As RJ3 has kindly pointed out, I'm on a semi-permanent vacation in Europe until I run out of money. So, for the moment, my posts will be sporadic, but will be ripe with European transit information.
To start us off, while standing in the Termini train station in Rome, I went to snap a picture of the Metro train. The trains look like they're from New York City about twenty years ago - covered entirely, from top to bottom, in graffiti. The trains appear to run on converted underground rail lines, as they're powered from the overhead wires.
Unfortunately, I have no pictures. You're not allowed to take a picture of a metro train in Rome, as I was not-so-politiely informed by a metro train guard. Perhaps if the terrorists can figure out the patterns of graffiti on the side of the train, they'll figure out how best to attack the city. So, no pictures of metro trains from Rome, but know that that Roman police are just as idiotic as those in New York who won't permit cameras on trains.
You're going to need a few services. Bus riders appreciate things like bathrooms, vending machines and pay phones. Those who are arriving from out of town, by definition without cars and by stereotype without much money, may want to catch a local bus to their final destination. Those who depart from the bus station may not want to spend more on a cab to get to the station than they would for an intercity bus trip. Therefore, it should go without saying that building an intercity bus terminal in a major city far from local public transit connections is beyond stupid.
In New York, they've always been there. Often horrendously nasty drug, sex and sleep dens for the disturbed or addicted, often just boarded up, they've never been particularly welcoming for staphangers. But now, the MTA is waking up to the need to go, installing four loos at Times Square. How long they stay clean is anybody's bet. Mine is for as long as they see it fit to pay an attendant to watch over them for any suspicious behavior. It's really a shame that public bathrooms are always so awful, especially because most of the mess is caused by a few inconsiderate people. But such is the cost of a free ride.
On a related note, a good example of how clean toilets can improve a public space is New York's Bryant Park. Once purely dealer and homeless territory, those in charge of fixing up the park discovered that successful parks have mothers and children, who drive away nasty elements by simply taking up space that would otherwise be used by junkies and pushers. They also found that mothers could be enticed to visit a park if it had clean bathrooms. In mid-1980s New York City, this was revolutionary. Growing up around then, I was a frequent visitor to my neighborhood's parks, all of which, despite good maintainance elsewhere, had universally awful public bathrooms. Long story short, Bryant Park became known for having the cleanest public bathrooms in the city and the dealers found other places to deal.
Someone is saying the New York City subway system is the best it's been as long as they can remember, and it's not the MTA. Yes, the Straphanger's Campaign, voice of the people and perpetual gadfly, said capital investments have made trains cleaner, more frequent and more reliable. So get down there and enjoy your beautiful and efficient subway, New York!
"Overall, though, there is little question that the five Metro stops in Arlington are a model of integration. In part, that's because Arlington County planners had a hand in siting the Metro line and stations, and then encouraged and designed for development around the stops. The result is a series of dense, tax-paying business districts. Most Metro stations in Arlington have no parking at all. Passengers crowd trains throughout the day and evening, rather than simply at rush hours.
In contrast, elected officials, developers, and civic leaders in neighboring Fairfax County, Virginia, were unable to agree on plans for development around the Orange line. As a result, the stations are surrounded by parking lots and except during rush hours trains run half-empty. This pattern is difficult to reverse now because commuters would protest if their parking were removed and development encouraged."
All this time I just thought the Fairfax stations were so Park and Ride-oriented by design. Read the rest.
If any state has the right to undertake the first marketing campaign centered around a highway exit, it's New Jersey. Sometimes, you have to work with what you've got.
The Las Vegas monorail opened today after many delays, reports CNN.com. Fares on the 4 mile track are $5.50 roundtrip or $3 one way - more expensive than almost any other short-trip system in the U.S.
...counterfeiters will make transit tickets. More than 20,000 of them, in fact, according to Toronto police. Tickets were being sold in stores, bars and subway entrances for half of the actual ticket cost. The Toronto Transit Commission estimates it lost CA$7 million annually due to the fraud.
An interesting editorial from DallasNews.com, discussing the varying impacts of transit on pollution. The Dallas transit board recently released a report that a new regionwide system wouldn't reduce air pollution. The argument is that while some cars will get off the road, more cars will replace them (and those cars will be driving faster). Plus, there are added emissions from the power plants creating the electricity for the train.
While that may be the case, the Dallas editors note, the real impact is one of sustainable development - people will move closer to transit stations and, therefore, spend less time on the road.
What they're describing is the necessity to look at transit systems for their holistic benefits. If you simply analyze the impact of one train system on air pollution, the results will be minimal at best. But what transit does is let a region re-structure itself in a more sustainable fashion, something that rarely occurs when you build more highways and roads.
Here's a very, very long New York Timesarticle on railroads' attempts to sidestep responsibility for accidents on their tracks. It's really long, and it's Sunday morning, so I'll leave it to you to read.
Seattle took another step toward completing the monorail project yesterday, reports The Washington Post. Seattle's City Council signed off on an agreement with the Seattle Monorail Project which grants permissions to use the streets needed for the 14-miles of track through the heart of the city.
They hope to break ground by October of this year.
New York is the only city with designated express lines in its subway system -- four-track sections with two tracks set aside for trains that do not stop at every station. Express trains add capacity to the system and supposedly get you to your destination faster than the local.
The Daily News (linked by Gothamist) says this is not so.
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