Since the advent of Uber, Lyft, and other Transportation Network Companies (TNC’s), taxi businesses like Los Angeles Yellow Cab have been exploring ways to reinvent their business models and claim back lost revenue from their new, less regulated competitors. Over the last decade, with the passage of AB1069 which eased regulatory burdens on Taxis and a pivot to more contract work, taxi cabs have begun to recover. On the other side of the street, TNCs are now looking to fill the gaps in their own service by teaming up with the once-upon-a-time enemy cab companies, with Uber and LA Yellow Cab being the most recent of those collaborations. VX News spoke with Bill Rouse, CEO of Southern California taxi operations, about his new partnership and the collaborative benefits to be seen by taxi operators. Rouse also addresses the taxi industry future, the not-so-threatening robotaxi business, and future groundside operations at LAX.

As homelessness numbers in the United States rise, no state has escaped untouched by the crisis. In an effort to unify problem solving in the face of such a widespread issue, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, founded in 1932, privately convened recently in Los Angeles to open more collaboration and data sharing on their respective methods for combating the issue. VX News presents this excerpt from a public press conference on the meeting, featuring comments from the Mayors of Reno, Houston, Los Angeles, and Riverside. In the press conference, the mayor’s shared their hopefulness on the utility of the meeting, as well as answered questions from the press on California’s new CARE Courts and the future of Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program.

Urban leaders were gathered on October 18-20 for Bloomberg CityLab, a summit focused on a range of issues, from rapid urbanization to housing affordability. On the final day of the conference, Pete Buttigieg, the United States Secretary of Transportation, spoke about Vision Zero, the idea that the U.S. might hopefully, one day, see zero road deaths; he also spoke of the essential place of local communities as stewards of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and his positive outlook on how we can move past this difficult decade by delivering on the explicit promises being made by our leaders today.

VX News interviews Scott Kratz, Senior Vice President of Building Bridges Across the River and 11th Street Bridge Park Director, on the decade-long project as it is about to break ground early next year. Kratz talks of the importance of fully engaging with affected communities early and often to create community-centered civic spaces. Kratz also opines on civic lessons learned & applicable to repurposing and extending the life of other federal infrastructure investments, e.g., the Los Angeles River Revitalization project.