Are streetcars the future of public transportation?

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:18:00 +0000

When President Obama nominated Charlotte, North Carolina, Mayor Anthony Foxx to head the U.S. Department of Transportation last month, he cited among Foxx’s other relevant accomplishments “a new streetcar project that’s going to bring modern electric tram service to [Charlotte’s] downtown area.” All well and good. But honestly, if enthusiasm for downtown streetcar projects was a prerequisite for the job, the president could probably have compiled his short list of candidates simply by closing his eyes and aiming a dart at a wall-mounted map of the lower 48.

Weird news: Man attacked woman with a sock full of poop

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:10:00 +0000

As if women don't already have enough reasons to avoid public transit, they might have one more: Being attacked by a "sock full of poop," as one Chicago woman reportedly was last week.

According to the 21-year-old college student, a man on the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line boarded the train at the Oak Park stop, and then at the next stop, without warning or provocation, "he throws something in my face.”

That "something" turned out to be feces. "He had a sock full of his poop on me,” she said. “It was everywhere; on my face, my hair, my clothes."

The attacker then fled up the Austin Boulevard exit; she wasn't able to catch him. "The worst part is nobody had anything to wipe my face with,” she said. The woman waiting for paramedics to show up, who gave her towels and water. “They really aren’t prepared for a situation like that," she noted.

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Are streetcars the future of public transportation?

Weird news: Man attacked woman with a sock full of poop