Breakfast links: Unexpected sight
Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
No pants!
Hundreds of people pretended to have forgotten their pants for yesterday’s No Pants Metro Ride, one of many around the country designed to elicit laughs from bystanders. DCist, the Post, and many more captured the scenes.
They’ll never know
Amtrak is cleverly running ads at the very moment flyers are most irritated with air travel. (TreeHugger)
Open the doors!
Three women were trapped on an out-of-service Metrorail train on Friday. The train had to be evacuated because of a malfunction, but the operator closed the doors before they could get off, and the emergency call button didn’t reach anyone. The Post notes that nobody from Metro had followed up on their complaint by Friday evening; hopefully they will do so very soon if they haven’t already. (Post)
Congestion fares
The Reason Foundation recommends congestion-based fares for Metro. Their proposal is probably too complex, with fares changing every 10 minutes and varying by station and line, but the principle makes sense.
No free bags at Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart experimented with taking away free bags at three California stores in the Sacramento area. There were no plastic bags for sale at all; any shoppers who didn’t bring their own bags had to purchase 15¢ reusable bags or larger ones for 50¢. (Sacramento Bee)
No new parking, says Baltimore
Baltimore proposes to outlaw new surface parking lots as part of their new zoning code. The plan also pushes for retail on key main streets, allows mixed-use throughout downtown, and limits building heights in a few “character districts” to preserve views of landmarks. (The Baltimore Sun via @BeyondDC)
Make Rockville affordable
Rockville must make affordable housing a priority, argues Rockville Central Editor Cindy Cote Griffiths. Council candidates all paid lip service to affordable housing, but some really believe in it and some don’t. (Rockville Central)
Walkability is money
A recent study found that a house’s Walkscore correlates with price across cities, except in Bakersfield, CA and Las Vegas. (NYT)