Sunday was a good day for transit stories in the Times, beyond the Bus Wrap story. First, this blurb in the local section:
While bus ridership usually dips during the summer, Metro’s numbers actually went up, said King County Executive Ron Sims in his blog.
He said ridership numbers topped out in July at 400,457, a 9.9 percent increase over last summer.
Then, nationally syndicated columnist Neil Pierce has another pro-transit, anti-asphalt op-ed. We like to complain about the Times a lot, but they continually run this guy’s pieces, and I’m grateful for that. This piece talks about efforts to design cities more for pedestrians and less for cars. There’s a reference to Seattle and the viaduct controversy, as well as a description of the tension in Washington, DC between the commuters who drive there and the people who actually live (and walk) there. Luckily, the city appears to be considering the interests of its actual residents rather than those who use it for just a job:
Some commuters are grumbling about Washington’s moves; a spokesman for AAA calls the District of Columbia “the most anti-car city in the country.” But city officials say they’re just intent on reclaiming Washington’s streets for the people who live there, creating a walkable, bikable, transit-oriented metropolis.
Good for the District, especially since there are excellent rail transit options from virtually any direction into the city.