Afternoon links: Percentage perspective

A tale of two cities

DC FPI released a new report (PDF) showing that the District’s income gap continues to widen.  The poorest 20% of DC residents earn $12.36/hr or less while the richest 20% earn at least $38.95/hr.  Poor education is part of the cause. (Post)

Car independence in DC

50.4% of DC residents commute without an automobile. Boston beats us by a hair (50.8%) and New York beats us by a bit more (65.8%).  Only 22.9% of commuters in Portland, a city often lauded as a model of good planning, commute without an automobile.  Even Baltimore does better at 25.2%. (Transport Politic)

More stats and inequalities

25% of mortgages in P.G. County are delinquent.  The rate is 10% in DC. (City Paper) … The Acela and Northeast Regional produce 51% of Amtrak’s revenue (PDF) while only serving 36% of the riders. (mcs)

Transportation service

VRE is working on adding free Wi-Fi (PDF) to its trains (mcs) … Based on feedback, the “Hipster Express” will run directly to Brooklyn instead of stopping in Manhattan (TBD) … CaBi’s $50 annual introductory rate ends October 31. (Gavin)  (Tip: mcs)

Is Cato’s parking anti-free-market?

Donald Shoup castigates the Cato Institute at 10th and Mass. NW for subsidizing parking for its employees. Shoup argues employer-provided parking is a transportation subsidy that contradicts the free market principles Cato advocates, while just to the east, NPR charges its employees market rate for on-site parking. (Streetsblog) … The generally pro-Shoup Market Urbanism disagrees.

More sincere flattery

London’s bike sharing program is following DDOT’s approach and is asking users to propose future bike station locations. (Guardian)

Sprawl, illustrated

Local architectural celebrity and Suburban Nation co-author Jeff Speck illustrates suburbia’s worst elements in a photo essay. (Huffington Post)