Quoted: Van Jones has been on a crusade to "green the ghetto" by killing two birds with one stone: reducing poverty and saving the environment. Recently appointed as Obama's "green czar," Jones now has an opportunity to implement his vision: "new work, new wealth and better health for all Americans."

This is a blog entry based on my newfound love of buses.

Quoted: Buses generally lack the poetry of railways. This may be why there hasn't been a Bus Named Desire or a Soul Bus. I tend to associate buses with congestion, exhaust, delays, noise, and advertisements. ... At the same time, bus systems are less expensive and more flexible than trains. If we can make them more appealing, they might become a popular alternative to private vehicles.

This is a great site on the abandoned subway system in Rochester, NY. There is an archive of photos, maps, videos, etc. It was done by Michael Governale and Otto M. Vondrak. Very impressive.

Quoted: The Rochester Subway may be gone, but this site brings back a piece of history few people know about.

The Transition is a flying car with folding wings. Not so attractive visually, but it might bring us one small step closer to living in a Jetson's future world.

Hungary has quite the amazing history of public transportation. This site provides a lot of interesting background on the subject, including photos and a review of the Budapest Urban Public Transport Museum at Szentendre.

Quoted: Coney Island's Stillwell Avenue Terminal is the largest above-ground station in the New York City subway system. For the reconstruction of this major intermodal terminal, Kiss + Cathcart has designed a 76,000 square foot glass and steel structure using an innovative, panelized construction system of semi-transparent photovoltaic modules. These solar modules function both as enclosure and a source of approximately 250,000 kilowatt hours per year in renewable energy, the equivalent of the usage of approximately 40 single family houses.

I'd love to see this in person...

Quoted: As a commuter train roars into a college campus in Chicago, its noise is suddenly muffled when it enters a stainless steel tunnel that sits atop the new student center. The tube and the building below it are the work of Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his firm, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). The school is the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), still bearing the stamp of its mid-20th century modernist origins.

Photos from a recent (yesterday's) Bike-Share Project charette in New York. Video footage coming soon...

Quoted: The New York Bike-Share Project consists of three parts: The Experiment: Twenty bicycles will be available for free 30-minute rentals between Storefront for Art and Architecture (97 Kenmare Street) and a roving, remote location. The Exhibition: A review of eight successful bike-share programs in European cities will be on view at Storefront. The Charette: The Forum For Urban Design will facilitate a public imagining of a future bike-share program in New York.

A comparative assessment of Mayor Bloomberg's plan to charge people for driving in Manhattan -- includes interactive graphics based on similar plans that have been put into place in London, Singapore, and Stockholm.

Quoted: Under the scheme, which Bloomberg announced in April, car drivers would pay $8 and truck drivers $12 to enter Manhattan below 86th Street. Congestion pricing has lowered traffic volume, raised revenue, and cut pollution in large cities around the world.