8 Habits of Successful Commuter Rail Lines

Check out Intermodality to get the skinny.

Portland Blogging

Hey all. Sorry it's been a few days since my last post but I've been in Portland Oregon for a streetcar workshop. Below are some of the highlights. The best is what happens when you tear down a freeway, create a park, and then throw a huge brewfest party in the post below this one...







Here is a picture of a firetruck and a streetcar. It was pretty cool and they stayed there for a sec while I took a picture. I'm not sure if it was for me, but if it was, thanks!



As with the F-Line, it was a crush load on a lot of the cars I saw. In fact it's so full during the afternoon that it's hard for some folks to get on. They need more operating funding so cars can run more often, because every 12 minutes doesn't quite cut it.



We went on the tram and got a testimonial from a doctor that was a skeptic before she started riding it. She said she wondered why they were spending so much money on it, but now she gets it. Instead of 30 minutes during rush hour to get between patient visits in the South Waterfront and OHSU campus, it now takes her 7. It's no surprise that its won her over. It's apparently won over folks who wanted to bike, but didn't like the hill.





Here is traffic to Lake Oswego, better get that rapid streetcar sooner than later.



And here is a streetcar in the park for good measure. I'll update later as I upload more photos. Enjoy!!!

Freeway? No. Beerfest!

Portland used to have a freeway on it's waterfront, but decided in the 1960's to make a park instead. Well you can only fit so many cars on a road, but how many beer drinkers can you fit in a park that used to be a freeway? A lot!

World's Scariest Train Wrecks

Just Watch. Quite Ridiculous. But Funny.



Thanks Andrew for the Link.

Go Electric Young Man!

RTD has done the right thing in going with electric over diesel for two of their commuter lines. From the Rocky Mountain News:

But faced with staff research that showed the upfront savings would be overwhelmed by the higher operating costs of a diesel system, the few board members left who supported going diesel joined their colleagues in voting 13-0 to stick with the current arrangement. The DIA line is expected to be completed in 2014; the Arvada line in 2015.

If that wasn’t enough, 26 speakers led of by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper unanimously urged the board to back the communities’ choices. No one spoke up for using diesel cars; many of the speakers demanded RTD abandon current plans to use diesel power on two other FasTracks lines, Northwest Rail to Boulder and Longmont, and North Metro to Commerce City and Thornton.

The other two lines should be electric as well. With rising fuel prices causing many of the nation's transit agencies to raise fares, there is no reason to think that this won't continue to happen when they choose diesel. Hopefully what they have learned from these two lines shows up in the other two. They are also going to be saving money on the Union Station by digging a trench for the lines instead of having a subway tunnel.

Banning Cars from Boulevards

There was an article in the Los Angeles Times on banning cars from Wilshire Avenue and bringing the Subway to the surface. There are tons of cross streets meaning that there would have to be a lot of over or underpasses if it was going to be grade separated. Maybe this can be achieved by tunneling under the major intersections and not allowing cross traffic on the smaller ones. Although everyone would be pretty mad about the construction. I really like the idea of subways though. Mostly because they can go in straighter lines and you won't have the ugly under and overpass issues. They also integrate into the landscape better since people don't have to cross streets. The New York Subways were an investment made over 100 years ago, why can't LA make that investment for the lifetime of that city?

Caltrain Ridership Record

And the hits keep coming. Caltrain, with the introduction of the Baby Bullet in 2004, has been rocking up ever since. The press release says ridership is up 8.2% from the previous year. The average weekday has been around 35,000. Now they just need to electrify it and get EMUs. Then the service would be faster and more energy efficient.

Update: Sounder is getting some good ridership as well. Check out Seattle Transit Blog.

Alan Webb. American Record in Mile

I know this is a transport blog but I have to give credit where credit is due. Alan Webb is now one of the greatest milers in history and now has sole ownership of the American Record in the Mile. His time of 3:46 is nothing short of amazing and I know that in the future he will represent our country well. He is our greatest hope for a gold medal and it was evident in his performance today. Congratulations Alan for a job well done from a proud former runner.

Update: You can watch history here. Mark at Flocasts, an old friend of mine from college, is the only one with a video. Thanks for the footage Flo!

Arnold the Hypocrite

So what's the deal with Arnold? Although he touts his green-ness he's constantly on the wrong side on transportation issues. The most recent debacle is the transfer of $1 billion dollars for transit that got transferred into the general fund. As RT Driver puts it, Arnold got the Dems to throw transit under the Bus. The cuts could mean problems for the Expo Line in LA and a seismic retrofit of the BART tube which has served us well through several auto infrastructure failures including the Loma Prieta quake and the Maze Meltdown. Other transport follies include the inability to support high speed rail. As green as we thought he was, he has proven that he is not.

Charlotte's Anti-Rail Opportunists

If you're paying attention to the Charlotte debate you might notice that the anti-tax/anti-transit jihad is foaming at the mouth down there right now. Since they can't kill light rail with common sense (because they don't have any) they are trying to use silly political tactics to get their repeal of the half cent sales tax that was enacted for transit in 1998. They can't however argue straight about it so they are going after the messenger Karl Rove style.

This week they found some emails that they believe suggest that the University and Chamber of Commerce were in cahoots to do a poll. A POLL! Wow that is going to change people's opinions. They didn't question the accuracy of the study but rather if the Chamber used it in the poll. This is ridiculous. But it's like these hypocrites to demand the disclosure that an academic study was going to be used for a poll yet they won't tell anyone how much money they raised for their campaign to take down the tax. If they were to question the study they'd have to look at themselves in the mirror because anti-transit libertarians like to do all their research about transit in the free market by cherry picking sources. The fundamental issue is this, as stated by the University President:

The critics of light rail can't question the facts, so they question the process of anyone whose position is different than their own. They will not be able to refute the fundamental conclusion of Dr. Hauser's study that the cost of transit in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, including buses and light rail, is on average with the cost in other cities.

An editorial the next day stated:

If you'll read the April 30 study, you'll have a tough time arguing that its data is partisan. It mostly compiles information from government sources or academic research. It doesn't take a stand for or against the transit tax, concluding only that there's "a need for a comprehensive study" of the impact of light rail transit.

So just as I've stated before, it's sour grapes. Commonwealth for the common good, not every man for himself as the local anti's want you to believe.