It is totally amazing to me that operators or transit vehicles like buses and rail cars would continue to send texts, or use their cell phones or read a book given all the attention these issues are now receiving. The recent picture of an operator of a bus on Montgomery County's Ride On is particularly disturbing. Now, in the defense of the driver, because the picture is a snap shot and not a video it is not clear whether or not the bus is parked or actually in motion. If it is shown that the driver was reading or even had the book open in front of her while the bus was in motion then the county would be negligent not to dismiss the driver. Again, an operator of a bus that is not paying attention to the road is truly putting all of the passengers at risk. I can see why the operator of a Metrorail train, back in the days when the trains were being operated automatically, might have felt it acceptable to talk on a cell phone although texting, because of the extra attention that requires, is just not smart. These operators who have the lives of dozens of passengers in their control need to make smart decisions.
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For those like me who occasionally jump on the DC Circulator as a good way to get from one end of town to the other the District government has developed a great tool. Honest, the city's IT folks have developed in house a mobile application for the Circulator called 'Where's My Bus?" You sign up for the service via circulator.dc.gov from any Internet-ready mobile device. Where's My Bus? lets riders select a Circulator route and bus stop to find the location of the next bus. You don't have to be standing at the bus stop either. You can get the information in anticipation of when you might actually be there. According to information from the city, the application uses real-time GPS data to provide up-to-the-minute information on all Circulator buses. Tooting their own horn--and who can blame them--the DC Government says it developed the Circulator bus mobile application in house, completing the project remarkably quickly and at minimal cost--it was a joint agency effort to improve the public transit experience using available staff expertise and resources.
As an 'open source' application, any municipality with a similar bus system and real-time GPS data can adapt and implement the application at minimal cost to increase the convenience of using transit and ultimately improve mobility in our urban areas.Let's see; it's taken Metro and Next Bus how many years to work out the "bugs" in their bus location information system?
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The following comes in large part from an Associated Press report: 1,500 drivers in six cities are testing an on-board computer system that taxes motorists based on miles driven rather than fuel taxes paid at the pump. That mileage-based tax is being considered by the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in a $16.5 million study for the U.S. Department of Transportation to determine whether it's a viable option for paying for surface transportation, including roads and railroads, in the future. Currently, motorists pay 18 cents per gallon of fuel to the federal Highway Trust Fund to pay for surface transportation. All states except Alaska also charge a state gas tax. But the tax--the primary source of federal highway program funds--has become less effective in recent years as vehicles get better gas mileage.
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.
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