CommuterPageBlog

Counting Arlington's Biking Boom: 40,000 bikes in May!

ABC7's news spot on biking in Arlington.  (Click to view.)

With ABC7 highlighting some of the technology that is used to count more than 30,000 bicycle and pedestrian trips along the Four Mile Run trail, we wanted to share some of the figures from the counter on the Custis Trail. The counter is located here and has the ability to distinguish between pedestrians and bicyclists by means of infrared and in-ground technology. Furthermore, this 24/7 counter can track the time of day trips are made and breaks the final report down into 15 minute increments. Arlington County's Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner, David Patton, manages the counters and provides us with monthly numbers.

For the month of May there were 40,499 bicycle trips past this section of the Custis Trail and 13,322 pedestrian trips. 2010 is the first full year that these counters have been in place so it is particularly interesting to Arlington County planners to get data on how many trips are made. Check out the chart below which shows daily count:

May 2010, Custis Trail Counts (Click to enlarge)

It is of note that poor weather (cold temperatures, rain, strong winds) is reflected in the four lowest volume days of the month.  Also, May 21st was Bike to Work Day and was by far the heaviest day of the month.  

For further reading on bike counting technology in Arlington and other parts of the country, including a few quotes from Arlington's own David Patton, take a look at a USA Today article from last month.

 *EDIT - we're not quite ready to release the raw data as it is.  There are a few adjustment factors that need to be incorporated. According to David Patton, "The adjustment factor(s) have to do with the limits of the technology. The counting robots aren't perfect. If two pedestrians pass the sensor at the same time, it may only “see” and count one body. Bikes with trailers confuse the machinery. Clumps of cyclists passing the sensors aren’t always classified by the machine(s) correctly. The way to deal with that is to compare the automated results with manual counts done at the same time and place."  We currently have manually counted data that is being sorted through.  Think of this post as a teaser of lots of great stuff to come!

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.

June Bicycle Advisory Committee Meeting

Tonight!  As usual, the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee will meet at its scheduled time and place: first Monday of the month (today, June 7) at 7 PM in a ground floor conference room inside 2100 Clarendon Blvd.

Paul DeMaio is an invited guest, who will bring us up to date on the new DC/Arlington bike sharing program.  All are welcome to attend the meeting.  No reservation required.  Just come.

Hope to see you there.
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Steve Offutt serves on the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee

Using Google Bicycle Directions

 Last week I had a couple of opportunities to try out Google's bicycling directions to travel to places I had never gone before.  My experience with the directions was mostly positive, guiding me along routes that for the most part worked well.  The problem of poor trail signage (not Google's fault), however, could have caused a cyclist to become temporarily lost.  Here's the story.

I wanted to travel to a friend's house who lives just off Braddock Road in Springfield about one mile west of the Beltway.  I live in Arlington not far from Seven Corners.  I had never been to my friend's house before, so I asked Google to give me cycling directions there.  What I look for in the directions is how it overcomes the major obstacles, in this case, Route 50 and the Beltway were two major roads I had to cross.  Google did not have me cross Route 50 at the new pedestrian overpass at Seven Corners, which I think is a better option than what it showed me.  It did, however, have me cross the beltway at the pedestrian overpass that is north of Braddock Road about 1/2 mile, which is definitely the best option.  All in all, the directions were not bad.  A less experienced cyclist might have found some of the roads--particularly Braddock Road--a bit daunting to ride on.  However, the directions worked for getting me there.

My second trip was to travel from this same friend's house in Springfield to the Whole Foods in Vienna.  Unlike the first trip above, in which I was familiar with the first part of the route (and could adjust based on my knowledge), in this case I was completely dependent on the Google directions.  I had never ridden in this area before.

In this case, the directions proved to be excellent, with one exception.  The implementation of the directions presented some problems, but the actual route worked almost perfectly--taking me along mostly back streets and some trail connectors right to my destination.  The major obstacles in this case were Route 50 and I-66.  The crossing at Route 50 actually turned out to be better than expected, because there was a trail connector that Google Maps was unaware of that I noticed when I reached the intersection of Pickett Road and Arlington Blvd.  I-66 was crossed on Vaden Drive, a back street that crosses the Interstate with no interchange. 

The biggest problem presented by Google biking directions is that trail signage is typically so poor--or not designed the way street signage is--so it presents challenges for giving and following directions.  At every single intersection of two streets, there is a street sign.  It was simple to follow the directions: Turn right at XXYZ St. or left at ABBC St.  At each of these points, I was virtually 100% confident that I was following the directions as indicated.  However, each time I had to travel on a trail, I lost confidence, because the trails did not have signs like the streets.  On this trip, even the trails with signs had different names than what Google indicated them as.  The most disconcerting part was when I was traveling along a trail and would encounter an intersection or fork in the trail.  Google does its best, but without any signage, it just states "Turn left toward Vaden Dr." or the like.  If the cyclists doesn't know where the named street is, then there is no way of knowing what those directions mean.  Thankfully it was a sunny day, so I could at least tell what direction I was going and could correlate that with the line on my map.

Google biking directions is a good tool for cyclists.  If jurisdictions would now please put up signage that will help cyclists navigate those directions, it would make the tool work much better.

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Steve Offutt is a cyclist and can tell direction by the position of the sun.

No Virginia, the 26E is not running on Saturday

For those sharp eyed web surfers out there, you might have noticed the addition of a Saturday schedule for the 26E recently appearing on the web map. We placed this information into our schedule database to see if the change would show up in the GTFS file created by our contractor. The good news is the GTFS file correctly showed the schedule change in advance. The bad news is that we could not delete the schedule from the database. It will continue to appear through this weekend. 

Please pay no attention to the 26E Saturday schedule because there will be no buses running this route. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Tom Scherer is the Public Transit Technology Manager for the Transit Bureau in the Arlington County Department of Environmental Services. He can be reached at tscherer@arlingtonva.us

Finding your way around the DC metropolitan area – by bike.

 
(Click the image for a route mapped out from our offices to the White House)

Finding your way around by bike is not necessarily the same as by car.  For most of us that ride, finding the safest and most comfortable way to go from A to B is more important than finding the most direct way. Personally, I would rather ride 30 minutes on a separated bike path with minimal traffic interaction than make the same trip by riding 15 minutes on a busy street with no bike lane, no shoulder and hectic, stressful intersections.  Traditional route finding software has a hard time understanding and accounting for this cyclist safety factor, so common online mapping tools like Google Maps and Mapquest are not very useful to cyclists.  

There is a new route finding tool that is attempting to pick the best routes for cyclists, including prioritizing bike paths, bike lanes, and streets with low traffic volumes.  The tool covers Washington D.C. as well as all surrounding counties, and is up and running at http://www.ridethecity.com/dc#.  I’ve been testing the tool, as have some of my cycling friends, and we all love how easy it is to drag the icons onto the map for the origin and destination points, and that the route, mileage, estimated time, and elevation gain are all calculated so quickly.  In addition to showing the route on the map, a cue sheet is provided which categorizes each segment (bike path, bike lane, etc) and can even be sent directly to your cell phone for referencing outdoors.  

It’s important, however, to remember that computers are not cyclists, so the route suggested by the tool might not be the one that you prefer.  We did get some questionable results from our tests, even when the “safer route” is requested (which is what I recommend sticking to).  The upside is that the tool will get more accurate over time.  Users can rate the routes and segments for safety on a scale of 1 to 7, and the system will use these ratings to prioritize favored segments (or vice versa) for all future users.      

Technology can be great, if used correctly, and the new bike routing tool is something that could be very useful to the cycling community, especially if we use it wisely, and if we help the program get smarter by rating the routes and segments we know well.  And having a local map in your back pocket is always a good backup!

Chris Eatough is the program manager for BikeArlington and an avid cyclist (commuting, mountain biking, and just riding for fun).

ART real time bus information

There is excitement in the air at ART as the ART bus real time web map is ready to be tested. We sure could use your help to work out the kinks and bugs and let us know what you think. The URL is http://realtime.commuterpage.com/RTT/Public/PlatformETMap.aspx. On your first visit to this page you will be asked to install Microsoft's Silverlight, a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross device plug-in, which is needed to use the map to its fullest.

The map is fairly easy to use. On the left is a panel with all the ART routes (and George) listed. Clicking on the route number brings up the current schedule, while double clicking the route name centers the map on that route and turns the stop dots red. The toolbar on the lower right allows you to zoom in and out to read street names, change the contrast of the screen, and offers a help file. To pan the map hold your left mouse button down and drag. 

By hovering over a dot you can view the location of the stop, its Stop #, and which route/s the stop serves. If you click the stop the arrival time/s of the net bus/es for that stop will be shown. The site remembers what you were viewing when it is closed and will reopen in the same position next time.

There is also an app being created for mobile devices. It is still in beta, but the developer has asked for commuter feedback. The app can be reached at http://www.commuterpage.com/mobile/realtime.cfm. This application shows the timepoint stops for each route. It also offers a search box for the Stop # from the web map to be entered to see the arrival time at your stop. If you want to add your comments about the mobile app please include which phone you are using and the software version installed.

Tom Scherer is the Public Transit Technology Manager for the Transit Bureau in the Arlington County Department of Environmental Services. He can be reached at tscherer@arlingtonva.us

Any Way You Measure It, DC Region Still Ranks High for Congestion

 Year after year it seems that no matter how different studies measure traffic congestion, our region still manages to have some of the most congested roads in the country. And the latest study, which seems quite innovative, is no exception. The makers of the TomTom GPS device aggregated the actual speeds of millions of their GPS enabled drivers over the last two years. Using the results they ranked cities according to how fast cars could travel on the street network (GPS Users Reveal Which US Cities Are Truly The Most Congested, December 2, 2009, TomTom Press Release).

A city's traffic was defined as congested if drivers could travel at only 70% or less of the posted speed limit, meaning on average, an hour long commute included 20 minutes or more of significant delays. The results tracked the TomTom drivers actual average speeds for every five minutes of the day on roads across the full network of roads in a region. They said this contrasts with traditional traffic studies that use a sampling from a limited number of road sensors on primary roads. 

 The results show that Seattle, Washington has the most congested streets with an average of 43% of its roads showing heavy delays. Five of the thirty most congested cities are right here in the Washington, D.C. region with Montgomery County coming in at number 4 with 37% of its roads showing heavy delays. 

The "most congested "corridor" is between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. with about 36% of that area's roads congested. In discussing the results in a podcast on the TomTom web site, their study people said that they found it interesting that a number of large counties outside the major cities turned up as some of the most congested places. Of course anyone from our area already knows this is so. Its often easier to move around the urban core than in places like Tysons or Montgomery County. This is happening nationally as well. So without further fanfare here's the TomTom list of most congested cities: 

1. Seattle, Wa. 43%
2. Los Angeles, Calif. 38%
3. Chicago, Ill. 37%
4. Montgomery County, Md. 37%
5. San Francisco, Calif. 35%
6. New York, N.Y. 31%
7. Washington, D.C. 30%
8. San Jose, Calif. 29%
9. Alexandria, Va. 28%
10. Oakland, Calif. (Alameda County) 28%
11. Atlanta, Ga. (Cobb County) 27%
12. Boston, MA 27%
13. Fairfax County, Va. 26%
14. Philadelphia, Pa. 25%
15. Austin, Texas 25%
16. Phoenix, Ariz. 25%
17. Long Island, N.Y. (Nassau County) 24%
18. San Juan, Puerto Rico 24%
19. Portland, Ore. 23%
20. Houston, Texas 23%
21. Contra Costa County, Calif. 23%
22. Arlington, Va. 23%
23. Orange County, Calif. 20%
24. New Orleans, La. 20%
25. Norfolk County, Mass. 20%
26. Denver, Colo. 20%
27. Morris County, N.J. 20%
28. Miami-Dade, Fa. 20%
29. Dallas, Texas 20%
30. Charlottesville, Va. 19%

I'm sure we'll be reporting on our region being at the top of another list very soon.

Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Transportation Bureau Chief for Arlington County in the Department of Environmental Services, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a Metro/biking commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.

Making the Bus Go Slower

I was recently in Las Vegas to attend the wedding of my niece.  The wedding location was about 10 blocks from my hotel, which I could have walked in about 20 minutes, but it was 100 degrees and I was wearing a suit.  So I took the bus.  Buses run along the strip every 7 minutes or so during most of the day, so there is never a long wait for one.

The buses had this excellent information screen inside that shows the current stop and the three upcoming ones.

However, my bus took f.o.r.e.v.e.r to actually go anywhere.  Partly this was due to heavy traffic, but more importantly it was due to the fact that most riders were visitors paying cash.  One-way fare is $3, so every passenger had to push three singles into the fare collection box, which was balky.  This took an aggravatingly long time.  We sat at one stop for three complete cycles of the traffic light to board the 10-12 passengers who were getting on at that stop.  Las Vegas Transit is even smart enough to not have stops at every block, only about every 1/4 mile.  I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if we had stopped at every block.

I can envisage two solutions to this problem, which really only matters for this bus route, called the Deuce, that services the Strip.  Since there are a limited number of stops, they could install machines at each shelter that dispenses a token or other payment form that would speed boarding.  People could buy the token while they wait for the bus.

Another solution would be to use some sort of honor system/proof of payment.  Similarly, riders would purchase their fares outside the bus, but then could board at any door without having to show anything.  Enforcement officers would occasionally check for proof of payment, and those without get fined.  Greater Greater Washington recently had a post on this idea. (Tongue in cheek alert - In Las Vegas perhaps we'll find more people attempting to evade the fare, given their gambler's instinct.)

Here in Washington the amount of time it takes to load the bus can also be long due to fare collection.  SmarTrip cards help, but a lot of passengers still pay cash.  Finding solutions that speed up boarding times can help improve the performance of buses and help bring more people onto transit.
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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident and uncle of new bride

Zipcar: Making It Even Easier To Go Car-Free

From San Francisco this week came good news for area Zipcar members: Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference was where Zipcar announced it would be introducing an application for iPhones that allows all Zipcar members to do all sorts of cool things, like:

- locate an available Zipcar near you using GPS and Google Maps technology;
- reserve said car;
and, best of all,
- have your reserved Zipcar honk at you if you can't find it.

You can sign up to learn about updates and find out when the app is available.  I've heard rumors that the app might have other features by the time it comes out; what else would you like them to add before the launch this fall?

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

Efficiency Good: Hyperbole Bad

The Monday, April 20 Washington Post included an 8-page "advertorial" insert called Environmental Leadership--presumably in anticipation of Earth Day (not available on-line). It included about a dozen guest articles on a wide array of environmental topics. Great! (although one of the advertising supporters is the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which promotes the oxymoron "clean coal." You can read more about my opinion of carbon capture and storage here.)

One of the guest writers is Nancy Sutley, the new Obama administation Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Her column, "Now is the Time to Switch to a Clean Energy Economy" runs the gamut, touching on a wide array of environmental issues--the normal rhetoric one would expect.  But I stopped when I read this line: "We plan to put a million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road, dramatically increasing the fuel efficiency of our nation's fleet of vehicles with batteries built in the U.S."

"Dramatically increasing?" Let's do a quick back of the envelope. In 2006 there were 234 million cars and light trucks on the road representing an average fuel economy of 20.30 mpg.

Let's make some optimistic assumptions:
- Plug-in hybrids are the equivalent of 100 mpg
- All 1,000,000 new hybrids replace SUVs (average 18 mpg)

If we use 2006 as a proxy, replacing 1,000,000 SUVs with plug-in hybrids, then the new fleet economy rises to 20.38 mpg, an minuscule increase of .08 miles per gallon. Or put another way, an increase of about 425 feet per gallon.  Another way to achieve the exact same reduction in fuel consumption would be to reduce the distance each car drives by about 50 miles per year--a 0.4% decrease.

Now don't get me wrong: I am totally in favor of transforming our economy to more environmentally sustainable technologies and systems, but I think a hyperbolic statement like this sugarcoats the magnitude of the challenge in front of us and overstates the benefits.

Let's put those million vehicles out there, but it's just a down payment. I think it would have been much better to say, ""We plan to put a million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road, a small but important first step in transforming our nation's fleet of automobiles"
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Steve Offutt - Arlington