Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Ben Fried
Recent Posts
Uber and Lyft Are Overwhelming Urban Streets, and Cities Need to Act Fast
| | No Comments
Contrary to the story Uber, Lyft, and their peers like to tell, ride-hailing services are not reducing traffic in American cities. Nor will they, even if they meet their goals for converting solo passenger trips to shared rides, according to new research from transportation analyst Bruce Schaller.
What Happens When a Company That Sells Car Trips Gets Into the Bike Trip Business?
| | No Comments
Lyft has acquired the nation's largest bike-share company, setting up a situation where its bike trip sales will cannibalize its car trip sales.
Let’s Get Serious About Capping Car Speeds in Crowded Cities
| | No Comments
Sound outlandish? The barriers are not as intimidating as they might seem.
Yesterday’s Times Square Toll Was Terrible — But So Is a Typical Day of Traffic Violence
| | No Comments
Given the high-profile location, the number of victims, and recent instances of people using vehicles to kill for ideology, it's understandable that yesterday's crash drew so much attention. But it's important to recognize that as terrible as the Times Square carnage was for a single incident, the same human toll occurs on a daily basis on NYC streets -- it's just dispersed across the city.
Bike-Share as a Speculative Venture
| | No Comments
New York--and California--are about to be invaded by a swarm of bike-share companies - often described as "dockless" bike-share because they use "smart locks," not fixed stations, to secure the bicycles. Dockless systems have been operating in American cities for some time now. The distinguishing feature of the new arrivals is that they're financed like Silicon Valley start-ups.
Welcome to the New and Improved Streetsblog
| | No Comments
For the first time in nearly nine years, we're debuting a sitewide redesign of Streetsblog.
Steve Bannon Would Love to Team Up With Chuck Schumer on Infrastructure
| | No Comments
We mentioned it briefly last week, but Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s comments to the Hollywood Reporter about infrastructure are worth a closer look. It helps explain why Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are making a grave mistake when they line up to help Trump implement this plan. Bannon is the propagandist who entered […]
Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Are Falling for Infrastructure Propaganda
| | No Comments
We’re going to see a lot of stories about Donald Trump and infrastructure in the next few months, and this reporting will be heavily influenced by a message that has been honed and perfected by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It will be important to see through these arguments and view the Trump infrastructure […]
Democrats Who Embrace the Trump Infrastructure Plan Are Suckers
| | No Comments
As painful as it is to deal with the reality of a Donald Trump presidency, if you think highways and sprawl are a terrible mistake, the time to mobilize is now. One of the first things on Trump’s agenda, after dismantling Obama’s social and environmental legacy to the greatest extent possible, is a huge round […]
What Changed Yesterday, and What Didn’t
| | No Comments
America just elected Donald Trump, who got a foothold in national politics by fanning a conspiracy about Barack Obama’s country of origin, who ran a campaign premised on a naked appeal to racist anger and resentment, who shredded every norm of conduct on his way to the presidency. He’s going to occupy the White House […]
New York MTA Teams Up With NACTO. Which Transit Agency Will Join Next?
| | No Comments
Announcing @MTA as our first transit member! Innovative street design is essential for good transit service.https://t.co/NoHXoYTuyv — NACTO (@NACTO) August 22, 2016 Last week, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority joined the National Association of City Transportation Officials, the federation of local DOTs whose policy guidance and street design manuals are popularizing a more multi-modal approach to […]
Rescuing New Ideas From the Purgatory of Old Bureaucracy
| | No Comments
Your city may have a complete streets policy. Your mayor may say all the right things about making streets work for walking, biking, and transit. But if the inner workings of government — city budgets, agency protocols — aren’t set up to enable big street design breakthroughs, all you’ll get are scattershot improvements. Writing for Network blog Broken Sidewalk, Chris […]