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Can We Cycle the “Last Mile”?

Posted on April 13, 2010 in General

Max Utility asks, in a comment:

I would be interested to see your take on how transit systems can better integrate bicycles into their plans to solve ‘last mile’ issues. Even on systems I’ve used that are relatively welcoming to bikes (see Berlin) it always appears to be something of an after thought and the awkwardness seems to discourage multi-modal riders.

Since I am primarily a bicycle advocate, I’m also interested to hear any thoughts on how the bicycle advocacy groups could work better with transit system operators to improve both sets of infrastructure since they do seem to be mutually supporting when properly integrated.

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Human Transit: The First Year

Posted on April 9, 2010 in Meta

Well, my Welcome and Manifesto post is dated 10 April 2009, so I’ve been doing this for a year.

I started this blog to provide a source of commentary about transit planning issues based on two decades of experience in that business.  I had no idea whether the blogosphere wanted such a thing.  I wasn’t sure where it would lead.  I wasn’t sure who the audience would turn out to be. Continue Reading →

Portland: The Lure of the Unmeasurable

Posted on April 4, 2010 in General

PC280005 A while back, Aaron Renn at the Urbanophile did an interesting post on Portland.  Anyone who loves the city will find it engaging and challenging, as I did, and I wanted to expand on a comment I made there at the time.  (I lived there from 1969 to 1980 and was later based there as a transit planning consultant, 1994-2003.)

Comparing Portland to his hometown, Indianapolis, he notices that the two cities score about the same on many metrics — job growth, domestic in-migration, GDP, etc. — even though Portland is a nationally renowned achievement in urban planning and lifestyle while Indianapolis is a pretty ordinary Midwestern city surrounded by lots of sprawl.  The core of his observation is in this quotation from Alissa Walker at Good: Continue Reading →

Los Angeles: The Next Great Transit Metropolis?

Posted on March 31, 2010 in General

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s campaign to accelerate the construction of rail transit in his city is deservedly in the news, not just for his own persistence but also for the excitement it’s generating in the Obama administration, in Congress, and in other cities who would love to see a precedent-setting response.  But it’s also very useful and inspiring to transit planners working overseas, like me. Continue Reading →

Illusions of Travel Time in Transit Promotion

Posted on March 28, 2010 in Basics, Frequent Networks, Light Rail, Los Angeles, Rail Transit

Whenever you hear someone cite the travel time of a proposed transit line, your first reaction should always be:  “Yes, but at what frequency?”   Often, that fact is missing from these soundbites.

There’s a nice example in today’s Transport Politic.  Speaking of the proposed Gold Line Foothills extension, which if built will someday extend from Los Angeles to Montclair: Continue Reading →

Streetcars vs Light Rail … Is There a Difference?

Posted on March 26, 2010 in Light Rail, Melbourne, Portland, Rail Transit, Stop Spacing, Streetcars (Trams)

UPDATE February 2016:  While this post’s deep dive is valid enough, I would no longer agree with my past self that exclusivity of right of way is secondary in defining the difference between streetcars and light rail.  I no longer agree with this post’s claim that exclusive right of way is more important for longer transit trips than for short ones.  It is always a crucial driver of reliability, and its absence continues to be the defining features of what most Americans call “streetcars” as opposed to light rail.

DSCN0337 Yonah Freemark at The Transport Politic proposes a curious definition of the difference between streetcars (trams) and light rail:

The dividing line between what Americans reference as a streetcar and what they call light rail is not nearly as defined as one might assume considering the frequent use of the two terminologies in opposition. According to popular understanding, streetcars share their rights-of-way with automobiles and light rail has its own, reserved right-of-way.

But the truth is that the two modes use very similar vehicles and their corridors frequently fall somewhere between the respective stereotypes of each technology. Even the prototypical U.S. light rail project — the Portland MAX — includes significant track segments downtown in which its corridor is hardly separated from that of the automobiles nearby. And that city’s similarly  pioneering streetcar includes several segments completely separated from the street.

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Los Angeles Times Columnist Slams Transfer Penalties

Posted on March 25, 2010 in Fares, Los Angeles

Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus tried using transit recently, and what drove him crazy was not the waiting, the crowding, the delays.  What drove him crazy were the fares:

For example, transfers. Switching from one transit provider to another is often a necessity in an area this vast. Some, such as Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus, make it relatively easy. Others do not. Continue Reading →

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