Tag Archives: transit

The Curbing Cars Podcast Is Back!

We’re delighted to tell you that the Curbing Cars podcast is back. We’d love it if you’d check it out.

Each week, I’ll look at one of the stories that we’ve covered in the Curbing Cars newsletter. We’ll also have special guests, like the experts and journalists who’ve provided exclusive coverage for us.

The Curbing Cars podcast is produced by Anchor, and it’s available on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker and many other platforms.

By listening to the Curbing Cars podcast, you help support our journalism. Please make us one of your favorites. We promise to be informative and hopefully entertaining, too .

Thanks!

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Filed under podcast

Massachusetts’s New Fashionable Transit Bling

Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority announced this week it has begun selling “sesame rings” that can be used to pay for a rider’s trip, according to Boston Magazine. The rings are being produced using 3-D printers and have RFID chips that allow a user to “fist-bump” their way onto a subway or bus ride, the magazine reports.

Courtesy of The Ring Theory

Courtesy of The Ring Theory

Developed by students at MIT and Singapore University, the report said a successful Kickstarter campaign and support from the MBTA to develop the rings made them a reality.

With a swipe of the hand, riders can user their rings just as a pay as you go or pre-loaded metro card, without the hassle of searching for cards through wallets and purses. At only $25, the high-tech rings are also rather affordable, but will still need to be loaded with funds to ride the MBTA transit lines.

Boston Magazine reports that if rings are not your thing, riders could also soon be hopping on and off transit with the swipe of a “bracelet, smartphone cover or even key chains.”

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Filed under public transportation, Technology

Vegas, Baby: Could Sin City Become A Transit Model?

By Micheline Maynard

If you’ve been to Las Vegas, it’s likely that you’re not thinking about transportation. You’re looking at neon signs, hearing the jangle of slot machines, or watching an elaborate show. dentist-las-vegas-nv21

Yet, The Atlantic Cities reports that Vegas might wind up being a major laboratory for the future of car ownership. Specifically, the idea comes from Project 100, which has been launched by Tony Hsieh, the chief executive of Zappos, the online shoe retailer that is based downtown.

Project 100’s name derives from the quantity of vehicles it plans to offer, according to Cities: “100 Tesla S sedans equipped with professional drivers (a la Uber), 100 short-range electric vehicles you drive yourself (e.g. Zipcar or Car2go), 100 bicycles for sharing, and shuttles with 100 stops across the area. At launch, however, the service will be much smaller. No drivers, no shuttles — only a trolley car on an infinite loop and a handful of Teslas rentable by the minute or hour.”

While apparently a first for America, something like it has been tried in Germany. Continue reading

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Filed under bike sharing, car sharing, cars, cities, urban planning