The young dentist never reached either country. The next day, he didn’t make it beyond a rooftop four miles from Kabul airport, where his body was found after he plunged from a U.S. military plane as it took off — one of the most tragic and indelible images in the final chapter of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan.
Even in a backward country, one might expect that a medical professional would realize that grabbing onto the side of a jet aircraft is not a reasonable approach to hitch-hiking.
|
|
Flooding was caused by a slow-moving, low-pressure weather system that sat over the region from 15 July, releasing two months’ worth of rain in two days. Over 10 inches of rain fell continuously in some places in the hilly Ardennes, Eifel, and Ruhr regions; in many cases, this was then channeled down steep-sided river valleys, unleashing massive destructive power in towns and villages in the water’s path.
There's nothing quite like modern rail; just ask the Germans:
That's not going to buff right out...these lines will be down for months (and in many cases, years).
You can see why so many politicians here in America are so eager to dump millions of tax dollars into modern rail.
|
|
Transit agencies around the USA continue to push for more big-money projects - more light rail, even though they're broke and ridership has declined dramatically.
Reeling from the pandemic, transit agencies are grappling with drastic reductions in ridership and pleading for help from Washington. In Boston, transit officials warned of ending weekend service on the commuter rail and shutting down the city’s ferries. In Washington, weekend and late-night metro service would be eliminated and 19 of the system’s 91 stations would close. In Atlanta, 70 of the city’s 110 bus routes have already been suspended, a move that could become permanent.
In general, low-income people are the most dependent upon buses and trains.
Not necessarily; In Portland, the big push from TriMet involves building a multi-billion-dollar light rail line to take riders from the downtown area to a large, wealthy suburban shopping mall called Bridgeport Village. We may have voted it down, but TriMet will likely push it through anyway.
|
|
She caught the Katy
And left me a mule to ride
She caught the Katy
And left me a mule to ride
Now my baby caught the Katy
Left me a mule to ride
The train pulled out
I swung on behind
Crazy 'bout her
That hard headed woman of mine
I'd never quite understood that song, until I ran across this:
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company—more commonly known as the Katy.
I'd no idea that it was a real thing, much less the nickname of a railroad route.
|
|
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A local television news anchor was assaulted on Tuesday morning at a light rail train station in Minneapolis.
KSTP-TV anchor Matt Belanger was struck near the eye with a rock or a small piece of concrete at the Nicollet Mall station, at about 8:50 a.m., according to KSTP management. He was waiting for a green line train to work. The attack appears to have been random and unprovoked, and Belanger was treated at Hennepin Healthcare for an injury to his left eye. KSTP confirmed that he is recovering at home and is expected to make a full recovery.
AND:
Metro Transit Police say a video posted on social media showing a young man assaulting an older Asian American woman occurred at a Green Line station in St. Paul early Monday morning. In the video, two young men appear to be taunting the woman, who is alone. Suddenly, one of the young men leaps into the air and kicks the woman in the face. The men laugh, and one can be seen running away as the video ends.
Three 15-year-old boys were arrested and charged with aiding and abetting both gross misdemeanor harassment with intent to injure and fifth-degree misdemeanor assault in connection with the case.
Of course, here in Portland, two men were murdered and a third had his throat slashed while riding one of our wonderful light rail "trains" last year. Transit agencies should abandon the pretense of collecting fares, and just dispense insurance policies at their little ticket kiosks.
Over to the north:
Ridership has dropped by three-quarters on King County Metro services countywide amid the COVID-19 pandemic. King County Metro joined 14 other major transit agencies from across the country in signing a letter to Congress asking for more funding.
Kind of amazing, since that's state-of-the-art 19th-century technology....
|
|
For decades now, most urban planning has been focused on minimizing the use of personal cars. The goal is to reduce air pollution and free up land for other uses. One way to achieve that has been to encourage high-density housing development near public transportation hubs.
In October 2019, the City of Minneapolis passed Minneapolis 2040, which essentially wipes out neighborhoods zoned exclusively for single-family homes in favor of new rules that allow and encourage larger buildings stacked with human beings. In California, there's Plan Bay Area 2050 to comprehensively manage development across the San Francisco Bay Area in order to alleviate all sorts of traffic, make housing more affordable, and solve other social ills. All over the country (and really, the world), the goal for planners has been to cram people together and get them to ride light-rail and buses.
As the Seattle area is discovering, all that planning isn't working out so well these days:
Before the coronavirus pandemic, King County Metro was defying a trend.
As fewer people rode buses in cities all over America, riders were flocking to board here. Metro couldn’t hire and train drivers fast enough and didn’t have enough space at its maintenance bases to keep up with demand.
All that has changed.
The coronavirus outbreak has decimated ridership, kept some drivers and other employees at home sick or worried about exposure and pushed the agency into crisis-planning mode. Across the Puget Sound region, the same story is playing out at agency after agency.
Beyond the immediate health crisis, the pandemic threatens to undo years of transit growth, undermine public confidence in taking crowded buses and plunge local transit systems into a financial setback worse than the Great Recession in the late 2000s.
I've ridden a bus, and a light rail "train" - and for the life of me, I've never understood the fascination that gripped politicians and planners in regard to all of that: why would anybody willingly choose to spend two hours or more (each way) cooped up in a petrie dish to get from point A to point B when one can drive between those points in 10 to 15 minutes? My car's just a lot faster - and safer.
As businesses remain closed and people stay at home, sales taxes — one of the primary funding sources for transit here — are expected to take a big hit. Fares are not being collected and ridership has plummeted. Meanwhile, extra cleaning adds unexpected costs.
Sound Transit's ridership has plunged by nearly 90% and King County Metro ridership is down more than 70%, and that's just in the first week of this month. That tells me that transit isn't the panacea that the politicians and planners claimed it would be.
|
|
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-wordpress-client-uploads/wweek/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/31174614/Bdrop_AaronWessling_.jpg)
TriMet has launched a temporary bus line to transport riders to one of the few places where they can return cans and bottles for cash. "We as a society must recognize that collecting bottles and cans is the only way some in our community can support themselves financially," said TriMet General Manager Doug Kelsey. Oregon's landmark Bottle Bill uses a 10-cent deposit to spur the recycling of empty containers. The bus line was requested by Gov. Kate Brown's office.
You ever been to a "bottle drop" location? I have. Plan to spend a couple of hours if you go.
It's another government failure.
Sorry, Doug, but bums aren't part of "our community". Now we give them "free" bus rides? But Chinese Flu!
"By offering this free service, to get people to where they can return the containers, we hope to help those who rely on that money and open up space on other bus lines as we continue to encourage social distancing on board," said Kelsey.
Who the heck relies on collecting bottles and cans for income? Bums.
Northwest Yeon is several miles from downtown. It can be reached on TriMet's No. 16 bus—but the transit agency is restricting each bus to no more than 15 passengers. So TriMet decided to start a dedicated line for riders with bags of cans.
Isn't that special?
|
|
Here in the Portland area, the public transit agency is now going to allow a total of 15 people on a bus.
TriMet is limiting the number of riders on buses to 15 people to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
The restriction takes place at 5 p.m. on Thursday, the regional transit agency said in an announcement released just two hours earlier.
That's going to inconvenience a lot of riders - and likely will increase the agency's costs.
They've also eliminated cash payments for riders; presumably, you have to have a TriMet pass now.
|
|
The U.S. Department of Transportation could allow airlines to ban untrained animals from airplanes, possibly ending the debate over whether emotional support pets deserve the same treatment as fully trained service animals.
Airlines and passengers have been grappling with letting animals fly in the cabin on airplanes, particularly in recent years with a rise in emotional support animals ranging from dogs and snakes to miniature horses, pigs, ducks, peacocks and turkeys.
Trained service dogs make sense, and even trained miniature horses - which are often used as guide animals by disabled people with dog allergies. But snakes, turkeys, and other critters have no place in a plane's cabin. Common sense may finally take hold. And wouldn't that be nice?
If someone feels they need a turkey for "emotional support", they need to find a different mode of transportation.
|
|
