Lessons from Vancouver, BC

Image via Wikipedia

The Denver Infill Blog recently had a posting showing some lessons that were learned by a trip to Vancouver, BC.

Lessons from Vancouver

The lessons not only can help Denver but of course be of use to us here in Utah especially as we get closer to the completion of the City Creek project in downtown.

Here is some comments about the priorities in Vancouver:

When asked about the city’s policy and spending priorities within the public realm, the Vancouver planning director said in a very matter-of-fact manner:

1. Pedestrians
2. Bicycles
3. Transit
4. Movement of goods
5. Private automobiles

However, as pointed out in the article it is not just the planning department that has those priorities but also Parks and Recreation, Public Works and from the Mayor down. Vancouver seems to be avoiding the problem that most cities with bickering and different priorities for every department and a lack of working together.

Another interesting comment is that more is expected out of developers than here in the our region or most US cities for that matter. Instead we let developers have free reign and if you try to limit it you always get the cries of "private land rights" and "free enterprise".

The blog also points to the architecture requirements in Vancouver. The buildings are required to be interesting at the top so that buildings have some character. If you look at the new 222 tower and the new residential towers going up in City Creek you will not seeing anything that attracts the eye to the top. In fact the architecture of the buildings is very boring and drab.

Still another benefit of living in downtown Vancouver is the amount of grocery stores and other retailers that cater to the residents of the city. The side benefit of the number of grocery stores in downtown Vancouver is that area residents don't need to drive for quick trips to the store. However, retail isn't forced into every nook and cranny however the ground floors of buidlings must be appealing and pedestrian friendly if it does not have retail.

Finally, and most important Vancouver is more family friendly. Too often all the development in downtown areas is that it primary caters to those without children. However, Vancouver requires a certain number of 3 and 4 bedroom units in condo and apartment complexes that brings more families into the downtown area. In addition Vancouver has plenty of downtown day care centers, schools and other kid friendly spaces.

While Vancouver is unique, there is no reason why we can't take some good ideas from them and apply them to our area.

Blog Entries of Note...

Image via WikipediaFrom a local blog called Argyleist:

Considering Urban Trails

Author talks about urban trails and connecting them up with our growing rail transit system in the Salt Lake Valley. Once the Mid Jordan line is done you will be able to jump off at the Gardner Village station and use the Jordan River Parkway.

From the Daybreak Blog:

Mid Jordan TRAX Now Funded

The Federal Government has come through with funding for the Mid Jordan TRAX line to Daybreak. It is very unusual for a rail project these days to get 80% funding so this is really good news and shows how well UTA does despite what some would have you believe.

From the Stephen Rees blog:

Warning sounded over Olympic bus plan

Looks like some in Vancouver, BC are worried about how well they are going to handle Olympic related traffic problems and there is plenty of comparisons to Salt Lake City.

From the Bike Utah Valley blog:

Winter Riding

Yes you can ride your bike in winter and Bike Utah Valley tells you some of joys of winter riding.

From the Mobilizing The Region Blog:

Success of NYC Rapid Bus Line Underscores Need for Camera Enforcement Law

The New York BRT line is scoring a 10% increase in ridership (small compared to our light rail line in Utah). However, BRT depends on bus only lanes and it takes enforcement to keep the lanes clear. This could also become an issue here in Salt Lake once the transit lanes open along 3500 South.

From the Transit Sleuth Blog:

Transit Exploration

Adron explores the suburbs of Portland and tries to answer the question: is there life out there?

From the Overhead Wire blog:

Where's the Housing Action?

While development in the Charlotte, North Carolina area has slowed, there is one area that is seeing new construction: along the newly opened light rail line from Uptown Charlotte to the south side.

When Chickens and Eggs = Omelettes

I already discussed the report about Foothill when the article came out but here is more talk about the proposal for the reversible lanes.

Greedy DOTs Just Following Orders?

Most of the requested stimulus funds will go to highways not to transit and here may be the reason why.

Restructuring Property Tax to Land Alone

Is it time to change the way property tax is assessed to encourage its use and not parking lots?

From Streetsblog LA:

Measure R Highway Funds Ready to Roll. Transit Funds? Not So Much.

While there are certain people who love to moan in our area, take a look at what is happening in Los Angeles and be glad of the progress being made here. Voter in Los Angeles overwhelmingly approved new transit funding but so far most of it is going to highways and transit is seeing very little. They will still be doing studies in Los Angeles and we will be moving beyond our current projects.

Portland’s Safe Streets: How Do They Do It?

Portland despite its large bicycling communty had no fatalities last year. Can Utah improve its bicycling (and pedestrian) safety record?

From the Seattle Transit Blog:

Embarcadero Freeway = Alaskan Way Viaduct

As the Seattle area continues to decide what the future of the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct should be, some look to the City of San Francisco for inspiration. You have to love the before and after pictures from San Francisco.

Sound Transit Stimulus Request

Sound Transit is making a request of lawmakers for its own stimulus package which includes several transit projects.

From the Intermodality Blog:

Streetcars for Houston?

A look at possible streetcar routes for the city of Houston in addition to thier commuter rail and light rail extensions.

Blog Entries of Note...

Image via WikipediaFrom Stephen Rees's Blog:

Aston Martin designs Routemaster

OK, here is an idea to get more people on the bus, have them built by a famous auto maker like Aston Martin. After all, many people will never have the opportunity to drive such a unique car but someday the people in London may be able to say that they rode in one. However, don't hold your breath on any getting built as the article says.

Transportation minister expects fast track for Evergreen Line

The Vancouver BC area is looking to add another transit line and it could possibly be Light Rail. The current system is called Advance Light Rail as it is automated and is either above or below ground.

The problem with ALRT just like Monorail which is something Monorailist will never tell you is that it is proprietary technology. If they want to use ALRT there is only one company they can go to: Bombardier. With LRT there is a host of manufacturers to build the cars and you can add different cars (i.e. UTA has cars from both Bombardier and Siemans as does Portland).

From the Denver Infill Blog:

Putting Our Best Foot Forward

The Denver Infill Blog looks at how important Pedestrian traffic is to a neighborhood and looks at some of the projects currently taking place in that city. Incidently, I took a picture in Denver last year and most people think it is from Europe until they look closely. Lots of pedetrian traffic, outdoor restaurants, and a transit mall. However Denver still has more work to do.

From the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

Running on Empty: Ways to Fix the Highway Trust Fund

The high gas prices earlier in the year severly hurt the highway trust fund as many people found alternatives to driving. That in turn hurt the highway trust fund along with people driving more effiecient vehicles. So how do we solve the delema?

From the California High Speed Rail Blog:

The Trouble with LA Union Station (UPDATED)

The blog looks at how the high speed rail line will service downtown Los Angeles. One of the problems I have with their proposals is that it will make tranfering from Amtrak, Metrolink, Metro Light Rail, Heavy Rail, and Buses much more difficult.

Too many times project such as this do not take into consideration people tranferring to and from the service to other carriers and California needs to do it right the first time.

From the Transit Sleuth Blog:

A Few Trains, Nothing Else

Porltand like Seattle is a travel nightmare right now. These cities are just not used to dealing with the amount of snow fall they are getting pounded with in the last week. Even the Spokane Transit Authority in Spokane has canceled most bus service and this never happened in the many years I lived there.

From the Trains for America Blog:

Conservative rail advocate, Paul Weyrich, dies

Paul Weyrich had been a big supporter of transit and rail for many years which put him opposite many of his Republic collegues.

Ray LaHood named Obama’s Transportation Secretary… good for rail?

Many are disappointed by Obama's pick for Secretary of Transportation, but LaHood has been know to support transit projects. It will be interesting to see how he performs his duties.

From Streetsblog LA:

Bush Administration Rejects O.C. Toll Road Plan

This shocked both sides of the argument on this Orange County Toll Road. Nobody expected the Bush Administration to stand in the way of a road being built.

Ray LaHood, Known Unknown

More aobut Ray LaHood the new Secretary of Transportation for President Electo Obama.

From Streetsblog:

In Boulder, They Plow the Bike Paths First

Bike Paths and Sidewalks are basically ignored by most cities when it comes to plowing. In fact, most cities leave local landlords repsonsible for the plowing that often never gets done. I know only small stretches of the sidewalks I travel which are in Holladay and Murray ever get shoveled.

From the RT Rider Blog in Sacramento:

November ridership statistics

John goes over the RT ridership numbers from November. Because of lower gas prices ridership increases are tailing off. However, there is one major thing to note about their ridership: two single light rail lines have more ridership than the entire bus system.

Of course here in Utah TRAX represents 33% of all UTA ridership and once again is only two lines in one county while UTA covers SIX counties.

The Evil Transitator (continued)

The Govenator continues to rob transit for other projects.

From the Intermodality Blog:

Who moved my train?

Many people love to complain about our transit system. Well take a look at Houston to see what can go wrong. Voters approved expansion of thier starter line in 2003 and they still have little to show for it. Meanwhile things are happening here in Salt Lake City.

From the Baltimore Innerspace Blog:

MLK/Franklin-Mulberry

Another excellent piece about taking a blight and turning into a better area. There is also a great point made about how the Hopkins Hospital is being built with giant new parking garages but no infrastructure upgrades in the transportation system to deal with the additional cars.

Time to consider REAL Trolley Buses?

Trolley bus
Originally uploaded by wernervp

With fuel prices going through the roof and the UTA having to consider a fuel surcharge due to those prices, is it time for transit systems such as the UTA to look at Trolley Buses again?

Trolley buses have been around almost since the time of the first streetcar, although the became very popular in the 30's and 40's but like streetcars disappeared by the 60's due to cheap diesel prices.

A few cities kept their Trolley buses including Vancouver, British Columbia; Edmonton, Alberta; Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; and Dayton, Ohio.

Los Angeles looked into starting new trolley bus routes in 1992 and 1993 but NIMBY's in one corner of the route decided they did not want the trolley buses in their neighborhood due to the wires, despite the fact it would have eliminated diesel exhaust from their neighborhood. Otherwise except for a few extensions of the San Francisco and Seattle systems there has been little thought about the trolley bus.

Besides NIMBYism, the other factor that kept new systems being put in was the initial capital cost and the higher price paid for trolley buses over standard buses.

Lets look at some of the advantages of trolley buses over standard buses:

-First of all they are quiet when compared to standard buses.

-Second, electrical components will last longer. About 5 years ago Seattle replaced their 25 year old trolley buses. However, they did not replace them with entirely new vehicles. While the bodies on the buses were worn out, the electrical components only needed refurbishing. So their ordered new bus bodies from Gillig (shown in the picture) and refurbished the electrical components thus getting new buses for substantially less than a new bus.

-Third, if a bus route has service of every 15-minutes or less trolley buses save money over diesel. Now that comes out of San Francisco with higher energy cost than Utah and back when diesel was down right cheap, so the cost savings would probably be even higher now. .

Disadvantages

-Buses are limited to routes with wires

-Need to have off-wire capability for emergencies such as road closures and other events that would cause them to have to "leave the wire".

Would Trolley Buses be more attractive to riders than standard diesel buses? They are quieter as noted so they actually could attract more riders but that cannot be quantified.

Instead of spending money on Bus Rapid Transit, putting money into Trolley buses could be an alternative worth looking at especially on the many UTA routes that now run every 15-minutes.