Link Light Rail

Seattle opened it's first regional light rail line today! Very exciting. I know some of you have been hoping for a post on this, but really, I have to leave it to the Seattle Transit Blog folks who have done an excellent job push hard up in Washington for great transit. Today they are tweeting and blogging and posting video from the first ride. Check em out.

OT: Hook 'Em Walter

I am not old enough to be in the era of Walter Cronkite reading news. But I did experience him through a connection with my University, one that runs very deep. His voice is masterful and I can only imagine what it was like to hear him nightly. But if you're a Longhorn this hits you pretty hard, especially when the memories of your school are tied so well together by the imagery of Austin and his voice.



You can see all the spots he voiced for the University of Texas here. May you enjoy a Shiner in the sky good sir. Tell Arthur and J Fred I said hi. Hook 'em.

Some Notes

USA Today has an article about intensifying suburbs in the Hong Kong style. Interesting they mention the tall buildings but not the massive transit infrastructure needed to move these people to where they want to go.
~~~
Jarrett at Human transit was wondering early on what would get comments and a discussion going. I don't think he has to look anymore. In fact he's even got the ears of major newspaper reporters. Now if only they actually understood what he was saying or if newspaper reporters actually gave the public credit for knowing more than they do. This Dallas Morning News post is exactly why print media is dying. Calling your readers stupid works every time.

Further, would the public understand the dual systems? Is there a city today that has a combination of light rail and streetcars in a downtown area where there is demonstrated demand for both?

I'm tired of Texas (or from any state) transportation reporters who don't know transportation.
~~~
The Evergreen Line gone?
~~~
Swimo pops its head out of the water again. It's like a cute little penguin, an electric penguin that runs on rails without wires. When we all have Zed PMs we'll be golden.
~~~
Fort Worth is hoping for Streetcars sooner than planned.

A Letter Against a $4 Billion Freeway

Cavan from Greater Greater Washington sent a link to a form letter urging leaders in Montgomery County to stop the nonsense of ever expanding the freeway there. It's really quite insane that they can't see what happened last time they did this. I urge any locals send letters and push back against this 1950's expansion pack.

Unhinged

Wow. Can you say jump the shark?

"The problem with Los Angeles is not that it's the epitome of sprawl," he says. "The problem with Los Angeles is that it's the epitome of smart growth."

The whole article is a big whopping expose on the arguments he's been making lately. He goes on to say that Smart Growth advocates are mad that middle class people are moving into their neighborhoods and they resent that. It basically shows how unhinged and out of touch with reality this guy is. The problem though, is that people actually listen and he still gets into papers like the New York Times. I guess its fair and balanced or something. But I guess the best we can hope for right now is an article that features the qualifier "tries".

The House Does NOT Like Larry Summers

Here are some Transpo folks quotes from the Hill Article:

“These theoretical economists don’t understand how the program works,” Oberstar told The Hill....“Who’s managed a construction firm? Who’s met a payroll?”
...

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said Obama’s top economic advisers see only two ways to boost the economy: through tax cuts or by bailing out Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs.

“It wasn’t productive activity, it didn’t put any Americans back to work, it didn’t rebuild our infrastructure, it didn’t even fill in a single pothole,” DeFazio told The Hill on Tuesday when asked about Obama’s approach. “But that’s their orientation.”

Freezing Over

First a Metro and now streetcar in Curitiba? Granted, it's just a tourist project but it's a start right?

Setting Up the Switch Hit

Supervisor Alioto Pier who represents Northern San Francisco asked in the July 14th Finance Committee meeting for TA staff to start thinking about an extension of the Central Subway to the Presidio under Lombard Street. (You can watch the video where she makes her request at 54:45 here).

It's an interesting proposal to say the least but how much of this is really driven by a want to kill the Market Street Railway extension for Fort Mason and beyond with its "visually polluting" overhead wires?

The second phase of the extension will take the streetcar down Beach Street, Cervantes and Marina Boulevard. That will involve erecting overhead power lines, putting rail tracks in the street and removing a lane of traffic. Putting overhead power lines down Marina Boulevard is contrary to Section 101.1 (b) (8) of the City Master Plan, City Urban Design Plan Element Policy 1.1, , and is contrary to the City Transportation Plan. Yet the City Planning Department states that it does not have to be involved with these plans!

The Marina Community Association is working with Supervisor Alioto-Pier and taking other steps to require the City Planning Department to accept its responsibility.

The neighborhood suggestion? Bring back the water taxi idea! If she really wanted better commute service to her district, an inexpensive option would be supporting the extension to the Presidio via the MSR extension. However in discussions with folks who live in the area, they want nothing to do with it. "It'll just bring all the tourists and riff raff and the wires are ugly" I've heard before. Again, my lungs don't care about your aesthetic. So what makes the subway expansion different? Well for one thing it's easier to kill than more inexpensive incremental MSR extensions.

Before this goes any further, I'd really like to know where she stands on the MSR extension already planned for her district and if the idea of a subway extension to the Presidio via Lombard is an honest one. Personally, I like the idea in the long term (Geary subway first ALWAYS) but I question her motives based on previous votes and a lack of understanding from her and her constituents to what transit-first really means. Alioto Pier has been pro commuter transit but not big on the transit "lifestyle".

While she supports the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP), and wants more people to ride Muni, she doesn't necessarily feel the City should be encouraging people to get rid of their cars.

No one I know wants people to get rid of their cars, we just want the option of getting around without them. It would be nice to have a subway to the Presidio. I imagine a lot of people would use it, especialy people who come from Marin and want to skip the city drive to downtown. But Geary is first, and the MSR extension is an easy way to expand that direction with dedicated lanes. Let's see where this goes shall we?

Nine Million Bicycles

Thought I would share some tunes. Not quite Music Monday, but this will work.

Sunday News Dump

So these news dumps are just a way for me to make small comments when something doesn't warrant a whole post or I just have a bunch of things to share at once. Anyway, here's the dump for Sunday night.

Curitiba is naming its Metro. I can't wait for this to open up for us to have real vs. numbers on the modes.
~~~
Why are more regions not doing transfer of development rights (TDR) schemes? It seems to me that this would show tangibly how you trade land for development.
~~~
Something caught me in this Urbanophile article I forgot to mention before. I don't think it really matters how far jobs are from the center if most of them are clustered into centers. Many of the jobs in Minneapolis are not in the Central City but 60% of them are in distinct clusters. I think we need to look more closely at what job dispersal means and especially what it means for high capacity transit.
~~~
I understand its a commuter rail station, but please do more than 4! units per acre. That's just wrong. Why not build these on the periphery and come back when the market is stronger around the station. You'll be kicking yourself when the market comes back morons. Not that it really matters with only 10 trips a day. Another reason not to go back to Austin.
~~~
Very cool map of Detroit with SF, Manhattan and Boston drawn inside. Puts things in perspective.

via Urbanophile
~~~
Silver Lie BRT concrete crumbles. Pattern with these BRT projects?
~~~
A plan to streetcarize Oakland. I dig it.