by Randal O’Toole — Fifty years ago, housing was affordable everywhere in the country. The 1970 census found that the statewide ratio of median home prices to median family incomes was greater than 3.0 only in Hawaii (where it was 3.04). Price-to-income ratios were under 2.5 in every other state, and under 2.2 in California, New York, and other states that today are considered unaffordable.
by Randal O’Toole — While it’s true that most transportation is subsidized, it is worth looking at the extent of those subsidies to judge whether subsidies to some forms of transport should be increased or reduced.
by Randal O’Toole — June 2019 transit ridership was 2.9 percent lower than in June 2018, according to the Federal Transit Administration’s most recent data release. Ridership dropped in all major modes, including bus, commuter rail, heavy rail, and light rail.
by Randal O’ Toole — Californians need to give up on their dream of a “ranch-house lifestyle” and an “ample backyard” and the state should become “more like New York City,” writes LA Times columnist George Skelton. After reading his article, the Antiplanner has just one question: Why?
by Randal O’Toole — Portland New Urbanist Joe Cortright has rarely seen a high-density development he didn’t like. Most recently, he argues that the reason why most most people live in suburbs is that they are forced to do so by evil zoning rules that prohibit that densities that people actually prefer.
by Randal O’Toole — Thanks to its greenbelt and slow-growth policies, Boulder, Colorado is the nation’s most-expensive and least-affordable housing market of any city not in a coastal state.
by Randal O’Toole
Transit ridership in Q1 of 2017 was down 3.1% from Q1 in 2016, according the American Public Transportation Association’s latest ridership report. The association released the report without a press release…
by Randal O’Toole
With little fanfare, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) released its fourth quarter 2016 ridership report last week. When ridership goes up, the group usually issues a big press release…
by Randal O’Toole
Here’s an incredibly stupid idea to deal with Portland’s housing affordability problems: Multnomah County proposes to build tiny houses in people’s backyard.