Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
Talking Headways Podcast: I’m Not a Scientist
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Do you ever think about the ecology of the city you live in? Not just the parks and the smog. Scientists are starting to examine urban ecosystems more holistically: the trees and the concrete, natural gas lines and soil, water pipes and rivers. The natural and the synthetic feed off each other in surprising ways. […]
The Parking Tax Benefit: A $7.3 Billion Subsidy for Traffic Congestion
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The federal government spends billions of dollars a year on tax subsidies that make traffic congestion worse, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by TransitCenter and the Frontier Group. The culprit is the parking commuter tax benefit, which costs taxpayers $7.3 billion in foregone revenue each year, all while adding more than 800,000 cars to rush-hour […]
Lesson From the States: Index Your Gas Tax to Something, Anything
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Amid all the hand-wringing in Congress about transportation funding is one simple fact: The federal gas tax has been unchanged at 18.4 cents per gallon for 21 years. During that time, rising fuel efficiency and inflation have chipped away at how much the tax brings in and eroded the value of what remains. To make […]
Talking Headways: You’ve Got to Fight for Your Right to Party Politics
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Has the stupor worn off yet? Election Day was last Tuesday, and we’ll be living with the results for years. But Beth Osborne, a former Hill staffer and U.S. DOT official now at Transportation for America, says the changes on the Hill are no big deal: Nothing was getting done anyway. So Beth, Jeff, and […]
Lawmakers Could Finally Equalize Benefits for Transit and Parking This Year
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It’s time to rev up the annual fight over parity between federal transit and parking benefits for commuters. Members of Congress hope this might finally be the year to get it done. This morning, Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) announced that they will, again, push to equalize the tax benefits available to […]
Talking Headways Podcast: Uber and the Case of the Hidden Gas Tax
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Uber is celebrating. DC passed an Uber-legalization law that Uber thinks cities the world over should follow. The problem is, most cities have much more tightly regulated taxi industries than DC, with a far higher cost of entry. In those cases, letting Uber get away with providing taxi services while complying with none of the […]
Top House Dem on Transportation, Nick Rahall, Lost His Seat. That’s OK.
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Four years ago, another stunning night of GOP victories took out Representative Jim Oberstar, the Minnesota Democrat who chaired the House Transportation Committee. Had Oberstar kept his seat, the new GOP majority would have cost him the gavel, but he would have continued as ranking Democrat. Instead, Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia coal country […]
GOP Will Control the Senate in 2015 — What Does It Mean for Transportation?
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The forecasting models were right: As the polls closed last night it quickly became apparent that Republicans will gain control of the Senate, with at least 52 seats now held by the GOP. The implications for transportation are immense. To understand what they are, first let’s look at what last night means for the prospects […]
The Stakes Are High for Smart Transpo Policy in These 6 Races for Governor
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Today, voters go to the polls to exercise their constitutional right to self-government — if their state hasn’t disenfranchised them with onerous voter ID laws, that is, and if they can get motivated to turn out for a mid-term election. In 27 states, voters are choosing a governor. These elections are perhaps the most important […]
Talking Headways Podcast: That Indie Flick You Were Looking For
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If you’re a Netflix member, you’re part of the downfall of the brick-and-mortar video store. There are all kinds of reasons to be sad about that, but we look at its implications for urbanism and transportation. Besides, now where will you find esoteric foreign films to impress your friends? There are reasons to believe a few hardy indie-shop […]
6 Transportation Ballot Initiatives to Watch Next Tuesday
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Next week, voters in Maryland and Wisconsin may tell state officials to keep their greedy paws off transportation funds. Louisianans will consider whether to create an infrastructure bank to help finance projects. Texans will weigh the wisdom of raiding the state’s Rainy Day Fund for — what else? — highways. And Massachusetts activists who have […]
Don’t Believe the Headlines: Bike Boom Has Been Fantastic for Bike Safety
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The Governors Highway Safety Association released a report Monday that, the organization claimed, showed that the ongoing surge in American biking has increased bike fatalities. Transportation reporters around the country swung into action. “Fatal bicycle crashes on the rise, new study shows,” said the Des Moines Register headline. “Cycling is increasing and that may be […]