Been Thinking About Transit Density Part 1

Richard has been pushing Belmont for a while now so tonight I broke down and bought the book.

Some thoughts before I read it though based on what I've read in Richard's posts and my own evolution in thinking.

I had a bit of a thought today that should have come together sooner but I was looking over Google Earth at a way to connect commuter rail/HSR directly to downtown San Jose instead of the current just outside of downtown location of Diridon station. It seems to me that what is needed in each city around the bay is a local metro that moves people quickly around the central city. Each of these metros can be connected by commuter rail lines like Caltrain along commuter corridors but the most beneficial systems will be those that serve future density, not just existing transit.

I started writing this post before going to Washington with the hope that on the plane I could make some maps. The good part is that the trip reaffirmed what I wanted to back up. That an in town metro is important to vibrancy and movement in a city. Serving the suburbs should be done, but the way we are going to make our transit systems work is with good circulation in the center to build up core density. If we could see where Washington DC was before Metro and where it is now, you would see a huge difference in the city. If the current naysayers were around then to kill projects, that project would have never been built, and the city would look very different.

But other cities should look to the future in the same way. The future benefits outweigh current costs and with more people preferring to live a city life, its got an increased benefit of soaking up growth that would usually cause gross distortions in where people live and work. This is the option of urbanism like Chris Leinberger says.

So we'll start at Oakland. Previously I made a fantasy map for an Oakland Metro that you see directly below.



This was based on getting people in and out of a city, and not really a core urban strategy. I realize that now, but when you compare it some of the Subway systems that work really well it doesn't really look quite right.

Vienna's Metro looks different. There are a number of lines that criss cross a number of ways. The same with the Washington Metro.



With that being said, here's a more core system. I've come up with these for San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose as the major regional centers but am thinking about doing other cities as well. The Space Race focuses so much on suburban serving transit that the core again is left out. But perhaps this is the way we should rethink it. We'll start with Oakland.



Now all of these maps will be at the same scale for the Bay Area. The circles are about 5 miles across and show a primary core that could densify in corridors and the core soaking up a lot of housing need and with less energy usage from density, walkable neighborhoods, and easier access to close districts.

Now I'm not sure that this necessarily needs to be a Metro Subway. It could be a dedicated lane streetcar or light rail. However a subway can go from end to end without having to stop at a light and stay on schedule with faster speeds. This facilitates use. But it might work in a smaller city with a smaller sphere than the five miles for core circulation. We should think about these implications and ask, what will get us the most riders and most future benefit instead of just thinking about cost and as I've mentioned before just bringing people into the center of the city.

DC Photo Dump

I just couldn't wait to share my favorite pictures from the trip. I even got a movie of the Metro.

1. Pop Quiz: Fancy Restaurant or Airplane food?




Airplane food! So my original flight to DC was full by one too many people and they were looking for folks who might not mind a bump. I wasn't in a hurry and they noticed I was by myself so the desk agent asked if I wouldn't mind taking the red eye. Before I said anything he said, "I'll put you in first class and give you a voucher for another trip" I said sure!

Lucky I did too because my friend Teresa who I was staying with got stuck in Chicago that night and didn't make it home. So it was a win all around, especially when dinner came on the flight. I highly recommend Virgin America. Even without first class, there are power plugs in every seat and its already wired for internet when they work out the details. But that power plug is huge, especially since my battery is fairly drained from constant usage.

Anyway, who knew they used silverware anymore, and the ravioli was excellent.

2. Did Spain win Euro 2008? That's what the people at the Dupont Circle Fountain were celebrating:





3. The war memorials are very hard to visit. It's really sad and people sitting in front of the names of their loved ones at the Vietnam Memorial sobbing doesn't help matters either. It's a must see. I got a shot of the Washington Monument reflected in the Granite of the Vietnam Memorial.



4. I got in about 5:45 Am from the flight and just decided that I might as well walk the Mall. It was a very interesting morning. Got this shot of the clouds blocking the sun with a silhouette of the Washington Monument.



5. It was also touching to see the young ones getting into history. Here a dad and his two kids have a seat to read the Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial.





6. And a transit blogger's trip is not complete without photos of the Metro. I of course hopefully did one better by getting this short movie of a train arriving.

To Kitty Hawk and Beyond!

Just finished touring the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in DC. Saw something interesting. How did the Wright Brothers get to Kitty Hawk from Dayton to test their flying Machine? Why by train of course. How fitting. (I'll have photos up when I find my USB cord to my Camera)

Found it! The arduous journey to Kitty Hawk!

Oly Trials Coverage: Decathlon

Update: Trey is In! Going to Beijing. Way to go!

My friend Trey is in second going into day two of the Decathlon. If he can stick it out, he'll be going to Beijing. Good luck T! Also, Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 ever recorded. It won't count because there was too much wind at his back (has to be less than 2 meters per second to count) but its still fast, and this is a guy who takes voluntary drug tests more often than required to show he's clean.

Trey Hardee - Texas Ex

Sloooow Subway Escalators

I was on the escalator going down the cavern that is the Dupont Circle station and thought, man these are really slow. I realize that the Budapest escalators would never be considered safe here, but man do they get the job done.

Slooowww Dupont Circle



Faaast Budapest

Senator Cardin the Man on Transit

More at Gristmill.

Grist: You authored the transit portion of the Climate Security Act. Clearly this is a priority issue for you. What role do you think transit policy should play in climate legislation?

Sen. Cardin: A huge part. [The transit portion called for] $171 billion over the life of the bill. That's big money. That can make a major impact. It can make a huge difference in the capacity for transit programs. We are in desperate need of significant transit improvements. We've got to have the facilities and we don't today, and then we need the fare-box and economic policies that reward people for taking public transportation. Some try to say that it should be "self-sufficient" or have a certain percentage return through the fare-box. We don't do that on our roads, and public transportation is much better for so many reasons -- not just the environment or the quality of life. We should be providing much stronger incentives for people to use public transportation, but first you need to have the facilities.

Let's Not Use the Word Boondoggle

Mass Transit Magazine says so, and I tend to agree.

Cut It Out Already!!! Using Cost to Design a System Is Wrong

No no no no no more using existing rights of way to put together a cheap transit system. Stop talking about it in terms of money and stop thinking its a good idea to start out that way! If we want people to take transit we need good transit that connects to places people want to go. And these days there are very few existing ROW opportunities that do that.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an article about what the region needs to do. It's a good push but the following should never be the start of a regional system.

Minimizing capital costs by extensively utilizing existing rail rights of way.

Existing rights of way mean commuter rail but before commuter rail is implemented, a good central city system needs to be in place to get people to all of their destinations. We're learning this from systems like Houston where an extensive core system is going to lead to a much more effective commuter rail system. This is also evidenced in the large rail cities like Chicago, Boston, New York, and DC. If you don't have central circulation, the commuter rail doesn't work as well. So cut it out already and do it right. We've learned so much in the last few years, why do we want to keep going down the same path?

Running: Olympic Trials Track Coverage

I've got a few friends up in Eugene right now looking for spots on the Olympic team. If you get a chance check out the races. Good luck to Jacob, Leo, Trey, and Jake. Hook 'em. I'm going to do some coverage of the meet between transit posts so bear with me.

Complete video coverage at Flo's site.

Writeups over at Letsrun.com

USA!

10K 2008 Olympian Kara Goucher: She's a class act and a great person. She's also a story of falling down and getting back up again as she was the NCAA Champion in XC and Track but fell on hard times with her running after college. It's people like her that show perseverance and grit and are truly an inspiration. Watch for her in Beijing, she's going to do something great.

If Ridership Is Up, Why Service Cuts?

My friend Nick was wondering, if ridership is way up, why are some places cutting routes and service. Wouldn't the increased ridership pay for it? In theory I guess it should but there are a number of factors that are specific to the economy and transit funding which need to be addressed.

Part of the problem is that most transit agencies are primarily funded through sales taxes. The problem with this is that when the economy is down and people need to take transit more, transit suffers more because revenue comes down due to that already existing gloomy market. Also, ridership only pays a fairly small amount for most transit system's budget. An article in the Boulder Daily Camera covers this quite well:

But, therein lies the terrible Transit Paradox. It turns out the same factors that are driving a spike in demand for transit services are having an unfortunate negative impact on RTD finances.

Fuel costs, roughly 9 percent of the RTD expenditure budget, have risen 47 percent over last year's rates. At the same time, sales and use tax income, which accounts for approximately 66 percent of RTD operations revenue, is coming in at about 5 percent below projections. The cumulative impact of these two economic factors, alone, is expected to be a hit of about $23 million to RTD's total operations budget.

Adding insult to injury, the fares transit riders pay only cover a portion of the cost of each bus or train trip. Thus, the unprecedented 9 percent increase in transit ridership that RTD is welcoming into the system is actually creating a substantial additional financial burden.

What needs to happen is a better way to fund projects and operations than the sales tax. While it seems the most common form of funding for transit, it often creates these problems with the shrink swell of funds and service. Tri-Met funds transit through a payroll tax. I'm not sure if that is much better but its something different. And then there are development fees for capital expansion and perhaps carbon taxes for operations. Another idea thats used is parcel taxes on estimated value. Anyone have ideas on this?

So also there was an article in the Rocky Mountain News that tests the water for another increase, the idea of just 4 years after Fastrax was passed, having to go after more money to pay for the program. This is somewhat of a problem from an advocates standpoint. It gives opponents a lot of fodder, even though none of them really complains when freeway projects go over, which they almost always do. See Katy Freeway in Houston and I-485 in Charlotte.

Even though the Denver Projects (T-Rex, SW Corridor) have been on time and on budget, its hard to predict the amazing increases in materials that have happened since the initial project budget was created in 2004. It's also hard to predict what the costs are going to be in the future when the lines hadn't even been engineered yet. I think that is kind of the problem with engineering projects. There is generally a standard and other projects, but all projects have different challenges and difficulties. While I think cost/benefit analysis is good, people getting super upset if a big project doesn't meet its exact budget is a little bit out of order. But unless its a project like the big dig which was a ridiculous overrun, people see the benefit in freeway projects, but chide transit projects...why? Most of the time they have no alternative plan, they just don't like transit for some reason.