Get your Strike On

London is currently in choas, reports CNN.com, as an industrial action brought much of the tube to a standstill. Check out some of interesting stores over at Going Underground.

UPDATE: Sometimes I wonder why I let A.G. post unsupervised. There have been three major subway strikes in New York: One (IRT only) in 1919, one in 1966 for 12 days and one in 1980 that lasted 11 days. No riots. - R.J.

UPDATE on UPDATE: Since RJ doesn't like my inference that New Yorkers (RJ3 included) would be rioters, I'll rescind the statement. But I still think they're be a significantly larger outcry in NYC than there is in London. For those curious, this is what the above once read:

Can you imagine what would happen if New York City subway workers went on strike and brought the city to a halt? There would be no calm queueing for the bus. There would instead be rioting. Lots and lots of rioting.

Want Better Service? Take 'Em To Court.

Los Angeles' Metropolitan Transit Authority was ordered to purchase 145 new buses by a federal judge yesterday. This is part of a larger court order and civil rights consent decree designed to reduce overcrowding. The purchase will cost the agency $40 million.

Local activists successfully argued that both poor and minority neighborhoods were routinely underserved by the agency. They won a 1994 lawsuit claiming that overcrowding on the bus system violated the civil rights of the system's half-million riders.

This is simply a variation on a larger theme. Does local transit have an obligation to provide service to those who need it, or should they instead operate as a 'free market' enterprise that can serve only areas that are profitable? In the U.S., at least, transit went from free market to full-service in the 50s and 60s when state and local agencies purchased failing private transit providers. While it's harder to force private operators to service all areas (although in some cases, this has been done), its very easy to force the government to provide service coverage, because they're under an obligation to serve their constituents. This, then, creates an endless argument between governments that refuse to fund transit because it isn't profitable but will not allow service to be cut in unprofitable areas because of service obligations (hence, some WMATA funding issues and many of Amtrak's current problems). So what's the solution? For our money, better dedicated funding for transit and an understanding that it is a necessary feature to having an economically vibrant metropolitan area. But that's not likely to happen anytime soon....

Finally, a mechanic who saves you money

You'd think bus mechanics would need bonuses and shareholder incentives and all that good free-market stuff to come up with cool solutions like this one in Portland:

Changes in transmission calibrations and steering alignment boosted mileage almost a third of a mile per gallon -- from 4.4 to 4.7 mpg -- during recent tests on several diesel buses.

Although at first glance the mileage increase does not seem large, TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen said the savings become significant in light of 550 buses driving 27 million miles a year. The agency expects to pay more than $6 million for fuel in the fiscal year starting July 1.

In addition to fuel savings, the steering alignment strategy also substantially increases tire life on front-turning wheels, but TriMet has yet to calculate the total potential savings on tire costs.

Of course, there could be some sort of financial incentive lurking behind the scenes here, but it isn't mentioned in the article. Could it be that people can take pride in their craft without recouping a share of every penny of benefit?

Riding through Twin Cities

Minneapolis' Hiawatha light rail line opened on Saturday with an estimated 30,000 people taking a ride on the new line, reports the Star Tribune. 14 rail cars are currently cleared for use on the lines, with trains running about 10 minutes apart.

And they're pretty darn stylish trains, too.

They get (stupid) letters

What Marilyn Shapiro of Queens fails to note is that computers don't get high or drunk before their shift. What Ansel Barnum (scroll down) fails to note is that the less time you spend on a train, the less your hearing gets damaged.

Fender Bender City

Why can't Houston residents seem to avoid colliding with the new light rail? They're bad drivers.

If that's the case, one wonders how train-rich New Jersey has any surviving motorists at all.

Thank goodness for grade separation.

Fare Jumping

WMATA has reported an increase in the number of fare jumpers, the AP reports. 861 fare evaders were caught by April of this year, compared with 573 by April of last year.

Many people would attribute this to the increase in fares last year. I'd attribute it to more people using SmartCards, because it's incredibly easy to (even accidentally) piggyback on SmartCard use on Metro. When someone with a SmartCard goes through the turnstile, the gates stay open long enough that two people can easily get through. And often, you can walk in behind someone, hit your card on the turnstile, and not realize that it didn't register -- and walk right on through. Just something for Metro to consider about fare jumping (becuase they, obvious, read LFTTR on a daily basis...).

Too useful... brain... melting...

OMG, this is like, totally the most amazing website, since like, Hotornot.

Behold Alwaystouchout.

It has every proposed and ongoing transportation project in greater London, sorted by mode and location. Each project has its own page with news updates. You can eevn click on the right to see the larger projects superimposed on a map.

I think I may do something like this for the Washington area. When I have some spare time.

The future has arrived, and it smells a little like urine

Finally, automation is coming to the New York subway. Mentioned before on this blog, the L train is tantalizingly close to being fully automated.

But there are some who still wonder why we gave up trusty, reliable drafthorses for newfangled and complicated self-propelled carriages:

"No subway system is like New York City's subway system," said Councilman John C. Liu, chairman of the City Council's Transportation Committee, who wants to hold hearings this fall on the system.

"Before you start having robots run our subways, I'd like to see them get the P.A. system up and running," he said. "Let's get the P.A. system working on all the subway cars and platforms. Let's get the lighting fixed on all the platforms. Let's get the MetroCard machines working fully, all the time. Get the basic stuff done first before you go into this Buck Rogers mode."

Buck Rogers? This isn't teleportation, Councilman Liu. They do it in nearly every modern system.

In other news, a New York City councilman was seen this afternoon trying to hunt down his lunch with a sharpened stick in City Hall Park.

Commute

"Every day more than six million people use the New York City transit system, approximately 2 billion customers annually"

Check out Commute, a photo-essay examining the morning commute in New York.

via Boing Boing.

Google's gift to us

So, the Rochester-Toronto ferry, "The Breeze," responsible for perhaps half our daily search engine traffic, made its first cross-lake run last week.

The best part of the Toronto Sun review (linked above):

Rochesterians are nothing if not frank. They remind one of Torontonians — self-deprecating, unsure of themselves, concerned that outsiders won't like them, and not sure that what keeps them there will be enough to attract a stranger.

Bud Kiske, a lifelong resident at 68, slags his downtown, and his city's lack of attractions and eating establishments. Then he examines a local NBC television reporter covering the event and says: "She looks a lot prettier on TV. I bet you have better-looking reporters in Toronto."

Anyway, it's too bad not many people actually use the thing, but there is some hope for the future, strangely enough in the health care sector. Apparently, some think the ferry will be used by rich Canadians looking to skip long queues by seeking treatment in America and poorer Americans looking to avoid price-gouging by pharmaceutical companies by getting drugs across the lake.

Not fine with me

I cannot express the extent to which I hate traffic cameras.

Is it really appropriate to fine a 71-year-old British man for flashing a V-sign at one?

That's the kind of nitpicking zero-tolerance boneheadedness one usually expects only from American public schools.

You Never Know Who Might be Driving Your Train...

Darius McCollum, who was arrested last week posting as a transit safety official, apparently had a little bit of fun before his re-arrest the reports the New York Post. Apparently, McCollum took the controls of a Metro-North train travelling from Rye to Grand Central and later moved an LIRR train from Penn Station to local rail yards. According to the New York Post, "In those cases, he used charm, extensive transit knowledge, and lies to get behind the trains' controls."

This from the transit system that worries about people taking photographs? Seems like they should be more worried about their employees letting strangers drive trains, don't ya think?

The Right Stuff

I think everybody in the world of transportation (if not everybody in the world) is pretty psyched about SpaceShipOne's trip into space yesterday. This is a big step for faster intraplanetary travel, space exploration, space tourism and private enterprise. One day soon, I may be headed up there, blogging from the first class lounge of my local spaceport.

But damn, that's one ugly space ship.

How Do You Get A Transit Nerd Excited?

... Put a smart-card fare collection device on his favorite bus line. That's right folks, I stepped on the 42 bus on Sunday morning and to my delight found myself standing infront of a brand new fare collection device, equipped to accept my SmarTrip card. Unfortunately I was already mid way through dumnping change in the thing so I did not have the pleasure of using the device (I was half tempted to pay the $1.20 twice simply to have the satisfaction of slapping my wallet against the sensor on a bus for the first time.

However, my excietment was dimmed when I noticed two things. First, the new collection stands no longer accept pennies. Not a big loss, but mildly dissapointing, since busses seem to be one of the last places pennies are useful these days. And second, the coin slots are smaller than the older ones, and made of plastic, which makes it increasingly difficult to toss in your change. I had to fiddle with it for a few moments to get all the coins down. While these are relatively minor detractors, one hopes Cubic will remedy these issues in future implementations. Although, considering this project was supposed to be operational across the Washington metro area about a year ago (integrating several disparate transit systems in the process), we should probably be delighted it is here at all.

And in another SmarTrip-related news, I certainly hope that by June 28, when all parking fees at Metro stations must be paid with Smart cards, WMATA has fixed the card vending machines at the Rockville, Twinbrook, and Shady Grove stations. It sure will piss people off if, the day after fares rise, they must walk to the nearest station, take the train to Metro Center and buy a SmartTrip card there because Cubic can't get the vending machines to function.

(sorry for the local nature of this post for all those outside of the DC metro area)

Building up and over

It shouldn't surprise anyone that real estate commands a very high premium in Manhattan. Unlike Los Angeles or Houston, you can't just expand outward and still feel like you're in an extension of the same city -- it's an island with some pretty severe bottlenecks associated with getting in and out.

So it's not the least bit strange to native New Yorkers like myself when you drive on a major highway under a series of 32-story apartment buildings. After all, they want to put a new stadium over rail yards and I've seen more than a few buildings get some extra floors plopped on top.

I've been under these buildings hundreds of times, but I don't know if I could live there. Given how nasty rush-hour urban biking can be with all of the tailpipe emissions one has to suck in, can it possibly be healthy to live above an ten-lane expressway?

Flying Indian trains

Less than a day after I first write on the topic, a train in India goes airborne.

Note to self: That was probably neither funny nor tasteful.

On reliability

I live in an apartment building, and over the last month and a half or so, we’ve had to make due with one elevator, as opposed the usual two. After nearly four decades of faithful service, both elevator cabs and motors will be replaced with modern equipment. As each elevator gets replaced (a process that takes about three months apiece), my fellow residents have to make due with just one elevator.

This can be problematic. Soon after the engineers de-coupled the electronics to remove the first elevator, the remaining unit could not be called back to the lobby – it had to be sent back, something people (especially those on higher floors, of course) forgot to do, despite the signs covering the elevator and halls. I greatly strengthened my calves during this period.

Now, they’ve ripped the floor indicators from the walls, replacing the ‘50s-style panels with shiny digital replacements. The catch is that they won’t actually tell you which floor the elevator is on until both elevators are installed in four and a half months. So given the one working elevators’ propensity to occasionally not work and my inner New Yorker’s natural antsyness, waiting for the elevator is now nearly unbearable. Not only does it take longer than it did with two old but working units, I don’t even know if it’s working at all.

What does this have to do with transit? Well, aside from the fact that elevators are technically transportation, it brings up the issue of reliability. My elevator causes me a hassle at least once a day out of an average of 4-6 daily trips. When I drive, I end up taking longer than I expected, get lost or run into a traffic jam about a third of the time, more during periods of increased workday driving. Metro escalators, unreliable as they seem, are perhaps out once a month at most, which comes out to one out of every 50 rides (up and down), although some outages can last far longer.

But the Metro, where I spend the bulk of my commuting time and money, has brought me to work late on three occasions in the nine months I have been working at my current job. Which means that a much-maligned government-run money-losing system is more reliable than my elevator, laundry machine, computer, car (in terms of punctuality) and the pilot lights on my stove combined. In fact, my microwave and stereo may be the only complicated mechanical devices in my life to work on a more consistent basis.

Not bad for an essentially socialist enterprise.

If Arnold Schwarzenneger rode the subway

...His behavior wouldn't be that out of the ordinary in South Korea, given the fact that groping of female straphangers is endemic.

The worst part is that you can't even keep your distance from the scraggly, creepy-looking dudes -- it's office workers in their 30s who are doing it.

Etiquette, people!

New meaning for the word "intermodal"

You've surely heard the phrase "Train to the plane," but what about the "train on the plane"?

Not cleaner air, but a cleaner mouth

So adding more light rail in Dallas won't reduce air pollution. But keeping me out of a car during rush hour decreases mouth-foaming, fist-shaking, invective-spewing incidents of road rage by 90%.

Transit's Own Frank Abagnale

Twenty years ago he pulled a fast one that would have made thrill seekers everywhere proud, commandeering a subway train by posing as a New York MTA train driver. He became so famous that a play was written about his life. And he's at it again. This time, Darius McCollum broke into a Queens rail yard and was arrested while wearing a worker's vest and hard hat and carrying several sets of transit keys.

McCollum apparently suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, which leads to obsessive behavior. By the time he was 8, he had memorized the routes of the entire New York City subway and would dispense directions without consulting a map.

Shouldn't MTA just take the hint and hire this guy, already?

[On a related note, this also leads me to believe that our own RJ3 may be suffering from a bit of Asperger's Syndrome himself, since he too has memorized the entire system and delights in mocking tourists from Nebraska who can't properly navigate the system]

Reuters.com | Newsday

Fight the power!

Photobloggers get civilly disobedient on the NYC subway.

Now I expect to see Richard Perle on the 42 bus

Movement conservative Paul Weyrich is a transit advocate. Seriously. Perhaps we need to rethink who is on our side and who isn't.

Missing the last train out

A tale of woe.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever been stuck anywhere because I missed the last train (or bus) home. When I was a college student in Baltimore, I would often take the 10:05 MARC back from Washington, but if I planned on staying out late, I'd crash with a friend in Georgetown. Barring that, Amtrak ran later trains. I've had to take a cab home before, but I've never had to go as far as the people in the story who spend over $100 to go as far as New Haven. I consider myself lucky.

Republicans discover mass transit

About 850,000 people used the Washington Metro on Wednesday, setting a new record for the first time since Bill Clinton's first inauguration.

There was good reason, considering two of the three interstates that run into DC proper were closed, with the third dumping onto a major road that was also closed.

What is that twitchy feeling? Could it be... empathy?

Looking at the search results that show up on the LFTTR Site Meter, I found this page, written by a guy who lives out in the suburbs, drives two vans and feels either awful about it or is just sick of being made fun of by his more space- and fuel-efficient friends.

Listen John, you shouldn't have to apologize for the choices you make in terms of your transportation or housing. People should be free to live where they want and drive what they want, within the bounds of the law, without being guilted by their so-called friends.

But that doesn't mean that government can't make some choices easier or seek to recover costs lost to externality. Go ahead, drive a Hummer if you want, but pay for the environmental damage you're doing and chip in to defend the oil supplies you're so eagerly guzzling. Live in the suburbs, but don't expect urban renters like me to subsidize your mortgage through the tax code. Right now, mockery is the only externality cost-recovery device, which, although occasionally effective, isn't applied evenly.

So go ahead, John, say it loud: I'll do what I damn well please -- this is America!

Take Transit, Eat Free!

This week only - get out of your car and you could have a free breakfast. That is, if you live in Traverse City, Michigan.

As part of "Smart Commute Week", anyone taking a bike, bus, or carpooling or walking to work in Traverse City gets a free hot breakfast at a different location in the city each day, according to the Michigan Land Use Institute.

It's another interesting way to get people out of their cars. Whether or not it's as effective as ING's purchase of BART for a day will have to be seen...

When Will Those Houstonites Learn?

On Monday, the 43rd crash with a Houston light rail train occured, when a driver ignored a no-left-turn sign and and tried to U-turn in front of a train. They're going to have to start giving intelligence tests as part of the driving exam if this keeps up.

Full story (short though it is) at HoustonChronicle.com.

Would you like soup or salad with your delay?

Here's an article about the expanding food choices in many New Jersey Transit commuter stations. Mmmm, soup.

Hey, ho, where d'ja go, Ohio?

NPR on Cincinnati's almost-forgotton subway.

The Tube rocks

Oh, London.

In Washington, every one of those hands in the air would be clutching a citation.

In New York, the guy who took the picture (follow the link) would be sitting in a hut in Guantanimo.

This is the biggest tax increase in history!

Another road contractor-funded group is founded to oppose a rail expansion. Yawn.

But their big launch shows just how low these people have to sink to convince people:

"There will certainly be some overlap with the [libertarian] Independence Institute," Caldara said. "But there will also be people who support light rail but oppose the 67 percent tax increase for it."

A 67 percent tax increase? Damn. I don't know if I could pay the rent if they increased my taxes by 67 percent.

But we later learn what's really going on:

RTD is asking voters in the seven-county district to approve a 0.4-cent increase in the existing 0.6-cent sales tax - to a full penny on the dollar - to help pay for FasTracks.

So the "67 percent tax increase" is really an increase in the sales tax of less then one percent. One can oppose projects or tax increases from a variety of angles, but acting like a small increase in a small tax that itself is a tiny portion of a taxpeyer's total bill is a "67 percent tax increase" not only disingenuous, it borders on flat-out lying.

Thumbs up for Bloomie

I think I have an irrational dislike of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Perhaps some of this has to do with his meddling in the affairs of his (and my) alma mater. Maybe some of it is the result of the smoking ban, even though I like coming home not smelling like Keith Richards' sofa.

But I have to give him credit for some stands he takes, and not just his frank talk on drugs (including how much he liked them). He's standing up agianst the proposed police-state regulation to ban cameras from the subways.

Up, Up, and Away

Going for only a slightly higher cost-per-passenger mile than the L.A. subway, a private organization plans to reach sub-orbital flight on June 21, reports CNN. SpaceShipOne, if it is launched successfully, will be the first private spacecraft to reach sub-orbital flight and will come one step closer to qualifying for the coveted $10 million X-prize. Plus, it'd be pretty cool for me to be able to fly into orbit before I die.

Nashville Mourns

The Nashville City Paper reports on today's "funeral" service for fourteen retiring MTA busses. The "New Orleans-style funeral procession complete with jazz and blues musicians" took place this morning at 9:30. The Mayor, MTA Board Chair, and other dignitaries were expected to attend. No word on whether they'd be wearing black. The 24-year old "antiques" are being replaced with 25 new hich-tech Gillig busses.

As a side note, if this convention caught on, just think of the fun with headlines we at third rail could have:

Cairo "Wraps-Up" Trolley Service in Favor of BRT

or

Dublin Transit Workers Hold Wake; Service Expected to Resume Next Week

There's a Viking joke in there somwhere, I just can't think of it right now.

Corporate Responsibility?

A Union Pacific train hit and killed two people on a railroad bridge in Washington State yesterday, reports CNN. As we know, train collisions and accidents happen rather frequently in the United States, so this is no surprise. It's no surprise either to find out that the individuals were killed after ignoring No Trespassing signs posted by Burnlington North Santa Fe, which owns the bridge.

There's another side to the story, however. This is the only walkable bridge between two small towns on either side of the Lewis River. The land road goes fifteen miles around. And, in fact, the railroads know that local residents have used the bridge to get between towns for years -- in the last five years, at least two others have been struck by trains.

Does a transit company have an obligation to improve safety around a bridge that it knows is the only major thoroughfare between two towns -- even if it is offically private property? From a legal standpoint, I'd say probably not. They did their due diligence by posting the no trespassing signs. From a corporate ethics point of view, it's questionable. I'm sure our friends at Transport Blog would say certainly not, but I might disagree. While legal due diligence has been met, I'm not sure the moral and ethnical requirements have. If you are fully aware that there is no viable alternative to using the bridge (other than a 15 mile drive or by fording a river), you have an obligation to present an alternative solution or at least make a better effort to keep people off the bridge. BNSF could have taken many different approaches to the problem, like building stronger security around the bridge or attaching a pedestrian walkway to the side, but opted instead to take the legal minimum, resulting in at least four deaths and many injuries.

An intermodal mess

If you take the brand-new Muskegon-Milwaukee Lake Express ferry to its western terminus, you'll have a heck of a time getting around if you didn't bring a car along for the ride, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. That's because the ferry terminal is a ten-minute walk from the nearest bus. Even if you manage to find the bus, you have to transfer to another bus to get downtown.

Officials blame a lack of money, but the real problem is a lack of smarts. Lake Express spokesman Jeff Fleming said the Lake Express "would attract 'high-end' passengers who would no more board a public bus at a ferry terminal than they would at an airport."

Ugh. Why do busses have to be the "ride of choice for the poor and very poor alike" as well as a place to find "creeps and wierdos"? And why should the operator of a big ol' boat, which is, after all, public transportation, perpetaute the stereotype?

Perspective

Sure, the nationwide media is huffing and puffing about the fire on the Seattle Monorail that left 150 people stuck in a smoky train yesteday, but what about the 15 people who died on Georgia highways over the weekend?

Sure, many, many more people were on Georgia highways then rode the Seattle monorail, but the focus was still disproportionate because those fatalities are expected, while train casualties are not.

Just as the Houston media covers every fender-bender between a light-rail train and a car violating a clearly visible traffic sign while ignoring many major highway pile-ups, trains get increased scrutiny with each rare accident instead of praise for being safer than driving.

However, it could be worse for train operators -- just ask the airlines.