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Connections vs Complexity

Posted on November 20, 2010 in Basics, Connections, Transfers, London, Los Angeles, Portland, Sydney

In my first “basics” post on connections, I explained why a network that requires connections (or as North Americans call them, “transfers”) can actually get people where they’re going faster than a network that tries to avoid them.

But there’s another important reason to plan for connections rather than direct service, one that should be important to anyone who wants transit to be broadly relevant to urban life: Unless you welcome and encourage connections, your network will become very, very complex. Continue Reading →

A Field Guide to Transit Quarrels: The Recommended Video

Posted on August 28, 2010 in Events, Meta, Philosophy, Portland

It turns out that the excellent blog Portland Transport created a really clear video of the Portland version of my presentation, “A Field Guide to Transit Quarrels.”  Only tonight have I had both the time and the bandwidth to look at it.  Apart from the well-amplified sniffles from my cold at the time, it looks and sounds pretty good.  Thanks to Bob Richardson and everyone else at Portland Transport who made it happen. Continue Reading →

A Field Guide to Transit Quarrels

Posted on August 14, 2010 in Advocacy, Philosophy, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Technophilia

UDPATE:  New, easier links!

My presentation “A Field Guide to Transit Quarrels,” which I did last month in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, is here as a PowerPoint with notes on each slide describing its essence.

Powerpoint 2007 file   

High-quality PDF(10.2 mb))

Low-quality PDF (1.2 mb)

If you want a taste of what I sounded like talking about this stuff, the backlit but audible video of the Seattle presentation is here.  UPDATE:  The Portland video, which is much clear, is here!

As always with free stuff on the web, there has to be some advertising.  So:  If you’d like me to do a presentation to your group or organisation. The recent North American tour was the last time I’ll do this for free, but costs can often be figured out.

Look forward to comments, as always.  Thanks to Scott for the PDF links!

On the US Downtown Bus Plaza

Posted on June 8, 2010 in Architecture, Portland, Urban Structure

Lately, Conor Friedersdorf of the Atlantic has been riding the bus.  We’re seeing more good press for buses lately, as more national commentators focus on urban mobility problems.  Friedersdorf’s figuring out most of what I’ve long advocated …

I’ve already argued for simplified routes, system maps, and route numbering schemes. Other innovations that you should lobby your local bus agency/municipal government to adopt: dedicated bus lanes, express routes, GPS on the bus, estimated time of arrival signs on bus stops that change in real time, clear signage, and easy methods of payment that don’t require exact change.

But it’s interesting that this struck him as new: Continue Reading →

On Standard Street Grids

Posted on June 2, 2010 in Architecture, New York City, Portland, Urban Structure, Vancouver

Nw portland grid

Is it true that while everyone loves Portland’s regular 200-foot street grid, urbanists are turning away from it as something to emulate?

Daniel Nairn, who just wanted to make a nice nerdy poster about street grids, points me to a fascinating Planetizen article by Fanis Grammenos and Douglas Pollard.  It argues that the standard street grid, an easily repeated pattern where most intersections are four-way, is and should be history.  The future, they argue, lies in more complex grids where there are a lot of street connections but where 3-way “T” intersections are the rule.  It’s an excellent article.  Read the whole thing. Continue Reading →

Can Local Buses “Stimulate” Development?

Posted on May 11, 2010 in Frequent Networks, Portland, Streetcars (Trams), Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

One of the troubling side-effects of the streetcar revival movement in North America is that streetcar advocates often need to argue that buses don’t stimulate development, whereas streetcars really do.  But now and then someone says something like this:

Now, in Seattle, I picked my current apartment in large part because it was right next to a trolleybus (the 44).

Continue Reading →

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