CommuterPageBlog

Not written in stone

Kudos to the Montgomery County Parks Department for coming up with a plan to let bike commuters go through the parks legally in the early morning and late afternoon. The parks are officially closed between dusk and dawn, but for much of the year that's when a lot of commuters have to be out there. We've seen that just not enforcing laws can cause a lot of resentment, so Montgomery County is doing the sensible thing and modifying the law.

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Joe Chapline is web manager for Arlington County Commuter Services

Lose the Spare Tire on Two Wheels

Meet friend and co-worker, William Sands - but you can just call him Bill (everyone else does). He lives and works in Arlington County (bonus points for that). Last year, we decided to hit the scales just to see where we were and get a starting point. Bill weighed in at 176 lbs. I got him interested in running and we would play volleyball occasionally during lunch breaks. But his latest venture is biking to work now that he recently bought a mountain bike back in August. Since hopping on the bike, he has dropped from 167 lbs. down to 155 lbs. in just a few months. [Wow, Bill you're a mad man!] He complements his cycling routine with soccer for a well-rounded workout. Oh, and he does a weekly ride out to Sterling, VA which is no trip to the corner store.

The goods: a 2006 Specialized Hardrock with big knobby tires found on Craigslist for just under $200. Right away, we switched them out for slick tires that are not as wide and have less traction. This reduces rolling resistance and doesn't hold Bill back (he's a speed demon). Since then, Bill has added a few necessary accessories (light, clip-on fenders and bell) to pimp out his ride. And to put his bike to the test, we decided to head out the C&O Canal and kick up some dust. I ride year-round, rain or shine and Bill kept with me every step of the way. We logged 25 miles that day. I think shedding those extra pounds has increased his stamina and he doesn't get winded as easily. Way to go Bill - see you on the trail!

Safety, meet fashion.

A friend of mine who is aware of my inner bike nerd (though since working at Arlington, that's become less of a secret) just sent me this link, which features Cordarounds, a company that makes pants with an reflective interior. When you flip your cuffs up and pull your pockets inside out, the reflective lining adds to your visibility on a bike at night.  Thus, you can bike home from work after Daylight Savings Time ends and just flip the cuffs up instead of donning a dorky-looking safety vest.  Very cycle chic.  They also make a reversible reflective smoking jacket, which I kind of love for its dapperness (dapperosity?).

The $90 price tag is a bit much for a pair of pants, dual-purpose as they are (though there are some in the sale section for more reasonable prices).  For the DIY-er, you can buy reflective tape and fabric online and just add it to the insides of your existing cuffs (and the back of your rear basket, and your messenger bag and your jackets...)

Now that it's getting dark earlier and earlier, even if you don't have fancy reflective clothing, be sure to outfit your bike with a bright front and rear light set.  Be safe out there!

Melissa Esposito is the Car-Sharing and Bike-Sharing Program Coordinator for Arlington County and has no fancy reflective clothing to ride in -- yet.

The Invisible/Virtual Tunnel - Now Even More Invisible?

If you're following my series of posts recommending immediate implementation of a "virtual tunnel" between the Farragut stations (1st post, 2nd post), you will be dismayed by this piece of news I read in the Washington Post yesterday: SmarTrip Upgrades Pushed to 2010.

As mentioned in my last post, in a conversation with a Metro employee, I was informed that the upgrades to the SmarTrip cards would include the capability to provide for many improved features, including these kinds of transfers (BTW - another potential tunnel that has been studied is between Metro Center and Gallery Place, which would also be a candidate for a virtual tunnel).

According to the Post, the software vendor, Cubic Transportation Systems, has missed deadlines and run over budgets and basically screwed this whole process up pretty badly.  Evidently, Cubic has been WMATA's fare technology vendor for the entire history of the agency (and apparently has gotten fat and happy and stopped worrying about satisfying their client).  Might be time to inject some competition.

Back to the point of these posts, though.  Given this new delay (and who knows if deadlines will be missed again), I could probably dig the tunnel myself with a shovel and a pick before the software upgrades are completed.  I'm of the understanding that the current SmarTrip cards and farecards can accommodate the minor software change to allow for the virtual tunnel to be implemented now.  Why not ask Cubic to make this simple change as a small concession for their inability to deliver the other upgrades on time and on budget?  I think Metro could and should request it.  What do you say, Mr. Catoe?  Or maybe the new SmarTrip card director, Cyndi Zieman, can take the initiative to get it done herself.

Stay tuned!  I tested the transfer personally and will relate my experience in my next post.
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Steve Offutt lives in Arlington and owns a pick and shovel
(Shout out to Greater Greater Washington for picking up on my posts)

My vote counts!

Easy-peasy! I voted absentee today! Since I have a meeting that takes me out of Arlington on Nov. 4, I qualified to vote absentee.

I voted absentee "in person," which meant that I checked in, used the regular voting machines, and got my "I voted" sticker. The only difference: no waiting and no lines!

You may qualify to vote absentee as well! Absentee voting-in-person began Sept. 22 and continues to Nov. 1. (You can also do it by mail.) You can check out the Arlington Election 2008 Survival Guide for more info. And, despite some INCORRECT rumors to the contrary, EVERY VOTE counts.

So, if you can, vote absentee and avoid the lines, avoid the traffic, avoid the stress! Easy-peasy!

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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.

Transit information appearing on Google Maps

There's been a lot of buzz about Google Transit and Google walking directions in recent months. Google Transit is a feature of Google Maps that allows you to get public transportation options when you ask for trip directions, just as you've been able to get driving directions for years. Of course, the transit system data has to be in the system, and so transit directions aren't available everywhere. That data is being added, city by city. Some of the earliest adopters were small cities with relatively simple transit systems. Yesterday, New York City announced the launch of Google Transit for the busiest transit system in the U.S. Efforts are underway here in the D.C. area to get this up and running. It's a complicated task involving many transportation agencies in many jurisdictions, so best of luck to everyone working on that.

Google walking directions have been discussed in this blog. It's the same sort of thing, providing directions for getting somewhere on foot. This goes hand-in-hand with Google Transit, because you usually need to do some walking at the beginning and end of transit trips. When you ask for directions, whatever mode you choose, Google maps generates a map of your route. I saw an early, draft version of Google Transit for this area, and the walking parts were displayed as superman-like leaps, because the walking information wasn't in there yet.

A  limitation of Google Transit is that it operates within the trip planner, or "Get Directions" function of Google Maps. It only provides transit information between two specific points. You can't make it show you a transit system map, or a particular bus or rail line. So the transit aspect of the mapping system is much more limited than the driving aspect. If you're planning a driving trip, or just looking at a map, the entire road system is visible. If you're planning a transit trip, you only see the part of the transit system that's part of the trip. If you're just looking at a map, transit routes are invisible.

But I recently noticed that they're not completely invisible. Rail stations and even bus stops are now showing up on Google Maps. They're part of the base map -- you don't have to do anything special to see them (except zoom in pretty close). In the D.C. area, Metrorail and Amtrak stations are on there. They're clickable, but there's not much information. The Amtrak icons provide the name of the station and a link to Amtrak. The Metrorail icons provide the name of the station, the Metro lines serving the station, and a link to WMATA.

But here's the good part. Yesterday I noticed icons for MTA commuter buses on a D.C. map I was looking at. Clicking those icons showed the stop name/location, the bus lines serving the stop, and the next scheduled arrival times for buses at that stop. Wow. That's pretty good. I looked into it further, and found out that MTA (Maryland Transit Administration) has data for their system in Google Transit. MTA operates MARC commuter rail and Baltimore's local bus and light rail systems. And now stops for all of those systems are showing up on Google Maps, all with the next scheduled arrival times. If you look in the area served by the local bus system (Baltimore) you can see every single bus stop, with the bus lines serving the stop and next arrival times. And all of this information is available to anyone looking at Google Maps -- it's not a special transit view.

I'm pretty sure that all of this data must be coming from Google Transit. If that's the case, then when D.C. area transit systems are ready to launch on Google Transit, we may start seeing similar information on Google Maps. I'll try to find out. If anyone has more information, please comment.

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Joe Chapline is web manager for Arlington County Commuter Services

Here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo-moo..

As a bicyclist, I feel so lucky to be living in the National Capital Region! I have been enjoying riding the trails and bike lanes, as well as biking to errands and meetings. This past weekend, we biked through farm country, just a short drive away.

Our trip took us to Thurmont, Maryland, near Camp David. There, we embarked on a 25-mile circuit that included three beautiful covered bridges and a number of historic structures, many dating from the Civil War -- including an old foundry that supplied the shells for Yorktown.

We rode paved country roads that are very quiet and peaceful -- past crops, cows, sheep, goats, even an emu (I think). At one point I said, "I wish I could see a llama," and lo and behold, I saw 2 llamas! (So next I said, "I wish I could see one million dollars in small unmarked bills in a suitcase." Alas, no luck.) We EARNED our trip to the enormous buffet at Thurmont's historic Cozy Inn.

Our companion was the guidebook, "25 Bicycle Tours in and around Washington, D.C.: From National Monuments to Country Roads." My teammate Tracy recommended it and we have found it to be very helpful, with great ideas and advice.

My advice to you? Ya gotta get out there! We're surrounded by wonderful treasures -- both urban and country -- and by seeing them by bike (vs. car), you can enjoy a much richer experience. You can smell the aromas, say 'hi' to the emu who wanders over, and appreciate the beautiful stonework in an early 1800's building. And you can be totally guilt-free at the all-you-can-eat buffet!

P.S. My thanks to the very nice bicyclists who stopped to help us with Bob's rear brake problem. Folks in the bicycle community around here are the BEST!

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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.

Business Benefits of Transportation Services

In a recent blog I wrote about research findings indicating that Arlington’s business leaders consider Arlington’s transportation system and services to be the number one reason to locate a business in Arlington.  Today, I would like to go into some of the specific ways these business leaders say Arlington’s transportation services benefit their companies.

Having many transportation options plus transportation assistance services to help people understand and use these options has a positive impact on people’s ability to get to work and also affects the ability of companies to access customers, to get goods and so forth.  Arlington’s many transportation options and services make the commute less stressful on people and also reduce congestion on Arlington’s streets, thus aiding the flow of street traffic for customers and service vehicles as well. 

As the chart below clearly shows, this translates into many advantages for companies; and business leaders know that!  This results not only from a good location in Arlington, but also from the County’s commuting services that help companies and their employees find easier, cheaper ways to get to work.  This free assistance is provided to employers by Arlington Transportation Partners.

As we look at the list of business benefits enumerated in the chart:  employee recruitment and retention, customer access, employee morale and productivity, and so on, it is clear these are all things that are central to business viability and profitability.  It is no wonder that business leaders consider Arlington’s transportation system and services the number one reason to locate in Arlington.  Not to be cliché, but this is obviously a win-win for employees, employers, and the community as a whole.  The folks at Arlington County Commuter Services who provide these assistance services make a strategic difference in the life of our community, so check them out and take advantage of what they offer, compliments of Arlington County.

Howard Jennings is Manager of Research and Development for Arlington Transportation Partners.  Depending on the day, he teleworks, or walks or rides the bus to Metrorail to get to work.

Happy World Car-Free Day! Now Go Out And Eliminate a Car Trip

Happy World Car-Free Day for Monday, September 22. We urge everyone to go car-free or car-lite for the day. And Happy Try Transit Week too. You can get everything from free rides on transit, free T-shirts or books, chances to win ipods, free transit for a year and discounts at local restaurants and retail shops all for just taking the challenge at a few different web sites. There's even a Metro sponsored You Tube World Car-Free Day video contest you can enter. In the process we hope you'll find that you can occasionally replace a car trip with a walking, biking or transit trip. Maybe even telework. And we've got plenty of resources to help you find just the right way to replace that car trip too. Here's a summary breakdown of some places to get you started:

• World Car-Free Day Metro DC
• Arlington's Car-Free Diet World Car-Free Day (events and free stuff)
• Arlington's Car-Free Diet World Car-Free Day retail and restaurant discounts at over 20 places
• Arlington's Car-Free Diet Calculator (find out how much money you'll save, calories you'll burn and CO2 emissions you'll save with each trip when you leave the car behind)
• Metro's World Car-Free Day Video Contest
• Try Transit Week (win a year's worth of free transit)
• Car-Lite - Try Commuter Connections Ridematching Service
• THE website with ALL the options for the D.C. region - CommuterPage.com
• In person help with real people at The Commuter Store with four locations and one Mobile unit
• Tickets, tokens, passes and now help with your SmartBenefits at CommuterDirect.com
• And help for your employer. Many companies provide their employees with a transit/vanpool benefit, carpool and biking incentives, telework and flexwork policies and much much more. If your employer needs help starting a commuter benefit program or needs to do more, Arlington Transportation Partners can help.

Happy World Car-Free Day and we hope to see you in Clarendon on Monday evening for the WalkAbout.

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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

Transit and Density and Why Washington Might Be Different

I'm told that transit and TDM fans should read Think Progress' Matthew Yglesias blog because he's a Washingtonian and often talks about transportation issues even though it's largely a political blog. A post yesterday (Transit and Density, September 19, ,2008) is one of the reasons why. He found a cool chart from Greater Greater Washington (another good blog) that is copied here that examines a city's population use versus a city's population density in terms of thousands of people per square mile.

What makes this interesting is that Washington, D.C. is an outlier in that the City's transit use is higher than it's density would seem to indicate. Why? Theories abound in the comments section of the post. Join the fun.

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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