Amy Lee
@amyelee.com
Postdoc at the University of California, Davis. Studying policy & politics around transportation, land use, and travel behavior. She/her. amyelee.com 🏳️🌈
Reposted by Amy Lee
Today on Volts: sustainable transportation policy is under comprehensive attack by the federal government, but states can soften the blow. Specifically, governors have a little-understood authority to transfer existing federal funds to EV charging, bike lanes, & transit. But time is running out!
Hey governors: you can salvage sustainable transportation, but you need to do it quick!
Liya Rechtman lays out the playbook for governors to salvage clean transportation using existing federal funds before it's too late.
www.volts.wtf
November 5, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Today on Volts: sustainable transportation policy is under comprehensive attack by the federal government, but states can soften the blow. Specifically, governors have a little-understood authority to transfer existing federal funds to EV charging, bike lanes, & transit. But time is running out!
Reposted by Amy Lee
tired: leaders throw folks under the bus
wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane
wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane
November 5, 2025 at 3:44 AM
tired: leaders throw folks under the bus
wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane
wired: leaders invite folks on the bus in a dedicated lane
Reposted by Amy Lee
Seattle No Kings from the monorail
October 18, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Seattle No Kings from the monorail
Reposted by Amy Lee
This book finally got published today - free for download here cssn.org/news-researc...
A monumental effort documenting climate obstruction across sectors, countries & governance levels, by 110 @cssn.org scholars
I was chuffed to contribute to one of the chapters (thread)
A monumental effort documenting climate obstruction across sectors, countries & governance levels, by 110 @cssn.org scholars
I was chuffed to contribute to one of the chapters (thread)
October 15, 2025 at 11:54 AM
This book finally got published today - free for download here cssn.org/news-researc...
A monumental effort documenting climate obstruction across sectors, countries & governance levels, by 110 @cssn.org scholars
I was chuffed to contribute to one of the chapters (thread)
A monumental effort documenting climate obstruction across sectors, countries & governance levels, by 110 @cssn.org scholars
I was chuffed to contribute to one of the chapters (thread)
Reposted by Amy Lee
Happy centennial!
It’s worth noting that originally this body, the first national traffic engineering institute, was funded 100% by one automobile manufacturer: Studebaker. It was named the Erskine Bureau after the company’s president. In 1935 the Automobile Manufacturers Association took it over.
It’s worth noting that originally this body, the first national traffic engineering institute, was funded 100% by one automobile manufacturer: Studebaker. It was named the Erskine Bureau after the company’s president. In 1935 the Automobile Manufacturers Association took it over.
🎉 Happy 100th birthday to transportation research at UCLA! 100 years ago today, the UC regents voted to establish the nation's first research center dedicated to street traffic issues. Learn more about our century-long tradition of transportation research www.its.ucla.edu/100...
October 13, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Happy centennial!
It’s worth noting that originally this body, the first national traffic engineering institute, was funded 100% by one automobile manufacturer: Studebaker. It was named the Erskine Bureau after the company’s president. In 1935 the Automobile Manufacturers Association took it over.
It’s worth noting that originally this body, the first national traffic engineering institute, was funded 100% by one automobile manufacturer: Studebaker. It was named the Erskine Bureau after the company’s president. In 1935 the Automobile Manufacturers Association took it over.
Reposted by Amy Lee
It's a small step from here to prohibiting professors from teaching about climate change, slavery, colonialism, racial discrimination, evolution, and the efficacy of vaccines.
Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders
www.nytimes.com
September 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
It's a small step from here to prohibiting professors from teaching about climate change, slavery, colonialism, racial discrimination, evolution, and the efficacy of vaccines.
Reposted by Amy Lee
The Jan 2025 LA fires showed how urban wildfires endanger transit riders and ppl w/o cars.
📊 Among transit riders surveyed:
- 28% relied on rides from others
- 21% used transit to evacuate
- Black respondents were most likely to evacuate via transit (42%)
www.its.ucla.edu/publication/...
📊 Among transit riders surveyed:
- 28% relied on rides from others
- 21% used transit to evacuate
- Black respondents were most likely to evacuate via transit (42%)
www.its.ucla.edu/publication/...
September 26, 2025 at 7:54 PM
The Jan 2025 LA fires showed how urban wildfires endanger transit riders and ppl w/o cars.
📊 Among transit riders surveyed:
- 28% relied on rides from others
- 21% used transit to evacuate
- Black respondents were most likely to evacuate via transit (42%)
www.its.ucla.edu/publication/...
📊 Among transit riders surveyed:
- 28% relied on rides from others
- 21% used transit to evacuate
- Black respondents were most likely to evacuate via transit (42%)
www.its.ucla.edu/publication/...
![Screenshot of a quote from the article: "Global climate modelers have a hard time incorporating policies like street design and bike lanes [into their estimates] because they're implemented by thousands of individual local governments, rather than the nation-state, which is a normally the unit of analysis," Millard-Ball added. "So as a result, a lot of the global climate policy discourse focuses more on technology in the transportation sector, like electrification and fuel efficiency. And certainly that's really important — but it doesn't capture the public transit, [or] the walking and biking policies."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:loeuoj4oplxis6axptgguarn/bafkreiha5t6z2djbvkakojoqtlx36vcrcg52zgz6ydeqozgmqvrqqjdh7i@jpeg)
Reposted by Amy Lee
Our multi-campus research team shared preliminary results from our work about the evacuation experiences of transit riders with LA county transportation and emergency management professionals yesterday! Can’t wait to release these findings publicly later this summer
June 25, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Our multi-campus research team shared preliminary results from our work about the evacuation experiences of transit riders with LA county transportation and emergency management professionals yesterday! Can’t wait to release these findings publicly later this summer
Reposted by Amy Lee
Same street, two years apart. Rue Charles Moureu.
June 20, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Same street, two years apart. Rue Charles Moureu.
Reposted by Amy Lee
There are no distractions. It's all bad. Systematically stripping trans people of their rights, guys in balaclavas shoving any brown person with a tattoo into a ummarked vans, ending healthcare for millions. It's all in service of fascism and technofeudalism. It's all one thing. That's the point.
June 18, 2025 at 5:52 PM
There are no distractions. It's all bad. Systematically stripping trans people of their rights, guys in balaclavas shoving any brown person with a tattoo into a ummarked vans, ending healthcare for millions. It's all in service of fascism and technofeudalism. It's all one thing. That's the point.
Reposted by Amy Lee
Study on London 20 mph limits shows:
- collisions ⬇️ 35%
- casualties ⬇️ 36%
- fatal/serious injuries ⬇️ 34%
- child casualties ⬇️ 46%
- child deaths ⬇️ 75%
- walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists killed/seriously injured ⬇️ 28%
etsc.eu/20mph-limits...
- collisions ⬇️ 35%
- casualties ⬇️ 36%
- fatal/serious injuries ⬇️ 34%
- child casualties ⬇️ 46%
- child deaths ⬇️ 75%
- walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists killed/seriously injured ⬇️ 28%
etsc.eu/20mph-limits...
20mph limits in London linked to sharp fall in road injuries and deaths, new report finds
A new study published by Transport for London (TfL) has shown that the introduction of 20mph speed limits and zones on local authority-managed roads in London between 1989 and 2013 led to significant…
etsc.eu
June 3, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Study on London 20 mph limits shows:
- collisions ⬇️ 35%
- casualties ⬇️ 36%
- fatal/serious injuries ⬇️ 34%
- child casualties ⬇️ 46%
- child deaths ⬇️ 75%
- walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists killed/seriously injured ⬇️ 28%
etsc.eu/20mph-limits...
- collisions ⬇️ 35%
- casualties ⬇️ 36%
- fatal/serious injuries ⬇️ 34%
- child casualties ⬇️ 46%
- child deaths ⬇️ 75%
- walkers, cyclists, motorcyclists killed/seriously injured ⬇️ 28%
etsc.eu/20mph-limits...
So much is terrible these days but it's also jacaranda season in Los Angeles, which is beautiful from the ground and absolutely stunning from air.
June 4, 2025 at 4:15 PM
So much is terrible these days but it's also jacaranda season in Los Angeles, which is beautiful from the ground and absolutely stunning from air.
Reposted by Amy Lee
"Women are PIs on 58% of the canceled grants, although they are PIs on only 34% of all active NSF grants.
Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."
Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."
Another scoop from Jeff Mervis (@policyhound.bsky.social): NSF's ~1400 grant terminations have disproportionately affected PIs from groups underrepresented in science: women, racial & ethnic minorities, & those with disabilities. 1/3
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF
Efforts to shrink staff, budget, and focus have alarmed members of Congress
www.science.org
May 13, 2025 at 10:09 PM
"Women are PIs on 58% of the canceled grants, although they are PIs on only 34% of all active NSF grants.
Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."
Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."
Reposted by Amy Lee
As federal data infrastructure is gutted, we'll lose a window into the vast local health disparities. But those disparities will remain because place is an engine of health provision and stratification, not just an analytic vessel. New essay from me in UAR:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
May 8, 2025 at 12:55 PM
As federal data infrastructure is gutted, we'll lose a window into the vast local health disparities. But those disparities will remain because place is an engine of health provision and stratification, not just an analytic vessel. New essay from me in UAR:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Amy Lee
🚨 Job alert: UCLA ITS is hiring a founding Staff Director for a new parking policy center! Work with top scholars, shape reform, and carry on the legacy of Donald Shoup.
🅿️ Learn more & apply by May 17: www.its.ucla.edu/202...
🅿️ Learn more & apply by May 17: www.its.ucla.edu/202...
New job opportunity: Parking Center Staff Director - UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies
Join the UCLA ITS team. We're looking for a founding staff director to lead a newly established parking center.
www.its.ucla.edu
April 28, 2025 at 5:00 PM
🚨 Job alert: UCLA ITS is hiring a founding Staff Director for a new parking policy center! Work with top scholars, shape reform, and carry on the legacy of Donald Shoup.
🅿️ Learn more & apply by May 17: www.its.ucla.edu/202...
🅿️ Learn more & apply by May 17: www.its.ucla.edu/202...
Reposted by Amy Lee
A colleague at Stanford’s business school used The Stanford Daily to argue—poorly—against DEI. The piece was riddled with historical errors and left one searching for fact, so I broke my public writing hiatus to respond.
I hope you’ll read and share the piece.
stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...
I hope you’ll read and share the piece.
stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...
What DEI threatens isn’t merit. It’s monopoly.
Political science professor Hakeem Jefferson argues for DEI's importance to de-monopolizing universities.
stanforddaily.com
April 23, 2025 at 12:23 AM
A colleague at Stanford’s business school used The Stanford Daily to argue—poorly—against DEI. The piece was riddled with historical errors and left one searching for fact, so I broke my public writing hiatus to respond.
I hope you’ll read and share the piece.
stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...
I hope you’ll read and share the piece.
stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...
Reposted by Amy Lee
Yes, the famously private freeway system and the famously private airport systems
"Private sector money is what should make these investments" -- Duffy on Fox indicates the federal government is likely to pull funding for a high-speed rail project in California
April 16, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Yes, the famously private freeway system and the famously private airport systems
Re-upping this, given news from the UK today, because it investigates what is and who decides the definition of "biological sex," which is anything but straightforward.
Just finished "Tested" and highly recommend. This theme, brought up about the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany, echos throughout: "Scholars of this period have argued that for sports officials, the point of all this concern…about fraudulent, incorrect women, wasn’t accuracy, or logic. It was control."
Tested | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen
Who gets to compete? Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female runners who have b...
www.cbc.ca
April 16, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Re-upping this, given news from the UK today, because it investigates what is and who decides the definition of "biological sex," which is anything but straightforward.
Reposted by Amy Lee
This seems like a good time to remind people that the Stanford Prison Experiment was based on fraudulent data. The "guards" were cruel to the prisoners because Zimbardo told them what he wanted to find with his research, and because they *wanted* to help him prove his point.
“We are not monsters,” the officer told her after she asked if she was safe. “We do what the government tells us.”
www.cnn.com/2025/04/14/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/04/14/u...
Tufts University student details poor conditions in ICE detention ahead of Monday hearing | CNN
A federal judge in Vermont will hear arguments Monday on the legality of Rümeysa Öztürk’s detention at a Louisiana facility the Tufts University PhD student described as “unsanitary, unsafe, and inhum...
www.cnn.com
April 14, 2025 at 10:24 PM
This seems like a good time to remind people that the Stanford Prison Experiment was based on fraudulent data. The "guards" were cruel to the prisoners because Zimbardo told them what he wanted to find with his research, and because they *wanted* to help him prove his point.
Just finished "Tested" and highly recommend. This theme, brought up about the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany, echos throughout: "Scholars of this period have argued that for sports officials, the point of all this concern…about fraudulent, incorrect women, wasn’t accuracy, or logic. It was control."
Tested | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen
Who gets to compete? Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female runners who have b...
www.cbc.ca
April 14, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Just finished "Tested" and highly recommend. This theme, brought up about the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany, echos throughout: "Scholars of this period have argued that for sports officials, the point of all this concern…about fraudulent, incorrect women, wasn’t accuracy, or logic. It was control."
Reposted by Amy Lee
For “abundance” to improve transportation, supporters must consider the kinds of infrastructure that gets built – not just the quantity.
Without addressing externalities (esp from cars), a supply-side spigot of new construction would be a disaster.
Me, in Bloomberg CityLab 🧵
Without addressing externalities (esp from cars), a supply-side spigot of new construction would be a disaster.
Me, in Bloomberg CityLab 🧵
What Would ‘Transportation Abundance’ Look Like?
Fans of the abundance movement say that adding supply solves big problems in housing and health care. But when it comes to getting around, things get complicated.
www.bloomberg.com
April 3, 2025 at 3:44 PM
For “abundance” to improve transportation, supporters must consider the kinds of infrastructure that gets built – not just the quantity.
Without addressing externalities (esp from cars), a supply-side spigot of new construction would be a disaster.
Me, in Bloomberg CityLab 🧵
Without addressing externalities (esp from cars), a supply-side spigot of new construction would be a disaster.
Me, in Bloomberg CityLab 🧵
Reposted by Amy Lee
It’s book release month!! I’m so excited. Get your copy here: wwnorton.com/books/978132...
April 1, 2025 at 4:27 PM
It’s book release month!! I’m so excited. Get your copy here: wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Reposted by Amy Lee
Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.
Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
March 26, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.
Such a neat research idea & amazing findings:
- Nighttime pedestrian deaths fall 5% on nights w/ peak moonlight
- In cloud-free conditions, moonlight reduces pedestrian deaths by 17%
- Rural areas with low artificial lighting see a 39% drop in deaths under bright moonlight
- Links are causal
- Nighttime pedestrian deaths fall 5% on nights w/ peak moonlight
- In cloud-free conditions, moonlight reduces pedestrian deaths by 17%
- Rural areas with low artificial lighting see a 39% drop in deaths under bright moonlight
- Links are causal
My paper, Road Illumination and Nighttime Pedestrian Deaths: Evidence from Moonlight, is now published at Economics of Transportation. authors.elsevier.com/a/1kptw_oIvi...
March 26, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Such a neat research idea & amazing findings:
- Nighttime pedestrian deaths fall 5% on nights w/ peak moonlight
- In cloud-free conditions, moonlight reduces pedestrian deaths by 17%
- Rural areas with low artificial lighting see a 39% drop in deaths under bright moonlight
- Links are causal
- Nighttime pedestrian deaths fall 5% on nights w/ peak moonlight
- In cloud-free conditions, moonlight reduces pedestrian deaths by 17%
- Rural areas with low artificial lighting see a 39% drop in deaths under bright moonlight
- Links are causal