Breakfast links: Saluting substitutes or subsidies

Salute to pedestrian safety

Officials too often try to solve pedestrian safety problems by getting pedestrians out of the way of cars, even at the cost of longer walks. But one Chinese school came up with a solution to top them all: requiring all children to salute every passing car while walking to and from school. (NYT, ah)

Metro schedules Maryland town halls

Metro has announced details of the Maryland town halls to discuss next year’s budget. The Montgomery County one is on Tuesday, November 3rd in Silver Spring, followed by Prince George’s on November 18th in Largo.

No substitute for the automobile?

Ryan Avent writes, “Last week, I left my Washington home, walked to the nearby Metro station, rode a train downtown, walked to the National Press Club, and settled in to hear Steven Rattner, former head of the Obama administration’s auto task force, declare that ‘no one has yet invented a substitute for the automobile.’” (Streetsblog Capitol Hill)

Amtrak subsidies high? Still not clear

Good government site Subsidyscope thinks Amtrak is understating its losses by not including depreciation. They put out a report critical of Amtrak subsidies, but with only a brief note that all other modes lose money too. Meanwhile, their page on highways says highway subsidies are “difficult to quantify.” Hopefully that won’t stop them from actually trying to create a direct comparison. (Huffington Post, Jasper)

Laurel traffic now calmer

59% of non-turning vehicles used to speed through an intersection in Laurel, going at least 30 in a 25-mph residential area. After the city installed a median island, more visible crosswalks, and a “pedestrian pedestal” (what is that?), speeding dropped dramatically, to only 19% of non-turning vehicles. (WalkLaurel, Stephen Miller)  (Tip: Stephen Miller)

If you can push for parking here, you can push for it anywhere

Here’s another story of a city debating what to do with three municipal parking structures. Some residents want to replace them with much-needed affordable housing, but others want their cheap parking. Where is this? Manhattan, where there’s really no shortage of transit options. (Getting from here to there, Michael P)  (Tip: Michael P)

And…

WABA is giving out free bike lights in DC and Alexandria (Gavin Baker) … Downtown Boulder is running out of bike parking (Daily Camera, Michael P) … That “cash for carpooling” program is now up and running for commuters from Bethesda to Tysons, MD-295 to I-270, or DC to NoVA on I-395. (ReadySetDC)  (Tip: Gavin Baker)