All posts tagged: Public transportation

Skip the TSA Line: Where to Find Travel by Bus, Train, and Boat

Skip the TSA Line: Where to Find Travel by Bus, Train, and Boat

Published by skeptic

Every year, without fail, the US experiences at least one major disruption in air travel due to severe weather, government shutdowns, software outages, or power outages—you name it. Right now, a partial government shutdown has meant that thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers have not been paid for several weeks, causing many to call out of work or quit. That has meant long security lines—more than three-hour waits—ensuing chaos at airports around the country. It’s unclear how long this mess will last, so it’s worth thinking about other options. Flights are also expensive and hard on the environment. If you can take a bus, train, or ferry to your destination, why shouldn’t you? These travel search apps help you find routes and prices so you can compare them and make the best decision. Wanderu Best for Buses and Trains in the US and Canada In the US and Canada, Wanderu is my go-to search aggregator for travel by bus or train (it works in Europe and the UK, too). Wanderu is your classic travel …

What’s an E-Bike? California Wants You to Know

What’s an E-Bike? California Wants You to Know

Published by skeptic

A few months ago, a family came into Pasadena Cyclery in Pasadena, California, for a repair on what they thought was their teenager’s e-bike. “I can’t fix that here,’ Daniel Purnell, a store manager and technician, remembers telling them. “That’s a motorcycle.” The mother got upset. She didn’t realize that what she thought was an e-bike could go much faster, perhaps up to 55 miles per hour. “There’s definitely an education problem,” Purnell says. In California, bike advocates are pushing a new bill designed to clear up that confusion around what counts as an electric bicycle—and what doesn’t. It’s a tricky balance. On one hand, backers want to allow riders access to new, faster, and more affordable non-car transportation options, ones that don’t require licenses and are emission-free. On the other hand, people, and especially kids, seem to be getting hurt. E-bike-related injuries jumped more than 1,020 percent nationwide between 2020 and 2024, according to hospital data, though it’s not clear if the stats-keepers can routinely distinguish between e-bikes and their faster, “e-moto” cousins. (Moped …

Your eyes and emotions help shape your sense of temperature, study finds

Your eyes and emotions help shape your sense of temperature, study finds

Published by Jenni Sidey

Standing at a bus stop on a blazing afternoon, it is easy to blame the heat alone for your discomfort. But a new study from the University of British Columbia suggests something more subtle is at work. What you see while you wait, from trees to open views, can change how that heat feels on your skin. This research shows that people who find a bus stop visually pleasant are more likely to feel thermally comfortable, even when real heat levels are high. In other words, your eyes and emotions help shape your sense of temperature. Looking Good, Feeling Less Hot The study focused on 60 bus stops across Denver, Colorado, a semi arid city that is facing more extreme heat. Researchers did not just check the weather report. They set up instruments at each stop to record local conditions, including air temperature, radiant heat from surfaces and sunlight, and indices that estimate how much heat stress your body is under. 60 bus stops in the Denver metropolitan area were chosen as study sites across …