Breakfast links: A new path for WMATA

Sayonara

Metro Chief Safety Officer James Dougherty has resigned. The move came after board members said they had “no confidence” in Metro’s safety department. (WAMU)

Changing course

The WMATA Board of Directors agreed to look for a management and restructuring consultant to help change its workforce culture. The decision appears to be a small victory for DC and Maryland board members who have been pushing for a turnaround specialist to run the agency. (Post)

Time to say goodbye?

Metro is once again threatening to cut the 5A, the only direct bus route from DC to Dulles Airport. Maryland helps subsidize the route, and claims this is unfair since it fully funds the B30 bus to BWI. (Post)

Help needed

When a 911 call went out yesterday in Southeast DC, the nearest ambulance was seven miles away. The child later died in the hospital. This is not the first time this year that DC’s ambulance corps has been stretched too thin. (Post)

Taking the leap?

Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille narrowly lost the Democratic primary to councilmember Allison Silberberg in June. He has an announcement scheduled Sunday at Waterfront Park, and some suspect it’s to launch a write-in campaign. (Post)

Experimenting

New housing in Jersey City, like many other cities nationwide, is very expensive. To fix this problem and offer more affordable housing, the city will push for mixed-income developments all across town. (CityLab)

Planning for tomorrow

More and more, cities are prioritizing access and safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. As a result, fewer people are driving in inner cities and residents are getting healthier. (The Economist)

A new challenge

Erratic human behavior is the latest, and possibly biggest, hurdle for driverless cars. The cars are designed to follow traffic laws in ways that humans often do not, and that is creating problems for Google and other companies. (NYT)

And…

A woman walking was struck and killed by a vehicle at a busy Alexandria intersection on Thursday. (Post) ) … Do “Walk” buttons at intersections actually work? (CityLab) … Metro will be doing a lot of track work over Labor Day weekend. (Post)

Thank you

Today’s Breakfast links mark my last set for Greater Greater Washington. I will be enrolling in an urban planning Masters program starting this fall. It has been a pleasure to contribute to the site and help foster healthy debates among its visitors. Thank you for reading! -RD