News Roundup: Harmful Obsessions

• Microtransit: What I think we know.
• How I came to Seattle, a trip I'll never forget ($).
• Boomtown Seattle: Why we move here - and how we're all in it together ($). If only Times editorials reflected more of the spirit of their contemporary reporting.
• American cities and the creeping criminalization of walking.
• Pittsburgh vows to complete BRT with or without threatened federal funding program.
• Sound Transit light-rail riders increasing by the millions ($).
• City releases draft design guideline changes for South Lake Union.
• The American household is evolving - and our housing should too.
• Light-rail tunnel talk @ West Seattle Transportation Coalition.
• Reducing failed deliveries, truck parking time could improve downtown Seattle congestion, new report finds.
• BNSF sent crews ($) into a treacherous Stampede Pass blizzard, union tells WA lawmakers.
• Olympia poised to partially fund high-speed rail business case study.
• Plyscraper city: Tokyo to build 350 m tower made of wood.
• Montgomery wants to build a better bus system, but anti-BRT activists oppose plans.
• Light-rail impacts, the morphed Multi-Modal Corridor plan, and more @ Delridge Neighborhoods District Council.
• Rainier Valley residents meet to discuss impacts of future Graham St light rail station.
• When and where are traffic-control officers effective on busy Seattle streets?
• For CTA's youngest riders, a course on the fourth R - riding the 'L' and bus.
• City Council bill: Speed bump for protected bike lanes in Philly?
• Fourth London bus route goes fully electric with zero-emission buses.
• Why Northeast Corridor privatization is doomed to failure.
• L.A. Metro expands all-door boarding for key Metro Rapid lines.
• Spokane: Cuts to federal grant funding could jeopardize future of Central City Line.
• A subway ride to New Jersey ($)? It could happen, officials say.
• DC considers plan to replace streetcar fleet after two (!!!) years of service. Anyone else remember the LaHood-era promises of an American streetcar renaissance? Harmful obsessions with technology over transit fundamentals aren't limited to the rideshare or self-driving car industries.
• Metro bus reroutes starting soon for Lander Street Bridge project.
• Neighbors collide over Beacon Hill intersection.
• UW master's student is surveying bike share users.
• A plan for Boston Regional Rail.
• Spokane Cohousing seeks to build a village in the Perry District.
• Report: Dallas public transit not great.
• Remembering Seattle's anti-freeway crusaders.
• Meeting Demand for 66 Million Passengers: Sea-Tac airport plan Update.
• Studies are increasingly clear: Uber, Lyft congest cities.
• China's subway boom slows down.
• Spokane's Monroe road diet to start construction this spring.
• German court rules cities can ban vehicles to tackle air pollution ($).
• Automated vehicles can't save cities ($).

This is an open thread.