The Biggest Transportation Breakthroughs of 2014 – CityLab

A ton of stuff has happened this year!

  • NYC, Vision Zero: includes a speed limit reduction to 25mph, already implemented. SF has similar initiatives.
  • Helsinki’s mobility-on-demand (MoD) system!
  • California planned to replace a car-friendly engineering metric known as “level of service” with a transit-friendly alternative that focuses on vehicle miles traveled. That’s a lot of jargon, but the upshot is simple: road projects should get tougher to complete in California cities, moving forward, and bus and bike and train projects should get noticeably easier.

  • Europe Strikes Back Against Traffic. Several major European cities issued dramatic restrictions to drivers this year. Madrid will ban cars in the city center for non-residents; Paris will do the same and reserve some roads exclusively for cleaner hybrid and electric cars; London will enhance its low-emission zone into an ultra-low-emission zone. These policies help address two of the huge invisible social costs of driving—congestion and pollution—and will hopefully inspire other major global cities to follow suit.

  • The Cambridge-based mobility company Superpedestrian began to mass produce and accept pre-orders for its innovative Copenhagen Wheel this year.

via The Biggest Transportation Breakthroughs of 2014 – CityLab.

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