TriMet is proposing significant bus and light rail service changes beginning in August 2026 as part of a plan to close a projected $300 million annual budget shortfall.
The proposal would reduce or modify service on 35 bus lines, shorten the MAX Green Line, and eliminate bus service in parts of South Gresham, West Linn and Tualatin. The changes are aimed at reducing duplication between bus and MAX routes while maintaining service where ridership is highest.
TriMet officials say the proposed cuts, combined with about $150 million in previously identified spending reductions, are necessary to stabilize the agency’s finances.
“The proposals focus on efficiency and cost savings, while continuing to provide the most service possible for the people who rely on us every day,” TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr. said in a statement. “Despite some necessary service reductions, our goal remains the same – to ensure long-term financial stability.”
According to TriMet, rising costs driven by inflation, lower fare revenue and insufficient long-term funding have contributed to the budget gap. Without changes, the agency has warned it could face a fiscal cliff that would force deeper service reductions.
Under the plan, TriMet would prioritize maintaining Frequent Service lines and access to key destinations such as schools and medical facilities. Some bus routes with very low ridership would be discontinued, and service frequency would be reduced during periods when fewer people are riding.
The MAX Green Line would be shortened, and bus service would be eliminated along Stafford and Salamo roads in West Linn and Tualatin-Sherwood Road in Tualatin. TriMet says many of the route changes are designed to shift service rather than eliminate it entirely, preserving transit access in areas with higher demand.
The agency is targeting Aug. 23, 2026, for most of the changes, earlier than initially planned. TriMet officials said launching the new service plan in late summer would allow the majority of changes to take effect before high school and college students return to campus. Additional adjustments could follow later in 2026 and into 2027.
The proposal also includes a slight adjustment to the service boundary for TriMet’s LIFT paratransit program. TriMet estimates the change would affect fewer than 0.5% of LIFT trips.
TriMet is asking riders and community members to review the proposal and provide feedback by Jan. 31. The agency has launched an online survey and scheduled in-person and virtual open houses across its tri-county service area throughout January.
The cuts and changes are described in detail here.
Public comment will also be accepted during TriMet Board meetings in January, February and March. A special board listening session is scheduled for March 18 in downtown Portland.
The proposed service plan is based on ridership data and feedback collected in late 2025, when more than 4,800 people responded to a TriMet survey about how the agency should approach one of the largest service reductions in its history. Respondents said TriMet should first reduce overlapping routes, preserve Frequent Service lines and maintain access to critical destinations.
TriMet’s Board of Directors is expected to review the plan in March and vote in April. If approved, the service changes would be included in the agency’s budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026.
Arnold Toynbee’s “Cities on the Move” (1970) documents the history of big cities around the world becoming impoverished and insolvent—some never to recover. Many of the patterns he describes apply to New York now.
Real estate contributed roughly $35 billion of the $80 billion in city tax receipts in fiscal 2025, and personal taxes another $18 billion. The financial sector, real estate, construction, tourism and retail trade sectors are the major contributors to these revenues.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY, ORE — The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office reports that three men are facing attempted murder charges for allegedly assaulting someone on a TriMet bus.
Just before 9:00 p.m. on October 15, 2025, Transit Police received reports of three men assaulting a fourth man in the doorway of a bus near Southeast Stark Street and Southeast 142nd Avenue in Portland.
According to court documents, the three suspects, 28-year-old Greffy Tom, 27-year-old Rinson Tom, and 33-year-old Audric Yesiki, tried to get on the bus, but the alleged suspect felt they delaying the bus from leaving. He reportedly attempted to intervene somehow, and that’s when the three men are accused of assaulting him.
When the passenger, only identified by authorities as “a 50-year-old man,” attempted to intervene, the three men are accused of assaulting him. He was taken to the hospital by paramedics who described his injuries as severe and serious.
When officers from TriMet’s Transit Police Division arrived at the scene, the suspects had left. However, they and deputies were able to find all three.
On October 24, 2025, a Multnomah County Grand Jury indicted the three suspects on the following charges:
Attempted Murder in the Second Degree
Three counts of Assault in the First Degree
Three counts of Assault in the Second Degree
Attempted Assault in the Second Degree
Assault in the Third Degree
Three counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon
Two counts of Interfering with Public Transportation
Escape in the Third Degree
Attempted Murder in the Second Degree
Two counts of Assault in the First Degree
Two counts of Assault in the Second Degree
Assault in the Third Degree
Two counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon
Two counts of Interfering with Public Transportation
Escape in the Third Degree
Attempted Murder in the Second Degree
Two counts of Assault in the First Degree
Two counts of Assault in the Second Degree
Assault in the Third Degree
Two counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon
Two counts of Strangulation
Two counts of Interfering with Public Transportation
Escape in the Third Degree
All three suspects remain in custody, pending court proceedings.
DERRY — The future of school buses is electric, and thanks to a multimillion-dollar grant, the majority of the district’s diesel fleet will be replaced with new, battery-powered buses.
The Derry Cooperative School District and its transportation provider, First Student, celebrated a $8.6 million grant received from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program. The money will be used to purchase 25 zero-emission school buses for the district.
“It’s the movement forward,” said Superintendent Austin Garofalo. “We’re all looking at hybrids or looking at electric vehicles. The fact that they can do that with a bus, it’s just amazing.”
Local and state officials, school district staff, and representatives from the EPA and First Student gathered outside West Running Brook Intermediate School on Wednesday to celebrate the clean future of school buses.
Students from the school’s Kid’s Care Club, an organization devoted to community service, attended the event. Three of the students spoke about how excited they are to have the new buses.
“I think it’s really cool that our school is doing something to help the environment,” said Henry Fournier, a sixth-grader. “I’m proud to be part of a school that cares about the future.”
David Cash, the EPA’s New England regional administrator, said the new buses will be better for everyone.
“This is, again, all about your future and all about your health,” Cash told the students. “This new bus right here will help protect your health, be better for the bus drivers, be better for the teachers, and be better for the school district.”
In May, the EPA and First Student announced that Derry would receive the grant and 25 zero-emission school buses. The program has brought $31 million to New Hampshire for 110 new school buses.
Derry was awarded the most money out of any New Hampshire community that applied and tied with Pembroke for receiving the most school buses.
School Board Chairman David Clapp said this was one less worry for taxpayers in Derry.
“The education funding in New Hampshire is tough and when you get grants like this to help, every little bit counts,” Clapp said. “Usually, we’re trying to figure out how to mitigate issues. Now, we’ve got something that we won the lottery in and it’s awesome.”
Clifton Dancy, the school district’s director of information services and transportation coordinator, said he was proud to celebrate such a remarkable moment for the district.
“We are overjoyed to have received the largest grant in New Hampshire – more than $8.6 million from the EPA’s Clean Bus rebate program,” Dancy said. “This generous funding will enable us to acquire 25 zero-emission buses. To put that into context, we have 29 buses, 25 of them will be electric.”
First Student representatives said the goal is to have the electric buses on the road for the 2025-26 school year.
Ben Henry, First Student’s general manager for Northern New England, said the money will go toward updating the First Student bus station in Derry so it can accommodate the new buses, including adding charging ports for the vehicles.
The new buses were part of a bipartisan initiative championed by U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., who also spoke at the celebration.
“This is about making sure that we’re responding to the needs of our communities,” Pappas said. “The health benefits are there, the energy benefits are there, the cost benefits are there. So this is a huge win-win situation.”
Hassan said this was a moment where Derry residents did not have to decide between taking care of the environment and taking care of their wallets. She said this is one time where her constituents can have it both ways.
“This is one of those examples, too, where it isn’t just about choosing between costs and the environment. This both addresses climate change and lowers costs,” Hassan said. “This is about saving money and investing in the future. It’s a really, really good day for Derry and New Hampshire and our country.”
A former Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) bus driver who was involved in 19 crashes during her career was sentenced to at least six months in jail Thursday after killing a pedestrian as she crossed a downtown street in June 2023.
Geraldine Johnson, who had been involved in another fatal bus accident in 2015, received a one-year jail sentence and two years of probation from 36th District Court Judge Lynise Bryant.
The 61-year-old woman pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of moving violation causing death on Aug. 26.
Johnson is required to serve the first six months in the Wayne County Jail, and the remainder can be spent outside of jail as long as she adheres to the conditions of her probation.
Janice Bauer, 67, of Grosse Pointe Park, was walking across the street at a crosswalk near Griswold Street and West Congress when the bus driven by Johnson slammed into her.
“This case is tragic on every level. Janice Bauer lost her life,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a written statement. “The alleged facts are that defendant, Geraldine Johnson, literally ran her over with the city bus she was driving and caused her death.”
In April 2015, Johnson also fatally plowed into passenger Joey Davis while he was removing his bicycle from a rack at the front of the bus. His family settled a lawsuit against the city for $4.5 million.
Bauer’s family also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city. The case is still in court.
Johnson worked as a bus driver for 26 years.
The city said it was unable to fire Johnson because of a clause in the bus driver’s union contract, which bars discipline for employees who have been off the job for more than 18 months. After the 2015 fatal crash, Johnson was on medical leave for two years.
SALEM — The city’s schools recently announced several projects focused on improving energy efficiency, expanding access to pre-K education and ensuring students are arriving safely to and from school.
A $250,000 Green Communities grant from the state Department of Energy Resources will help fund energy efficiency projects at Saltonstall and Carlton schools. The work at Saltonstall includes the implementation of LED lighting controls and walk-in refrigeration controls. The Carlton projects include a new integrated Building Management System, which will allow for more accurate control and monitoring of the school’s mechanical systems.
The combined projects should realize a $33,000 energy cost savings each year and reduce the city’s CO2 emissions by 73 tons annually, according to Mayor Dominick Pangallo.
Salem Public Schools was also recently awarded the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI) grant, for $1 million, which will be used to improve and broaden the district’s preschool and pre-K education, according to Superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike.
The district will now be able to add two Salem-based preschool programs: Angela’s Preschool and Daycare and the Pathways for Children Head Start Program, to its partner cohort. Such programs will serve as additional child care options for families alongside Salem’s own Early Childcare Center, the YMCA, Salem Community Child Care, and Ashley’s Preschool and Daycare.
Also, the grant will cover boosting salaries in partner programs and hiring behavioral and support staff, professional development, materials, and tuition relief for families.
“We are so grateful,” said Kate Carbone, deputy superintendent at Salem Public Schools. “(The grant) will provide extraordinary resources to accelerate our vision of universal free, quality pre-K education for Salem children.
“We’ve been trying to work across the city of Salem to improve access to quality pre-K education. Part of that is expanding seats and improving the quality of seats.”
Earlier this month, the state also announced that Salem Public Schools will receive $30,000 through federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Education grants designed to expand the school support and resources for students experiencing homelessness, with more staff training, family engagement, English language services, tutoring, school supplies, and other needs.
The district’s transportation department has launched three separate safety initiatives for the start of the school year to both protect students and enhance a district-wide effort to improve absenteeism rates.
One initiative is the Stopfinder mobile app that enables parents and caregivers to track their child’s bus in real-time. The app includes features such as the ability to set ETA alerts and geo-alerts for when the bus passes a certain location. Families are also able to communicate directly with school transportation staff through the app.
Another app called Wayfinder enables transportation staff to record the time and location from which students board and exit their buses by scanning a tracking card powered by in-vehicle radio frequency identification technology. Additionally, Wayfinder records the exact number of riders on each bus.
The district also recently implemented Bus Patrol cameras that are attached to the side of school buses to record drivers illegally passing during the pickup and drop off of students.
Salem equipped its entire fleet of buses with the technology, and is one the first two cities in Massachusetts, with Peabody, to launch Bus Patrol in a pilot program. Data logged from illegal passing will help the district’s transportation department and the Salem police identify which parts of the city are seeing the most violations.
“Students are at risk every day,” Transportation Coordinator Vanessa Fagundes said. “Our bus drivers do the best they can, honking, waving, but some motorists continue to ignore the stop arm.”
Third spaces are public, informal gathering spots — like cafes, parks, or community centers — where people can relax, socialize, and build connections outside of home and work. In a world increasingly dominated by digital interactions, these spaces play a vital role in fostering community and countering loneliness.
“Third spaces” refer to social environments that are separate from the two primary places where people spend most of their time: home (the first space) and work (the second space). These third spaces are informal, public gathering spots where people can socialize, relax, and build a sense of community.
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg first introduced the concept in his book The Great Good Place. He argued that third spaces are crucial for fostering social cohesion, civic engagement, and a sense of belonging. They serve as “neutral grounds” where people can engage in casual conversations and form social connections that they might not in other settings. Places like main streets, libraries, cafes, pubs, and community centers are essential to a functional society and can provide avenues for grassroots activism, community involvement, charity and volunteer work, and social support.
One of the most important features of “third spaces” is that they involve interacting with people outside of our typical social circle of family, friends, and coworkers. They introduce the possibility of new connections and new relationships. Other important qualities include easy accessibility, low cost, and an inviting atmosphere that encourages mingling and conversation.
As modern life has shifted more towards digital interaction, the role of physical third spaces has become a topic of renewed interest among psychologists and social scientists, especially in discussions about loneliness and community fragmentation. People are spending less time in third spaces than ever before; and with remote work becoming more common, many people don’t have much of a life outside of home anymore.
This general tendency has led to an increase in atomization, where individuals feel less and less connected to their local communities and society at large. This has far reaching consequences on health and well-being, as well as social trust, cooperation, and group cohesion.
Third spaces play an integral role when it comes to happiness and well-being on both an individual and social level. Let’s mention a few common examples and then explore more on what makes these spaces so important to a healthy social life.
Common examples of third spaces include:
Main streets and public squares
Cafes and coffee shops
Public libraries
Parks, nature preserves, beaches
Bars or pubs
Community centers
Bookstores
Churches and religious organizations
Local food markets
Music venues or dance clubs
Local sports leagues (bowling, basketball, baseball, etc.)
Shopping malls
Co-working spaces
Can you think of any other examples? What are some neutral places where various people can go to meet new people?
Ray Oldenburg argues that the increase of suburbanization and a “car-centric” society has decreased the use of third spaces and is one major cause behind our more atomized and individualistic world. Many adults living in suburbs have a long commute and a busy work schedule, so they rarely have time to spend outside of home or work. They live and sleep in their suburban homes, but they aren’t involved in their local communities in any meaningful way.
Modern living creates a fundamental disconnect between home, work, and community, which can lead to feelings of alienation and loneliness. Third spaces can be a social glue that ties these different aspects of our lives together into a meaningful whole.
As someone who grew up in Levittown, New York – one of the first mass-produced suburbs – I can relate to the feelings of atomization and not having many third spaces to hang out with friends during my childhood. The most frequent spots were typically shopping malls, bowling alleys, or parking lots, but there weren’t many other “public square”-type places where everyone could go on a weekend night. This made it difficult to build social connections or a sense of community outside of school.
In Robert Putnam’s classic book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community, he documents the downfall of community feeling and social cohesion since the 1960s. Key factors behind this decline include changes in mobility and sprawl, family structure and time schedules, as well as technology and mass media. The rise of home entertainment including TVs, internet, and video games has made people less motivated to go to physical third spaces for leisure, socializing, or relaxation.
There are many factors that have led to the decline in community and the use of third spaces. It’s tempting to want to blame only one thing, but the problems we face in today’s world are complicated and multifaceted. There’s no quick or easy fix for improving the use of third spaces, but we can be more aware of the role they play in our daily lives.
Are Buses and Trains Third Spaces?
Public transportation such as buses and trains share some qualities with “third spaces,” such as being neutral ground that anyone in the community can access, a shared experience of commuting together, and the possibility of social connection with locals and strangers. However, these places are typically not seen as “third spaces” because their primary function is transportation and not social connection. The average person on commutes tends to withdraw and mind their own business, so these spaces aren’t very conducive to new conversation or forming new friendships (although it’s definitely possible).
Building Social Capital and Weak Ties
When you frequent any third space (such as a cafe, bar, church, or library), you naturally start to see familiar faces and build light social connections there.
This is what sociologists refer to as social capital, which is just an economic-centric term for relationships that we value, trust, and provide social support.
Third spaces help form casual relationships (or “weak ties”) that can lead to huge benefits. One common example is learning about a new job opportunity or a possible romantic interest through an acquaintance or friend of a friend.
Social capital can manifest itself in many small and hidden ways too.
When I lived in Brooklyn, I would go to the same bodega every morning for my coffee and breakfast sandwich. There were a couple times I was in a rush and forgot my wallet, but since the store owner knew me well and recognized me, he trusted me enough to let me pay next time. That may seem like a trivial thing, but it’s something that can only be accomplished with a minimal level of trust or social capital. If I were a completely random stranger I wouldn’t get that benefit.
Through third spaces, you begin to run into the same people, build a sense of familiarity and comfort, and start connecting with them on a level beyond random stranger, even just the act of seeing a familiar face and saying “Hi” can give a nice boost to your day (learn the power of “10 second” relationships).
Find a Healthy Dose of Third Spaces
No matter how introverted or extraverted you are, everyone needs a healthy dose of social interaction. Third spaces provide opportunities to meet new people, connect with a broader community, and expand our social circle. Often just finding one third space where you feel comfortable and connect with like-minded people can make a big difference in the quality of your social life. Find a third space that works best for you and make it a part of your daily, weekly, or monthly routine.
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Denver’s fast-moving, multi-lane Speer Boulevard is not the city’s most pedestrian-friendly street.
But what if it was?
The road, parts of which are among the city’s most dangerous corridors, could be radically changed if the city follows through on a new study that recommends an overhaul of Speer Boulevard between Colfax Avenue and Interstate 25 as it moves along the Auraria Campus, River Mile and Ball Arena area and much of Lower Downtown.
The study’s authors — a group of architecture firms commissioned by the city — suggest reformatting 1.5 miles of Speer Boulevard. Right now, the boulevard includes a pair of busy one-way streets, one on each side of Cherry Creek. This new “vision” would reduce it to a single road, with two lanes in each direction, occupying just a single side of the creek.
A rendering of the current layout of Speer Boulevard.Courtesy of the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure
A rendering of the proposed changes to Speer Boulevard.Courtesy of the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure
This change would be a massive overhaul to one of the busiest streets running through the heart of downtown. With Speer relocated to only one side of the creek, the entire other side could be freed up and turned into a landscaped series of public parks and recreational space.
The study also imagines the eventual addition of bus rapid transit — known as BRT — along Speer Boulevard, which could include a series of dedicated bus lanes and upgraded bus stops for faster public transit along the corridor.
(Elsewhere, the city will break ground on Denver’s first BRT line, which will run along East Colfax Avenue, this fall.)
The new Speer vision could turn what is essentially a highway through the heart of downtown into a pedestrian and transit paradise.
Making the change, however, would require hundreds of millions of dollars, years of planning and a significant change to how people navigate the corridor. Right now, it’s just a 54-page report and a grand vision. And there’s a long history of grand visions for Speer. Here’s what it might take to make this one happen.
The study imagines a future Denver with better public transit and fewer cars.
The new vision for Speer Boulevard comes as the city is reimagining much of downtown. Developers plan to transform 55 acres of parking lots around Ball Arena into housing, hotels, office space and entertainment venues.
That means the area around Speer Boulevard could see a massive transformation in the next few years.
A rendering of the proposed changes to Speer Boulevard.Courtesy of the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure
“Historically, Speer has been used by drivers and vehicles moving in and out of the city, often bypassing downtown,” the study’s authors wrote, adding that planned redevelopments would “reposition Speer from an arterial at the city’s edge to a street within the city’s center.”
Jill Locantore, executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership, has advocated for pedestrian upgrades to busy city streets for years. She wants Speer to be a part of the downtown transformation in the coming years.
“It’s designed like a highway when what it needs to be is a people-friendly Main Street,” she said.
In Denver, Speer pushed for the creation of new parks and parkways. One of his most consequential road projects was the redesign of what was then Cherry Creek Drive, which at the time was lined with shanties and industrial ruins, into what is now Speer Boulevard.
Famed city planner and landscape architect George Kessler and Denver’s own landscape architect S.R. DeBoer upgraded much of the road to a tree-lined drive with new parks, lampposts, and other amenities that enhanced the pedestrian experience, according to The Cultural Landscape Foundation. The creek was walled to keep it from flooding.
It was “the heart’s desire of the mayor that his name shall be perpetuated,” the Rocky Mountain News reported in 1908, so the city’s board of supervisors “railroaded through” a resolution renaming the road to Speer Boulevard in his honor.
This 1916 photo shows a much smaller and quieter Speer Boulevard, at right, where it intersects with E 7th Avenue. Courtesy Denver Public Library Special Collections, X-22674
“This would also be a good street to try enforcing [minimum speed limits],” one approving Rocky columnist wrote in 1958. “After all, one slow poke can hold up a whole line of cars.”
One out-there idea from the late 1960s would have added transit without infringing on car space. Noted railroad artist Otto Kuhler proposed an elevated monorail loop around Denver that would’ve straddled the creek.
That, of course, was never built.
Denver is about to re-pedestrianize and cut car space on other key roadways.
With the Colfax Avenue Bus Rapid Transit project breaking ground in October, the city is going all in on bus transit along that corridor. The nearly $300 million project, funded with a mix of federal and local money, will drop the infamous car-centric street down to just one lane in each direction between downtown and Aurora.
Plus, earlier this year, City Council rezoned large parts of that stretch to promote pedestrian-facing businesses over drive-thrus in anticipation of the BRT. Denver and state transportation officials are also studying a potential BRT along Federal Boulevard, one of the city’s most deadly streets.
In June, city officials also broke ground on a $15.5 million pedestrian improvement project along West Colfax that will add medians, signal crosswalks and landscaping along portions of the road.
Denver City Council is also thinking about how to better use Denver’s downtown waterways. A new Council committee started in July is thinking about how to make the South Platte River, which intersects with Cherry Creek and Speer, more accessible and better integrated into the city.
Reshaping Speer could be easier said than done.
The Speer plan acknowledges that a traditional traffic study might conclude that eliminating half of Speer’s traffic lanes wouldn’t be feasible because it could cause traffic gridlock.
But the study’s authors say a metamorphosis of the corridor is indeed possible — if 40 to 50 percent of the more than 5,000 drivers per hour that use Speer at peak times can be convinced to switch to transit, bicycle, or some other form of transportation.
Any bus service along this stretch would be starting from scratch, though. Unlike on Colfax, which holds the busiest RTD bus lines in its system, there is no local bus service along Speer north of Broadway. RTD cut its services significantly during the pandemic and has limited plans to restore them.
Still, Locantore, who helped advocate for projects like the West Colfax upgrades, has pushed for city and state leaders to extend their BRT plans to include this stretch of Speer. She believes a transformed Speer could happen.
“That’s exactly the kind of change that we need, but we’ll see how bold the city is willing to be in reimagining this particular corridor,” she said. “It would take community support, political will and funding.”
The study’s authors estimate their proposal would cost nearly $600 million to build — about double the cost of the Colfax bus project. That money isn’t in the budget just yet, and the city hasn’t announced its next steps.
What do you want the future of Speer Boulevard to look like? Drop us a line at [email protected].
Colfax Avenue’s intersection with Yosemite Street, the border of Denver and Aurora. Aug. 4, 2022.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Day to day, Colfax Avenue might look the same as it has always looked: fast lanes of traffic, long-time dive bars and motels, a mix of abandoned buildings and trendy new spots.
But over the next few years, the iconic Denver street will undergo a massive transformation. One lane of car traffic in each direction will become a dedicated bus rapid transit lane — a new and improved bus corridor with flashy new stations running from downtown to Aurora.
Funded through a mix of federal and local money, the nearly $300 million construction project finally has a start date: October of this year.
A rendering of a portion of Colfax Avenue after the BRT project is complete from contractor Kraemer, N.A., Inc.Source: Denver City Council
The city was hoping to speed up the timeline and complete the project in 2026, but a new timeline from contractor Kraemer, N.A., Inc. puts the completion date in late 2027. On Tuesday, City Council’s Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure committee heard initial contract plans for the more-than $197 million construction contract with the company.
That means Denverites can expect construction disruptions along segments of Colfax Ave. for years starting this fall. Here’s the current timeline:
Broadway to Williams St. from late 2024 to late 2025
Williams St. to Monroe St. from early 2025 to early 2026
Monroe St. to Niagara St. from late 2025 to late 2026
Yosemite St. to I-225 from late 2025 to late 2026
Niagara St. to Yosemite St. from early 2026 to mid-2027
The proposed construction timeline from Colfax BRT contractor Kraemer, N.A., Inc.Source: Denver City Council
City Councilmembers said they’ve heard from residents worried about diverted traffic onto the nearby 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th Avenues. They’re also worried about how construction will affect small businesses. There are dedicated funds to support impacted businesses, but some worry it’s not enough.
“I am really concerned … $1 million is not enough,” said City Councilmember Amanda Sawyer. “If I have to move a budget amendment to get that done then I will.”
The full City Council will vote on the construction contract in the next few weeks.
If you’ve spotted a brightly lit bus on the freeway, decked out with flashing LCD screens and neon lights, you weren’t going “loco” — you likely saw the guys from El Taco Loko. In 2021, Vladimir Angulo and his son Amir expanded their El Taco Loko brand by purchasing their third food truck of sorts — over 800 miles away in Denver…
The Battle Bus arrived in Lego Fortnite as of an August 2024 update, giving the option for limited fast travel between Bus Stations.
Our Lego Fortnite Bus Station guide will explain how to build Bus Stations and how to fast travel — and why you can’t right now.
How to build Bus Stations in Lego Fortnite
Image: Epic Games via Polygon
The Bus Stations you’ll need to summon the Battle Bus to your Lego Fortnite island are a high-level item. You’ll need to have reached the snowy Frostlands biome to build one.
You’ll need:
Those first three ingredients are easy enough to find in Frostlands biomes, but the last one — rift shards — a new and unique. Let’s talk about them.
Where to find rift shards in Lego Fortnite
Rift shards are a unique resource that you can only get by destroying Bus Stations (more on this in a second). Since they’re made out of high-level (Frostlands) materials, you’ll need an epic pickaxe(8 obsidian slabs, 5 frostpine rods) to deal any damage.
To destroy one, you’ll need to find said bus stations.
Where to find Bus Stations in Lego Fortnite
The short answer is that you find Bus Stations by exploring the world.
You’ll find one near your world’s spawn point. Beyond that, all we can say is that they seem exceedingly rare. When you’re close to one, you may hear a low pulsing sound. Better yet, you can look for the blue light on the roof (especially at night).
Why can’t I destroy Bus Stations in Lego Fortnite?
As of August 7, there’s currently a bug that makes the naturally spawned Bus Stations — the ones you have to destroy to collect rift shards — indestructible. Even in sandbox mode. You can destroy any Bus Stations you build yourself in sandbox mode, but there’s currently no solution for survival.
That means that there’s no way to gather the necessary rift shards at the moment. You can still use any Bus Station you find to fast travel to the Rebel Base, though.
We are aware that the Battle Bus may not arrive at the station. We are also looking into an issue where the Bus Stations may appear indestructible. We are actively investigating and will provide an update when we have one. pic.twitter.com/X455oIlVhQ
Standing before the renowned peristyle at the Los Angeles Coliseum, where the 1984 Olympics opening ceremony was held, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Thursday touted a $77-million infusion of cash for Metro to pay for more electric buses.
The buses will help ferry tens of thousands of fans across the city in what is being trumpeted as a “transit-first” Games, and are among thousands of details that officials need to get in order before Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympics. The cash influx aids a larger effort by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as it pushes to turn its fleet of 2,000-plus buses all-electric by 2030.
“Angelenos and Olympians are going to know just how efficient this region’s public transit can be. This is an investment in the future,” said Buttigieg, flanked by Mayor Karen Bass, LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman and other officials who are looking to the Paris Olympics, set to start this month, as L.A.’s countdown begins.
MTA aims to acquire battery-electric buses, charging equipment and supporting infrastructure to operate reliable zero-emission services spanning multiple cities within L.A. County.
Buttigieg spent the day in Los Angeles riding the subway, getting on trains, taking buses and touting funds the region had received as part of the Biden administration’s $1-trillion infrastructure bill, which has pumped millions of dollars into Metro’s expanding rail system and the port, as well as getting new projects off the ground. But most Los Angeles officials had their minds trained on the 2028 Olympics, with the Paris Games just days away.
More than a million people are expected to come to the Los Angeles region for the 17-day Olympiad, and organizers want them to arrive at venues by public transit, on foot or by bike. That will be quite a feat for a sprawling metropolis known for its congested freeways. So, local leaders have used the Olympic Games to add urgency to their wish lists, such as the fleet of electric buses. This strategy has led to some funding — but it won’t solve the logistical puzzle of moving vast crowds of tourists on a day-to-day basis.
Metro has asked the Biden administration for an additional $319 million for the upcoming year to cover costs related to the Games, including $45 million to plan and design the supplemental-bus system that will carry fans to venues and $14 million to design routes for athletes and other VIPs.
Buttigieg said he couldn’t “get ahead of the White House” but that his department had been providing technical support to Congress members who are weighing how to support the Olympics with funding.
But, so far, there hasn’t been a commitment. Mayor Bass, who is heading to Paris next week for the Olympics, said she was confident that President Biden, who is facing a bruising campaign, will help Los Angeles.
“The White House has been supportive from Day One,” she said Thursday on a grassy area outside the Coliseum. “There is an individual staff person there that focuses on the Olympics that we stay in constant contact with. And so I feel very encouraged.”
Then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, who secured the ’28 Games, sold it to the public as a monumental event that would generate millions, not burden taxpayers. But transportation is proving to be tricky. One tabulation of the cost to double the number of buses so fans can better transverse the city on public transit is estimated at upward of $1 billion.
And the buses purchased from the federal grant won’t expand the fleet or get the agency to its goals of going electric. There are too many roadblocks for that to happen, including a lack of chargers and a shrunken pool of manufacturers that can deliver electric buses.
For now, Bass and many of the rest of the Metro board — which includes the Board of Supervisors — will go to Paris to watch how the city handles the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
And they are in wait-and-see mode when it comes to funding.
The incoming Metro executive board chair, Supervisor Janice Hahn, said she and Bass pitched Buttigieg as they rode the B Line on Thursday, stressing that the federal government should help with the Olympics.
“We wanted to make the case that we shouldn’t go it alone,” she said. “We could use federal dollars to help us.”
Schools in North of Boston and southern New Hampshire communities, including Newburyport, are among the largest recipients of grants in the latest round of Clean School Bus Program awards.
As part of its ongoing effort to replace diesel-fueled school buses, the Biden administration said this week it will provide about 530 school districts across nearly all states with an additional $1 billion to help them purchase clean school buses.
Massachusetts school districts are in line for more than $42 million to purchase electric buses as part of an effort to upgrade the state’s aging fleet and reduce emissions from diesel-powered vehicles.
Newburyport is receiving $3 million for 15 buses, according to the Biden administration.
The Derry Cooperative School District in New Hampshire is receiving one of the largest grants in the region – $8.6 million for 25 electric school buses, thanks to an application submitted by First Student Inc., the transportation contractor for the district.
Several North of Boston school districts are also sharing in the e-bus funding, according to a list provided by the White House. Andover is receiving $5 million for 25 e-buses, while Ipswich is getting $5 million for 15.
Salem is receiving $2.6 million for 13 e-buses, the Biden administration said. Other school districts, including Gloucester, Marblehead, Beverly and the Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, are also getting funding to buy new e-buses.
In addition to Derry, eight other New Hampshire districts such as Concord and Nashua will receive some of the funding, according to the White House. The money comes from the latest disbursements of grants through the Clean School Bus Program administered by the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection.
The rebates will help school districts purchase more than 3,400 clean school buses – 92% of them electric – to accelerate the nation’s transition to zero-emission vehicles and produce cleaner air in schools and communities, according to the Biden administration.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday that the funding will help “transform the nation’s school bus fleet to better protect our most precious cargo – our kids – saving school districts money, improving air quality, and bolstering American manufacturing all at the same time.”
The federal program has awarded nearly $3 billion for 8,500 electric and alternative fuel buses in more than 1,000 school districts, according to the Biden administration.
Low-income, rural and tribal communities – accounting for about 45% percent of the selected projects – are slated to receive roughly 67% of the total funding, per the administration.
Regan noted how “low-income communities and communities of color have long felt the disproportionate impacts of air pollution leading to severe health outcomes that continue to impact these populations.”
As for business and economic opportunities, Regan pointed to the development of well-paying manufacturing jobs and investment in local businesses stemming from the increasing demand for these clean school buses.
“As more and more schools make the switch to electric buses, there will be a need for American-made batteries, charging stations and service providers to maintain the buses supercharging and reinvigorating local economies,” he added.
The program was initially funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by Biden in November 2021, which includes $5 billion over five years to replace the country’s current school buses with “zero-emission and low-emission models.”
In January, the EPA announced more than $1 billion in funding for 2,700 clean school buses in 280 school districts in 37 states, including Massachusetts.
Federal health officials say exposure to diesel exhaust can lead to major health conditions such as asthma and respiratory illnesses, especially among children.
Despite the Biden administration’s efforts, e-buses still make up a tiny percentage of the buses on the roads nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The number of e-buses grew by 112% between 2018 and 2021. But with just 1,300 on the roadways in 2021, that represented just 2% of the transit buses in operation, according to DOT data. Of about 500,000 school buses nationwide, only 1,800 were electric in 2021, the federal agency said.
Material from States Newsroom reporter Shauneen Miranda was used in this report.
Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a deadly crash on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 near Dunnellon, Fla. The Florida Highway Patrol says a bus carrying farmworkers in central Florida has overturned, killing several people and injuring other passengers. (AP Photo/Alan Youngblood)
OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A bus carrying farmworkers collided with a pickup truck and overturned in central Florida on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring about 40 other passengers, authorities said.
The bus was transporting 53 farmworkers at about 6:40 a.m. when it collided with a truck in Marion County, about 80 miles north of Orlando, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Authorities say the bus swerved off State Road 40, a straight but somewhat hilly two-lane road that passes through farms. It crashed through a fence and ended up on its side in a field. The workers were being transported to Cannon Farms in Dunellon, which has been harvesting watermelons.
Photos taken by the Ocala Star-Banner at the scene show the bus lying on its side with both its emergency rear door and top hatch open. The truck that hit it shows extensive damage to its driver’s side.
Federal statistics show that vehicle crashes were the leading cause of job-related deaths among farmworkers in 2022, the latest year available. They accounted for 81 of 171 fatalities.
There is no immediate indication that weather was a factor. It is also not immediately not known if the bus had seat belts.
“We will be closed today out of respect to the losses and injuries endured early this morning in the accident that took place to the Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp.,” Cannon Farms announced on its Facebook page. “Please pray with us for the families and the loved ones involved in this tragic accident. We appreciate your understanding at this difficult time.”
Cannon Farms describes itself as a family-owned operation that has farmed its land for more than 100 years. The company now focuses on peanuts and watermelons, which it sends to grocery stores across the U.S. and Canada.
No one answered the phone at Olvera Trucking on Tuesday afternoon. The company had recently advertised for a temporary driver to bus workers to watermelon fields. The driver would then operate harvesting equipment. The pay was $14.77 an hour.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the workers who were on the bus are migrants, but a Department of Labor document shows Olvera recently applied for 43 H-2A workers to harvest watermelons at Cannon Farms this month. The company again offered a base rate of $14.77 an hour, with promises of housing and transportation to and from the fields.
The H-2A program allows U.S. employers or agents who meet certain regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals into the country to fill temporary agricultural jobs.
Florida farms employ more H-2A workers than any other state, about 50,000 a year, according to the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.
The student had broken into the elementary school before, Alabama police said.
Photo by Maximilian Simson via Unsplash
An Alabama teen is accused of breaking into an elementary school on multiple occasions and taking a bus for a joyride, police said.
Now, he’s facing burglary charges.
The teen, a 16-year-old boy, first entered the school Feb. 16, according to the Priceville Police Department.
He walked around inside the school, police said, and was caught on security cameras trying to break into locked rooms with a screwdriver.
Two days later, on Feb. 18, the teen broke into the school again, police said.
He walked around until he found a school bus that was parked outside, police said, and he got inside and started the bus.
The teen took the bus for a joyride around the school parking lot, police said, but the department did not say if there was any damage to the property or bus.
Police and a Morgan County school resource officer determined it was the same teen in both break-ins, and he was taken into custody, police said.
He is charged with burglary in the third degree and unauthorized use of a vehicle, and was taken to juvenile detention, according to police.
Priceville is about 30 miles southwest of Huntsville.
Irene Wright is a McClatchy Real-Time reporter. She earned a B.A. in ecology and an M.A. in health and medical journalism from the University of Georgia and is now based in Atlanta. Irene previously worked as a business reporter at The Dallas Morning News.
Returning home from an Orlando field trip, a bus carrying Seminole Middle School students caught on fire, video shows. The children are safe.
Courtesy to the Miami Herald
A bus that was carrying Broward County students caught fire as the group traveled home from a field trip in Orlando, video shows. A school official told the Miami Herald the children are safe.
Tameka Smith, the sixth grade assistant principal at Seminole Middle School, confirmed an incident occurred sometime Friday night, the students were safe and that parents had been contacted.
The school website’s calendar also indicates the sixth graders were taking a field trip to SeaWorld on Friday. It was scheduled to end at 10:30 p.m.
A charter bus they rode to SeaWorld went up in flames while en route to Broward, according to video and text messages from students on the trip.
A bus filled with Broward students from Seminole Middle School went up in flames on its way back from a field trip in Orlando, video shows.
In the video, students are seen running from the large blaze surrounding the bus. The location of where students had been briefly stranded and the cause of the fire was not yet known.
This is a developing story.
This story was originally published February 17, 2024, 1:29 AM.
Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He’s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.
Several middle school students were hurt after a school bus overturned in Howard County, Maryland, Thursday afternoon.
(Screenshot Courtesy 7News)
(Screenshot Courtesy 7News)
Several middle school students were hurt after a school bus overturned in Howard County, Maryland, Thursday afternoon.
It happened in the 7300 block of Old Columbia Road in Columbia. On board were students from Hammond Middle School in Laurel, according to a message from a school system spokesman.
The message called it a “significant bus accident.”
Video from 7News showed the school bus on its side in a field along Old Columbia Road.
Several students were injured and are receiving medical care as needed, according to the school system. All the students have been reunited with their families.
Earlier, Howard County Fire and EMS crews said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.
This story is developing. Check back with WTOP for updates.
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CHICAGO — A person was hospitalized on Saturday afternoon after a double-decker bus crashed into a viaduct in the Loop.
According to Chicago police, the crash happened around 3:30 p.m. in the 100 block of North Lake Shore Drive when the bus attempted to exit Lake Shore Drive and turn onto Lower Randolph. During the turn, the bus hit the viaduct.
Authorities say the crash caused damage to the roof of the bus and one passenger suffered lacerations to their head.
The passenger was taken to the hospital in fair condition and no other injuries were reported.
Authorities say no citations were issued and it is unclear if the viaduct suffered any damage during the crash.
Fourteen people were injured after a bus and a car collided with each other and then crashed into a Long Beach restaurant Thursday afternoon, officials said.
Ten people were taken to nearby hospitals to be treated for injuries, including four who required advanced life support, said Capt. Jack Crabtree of the Long Beach Fire Department.
The crash was reported at about 3:15 p.m. Thursday after a Long Beach public transit bus and a car crashed near South Street and California Avenue and then smashed into the structure, Crabtree said.
Firefighters and paramedics arrived to find 14 people injured. They included two people who were in the vehicle. Firefighters had to extract the two passengers from the vehicle using the Jaws of Life. A dozen passengers from the bus also suffered injuries.
A bus and car crashed into each other and then into a restaurant in Long Beach on Thursday.
(KTLA-TV)
All of the injured appeared to be adults, he said.
The first floor of the building that was struck was a restaurant, but no one inside the building was injured, he said.
The second floor of the building is composed of residences. Two people were displaced as a result of damage to the structure, he said. They are receiving assistance from the Red Cross and Long Beach health officials.
Building and Safety Department officials also responded to the area to assess the structure, Crabtree said.
