A recent episode of Russ Roberts’ EconTalk podcast featured a wonderful intersection of interests: economics, public policy and public transit.
One of Russ’ academia friends, economist Michael Munger, speaks at length on the program about the public transportation system quality in Santiago, Chile before and after nationalization of their bus network.
Prior to 2007 Santiago’s surface transit [...]

My unwavering allegiance to the American Public Media radio program Marketplace was made ever tighter by a clear and compelling opinion piece by Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute.
The piece is written so concisely I can do no better than to quote Mr. Taylor’s introduction:

President Bush and many others are fond of saying that oil [...]

The Chronicle has a touching and well-written article about the aftermath of the Mission District fire that completely destroyed a 30-unit apartment building Monday evening.
Central to the article is the story of Griselda Paleo. Ms. Paleo is 59 and lived alone in a studio apartment in the building. Her apartment was tied to an 18-year [...]

I’ll admit right up front: I’m not sure what Congress actually does at their meetings in Washington. But, what I glean from an ear half-tuned to NPR is that it’s usually a discussion on legislation germane to American citizen’s lives and within the general jurisdiction of the legislative branch of our government.
So then why are [...]

Okay, we all know the big news: Microsoft wants Yahoo.
In fact, it has been the only topic visible ‘above the fold’ of The New York Times’ tech page for the past few days. Michael Krasny whipped out a KQED Forum about it first thing this morning. It’s the talk of the town.
But, two things seem [...]

(Photo Credit)
On a recent episode of KQED’s Forum, Dave Iverson discusses the possibility of congestion pricing in the City with two main guests: Ken Cleaveland, director of government and public affairs with the Building Owners and Managers Association and Zabe Bent, senior transportation planner with the San Francisco Transportation Authority.
To some degree, Ms. Bent and [...]

I condensed my usual rant about peak medallions down to a 2 minute piece for a KQED’s Perspective. It’s a quick op-ed that airs during the morning drive time. It will air again on Saturday morning.
It sounds a bit odd to hear my own voice, but it was a fun process to write for the [...]

The Examiner reports a Muni bus hit a pedestrian Monday evening bringing the total number of “pedestrian incidents” to 20 since the start of Muni’s fiscal year on July 1.
20 incidents? Why so many? Is this excessive? Yes. Is this Muni’s fault? Yes. What causes this? Poor management and overzealous union agreements.

Inflated federal funding for the capital costs of transit projects brings about wasted spending, poor planning and poor service for transit riders in the United States.

This excellent article in Slate discusses the hidden costs of parking. I won’t attempt to summarize, it’s worth reading in its entirety.
Link
It got me thinking about the cost of parking in the City, especially residential parking permits. Is $60 per year a market price? Or, is the City government subsidizing the cost of owning a [...]