Jun 17
BRT, Bus Rapid Transit, Buses, Mass Transit, Metro, Metrobus, Suburbs, Subway, Sustainable Transport, United States, Urban Planning, Washingon DC
Map via PurpleLineMD.com.
Great news today: The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, the region’s federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), unanimously approved the inclusion of the full Purple Line project in the region’s long-term plan.
Read more at The City Fix DC…
Jun 17
Boston’s commuter rail is informally known as the “Purple Line.” Maryland still hasn’t decided whether its Purple Line will be light rail or bus rapid transit. Photo by Pylon757.
Today’s a big day for the Purple Line. (Check out our previous post about the controversial transit project here.) The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board is voting on whether or not to include the Purple Line in the long-range transportation plan. The NCRTPB is the D.C. area’s metropolitan planning organization. MPOs are critical parts of any planning process, in that federal transportation dollars won’t go to projects that the regional MPO doesn’t include in its plan. (Nashua, N.H.’s MPO provides a decent guide to the role of MPOshere.)
Moreover, if the Board does include the Purple Line and are then able to secure funding, opposition suddenly becomes a lot harder. It’s pretty rare to see someone give back federal dollars.
Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed.
Read more at The City Fix DC…
Apr 20
Accessibility, BRT, Bike Parking, Bike Sharing, Bus Rapid Transit, Carpooling, Cars, Carsharing, Cycling, Fuel Efficiency, Green, Innovation, Intermodality, Land Use, Managing Car Use, Mass Transit, Mobility, Place, Planet, Sustainable Transport, Transit Oriented Development, Urban Planning
Illustration by via GOOD Magazine.
GOOD magazine published its jam-packed, 112-page “Transportation Issue,” devoted to a “drastic rethinking of how we move around, how we design our cities, and how we power our vehicles.”
The articles cover a lot of ground, discussing the problems and solutions of congestion pricing; comparing choices that will make commuting to work more convenient (a dilemma that’s referred to as the “last-mile problem”); and also, reviewing a range of transport projects, like bus rapid transit in Bogota, carpooling in San Francisco, and bicycle rental in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Apr 17
In Delhi, India, it can be difficult to enforce curbside bus lanes. Photo by EMBARQ.
One of the most controversial aspects of Bus Rapid Transit design in Delhi has been the designation of median lanes as opposed to curbside lanes. The initial bus corridor in Delhi is based on median lanes to give priority to bus riders. Duno Roy, who set up the People’s Science Institute in Dehradun, India and The Hazard Centre in Delhi, explains his views on this controversy in the India Business Standard. The discussion involves the tension between giving priority to vehicle users or bus users. Concludes Roy: “Moving the BRT to the left lane will kill whatever potential it has left.”
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Apr 16
The playwright imagines a Purple Line train platform like this one, at MARC Brunswick Line’s Barnesville station. Photo via Tracks: The Musical.
The Purple Line, a proposed 16-mile transit line in Maryland’s D.C. suburbs, has inspired a new musical, titled “Tracks,” written by Paul Stregevsky, a Department of Homeland Security employee, and Marshall White, a high school music teacher. (Check out performer bios and audition videos–”Third Car, Seventh Row” is particularly catchy–at the official “Tracks” Web site.)
EMBARQ and the World Resources Institute studied the proposal and found that bus rapid transit (BRT) along the route would actually cost less, offer similar services, and fight global warming better than light-rail cars.
Despite this analysis, which generated a lot of debate, Stregevsky and White envision a light rail scenario for their song and dance tribute.
From The Gazette:
“Tracks” is set in 2014 when the Purple Line, a 16-mile proposed light rail project [Editor's note: Maryland's Governor has not chosen a preferred alternative, yet, but light rail seems to be the local favorite.] running from Bethesda and New Carrollton via Silver Spring, has supposedly been completed. Most of the action and the 23 musical numbers take place on the platform of an isolated station at the extreme end of the line. The transit authority has announced that unless at least 18 riders use the station every day, it will close.
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Apr 01
The Federal Transit Administration recently released an updated edition of “Characteristics of BRT for Decision Makers” (PDF). This 400-page report is a very complete compendium of the bus rapid transit (BRT) experience in the United States, but it does not stop there — it also includes data and profiles of BRT systems in the rest of the world. This is an extraordinary resource for agencies and planners considering transit options and shows the versatility of the BRT concept.
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Mar 10
Photo courtesy of the Center for Sustainable Transport Mexico (CTS-México)
There’s much talk in the U.S. about the economic stimulus and investing in building “green infrastructure” to achieve three goals - create jobs, upgrade our infrastructure, and save the planet. It seems that Mexico is doing exactly this with the launch of Macrobús, funded by the Jalisco government. The entire Macrobús system, scheduled for completion by 2012, is expected to reduce 330,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next three years, equivalent to taking about 55,000 cars off the road.
Unfortunately, most transportation projects under consideration for funds from the U.S. stimulus bill will be plain old car-lovin’ highway projects (read TheCityFix blogger Erica Schlaikjer’s recent post about this.) Perhaps the U.S. could learn a thing or two from Mexico.
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Jan 16
Rails or wheels? Maryland planners are still deciding what to choose for the Purple Line. Map by the Maryland Transit Administration.
After more than 20 years of debate, Maryland planners are getting closer to making a decision on the Purple Line, a proposed 16-mile east-west transit corridor running parallel to the (infamously congested) Capital Beltway surrounding Washington, D.C.
The hot debate involves two main options: 1) light rail transit, featuring electric streetcars, or 2) bus rapid transit, in which high-capacity vehicles operate in designated lanes to bypass traffic. Elected officials are expected to make a decision by March or April, after reviewing public comments made in response to the Maryland Transit Administration’s draft environmental impact statement.
The World Resources Institute recommends bus rapid transit.
Why? Because it is the only option that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, plus it costs less and is less risky than right rail, even though it offers comparable services, according to a recent analysis. (To learn more details, read the full report.)
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Dec 24
Chirag Delhi bus station. Photo by Madhav Pai.
The bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor in Delhi is one of the most controversial projects in Indian urban transport. It encountered several problems during the first week of its implementation, stirring up a great media outcry. But the Delhi Government was able to recognize the positive impact of the project for pedestrians, bikers and bus commuters, and it decided not to scrap the pilot corridor.
The Delhi government elections in November largely ran on a platform that included going ahead with the busway expansions, but some media outlets and transport experts urged the city to ditch the project altogether. The Times of India, for example, reported that the Standing Committee in Parliament recently said plans for BRT system would be a “nightmare” for Delhi residents and should be abandoned.
But it looks like the media reports may not have been telling the whole story, says Sanjeev Lohia, director of the urban transport division for the Ministry of Urban Development.
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