You may have seen SmartBike stations around downtown D. C. Although, you may not have noticed: For now, it’s just a pilot program (the first in the country, in fact) and there are currently only 10 stations and 120 bikes. It’s still a very small piece of the District’s transportation network. Increasingly, though, it is an important piece. EMBARQ produced a short video outlining SmartBike’s success. Read more at The City Fix DC…
Open-source technology is required to develop competitive sustainable urban transport systems. Photo by B.J. Allen.
Robin Chase, one of The City Fix bloggers and founder and former CEO of Zipcar, says that “open technology” is a key part of making intermodal transportation a reality.
“Users (people or freight) need to know the schedules, requirements, and opportunities, need to book capacity and to make payments seamlessly, not only between modes but between states and perhaps countries as well,” she says as part of an online panel for the National Journal’s transportation blog.
So what does “openness” mean for different technology platforms, information, devices, and networks? Read the rest of this entry »
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.”
Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly Victoria Terminus, in Mumbai. Photo by thebigdurian on Flickr.
(Thanks to transport planner Madhav Pai for contributing to this post.)
Money spent on different types of transportation has little or no relationship with the way people actually move.
Consider the case of Mumbai, India by comparing transportation expenditures and modal shares (or, the percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation):
The government proposes to make the biggest investment - close to Rs 139,000 crore - on Metro and suburban rail, but only about 22% of people ride the train. Instead, most people (56%) walk or bike.
Authorities would also like to spend a hefty amount - more than Rs 55,042 crore - on the highway system, but less than 2% of people travel by private car. Other than walking and taking the train, most people (14%) travel by public bus, a system that is receiving a proposed investment of only Rs 4,280 crore.
Given the current mode shares of transport in Mumbai, the financial allocation appears highly inequitable. The plan caters to the upper middle class by being metro rail- and car-centric. The largest constituency of travelers - pedestrians and bicyclists - who make up 56% of the travel demand aren’t represented. It would have been nice to see resources allocated to providing infrastructure for them. Read the rest of this entry »
Could this be the end of America’s love affair with cars?
Over the years, driving has slowed down, leveled out, and then finally, with the dramatic increase in gas prices, declined. Now, we are “witnessing the largest sustained drops in driving that this nation has ever seen,” says Robert Puentes, a fellow in the metropolitan policy program of The Brookings Institution, which released a report last week that reveals startling facts about the decline of driving in America:
The number of miles that Americans have traveled in their cars - a measurement known as “vehicle miles traveled” or VMT - has been falling since 2007.
From October 2007 to September 2008, Americans drove 90 billion fewer miles than the same time period the year before.
For the first time ever, Americans are driving fewer miles than the total amount of roads available.
At the same time, transit use is at its highest level since the 1950s.
The Eierlegendewollmilchsau is a most unique creature. In addition to having a very long German name, it is capable of providing an amazing amount of bounty for one animal. It can lay eggs, grow wool, provide milk, and even bacon - all from one animal. Literally translated, Eierlegendewollmilchsau means “Egg Laying Wool Milk Sow”.
But there is a catch. Sadly, the Eierlegendewollmilchsau doesn’t really exist. It is a mythical creature that has come to symbolize the concept of “all-in-one” and is mythical because nothing exists that can combine so many useful and beneficial features in one place. There is, however, a city in northwestern Germany that has come close.
Bremen, Germany has succeeded in creating a completely integrated transportation network that is entirely accessible with a single card called - you guessed it - the Eierlegendewollmilchsau. A passenger can easily ride their bike on one of Bremen’s well maintained bike lanes, catch a light rail train, take a bus across town, rent a car from a convenient car-sharing kiosk, and even do some banking at an ATM, all with this one card. It’s a great example of planning a system that puts a priority on user convenience and treats many different types of transportation as seamless, purposefully linked and overlapping. By keeping the ease of use of the passenger in mind more people are more inclined to use it, ultimately making for a healthier environment and higher quality of life.
Here’s a neat video about Amsterdam that doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. Enjoy! To learn more about Amsterdam’s integrated transport network and Centraal Station shown in this video - it’s the one with a two-story bike rack - check out this post.
Dulles Airport is infamous for those “mobile lounges.” Photo by Kaptain Krispy Kreme from Flickr.
In my continuing quest to identify the elements that make for an enjoyably car-free urban existence I definitely need to mention inter-modal connectivity. After all, what use is it to have a high-quality transit network within a city if you can’t easily get into and out of that city’s airport via public transport? This has been a perennial problem for anyone using Washington DC’s Dulles airport, where the ground transportation options are pathetic. At least the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority (WMAA), which runs Dulles, added a Super Shuttle option there a couple of years ago, which makes life somewhat easier for car-free air travelers. But click on the “Metrorail and Metrobus” button there to learn how clunky and antediluvian the mass-transit connections to this important regional air hub are.
The contrast with just about any of the world’s other significant airports is enormous. For example, this past October I had occasion to fly into Dulles with my daughter from Madrid, via Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport. We had a four-hour layover at Schipol, so we killed time by jumping on one of the frequent rapid trains that connect the airport to downtown Amsterdam, checked out the city, and caught a train back to the airport in time for our outgoing flight.
Bike parking outside Centraal Station in Amsterdam. Photo by yvestown from Flickr.
The train whisked us over numerous highways, canals, and bike-routes, and past a small windfarm, into Amsterdam’s Centraal Station. Once there we had a fun morning walking along the canals, dodging the thousands of cyclists, and doing a bit of shopping. Centraal Station, like all train stations in bike-friendly places like the Netherlands or Japan, has massive bike-garages near the exits. The station also stands at the hub of a system of recently upgraded trams. The plaza in front of the station is a clanking mass of trams, pedestrians, and cyclists who whiz by along their lengthy networks of bike-paths. A newcomer definitely needs to stay alert as this traffic is nothing like the car-centered traffic on most streets in the United States! Read the rest of this entry »
According to Leinberger, Washington’s metro has encouraged walkability. Photo by MatthewBradley from Flickr.
According to a study put out by Christopher B. Leinberger of the Brookings Institute, Washington DC has the most “walkable places” - it has 20 - per capita of any city in the United States, when just 20 years ago it had a scant 2. Leinberger attributes Washington’s rise in walkability to two things: (1) the success of the metro system and (2) the use of “overlay zoning districts” that encourage walkability around metro stations.
Other factors that come in to play are the area’s robust economy, the city’s large population of university degree holders (who are more likely to live in walkable areas), and the throngs of 20 to 30 somethings who flock to the city for jobs.
How could New York with its canyons of glass and steel not be ranked first? Here’s the catch: New York has the most “walkable places” of any US city but because it’s population is so high and falls short on the per capita side.
Urban planner Richard Florida also has some thoughts of his own on his blog.
This has been a perennial problem for anyone using Washington DC’s Dulles airport, where the ground transportation options are pathetic. At least the 
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