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Transportation mostly survives DC budget cuts
DC will continue most of its existing transportation efforts next year under a draft budget released by DC mayor Muriel Bowser. The K Street Transitway, Pennsylvania West, bus and bike lanes, and other projects continue to move forward.
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DC will temporarily widen some sidewalks near grocery stores and other businesses
To help people practice social distancing and stay six feet apart, DC will expand some sidewalks in wards throughout the District near essential businesses such as grocery stores, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Monday.
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DC’s pedestrian council and neighborhood groups suggest ways to improve streets during the coronavirus crisis
Lower speed limits? Longer times to cross? Wider sidewalks? Close spaces like Cleveland Park's service lane? These are some ideas that have been put forth in recent days to improve street space while people "social distance" amid the rising coronavirus infection totals.
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WMATA is on track for a budget compromise that achieves some key rider asks (but not all)
Most but not all of Metro's proposed cuts to bus service are off the table, under a draft budget proposal the WMATA Board will vote on Thursday. So is an extra charge for riders using cash on buses, which advocates had opposed. Unfortunately, a plan to make transfers between buses and trains free was a casualty of the budget process.
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DC, Montgomery, and Alexandria add pick-up/drop-off zones to help restaurants during the coronavirus
Most retail businesses are closed for social distancing during the Covid-19 epidemic, but restaurants are continuing to their business now comes entirely from take-out and delivery. To help with that, some area governments are adding more "pick-up/drop-off zones" near restaurants and other take-out businesses.
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Organizations and officials ask Congress to help public transit during the coronavirus
Ridership on public transit systems nationwide has plummeted and many, including Metro, are actively discouraging people from riding unless absolutely necessary. This is going to obliterate transit systems' budgets, and so over 220 elected officials and organizations signed a letter to Congress on March 18 asking for emergency funding for transit in a coronavirus relief bill.
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The good, the bad and the unexplained: what you need to know about the WMATA budget
Soon, WMATA will formally be asking riders and other members of the public to weigh in on its next budget. There's a lot riders should understand, and weigh in on, in addition to proposed cuts or changes to bus service which have rightly attracted a lot of attention — some of which transit advocates have been requesting for years, and other items which are worrisome.
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Why the streetcar from Union Station to Georgetown died (mostly)
"DC Streetcar to Georgetown is dead," read the headline. But the once-proposed DC Streetcar extension, likely in dedicated lanes, from Union Station to Georgetown didn't just die. It died a long time ago. It's just that reporters saw the death certificate, and that lent a certain finality to what many suspected and others already knew.
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What the heck is going on with the WMATA budget?
Up to 68 Washington-area bus routes could face cuts in 2020 (and some could see increases), under a draft budget document presented to the WMATA board Thursday. At the meeting, various board members then proposed numerous of amendments, and the board ultimately put off any action for a month. What's going on, and what should riders take from this?
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More dockless scooters and bikes, but fewer dockless companies would operate in DC under a new DDOT plan
DC could limit shared dockless bike and scooter companies to just four, but increase the number of dockless bikes and scooters to 20,000, under a new proposal released for public comment Wednesday. Currently, Bird, Bolt, Lime, Lyft, Razor, Skip, and Spin operate dockless scooters and JUMP operates both scooters and dockless bicycles.

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Image by Sam Kittner / DDOT used with permission.