Replay 5.21.07: Curitiba Transport Chief Throws BRT Under the Bus

Whoa. This article is an amazing expose of Curitiba in the New York Times Magazine that was touched on earlier in the blog. But the best part comes here...

“That competition is very hard,” says Paulo Schmidt, the president of URBS, the rapid-bus system. During peak hours, buses on the main routes are already arriving at almost 30-second intervals; any more buses, and they would back up. While acknowledging his iconoclasm in questioning the sufficiency of Curitiba’s trademark bus network, Schmidt nevertheless says a light-rail system is needed to complement it.

What?!?! Light Rail to compliment the mighty BRT of Curitiba??? This is going to do two things. 1. This will drive folks like Bill Vincent crazy and perhaps they'll start slamming Mr. Schmidt like Bush slams former allies Karl Rove style which will show that they are super fanatics that will do anything to promote the BRT sham. 2. The pro-BRT folks aren't going to like this very much because it shows that even the BRT needs help from rail. For years they have been trying to resist rail in Curitiba believing that it would be a big blow to their efforts to get BRT in the United States. Seems like this might be one of those watershed moments when hopefully we see the beginning of the end of "The bus that looks like a train" argument.

Replay 7.8.07: Autocentricity in Consumerism

An odd thing happened to me today. I installed Quicken and downloaded my bank data onto my new computer since my hard drive crashed a few months ago. As I was categorizing each purchase, i came to a point where I couldn't find a category to put one of the recurring purchases I was making, BART tickets. There was no section for transportation costs because it was only car costs. There are so many things that go into auto costs including the list below. One thing that I had to add to this is traffic and parking tickets, of which I have gotten a few.



But what does this say about the overall consumer culture and our debt? Given that the median balance on the American credit card is $1,900, and 43% of Americans spend more than they earn, does this mean we are slaves to our cars?

According to this MSN Money article, the debt of America outside of our Mortgage is largely tied to non-revolving loans like the ones available for people to buy cars. That's just the capital cost for the car. Now what about operating the thing and roads? In 2005, the average American spends 18% of their income on transportation. Recent research suggests that this fluctuates between the exurbs and transit rich urban core with a difference of up to 16% between the extremes of 25% and 9% respectively.

In my own experience, I drive my car once a week and fill up the tank once a month. I probably wouldn't drive at all if my grandmother didn't live so far from BART. Otherwise I take Muni, BART, or walk. I would say that I'm around the 9% in transportation costs which allows me to pay a bit more in rent than I normally would be able to afford. But I'm also able to save up some money.

So in a consumer based, auto oriented society, we are largely tied to our cars, figuratively and sometimes literally. Over the last 60 years we've been so tied down that even personal finance software doesn't give us a transit choice but to enter it in ourselves. But as we've found out from parking, when given the choice for someone to unbundle, a lot of people will choose the alternative because there is one to choose. Someone gave an analogy recently, and forgive me for stealing it if you're reading but if there is a shelf full of only Pepsi how can you say that no one wanted to buy Coke? The choice wasn't there.

The Hostmen

I've been reading Edwin Black's Internal Combustion and it's interesting to read about Kings and their forests of wood fuel (Robin Hood is said to be about the hero who fought over wood) and the hostmen of industrial England who held so much power in coal, the government couldn't stymie them. What is interesting is that the railroad is what broke their monopoly by opening up more places rich with coal but without a river to run it down. Today we have a similar monopoly with oil rich countries and a big fight over that energy. Perhaps we are on the cusp of another shift because of oils location and environmental ills. Perhaps it is the railroad that will bring it back.

Seattle Viaduct Retrofit Nixed

Surface Boulevard with transit here we come. Right?

"We have taken the retrofit off the table," said Dave Dye, deputy secretary for the Washington State Department of Transportation, "but we will do one more piece of due diligence."

Why is this only being reported by the West Seattle Herald?

Mary Peters Is After Me Lucky Charms

As we've mentioned before, she wants to take transit money and transfer it to the highway fund. Last time I checked, the highway fund was really huge, and the transit fund was rather small. And also last time I checked, why do we have such a huge surplus? Is that from not building projects like Dulles or making places like Minneapolis fight each other to the death because their CEI is a few cents high? Perhaps it has been an evil plot to take the money all along. You know it wouldn't surprise me with this group.

Budapest Trams

Get your hands on them while you can. $7,000 for the vehicle is a bargain. I bet it wouldn't take much to fix it up to code here either. So if you want a vehicle for the same cost as a bus or even less after being refurbished, take a look.

Statesman Road Block

Here's the obstructionist Statesman with lots of reasons for delay, yet no solutions of their own. I bet they don't even understand why light rail is important. You know, that whole thing about changing development patterns to reduce VMT, and reducing operating costs and increasing capacity on key corridors. They'll just be happy driving their cars to work on Congress Avenue. It's important to worry about costs, but they've been saying let's wait for as long as I can remember. It's no surprise either that the front page looks like this when you type in the URL.

Honolulu Noise Machine Might Have Hit a Wall

Constant noise coming from opponents to the rail system seems like just that, noise. As with Charlotte, it seems like the opposition just has a whole lot more time to make noise and money to spend making it. Wonder where it came from.

But we find out that contrary to the noise, a big majority supports the mayor in his handling of the transit situation. It's a pretty safe bet that they are just tired of the noise and are glad someone is taking leadership on the issue.

As reported yesterday, the Star-Bulletin/KITV poll found that 60 percent of the respondents wanted the city to continue with its rail development plan, while 24 percent wanted it stopped, and the remainder either were not sure or refused to answer.

"I am finding more people from East Honolulu and from the Windward side (two areas that have not strongly supported rail) who are starting to get behind rail," Hannemann said. "They are seeing that this is about the entire island eventually being connected."

There are people that say the poll proves the mayor is losing speed such as his opponent. However it seems like they are grasping at straws.

Miracle Light Rail Bill Passes

Again it's mainly symbolic but it opens up the discussion to connect Virginia Beach to Norfolk. And it gives me a good feeling about Tim Kaine on transit if he were to say be nominated for Veep. It's better than the Tomnibus bill which again shot down Metro funding.

Why Does High Standard of Living = Bigger House

Mr. Glaeser annoys me again.

If you think about the lifestyle of ordinary Americans living on the fringe of Houston or Dallas, for example, compared to what their lifestyle would be in an older European city -- living in a walk-up apartment there compared to a 2,500-square-foot house here they bought for $130,000 with a 24-minute commute -- it's extraordinary in the low-cost areas of this country what a $60,000 family income gets you.

Obviously I would take the walk-up in downtown or a European suburb anytime. I feel like analysts and newspaper writers don't get it. They don't understand that big house does not equal better lifestyle for everyone. Sure there is a segment of the market that wants that. But again, there is a reason why its more expensive to live in San Francisco than other places, it provides a certain type of lifestyle you can't get in the outskirts of Dallas. How many people in Plano can walk down the street to their grocery store or the local park where a movie plays with hundreds of people watching every Wednesday?