The new “rapid bus” network proposed for Barcelona looks a lot like the Los Angeles Metro Rapid: No exclusive lanes, but strong signal priority, emphasis on fast implementation, and judging from the map, very wide stops. I would resist calling this Bus Rapid Transit, though, unless you want the term to mean “any and all corridor-wide attempts to make buses a little faster.” Continue Reading →
On the US Downtown Bus Plaza
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 →
Respect for Signal Engineers
From the rather mysterious cartoonist xkcd.com:
I’ve certainly met both of these characters many times. Come to think of it, I’ve been both of these characters.
Technology vs Geometry at the Venice Biennale
For the Venice Biennale later this year, the Audi Urban Future Award asked six prestigious architecture firms to come up with visions of what cities might be like in 2030. The preliminary responses, as reported in the Economist, had a disturbing common theme: cars. Continue Reading →
Funny Journalism Note: Los Angeles Cuts Down on “Movement”
This is just funny. From the Los Angeles Times today, an article by David Zahniser on cuts to Commuter Express services run by the City of Los Angeles:
The agency also would phase out three Commuter Express routes: Line
575, which travels from Simi Valley to Warner Center; Line 413, which
moves from Van Nuys and North Hollywood to downtown; and Line 430, which
runs from Pacific Palisades to downtown Los Angeles.
Seattle’s Waterfront Streetcar: Not Coming Back?
Seattle’s Orphan Road laments the news that the Seattle Waterfront Streetcar, which from 1982 to 2005 ran historic cars — mostly on single track, mostly right under the Alaskan Way Viaduct — might never be restored to service. I’m apparently part of the problem: Continue Reading →
On Standard Street Grids
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 →
Transit and the Hierarchy of Needs, contd.
In a post last week I mentioned Abraham Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs, a simple diagram suggesting that certain needs will only arise if more fundamental needs are met: Continue Reading →
Sydney: The Transport Inquiry’s Final Report
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Indepent Public Inquiry on Transport published its final report yesterday. I had a major role in the preliminary report, which I discussed here, but not in the final.
The Herald’s coverage today focused on the big controversy about what the next rail project should be, and also on the dangers of spread-out job growth. But in my view, the Inquiry’s most important work was the discovery, through public surveying and financial analysis, that a comprehensive network of improvements — extending the old commuter rail network and also upgrading it to offer the frequencies of an urban metro — could be funded with a package of sources that a majority were willing to support. All of these sources are politically radioactive if you just propose them in a vacuum: Congestion charges! Higher fuel taxes! Higher property taxes! Higher fares! But if you package them carefully with the transformative improvements that they buy, you could win a referendum. Continue Reading →
Transit and the Hierarchy of Needs
When transit advocates talk past each other, especially about the
glories of their favorite technology, I often feel we need a better way to talk about
what’s really important. Which features of a technology or transit plan
are truly essential in motivating ridership? Which are just really
nice? Continue Reading →