Hear two new Whitehorse songs "Cold July" and "Jane" from the band's upcoming album.

Top stories on TN:
In the tech sector, bikes are the new cars. (Link)
Reports: House GOP considers reversal on transit funding. (Link)
A Brooklyn, New York subway station house that was shuttered some four decades ago is open again. (Link)
About a quarter of employees who work in New York area airports make wages that are below the poverty line. (Link)
Seemingly enjoying the fact that neither Rick Santorum nor Mitt Romney supported the bailout of the auto industry, the Obama campaign is out with an ad rubbing it in. (Link)

KLM's "Meet and Seat" program (image courtesy of KLM)

The House will revamp its transportation bill -- and is killing its controversial transit funding provision. (Politico)

...and Democrats are crowing. (The Hill)

The Twin Cities transit system will now be known as "Metro," and the light rail system is being color-coded. Bonus: new logo! (Minnesota Public Radio)

President Obama on high gas prices: “Anybody who tells you we can drill our way out of this problem doesn’t know what they’re talking about, or just isn’t telling you the truth." (New York Times)

Meanwhile, in France, gas has hit $8 a gallon, and prices could go higher. (NPR)

The projected budget deficits for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency operations are shrinking. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Denver's rapid transit to the northwest suburbs might actually come in the form of a bus system rather than a rail line as initially promised to voters nearly eight years ago. (Denver Post)

Social seating: Dutch airline KLM is testing a program it calls Meet and Seat, allowing ticket-holders to upload details from their Facebook or LinkedIn profiles and use the data to choose seatmates. (New York Times)

Los Angeles's Metro is locking gates in an effort to curb fare evasion. (Los Angeles Times)

Driverless trains will come to Australia's mining industry by 2014. Next up: driverless trucks. (PSFK)

In Toronto, light rail plans are full speed ahead, regardless of politics. (The Star)

Top stories on TN:
GOP House Works to Undo Reagan Legacy on Transportation (link)
Port Authority Pushes Back on Scathing Audit, But Acknowledges Need for Reform (link)
New York State Makes It Easier for Vets to Get Commercial Drivers Licenses (link)
Poll: Sixty Percent Think Stickers on Cars are Okay (link)
European Cities Allowing Bikes to Run Red Lights (link)
After Red Light Cameras Are Turned Off, Houston City Council Approves Big Settlement With Vendor (link)

(photo by miss604 via flickr)

Port Authority audit and the governors: reality check. "Little about this political bill of indictment seemed properly hinged to reality." (New York Times)

The Senate's transportation bill restores the commuter tax benefit. (The Hill)

An internal review finds no conflicts of interest but cites shortcomings in the State Department's environmental review of the Keystone XL oil pipeline project. (Los Angeles Times)

In the U.K., GPS units are communicating with car insurance companies to monitor driver behavior. (Marketplace)

A reclaimed Los Angeles bus yard begins life as urban wetland. (Los Angeles Times)

Toronto's city council voted for light rail over the mayor's subway transit plan... (National Post)

...but the mayor's not ready to give up just yet. (Toronto Star)

D.C. no longer requires parallel parking skills on its driving test. (Washington Examiner)

Congressman John Mica -- the head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee -- will announce what district he's running in today. (St. Augustine Record)

And: TN is #10 in a list of top 25 transportation twitter feeds. (UrbanLand)

Top stories on TN: NYC plans to make cell phone service available at more subway stations. The House Ways and Means Committee voted to to remove funding for transit from the highway trust fund. Houston ports say they need more truck drivers to move goods. And: a corrugated fence under a NYC bridge becomes an art project.

(photo by fluffy_steve_2 via flickr)

New York City officials will flood Grand Central Terminal today to protest a House vote to remove a dedicated stream of transit funding. (AM NY, Second Avenue Sagas)

Star-Ledger editorial: "The...GOP strategy pits cars and trucks against buses and trains — and mass transit loses. That ideological shift threatens to undo decades of New Jersey transit growth."

Toronto's mayor and city council are at odds over that city's transit plan. (Toronto Sun)

Egypt will prosecute a group of U.S. NGO workers -- including Sam LaHood, the son of U.S. DOT head Ray LaHood. (Washington Post)

The CEO of Zappos is spending $350 million of his own money to revitalize downtown Las Vegas. (Marketplace)

Nearly a third of Metro's 11,490 bus stops are not handicapped accessible. (Washington Examiner)

Three cruise ships that docked in Florida and Louisiana have seen outbreaks of a stomach bug known as norovirus. (AP via Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Auto industry commercials scored big at the Super Bowl. (Wall Street Journal)

Top stories on TN: The president gave two nods to transportation in his State of the Union address -- to the auto industry and cutting red tape. San Francisco and Medellin won the ITDP's Sustainable Transport Award. New York State released a report saying there were no environmental barriers to replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge. A Maryland county is exploring bike share. Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood -- which has only one bus line -- will get two more buses added to that route later this year. And the Bronx will join Staten Island in having real-time locating information for all its buses.

A natural gas hydraulic fracturing site near Platteville, Colorado (photo courtesy of Senator Mark Udall's Flickr stream)

The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to give more weight to factors including affordable-housing policy in deciding which local mass-transit initiatives will get federal money. (Bloomberg)

Hydraulic fracturing -- fracking -- has produced so much gas that the price is at a ten-year low. (NPR)

Maryland's Montgomery County wants to use bus rapid transit, not rail, for its Corridor Cities Transitway project. (Washington Examiner)

California's high-speed rail project relies on risky financial assumptions and has just a fraction of the money needed to pay for it, the state auditor said in a new report. (AP via San Francisco Chronicle)

Adolfo Carrion Jr. -- former Bronx Borough President and HUD executive -- will launch a consulting firm that will advise "private sector businesses that are building roads and bridges and pipes and wires and buildings." And: "I'm going to work with players in the affordable housing production universe and I'm going to advise governments about smart growth here and around the country." (New York Daily News)

Airlines are turning increasingly to renting planes -- and the trend is likely to keep growing. (The Economist)

The head of the MTA’s largest union — currently locked in bitter contract negotiations with the transit agency — refused yesterday to rule out the possibility of a crippling subway strike. (New York Post)

Elected officials in Toronto are pushing a new transit plan that could have a new busway operational in less than three years -- and shovels in the ground for new light rail lines by 2014. (Toronto Star)

Disabled parking placard abuse is rampant in downtown Los Angeles. (Los Angeles Times)

House Transportation Chair John Mica intends to release text of the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs” proposal perhaps as soon as Friday. (Transportation Issues Daily)

A House committee is holding a hearing this morning on whether NHTSA delayed warning consumers about possible fire risks with the Volt because of the federal government's financial investment in General Motors. (New York Times)

Residents and officials in Tenafly (NJ) blasted a plan to extend the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail through the community, saying it would bring pollution, accidents and noisy train horns. (The Record)

Customs officials intend to shut down their inspection station at Brooklyn's Red Hook terminal. (New York Times)

More commuters rode PATH trains across the Hudson River in 2011 than in any other year since the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took over the rail system in 1962. (Wall Street Journal)

Amtrak's Acela train (photo by Kate Hinds)

Privatizing Amtrak could violate a clause in the Fifth Amendment. (The Hill)

Detroit's Mayor and the City Council are at odds over which agency will supervise the city's light rail project. (Detroit Free Press)

Airport lounges for everyone...who want to pay a small fee. (Wall Street Journal)

The country's first all-electric-vehicle car sharing program will debut in San Diego later this year. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Toronto's city council voted to remove a bike lane. (Toronto Star)

The head of the New York City Council's transportation committee wants regular reviews of the city's Bike Master Plan. (NY1)

NYC's chief digital officer will be on today's Brian Lehrer Show to talk about the MTA's transit app development contest. (WNYC)

Today is Railroad Day on Capitol Hill -- rail lobbyists unite! (Progressive Railroading)

Following a court ruling, Seattle's Metro can now begin providing public transit service to sporting events. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Toronto's mayor is interested in selling naming rights to subway stations, bridges, and highways in order to raise badly-needed revenue. (The Globe and Mail)

Bus-only lanes are coming to LA's Wilshire Boulevard. (Los Angeles Times)

Members of the French parliament are pressuring Air France to place a large order with the French plane-maker Airbus over US company Boeing. (Marketplace)

A new US DOT distracted driving ad features characters from the Disney movie 'Cars 2." Because only bad guys drive distracted.

Ethanol subsidies survived a Senate vote. (NPR)

So many people are using Montreal's bike lanes that the lanes are reaching capacity. (Montreal Gazette)

Las Vegas is using Krispy Kremes to try to lure drivers out of their cars and onto buses. (Las Vegas Sun)

Anthony Weiner's car isn't registered. (NY Daily News)

Lose your NYC MetroCard? Now you can file a claim online. (TransitBlogger)

Bike to Work Day, 2010 (photo by greenperalta/Flickr)

Today is Bike to Work Day.

Atlanta's suburbs may finally be ready to embrace mass transit. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

China halted work on a high-speed rail line due to environmental concerns.  (Wall Street Journal)

The Guardian has an enormous amount of data about Britain's train stations. (The Guardian)

GM will increase Volt production, and plans to close a plant for a month to prepare. (AutoBlog)

Hear TN's Andrea Bernstein talk about how gasoline prices are affecting driving behavior on The Takeaway (and don't forget to participate in our survey on how gas prices affect YOU.)

Toronto's mayor is set to unveil his bike lane plan. (The Star)

New York City approved an increase in fines for cab drivers who break a wide range of rules — from being caught using a cell phone while driving to refusing to accept a credit card. (WNYC)

Food trucks -- so popular on the coasts -- are hitting legal roadblocks in the Midwest. (Changing Gears)

The DDOT won't be available to fill potholes after Saturday's 'Rapture.' (Fox News)

Follow Transportation Nation on Twitter.

In case you missed it on Transportation Nation:

-- The Yankees paved paradise and put up a parking lot -- with public money (link)

-- it's not gas prices you have to worry about in Montana, it's snow...even in May (link)

-- NYC's dollar van program, meant to replace cut bus lines, is a total bust (link)

-- SF wants to make its taxis more efficient (link)

-- public transportation: it's good for you (link)

U.S. traffic fatalities fell to the lowest levels in 60 years--representing a 25% decline since 2005 (New York Times). US DOT head Ray LaHood writes: "Despite this good news, we are not going to rest on our laurels."

A Los Angeles Times columnist says that the MTA, in eliminating bus lines, is making the wrong decision at the wrong time. Says he in the accompanying video (below): "We are cutting back at exactly the time we should be throwing a lot of resources into expanding public transportation."

The Toronto Star feels similarly about that city's transit plan. "Transit City has become a transit pity," they write of Mayor Rob Ford's commuter rail expansion, saying it "will take longer to build, deliver less service, and leave Toronto in search of an extra $4.2 billion."

Skanska AB, the construction giant working on some of New York's largest public works projects (including the Fulton Street Transit Center), will pay a $19.6 million settlement after being investigated for circumventing rules designed to encourage the hiring of minority- and women-owned businesses. (Wall Street Journal)

A decision about contested bike lanes in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood is expected in April. Last November, the city installed about a quarter-mile of a bike path on Charlestown's Main Street, then removed the lanes a short time later after neighborhood complaints. (Boston Globe)

U.S. sales of cars and trucks are expected to rise at a double-digit rate in March (AP via Detroit Free Press). Meanwhile, Toyota USA today announced higher sticker prices for nearly every 2011 model the company sells here. (USA Today)

A new report says that Texas will be facing a $170 billion gap between the amount of money that needs to be invested in transportation to keep commutes from getting worse and the amount of money the state expects to bring in from federal freeway funds, the gasoline tax and vehicle registration fees between 2011 and 2035. (Houston Chronicle)

President Obama signed a bill that funds the Federal Aviation Administration re-authorization bill through May. Meanwhile, a battle is brewing over some controversial pieces of the longer measure. (The Hill)

In Bethesda, Maryland, you can now use your cellphone to pay the parking meter. (WAMU)

Look up! Above your head is an invisible billion-bug highway. (NPR)

Top Transportation Nation stories we're following: Houston is contemplating natural gas-powered buses. NY Congressman -- and bike lane cipher -- Anthony Weiner kills at the Correspondents Dinner (sample line: "Vote for Weiner--he'll be frank.") We have the latest in the inter-city bus investigations. And: the K train rides again -- if only on the subway's roll sign.

House Democrats are going after Republicans for backing cuts to port and transit security in the House spending bill, after GOP lawmaker Peter King called them “wrong” and “dangerous.” (The Hill)

Following a winter of service disruptions, the Massachusetts legislature plans to hold hearings on the transit system. (Boston Globe)

Leaders of Indiana nonprofit agencies that provide transportation for clients are nervously watching gasoline prices rise and wondering when they'll have to start making budget cuts. (AP via Chicago Tribune)

Two "Mad Men" actors filmed a video for US PIRG promoting high-speed rail that will premiere Wednesday; the teaser is below.

Should the US structure their cities around airports? The author of "Aerotropolis" makes his case on The Takeaway.

Does Toronto's transit plan shortchange the suburbs? "Only 217,000 commuters would benefit from light rail under (Mayor Rob) Ford’s plan, which is still being considered by Metrolinx, the provincial agency that approves transit funding. That compares with about 460,000 commuters who could have accessed light rail under the old plan, which Ford has declared dead."  (Toronto Star)

Single women spend more on transportation than any other single expense except shelter. (AltTransport)

Prospect Park West bike lane lawsuit coverage in the NY Times, CBS News, NY1, the Brooklyn Paper and Gothamist.

Christopher Leinberger (who was interviewed, incidentally, for "Back of the Bus") says sexism may be behind recent bad press for NYC Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

Top Transportation Nation stories we're following: a group of local residents filed suit against the NYC DOT to have Brooklyn's Prospect Park West bike lane removed. The cash-strapped MTA is looking at selling ads in subway tunnels.  And NY's comptroller said that the MTA is late and over budget on anti-terror projects like bridge reinforcement and electronic surveillance.

Why did the federal government freeze funding to Miami-Dade Transit? Bad accounting practices--or fraud? (Miami Herald)

Two major New York transportation structures are to be renamed. So: to get from lower Manhattan to Brooklyn, take the Carey Tunnel; from Manhattan to Queens, take the Koch Bridge. The former mayor is delighted by the renaming of the Queensboro. “It’s not soaring, beautiful, handsome, like the George Washington or the Verrazano,” he said. “It’s rugged, it’s hard working — and that’s me.” (New York Times)

Ford begins shipping the Transit Connect, the first all-electric commercial van. (Detroit News)

Does Toronto Mayor Ford need the approval of city council to scrap Transit City? He says no; the council says not so fast. (Toronto Star)

Fed up by the lack of live transit data from the NYC MTA? Someone put together a crowdsourcing app that live-tracks trains. (Wired)

Public transportation workers strike in Athens to protest the Greek government's austerity measures. (MarketWatch)

What transit options are on the table for Staten Islanders, who suffer some of the longest commutes in the country?  Possibly resurrecting the North Shore Rail Line. (NY1)

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell wants to redirect $45 million in federal funds to stave off huge Port Authority service cuts, but says it's a short-term fix. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

NJ Spotlight writes about "New Jersey's troubled transportation outlook" and says that "a proposed subway to Secaucus and a depleted Transportation Trust Fund are only the beginning."

And PA and NJ aren't alone: Virginia is considering a host of options to help cover a massive shortfall in state transportation funding, including a small sales tax, tolls and the use of toll credits (Washington Post). And: Rhode Island officials are warning that "basic elements of the state’s transportation system are threatened. Officials responsible for both the highways and the transit system said a lack of money is undermining their efforts." (Providence Journal)

Now Ontario's transportation minister is getting into the transit fray, says it would be wasteful to scrap the $8.15 billion Toronto light rail plan because work has already started. (Toronto Star)

Rear view cameras could become more common in cars, as the Transportation Department proposes new safety rules. "There is no more tragic accident than for a parent or caregiver to back out of a garage or driveway and kill or injure an undetected child playing behind the vehicle," says Secretary Ray LaHood. (AP)

Buffalo Bills safety Bryan Scott bikes to practice. In Buffalo. In the winter. (Well, not when it's really snowing.) (Sports Illustrated)

Honda is ending production of the Element. (Auto Guide)

Outgoing congressman Jim Oberstar may land at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, where he's in talks about a possible role. (AP via Minnesota Public Radio)  But first, he gave an exit interview to TN's Todd Zwillich, which aired on today's The Takeaway. Listen below!

Tweet of the day, from WNYC's Azi Paybarah: "Think Rev. Billy, the eccentric 2009 candidate for #nyc mayor was just on my F train to #brooklyn. And he wasn't yelling about term limits!"

Los Angeles' MTA will eliminate nine bus lines and reduce service on several others next week. (Daily Breeze, LAist)

Toronto's councilors to Mayor Ford: not so fast--we have final say on Transit City plan. (Globe and Mail)

Did Houston voters violate the constitution by voting against red light cameras? A judge will hear arguments on Friday. (KUHF)

GM's new crash-test dummies could be smarter than us: they transmit and receive data 10,000 times a second. And they do it from GM's excellently-named Anthropomorphic Test Device lab. (Smart Planet)

Recyclable subway cars: coming soon to a Warsaw Metro station near you. (Good)

Strasbourg's transit system makes the Transport Politic wonder: "Are U.S. cities building their light rail lines in an inappropriate fashion, or is there something inherently different about American tastes that make similar investments less effective this side of the Atlantic?"

The Vatican is looking for a new Popemobile -- preferably one that's electric. (Marketplace)

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) On his first day in office, in one of his first official actions, Toronto's new mayor declared "The war on the car is over."

Toronto has had an ambitious public transportation plan called Transit City to build eight new electrically powered light rail lines projected to cost about US$8 billion.

The Toronto Globe and Mail reports that on his first day in office, Mayor Rob Ford says he'll halt light rail development.

Mr. Ford arrived at work around 6:15 a.m. to prepare for a 7 a.m. meeting [about Transit City].

“We just had a meeting about subways,” Mr. Ford told reporters after speaking to Gary Webster, chief general manager of the Transit City. “I just wanted to make it quite clear that he understood that Transit City’s over. The war on the car is over. All new subway expansion is going underground. That’s pretty well it.”

Mr. Ford made it clear during his campaign that he prefers subways to surface transit lines such as streetcars and light-rail.