Breakfast links: Sharing is caring

DC close to deal with Bixi?

Canadian news site Cyberpresse profiles (in French) Montreal-based bike sharing program Bixi, also rolling out in London and Boston. The English automated translation says DC is “preparing to sign an agreement” with Bixi.

In his recent live chat, Gabe Klein said to expect bike sharing expansion in May 2010; they must be close to a deal to have such a clear date. (inlogan)  (Tip: inlogan)

Rent out your car (in Baltimore)

RelayRides, a new car sharing program, is launching in Baltimore. Instead of the company owning the cars, as with Zipcar, they let people rent cars owned by other members and handle the insurance and scheduling. This could be great in DC where many people own cars but use them infrequently. (Orlee)

Half of highway costs are subsidized

Subsidyscope, which recently criticized the level of subsidy for Amtrak, finally completed their promised analysis of highway subsidies. They conclude that user fees like gas taxes (federal and state), vehicle registrations, tolls, etc. cover only 51% of the cost of road construction and maintenance. That percentage has declined from 71% in the 1960s. (Subsidyscope via Ryan Avent)

Taxi discrimination confirmed

Fox 5 tests whether taxi drivers pass by black people and pick up white people. The result: Yup, and worse if the men wear jeans versus suits. On why.i.(don’t.really).hate.dc IMGoph comments that they also discriminate against people going to less fancy areas, like when I needed to go to Buzzard Point. (Fox 5)

The secret, deadly crosswalk

After a driver killed a pedestrian at 16th and Colesville, bloggers have been trying to figure out where exactly it happened. They discovered sidewalks with curb ramps to cross in places with no marked crosswalk, where the street design disregards pedestrian safety. (Silver Spring Trails, Stephen Miller)  (Tip: Stephen Miller)

Broke? Add more lanes anyway!

The New York State DOT has no money, but that doesn’t stop them from planning expensive widenings of roads like the Major Deegan. Meanwhile, their capital plan virtually ignores the community’s wishes to tear down an adjacent expressway and reopen the Bronx River waterfront. (Streetsblog NYC)

And…

The New York Avenue Metrorail station has catalyzed economic development in NoMA (Railway Age) … A cyclist got hit in the sharrow lane on 15th Street northbound (and the City Paper shoehorns it into an article about the protected southbound lane) … Shaw neighborhood leaders embroiled in legal drama. (The Other 35 Percent)