News Roundup: Automotive Liberation

• The Automotive Liberation of Paris. TL;DR: even with the best urban fabric known to the developed world, car traffic will go up until you make a multi-generational effort to reverse it.
• Seoul's answer to a pollution crisis: Free public transit. The kicker is that it may not be very effective at dissuading people from driving, as drivers tend to be less price-sensitive.
• Every month Portland fails to liberalize its infill rules, more bungalows get replaced by mansions. Meanwhile in Seattle, we have scarcely even attempted to reform this aspect of our zoning.
• Seattle's largest batch of single-family homes in decades ($) is pitched for 'oasis' site. I'm sad this will be just big-lot single family, but it's probably impossible to get anything else past a loaded and litigious neighborhood association.
• ART is a victim of the "new bus blues." Lots of finger pointing here, but multiple agencies have now reported cold weather problems with battery buses.
• Half-empty ferries leave Fauntleroy as cars wait in line ($). It does sound like WSF could make some slight improvements, but fundamentally, cars will never be spatially-efficient way to move humans. That idea, of course, does not appear in the discussion.
• I could do an entire roundup just on NYC transpo this week:
  • Driving a car in Manhattan could cost $11.52 ($). Ben Kakak's take.
  • MTA appears to have massaged reports to blame Con Ed for subway problems ($); Kabak again.
  • How cuts in basic subway upkeep can make your commute miserable ($).
  • In new proposed subway elevators, local NIMBY concern trolls ($) see a terrorism risk.
  • After cyclists died, safer crosstown bike lanes ($) are planned for Midtown Manhattan.
• High speed rail could link Spokane to Cascadia megaregion, but don't get too excited yet.
• As anyone who's been on the Metro or ST beat knows, transit authorities sometimes resist change. Try to be understanding when they do.
• Nashville plans for a big boost in local transit, and is hoping its voters will step on board.
• Should transit agencies panic? Jarrett fighting the good fight against deleterious tech hype.
• Base train service is cheap, peak train service is expensive.
• Perry District eyesore to become cafe as Spokane encourages neighborhood development. I wish Seattle had policies to encourage reactivation of old shopfronts in single family neighborhoods.
• The convention center is getting bigger. So is its carbon footprint. Featuring Doug MacDonald: "The whole connection between reducing carbon emissions and transportation has to do with making it easier for people to get places where they don't have to use their cars."
• Sea-Tac wants to curb carbon emissions without limiting air travel. That's a steep climb.
• A Roosevelt junior redesigned the streets around his high school, and his plan is better than SDOT's. I'm really perplexed by SDOT's flailing on #fix65th.
• NTSB report: Amtrak engineer missed speed-limit signs before train crashed south of Tacoma ($).
• Young Republicans, reformed lobbyists, and green Tea Partiers: Meet America's eco-right.
• What do you do when a major polluter is holding Seattle together?
• Sightline: Your car of the future is no car at all. Part 1, Part 2.
• Local architect renders highrise Seattle of the near future.
• Why we need to reduce noise levels in cities.
• At Microsoft, "city" is in - even in the suburbs.
• TTC unveils strategy to grow transit ridership.
• Manchester united by Ordsall Chord.
• Practically redesigned: the British train ticket.
• Block off a street for people - not cars - this summer.
• How to fight climate change (without being insufferable about it).

This is an open thread.