If you're lucky enough to live in Pittsburgh, Portland, Eugene, Seattle, Tampa or Honolulu, then you can try mapping your daily travels on public transportation with a new service from Google (google.com/transit). Google Transit will generate a map complete with transit options, schedules, costs and total travel time. The site is also soliciting feedback on whether the info provided is accurate or which bus is faster, etc. The six cities are pilots for the program, which will hopefully expand to include other transit systems (please!).
Chicago's Circle Line - one step closer to reality
Chicago's Transit Authority is holding "open houses" this week to discuss plans for the proposed Circle Line that will link all the existing L and Metra lines (via the Chicago Tribune). Apparently the whole thing is up for discussion: light rail v. bus v. train and surface v. subway v. elevated. And, of course, the route is a major topic for discussion. So, if you live in Chicago and really want a connection at your stop, get on down to the public meetings Tues, Wed, Thurs of this week.
Pity proponents of rail travel in Seattle. Not only do they face all manner of problems getting light rail funded, the monorail, symbol of the city's mass transit, as hokey as can be, is closed for repairs after several accidents and breakdowns. It's over 40 years old and never lived up to expectations:
“If you are a commuter of the future, the chances are you’ll be riding monorail in your metropolitan travels,” proclaimed a 1962 booklet published by Alweg Rapid Transit Systems, the company, founded by the Swedish entrepreneur Axel Wenner-Gren, that built the Seattle monorail. “When city planners and transit authorities examine their mass transportation problems, the complicated question of how to get there easily, quickly and economically seems best answered by monorail.”
Only a few months ago, Albequerque, New Mexico joined the list of cities that have commuter rail service. The Rail Runner runs from the southern suburbs to the northern suburbs and will eventually go to Santa Fe. It runs on biodiesel and has already notched 100,000 riders.
the federal government approved $7.4 million for the final design of a busway from New Britain to Hartford in central Connecticut.
The busway will be located in New Britain, Newington, West Hartford and Hartford. The project will build a Bus Rapid Transit facility along 9.4 miles of active and inactive rail corridors. The facility includes an exclusive bus-only roadway with 11 busway stations with amenities.
Sounds like the Philadelphia area people need to start calling and writing anyone and everyone they know with influence on SEPTA to get them to understand the importance of environmental issues -- like moving to biodiesel. Seems like they may not be weighing the potential marketing ability of greening their entire bus fleet into the cost-benefit equation.
Well, "rapid transit" may not be the best word for it
Chicago Times columnist Jon Hilkevitch floats the idea that the CTA should go back to skip-stop service on the El's Red Line to speed up service during renovations:
Trains are required to travel as slow as 15 m.p.h. on almost half of the north branch of the Red Line.
The CTA is in the final phase of a $283 million renovation of the Dan Ryan Red Line branch that is expected to result in faster and more reliable service.
A reasonably healthy person can get to downtown Chicago from the North Side more quickly riding a bicycle than taking the Red Line, which often takes more than an hour.
Ask yourself this: if you had the choice during a -5 degree morning, would you rather spend more time on an exposed elevated platform watching trains pass by, or do you want to be in a heated train, even if it does crawl down the tracks?
The New York Times has a story about some new census data and a Queens College study of the data showing that in past five years, more people in the New York metro area have switched to commuting by mass transit.
More than 2.5 million residents of the region — about 2 of every 7 commuters — regularly rode some form of public transportation to work in 2005, up from about 2.2 million in 2000. The share of commuters driving themselves or riding in private cars fell, a trend that could bode well for America’s energy consumption if only it were taking hold nationally.
“The reason there’s much more of a noticeable shift in New York City is that there are alternatives,” said Charles Komanoff, a transportation consultant in Manhattan. “In the rest of the country, you don’t have much substitution; you can’t. In New York, you can and you do.”
This week, Timothy Kaine, Virginia's new Democratic governor, described the dramatic advantages of building a tunnel for Dulles-bound metro rail trains under Fairfax County's Tyson's Corner shopping and commercial complex rather than an elevated flyover. And then he announced that he'd be supporting the flyover.
I don't intend, however, to criticize Gov. Kaine. In fact, as of last week, it seemed clear to almost everyone that the tunnel under Tyson's would be Kaine's choice, and that the state and private interests would be willing to pay the extra costs for the tunnel. Rather, this sudden decision, which is likely to mean the end of what's been a long-winded discussion over how metro rail trains should access Tyson's, is almost entirely the fault of the federal government.
You see, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which judges the quality of mass transportation projects around the country and awards them grants accordingly, is a misguided agency. The principal problem with the FTA is that the "New Starts" process by which it approves grants is slow, confusing, and unfair to the transit agencies of every city that's interested in building a modern transit network.
The specific issue in question in relation to the Dulles Metro Rail Project is whether or not trains traveling on a new line between Dulles Airport and the District of Columbia ought to speed underground when they reach the Tyson's Corner area, or whether they ought to fly above on elevated tracks. The rationale for the construction of this metro line makes the answer obvious: planners, businessmen, and ordinary citizens in Fairfax County are interested in transforming the sprawling area into a vibrant district modeled on a traditional downtown. Such a change is not possible without reworking the area's streets into a grid format and allowing easy access to the metro stations. Everyone knows that having trains moving quietly underground, with street-level access to stations, is clearly preferable to watching trains speed by - loud and often - 35 feet above the streets. There's the added advantage that the tunnels will last twice as long as the elevated tracks.
The LA Times reports that the LA Community Redevelopment Agency has released a feasibility study that recommends bringing streetcars back to downtown LA. The hope is that the streetcars will attract people and businesses to the downtown that aren't there now (even with bus service) because, as the article notes, everyone loves streetcars.
LA apparently had a popular streetcar system that was dismantled in the 1960's and replaced with buses. The same streetcar to bus transformation (along with downtown blight) happened all over the country in mid to large cities. Interestingly, I saw recently an episode of PBS's History Detectives where they investigated the demise of the Cleveland streetcar system. A Clevelander with a love of streetcars and conspiracy theories wondered if the oil barons had snuffed out Cleveland's electric streetcars. As it turns out there was a fair bit of collusion nationwide, but the episode does point out that these things are usually more complicated than a handshake and a bag of money.
A dozing train operator was one reason why one Metro train crashed into another in November 2004. A month later, Metro fired the operator. Well, he'll be back on the job soon. An arbitrator ruled that he was improperly fired. Metro officials say the former operator won't be running trains anymore; instead he'll be in a "non-safety-sensitive" position, like counting buses.
All along it has seemed that Metro set up the dozing operator to take the fall for the accident. Absolutely, he shouldn't have been sleeping, but crash investigators pointed out that Metro schedules its operators for back-to-back shifts. Metro officials don't seem too interested in doing anything about that.
In other Metro news, bus driver (apparently) fired not due to his politicking, but because he lied on his job application. Riders' Advisory Council meets this Wedneday, September 6 at 6:30pm at Metro headquarters; scheduled is a presentation on the new rail cars.
WTOP, via the AP, reports that the Tramway to Roosevelt Island has reopened after a mechanical problem in mid-April left passengers stranded for about 11 hours. Following the incident, the system was refurbished, and trams were equipped with blankets, food, water, and toilets in case of emergency.
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