What has signal priority, some exclusive ROW, real-time arrival information, next-stop message board, and significant stops?
Answer after the jump
Continue reading “BRT and the Lowly City Bus”
| 51 commentsBRT and the Lowly City Bus
Leasing Cars
This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
The Chevy Volt actually looks even better than I expected. Apparently it rides well, too. I can’t imagine paying $40K for a car, though, unless (until?) gas hits $10/gallon. I just don’t drive that much.
I would consider leasing it, if the price was right.
The next few years will likely see a huge shift in the mobility industry. Already we’ve seen Zipcar and similar services move driving from an ownership to an on-demand service model for casual users.
With car technology changing so rapidly, ownership makes less sense. Why would I buy an electric car with a 40-mile range when one with a 60-mile range might come along in six months?
Cell phones solve this through a contract model not unlike car leases. The difference with cell phones is that they bundle minutes in the monthly fee. Better Place is working on this type of a model. They have fast charging stations where they swap out your battery with a charged one in less time than it takes to fill a tank.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if I could lease a car from Puget Sound Energy? I’m paying them for the electricity anyway. Plus, they benefit directly from having a fleet of cars connected to the grid as a back-up power source (or so I understand).
New possibilities abound. But I think we’ll see more of the Zipcar/Better Place type arrangements where auto transport is provided as a service, not separate products (car, gas, etc.).
1 commentsTransit Marketing
This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Nice video on LA Metro’s efforts:
LA Metro: Promoting Mass Transit from EMBARQ Network on Vimeo.
I like this campaign better than Metro or Sound Transit’s advertising.
Via The Cify Fix, which notes, “Metro is doing something that no transit agency in the country has ever done: its marketing its products and services as if it were a private company bent on turning a profit.”
Well, maybe. KC Metro and Sound Transit definitely market their services, as do plenty of other transit agencies. Not many are this good, though. This is a legitimate campaign.
(via)
1 commentsNews Roundup
- The legislative outlook for bicyclists.
- Magnolia wants to turn Business Access and Transit (BAT) lanes into HOV lanes.
- Early reaction to Swift. The Herald also takes a look at BRT ridership nationwide.
- Sen. Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) reiterates that Seattle is on the hook for deep-bore tunnel overruns.
- Larry Phillips takes a victory lap for his audit, which saved Metro service for another two years.
- USDOT offers up $280m for streetcar and bus projects. Get on it, Seattle. (H/T: Alex Jonlin)
- Tacoma anti-berm forces not giving up yet.
- Issaquah will apparently not enter a “Transit Now” partnership to extend Route 200.
- The Central District News would like to get something — anything — in terms of rail.
- Help for bicyclists in Issaquah?
- According to spokesman Lane Keough, Seattle’s Best Coffee is offering “a 10% discount for Orca card holders at our company-owned cafes in Seattle, which includes locations inside the Seaboard Building (4th and Pike), Pacific Plaza (4th and Spring)), Broderick Building (2nd and James) and Post Alley.”
- Kitsap Transit bus kills pedestrian.
- Salt Lake City’s light rail story reminds me of ours.
- Women and bicycling.
- Half of Puget Sound Business Journal respondees expect to use Link to the airport. Considering the Eastside representation, that’s pretty good.
Op-ed: A+ is the Transit-Friendly Option for SR520
by VIRGINIA GUNBY
Our SR 520 Westside Design A+ is the transit friendly, financially affordable option and was recommended by the SR 520 State Legislative Workgroup by a vote of 12 to 2 (opposed by Reps. Chopp and Pedersen of the 43rd District). A+ is supported by Metro Transit, King County, the University of Washington, five major Eastside cities, the Eastside Transportation Partnership, and many north end Seattle Community Councils. We worked to reduce A+ costs by retaining the current interchange at Montlake Blvd and saving $100 million on the replacement of the Portage Bay Bridge.
One remaining decision is replacement of the Lake Washington Blvd. ramps at a cost of $98m. Information on the overall impacts of the ramps, in or out, will be included in the WSDOT SR 520 Supplemental EIS, which will be available for Public Review after the first of the year. We need a city-wide public debate on how to make this a “Win/Win” for both improving the future Arboretum and SR 520 inter-modal Transit services. More after the jump…
Continue reading “Op-ed: A+ is the Transit-Friendly Option for SR520”
| 58 commentsRegional Transportation Funding
This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
The Transport Politic writes about some issues with Denver’s ambitious rail build-out, citing problems with funding, and especially, sub-regional equity:
Denvers problems are illustrative of the complications faced by any transit agency attempting to plan at a regional scale and raise questions about how such organizations should operate. Notably, can denser areas make a claim for more transit access, when all parts of the region are paying into the budget? Is there any chance of losing the support of urban constituents if too much money is spent on the outskirts of town? Should transit be designed to serve long-distance commuting to and from suburbs, or should it focus on encouraging travel in the inner-city?
While Sound Transit is similar to Denver’s RTA in some ways, the much-maligned sub-area equity provisions actually keep these sorts of intra-regional turf wars to a minimum.
Still, we’re not immune. If you looked at a map of the Puget Sound region and said, “let’s draw a line connecting the densest neighborhoods with high-capacity transit,” the line you drew would almost certainly look nothing like this, would it?
4 comments
No One Is Dragging Their Feet
Will at the Slog has a piece up today that makes me angry – so angry I’m posting from Portland, where I was trying to have a nice vacation. Will is blaming Sound Transit for not having a ready-made light rail plan for a mayor who hasn’t even yet taken office when the plan doesn’t even have a scope yet!
This seems to display ignorance of a system that we’ve been working for years to help people understand.
Sound Transit gets a certain amount of money each year, from sales taxes and MVET. They write a budget based on how much they’re expecting, and publish it. Usually, there’s some wiggle room – as projects are completed, surpluses are sometimes released, and there are funds available for unexpected administrative or legal expenses.
In the past – maybe last year, or the year before – Sound Transit might have been able to take on a planning project like determining alignment for West Seattle or Ballard light rail – a $12 million study. But Sound Transit is receiving less in sales tax revenue this year than they’d budgeted for, meaning they’re looking to cut costs wherever they can, not accelerating projects. Sound Transit’s plan for ST2 shows light rail planning for these corridors to be budgeted in 2015 – and it’s been that way since the Proposition 1 election in 2008.
Furthermore, no plan – not even a scope – has been released by the mayor-elect’s office (possibly because he’s not actually the mayor yet). No plan – or again, even a scoping document – has been released by Richard Conlin’s office. As far as I’m aware, no request has been made to Sound Transit by those offices or any other for light rail planning in these corridors.
During McGinn’s campaign, I urged his staff to talk to him about making light rail to West Seattle and Ballard a priority. I’m overjoyed that he’s doing it, and I look forward to that planning taking place – but there’s nothing for Sound Transit to do here. Even if they could find a way to fund a study (and don’t hold your breath), they’d have to know what to study within some range between streetcar and subway, and have some idea of how they’re going to pay for it. The ball is in the mayor-elect’s court to figure out what he wants. The Slog’s piece today is Sound Transit bashing at its worst.
Sloggers – you know better than this.
49 commentsIs Spokane the Next in Line for Streetcars?
Early last year, we uncovered some dirt on a potential streetcar study for Spokane. The Spokesman Review is now reporting that new information has come to light about the Lilac City’s most recent efforts to employ streetcars in its downtown transit network. The Spokane Transit Authority (STA) is using $360,000 in federal and state grant funds to commission the study. As part of the plan, the agency is asking local residents to become part of its Sounding Board to help plan for what it calls a High Performance Transit Network, which could either be implemented via electric trolleybuses, streetcars, or other modes.
While light rail has been a hot concept in Spokane for several years, the political effort was ditched in 2006 when STA disbanded a LRT planning committee. However, Susan Meyer, STA’s CEO, has raised the possibility of some kind of tram/light rail hybrid with an exclusive right-of-way for the Spokane Valley corridor[UPDATE: Commenter Bobby Bebar says that Meyer is referring to an electric trolleybus.]:
Along with other alternatives, Meyer wants the agency to study the possibility of electric rapid transit on separated traffic alignment, which can be accomplished for about 15 percent of the cost of light rail. That Spokane Valley corridor study would update work previously done for a light rail project.
In related news, the Idaho Statesman is reporting that Boise’s proposed LID (local improvement district) for its streetcar loop is getting mixed reviews, particularly from tax-exempt non-profit organizations who will end up having to chip in anyway.
11 commentsOp-ed: What to Expect in Olympia
by ANDREW AUSTIN, Policy Associate, Transportation Choices Coalition
As the holidays quickly approach so does the 2010 Legislative Session. This year the legislature will be convene for a “short” 60 day session that starts on January 11th. Due to the State’s budget crisis it is expected to be a fast-paced session focused on filling a $2.6 billion (and growing) hole in the state’s operating budget. That said, Transportation Choices Coalition will be working hard on behalf of you everyday to ensure that Washington residents have the choices to take transit, bike, or walk in their community.
Transit Funding
Across the State transit agencies continue to face a financial crisis due to declining sales tax revenues. If new sustainable revenue is not identified in the next two years, agencies serving Anacortes to Walla Walla will be forced to make drastic cuts to their service, cuts that will hinder our region’s economic recovery, clog our roads, prevent us from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and leave transit riders abandoned on the side of the road.
As the 2010 legislative session approaches Transportation Choices will be working for you in Olympia to educate the legislative leadership on the transit funding crisis. We will be organizing this year to ensure that transit plays a central role in future transportation revenue packages. But we can not do it alone and need your help communicating with legislators about what transit cuts will mean to you and your local community. We will hold our annual transportation advocacy day on January 28th in Olympia and one of our major issues will be transit funding.
Transit Oriented Communities
Following up on last year’s transit oriented communities legislation we will continue to push for a combination of planning measures and incentives that promote transit-oriented development, particularly in rail transit station areas. We are advocating for grant dollars that cities can access for planning, infrastructure upgrades and affordable housing in “high performing station areas.” These high performing station areas are the ones that will make the most of their proximity to light rail and other high-capacity transit investments by zoning for walkable, mixed-use development, with a healthy mix of housing types in their station areas. (For more on these concepts, please see our new report, co-authored with Futurewise and GGLO, Creating Transit-Oriented Communities: A Blueprint for Washington State). Finally, we will also join Futurewise in continuing to push the legislature to require comp plan updates to factor reducing greenhouse gas emissions into future growth management plans.
Complete Streets
For many years TCC has been working with our city partners and the public health community to implement complete streets guidelines at the local level. We believe the state could do more to incentivize local governments to adopt complete streets policies, which means designing local roads with all users – including cyclists, pedestrians and transit users – in mind. This year we will attempt to establish the framework for a grant program for complete streets projects in cities to incentivize and reward complete streets programs around the state.
Reprinted with permission from the Nov. 30th TCC Newsletter. See also Erica Barnett’s write-up of TCC’s report in presentation form.