Breakfast links: Growing pains for area transportation

Metro needs some Clearasil

Metro’s Assistant GM Dave Kubicek says the organization is “going through puberty.” Dave Jamieson notes that puberty usually doesn’t require $10 billion in safety fixes. But it does tend to involve buying new cars, and a few years later, huge drains on the family budget. (TBD)  (Tip: David Alpert)

And more from Metro

At yesterday’s Metro board meeting, it was revealed Alexandria mayor Bill Euille was injured by a closing door at Braddock Road Metro recently. Also, credit cards with chips are likely to replace SmarTrip cards as they run out. In good news: customer complaints are down, though it’s unclear if it’s because people are happier or because it’s still hard to register complaints. (TBD)  (Tip: David Alpert)

Capital Bikeshare falls short?

A fan of Montreal’s Bixi tests out CaBi and finds it lacking due to low station density, and no stations around the Mall, museums and other landmarks. He fails to mention until halfway through that only half the system is in place. (The Urban Country, petrograd)  (Tip: petrograd)

Arlington wants its money

First parking, now taxes: Arlington is stepping up its collection of delinquent taxes, a move TBD calls “heavy-handed.” Really?  (Tip: Eric Fidler)

Trying car-free in Tysons

A Tysons resident discovers just how hard it is to get around the area where she lives on Car-Free Day. Clearly it takes more than just the will to live car-free. (The Durable Human)  (Tip: David Alpert)

Do the sprawl crawl

A new report from CEOs for Cities critiques the traditional measures of traffic congestion. When sprawl is factored in, the least congested cities actually turn out to be the worst for transportation … Market Urbanism critiques the whole idea of primarily measuring transportation by cost per passenger mile. (via CNU)  (Tip: charlie)

Eats on the street

Market Urbanism looks at issues surrounding street food and Tyler Cowen’s question why poor neighborhoods have so few restaurants.  Turns out you just can’t see them, because they’re illegal. (SS)  (Tip: SS)

Looking down on the suburbs

26 overhead images, artfully and analytically juxtaposed, provide a visual critique of suburban development and the housing bust in Southwest Florida. One area once planned as the largest subdivision in the U.S. became a state forest instead when the development failed. (Boston Globe, Pinkshirt)  (Tip: Pinkshirt)