CommuterPageBlog

Build the Invisible Tunnel!

I can't take credit for this idea--I read it somewhere else--but it's so good that it needs to be promoted and publicized until Metro takes notice and implements it.

The idea of linking the Farragut North and Farragut West metro stations with a tunnel has been around a long time (I found a W. Post article from 1994 that mentioned it) and makes good sense.  WMATA published a comprehensive study of the tunnel option, including capacity and ridership impacts, etc.in 2004.  The primary impediment to building the tunnel is money.  WMATA's recent Station Access & Capacity Study estimates a cost of about $25 million.

The tunnel is a great idea and probably should have been built at the time the system was built.  In the meanwhile, while we wait, the technology exists to build a virtual tunnel right now.  Right now!!  And there is absolutely no reason WMATA shouldn't.  Ridership's about to pick up again in September, so let's create the virtual tunnel right away.

What is the virtual tunnel?  Simple.  Metro riders who have SmarTrip cards can leave one Farragut station and enter the other station within a certain time window--say, 10 minutes--and not be charged, a free transfer (click on the image above for a map/diagram).  The 2004 tunnel study estimated about 15,000 people per day would transfer using the underground tunnel (using 2003 ridership numbers).  Given the greater inconvenience of going up on the street and coming back down and having to cross two intersections (300 steps from faregate to faregate. . .I counted), fewer would choose to use the virtual tunnel than a real one, but still thousands per day I would guess.  That would relieve pressure at Metro Center as well as convenience the passengers who choose to take advantage.

Here's the key point: there is no downside to implementing this idea.  No downside.  No studies required.  No excuses to put it off.  Repeat: no downside.  All it takes is a little computer programming and a press release to get the word out.  It adds flexibility to the system at virtually no cost.  No one will be additionally inconvenienced, since passengers are more than welcome to continue to use the system as usual: if you don't want to make the transfer and walk, just keep using Metro Center as before.  I have wracked my brain and cannot think of a single negative impact--all pros and no cons.  If someone can think of a downside, please comment and let me know what it is.

I sent a note to Chris Zimmerman a couple of months ago recommending he push this idea to WMATA (he's the current Board Chair), but I didn't hear back.  I don't know the ins and outs of making things happen at Metro, but this is a no-brainer; they should just do it.  And what better time than right now?

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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident and future virtual tunnel user

(Don't) Walk This Way

It seems like there have been a large number of pedestrians struck and killed or injured around the Washington region recently despite a few high profile efforts to counter the tragedy. Part of the problem is that too many people are willing to take too many chances and aren't willing to take the extra time needed to use the facilities set up for their safety. The other problem is that there are too many drivers who simply aren't paying attention because they are distracted by loud radios or blissful ignorance of the potential calamity on a particular stretch of road. What I mean by the latter statement is that there are areas where it is well known that pedestrians will run across the road despite the lack of crossing markers. In many areas this can be blamed on the transportation planners and not just those who build roads. The placement of bus stops in the middle of a block and far away from any control in the form of signals or markings is foolish and irresponsible in my opinion.

I say all of this because I was driving the other day on a road where islands had recently been added as a sort of safe haven for pedestrians. The addition of these concrete safe places was a good idea but, once again, not very well thought out. You see, only some of the islands matched up with bus stops on both sides of the four-lane road. On two occasions within a one-mile stretch I witnessed shopping bag-laden pedestrians trying to run across all of the lanes to catch a bus that was just pulling up to a stop. These pedestrians were so focused on the bus that they paid little attention to the cars that were coming right at them to the point where one car had to hit the brakes so hard it created a squeal and the smoke of burning rubber. The pedestrian sort of turned to look at the source of all that racket and just kept going toward the bus.

It would help if transportation planners would work more closely with the local transit agency or with Metro to better plan the placement of bus stops or any other destinations that might cause pedestrians to feel the need to risk life and limb to cross the road. I know that drivers need to take responsibility and far too few of them do but it seems to me that better planning based on human behavior might help save lives.

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It is reassuring to read that more companies are offering some employees the option of teleworking. For many years this has seemed to be a no brainer. Not only does it allow companies to consolidate space and therefore reduce overhead but it takes cars off the road, not just a little but all the way. These people that telework are leaving the car in the garage and aren't even driving to a Metro garage or to the commuter train. The biggest argument against allowing employees to work from home seemed to always come from managers who were afraid that employees would goof off, play golf, watch television, surf the internet or anything other than work if they weren't being watched. Study after study has shown increased productivity levels among teleworkers. By the way, those employees are generally happier employees and have better home lives as a result. The environment benefits, congestion in lessened and people are happier. Teleworking is a win/win/win scenario.

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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.

Two-way or the Wrong Way?

The Preston Lane Memorial Bridge is a thing of beauty. Its gentle arch swoops over the Chesapeake Bay like the wing of a snow white gull. For many the bridge known more simply as "The Bay Bridge" is a utility, a means to an end, a necessary evil that sits between work or home and a long weekend or a family vacation at the beach. For many it's also a very scary thing to drive across because of its open architecture that provides a unparalleled view of the Bay. That same view created panic in some; so much so that the state used to provide a free escort across. When you add that basic and understandable fear of driving across the bridge because of the view down through the grates to having to watch for oncoming vehicles it can and has proved to be a recipe for disaster. The problem is that there aren't that many options to get to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware. There is also the issue of not having enough lanes to handle to volume of traffic that uses the bridge during peak hours. Yes, the state has tried to come up with various plans to try and get drivers to go at other times to reduce such demand.  For too long vacation goers have been going to their vacation spots at the same time. I have always been a late Friday evening beachgoer and rarely sit through those long lines but that's the way it's been for many, many years and it started because I hate sitting in traffic but also because I could rarely get home from work and get everything ready to go at a reasonable hour. Sometimes it pays to put things off and going to the beach has been one of them. I should note that the same thing applies to the Sunday return although that is not as easy to do if you are renting a place at the shore or checking out of a hotel.

Here's my point: several years ago the state started to funnel traffic during the peak travel times. Crews places cones beyond the toll plazas at the beginning of the bridge that forced all traffic on the right side to use the eastbound span and all traffic that used the toll booths on the left side to use the then two-way westbound span. They did this to end the mixing and the confusion that used to take place when people that started on the left side realized that they wanted to be on the eastbound span where the one-way traffic was more to their comfort level. These days if you start on the left side toll booths you have no choice but to use the westbound span with its two-way traffic. I firmly believe that there are a good number of people who end up on the westbound span who are scared to death but didn't know what they were getting in to.

The solution to the whole mess as a way to prevent the kind of tragedy that occurred on the bridge just a few weeks ago is not easy. The demand over the years has been far too great for the number of lanes available. It would be nice if a regular bus service or even a high-speed train could relieve some of the congestion. It would be nice if there was a way to make all three of those westbound span lanes available to traffic when it was most needed. If there was a way to make those three lanes open to eastbound traffic on Fridays and Saturdays and then to flip over so that they could be used completely and exclusively by westbound traffic on Sundays. Building a new bridge has been discussed for years but it gets more and more expensive every year and therefore even farther from reach. Maybe it would be possible to build fly-overs to get traffic from one side to the other but, there too, the cost and the engineering demands are probably too great.

I note that the state has suspended two-way operations when it rains during the construction/rebuilding phase of the bridge. That's a good idea as a way to prevent another tragedy but it's the kind of thinking that comes too late. Using the cones to force traffic to one side or the other was a compromise idea that, in hindsight, was not a good one. Eliminating the free escort service for those who were too nervous to drive across the bridge was a very bad idea especially since it was done as a way to save money and for no other reason. The amazing thing is that more people haven't ended up crashing into one another and worse yet ending up in the waters of the Bay. The solution will demand the best minds in the business and understanding that the failure to make this bridge safe and useable by everyone could be a fiscal disaster for the private businesses at the shore as well as for the state that collects taxes from vacationers and second-homers.

Photos
Preston Lane Memorial Bridge: MTA
Ocean City: www.ococean.com

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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.

Talking Head Doodles Bike Racks

Here's an interesting response to NYC's design competition for new bike racks in Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

Avid cyclist, artist, blogger, musician and Talking Head frontman, David Byrne submitted these sketches.  And NYC accepted! 

Read the full story, articles about the project and see photos of the new racks in situ at David Byrne's blog.

Or, for those so inclined, here's a WSJ video about the project that was posted on YouTube.

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Kevin Beekman lives in Alexandria

 

Bike Shopping

A few weeks ago, I solicited advice from the wise contributors to this blog regarding what kind of bike I should get for my commute. I promised to post again when I had a new ride, and here it is.

I live in Baltimore, and when I need to go to the D.C. area, I ride about three miles to Penn Station, where I catch the MARC train. My last bike was stolen from the train station after I left it locked to a lamp post with a cable lock. The bike racks were full, as they always are when I get to the station, and the diameter of the lamp posts is too big for a U-type lock.

It's OK -- I never really liked that bike, and I've had it for about eight years. So I was looking forward to getting a new one, but I wanted to be careful this time to get the right one. Or the right two -- one idea was to get a "beater" bike to ride to the train station, and a "good" bike for recreation. Of course, that would mean buying, maintaining and storing two bikes instead of one, and maybe having to ride a clunker on my commute. 

I decided against the two-bike solution after I discovered a more secure type of lock that would work with the train station lamp posts. And the lock manufacturer offers a one-year warranty that says they will replace a bike that's stolen by breaking or picking their lock. You have to do some paperwork to qualify for that, which I did.

Another factor in deciding to go the one-bike route was that I didn't feel I needed a super-expensive bike. After asking around and doing some preliminary research, it looked like I'd have a wide selection of bikes I'd be completely happy with in the $500-$800 range. A more serious cyclist might spend thousands on a bike that he or she would NOT want to leave at the train station all day, but that's not me. Losing a bike in my price range certainly wouldn't make me happy, but when I considered the lock warranty and all the other factors, I thought this was the better way to go for me.

Shopping was fun. There's some relatively new technology out there that I hadn't seen before. Enclosed gears are getting more and more common, along with shifters that don't require derailleurs. These developments should pave the way for making bikes with drive shafts rather than chains more available in the U.S. We're not there yet, though -- I couldn't find a drive shaft bike for a test ride. I've had chain drive and derailleur gears for almost as long as I can remember, but I won't shed a tear if that system is replaced with one that's cleaner, sturdier, more weatherproof, and requires less maintenance.

The big difference I noticed in the marketplace are all of the bikes marketed as "commuter," "transportation," "comfort," or "lifestyle" bikes. These bikes aren't intended for racing or any activity with "extreme" in front of it. I have my doubts about a lot of the "comfort" and "lifestyle" bikes. The ones I saw were offered at the low end of the price spectrum, and consequently were outfitted with low-end components. I'm not sure if sitting straight up on a great big seat and struggling up a hill with only three gears and a cheap shifter would be comfortable, or suit my lifestyle. This might be the next generation of bikes that will end up gathering dust in people's basements and garages. The "commuter" or "transportation" bikes, on the other hand, seem like a great idea. There are some very high-quality offerings in these categories, some with the enclosed hubs and easy-to-use shifters, many already outfitted with fenders, chain guard, rear rack for carrying things, and built-in lights.

There were a few features I wanted that ruled out many of those bikes, though. I wanted the larger size wheels (700c), front shocks, and a frame geometry that would have me leaning forward. In the end, I chose a pretty conventional hybrid bike, the Specialized Crosstrail Sport. Top picture is how it came from the store. The only customization I had done at the store was to have the quick-release wheel spindles replaced by spindles that require an allen wrench, to deter thieves. Second photo shows the bike with all the accessories I added for commuting: rear rack (which also serves as a fender and provides a place to attach my commuting pannier), rear-mounted kickstand (it really, really annoys me when my bike won't stand up), Zefal spy mirror (doesn't stick out) and front and rear lights.

The last photo shows my new bike's first day at the train station, shackled up like Houdini. It's too bad that's necessary, but at least everything was still there when I came back at the end of the day.

So those were the choices I made, and I'm pretty thrilled with the result. If you're looking for a new bike, your  needs, preferences, and choices will likely be different, but I'll throw out a few things I learned that might help you in any case:

• Don't just go to the closest bike shop and feel you have to choose from what they have in the store. Most dealers only represent a few manufacturers. After doing a lot of research online, I knew I wanted to look at the Specialized brand, and I found their local dealer.
• While you're on the web, try to zero in on the exact models you think would suit you. Manufacturers offer groups or "families" of bikes that are very similar to each other, often with the exact same frame. They'll typically offer three or four models with prices $100 or so apart. As you step up in price, you'll have better-quality components -- gears, shifters, brakes, etc. Your dealer is not going to have all of those choices in stock, but they should be willing to get the model you want to see without obligating you to buy it. My dealer had no problem with that.
• Definitely ride before you buy. The most expensive bike out there is no good if it doesn't fit and feel right to you.
• Once you find what you want, it IS a good idea to buy from a dealer that's as close as possible. Most dealers offer free adjustments for a year, and you might want to take advantage of that.
• For bike accessories, it pays to shop around. Some items were about the same price wherever I looked, but I saved $40 on my new chain lock by shopping.
• Register your new bike with the National Bike Registry. If it's stolen and recovered, it can be returned to you. This also fulfills a requirement to be eligible for a replacement bike under lock manufacturers' warranties.

So that's my report! Thanks again to everyone that offered advice -- that helped a lot.

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Joe Chapline is web manager for Arlington County Commuter Services

Getting it Wrong in the Free State

In Montgomery County, Maryland things are getting totally out of hand according to many people I am hearing from. The county apparently wants to be perceived as forward thinking in terms of pedestrian safety and environmental concerns. Heck, for years the county would not allow any advertisements to be placed on its transit buses because of the "visual pollution" that would create. Of course, the latest downturn in the economy and the need to raise revenue from an ever-decreasing tax base has changed their collective minds on that. One of the biggest complaints I hear is that the County Council keeps approving development even though it means adding more children to schools that are surrounded by trailers because the money to repair, replace or expand just isn't available.

The latest travesty involves a road or a highway that has been on the planning books for something like 50 years and construction on it just recently got underway. Anyone living in this region would have to be hiding under a rock to have not heard about all of the controversy the Intercounty Connector (ICC) has brought. State officials say they went above and beyond to make sure that the highway used all of the latest construction innovations to minimize the impact on the surrounding environment. Yet, the current group of planners and elected nincompoops is now planning to eliminate the hiker/biker trail that was one of the centerpieces of the "green" aspect of this highway. They now say that the inclusion of six to eight feet of hiker/biker path will require them to do bad things to the environment. What a crock of box turtle dung. They can build a highway that is 75 or so feet wide but can't build an extra couple feet of paved space for self-powered, two-wheeled vehicles we tend to call "bicycles?"  Talk about another bait and switch.

I have supported the building of the ICC because the county and the region just don't have enough east/west arteries. I felt like the state had done a good job to mitigate many if not every single one of the environmental concerns. I also felt like they were using many of the new construction techniques in areas of environmental concern. But actions such as the proposal to eliminate promised accoutrements make me very suspicious about the sincerity of the intentions from the start.

On the subject of the ICC, I got the following note from Chuck: "Have you driven by any of the entrances to the construction of the [ICC]? I have never seen so much legal notices posted. Do you think there is something going on here?"

I have noticed that there are many more security cars parked near the entrances in addition to the trespass notices. The notices themselves are not all that unusual in that there is equipment to be protected as well as the wish to not have kids riding dirt bikes and ATV over these newly-created moguls and hills and trails. That is more of an insurance issue.

The security forces are not something I think I have seen before. My first thought was that since this project had dragged on for so long and since there was so much animosity surrounding it by residents and environmental hired guns that the people at the state transportation department were concerned about environmental sabotage groups like the Earth Liberation Front or others. I have not heard that they have received any specific threats but this is not something that is normally made public unless someone does some digging. For example, what is the cost of this security when compared to other major construction projects in the region like the Wilson Bridge construction or the Springfield Interchange Project? If it's significantly higher then I think that someone needs to explain why.

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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.

Kill the Bike Path; Save Our Environment!

Sarcasm alert on the posting title! 

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Montgomery County is considering eliminating portions of the planned bike trail alongside the Inter-County Connector (ICC) for "environmental reasons."  Give me a break!  Evidently I have been a bit asleep on this issue, as it's been debated and opined on for quite a while.  Here are some links:

WABA: ICC Trail: Your Help Needed Today!

The WashCycle has a very long and detailed posting on the issue:  ICC Fail and ICC Fail Part 2 and previously here: What Happened to the ICC Trail.  There was also a posting back in January after some sort of meeting: MoCo Looking to Add ICC Trail Back

And here's a notification from an organization I had not heard of before: The Montgomery Bicycle Advocates: ICC Trail Alert

The Washcycle post points out the most egregious contradiction.  Evidently the Environmental Impact Statement cites the bike trail as an environmental benefit of the project but now the county wants to eliminate parts of it because of its adverse environmental impact.  I don't think you can have it both ways.

All the gory details can be found on the Montgomery County Planning site here including testimony from the July 10 public meeting.

It's pretty clear in my mind that a decision to not build the entire trail is very short-sighted.  Although it is likely I would never or rarely use it, since it's not in my neck of the woods, on principle I adamantly support all efforts to build the entire length of the trail along the ICC.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident and bicyclist

Not Your Father's Slug Lines

I was more than a little surprised the other day to hear the city's news and information radio station reporting on slug lines as if they had just started up or the reporter had just heard of them for the first time. Maybe he had but a little research might have shown him that slug lines have been around for some time despite not getting any official support from local or regional or state transportation agencies. At the same time maybe it's not a bad idea to talk about the origin and use of this phenomenon that is largely unique to Washington.

Slug lines, for those who weren't around, started about the same time that the HOV lanes were built along I-95 and I-395. This was also the time of the first series of oil embargoes and it made people scramble to find new and cheaper ways to work. There was no Virginia Railway Express. The number of small cars made in Japan that got really good gas mileage were few and far between. America was into big, fast comfortable cars and wasn't thinking about the availability of gasoline... until they had to sit in lines overnight to wait for it. This perfect storm led to creation of what became known as slug lines.

One of the main reasons that this idea works so well in this region is that so many of the people looking for rides work at the same places as those who are looking for passengers to qualify for the, usually, faster HOV lanes. If it weren't for the Pentagon or the Department of Agriculture or Energy then there probably wouldn't be any slug lines. Government workers, particularly the military, are a tight-knit group that tends to trust one another. It doesn't hurt that the way the HOV lanes are designed along the corridor there are few points for a driver to suddenly veer off and take the passengers to a cabin deep in the woods.

Where did the term "slugs" come from?  For the answer we turn to slug-lines.com, the website for and about slugs: "The story goes like this. Bus drivers had always been warned to be aware of counterfeit coins (also known as slugs) from people trying to pass off this fake money in the coin collection tray.

"When slugging was in its infancy, commuters stood at the bus stops, waiting for a driver to pick them up. Bus drivers, thinking these people were waiting for the bus would stop to pick up the passengers only to be waved off, frustrating many of the drivers. As this event became more and more frequent, bus drivers began recognizing the real bus riders from the fakes. Because the people weren't really waiting for the bus, drivers began to simply call them 'slugs.' This definition seems to make sense because these people weren't real bus riders or even real carpoolers in the usual sense of the word. They were, just as the name implies, counterfeit riders or slugs. Hence, the term was born."

That same website is a great resource if you live along the I-395, I-95 corridor. It provides the locations for all of the pick up and drop off points, a primer on etiquette and rules and a message board. It even has a lost and found for passengers who have left there glasses or keys or wallets or even laptops and grocery bags. The whole thing is very civilized and very much on the honor system. You get a sense in reading this website and seeing the comments that there is a good deal of respect for one another that goes on. I've ridden the slug lines and can tell you that it works really well. It's just amazing that no one has gone in and messed it up or that the government hasn't figured out a way to get involved and tax the rides as some sort of service. That is the true beauty of slugs; that they are of the people and for the people in the truest sense.

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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.

Do Your Part on World Car Free Day September 22

World Car-Free Day, September 22 might just be the perfect time to start your Car-Free Diet. If you've thought about changing your commute or trip habits, even every once in a while, this is an opportunity to try something new. And there's plenty of tools and resources to help you. What's World Car-Free Day? Says the World Car-Free Day website:

"One day every year, people from all over the globe gather together in the streets, intersections, and neighborhood blocks to remind the world that we don't have to accept living in a car-dominated society. As the climate heats up, this kind of event is the perfect way to take the heat off the planet, and put it on city planners and politicians to give priority to cycling, walking and public transport instead of to the automobile."

The Commuter Connections network, with funding from Virginia, Maryland and the District, is sponsoring events and tools to help. Visit the Car-Free Metro DC web site for more information and take the pledge to go car free on September 22. At the same time the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation is sponsoring Try Transit Week September 22-25. Visit their web site and take the pledge and you'll be eligible to win a whole year of FREE transit. Even GSA is offering it's employees a free trial use of one of the region's 14 telework centers this day.

In Arlington, we want World Car-Free Day to be a showcase for how our county might look, feel, and sound with fewer cars – 365 days a year. We've got a few events in Arlington to highlight World Car-Free Day and a few tools to help you get started on your Car-Free Diet:

• Free Ride on Arlington Transit. Ready to reap the rewards of a car-free lifestyle? Take the Car-Free Diet Challenge and you can download a coupon for a free ART ride. The coupon is good for a ride on any ART bus on September 22 only.
• Free Stuff. When you go to carfreediet.com, make sure you take the Car-Free Diet Challenge, share your Car-Free Diet Story and use the Car-Free Diet Calculator! Do one, and you’ll get a coupon for a free book – the special Arlington Edition of How to Live Well Without Owning a Car. Do two, and you’ll get a coupon for a free “I lost 2,000 lbs in one day” t-shirt as well!”
• Clarendon WalkAbout. We invite you to come out for a fun, family-friendly WalkAbout through the streets of Clarendon starting at 6:30 pm. It’s a great opportunity to see and learn about the historical sights, stores and natural beauty of this urban village up close and on foot!
• Confident City Cycling Class. Join the Washington Area Bicyclist Association on World Car-Free Day for this free cycling class at 2100 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 913 in Arlington. The class runs from 4 -6:30 pm with an optional one hour on-road riding practice to follow.

Get more information on World Car-Free Day:

• Live or Work in Arlington
• Washington, D.C. Region
• The World
• World Car-Free Day on Facebook
• World Car-Free Day in Arlington on Facebook

Check out these sites (above) frequently as more information about events, activities and more incentives will be posted as it becomes available. We want to make it easy for you to go Car Free (or car-lite) on September 22 and then hope you'll do it more often afterward, as a result.

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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.

Technology Odds and Ends

Do you have an E-ZPass or Smart Tag transponder? What are you doing to protect it? If you are like most people you have simply mounted the device in your front windshield using the Velcro strips provided and left it there. Are you aware that that device is always on and that it is sending out a constant signal? Would you be surprised to know that that information can be hacked?

Security experts are warning that individuals with the right transponder reader can walk through a parking lot and steal the ID number of transponders that are out in the open and visible (that's only partially redundant and repetitive). They can then enter that information into separate devices and use them to go through toll areas with the owner/victim getting the bill. In the event of a crime the owner of the transponder could also end up as a suspect if the toll payments were tracked as part of an investigation as has happened on more than a few occasions. So what can you do about it?

In the San Francisco Bay Area a privacy kit is being manufactured to make their FasTrak devices more secure. The key component is the addition of a "kill switch" that would allow the device to be turned off so no more signals are emitted. That works very well although drivers will have to remember to turn it on when the device is needed. Otherwise you could end up with a long series of nasty-grams from the toll operators who think you are trying to get away without paying up.

Since the kill switch isn't yet available for EZ Pass transponders there is something that you can do; take the mylar pouch in which the device was delivered and put the transponder in it anytime it's not in use.  If you are like me, however, you threw out the mylar pouch as soon as you mounted the thing onto the windshield. Fear not. You could use any mylar pouch that you might have around such as the one that can with that new piece of hardware for your computer. Many of us have more than a few of them in the drawer marked "computer bits and pieces." No? You didn't save those either? Then head to the kitchen and get yourself a six-inch strip of aluminum foil. That piece of foil, wrapped around the transponder and secured at the ends, will thwart the bad guys just fine. The only negative is that you might have to replace it every couple of weeks, depending on frequency of use, because foil tends to tear. By the way, there are some people out there who also wrap their building security and/or SmartTrip cards in foil for all of the same reasons. Me, I like to use the foil to make hats that serve as shields so that the government can't implant signals in my head... but that's a different story for a different website.

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We talked a little while ago about the efforts to create more GPS information for those who walk. A rather lengthy article in the Auguest issue of GPS World magazine (the articles are good but the centerfolds are even better) talked about the efforts and the challenges of improving the accuracy of GPS in a dense urban environment. These companies are very serious about creating usable maps down to the smallest possible area so that they are of use to those on foot or on bikes. The problem is that when they start to discuss navigation algorithm overlays, my head starts to really hurt. The bottom line is that better information is coming because there are people actively working on addressing the problem(s).

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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.