Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the Air

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By Cara Buckley, The New York Times. 

Excerpt: Iowa City eliminated bus fares in August 2023 with a goal of lowering emissions from cars and encouraging people to take public transit. The two-year pilot program proved so popular that the City Council voted this summer to extend it another year, paying for it with a 1 percent increase in utility taxes and by doubling most public parking rates to $2 from $1. Ridership has surpassed prepandemic levels by 18 percent. Bus drivers say they’re navigating less congested streets. People drove 1.8 million fewer miles on city streets, according to government calculations, and emissions dropped by 24,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. That’s the equivalent of taking 5,200 vehicles off the roads.... 

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2024 was the hottest year on record, breaching a critical climate goal and capping 10 years of unprecedented heat

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Warmer, more crowded cities bring out the rats

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