News Roundup: Not Transforming

• Apps are not transforming the urban transport business. If you read only one thing out of this list, make it this. The per-ride costs incurred by some startup flexible-route/microtransit services are staggering, to say nothing of the (as yet unknown) year-on-year losses incurred by Uber, Lyft etc.
• A future free of congestion thanks to driverless vans ($) can be ours. It's amazing how many of our local agencies have been overseen by people who completely failed to understand why they exist.
• Seattle can move forward with Burke-Gilman Trail's missing link ($), hearing examiner says. Appeals surely to follow.
• ODOT, Southwest Washington residents talk tolls.
• Bus on-board cameras a blessing, curse for Wenatchee's Link Transit.
• "Floating" rails on the way for Northgate tunnels.
• Little progress on overcrowding or affordability in Alaska housing, says report.
• Taxing land to pay for trains will work" in some places.
• Expansion of tiny, cottage homes gets Spokane City Council's OK.
• Houston population growth fueling expansion of commuter bus options.
• Vancouver is "car-sharing capital of North America," report says. Of course, that might be because TNCs are still illegal there.
• Developers pay up to keep Vancouver transit plans on track.
• Uber, Lyft sign Livable Cities pledge, plan to shape future of urban transit.
• NE 65th St "Final Design" now merges bike lane and bus zones.
• Joshua Tree National Park begins free shuttle service. It's a nice idea, but bi-hourly service in cutaway vans does not strike me as a compelling service that will get the average person out of their car.
• Spokane may allow bigger shadows on Riverfront Park in effort to boost high-rise development.
• Civil service, racism, and cost control.
• Mapping the ghostly traces of abandoned railroads.
• All those beautiful and spectacular English railway viaducts? Reviled when built. I grew up near the Harringworth viaduct.
• Crossrail Woolwich station.
• Why aren't there more Capitol Hill design reviews?
• Should Seattle declare a moratorium on selling off city-owned land?
• Wooden skyscrapers (video) could be the future for cities.
• Sac-town is about to put J Street on a traffic-squeezing road diet.
• Why Sounder north line closures are becoming less frequent.
• WMATA's new parking policy and fees get pushback from suburbs.
• Fatal Amtrak crash in South Carolina is new challenge for rail service.
• Riverside Avenue redevelopment could take a lesson from the past. Spokane's Center City Line is becoming real.
• How Ethiopia's new railway could launch an inclusive urban boom.
• Plan for dedicated El Camino bus lanes fizzles out. Watch as NIMBYs cheer the strangulation of mobility and economic growth in the South Bay.
• Metro Everett framework moves forward with draft plan.
• Seattle rent report: February 2018. Could rent increases still be slowing down?
• Can a new 'L' construction project turn a dark Woodlawn intersection into a bright spot?
• Remainder of Ballard Blocks II clears hurdle, 85C Bakery Cafe signs as tenant.
• Everett leads the nation in traffic congestion, report says ($).
• The Subway in New York is not at capacity.
• Two interrelated takes on transit politics.
• Are transit fare violation policies fair?
• When a rideshare trip leads to fear and disgust.

This is an open thread.