CommuterPageBlog

Skinny Tuesday

A spirited group of bicyclists, including bicycle repairfolk-in-training from Phoenix Bikes, rode together as BikeArlington in the Clarendon Alliance's Mardi Gras Parade this week, showing the onlookers how diverse bicycle transportation options can be. 

The front-mounted child seat, pictured here, seems to be popular in Europe and Asia as a way to haul kids around, but I don't often see it in the United States.  It seems to be infinitely more convenient than putting a child behind you where you can't see them, and you get to chat with each other on your way home from daycare or the grocery store.

The Strida in the background of this picture folds up in a way that lets you roll it onto public transportation.  It takes up no more of a footprint than those rolling briefcases do on the Metro (and your fellow passengers will actually be able to see this one before almost tripping over it, which cannot be said for the latter).  It's a great "last mile" solution, and can be brought upstairs to one's office, too.  (Plus, look at how visible those reflective tire walls are!)

The bike pictured below might not be the most practical for storing or for hauling anything, but it certainly would make other vehicles aware of its presence!  Add a flashing light to the top of the globe, and it's set as far as visibility goes.  The wizards at Phonix Bikes certainly could make you an eye-catching ride, if you have an equally excellent idea.

Whatever bike you have, outfit it for your specific needs.  Don't let anyone else dictate what you should or shouldn't have on your bicycle.  You'll be more likely to use it if it's actually convenient for you -- and more bike riding means a skinnier Tuesday (and Wednesday and Thursday and...) for all. 

Melissa Esposito is the Car-Sharing and Bike-Sharing Program Coordinator for Arlington County.

Studying the Studies

A recent study by a Seattle company seems to indicate that things are not so bad on Washington area roads. Those good folks probably need to spend less time in front of their computer screens and less time in their local coffee shops and more time actually driving around here if they want to get the real 411. In fact, the website InsideNoVa.com reports of the list: "There are also no segments of road in the Washington area listed in the nation’s top 100 worst congested bottlenecks. The worst bottleneck in the area, according to this study, was the Interstate 395-George Washington Memorial Parkway intersection in Arlington at No. 176."  Of course, Interstate 395 and the George Washington Memorial Parkway do not intersect, they meet at an interchange and the real culprit of the bottleneck is the 14th Street Bridge.

In this study, called The INRIX National Traffic Scorecard, the Washington metro region moved down from fourth in 2007 to fifth in 2008. The cities with congestion worse than ours are Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This is where the studies that rank regional congestion differ.  For years, Washington has been in the top three worst on the Texas Transportation Institute’s list. Because of the way that group measures congestion New York City never makes the list even though anyone who's been bold enough to get behind the wheel or into a cab or onto a bus in Manhattan knows the special hell that awaits them. The Texas study measures distance of congestion and also time lost which are the things that most of us really care about when stuck in traffic. Besides, how can an area whose worst bottleneck comes in at number 176 also be in the top five of worst congestion?

It's always said that studies can become what you want them to. From the consumer standpoint it's probably just better to go with what you think and feel when you’re sitting in some traffic jam. The studies are best left to the planners and the beancounters to scour.

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So you make it into the District and now it's time to park. Don't forget that the District is raising its rates for parking at meters and it’s not any small thing either. The city says that most rates will rise by 25 cents per hour but several will go up a lot more than that. For example, parking meters that previously charged a rate of $1.00 per hour will now charge $2.00 per hour. The rate at all other parking meters in the District will increase by 25 cents per hour.  For example, if it previously cost 25 cents to park at a meter for one hour, the rate at that meter will now be 50 cents per hour.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is in the process of updating the 15,453 meters in the District to reflect the rate increases. All of the meters are expected to be updated by April 30th of this year.

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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.

Some Giveth and Some Taketh Away

The month of March is going to be a big one for local commuters and it's not just because my birthday falls on one of its 31 days. It's because the transit benefit is increasing as reported by local transit agency, WMATA: "Employers and employees will see the transit benefit allowance increase to $230 a month beginning March 1, thanks to the recently-enacted economic stimulus package that raises the tax-free or pre-tax transit benefit for workers from $120 a month.

"The new federal legislation enables employers to offer their employees up to $230 a month, or $2,760 a year, in public transportation benefits, or allows an employee to receive the transit benefit as a pre-tax payroll deduction, or some combination of the two."

On the other side, as this website has been reporting for some time, paper Metrocheks have been discontinued and are being replaced with the SmartBenefits® program. SmartBenefits allows employers to apply commuting benefits to their employees' SmarTrip® cards instead of distributing paper vouchers. Employees can buy fares for transit systems that don't accept SmarTrip, such as MARC and VRE, through CommuterDirect.com or at Arlington's Commuter Stores. 

But most area transit providers do accept SmarTrip cards, including:

• Metro
• ART - Arlington Transit
• CUE - Fairfax City
• DASH - Alexandria Transit Company
• DC Circulator
• Fairfax Connector
• GEORGE Bus, Falls Church
• Loudoun Commuter Bus Service
• Martz/National Coach
• PRTC - Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park
• Ride On - Montgomery County
• TheBus - Prince George's County

Most of these systems have also eliminated paper transfers. Riders using SmarTrip cards automatically get discounted transfer fares. This is the culmination of many years' efforts to come up with a regional pass card.

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The Obama administration seems to be having some internal disagreements about whether or not to implement a GPS-based method of taxing drivers based on how far they drive. This would replace the gasoline tax that most agree does not provide enough revenue to repair or replace or build that which is needed. According to Channel 9, (Federal Transportation Secretary Ray) "Lahoud says the gas taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can't be counted on to raise enough money anymore. So maybe it's time to look at a VMT or vehicle miles traveled tax."

Others representing President Obama have said that this won't happen.The "problem" is that the gasoline tax hasn't been raised in many years and just hasn't kept up with demands being put on the transportation trust fund. There are those who argue that the GPS system of tracking miles will be more fair for those who have purchased hybrids or other vehicles that get good gas mileage. Truth is that the gas tax does a very good job of equalizing what people pay; if you drive a Hummer that gets 10 miles a gallon you are going to buy a lot more gas than the person driving a Prius that gets 35 miles a gallon and that means a lot more contributions to the transportation trust fund.

A proposal in Massachusetts to track mileage via GPS devices is not being received very well. Some of the responses are like this one that AAA-Mid-Atlantic's Lon Anderson gave to Channel 9: "Do we want instruments on cars that will be able to track us and be able to know exactly where we are, where we've been, what time? That's a lot of big brotherism that I'm not sure the American public is ready to buy off on."

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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.

Equality At Last

As we all wait anxiously at our mailboxes for our next round of stimulus checks to come to the rescue (don't forget to SPEND it this time) I have been informed of another reason why I should like this bill. For the first time pre-tax transportation benefits, transit and vanpool are on equal playing fields with those who drive to work and park.

Being new to the region, one of the things I was looking forward to was living in a city that had decent transit and trains. Soon I realized that due to my attraction to transit I also needed to add value to my Smarttrip card constantly and when does someone really have time for those lines? I'm still trying to figure out if I can purchase fares online without purchasing a fare card and have it load the next time I approach a vending machine - but I digress. Back to the new bill.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment ACT of 2009 will provide a bundle of savings and unprecedented tax savings for transit and vanpool riders. The new stimulus bill, signed into law on February 17 by President Obama, included a provision that will increase the monthly pre-tax transit and vanpool benefit amount allowable to employees by their employers. As of February 17, 2009, employers can provide employees with up to $230 in pre-tax dollars for transit and vanpool use to and from the work site. For those of you who don't know, the new act nearly doubles the tax-free transit and vanpool benefit amount from January 1, 2009 which set the limit at $120. This is good for me since my current commute is over the $120 monthly limit.

Of course, the new bill is not going to entice everyone to leave their cars at home and start using transit or vanpooling, nor would I want to share MY train with all of those new riders, but it's more about making it a comparable alternative. The new provision is set to expire on January 1, 2011, but like most things approved by Congress, once the people get it, it's hard to take away. It is expected that Congress will make the increase permanent. If your companies offer pre-tax benefits, make sure they are taking full advantage - if not, what better time to start than now!

Wendy Duren is a Manager of Business Development at Arlington Transportation Partners, and commutes with Metrorail daily.

Are They Walking the Walk or Just Talking a Good Game?

It’s hard not to call it hypocrisy but reading Lena Sun’s article in the Washington Post on Sunday was a real eye-opener. I mean, how in the world can people who sit on the board of directors admit that they never or rarely make use of the nation’s second-largest transit system? How can they make comments that it’s inconvenient to their schedules?

Some of these are the same board members who pushed former General Manager, CEO Dick White out of office. One of their reasons was that he preferred to drive the SUV that Metro leased for him more than he rode the system and that he only road the system when press attention demanded it. Flash forward a few years and long-time board member and current chairman, Jim Graham, is telling the Washington Post that he intends to start riding Metro to board meetings. He might be surprised to learn that there are not one, but two Metro stops (Gallery Place-Chinatown-Verizon Center and Judiciary Square) within a short walk to Metro’s headquarters building. That means no longer driving the little orangish VW Bug with the fake flower in the car’s bud vase on the dash to get to the meetings. Of course, Graham, like so many other board members forgot or didn’t know that he was supposed to pay to park in the garage under the Metro building. It doesn’t cost much but, as he and the others should know, one of the other perks of board membership is that they can ride the rails or the buses for free. Of course, that makes it more difficult for them to relate to what regular passengers experience when the fares go up.

These board members get passes for free rides on Metro bus and rail and some of them aren’t using the system. It’s really amazing that these are the people in charge of overseeing what goes on. They might have a better appreciation for what passengers want and need if they would ride more frequently. They might be able to see the cracks in the walls where water has leaked through. They might experience the difference in the hurky-jerky ride when the operators do the job instead of the train’s internal braking system. They might be able to see the way that the bus drivers interact with the passengers and smell those wonderful smells. They might get to see the homeless guys sleeping in the back row and have a chance to pick up some of the newspapers that have been left behind. They might actually become a part of the whole world that they oversee without, to this point, ever knowing.

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A couple of local rail and transit organizations are singing the praises of the economic recovery plan. Ross Capon, President of the National Association of Railroad Passengers said: "President Obama and the U.S. Congress deserve high praise for producing legislation that—by properly recognizing the value of passenger and freight trains—finally begins to move transportation policy in a genuinely new direction. With passenger rail a conspicuous beneficiary of the House-Senate conference, we are especially pleased to acknowledge reports that this was partly due to the personal involvement of President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.”

William Millar, President of the American Public Transportation Association highlighted just what is in the plan for transit: "The economic recovery legislation provides $8.4 billion for investments in public transportation projects.

"Of the $8.4 billion provided for public transit, $6.9 billion will be distributed to public transit systems through the Federal Transit Administration’s formula program that is already in place. The remaining $1.5 billion will be available as grants for new major projects and modernizing the nation’s urban rail systems.

"The legislation also includes for the first time, a significant investment of $9.3 billion for intercity passenger rail, including $8 billion for high speed rail corridors and $1.3 billion for Amtrak. Additionally, there is $1.5 billion for a new, intermodal discretionary program that can be used for public transportation, highways, bridges, freight rail, and ports. Separately, an additional $150 million for rail and transit security grants is provided to help make our public transportation systems more secure."

Millar added: "We are very pleased that Congress, for the first time, has made the transit commute benefit equal to the parking benefit, which is currently $230 per month.  This action will provide a tax-free way for employers to encourage their employees to use energy-efficient, fuel-saving public transportation."

Now all they have to do is raise the gas tax in order to pay for it.

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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.

Friending Metro

As is frequently the case over the past couple of decades the internet and the cyber world have created a number of new verbs, adjectives and nouns. Words like "texting" and "hyperlink" and "clicking" and "email" and "friending" and the rest of this special lexicon are part of a somewhat specialized world. Now, it's possible for those on the social networking site Facebook to have a relationship with Metro or its overview agency, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority or WMATA. It's really just sort of a hip(per) way for Metro passengers to communicate with the agency. These are the passengers that may not listen to or watch the news and may not read the newspaper to get the latest on what's going on at the agency.

The page is overseen by Metro passengers representing various stations and lines. It contains things like an overview of the company and a weird but interesting video that tries to make a case for why the funding subsidies from the local member jurisdictions need to be increased. Members are invited to make suggestions and to file complaints. Many of the recent postings deal with service cuts and funding. A recent post said: "Metro needs to extend its hrs on weekdays!! I understand staying open 24hrs is impossible due to needing time for maintenance (Metro was not built with a 3rd track like the NYC Subway). They complain about not having enough money well extending there hrs on weeknights (as they do on Fri-Saturday night until 2-3 am) will only increase ridership thus giving the system more money plus it helps out people who may be out late on a weeknight past midnight when the system closes now on weeknights!!"

This group seems to attract a broad membership with a lot of issues and ideas. I hope that the folks at Metro pay attention. I would note that a number of current and former Metro employees are members of the group so, if they check their Facebook accounts, they should be able to get a real sense of what this particular ridership group is thinking. They might also be able to pick some interesting ideas on ways to make the system more efficient. By the way, at least according to many of the posts on this group site, this audience does not seem to object to being exposed to more advertising on the platforms and on the trains and buses if it will help mitigate the fiscal crisis.

If you're not a fan of Metro or if you take a more jaundiced view of the agency then there is another Facebook page that might be more your brand of vodka. The group "Dear Metro, Stop Making Me Hate You" is, as the name suggests, a little angrier. The mission statement of the group though offers an olive branch: "It's time that Metro stops taking loyal riders for granted. This group allows fellow Metro riders to vent, cojole, complain and keep tabs on Metro. Hopefully, Metro cares about what we think. We really want to love you again."

The type of complaints that are common to this group are like this filed the other day [typos and grammar not corrected]: "I was waiting at crouded gallery place again for the red line, and when the train arrived and the doors open, they stayed open for two seconds not even allowing passengers to get off let alone get on. But the messed up part about it was there was no WARNING of the doors closeing, no chime, no voice saying step back, it just closed on people ugh."

I would note that more than a few of the members of this group offer suggestions that are well considered and actually worthwhile. It's not just about bashing the system but trying to point out shortcomings that can be improved without breaking the back any more than it already is.

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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.

Stupidest Bike Lane

I recently came across this video, even though it was made last year.  It's a fun one of bad bike lanes.  The winner was in Silver Spring!  After seeing the video, I thought I would nominate one of my own:

Ever since I have moved to the DC area, I have loved this sign on the Roosevelt Bridge, but I've never gotten a photo of it.  The way I was able to get this photo was because the Roosevelt Bridge was closed to automobile traffic for the pre-inauguration concert on Sunday, January 18, and I was walking across the bridge to get there.  There is actually no way to reach this "Beginning" of the bike route from Virginia.  It is located on the downstream side of the bridge about where the bridge starts to cross Roosevelt Island itself.  Below I have attached a satellite photo that shows where the sign is and the "beginning" of the potential route--smack in the middle of a grove of trees positioned inside a tangle of highways (click on photos for larger view).

I guess if you are used to starting your bike rides via helicopter drop, then this would work for you!

Good luck!!
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Steve Offutt, Arlington

The First Cut is the Deepest

For many years I attended the meetings of Metro's various committees and of the full board. Frankly I found it to be great theatre to watch some of the truly skilled actors of the board and from the agency do battle. There were always a few that were better prepared than the others or those who knew how to use Rogers Rules of Order to their advantage or those who were just plain scrappy. Some of those who were particularly skilled in one way or another are no longer on the board. Members like David Catania or Gladys Mack from the District or Bob Smith from Maryland or Dana Kaufman from Virginia could wreak their own kind of havoc on a board meeting and seemed to get their way more often than not. There are still several on the board who can do this but, for the sake of discretion and not wanting to irritate any of them (or the jealous others) I will not mention them by name.

There has always seemed to me to be a difference in the way that those who are elected officials and therefore have a constituency to whom they are responsible. They tend to be a bit more intransigent and, at times, unreasonable or demanding. They tend to grandstand more in order to get their point across knowing that there is a table off to the side where a half dozen or so reporters sit from meeting to meeting. It is even worse if there are television cameras there because many of these actors played to the cameras and are very good at it. The one thing that seems not to have changed is that the members of the board are rarely happy with whatever proposals are brought to them when it comes to the high-profile issues. We're talking issues like budget cuts or fare increases or service cuts or doing away with the supply of bottled water for the meetings. They always seem surprised by the proposals made by the staff at the agency and never accept them on first read. Not that they should.

The staff from the agency that runs Metro is generally trying to figure out a way to compromise. They don't want to have to do the tough things like letting hundreds of staffers go. They probably, in their heart of hearts, don't want to cut service because it will weaken their position. The bus operations people and the rail operations people are frequently at odds when it comes to things that might impact the value of their "turf." It's human nature to want to protect that which is yours. The same applies to those board members from the various member jurisdictions. The Maryland representatives will fight to keep anything and everything in terms of service in their state regardless of its value to the whole. The same goes for the Virginia representatives and those from the District. For many of them it's why they are there; to protect and defend the interests of the people who sent them there.

As we all know by now, those who sit on Metro's board are not directly paid to do so except for the one seat from Maryland that had been, at least in the recent past, a very well-paid position appointed by the state's governor (and paid by the state, not by Metro). Other board members have to make do by being paid as elected officials or as employees of the jurisdiction in one way or another. Some sit on the board as political appointees and their payment is in the currency of political favor (whatever that means but it sure sound like something Mr. Blagojevich might like). All are dedicated to what they do and most of them carry the water for their local jurisdictions very well.

When it comes to making the hard decisions and deciding which services or staffers will survive I don't envy any of the board members or the staff at WMATA. But I wish them the best of luck and the power to make the right decisions.  After all, there are a few million people out here waiting to see what will be left when they are done making those tough decisions.

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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.

Looking Around for Ideas

Believe it or not there are a number of transit systems that are in the same or worse condition than our own. Many of them have cancelled service despite the loud cries of protest from riders and potential and wanna be riders. Every state, city and local jurisdiction is having to make some tough choices regarding what it can afford to continue to offer and what it will have to cut. As many of you well know, it's difficult to cut anything, even routes and lines that are not being used much. I remember several years ago when an express bus line was being threatened with closure. This route was a direct line from a suburban location to the corner near a federal office building. Seemed like a winner until it turned out that the route averaged only four passengers on three of the four weekdays it operated and a grand total of six passengers on the other two weekdays. The cost subsidy for this bus service could have paid for a nice stretch limo to drive these folks to work each day. But when time came for the "hard budgetary decisions" these riders and all of the friends that they could convince to join them put up a wailing not heard since the last moments of the city of Babylon. So loud was the protest generated that the route was salvaged for another two years before somebody realized how fiscally irresponsible it was and got it cancelled and consolidated into another, more vibrant, route. The point is that nobody wants to lose what they have even if it's for the betterment of the whole. These are tough times and there are going to be some unhappy people out there. The thing that everyone should remember is that it beats the alternative of shutting everything down because it's gone broke.

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In Los Angeles the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (the former stomping grounds of Metro General Manager John Catoe, Jr.) is replacing paper passes with reusable electronic fare cards for daily use.  Yeah, these sort of sound like our very own SmarTrip cards, except without the picture of President Obama on them.

The Transit Access Pass, or TAP card is meant to replace bus, subway and train passes across all public transit systems in Los Angeles County, according to local television station CBS2. But here's the shocking difference from our own roll out of these types of cards: the Los Angeles system will provide the cards for free to those who don't already have one (no mention of how they track that) when the passengers buy a $5 day pass. This will run until the 11th of April or until supplies run out. After that, the TAP cards will cost customers... wait for it... wait for it... $2 each. That's right, this much small transit system (save for the number of buses) is charging 40% of what Metro is charging for the same thing. By the way, coins and bills will still be accepted on MTA buses and trains even after the roll-out of the TAP cards has been completed. Metro has a dedicated and captive audience that will do anything the agency asks of them and it's still $100 million bucks in the hole... go figure.

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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.

Arlington Releases Bike-sharing Tender

Arlington County has released a Request for Proposals for the operation of the Arlington Bike-sharing Program (RFP #56-09). The tender proposes a unique relationship between a local government and bike-sharing operator. The vendor will be responsible for operating the service, which includes administration, maintaining and distributing bikes, and collecting data. Arlington’s responsibilities will be for marketing the service, finding advertisements for the bikes, and providing some customer care. A pre-bid conference for interested vendors will be held on March 5 and the RFP will close on April 2.

The tender has the vendor purchasing “an off-the-shelf system, if not having a system of its own devise, and operating it for the public’s benefit.” Even just one year ago there weren’t many options for off-the-shelf systems, but now a handful are on the market, including Public Bike System, nextbike, Intrago, Smoove, and B-cycle. Arlington will keep revenues generated from the service, which include the membership and usage fees as well as advertisement revenues. The tender also offers incentives for meeting strict performance standards and fines for not doing so.

Arlington County does not allow on-street advertising with bus shelters, kiosks, billboards, and the like, so it is unable to have a bike-sharing service offered as part of an advertising contract as many cities have done. It is hoping to compensate for this by having advertisements on the bikes, as this form of advertising is legal in the public domain in Arlington, to assist with the financial sustainability of the program.

With the President's Stimulus package signed yesterday, Arlington's bike-sharing program would be an ideal "wrench-ready" project to create jobs and get people moving in the new green 21st Century way.

by Paul DeMaio, BikeArlington