Public transportation ridership slid to historic lows at the start of the pandemic.
With lower ridership levels predicted until 2024, one proposal aims to serve the low-income passengers relying most heavily on public transit: Make it free.
Workers who abandoned offices — and their commutes — are expected to return in lower numbers this fall as employers allow more flexible telecommuting arrangements. wapo.st/3tVnVCM
Left no other option but in-person work are service employees who disproportionately are people of color, according to data reviewed by The Washington Post.
Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) introduced the Freedom to Move Act, which would provide federal money to help transit make the switch to a fareless system.
“During the pandemic, a new word was created: essential workers,” Markey said.
Here’s how D.C., New York and San Francisco are weighing the concept of reducing fares for riders as the pandemic begins to recede, accompanied by audio clips of interviews with commuters in those cities ⏬
In 2019, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser launched a pilot aimed at studying free and reduced fares. Last year, council member Charles Allen proposed giving all residents a monthly $100 credit for public transportation.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the nation’s largest transit system.
MTA chief executive Patrick J. Foye said the agency has not explored the concept of free fares, but added that the MTA needs to improve awareness about its low-income discount program.
San Francisco provides free transit to seniors, people with disabilities and youth ages 5 to 18 who are low- or moderate-income.
Two members of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in April proposed a pilot to expand the program to all residents free for three months.
Momentum has spread for free public transit after the pandemic shone light on the working class and the buses and trains they rode.
A proposal in congress could fund the concept across the country. wapo.st/3tVnVCM
The team used the Lidar scanner on the iPhone 12 and the SiteScape app to create the point cloud 3-D artwork, scanning transit rail car interiors in D.C., New York City and Oakland, Calif.
Audio and captions were placed in post-production.
Trial of suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Black motorist Daunte Wright, may proceed, judge rules washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05…
Kimberly A. Potter, a former Minnesota police officer, has not appeared in court since April 15, the day after she was charged with second-degree manslaughter for shooting Wright during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn., the previous week. washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05…
The omnibus, or pre-trial hearing, marks the latest development in a case that drew significant national attention just as the trial of ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin played out 10 miles away. washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05…
Food is how people show love in the Asian American Pacific Islander community: “It’s how we communicate, how we cope and find comfort,” writes @marianliu.
When Christine Ha's mother died, leaving no recipes behind, she set out to recreate her cooking from memory. Her comfort food is fried rice, a dish her mom made.
“Being able to create food with my own two hands and make other people happy ... That really sparked a joy in me.”
Sheldon Simeon's comfort food is loco moco, “the most American” dish that's still “distinguishably Hawaii.”
“I think Hawaii can be a great snapshot for what this country needs of us, respecting each other’s culture and celebrating each other.”
More than 584,000 people have died from coronavirus in the United States. The Post spoke to Americans who lost loved ones and had to have their last conversations through digital devices.
Sujata Hingorani and Supriya Das’s parents were partially vaccinated but died of covid-19 nine days apart.
The two sisters desperately tried to save their parents’ lives. But in India, many hospitals are full; crematoriums and graveyards are backlogged. wapo.st/3uKFE0Z
On April 16, Sujata found her father, Malay Kumar Chatterjee, a hospital bed after visiting seven different locations across New Delhi.
On April 18, another patient picked up the phone to tell her he had died hours earlier, “and no doctors were there to check.”
On April 19, Sujata cremated her father, without any other family there, during a cursory service at dark.
She barely had time to mourn. Her mother’s oxygen levels were dropping. wapo.st/3uKFE0Z
Turnout in the 2020 election surged to the highest level of any election in 120 years. Recently released census data shows just how broad the surge in turnout was across demographics. wapo.st/3oouQU1
For the first time, most Americans under age 30 voted.
That’s a continuation from 2018, when surging youth turnout helped fuel century-high turnout in a midterm election. But younger voters still have a long way to go to catch their elders.
Turnout rose among all racial and ethnic groups in 2020, although Asian Americans saw the largest increase, from 48 percent turnout in 2016 to 62 percent in 2020.
Hispanic turnout also reached a majority for the first time, with 53 percent voting in the 2020 election.
At least 152.8 million people have received one or both doses of the vaccine in the U.S. wapo.st/3bdJUhN
Now that the Food and Drug Administration has cleared the first coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in children as young as 12, families are sure to have questions about the Pfizer-BioNTech shot and when it will become available.