CommuterPageBlog

Settin' Out: Follow Up

Diana gave a nice introduction to a recent two-day bike/camping adventure I just completed this weekend. As promised, here's a summary of what happened.

What to Bring
For two days, you don't need a lot but it makes sense to pack wisely. Here's a quick list of what I packed (on my 1972 Peugeot 3-speed):

• 2 - 27 oz. water bottles
• 1 US Army canteen
• sleeping bag + flat sheet
• 1 in. ground foam pad
• two-person tent w/ rainfly
• pillow
• tarp
• portable stove (w/ fuel canister)
• mess kit
• survival kit
• spare inner tube
• 2 - spare spokes
• tools: multipurpose bike tool, vice grips, pocket knife, portable pump
• snacks/food
• pair shorts
• pair socks
• long sleeve shirt
• t-shirt

The VA Leg
My main goal was to see if it's possible to do the trip on a 3-speed - clearly it is. But the VA side has more rolling hills than the MD side (C&O Canal towpath). I stopped plenty of times so the pace was leisurely and allowed me to take in the scenery, animal sitings, smells and good conversation with folks.

My first stop was only three miles into the trip where I met Janet (blue shirt) and Beth (white shirt) working in their community garden. Kudos to them both for having heard of commuterpage.com and for letting me blog about them - thanks ladies!

Later down the road, I met with gentleman in his mid-sixties. He joined me to Vienna and shared with me he gets out five times a week, each time logging somewhere between 25-40 miles -- wow!

The ride was pleasant and I stopped in Reston to "run an errand" and pick up a CD from a friend. We decided to have lunch together (I ended up burning close to 2 hrs but I didn't mind) before I headed out again. The heat kept many cyclists (and joggers) at bay so the trail was sparse but I saw plenty of groundhogs. Other sitings included rabbits, mama deer with baby, black non-poisonous snake, cardinals, woodpeckers, turkey buzzards, horses and humongous turtles! I probably saw more species of animals than species of vehicles!

In Ashburn it started raining and I sought refuge under a pine tree to wait out the storm. Thankfully I brought along a tarp and I used it to cover my sleeping bag, pillow and ground pad. After the storm passed, I could see steam rising up from the pavement. Ahh, but the smell of freshly fallen rain - it just doesn't smell like that in Concrete City.

At Leesburg, I veered off the W&OD trail heading into downtown and rewarded myself with a gelato. From here, I had to use King St. and then US Route 15 North to get to White's Ferry. Only a small portion required me to travel on the highway but I never felt threatened by traffic. The turn off Rte. 15 sent me down a lovely country road winding towards the Potomac River. For $1, I crossed the river on the Gen. Jubal Early over to the MD side (cars pay $4). This is the only ferry still in operation and is still privately owned.

The MD Leg
Once on the MD side, I immediately saw the sign for the C&O Canal and headed onto the shaded trail. I was afraid my 700x28 tires (700cm wheels - commonly found on road & cyclocross bikes; 28mm refers to width tires) would be too skinny for the trail, but I never had a problem -- no flats, no broken spokes, nothing. It wasn't long before I came upon the first campsite (Turtle Run) where two guys were already set up for the evening and in bed ready to call it a night. Further conversation revealed they were from west of Pittsburgh on a 10-day journey. What most impressed me was their gear (or lack thereof). They only had one backpack and traveled by mountain bike (no racks or extra accessories). They used a piece of tarp for a tent and lashed together branches for bracing the ends of a lean-to tent. The campsite we shared was basic, providing an open area to set up a tent, a port-a-john and water pump. There was a short trail to the river at the back of the campsite (lots of poison ivy everywhere though). NOTE: water is potable and checked regularly by the park.

The night sounds were filled with frogs calling back and forth and the occasional turkey call mixed in. I was so tired that I went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. The next day I had breakfast and broke camp by 9 a.m. Back on the trail, I quickly met up with John, a mid-40s Marylander who was training for the Tour de Canal in September. I slowed my pace down and joined him the rest of his journey and we discussed strategies on how he could work in more cycling into his work week (despite the fact he lives in Gaithersburg and works in Tyson Corner). John, maybe I'll see you in Sept.!

More animal spottings on the MD side - on this side of the river it was a beautiful hawk, horses, turkey buzzards, lots of turtles and then many ducks towards the end of my ride. The closer I got to D.C., the more activity there was on the trail. There were fishermen putting in boats at Edwards Ferry (mile 30), a group of cyclists ready to head out at Seneca Creek Aqueduct (mile 23) and canal boat reenactment at Great Falls Tavern (mile 15). NOTE: The C&O Canal is considered a National Historical Park with no trash cans. So whatever trash you bring, you must tote it out.

I'm ready for another trip and already have things I can cross off my "to bring" list. As you can see, it doesn't require fancy gear and you don't need 20+ gears to get through this two-day adventure. So pull the cobwebs off your bike, get it ready to roll and set out on your own adventure. Then tell me all about it!

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Ken Matthews lives and bikes to work in Arlington

Facing the Music

About a year ago I posted a link to an article written by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post in which he convinced world-famous violinist, Joshua Bell, to play outside a subway stop and watch what happened.  He won a Pulitzer Prize for the story.

Well, this Sunday's Washington Post magazine had a short follow-up to that original story, which is quite intriguing--particularly if you remember the original.

Enjoy!
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Steve Offutt, Arlington musician (but not a violinist)

This and That; Odds and Ends

I just don't get it. We must live in the most affluent region in the country because it doesn't seem like there are that many fewer people driving as last year or the year before. It also seems that those on the roads are driving just as fast as they always have; they are pulling away from red lights and stop signs in the same "jack rabbit" manner that they did when gas was closer to two dollars a gallon. It's no wonder OPEC has little interest in helping us out by increasing production and lowering prices. If we can't take responsibility for our own actions then we as a nation don't deserve any assistance. The only thing the administration seems to be interested in is drilling for oil in hither-to forbidden areas. Why bother drilling in areas that have already been set aside and for which the oil companies have purchased leases? No, the only thing that makes sense, they say, is to use this opportunity to put even more of the environment at risk. I suppose we are to forget that these companies are not agencies of the government but are profit-making entities that will do whatever it takes to make a buck. Unlike most other businesses except the airline industry the oil companies seem to be supported by the government at every turn.

[steps off soapbox]

Despite what I said above it does seem like a number of people are leaving their cars behind in favor of bicycles or motorcycles or scooters. There appear to be many more two-wheeled vehicles on the roads than before, especially on city streets. Make no mistake about it though; riding a bike on a major road is a lot different than a casual peddle through your neighborhood. If you are seriously considering biking into work, even just a day or two a week, it would be a very good idea to take a class on bicycle safety.  Please don't think you are beyond this because you and the gang used to do 20 miles on the trail once a summer. Swallow a little pride and take one of the many classes offered around the region. It could save your life.

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Sometimes new drivers don't always know what they are doing when they are behind the wheel and it frequently shows. Of course there are a lot of drivers around here who just don't have the patience and will blow their horns or zoom around these newbie drivers and only make matters worse. A new driver can panic when other drivers are acting poorly around them and they don't have the experience to fall back on. This is why I like a product that was invented by Corinne Fortenbacher and her 15-year-old son.  It's basically magnetic stickers that adhere to the sides and back of a car and inform other drivers that there is a "Rookie Driver" behind the wheel. The idea is that other drivers will give a little distance and a "brake" to these drivers rather than get upset with them.

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This Friday is the 4th of July. Because it lands on a Friday there could be a lot of people celebrating the nation's holiday by having more than a few cold adult beverages. That's all well and good until they get behind the wheel, even if it's just to go look at the fireworks somewhere. There is a program available to just about everyone in the Washington, D.C. region that goes a long way to getting potential impaired drivers off the roads. It's called SoberRide and it's been run by the Washington Regional Alcohol Program since 1993. Here's how it works: If you find that you've had too much to drink all you have to do is call 1-800-200-TAXI. A dispatcher will arrange for one of the participating cab companies to come by and take you home. The service is totally free up to a $50 fare although it would be great if you or the person getting you into the cab were able to give the driver a decent tip. Since its inception SoberRide has provided over 40,000 safe rides home for those who should not have been behind the wheel. That means that the roads around here are a lot safer as a result.

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

Get Behind It. Bike Box!

More on those cool bike boxes that have popped up in Portland, Oregon and NYC. Just another reason why Portland gets it. So when are these things going to start appearing in our area?

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

Arlington Services Make Your Commute Easier

As more people get frustrated with the traffic in the DC area and the prices at the pump, they begin to look for alternatives to driving alone. Often, they just don’t know the best way of going about it all. 

In a 2006 survey of Arlington residents, less than half of those surveyed were aware that Arlington has a Commuter Store. Even fewer knew about the CommuterPage.com Web site or the CommuterDirect.com online ticketing sales site. But those who do know about them are finding just how easy these services can make their commute.

One way to get information is from the CommuterPage.com family of Web sites. These sites provide everything from transit schedules and traffic and air quality alerts to this transportation blog, and much, much more. But does the site really help those who use it? Arlington County Commuter Services (ACCS) commissioned a study to assess the site in 2007. Among other things, this study found that many of those who used the Web site changed their commuting behavior.  55% of those surveyed made work-related changes to their commute (such as switching from driving alone to riding the Metro, carpooling, etc) since they had started using CommuterPage.com. 43% made non-work related changes. To see the results of this study, visit www.commuterpage.com/research or click here for the specific study.

Another easy way to get information is The Commuter Store in Arlington. There are three retail outlets located in Ballston, Rosslyn, and Crystal City that provide information and services in locations that are convenient to travelers. Additionally, there is a Mobile Commuter Store that makes stops around Arlington. If you have never been to these stores, it’s time you checked them out. They have everything to make your commute easier from transit schedules and tickets to helpful service personnel who can tell you how to get the most from your commute. A 2007 study of the Commuter Store found that the service has quite an impact. 32% made a change in their work-related travel since first visiting the Commuter Store and 32% made a change in their non-work related travel. The study also found that more than a third of all Store users both live and work outside of Arlington County.  For the full results of this study, click here. 

Ever find yourself low on transit tickets? By using CommuterDirect.com, you can have all your transit tickets for train, Metro, and bus (as well as other services), delivered to your home or office. CommuterDirect.com account holders find it easier to commute using public transportation. A 2007 study of the CommuterDirect.com service found that 31% made a change in their work-related travel since first opening an account and 25% made a change in their non-work related travel.The study also found that 98% of CommuterDirect.com account holders surveyed live outside of Arlington and 94% work outside of Arlington. For the full results of this study, click here.

So the next time you feel that you have to face your commute all alone, remember these Arlington services and try them out for yourself – regardless of whether or not you live or work in Arlington County.

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Christine Dodd Evanko, SIR

Metro: A Love Story

It just doesn't seem to end; the bad news or the bad stories about Metro. The worst thing is that all of this seems to be coming at a time when Metro should be perceived as the savior of the Washington commuter. I know there are conspiracy theorists out there who think that all of the bad news is really just an effort by the big companies that own the local newspapers and television and radio stations to keep everyone driving their cars. After all, they argue, one of the biggest groups of advertisers out there are the automobile manufacturers and it's advertising that keeps these media companies in business. By discrediting public transportation at a time when the public is clamoring for alternatives to four dollar a gallon gasoline these companies can stay fat and happy. Heck, even Mobil has renewed its sponsorship of some public television programming.

The truth is that reporting on Metro has become the raison d'etre for many reporters and journalists around town. I know because I always had a Metro story in my back pocket as a radio reporter. All of the newspapers have a transit/transportation reporter and many of the television stations have someone to cover it as well although they will frequently just throw whoever doesn't have an assignment that day onto a Metro story. Transportation is very important in this town and stories about Metro and other transit and transportation entities garner a lot of attention.

The thing is that it just seems to get worse. The stories about Metro are no longer exclusively about fires in the tunnels or funding problems although those continue to plague the agency and its customers. The stories are getting even more salacious and include prostitution and solicitation by station managers.  What's next? Will train operators get caught running drugs from the Greenbelt station to Huntington? Will bodies be found stacked in some distant Metro rail yard, the victims of some bizarre transit-related ritual by a new cult from Guinea?

Speaking of public transportation in general; this would seem to be a great time for transit to be "selling" itself to the public. The American Public Transportation Association is doing a wonderful job of helping local transit agencies develop plans to get the public "on board." If there ever was a time that people might be interested in leaving their cars at home and taking transit, this is it. They say in the news business that "pocketbook stories" sell because little impacts the reader or listener or viewer more than that which takes money out of their pocket. In Washington when you combine that with a story about transportation (see above) then you have a real winner.

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Here something that is a little hard to explain: Wisconsin and several other states are considering lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 19. The rationale is that people can go to war when they are 18 so why not let them drink at a closer age. The war part makes some sense I guess but it seems to me that we have done just fine by having the drinking age raised to 21. It takes a large portion of the driving public out of the equation and that's a good thing because many of them are still sort of learning how to drive -- and sober at that. Certainly there must be some other privilege that we can bestow on this age group in some recognition of the fact that we asking many of them to risk their lives in battle. Lowering the drinking age is not a good idea for anyone and puts more lives at risk.

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

Settin' out on a 2-day trek

No, no, not me... my colleague Ken! I've blogged about Ken before... he commutes by bicycle to work every day -- in rain, snow, heat, cold, you name it -- from the Seven Corners area to Courthouse in Arlington.

He set off this morning from Arlington on a two-day trek -- the picturesque "W&OD - C&O loop."  As you can see in the photo. Ken loaded up his vintage Peugeot with a sleeping bag, foam pad, a tarp for the rain, drinking water, and other supplies. I'm thrilled that he's wearing his helmet (positive reinforcement!) and he's got sunscreen in the panier.

His route will take him west on the W&OD into Leesburg... he plans to cross White's Ferry today and camp overnight on the Maryland side. I've biked on the W&OD to Leesburg -- what a great ride, shaded and not crowded! My dad is buried in Leesburg and it was wonderful biking through the very old cemetery, looking at gravestones from the 1800's. How fun it would be to cross on White's Ferry by bicycle -- the last working ferry on the Potomac.

I've also biked on the C&O up to Bethesda for lunch... I'm struck by the awesome touring possibilities around here, in our own back yard! I primarily ride my bike for either errands or fun long rides... it hasn't dawned on me to take an actual TRIP by bike! Ken promised he would blog here about his trip when he returns, so I'll be interested to hear of his experiences... in the meantime, do you have touring/trip experiences to share?

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

Confident City Cycling Class This Saturday (& Free!)

This Saturday, June 28, BikeArlington and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) are hosting our Confident City Cycling Class. To be a confident city cyclist, there are many things you need to know. Here are the topics which will be discussed in this FREE class:

Rules of the Road: Knowing is half the battle! Did you know that you have to adhere to the same rules of the road as a car or truck does? Did you know that you have the same rights that the operator of a car or truck does? Well its true- you do! Our course offers some great tips and tricks for safely and legally using our roadways.

Avoiding the Common Causes of Crashes: Believe it or not, most crashes are avoidable. Learn what to do if a car turns suddenly in front of you, if you have to stop suddenly, what to do to avoid the dreaded car door and much more!

Lane Positioning: Do you ever feel like cars are passing you too closely or running you into the gutter? Learn proper lane positioning to encourage drivers to pass you at a safe distance. Also learn how to safely cross lanes of traffic in order to made turns or avoid obstacles in the road.

Improving Pedaling Efficiency: Bicycling shouldn’t be backbreaking work! The bicycle is one of the most efficient inventions of all time- make the most of it! Learn how to shift gears in anticipation of a hill, achieve a good cadence, and minimize the wear and tear on your knees.

Useful Accessory Equipment: We all know you need a helmet, but learn some other   helpful and handy equipment to make your ride more enjoyable.

Basic Bike Maintenance and Repair: Everyone who rides a bike should know some basic repair and maintenance skills. Learn how to change a flat tire and other emergency repair tips.

The notion of using our bikes to get where we need to go, rather than simply for recreation, can be a transformational idea. Let BikeArlington and WABA mentor you as you explore this step, and enjoy the benefits of better health, lower fuel costs, freedom from parking woes, and more FUN!

This class is to be held June 28, 1-4pm at the Fairlington Recreation Center (3308 Stafford St.). To register for this free class, visit WABA.

Paul DeMaio, BikeArlington

New to Bike Commuting? CBS News Wants to Know

Are you a recently minted occasional or daily bike commuter? If so, CBS News wants to know. Send an email to maciulist@cbsnews.com with why you started bike commuting.

Paul DeMaio, BikeArlington

BikeArlington Conducting a Satisfaction Survey - Your Input Requested

BikeArlington is conducting a satisfaction survey on the services we provide. If you bike in Arlington, we'd be interested in hearing what you think. The survey should take about 14 minutes to complete and your responses will help shape bicycling in Arlington and the future of the BikeArlington program.

Please take a moment to respond to the BikeArlington survey.

Thank you!

Paul DeMaio
BikeArlington Program Manager

Shaping the City

I regularly read Roger Lewis's column, Shaping the City, that appears about every other week in the Washington Post.  I always find it interesting.

This last week the article was titled: Lessons of Arlington's Urban Development Needn't Be Just History.  Here are a couple of excerpts to whet your appetite for the whole article:

"The phenomenal metamorphosis of Arlington County's Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, among the region's most dramatic real estate transformations, teaches a timely lesson: Successful urban revitalization requires long-range planning and long-range public investment that sparks private investment."

"The Rosslyn-Ballston corridor is a work in progress, although millions of square feet of buildings already have been developed, mostly since the 1980s. Its urban design is not flawless, and much of its architecture is less than exemplary.
But the corridor functions well. It offers pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, on- and off-street bicycle lanes, plazas and mini-parks. It takes less than 10 minutes to walk between any two adjacent Metro nodes on the corridor -- Rosslyn, Court House, Clarendon, Virginia Square and Ballston. People there can get along without cars."

"Why does visionary planning seem to be a thing of the past? Can America no longer afford to undertake farsighted initiatives. . ."

Enjoy!

================================

Steve Offutt, Arlington

Way Out West

I have spent the past few days in an area that many in the Washington region might envy. In Boulder and Colorado Springs, Colorado there are miles and miles of hiking and biking trails. Almost all of the streets seem to have bicycle lanes and there are actually dozens of people using them during the daylight hours. There are a couple of things that I find interesting though although I may be reading too much into the politics of the area.

Colorado Springs has a reputation for being rather conservative (some might say that's an understatement) and Boulder has a reputation for being an old hippie town with a liberal agenda (to some this is an understatement of Biblical proportions) and in some ways the approaches each take in terms of transportation reflect that.

For those who aren't familiar with the area, Boulder and Colorado Springs are about the same distance from Denver; Boulder to the west and Colorado Springs to the south. Each are right next to the magnificent Rocky Mountains which is where many of the trails are located. These are very healthy folks and the thin air does not hinder regular outdoor activities. But there are differences.

On the main road to Boulder (the liberal city) there are HOV lanes but on the main road to Colorado Springs there are none although the speed limit on Route 25 is a brisk, couldn't care less about the price of gas, 75 miles per hour. There are few if any parking meters in Boulder. Instead the city uses the group parking kiosks where you are given a receipt in the amount you've paid. It's amazing how much cleaner the parking areas are without the meters.

Boulder also does a better job assisting pedestrians get around although it is nothing like what we have in Arlington and parts of the District. They have a few countdown signals but have done little to provide safe areas in medians in which pedestrians can wait or knock-outs in the curbs. Boulder officials have also done little in the way of giving drivers advance warning of pedestrian crossing areas and it's even worse in Colorado Springs.

In each city it seems that zoning was just an afterthought. For example, to get to the Celestial Seasonings plant on the north side of Boulder you have to go through a residential neighborhood. Want to try some wild game at that historic restaurant near Colorado Springs? You'll have to go through two neighborhoods and ignore the trailer park and the tire "warehouse" right next to it.

All in all there are some incredibly beautiful things to do and to see in this region of Colorado. Many of us in Washington would love to be able to walk out our back door and have five-mile hiking trails just minutes away. But there are some other things that we do very well and for which we should be grateful, especially when we have to go into a city area to work. Yes, we probably wouldn't mind if the morning rush hour was actually only an hour long and the worst of it was waiting for two cycles of a traffic signal.

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

Real Estate Agents Discover Walk Score

I was in one of my most favorite walkable cities on vacation last week, Portland, no not that Portland but the one in Maine, and I came across this article (Walk-Friendly Neighborhoods Gain Appeal, by Patricia V. Rivera, June 20, 2008*) in the Portland Press Harold Sunday Real Estate Section that rang true. The thrust of the article is that to have greater access to exercise options and to reduce one's reliance on driving a car, more and more homeowners and renters place a high value on the "walkability" of where they choose to live.

The article goes on to say that the Google enabled WalkScore.com web site (How Walkable Is Your Neighborhood?, July 18, 2007) has become a popular place for consumers and now Real Estate agents in helping them figure out a home's walkability. Walk Score co-creator Matt Lerner is quoted as saying of the site, which receives 100,000 visits a day, "Increasingly, it's a tool for real estate agents. We hope to see more listings that read 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,200 square feet, Walk Score 90," he says.

We've been discussing these ideas for some time and we're happy to see that the mainstream media is picking up these themes too. It shows that increasingly people are looking at more than curb appeal and the bottom line when choosing where to live and are taking into account the ability to walk places rather than hop in a car to get everywhere. And that's a good thing for all of us.

* Note the article in the link is for the same article printed a couple of weeks earlier in Seattle. Thus a different title, but the exact same article.

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

Ciclovia Comes to North America

Ciclovia, that wonderful concept we've shared about before (Ciclovia en Bogota, March 19, 2008; Could Bogota's Example Lead to Ciclovia: Metro Washington, D.C.?, December 8, 2007; Another Car-Free Idea From Mexico City, August 2, 2007), where local governments close down the streets to cars and open them up to bikes and pedestrians, has just had a very successful debut in North America. Guess where? Portland, Oregon of course. Monday's front page story in the Oregonian says it all (For Six Hours on Sunday, Cars are Banned on Six Miles of North Portland's Streets, Leaving Them to Walkers, Cyclists, Joggers and In-line Skates, by Dylan Rivera, June 23, 2008).

We learned from our own Diane Stanton Kean (No Car Zone...In NYC?!, June 19, 2008) last week that New York City is doing something similar later this summer (Where the Streets Have No Cars, June 18, 2008, Wall Street Journal) and San Francisco is also planning to do the same (Proposal Would Turn Streets into Recreational Spaces, May 12, 2008, Examiner). Shouldn't our area do the same?

Ciclovia seems like something that could bring our region together and encourage people to try biking and walking more. We need to become a world-wide leader in options to driving alone. This kind of program could build upon the good walk and bike facilities we have and lead to even more good things. Is 2009 to early for our first Ciclovia?

Thanks to CarFreeUSA blog for the tip.

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

Biking, Hungarian Style

We love it. From the CarFreeUSA blog we find this Hungarian Bike To Work ad that somehow reminds me of an old Love, American Style skit (I date myself I know). The CarFreeUSA people say the ad roughly translates to "Honey, why don't you bike to work?" In any language the point is easy to understand. Enjoy.

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

The Price of Security as Measured in Time

It was good to see that a number of commuters got the message and took the effort to head to Metro. It was enough to make the day the 8th highest in terms of ridership in the system's history. In all, 33.500 more people took the subway last Thursday compared to the same date last year. What makes the number and the placement on the top ten highest ridership day's list so impressive is that there were no baseball games, no state funerals and no visits from the Pope to boost the numbers. These were for the most part just commuters who were fed up with paying the high price of gasoline and were willing to put forth the extra effort necessary to get themselves to a train station and back.

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I had to take a plane the other day. It was an early morning flight heading west out of BWI-Marshall on Continental Airlines. Since there was luggage to be checked we figured it best to arrive two hours early just to make sure that we got through without too much angst. The day started off just fine as the shuttle bus in the parking lot arrived behind us just as we were parking. We were the last pickup on that round so the bus immediately headed toward the terminal. It was going to be a good day.

Things continued to look rosy as we approached the baggage check-in counter in that there were a number of kiosks available on which to do our business. Two employees helped take care of the assorted details and we were on our way to the gate in record time. It was going to be a good day.

To get to the gates of course we had to go through the security check point. At this particular check at this airport the approach is made via a long hallway. On more than one occasion I've seen the line extend back to the point where the hallway meets an adjoining hallway coming out of the check-in area. From that point it usually takes about 20 minutes or so to get to security. Imagine my surprise as the line started before the turn in the hallway. Imagine my surprise as we turned the corner and saw that the line extended back in the main ticketing area. Imagine the horror as we came out into the main part of the terminal and realized that the line extended a good hundred yards--all the way into the international terminal. It was no longer a good day.

It seems to me that this is one of those things that we are not really supposed to complain about. After all, it is "for our protection in the fight against terrorism." We are supposed to be good cattle and stand in line with everyone else and take our shoes off and remove our laptops from their cases and, if necessary, remove our belts and subject ourselves to hand-wanding and everything short of a full body cavity search. Is this really helping? Are we any safer as a result of all of this? Maybe we are and maybe I'm being too cynical.

It occurs to me that there are a couple of things that contribute to the long lines in the morning, at least at BWI-Marshall. First is the fact that in the morning you have a number of flights leaving within an hour of each other and a whole flock of people trying to get on them in a compacted time-frame. Second, the airport and the airlines have made the processes from the parking lots to check-in so efficient that there is very little time lost. This means that people are not held up either parking or checking-in and are therefore heading to the gates and the security check points faster. Lastly, the process of the security check-point is so much for show and not function in my humble opinion. The former head of security for El Al Airlines in Israel tells me that he can learn more about a person by observing their behavior and perhaps asking them a few questions than by having them take off their shoes.

The amazing thing is that the rise in the cost of tickets because of gas and the long waste of time getting to airports early to go through the process hasn't killed off the airline industry. I guess it's just something we can't live without. I know that I wouldn't have gone to Colorado if I had to drive there. But still, can't the industry and the Transportation Security Administration work a little harder to ease the pain and still maintain the facade?

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

Regional (ism)

Pardon me for being somewhat cynical but I think it's probably a good idea to take this latest talk about the regional sharing of traffic and transit information with a large grain of salt. After all, we've been here before although I doubt anyone is going to talk about what a huge failure it was. 

Back in the late 1990's the region, led by Virginia’s Department of Transportation, spent $12 million dollars to fund a private company's efforts to develop of regional transportation information sharing program, also known as an ATIS or Automated Traffic Information System. This program involved the development of software that would allow each of the local jurisdictions to exchange information in real time. Since it was computerized, the private company promised, everything would happen immediately and there would be no need to regional(ize) things like radio systems. 

The problem was that the software had more glitches than satellite TV in a thunderstorm. Accidents entered into the system as occurring on the inner loop of the beltway near Braddock Road ended up leaving the impression that there was a problem of some sort on Interstate 270 near Falls Road. There was no provision for multijurisdictional communications on the scene of incidents like the big oil spill on the beltway near the Springfield interchange. 

That $12 million ended up funding the start-up of a company that was eventually sold to a larger traffic information company for a profit of millions of dollars. While there were some smiling faces in Boston, the headquarters of this brilliant company, there were no cheers in Mudville, er, the Washington Metropolitan Region. The bigger company ended up shutting down the smaller company it had bought, apparently for little more than competitive reasons and not for the acquisition of the glitchy software.

Then, along came the tragedy of 9/11 and the focus was once again on the development of a region(al) approach to the exchange of information. More important, local first responders learned, was the need for local authorities to be able to talk to one another when they were all on the scene of incidents. For example, if a tanker truck caught on fire on the beltway in Alexandria near the Wilson Bridge, the chances are good that fire equipment from Prince Georges County, Alexandria, VDOT and Fairfax County would respond. Depending on the size of the fire and the potential for hazardous gases or the like some or all of the personnel on the scene might need to talk to one another. Thankfully, that problem has been worked on and now there is region(al) communications via on-scene two-way radios. It's the smaller problems that haven’t received the proper attention.

This region is very connected. There are roads tha connect the District to Prince Georges County. There are bridges between Virginia and Maryland. There are bus routes that go through the city and into surrounding suburbs. The Metrorail system links us all. The problems getting all of the impacted jurisdictions to jump in when there is a problem (read: crash or fire or derailment) on Metro has been resolved although it could still use some tweaking. It's the little things that continue to plague us. 

Case in point: A car breaks down in the left-turning lane for traffic to continue on Canal Road after Foxhall Road at three in the afternoon. It doesn’t take long for traffic to back up into Georgetown, on the inbound Key Bridge, on the George Washington Parkway approaching the Rosslyn exits. Another hour goes by without the car being moved and Rosslyn is gridlocked, Route 50 is at a standstill and the Roosevelt Bridge is now jammed coming off of Constitution Avenue. K Street through the business district is not moving because of the fact that no one is moving on the Whitehurst Freeway. Two hours later and the West End is shut down by gridlock, things have gotten worse in Rosslyn and every possible bail-out route is worthless. And all of this occurred because of one broken down car that doesn’t get moved in a timely fashion.  Multiple jurisdictions were impacted and thousands of commuters suffered. 

Part of any regional communications plan needs to take into account the fact that what happens in one area can impact others and very quickly at that. This plan needs to be coordinated by someone other than a representative from the region’s departments of transportation. It needs the insight of someone like WTOP traffic guru Bob Marbough who understands the cause and effect of incidents like the one above (which really did happen just a couple of years ago). The local turf wars and pass the buck mentality need to be eliminated if something is going to get done. After all, it is the tax-paying residents of each of the local jurisdictions that suffer.

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

The Dumping of the Pump

Thursday, June 19 has been designated as National Dump the Pump Day. This is a day when all drivers are encouraged to leave their cars or SUVs at home and take public transportation. This is the third year in a row that this event has been held and I would imagine it could be the most successful yet if based on nothing more than the frustration of people with the high cost of fuel. It is sponsored by APTA, the American Public Transportation Association, a group whose mission is to spark interest modes of transportation that are not cars. No, I am not going to launch into some cynical rant about the self-serving nature of this undertaking. Rather, I applaud APTA for getting more than 100 transit systems across the country to participate in one way or another. This is different from those email chain letter efforts to get people to stop using Exxon or Chevron or BP for one day to show those evil people at Big Oil that we will not be pushed around. Those evil people already know that many will fill up their tanks the day before or the day after such a protest so they really won’t lose much anyway.

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Sometimes it seems like the technology or the planning has gotten ahead of those for whom it is intended. Case in point: there is a crosswalk downtown at the intersection of M and 21st Streets. Both are one-way streets and a good number of drivers turn left from M onto 21st. A lot of driving idiots (can I use that word?) have decided that turning left off M Street can and should be done in two lanes rather than just one and this catches a lot of pedestrians by surprise. Someone at the District’s Department of Transportation thought it would be a good idea to give these pedestrians a fighting chance by having the walking portion of the cycle begin four or five seconds before the traffic signals turn green. The problem is that most pedestrians don’t know what to do. I have watched this intersection on a number of occasions and it is very rare that people start walking when the little stick man says they can. Instead, most pedestrians wait until the traffic signal turns green and then they go... at the same time that the floodgates of cars, trucks, SUVs, motorscooters and every other contraption has been turned loose. Maybe if they had some sort of audio signal to alert pedestrians that it was time to go. I imagine that a written explanation might also work for some but then there is the question of where to put it and in how many different languages.

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There are a lot of really inexpensive ways to get from Washington to New York and an occasional point in between. Our friends over at Dcist.com, which tends to have a young readership that is perhaps a bit more adventurous than the rest of us, have been detailing the rise of services like BoltBus and MegaBus and DC2NY and the long-running Chinatown buses. Some of these buses will take you the 194 or so miles for pocket change if you book early enough. They are becoming more and more popular as options to flying and to Amtrak. So of course the District has to step in. Apparently the city’s Department of Transportation now wants all of these buses to gather at one location (near L’Enfant Plaza) and to pay the city for the privilege. Citing safety and congestion concerns, the city has set up an “intercity bus zone” in southwest. Oh yeah, did I say that these companies now have to pay to do the business of removing cars and SUVs from I-95? If they don’t pony up the fee to pick up passengers at what is certain to be an efficient if not high-tech facility the Examiner reports they could face fines as high as $1,500.

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator
on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him
directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com.
Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used
within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first
name and city/neighborhood.

No Car Zone...in NYC?!

Since I work in the biz, my friends often send me articles they find relating to various commuting and transportation topics.  Lately, these articles are coming at a rapidly increasing rate and my inbox is getting consumed with links directing me to read more about higher gas prices or teleworking.  I enjoy the enthusiasm my friends share for my glamourous career in transportation demand managment. They certainly make me feel like the expert on how to save on gas by making smart transportation decisions 101, but sometimes all the articles and links get lost on the mix.  On Tuesday, this article really caught my attention: New York City will experiement for three days in August with a No-Car Zone.  How exciting and progressive!  Cities in Europe and Asia have been implementing restricted zones designated for pedestrian and bike traffic only for years.  In the article, many business owners shared concern that having no cars would decrease their sales and traffic to the store but knowing that I don't have to worry about paying to park or being stuck in traffic increases my desire to shop and visit that area of town.  I would much rather spend 20 minutes on the metro or bus than 20 minutes driving around trying to find a parking space.  I predict they will see an increase in business and more customer traffic.  Would you be more likely or less likely to shop, dine and visit in a No Car Zone? 

Diane Stanton Kean, Arlington Transportation Partners.  I live and work in Arlington and enjoy leaving my car (shared with my husband, we only have 1!) at home and encourage others to do the same.

Odds and Ends on the Web

The interesting thing about the internet is that some people will spend a lot of time developing sites that seem to serve little of no purpose. Then there are the sites that seem to be created to fill a special need and really show the passion that the webmaster has for the subject. Such is the case of a site, developed by a local cartographer, called StationMasters.

StationMasters calls itself a Guide to Metrorail Station Neighborhoods and it is all of that. By clicking on a station from the main map you are taken to a page about what surrounds that Metro station. Each page includes a photograph of the area just outside at least one of the exits from the station and in many cases these are panoramic photographs so that you get a 360-degree look. There is also a map that shows a six or seven-square block view of the area and includes highlights although a large number of them seem to be the churches in the area. There are also some food highlights although I would imagine that these could be sponsored links at some point if they are not already.

All in all I think that StationMasters is one of the neatest sites for those who may be new or just visiting the city and plan on taking the Metro system. Metro has even added links to the StationMaster neighborhood maps off of its website for those getting information on individual rail stations. It's all part of a much larger undertaking in a print version that includes all 86 Metro stations as well as phone numbers and more. The print version is, of course, an item for purchase. It might make a nice gift though for a friend or soon-to-be co-worker who is just moving into the city.

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There is another service available on the internet that is geared more toward those who drive.  TrafficLand.com has aggregated the majority of the state and local traffic cameras around the region and, in fact around the world. If you are sitting at home and want to get a look at the road you'll be traveling on you can call it up and get a real time look at how traffic is moving. If you wonder what things look like in Piccadilly Circus in London you can call it up. Curious to know if there's congestion on the FDR in New York? You're just a click away.

Even though you can tour the world at TrafficLand.com the real beauty is that you can control your own traffic destiny by getting a look at the roads you use in real time. Everything from I-395 in Shirlington to Redland Road at Muncaster Mill Road in Derwood is included on this site. For the time there is no cost to use it. You can also select a service through the site that will email you the most current images from a list of roads you've selected at a particular time of day. It's a neat service that can really help. Of course, the time lag between when you look at the images and when you actually get to those points on the roads may impact the immediate value of the information.

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Lastly, there is the MarcTracker, which is just what its name implies. This site allows you to find out exactly where your MARC train is at a given time. Good for those trying to catch a train and for those who are waiting for that person to arrive home. Virginia Railway Express has a similar service available through its website, although I have to say that I like the MARC version better.

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

Ranting About Rail

Why is it that Metro seems to keep shooting itself in the foot when it comes to public opinion? At a time when ridership levels are growing and are being driven by the high cost of fuel the system has experienced a number of high-profile problems such as derailments, electrical outages, fires and trees across the tracks. I realize that at least half of those were caused by acts of nature that no one could have predicted but it seems like the system is more vulnerable than it should be.

Metro has managed to capture the low-lying fruit for many years. It has made a very good argument for those who live or work in areas convenient to its service. A number of us have made changes for a good number of reasons in the way that we get from home to work and back again. We have figured out that a combination of bus rides with other bus routes or rail result in a less stressed commute. We no longer worry about getting stuck in the office if we have to work beyond the time our carpool is scheduled to leave. We have come to realize that the occasional delay on Metro is something that we can deal with.  After all, most of the "major delays" that are reported following problems on the subway system are not really any worse than the impact of a crash on the beltway that shuts down a couple of lanes. Put into perspective, these instances occur with much less frequency than those crashes on the interstates.

Crashes on the interstates around the region are so common that they hardly make the news any more but incidents on Metro always seem to make the front page or lead the 6 p.m. newscast. I suppose it's the same thing that makes airline troubles, even on the smallest runway in the smallest city, the top story.  We are still nervous about not being in control of our own destiny I believe and it's that fear that makes these stories such a big deal. All we need to do is put things into perspective.

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I am a big fan of Amtrak although I have to concede that I only know its service in the Northeast corridor. That is why I was so pleased to read that Congress has finally come to its collective senses and has come up with a veto-proof funding bill that will give Amtrak the ability to function without fear that the administration will be able to shut it down as it has for the past six or seven years.

The thing that I am confused about is the desire to privatize, or at least to take offers to privatize, the Northeast corridor. This corridor, defined as the stretch between Washington, New York and Boston, is the crown jewel of the Amtrak system. It is the one segment that actually has proven the ability to make money and that's because it competes very well with the airlines. In fact, taking the train between Washington and New York takes about the same amount of time when you factor in the early check-in requirements and the delays in the air that always seem to affect planes heading to the Big Apple.

It would be nice to see Amtrak offer as many options and run as efficiently as railroads do in parts of Europe. Frankly I doubt that will happen in our lifetime but it would be nice to see it expand out of Chicago and in several of the major corridors in Texas and California where there is demand that is underserved. Oh yeah, Amtrak needs to prove to the naysayers that it can manage its contracts and its finances better than it has in the past.

 

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

What can we do to make rail-to-bus connections easier?

This has been posted on the Arlington Transit Blog, but we thought we'd solicit input here, as well. We received the following email from a transit user who was attempting to transfer from Metrorail to ART, but upon leaving the Metrorail station found that there was no way to tell where the correct ART stop was. Have you ever had a similar experience with ART? Please tell us about it. Have you seen solutions to this problem elsewhere, or do you have any ideas for solutions? (The email is reprinted with permission of the author.)

To Arlington Transit and Metro officials:

I write today to complain about the lack of signage for travelers seeking to make a Metro to bus transfer at the Court House Metro Station and to encourage you to take steps to improve signage in and around the station.

On Wednesday, June 4th, I was making a trip from Metro Center in D.C. to the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Four Mile Run Drive in Arlington. Metro's online trip planner conveniently produced travel options, and I decided to make a connection from Metro's Orange Line at Courthouse Station to the Arlington Transit bus #41.

Unfortunately, when I got off the Metro at Court House Station, I was immediately in trouble. Coming out of the Metro station, there is absolutely NO signage indicating which of the three exits from the station patrons should take in order to find connecting buses. After stopping several other travelers for information, someone directed me to the exit that took me up to the street level at the intersection of Clarendon Boulevard and N. Uhle Street.

Up on the street, I still found NO signs indicating the direction in which I should walk to catch bus #41. However, directly in front of the exit from the Metro station was a bus stop with a sign indicating bus #61 as well as bus "#41 Sat and Sun Only." The bus stop sign was confusing to me, as the Metro trip planner had clearly shown #41 bus service on Wednesday, but it never occurred to me (and there was no sign indicating) that there was another bus stop in a different location for bus #41 on weekdays.

Only after waiting 15 minutes did someone walking on the street tell me that the stop for weekday service on bus #41 was on the other side of the street, on 15th St N. next to the courthouse. At that point I had missed the 12:25 p.m. bus, and decided to wait at the designated bus stop for the 12:40 p.m. bus. It never arrived, and at 1:00 p.m.--having been trying for 40 minutes to connect to the bus and with neither the scheduled 12:40 p.m. nor the 12:55 p.m. bus anywhere in sight--I gave up and, in total frustration, took a taxi (at a cost of $15) to my destination.

How can you possibly hope to encourage people to rely upon public transit, particularly when traveling to unfamiliar locations, under these kinds of situations??

I strongly encourage you to work together to put up appropriate signage in the Court House Metro Station and to post directional signage at the street level so that patrons can find their way to their destinations.

Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Clifford M. Johnson

What Can Your Employer Do For You?

A company's success is very often the result of happy employees. Some of the most thriving companies in the world have done well because they keep their employees in "benefit bliss". They have attracted and retained the most elite talent because they offer something many companies do not; an above average benefits package.

So what is the hot new trend in employee benefits? Many employers have started to provide commuter benefits, and those who have previously offered some benefits are expanding their options. The New York Times reports that Google is now providing their employees with free shuttle bus service to work. Other companies are jumping on this bandwagon as well; keeping their employees from the stress of a morning commute and the burden of a $4.00 per gallon fill up. As a result, employees have more time to relax and get some extra work done. It seems like everyone wins.

In an effort to avoid soaring gas prices, commuters in the Metro DC Area are exploring new ways to get to work and employers are helping. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced in the beginning of May that Metro ridership has seen an enormous increase even after fares went up in January. Bicycle shops have reported a solid jump in sales. Carpools and vanpools are becoming more prevalent and teleworking and compressed work weeks are being experimented with by organizations throughout the area.

Employers can help an employee's commute by providing transit benefits, compressed work weeks, a formal telework program, carpool and vanpool options, shuttles and bike racks.

Your employer may already offer some of these benefits. Find out if your company provides transit benefits. If you feel like biking to work, but have no where to keep your bike, talk to someone about it. Learn more about compressed work weeks and teleworking and see how you can make a change in your organization. Tell your employers it will keep YOU happy.    

Kristin Howard works for Arlington Transportation Partners providing transportation expertise and services to businesses in Arlington County. She is a Metrorail commuter.

The Last Mile

I live 1.1 miles from the East Falls Church metro, which can be a pleasant walk on a 75 degree day, but is pretty miserable on days like today or in the rain.  One of the hardest nuts to crack for transit providers has been that last mile.  Most of the way to and from my destination I can take a transit vehicle, but the last little bit to the front door I can't.  Watch this video for an idea whose time has more than come.

Although this is not appropriate for my neighborhood, there are lots of places in the greater DC area where a PRT (personal rapid transit) system like this could really work.  A few I can think of are: N. Bethesda/Medical Center, Tysons Corner (particularly after the rail is built, but there's no reason it can't be designed in now), Springfield, Silver Spring, National Harbor (cool if it could be extended over the river to Alexandria, too!), etc. 

Imagine how it could be used to transform some of our urban and suburban areas.  Well implemented it can reduce the need for parking lots, which can then be converted to better use: retail, office, parks, housing, etc. (any use is better than parking!).

More info here and here and here.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident

Reclaiming Streets - The Australian Way

One of our favorite blogs, CoolTown Studios, links us to another one of our favorite web sites, Streetfilms where we find an amazing video entitled A Pedestrian Paradise in Melbourne. Well worth watching. You'll want to visit Melbourne and you'll want to infuse a little bit of Melbourne in our own neighborhoods here at home. Hopefully we're moving towards more of this here in the Nation's Capital. And it was great to see our former TDM colleague and Washingtonian Kevin Luten of UrbanTrans featured in the video. Kevin moved to Melbourne a year ago. We now understand why. Enjoy!

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

My cool summer…

Ice cream, splashing in the pool, hiking, museums…these are the things my children (and I) look forward to in the summer--especially summers here in Arlington. Our summers in northern Virginia are very different from the summers my family and I had a few years ago, out west in the desert.  I will not mention where we use to live but I will say there were a lot of neon signs and gambling.  Where we use to live, summers were so unbearable, I’m talking about temperatures in the 100’s and at 11:00 pm, it would drop to perhaps 95 degrees.   Yes, it was dry heat, but to me, heat is heat. Therefore, most of our time was spent staying in-doors.    We didn’t live near a pool so we had to drive there to cool off and as most parents know, lugging two children and all the pool “necessities” is no picnic.  In fact, we had to drive everywhere to do anything.  It took patience to wait for the air conditioning to cool us and the car down and when we reached our destination, it took more patience to look for parking.  Of course, I still needed to get the kids out of the car and into the stroller then haul the “survivor kit” a.k.a. the diaper bag, onto my shoulders.  By this time, the kids had lost their patience and they had a “melt down”. There was a lot of screaming and crying from the kids, as well as from me—yep, I don’t miss those summers! 

Where we live now, we are within walking distance to the pools, parks, trails, libraries and ice cream shops.  Of course, nowadays I don’t need the strollers and “survivor kit.” The kids are older and love to walk and bike everywhere.  When it is too hot to walk, we get on the air conditioned bus and subway and take a ride to the mall and enjoy the free museums.  Hooray, no more crying and screaming unless of course, I dropped my double chocolate ice cream cone.

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Theresa Westfall, Arlington Transportation Partners

Crimes Maybe Committed and Crimes May Be Avoided

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