President-elect Joe Biden has reportedly recruited former South Bend, Indiana mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg to lead the U.S. Transportation Department.  Throughout his presidential bid during the primary, Buttigieg’s transportation platform, which called for a nationwide Vision Zero policy and for de-prioritizing highway expansions, received high marks from Transportation for America, a Washington organization that lobbies for transportation policy reform. As reported by CNN Business, because of Buttigieg’s work in South Bend, he’s…

Uber Technologies Inc. reportedly raised its prices for customers in California recently, and DoorDash Inc. will soon follow. The added fees are destined to fund new driver perks the companies promised if Prop. 22 passed, which it did in November’s election. The ridesharing company said the cost to customers will vary depending on the city and type of service. For example, each food delivery bill in Los Angeles increased by 99 cents, the surcharge for…

California regulators reportedly issued a $59 million fine against Uber, and also threatened to suspend their license to operate in the state over the company’s refusal to hand over data on sexual assault on the platform.  According to the ruling issued by an administrative law judge of the California Public Utilities Commission, Uber has 30 days to come into compliance with a January 2020 order. It requests the date, time, and location of each reported…

Patients at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ spinal cord injury centers will reportedly be first to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine from the federal agency. About 17,500 veterans live in the department’s community living centers and spinal cord injury centers. Residents and staff at these facilities will be first to receive the vaccine.   The VA already vaccinated its first patient on Dec. 14, a 96-year-old World War II veteran in Massachusetts.   Having received 73,000…

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, more people in Los Angeles have left their vehicles at home and taken out their bikes to the streets instead. And what was once a bike-unfriendly city, is slowly, but surely, changing.    Per data from the Los Angeles Police Department, there were 18 bike-vehicle collisions recorded in the city during Sep. 2020, down from 185 during the same period in 2019 — making it the lowest number ever…

Starting next year, Santa Monica will launch the country’s first zero-emissions delivery zone in early 2021. This will be a one-square-mile area in the beach town that will use small electric vehicles for parcel and food deliveries, and among the vehicles that will be using are electric cargo bikes, plug-in three wheelers, and robots. Expected to launch by early February, the delivery zone will be located in Santa Monica’s main shopping and dining hub,…

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will begin implementing the first phase of bus service changes as part of the NextGen Bus Plan starting Dec. 13.  The plan will reportedly improve bus frequencies and better serve riders. Bus trips will be added to many Metro Bus lines to improve the frequency of service and provide more room for riders to practice social distancing whenever possible. Also, other bus routes are being modified with route…