Kate Hinds

Top stories on TN:
Virginia Governor Proposes Eliminating State Gasoline Tax (link)
Self-driving Cars Debut at Consumer Electronic Show (link)
Some 24/7 PATH Train Service To Resume (link)
Photos and Videos: Eye Candy Celebrating the London’s Underground’s 150 Anniversary (link)
NY Gov Plans for Flood-Proof Subways, Open Transpo Data, Coastal Barriers (link)
Dozens Injured in Lower Manhattan Ferry Crash (link)

Boston's transit system is reminding riders to wash their hands & cover their mouth when they sneeze. (Photo courtesy of MBTA GM via twitter)ey sneeze

Boston's transit system is taking extra precautions during the flu outbreak, including special cleaning regulations and PSAs. (BostInno)

The FAA is warning flight attendants that the prepackaged coffee filters many airlines use are susceptible to pressure buildup and can explode. (CNN)

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is not among the group of Cabinet officials the White House says will be staying on the job in President Obama's second term. (The Hill)

Jersey City's Pulaski Skyway -- a major feeder to the Holland Tunnel -- will close for two years. (NBC)

The privacy of personal Clipper card travel data may soon be better protected: the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission is “exploring options” to reduce the length of time it holds onto personal data to three years. (Bay Citizen)

A new study from the Texas Transportation Institute says if a driver tends to speed, their personality probably has a lot to do with it. (KUHF)

Automaker BMW AG says its worldwide sales rose nearly 11% to a new record last year, helped by strong demand in China and the U.S. for its luxury cars. (Detroit Free Press)

Maryland gas station owners worry that if Virginia's effort to ditch the gas tax works, it would create an incentive for drivers to leave the state to fill up. (Baltimore Sun)

There's a nearly 40 percent increase in fare evasion citations issued in Boston. (Boston Globe)

Harvard University employees will get tax incentives to commute to work by bike. (Harvard Gazette)

There will be no velodrome in Brooklyn Bridge Park. (New York Magazine)

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(photo by Kate Hinds)

For the first time in the 70-plus days since Hurricane Sandy, some PATH lines are resuming partial around-the-clock operations.

Governors Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo say starting Wednesday, trains will run 24-7, from Newark to 33rd Street, via Hoboken.

PATH has operated on a 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. schedule – with the exception of New Year’s Eve – since the storm.  The system suffered catastrophic damage from an estimated 10 million gallons of water that flooded the tunnels.

PATH trains will still run from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week on the Hoboken to 33rd Street, Journal Square to 33rd Street and Newark to World Trade Center lines.

Port Authority officials say it could be late February before they receive a shipment of replacement parts necessary to restoring service on the line between Hoboken and the World Trade Center, which is still not operational.

On January 9, 2013, the world's first underground journey took place in London.

A lithograph of Baker Street Station on Metropolitan Railway (Image courtesy of London Transport Museum)

According to the London Transport Museum:

The original Underground line was built and financed by the Metropolitan Railway, a private company which had been formed in 1854 to undertake the project to link the mainline stations at Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross with the City centre business district to the east.

Travelling on the new railway was a novelty that thousands of Londoners were eager to experience and on the first day of public service – long queues formed at every station. The line was a huge success with 26,000 passengers using the railway each day in the first six months.

A view of the platform at the Victoria station (Image courtesy of London Transport Museum)

In 1969, Queen Elizabeth opened a section of the Victoria Line and actually took the controls. According to press reports, it was her second time riding the Tube.

(Image courtesy of London Transport Museum)

But she didn't just ride. The queen apparently also took the controls.

Carriage 353 was a  four-wheeled first class carriage built in 1892.  Amazingly, it had been "relegated to use as a garden shed." Check out a video of its history -- and restoration process -- below.

Metropolitan Carriage 353, pausing between test runs at Quorn Station (image courtesy of London Transport Museum)

Here's what the interior of a 1938 car looked like:

 (Image courtesy of London's Transport Museum)

To celebrate the 150th anniversary, Google UK blessed its site with an Underground-themed Doodle.

Google Doodle

Today, Transport for London estimates around 3.5 million journeys are made on the network each day, across 11 lines serving 270 stations.

Top stories on TN:
Draft Report: To Withstand Storms, Build a Bigger Bus System (link)
Fairfax Board To Vote On Tysons Tax Hike (link)
While Detroit Gains Ground, Japanese Automakers Stumble in China (link)

On January 9, 1863, the world’s first underground train pulled out of Paddington station. (Image courtesy of Transport for London)

London's Underground turns 150 years old today. (TFL) Celebrate with 150 facts about the Tube -- such as: "There is only one Tube station which does not have any letters of the word 'mackerel' in it: St John's Wood." (Telegraph)

A series of mishaps is spurring concerns about safety for Boeing's Dreamliners... (New York Times)
...which is triggering some financial challengers for the company. (Wall Street Journal)

How to save Detroit: rejigger density, make it more expensive to hold vacant land and buildings, add more transit options, and promote development of a network of greenways for walking and bicycling. (Detroit Free Press)

New York Governor Cuomo delivers his State of the State address today. (WNYC)

When Georgia's legislature comes into session later this month, hopes aren't exactly high that Atlanta's transit will be a priority. "The most lawmakers might do for metro transportation is to stave off collapse of the Xpress commuter bus service." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Meanwhile, expect a flurry of speed camera legislation in Annapolis as Maryland lawmakers try to tighten rules. (Baltimore Sun)

To increase winter cycling, the Dutch are heating bike paths and using glow-in-the-dark road markings. (BBC)

A Kansas City-based architectural and engineering firm will oversee construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge. (Journal News)

Southwest Airlines has the power to ruin fare hikes for the other U.S. based carriers. (Marketplace)

The Boy Scouts have revived their Railroading Merit Badge. (Eno Center for Transportation)

Where did all those Capital Bikeshare bikes go in the third quarter of 2012? Check out a data visualization of those trips here. (H/T Washington City Paper)

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has 18 million people and no map of its complex bus system. So a new project is sending riders on them with GPS devices in the hopes of making the city’s first transit map. (FastCoExist; video)

It's time-lapse map day: check out rates of travel in this map estimating how long it took to get from place to place in the U.S. in 1800 -- and then again in 1930. (Flowing Data)

And: this Boston commuter rail map details exactly how long it takes to travel between stations. (BostInno)

Time-scale map of MBTA's commuter rail system (image courtesy of StoneBrown design)

Top stories on TN:
NYC Unclutters Parking Signs (link)
U.S. DOT Gives Sacramento $135 Million for Light Rail (link)
This Man Keeps Fond NYC Subway Memories Alive with Impressive Model Train Hobby (link)

The Bay Bridge (photo by Daniel Ramirez via Flickr)

Electric cars, which have soundless engines, would need to make noises to let pedestrians know they’re near, under a U.S. proposed rule released yesterday. (Bloomberg/Business Week)

An oil tanker collided with the Bay Bridge. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Baltimore is scrapping all 83 of the city's automated speed cameras and "methodically" replacing them with newer models, after a Baltimore Sun investigation found errors with the system. (Baltimore Sun)

Chemicals from 50 years of oil sands production are showing up in increasing amounts in lakes in northern Alberta. And the effects are being felt much farther away than previously thought. (CBC)

Houston issued a parking ticket to a fake Mini Cooper parked on a wall as part of an ad campaign. (Jalopnik)

For the first time in 65 years San Francisco drivers must now feed the meter on Sundays. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Automakers began introducing heavy artillery in the infotainment war, as the Ford Motor Company and General Motors introduced open platform software kits that would enable developers to create applications for use in vehicles. (New York Times)

Los Angeles property owners would pay more on their tax bills for road repairs under a bond proposal that will be considered by the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday. (KPCC)

NJ Transit has plans for a "flyover" track and a new train station in North Brunswick. (Star-Ledger)

Queens is considering turning an abandoned rail line into a High Line-inspired park -- or possibly reviving it as a rail line. (New York Times)

It's legal in California to engage in hands-free texting while driving. (Times Herald)

A fire broke out on a Japan Airlines Boeing Dreamliner plane after it landed in Boston. (Marketplace)

Thousands of cars are sitting on a runway in eastern Long Island, potentially leaking lubricants into the water supply. (WNYC)

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing a traffic light algorithm inspired by insects -- how ants, termites, and bees communicate right of way in busy colonies and hives. (New Scientist)

Ford has sold most of its giant Wixom (Michigan) Assembly plant property to an industrial site redeveloper and may sell most of the rest to home improvement retailer Menards. (Detroit Free Press)

A crowded "up" escalator inexplicably reversed direction at a Jersey City PATH station on Monday, leading to injuries. (Gothamist; video below)

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Top stories on TN:
INTERVIEW: Author Jeff Speck Explains What Makes a City Walkable (link)
NYC Adds Bus Service, in First Transit Expansion in Years (link)
Threatened Tortoises Make Way for Central Florida Toll Road (link)

L.A. Metro's Hollywood/Western Station (image courtesy L.A. Metro)

Operator exhaustion has become part of the culture at Portland transit agency. "TriMet says the average shift for a bus driver is 9.2 hours. However...The Oregonian found that many drivers spend 18, 19, 20 hours or more on the job in 24 hours." (The Oregonian)

Cash for clunkers was not an environmental success story. "For each ton of metal recovered by a shredding facility, roughly 500 pounds of shredder residue are produced, meaning about 3 to 4.5 million tons of shredder residue is sent to landfills every year." (E Magazine)

A New York state commission will recommend the installation of solid roll-down gates at subway station entrances to prevent Hurricane Sandy-style flooding. (Daily News)

New York City -- the largest school system in the country -- is facing a school bus strike. (SchoolBook/WNYC)

How D.C. launched the best bike share program in the country. (Slate)

Raleigh state workers said goodbye to their bus pass benefit. (News Observer)

Chicago's transit riders long for a chance at a seat. "Why does the CTA operate four-car trains when passenger demand would seem to call for at least six-car trains?" (Chicago Tribune)

The Tappan Zee Bridge's transit task force has begun meeting -- and is setting goals. (Journal News)

L.A. is folding art into its Metro stations. (Los Angeles Times)

How the gift of a $40 bike began changing a Cambodian village. (FastCoExist)

Fort Worth is planning a pedestrian plaza. (Star-Telegram)

Philadelphia will mount a pedestrian safety campaign next month. As in signs that read: "Thank you for not running pedestrians over. It's road safety, not rocket science." (NorthJersey.com)

How maps change our view of the world. (NPR)

If Jose Canseco's twitter feed is any indication, the former baseball player could be interested in running for mayor of Toronto. (Atlantic Cities)

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Top stories on TN:
Christie on NJ Transit Storm Decisions: “Not A Hanging Offense” (link)
YEAR IN REVIEW Connecticut (link)

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Governor's Office/Tim Larsen)

NJ Governor Christie is offering a full-throated defense of NJ Transit chief James Weinstein's decision to store rail trains in yards that flooded during Sandy -- a misstep that cost the agency $100 million.

"Well, you know, if they knew for sure it was going to flood, believe me, [executive director] Jim Weinstein would have moved the trains," Christie said, in response to a reporter's questions. "This is a guy with decades of experience in government, with extraordinary competence, who made the best decision he could make at the time. Sometimes, people make wrong decisions. It happens. It's not a hanging offense."

Speaking Tuesday at a press conference, the governor reserved most of his ire for House Republican leadership, which failed to vote on a $60 billion Sandy aid package. But when questioned about his support of Weinstein, Christie said:

A transcript follows.

Reporter: in light of the report last week that NJ Transit had been warned months ahead of time that  rail yards in Kearny would likely flood in the event of a storm like Sandy, do you still support the leadership?

Christie's full response:

"I absolutely support the leadership -- and I don't believe that that's what the report said. I mean, I think you've gilded that report up pretty well in the lead up to your question. I don't think that's what the report said. I think these guys made the best judgement they could under the circumstances. And all of you are geniuses after. Once you see that the Kearny yards flooded, you could say 'well, geez, they should have moved the trains.’ Well, you know, if they knew for sure it was going to flood, believe me, [executive director] Jim Weinstein would have moved the trains. This is a guy with decades of experience in government, with extraordinary competence, who made the best decision he could make at the time. Sometimes, people make wrong decisions. It happens. It's not a hanging offense."

The head of NJ Transit, Jim Weinstein, told a state panel last month the agency relied on past experience -- and the understanding that it had up to 20 more years to prepare for climate change -- when it came where to store its rolling stock during the storm.

Top stories on TN:
Fiscal Cliff Legislation Equalizes Transit Tax Benefit (link)
Virginia Governor Calls Transportation, Education Top Priorities for 2013 (link)

A wooden subway car on Subte Linea A in Buenos Aires (photo by Thomas Hobbs via flickr)

Governor Christie is defending the head of NJ Transit for leaving trains in rail yards that flooded during Sandy. "It's not a hanging offense...Sometimes, people make wrong decisions. It happens.” (Star Ledger)

Salt Lake City will launch its bike share program in April. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Climate-proofing cities is also a social process. "Strategies of resilience will involve more than changes to our physical infrastructure." (New Yorker; subscription required)

One in eight bridges in the United States has been categorized as structurally deficient -- and many more are reaching the end of their lives. (The Takeaway)

California's millions of unlicensed drivers are nearly three times as likely to cause a fatal traffic crash as those who are driving legally, a new Department of Motor Vehicles study concludes. (Sacramento Bee)

Six eco-car predictions for 2013. Goodbye, CD players; hello, cheap EVs. (Forbes)

We know New York City's abandoned bikes, but this one from Washington raises the bar. Yes, that's a bike embedded in a tree. (ABC)

A city in the Indonesian province of Aceh has ordered female passengers not to straddle motorbikes behind male drivers. "When you see a woman straddle, she looks like a man. But if she sits side-saddle, she looks like a woman," the city's mayor said. (BBC)

Public transit is now free in Estonia's capital city. (Estonian Public Broadcasting)

Tips aren't keeping pace with NYC taxi fare increases. (New York Times)

The key component behind the 'safest bike in the world:' its visibility. (Fast CoExist)

San Francisco scam: people pretending to be parking lot attendants, collecting money from gullible drivers. (SF Gate)

Tweet of the day, from Michael Kimmelman: Unconscionable, anti-democratic Republican House delay on Sandy funds for NY+NJ actually targets preventive measures. Can policy be worse?

Buenos Aires is retiring its wooden subway cars -- the oldest in the world -- after almost 100 years of service. The city's mayor says the 95 La Brugeoise carriages are costly to maintain — parts must be custom made — and are unsafe. (USA Today)

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LIRR commuters (photo by @MSG via flickr)

After a year of lobbying, transit advocates finally won.

As part of legislation passed Tuesday, pre-tax benefits for transit are now on par with parking benefits. Individuals who get commuter benefits from their employers can now look forward to (about) $240 a month. The measure is particularly meaningful to suburban commuters, who can easily spend more than that amount on transit.

Note section 203.

The back story: on December 31, 2011, legislation equalizing transit benefits expired. So for 2012, transit riders received a $125 monthly benefit, although parking remained at $240--a thorn in the side for politicians from transit-dependent states. Last March, New York Senator Charles Schumer authored legislation to re-equalize the benefit, but it wasn't acted on until the fiscal cliff negotiations.

Transit advocates hailed the legislation. "We've been pushing for transit equity for months," said Rob Healy, vice president of the American Public Transportation Association. "From our perspective, we felt it was very, very important that the federal tax code not bias one mode versus another." He added: "You shouldn’t be making your choices based on a tax code which treats parking better than it does transit."

Veronica Vanterpool, the head of the Tri State Transportation Campaign, which advocates for transit riders in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, said  when the benefit expired, "it was a de-facto tax increase for transit commuters. It's ludicrous that Congress would incentivize driving over public transportation. So we are particularly pleased that this was restored...we know a lot of our region's senators have really pushed for that."

Vanterpool said about 700,000 people in the tri-state region take advantage of the benefit. And: it's retroactive to January 1, 2012, although the mechanism for calculating those past benefits hasn't yet been determined.

But the current benefit also expires at the end of 2013 -- meaning transit advocates must begin spooling up again.

“It is our hope that in the new Congress, legislation will pass to make the public transit commuter benefit parity permanent,” said APTA president Michael Melaniphy. Vanterpool echoed that sentiment. "Moving forward," she said, "we need to make sure this is a permanent restoration and that we're not dealing with this battle every year."

Top stories on TN:
NY MTA Tepidly Explores Platform Barriers After Subway Track Deaths … Again (link)
YEAR IN REVIEW Washington, D.C: Silver Lines, Express Lanes, Gentrification, and Scandal (link)
Bank Robber Tries To Use Metro As Getaway Vehicle (link)
Carmakers Bet on Green Future (link)

Chicago's Lake Shore Drive (photo by Jason Mrachina via flickr)

An oil drilling rig holding more than 150,000 gallons of diesel, lubricating oil and hydraulic fluid has run aground near Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. (NPR)

Twin Cities planners are working on the cities' first BRT line. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Complaints about cab drivers are on the rise in San Francisco. (Bay Citizen)

The number of pedestrians killed on Irish roads last year fell by 40 percent, contributing to the record low in traffic deaths. (Independent)

A popular D.C. real-time bus tracking application went offline last month because of an apparent contractual issue. (Washington Examiner)

Former MTA chair Joe Lhota's "presence in the (mayoral) campaign immediately raises the level of competence in the candidate pool." (Observer)

In the retail gas industry, it's location, location, location. The practice known as "zone pricing" can lead to wild price fluctuations, even in the same city. (Los Angeles Times)

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China is building a rail link through Southeast Asia, but is it a good deal for Laos? "The price tag of the $7 billion, 260-mile rail project, which Laos will borrow from China, is nearly equal to the tiny $8 billion in annual economic activity in Laos, which lacks even a rudimentary railroad and whose rutted road system is largely a leftover from the French colonial era" (New York Times)

The number of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2013 is expected to exceed 15 million. (Wall Street Journal)

Avis is buying Zipcar for $500 million. (NBC)

Why can't pickups park on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive? The answer to "WBEZ’s latest trivial pursuit question.”(Curious City)

San Rafael (CA) is implementing a $10,000 program that will pay nearly 370 employees to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by getting to work any way other than driving in a car alone. (Marin Independent Journal)

Amtrak's San Joaquin line, the Valley's only passenger train service, posted record ridership in 2012, attracting more than 1.1 million passengers last year. (Fresno Bee)

A New Orleans bridge will have a dedicated tow truck during rush hour to speed removal of disabled cars. (WVUE)

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Throughout this eventful year, Transportation Nation (and our parent station WNYC) has kept you informed about transportation and infrastructure, from real-time updates on Sandy damage with our Transit Tracker, to monitoring the future of high-speed rail, and deep looks at the track records of presidential candidates. Please include Transportation Nation in your year-end giving plans and help pay for another year of independent journalism. Your financial contribution will strengthen TN and WNYC in 2013. It keeps us going. Visit TransportationNation.org/support to make your tax deductible gift now.

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Top stories on TN:
Drought Lowers Mississippi, Holding Up Barge Traffic (link)
Some NYC Riders Can Now Use Phones For Real-Time Subway Arrival Times (link)
Year in Review New York: Sandy, Buses, Tappan Zee — and Abandoned Bikes (link)
Port Strike Averted… for 30 Days (link)
Lower Gasoline Prices Squeeze Locally-Owned Fuel Stations (link)

Sunset over lower Manhattan (photo by Kate Hinds)

New York's MTA is considering installing sliding glass doors on some subway platforms. (New York Daily News)

The FAA has no proof that electronic devices can harm a plane’s avionics, "but it still perpetuates such claims, spreading irrational fear among millions of fliers." (New York Times)

Beijing put four subway lines and extensions into operation yesterday as part of its efforts to expand its public urban transport network and ease traffic congestion. (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Curbside buses are extending routes, even through the sparsely populated Midwest and Great Plains. (Marketplace)

Can putting up street signs change how Lahore navigates? "For generations, Pakistanis have been rolling down their windows to ask for directions every couple of blocks. So Fayaz and Siddiqi plan to launch an education campaign to convince Lahore residents that street signs are better." (NPR)

Mumbai is phasing out older taxicabs like the once-ubiquitous Premier Padminis. (New York Times)

Remembering Jakarta's "Helicak" -- a now-departed form of public transportation that crossed a scooter with a taxi. Sort of. (Tulip News)

Memphis wants to make "biking part of our DNA." (New York Times)

It took less than a day for an independent developer to come out with an app making use of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s newly released train-arrival data. (Wall Street Journal)

A Metro-North work train collided with a car in Connecticut. (News Times)

A skeleton under a British parking lot could -- could -- be King Richard III, who died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. (National Geographic)

Tweet of the day, from NPR's Sonari Glinton: "Looking at these drunk driving stats for New Years make me wanna hide under my bed."

Where airplanes go to die: the plane boneyard.  "At the world’s largest-known boneyard, 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group outside Tuscon, Arizona, you would be able to see 'just about every kind of airplane that the military has flown since WWII.'" (Messy Nessy) Below: a video of the "boneyard guillotine" in action.

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Top stories on TN:
Another Silicon Valley Perk — Free Shuttle Service (link)
Toyota Reaches $1 Billion Deal in Runaway Cars Case (link)

Smog in New Delhi, India (photo by Tico via flickr)

As private car ownership rises in New Delhi, so does pollution. "We have to stop this untamed motorization now,” says one environmentalist. (New York Times)
Meanwhile, protests over the Indian government's handling of a vicious gang rape led to the closure of all nine Metro stations in that city. (India Today)

Toyota may be facing a big settlement payout, but 2012 was very good to the automaker. "Toyota has had a phenomenal year,” says one analyst. "They’re up 29 percent year to date.” (KPCC)

New York City's Transit Museum is piloting a program to teach autistic middle schoolers about riding the subway. (Museum Access Consortium)

San Francisco's Muni -- "the people's road" -- turns 100. Which means it's a good time to improve service. (SF Gate editorial)
To celebrate the anniversary, the city's oldest surviving bus will return to the fleet today. (Photo at Market Street Railway)

Discuss: Should sleepy driving be prosecuted like drunken driving, or is it simply an accident? (New York Times/Room for Debate)

Rudy Giuliani has begun to reach out to Republican bigwigs to talk up MTA chair Joe Lhota’s potential run for mayor. (New York Post)

Transportation Nation is reader-supported — make a tax-deductible donation here.

There are so many vacant office buildings in Amsterdam that the city may begin tearing some down. "Soon we will witness the demolition of brand-new offices." (Wall Street Journal)

Straphangers waiting for F and M trains at Manhattan's Delancey Street station act as a human real-time subway arrival system. (New York Times)

Twenty-five years after opening, Silicon Valley's light rail is among nation's worst. "Today, fewer than 1 percent of the county's residents ride the trains daily." (Mercury News)

Are smaller cities doing a better job getting bike share programs off the ground than bigger cities? (Next City)

Oregon is nearing completion of its latest vehicle miles traveled pilot. "The idea is that charging motorists based on how far they drive -- as opposed to how much gas they consume -- is a more financially sustainable model." (Governing)

The new Tappan Zee Bridge will have 110,000 tons of steel in its superstructure -- and 550,000 tons of concrete. (New NY Bridge)

Not all Bay Area traffic is equal: commuters from some cities contribute more to congestion than other places. (KQED)

The East River Ferry, which chauffeurs residents from the Queens and Brooklyn waterfront to Manhattan, will keep running until at least 2019. (DNA Info)

The Chicago area’s commuter rail agency is installing defibrillators on all of its trains. (Sun Times)

The etiquette of Silicon Valley's shuttle buses: “I was once yelled at for streaming Obama's acceptance speech at the DNC,” a Google bus rider reported. “It was using too much bandwidth.” (New York Magazine)

SpaceX took its reusable rocket -- the Grasshopper -- out for a test run. Watch as it stays aloft for 29 seconds. (Slate)

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Top stories on TN:
No Free Rides? PATH Says Au Contraire, Hoboken (link)
Shippers, Dockworkers Making Last-Ditch Attempt To Avoid Massive Port Strike (link)

Crowded Boston T platform (photo by Sean Marshall via flickr)

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Despite a recent fare hike, the number of riders on Boston's transit system is continuing to increase. (AP via WBUR)

Toyota will settle 'sudden acceleration' lawsuits for more than $1 billion. (NPR)

So now the Detroit area has a regional transit authority. What's next? (Radio Michigan)

Nearly 3,000 drivers were caught breaking cell phone rules during a crackdown in 37 police jurisdictions in and around California's Sacramento County. (Sacramento Bee)

New York's MTA is battling NYC over billboard zoning restrictions. (New York Times)

Explainer: how subway de-icers work. (The Maddow Blog)

One New Hampshire lawmaker is proposing a bill that would require the state to widen shoulders and bicycle lanes, in compliance with Complete Streets guidelines. (State Impact New Hampshire)

There is much that separates Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, but on one particular goal for the coming Maryland General Assembly session, they are united: Both want more transportation funding. (Washington Post)

Video: subway activists sing 'MTA fare hike carols.' As in "God Rest Ye MTA Chairman." (Gothamist)

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(photo by AgentAkit via flickr)

Hoboken residents -- who endured seven-plus weeks of no PATH train service, post-Sandy -- are getting a month's worth of free rides.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Wednesday it will provide 30 free days of PATH service to Hoboken residents who have registered 30-day SmartLink cards.

In a press release, the Port Authority said the free service was a way to show appreciation for the hardship that Hoboken residents experienced.

"We truly understand the extreme difficulties that closure of the Hoboken station put on our loyal resident riders,’’ said Stephen Kingsberry, PATH’s acting director and general manager. “We hope these residents understand the extraordinary efforts PATH workers and contractors made to reopen the station and will accept this free month as a sign of our appreciation for your patience.”

The PATH system was hobbled by Hurricane Sandy, and the Hoboken station experienced some of the area's worst flooding. The station was closed from October 29 until December 19, when service to 33rd Street resumed.

These sandbags weren't enough to prevent flooding in the elevator shafts during storm Sandy. (Photo by Alec Perkins via flickr)

While the entire Northeast experienced massive transit disruption during Sandy, the PATH outage has been especially trying for Hoboken: it has one of the highest percentages of transit ridership in the nation. Bus service between Manhattan and Hoboken has been overcrowded and strained since Sandy, and ferry service -- which costs $9 one way -- is four times as costly as the PATH.

The Wall Street Journal reported cab rides between New York City and Hoboken have doubled since the storm, and the AP says the PATH disruption is causing some residents to leave Hoboken altogether.

There is still no PATH service between Hoboken and the World Trade Center.

Top stories on TN:
Year in Review Bay Area: High Speed Rail Narrowly Passes, Apps Push Into Bay Area (link)
Year in Review Florida: Rail Blooms, Shuttles Retire, Mica Moves on (link)

A bullet train in Beijing (photo by Mark 75 via flickr)

China has begun service on the world’s longest high-speed rail line, covering a distance in eight hours that is about equal to that from New York to Key West, Florida. (New York Times)

NJ Transit was warned about flooding in its northern New Jersey rail yards months before Superstorm Sandy struck. (Record, AP)

Male pedestrians who are struck by cars are more than twice as likely to die from their injuries as their female counterparts. (Wired)

New York City is facing a possible school bus strike. (Staten Island Advance)

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Taxi trips from New York City to Jersey City and Hoboken have shot up since superstorm Sandy crippled the train service that connects the two New Jersey cities to Manhattan. (Wall Street Journal)

To compensate for the lack of gas taxes they pay, electric vehicle owners in Washington state will soon have to pay a $100 a year fee. (AP via Oregon Live)

All aboard: Rio's Samba train puts different local musicians in rail cars during December to celebrate the country's musical heritage. (BBC)

It turns out that LeBron James riding his bike to work was just the tip of the iceberg: now other Miami Heat team members are biking as well. (Atlantic Cities)

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Top stories on TN:
Vignelli, Designer of Famous Subway Map, Defends His Version Over These Others (link)
Year in Review Bay Area: Narrow Votes, New Apps and a Neighborhood Bus Ride (link)
Carmakers Developing Hi-Tech Biometric Sensors for Drivers (link)
Northern Virginia Road Expansion: Betting on Dulles Airport as Freight Hub (link)
Alexandria Street To Be Equal Opportunity For Cars, Bikes And Pedestrian (link)

A subway token booth, tricked out for the holidays (photo by Kate Hinds)

Wealthy Chinese are buying bikes that cost more than the average citizen makes in three years, motivated by nostalgia for the days when two wheels were the primary means of transport. "It's like the Rolls-Royce of bicycles. Very classical, purely hand-made," says one owner of his $16,000 bike. (Reuters)

NORAD is tracking Santa. (Link)

On some roads in Texas, bikes are banned, raising questions about just where bikers have the right to ride. “Banning bicycles from the roadway with no alternative, that’s a fight like the Alamo," says one advocate. "We can’t lose our freedom of movement." (State Impact Texas)

A subway train derailed in Manhattan on Saturday. (New York Times)

America's "Merriest Cities," as calculated by the "Grinch Conversion Index." Holla, Trenton! (Atlantic Cities)

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So, you want to be a flight attendant? Get in line. Delta Air Lines says 22,000 have applied for the 400 openings it expects to hire early next year.  (Marketplace)

The looming prospect of a longshoremen's strike at 15 ports from Boston to Houston as early as Dec. 30 has shippers and retailers pleading with the union and cargo carriers to avert a major trade disruption. (Wall Street Journal)

Pedestrian railroad accidents typically receive little attention, despite being the leading cause of death on the rails. (AP via SFGate)

Idaho Senator Mike Crapo was arrested and charged with drunk driving. (Politico)

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Dashing through the...Central Park West. (photo by Kate Hinds)

Traffic fatalities on the nation’s roads have spiked dramatically this year, ending six years of steady decline. (Washington Post)

L.A. is getting a 4,000-bike, 400-station bike share program in April. (Los Angeles Times)

Democrats in the House of Representatives have appointed 10 new members of their caucus to the chamber’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. (The Hill)

Car companies are developing biometric monitors, but the results can be confusing, especially when the coffee icon keeps popping up on the dashboard. "At first we didn't know if it was telling us to go to the nearest Starbucks, or what it really meant," said one test driver. (Marketplace)

Check out this list of 2012's biggest transportation success stories. The topper? NYC's transit recovery, post-Sandy. (Atlantic Cities)
Meanwhile: Full service has been restored on NYC's R train. (MTA tweet)

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What's next for the founder of Zipcar? Peer-to-peer car sharing -- and putting wireless devices in cars to turn them into mobile cell phone towers. (WBUR)

Houston's Metro chose an interim CEO. (KUHF)

Fort Collins's Bike Library has raised enough money to keep operating for two more years. (The Coloradoan)

LISTEN: For 35 years, one contest in New York City celebrated the everyday working girl. Starting in 1941 and lasting until 1976, the young woman chosen to be that month's Miss Subways gazed down on transit riders. (NPR)

If you read this post (or our daily email) each day, you value Transportation Nation.

Throughout this eventful year, Transportation Nation (and our parent station WNYC) has kept you informed about transportation and infrastructure, from real-time updates on Sandy damage with our Transit Tracker, to monitoring the future of high-speed rail, and deep looks at the track records of presidential candidates. Please include Transportation Nation in your year-end giving plans and help pay for another year of independent journalism. Your financial contribution will strengthen TN and WNYC in 2013. It keeps us going. Visit TransportationNation.org/support to make your tax deductible gift now.

For a $5/month contribution you can get our hip new TN-branded mug. There's even a fun video about it already so you can tastefully urge your friends to give. (Link)

We know times are tough right now, but every little bit helps. Thanks for your support. (Link)

Back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Top links on TN:
MTA Approves Fare Hike — and Lhota Officially to Resign This Month (link)
Montana Ranchers Worry Proposed New Rail Line Route Will Expedite Export of Coal to Asia (link)
How to Build a Better Bike Lock — U.K. Foundation Offers Prize (link)
As NY MTA Chair, Lhota Exhorted: Be A Man! (link)
As PATH Resumes after Sandy, Questions Remain about Agency, Flood Plans (link)
Northern Virginia Planning Big ‘Outer Beltway’ Road Expansion (link)
New MARTA GM: First We Economize, Then We Ask the State for Money (link)
TSA to Commission Independent Study of X-Ray Body Scanners (link)
Washington Governor Proposes New Fuel Tax For Education (link)

Today's stories:
On today's Brian Lehrer Show: TN reporters talk MTA fare hikes, Columbus Avenue bike lanes, and Lhota for mayor. (WNYC)

Canadian auto workers are furious over G.M.'s decision to move Camaro production south of the border (to Lansing). (Windsor Star)

How loud is the horn of Amtrak's Downeaster train? According to locals, "it's absolutely, positively horrible." (Bangor Daily News)

It's baa-aack: the lawsuit over Brooklyn's Prospect Park West bike lane will be back in court. (NY Observer)

Signing ceremony: Hawaii's rail project received a long-awaited $1.55 billion check from the U.S. Department of Transportation. (Honolulu Star Advertiser)

List: the 12 best things to happen to L.A. pedestrians this year. (Los Angeles Walks)

How will Cuomo pay for the Tappan Zee Bridge? "Expect the financial engineering on the bridge to be far more complicated than the actual engineering." (New York Post)

Michigan's governor signed into law a bill creating a regional transit authority for Detroit. (Detroit Free Press)

Drought alert: efforts are underway to blast away rock in some parts of Mississippi River in an attempt to make it deeper. (Marketplace)
Meanwhile: despite low water levels, it's business as usual at the Port of New Orleans. (WWNO)

Let my people e-read: as the holiday travel season approaches, the Federal Aviation Administration is under pressure to allow more widespread use of e-readers on commercial flights. (NPR)

Showdown: Santa tracker controversy as NORAD dumps Google maps for Bing. (Fast Company)

Vincent Urban's envy-inducing video traces a journey through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Southern Brazil. "Watch it full screen and you'll be itching to look up flights to South America." (Atlantic Cities)

Top stories on TN:
NY MTA Chief To Step Down And Run For Mayor (link)
VIDEO: Transportation Nation’s Mug. It Can Be Yours. (link)
DC’s Capital Bikeshare Expanding by 30 Percent (link)
PATH Service To Hoboken To Resume Wednesday (link)
Shale Drillers Eager to Move Wastewater on Barges (link)
D.C. Airports Board Spent $1.5 Million Defending Former Board Member (link)

The other Mars Curiosity rover, made of gingerbread and on display on the Caltech campus. (Brian Bell/courtesy California Institute of Technology)

The Treasury Department said it planned to sell off its entire stake in General Motors within 15 months. (New York Times)

The threat of a longshoremen's strike this year once again looms over ports from Maine to Texas, after contract talks that had already been extended 90 days broke down once again. (The Star-Ledger)

Traffic deaths are on the rise in California, and in 2011, it had more traffic fatalities than any state except Texas. (Los Angeles Times)

Meanwhile: Los Angeles city officials launched an effort to give 53 intersections a makeover to combat higher-than-average rates of traffic accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists -- but are they focused on the right spots? (KPCC)

New York's MTA is getting ready to ditch the bright flashing blue lights on top of the city's Select Bus Service vehicles, to prevent drivers from mistaking them for emergency vehicles. (DNA Info)

Early plans for what could be the Twin Cities' fourth light-rail transit spoke are moving ahead: Golden Valley -- once the lone rail holdout -- has approved the Bottineau route. (Minnesota Public Radio)

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JFK Airport security workers nixed plans to strike during Christmas. (New York Post)

The private company behind the proposed All Aboard Florida rail service got the green light to move forward on its passenger rail plans between Orlando and Miami. (WMFE)

Florida voters have selected their next license plate -- and yes, there's an orange. (Miami Herald)

New Jersey Senate panel has advanced a bill that would increase penalties for drivers who cause the death of a pedestrian by failing to yield at a crosswalk. (Jersey Journal)

NY Gov. Cuomo plans to make Department of Motor Vehicles offices friendlier places, complete with customer-service reps to greet and assist motorists and self-serve kiosks. (New York Post)

Next month Las Vegas will unveil a bike-share program targeting Zappos employees who work downtown. (Las Vegas Sun)

The head chef at Caltech made a gingerbread replica of the Mars Rover. "There's Yoda, Darth Vader, Buzz Lightyear and a three-eyed Martian nearby. At least I think it's a Martian. We'll have to wait for one of NASA's rovers to take a picture of a Martian to be sure." (NPR)

If it's Christmas, it must be time for Tony Lepore, Providence's dancing traffic cop, to bust a move.  (AP video)

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