George Street Festival car ban a success

Edinburgh Evening News: "The number of people visiting George Street leapt by a third compared to last August and also halved the amount of traffic.

The George Street shake-up – that saw cafes replace vehicles along large stretches of the road – now looks set to continue for at least the next three festivals."

Historic transport shift as capital dwellers switch from cars

yle.fi: "The change is historic, as journeys in the Helsinki region have been researched for half a century. Over that period, the share of journeys made by public transport has consistently fallen over that period.

The freshest figures from Helsinki Region Transport (HSL), however, show that 43 percent of journeys made in 2012 used public transport. that is up one percent from the 42 percent researchers found in 2008."

Parking a divisive issue in Edinburgh, lots of stop-gap fixes, but #publictransport is the solution

Free Sunday parking cut to just two hours - Transport - Edinburgh Evening News: "The new transport vision for Edinburgh over the next five years will be debated next week at the City Chambers.

As well as new restrictions on Sunday parking, proposals will include masterminding the integrated transport network.

Under the proposals, the council will pledge to work towards a structure where using public transport is as easy as possible and transport operates as “one seamless system”.

An increased budget for additional bus services will also be investigated in a bid to boost or maintain services where commercial provision of services is infrequent or non-existent."

'via Blog this'

Protests Over Teen’s Bus Ticket Death | Greece.

GreekReporter.com: "The major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party said that Kanaoutis died because he couldn’t afford a 1.20 euro ticket and that his death showed how desperate society has become in the wake of a crushing economic crisis and harsh austerity measures being imposed by the government on the orders of international lenders. Bus fare evaders face a 72 euro ($95 fine) and uses paper tickets that must be validated in a machine on the bus, which is often so crowded they can’t be reached.

...SYRIZA also condemned Athens transport authorities’ practice of giving ticket inspectors a cut of the fines they impose as an incentive to address widespread fare-dodging. The party demanded free transportation for the unemployed, low-income pensioners and students.

The anti-austerity I Won’t Pay group, which advocates non-payment of public transportation fares, highway tolls and utility bills, hailed the youth as “the first dead fighter for civil disobedience.”"

Death over $1.59 bus ticket touches nerve in Greece

Death over $1.59 bus ticket touches nerve in Greece: "ATHENS — A 19-year-old Greek student who died after an argument with a bus ticket inspector has come to symbolize the plight of a population ground down by worsening poverty and unemployment.

..."This highlights in the most tragic way the desperate situation into which bailout policies have plunged large parts of Greek society," Syriza added.

It demanded free public transport for the unemployed, low-income pensioners and students."

Make all public transport free

Herald Scotland: "why do we not simply make all public transport free and abolish fares altogether? An expanded public transport system free to all users would have a massive effect, from reducing reliance on the motor car and the knock-on effect that would have on road congestion fuel consumption and pollution to a stimulation of the tourism industry with there being no hindrance to visitors exploring every nook and cranny of the country.

Who would inflict on themselves the torture of driving the M8 from Glasgow to Edinburgh if they knew they could jump on any train going there every five minutes or so and it would not cost them a penny as it was paid through direct taxation? At either end of the journey they could use any bus they felt like again because it was free. Why would you throw money away on a depreciating asset (as that is what a car is) if a bus passed your front door every few minutes and it cost you nothing to travel on uncongested roads?"

The future of buses - a modest proposal

Resilience: " The modern system of everyone having their own personal high-speed vehicle will turn out to be a brief and bizarre moment in history, but people will still need to travel."

Campaigners win improved bus service between Writhlington and Bath

This is Somerset: " "Working on the campaign alongside other members of the community, and with the help of Movement for Change, was a fantastic experience, and showed just what our community can achieve if we all pull together.

"The new evening bus service will give a new lease of life to many different people in the village, and I look forward to what we can achieve together in the future.""

End result of road-building: no room to park

Westminster: Free parking on double yellows will cause chaos - Transport - News - London Evening Standard: "Britain's largest parking authority today dismissed a government plan for free parking on double yellow lines, saying it would cause “gridlock”."

Kampanja: Besplatan Javni Prevoz - Stop Bus Plus - 99% Srbije

Kampanja: Besplatan Javni Prevoz - Stop Bus Plus - 99% Srbije: "Drage komšije, prijatelji i saborci, pozivamo vas da nam se pridružite u protestnoj šetnji centralnim gradskim ulicama, protestnoj šetnji za odbranu javnog prevoza i prava na njegovo korišćenje.

Zaustavimo dalje uništavanje ove za sve nas vitalnog gradskog servisa od strane korumpirane političke oligarhije. Ne dozvolimo da, kao i ostala privatizovana javna dobra, javni prevoz bude poligon za bogaćanje pojedinaca. Učinimo ga modernim, racionalnim, sigurnim, pouzdanim i svima dostupnim.

‪#‎2septembar‬ ‪#‎2otkaz‬ svim političarima!"

Man killed in fight over parking

The Week UK: ""The men were waiting in the disabled parking area at the time and got into a disagreement about parking. We know they became involved in a disagreement which resulted in one man punching the other knocking him to the ground.""

Car culture promotes diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure

Ditch the Car: Walking or Cycling to Work Cuts Diabetes Risk: "They also found that cycling, walking and using public transit were often associated with a lower risk of being overweight than driving or possibly taking a taxi. People who walk to work in fact were up to 17 percent less likely than people who drive to have high blood pressure. Researchers found that cyclists were around half as likely to have diabetes as drivers as well."

Struggle against fare hikes continues in Armenia #publictransit

rferl.org: "For nearly a week now, several dozen youth activists have held a nonstop sit-in outside the office of Yerevan's mayor, protesting a rise in public-transit fares and demanding the dismissal of the officials who implemented them.

The sit-in comes in the wake of much larger protests against the price rise, which the government says became necessary after Russia sharply increased rates for natural gas."

Car sharing gets free parking in Dublin - good idea

Herald.ie: "It has joined forces with GoCar to allow users of the car club service to park free in any of the city's 30,000 pay-and-display spaces from tomorrow."

Not as good as free public transport, but this is a step in the right direction.