 1% fewer households going carless and more households owning three cars or more. (Examiner)

Transit not part of Post’s analysis

The Post writes that close-in house prices have held up better than exurbs because “there was a higher proportion of recent sales in those fast-growing suburbs, leaving them more exposed to the subprime mortgages.” The article makes absolutely no mention of transit, gas prices, or the resurgent popularity of urban living.

Baltimore bike map

A nice Google map shows Baltimore’s bike lanes and on-street signed bicycle routes. It also shows how few bicycle facilities there are downtown. (Baltimore City Paper, Jeff)  (Tip: Jeff)

Yeah, where are the flying cars?

Paul Krugman notes that while once writers and artists imagined a future full of soaring, tall buildings, it instead turned out to look like Atlanta. (NY Times)