CommuterPageBlog

More Data On Congestion

The Reason Foundation, a non-profit libertarian think tank out of Los Angeles and "dedicated to advancing free markets and free ideas" just released a study (16th Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems (1984-2005), Press Release; June 28, 2007) saying that road conditions are improving but traffic congestion and highway fatalities are rising.

The congestion numbers are interesting but not surprising. The report says that 2005 statistics show that 51.85% of the nation's urban interstates are congested, up slightly from 2004's 51.60%. For the traffic engineers out there this means that 8,051 miles out of 15,528 were rated as having volume/capacity ratios greater than 0.70 - the standard for mild congestion. The State Congestion Rankings:

Rank/State    % Congested

1. Montana            0.00
1. North Dakota     0.00
1. South Dakota     0.00
1. Wyoming           0.00
5. Maine                2.94
6. W. Virginia        3.80
7. Vermont            5.00
8. Alaska               8.70
9. New Mexico     16.77
10. Kansas          24.77

21. Virginia         42.54

46. Maryland       68.58
47. N. Carolina    72.47
48. New Jersey    73.35
49. Minnesota     77.80
50. California      83.33

It would have been nice to have seen the data for urban regions as well as for states but other folks put that information out on a regular basis. This just adds to the data pile. A PDF of the entire 50 page report is here. You can also find an interactive map and Excel tables here to do your own sorting.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

New Arlington Bike Map Now Available

The "Arlington County Bike Map - 2007 edition" is hot off the press! This fully revised map shows Arlington's ever-expanding bikeways network of 46 miles of trails, 24 miles of bike lanes, and 43 miles of signed bike routes. This first major upgrade of the Bike Map in many years has made it easier to read and smaller, making it easier to pack while out on a ride. The Bike Map also includes bridges and bike routes into D.C., Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax County.

Be one of the first to get a copy. The Arlington County Bike Map is available on-line or you can pick-up a printed version at The Commuter Stores or request one be mailed to you using our brochure service or by emailing pdemaio@arlingtonva.us or calling 703-228-5027.

by Paul DeMaio, BikeArlington

More Evidence That D.C. Area is Bucking National Solo Commute Trend?

Our friends at the Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space blog point us to a thoughtfully written article in this week's Christian Science Monitor (More US Commuters Drive Solo, by Bina Venkataraman; June 25, 2007) about America's commuting habits.

The lead from the article:

"Seventy-seven percent of workers in the United States – more than 102 million people – drive alone to and from work, up from 1990, according to recently released US Census data, based on surveys conducted in 2005. This happened despite the fact that retail gasoline prices rose by 60 cents per gallon in that same 15-year period, controlling for inflation. The news comes amid growing hype about going green, in an age when climate change has become as common a conversation topic as its quotidian counterpart, the weather. It could indicate that when it comes to transit, Americans talk the talk, but – put simply – aren't walking."

Kudos to Ms. Venkataraman for tracking down noted TDM expert Phil Winters from the Center for Urban Transportation Research who says: that the data underestimate how much Americans are commuting without their cars. "The way [the survey asks] the question is, 'What do you usually do?' It misses people who might use the nondrive-alone option two days or less a week." Good point.

And following up on some recent posts that suggest that according to the same data that the Washington, D.C. area seems to be doing something right (Could Region's Drive Alone Rate Be Going Down?, June 19, 2007 and And the Survey Says: DC & Arlington Have Lowest Drive Alone Rates, June 14, 2007) we find out from the Christian Science Monitor article that Washington is the top ranked city in the Country for green commuting:

"Washington is ranked the top city for alternative commuting by SustainLane, a San Francisco business that publishes rankings of US cities based on "sustainability" criteria. The ranking gives separate weight to the share of people carpooling and the share bicycling and walking, which can give indications about road safety, sidewalks, and bike paths. Warren Karlenzig, the company's chief strategy officer, praises Washington's "modern and efficient" public-transit system, broad boulevards, and greenways for encouraging carless travel."

According to the SustainLane 2006 rankings web site:

"Washington, D.C. leads the nation in this category, with the second-highest use of public transit in the nation at more than 33 percent, the highest walk-to-work rating at more than 11 percent, and above-average bike-to-work ratings. Following close behind are #2 New York City, the leader in public transit use at 53 percent, and #3 San Francisco, which has good all-around commute rates in public transit and biking or walking to work. Boston and Philadelphia are #4 and #5, respectively."

And Baltimore comes in at #7 too. How about that. The article and these web site sources are definitely worth a look. Here's hoping that the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's transportation experts will soon weigh in with their own assessment of all this data and how our region is doing compared to the rest of the country. Sounds like despite all of our traffic congestion problems that perhaps we are doing a bit better than we thought.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

Bike-sharing Dramatically Increases Bike Trips

Having just returned from a comprehensive tour of many bike-sharing programs in Europe, I learned each of the three cities I visited which introduced bike-sharing experienced a dramatic increase in bicycling and bike mode share, or the percentage of overall traffic which is by bike.

Lyon, France, for example which had a low bike mode share before bike-sharing come along in 2005, has seen a marked increase bike trips according to the Velo'v program chief. Velo'v (photo on left) has 3,000 bikes which are free to use for the first 30 minutes and then for a incremental fee afterwards. Barcelona launched Bicing in March of this year and already has 30,000 members and a doubling of bike trips in the city since then.  Yes, since March. This system has 1,500 bikes with the goal of 3,000 by the end of the year. Paris is set to launch Velib' (photo on right) on July 15 and expand to 20,600 bikes. This will be the largest bike-sharing program in the world and no doubt have a tremendous impact on improving cycling and bike mode share in this city, not to mention improving air quality, reducing traffic congestion, and improving Parisiens' health. Each of these cities was not known to be a bike town before bike-sharing, however, with the introduction of this transit service in addition to the improvement of bike facilities, these places are becoming so.

That said, Arlington is working toward implementing a bike-sharing program. Already with a 5% bike mode share, what impact will bike-sharing have on this jurisdiction? Is it possible to see a doubling or even tripling of the number of bike trips due to the introduction of public-use bikes here? We'll have to wait and see. However, there's no doubt that the time for bike-sharing in the United States has come.

by Paul DeMaio, BikeArlington

A Different Approach To Combating Speeding

The good folks at the Carfree USA Blog pointed us to this "brilliant piece of social marketing from New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority (Australia)." We thought it so funny we had to share. According to the Roads and Traffic Authority "All the ads in the world showing the serious injury and death that speeding can cause are becoming less effective. Increasingly, young guys simply reject this message. They have an “it won’t happen to me” attitude. The Speeding - No One Thinks Big of You campaign takes a totally different approach." I wonder if any agency around here could do something so edgy? Watch it here and enjoy.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

New and Improved ART Buses Arrive in Arlington

Last week we brought you word that Arlington's new ART buses were on their way (New and Improved ART Buses/Service Coming Soon, June 18). Five of the eight buses have already arrived and are here in Arlington. Hurray! Once all the buses are here they'll be licensed and inspected and have destination signage installed as well as put through their paces on the lot.

Says Kelley Mackinnon, Transit Operations Manager: "This will take ART from start-up to a solid transit system. The new buses represent a real commitment to the future of ART by the County as we move from light duty vehicles to heavy duty transit buses." Note that these are still smaller (and we think cuter) than the typical Metrobus. And clean and green too. With bikeracks to boot. Expect to see these on the road (along with new and improved service) by the end of the summer. Photo Credit: Paul Culver.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

The Air We Breathe

Sunday's Washington Post Commuter Page (Page 2 in the Metro section) had a nice discussion of air quality.  I have not been able to find it online; evidently it is only in the print edition.

The most striking visual on the page was a graph that showed the comparative emissions across several types of vehicles.  Here are the numbers from the table but without the visual impact of the chart:

Nitrogen Oxide Emissions in grams/mile:
Light-duty hybrid (Prius, Civic hybrid)                0.02
Passenger car (Camry, Accord, Malibu)               0.10
Light-duty truck 2 (Cherokee, Caravan, Sienna)   0.30
Light-duty truck 4 (F-150, Sequoia, Land Rover)  0.60
Heavy-duty truck (Hummer, RVs)                        0.90

That means it would take 5 carpoolers in a regular passenger car before the emissions would be equal to 5 Priuses or 15 passengers in a minivan to equal 15 Civic hybrids.  A big SUV emits 30 times as much ozone-causing pollution per mile than a hybrid!  A Hummer 45 times as much!

This table makes it clear that increasing the fleet of hybrid vehicles in our area, particularly if they are replacing other vehicles, would make a big dent in our air quality problems.  In fact, DC is doing well with hybrid ownership, double the national average (link).  Much of this has been driven by the HOV exemption for clean vehicles, prompting some drivers to invest in hybrids in order to be able to drive on the HOV lanes.  This year, also, Arlington County has introduced a tax break for people to buy hybrid vehicles.

These seem like good policies as we strive to improve regional air quality.  There has been controversy about whether the clean-vehicle exemption for HOV should be terminated.  I think this information supports the position to keep it in place, since 3 single-occupant Priuses only emit 60% or less emissions than a car (or worse, an SUV or minivan) with three passengers.  Some parties believe the exemption should end, because too many single-occupant vehicles will clog the carpool lanes.  I will only be convinced after much more aggressive efforts, including much higher fines, are taken to eliminate the HOV violators, who I see all the time on I-66.

Keep in mind that owners of these vehicles are contributing to better air quality with 100% of the miles they drive, even though only 15% - 50% of their driving might be on HOV lanes, so it is in the interest of all who want cleaner air to encourage more purchasing of cleaner cars.

(In the interest of disclosure, I own a Toyota Camry hybrid, but do not have the requisite license plates to drive in the HOV lanes.  I also have a personal interest in improving air quality, because my daughter suffers from asthma.)
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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident and Director - Arlington Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE), Transportation Projects

Maryland Ranks High for Solutions to Oil Addiction

A report released last week by the National Resources Defense Council ranks the states on vulnerability to rising gas prices and on pioneering solutions such as clean cars, clean fuels, smart growth and investment in transit (Report Ranks States Most Vulnerable to Rising Gas Prices, June 19, 2007, Press Release). According to the report, Addicted to Oil: Ranking States' Oil Vulnerability and Solutions for Change (PDF), those most vulnerable to rising oil prices in order include:

1. Mississippi
2. South Carolina
3. Georgia
4. Kentucky
5. New Mexico
6. Oklahoma
7. Arizona
8. Louisiana
9. Arkansas
10. West Virginia

Virginia comes in at 28th most vulnerable and Maryland 40th. Those doing the most to find solutions in order include:

1. California
2. Washington
3. New Jersey
4. Rhode Island
5. Oregon
6. Maine
7. New York
8. Maryland
9. Connecticut
10. Massachusetts

Virginia comes in at 38. In the "Transit Spending Prioritization Ranking" category Virginia comes in at #16 and Maryland at #2. The report is interesting because it not only tries to ascertain those states that are most vulnerable and doing the least to help, but also points out those states that are trying to do the right thing and spends a little time explaining what some of these policies on clean vehicles, clean fuels, smart growth and public transit are all about. And its good to see Maryland getting its due for its smart-growth policies and investment in transit. Even Virginia ranks comparatively high in transit spending and so that's good too. Enjoy the report.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

How Sad To See Such a Major Mistake on Dulles Rail

A very nice column in today's Washington Post by Roger K. Lewis (Fairfax County's Metro Mistakes Loom Over Tysons Corner, June 23, 2007) about the politicians that cast pragmatic votes to "bury" the option of tunneling Metrorail through Tysons Corner on its way to Dulles Airport. Says Lewis:

"A tunnel has been strongly favored by almost everyone except the team of contractors designing the elevated rail line. How sad to see such a major mistake, one that will persist for generations, being made because of a complicated decision-making process, reticent government leadership, regulatory deadlines and, above all, money...if tunneling Metrorail through Tysons is truly the right strategy, as many political officials have publicly acknowledged, why not make it happen?"

Indeed. Once again Mr. Lewis is the voice of reason. His column is well worth the read.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

Could Biking Soon Join Parking, Transit and Vanpooling as a Tax Free Benefit?

According to sources at the Association of Pedestrians and Bicycles who have been tracking this on Capital Hill, the "Bicycle Commuter Act" was included in the Climate Change bill that just made its way out of final mark up in the House Ways and Means sub-committee. The Bicycle Commuter Act, originally sponsored by Congressman Earl Blumenauer, OR (pictured here), would create a tax free benefit of up to $20 a month for persons commuting by bike. Yes, this is much less than the $110 transit and vanpool benefit and way less than the $215 parking benefit. But those that have been working on this issue for years and years say it is an important foothold in the tax code and that parity can come after that. Lets wish this provision good luck as it makes it's way through the system.

We haven't heard if the transit/vanpool parity with parking issue has made any headway (Transit Parity with Parking at Last?, February 22, 2007). Anyone heard anything?

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria