CommuterPageBlog

"Farragut Crossing" free transfer now available

As of Saturday, October 29, Metro passengers may transfer between the Farragut stations and only be charged a single fare. Hooray!  Finally!

I don't know if I should claim any credit for this finally happening, but I have been fairly vocal about it for a long time on several forums.   Here's the first line from my original post below:

"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."

That was August 30, 2008, 38 months ago.  I'm glad to see it finally happened, but it's a bit discouraging to see that a no-brainer idea like this one can take so long.  Imagine how long something expensive or contentious would take. For history buffs, here's a comprehensive listing of all my posts and some other relevant links.

• Build the Invisible Tunnel (Aug. 30, 2008) (picked up on GGW's breakfast links) (cross-posted on CommuterPage.com) (commented on by Steve Eldridge's Sprawl & Crawl)
• More of the Invisible Tunnel (Sep. 15, 2008) (picked up on GGW's breakfast links) (cross-posted on CommuterPage.com)
• The Invisible Tunnel - Now Even More Invisible (Sep. 24, 2008)
• Testing the Invisible Tunnel (Oct. 8, 2008) (cross-posted on Greater Greater Washington) (cross-posted on CommuterPage.com)
• Metro's Response to Latest Invisible Tunnel Query (June 30, 2010) (cross-posted on GGW)
• WMATA readying software for Farragut "Virtual Tunnel" (Dec.11, 2010 on GGW)(cross-posted on CommuterPage.com)
• Farragut "Virtual Tunnel" Close to Reality (July 22, 2011) (cross-posted on CommuterPage.com)

Enjoy!   Give it a try and let us know how it works.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington, has been promoting the free transfer for more than three years.

I-66 Survey For Those Who Drive, Bike, Bus, Walk & Metro!

The Virginia Department of Transportation and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation are conducting a public survey asking for input from those who travel along the I-66 corridor.

The survey is part of VDOT's effort to reduce traffic along the stretch of I-66 inside the beltway.  The hope is that through this multimodal study, VDOT can find other alternatives to driving and constructing more lanes.

To take the survey, click here.

 BikeArlington is an initiative of Arlington County, Virginia to encourage and enable more people to go by bike more often. To stay up to date on biking in Arlington, follow BikeArlington on Twitter or visit the Washington Area Bike Forum.I-66

 

Weekend Planning 101

Make plans with friends on facebook. Check

Research venue/place on facebook. Check

Reserve a car on facebook. Check

Huh!? You read that last check right. Zipcar is launching a new facebook application where members can reserve their car through Facebook. The app is currently in beta version for testing. As a Zipcar member, you can test the new app and provide feedback to the company directly through Facebook. “Reserve a Zipcar” is available to anyone with a Facebook account. Facebook users who do not yet have a Zipcar account can still use the application to find car locations or join Zipcar. Click here to read more.

Pinky Advani is a Business Development Manager with Arlington Transportation Partners.

 

And they get smarter again! School kids riding more bikes

Twice in the past (here and here) I reported on the bikes that were parked in the racks at Swanson Middle School in Arlington.  Two years ago there were thirteen.  Last year there were eighteen, and they had expanded the racks.  This year on bike-to-school day there were twenty-one, and as you can see in the photos below, they are just about out of room in the bike racks again.  One rider's bike is parked on a nearby tree.

It's great to see more and more school kids riding bikes to school (and some staff, too).  There are about 800 students and staff at Swanson, so these bikes represent 2-3% of the total population.

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Steve Offutt is a member of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee

Lights for Bikes Giveaway!

The air is cooling and the leaves are changing colors...this can only mean one thing - fall is here! 

This means that it's time to bust out our cool weather biking gear - gloves, boots, wool socks, shoe covers, jackets, etc., etc.  But most importantly, biking in the fall means the start to our morning and evening commutes in the dark.

This biker needs some lights!

Daylight savings time this year falls on November 6th which means the sun will be rising at 6:30am and setting at 5:00pm (only to rise later and set earlier into the winter).  Since we know what it's like to ride in the dark, BikeArlington wants to make sure you are safe and visible to other bikers, pedestrians and cars!  So on Monday, November 7th, we'll be camping out at the Custis & Mount Vernon Trails (Lynn St and Lee Highway intersection) at 5:00pm handing out FREE BikeArlington frog lights - both front and tail lights!

So if you're in the area, or if you don't have any lights, please stop on by to pick up your FREE bike lights!!

 

 

 

 

BikeArlington is an initiative of Arlington County, Virginia to encourage and enable more people to go by bike more often. To stay up to date on biking in Arlington, follow BikeArlington on Twitter or visit the Washington Area Bike Forum.

Be Safe and Be Seen on Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner and the area’s little vampires and witches are gearing up to go trick-or-treating.  Now is the perfect time for parents to review walking safety tips with their kids -- before the night of fun begins.

According to Safe Kids, on average, twice as many child pedestrians are killed while walking on Halloween compared to other days of the year. New Safe Kids research shows that only one third of parents talk to their children annually about Halloween safety.

Don’t take any chances this Halloween.  Check out these tips, compiled to help prepare your children to behave safely and to remind drivers to take extra precautions this Halloween:

Tips for Parents and Children

Do a costume check. Can the child walk easily in the outfit? Make sure the masks or head gear allow the children to see clearly what is around them.

Think visibility. Wear bright colors, use retro reflective materials. Hold a flashlight while trick-or-treating to help you see and others see you.

Choose the safest routes to walk.

• Pick places where there are sidewalks or paths separated from traffic if possible.
• Look for well-lit streets with slow traffic.
• Remind children to watch for cars turning into or pulling out of driveways.

Plan how to cross streets.

• Avoid crossing busy, high-speed or multi-lane roads.
• Limit the number of street crossings.
• Give children exiting the street room to enter the sidewalk area.

Review crossing safety rules with children. Tell them to:

• Always look for cars for yourself – even when adults are also looking.
• Stop at the curb and look left, right and left again for traffic.
• Wait until no traffic is coming and begin crossing. Keep looking for traffic until you have finished crossing.
• When crossing the street at an intersection, obey traffic signs and signals and double-check to see if cars are coming.
• Look left, right and left and then behind you and in front of you for turning cars.
• Walk, don’t run across the street.

Always WALK and don't run from house to house.

Choose homes that welcome Halloween visitors. Look for lights on, well-lit driveways, and walkways or paths to the front door.

Reminders for Motorists

Anticipate heavy pedestrian traffic and turn your headlights on early in the day so you can spot children from greater distances. 

Drive slowly through residential streets and areas where you might expect to see pedestrians trick-or-treating.

Watch for children in dark clothing.  Remember that costumes can limit children’s visibility and that they may not be able to see your vehicle. 

Watch for children darting out from between parked cars. 

Watch for children walking on roadways, medians, and curbs.

Enter and exit driveways and alleys carefully.

Reduce any distractions inside your car so you can concentrate on the road and your surroundings.

For Everyone

Don’t eat all of your Halloween candy in one night!

For walking safety and other healthy living tips on Halloween and all year long, visit WalkArlington.com or check us out on Facebook!

Trick or Treat!
 
WalkArlington, an initiative of Arlington County Commuter Services within the Department of Environmental Services, gets "more people walking more of the time" by promoting the health, environmental, community-building, and commuting benefits of walking.

Only in Arlington

I'll let the picture speak for itself.

This is not the only anomaly like this.  There's 26th/31st St. N, 23 Rd. S intersects with 26th St. S., 25th St. N intersects with 26th Rd. N.  I'm sure you have your favorites, too.  Feel free to share.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington

Who's in charge of the signs? And how old before they are removed?

I've noted a couple of signs in Northern Virginia that indicate the way to Dulles Airport.  One is on Route 50 in Arlington just past the Courthouse exit at the 10th St. exit.  The other is on Little River Turnpike between Braddock Road and Old Columbia Pike. 

View Dulles Airport signs in a larger map

Here's what they look like:   

This is the sign on Route 50 in Arlington.

Here's its location.  You can see the 10th St. exit sign that is in the median.

Here's the one on Little River Turnpike.

The existence of these signs raises a number of questions:

• Who owns them?
• How long have they been there?
• Why are they still there?
• What purpose do they serve?

I suspect these signs date from before I-66 was built, since no one would take Route 50 to get to Dulles with I-66 available.  Also, neither of these--as far as I have noticed--has any follow on signs, so a traveler who noted the sign would never see another one to guide them on their way.  A single directional sign far from its destination without any more to assist the traveler is probably worse than no sign at all.

There may be more of these Dulles airport signs.  Have you seen any?  Where?

Taking a macro view, who is responsible for signage in general?  Once a sign is placed is it ever taken down?  I've seen signs in my neighborhood that have rusted so badly they can barely be read and that are completely outdated.  Signs like these are everywhere, and they just accumulate.

Perhaps every sign should have information on the back of it that tells who owns the sign and who is responsible for it, as well as contact information.  At least that way someone could try to follow up and notify the owner if it gets damaged or becomes obsolete.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington

 

 

Report from the Schoolyard: Walk and Bike to School Day 2011

Students from McKinley Elementary in Arlington enjoyed perfect weather as they walked and biked to school in celebration of Walk and Bike to School Day 2011 last week.  Arlington County Board Chair Chris Zimmerman and Vice-Chair Mary Hynes as well as Arlington School Board Member Libby Garvey and Superintendent Pat Murphy greeted nearly 600 students as they entered the school grounds.  Students and teachers celebrated the day by performing their version of a pedestrian “Safety Dance” before entering their classrooms, right on schedule.  When the McKinley students arrived in their classrooms, they received an array of games, puzzles, and kid-friendly safety resources on walking and biking from WalkArlington and BikeArlington.

    
  
  




 

 

Metro Wants to Hear from You!

On October 11, 12 and 13, Metro will be holding a series of public hearings regarding plans to adjust bus service to provide customers with more reliable, efficient and cost-effective service and to provide additional capacity where it is most needed. The meetings are a chance to ask Metrobus personnel questions about the proposed changes to 39 bus lines in DC, Maryland and Virginia and voice your opinion. Possible changes include eliminating or restructuring some underperforming Metrobus routes while enhancing service on other routes that tend to be crowded.

Ideas under consideration to improve and enhance bus service include:

• Updating schedules to reflect road conditions and traffic patterns
• Increasing the frequency of bus departures in high-demand corridors
• Extending select routes to improve connectivity and access to local destinations
• Realigning underperforming routes to maximize seats available to customers

More information about the proposed changes can be found at wmata.com/hearings. Changes would not be implemented earlier than mid-2012.

For all meetings, an open house will begin at 6 pm, followed by the public hearings at 6:30 pm at the following locations:

Tuesday, October 11
Department of Housing and Community Development
1800 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE
Washington, DC

Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School
7130 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA

Wednesday, October 12
First United Methodist Church
6201 Belcrest Rd
Hyattsville, MD

Thursday, October 13
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church
1830 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC

Fairlington Rec Center -- Room 134
3308 South Stafford St.
Arlington, VA