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.

Blog Entries of Note...

Image via WikipediaFrom the Bike Utah Valley Blog comes important information:

Mountainland Transportation Planning Meeting

It is important to get out and have your voices heard. The people with the extreme political bent are always out there trying to say they represent the majority so it is important that the average person is present to let the bureaucrats know what is truly needed.

From the California High Speed Rail Blog:

Quantifying Prop 1A's Economic Stimulus

California has proposition 1A on the ballot that would support construction of a high speed rail line from San Francisco to Southern California. The blog talks about a study that shows the benefits the system would bring.

From the Track Twenty-Nine Blog:

Transit 101

We are lucky here in Salt Lake that the University of Utah was progressive when it comes to transportation planning. Too many Universities are still living in the 50's and don't want their students to have easy access to transit. It would be interesting to see the correlation between who the universities get donations from and their anti-transit attitude.

From the Overhead Wire Comes:

San Francisco May Do Fees Right

San Fransisco is looking toward rewarding developers who locate near transit when it comes to impact fees.

Transportation Secretary Short List

While I am trying to stay out of the Presidential election, this posting shows the possible candidates for Transportation Secretary in each administration. Notice that the one side favors highway lobbyist. What do you really think their transportation priorities will be?

From Streetsblog Los Angeles:

“Best of Streetfilms:” San Francisco Giants’ Bike Valet Parking

Valet parking for bicycles?

Governor Signs Complete Streets Legislation

I mentioned this legislation before. Amazing the Governor in California actually signed this considering how he is steeling transit funding to support highways.

From the RT Rider (Sacramento) comes:

"Park District" funding for transit

John from the RT Rider looks toward some creative financing ideas for transit. As I have mentioned in the last couple of days the biggest problem we currently have is that our transit funding is tied to a very volatile form of taxation. John has one way we could deal with the situation.

From the N-Judah Chronicles out of San Francisco:

A Modest Proposal For Purchasing MUNI Passes and Tickets...

MUNI in San Francisco is looking toward putting ticket machines in select places throughout the city in order to make it easier to board trains and buses. The author has the idea that these type of machines should be used to sell passes also.

How about putting ticketing machines at busy bus stops around along the Wasatch Front and make it possible to sell monthly passes out of them? On top of that, how about creating a tourist pass like I used in Miami that gives multiple days of riding for a low price to encourage visitors to use transit.

From the Cap'n Transit Rides Again Blog:

Why we need the bailout plan - NOT!

The blog talks about comments from Senator Reid that we needed the bailout to sell more cars and be able to put people in debt for those cars.

From the Baltimore Innerspace Blog Comes:

Owings Mills

A wonderful posting on how to make a transit station work better. Just look at the development of the new hospital complex and how unfriendly it is toward the transit station that is right across the street. Instead of building a complex that would complement the station IHC built a complex in spite of the transit connection.

Interesting Post from Baltimore.

Baltimore Country Club

This is an interesting post from the Baltimore InnerSpace blog. There is great information about how an area developed, was split up, and how bad development decisions in past years created a situation today.

Godrey still wants to play with aerial gondolas in Ogden...

Portland_Strtcr_GoBy3
Originally uploaded by RACTOD

Apparently Mayor Godfrey up in Ogden is still dreaming of that wonderful urban gondola project instead of looking at what the best transportation options for the city is.

First here is some reading material:

Weber council weighs Ogden transit plan

Weber County Forum Responds

Gondola Comparison

Now let’s take a look at the Gondola comparison prepared by the city of Ogden. The first thing you will notice is that the only project that has been built that even comes close to what Godfrey wants is down in Columbia. Other than that all the other urban gondola projects are pipe dreams.

One thing that is not mentioned anywhere in the comparison is what happens to the urban fabric between the gondola stations.

The first gondola mentioned is the Roosevelt Island Gondola in New York City. This was built before Roosevelt Island had a subway station which opened in 1989. One thing to note is the ridership. Our two TRAX lines carry the same number of passengers in less than two years than the Roosevelt Island gondola has in its 30 years of existence. Also there is no comparison to the urban fabric since the Roosevelt Island gondola primarily travels over the East River.

The next gondola project talked about was MART which was part of the New Orleans Worlds Fair. This is another gondola that traveled over water so had no effect on the urban fabric it passed over. An interesting point about this gondola is that there was plans to continue operating it after the fair but that last less than six months and was later torn down on the orders of the Coast Guard. Another interesting facet is that ridership during the fair boom was less than half of what projected by the backers of the system.

The next one compared is Telluride Colorado which travels from the historic city to the Mountain Village area. Once again it is hard to compare as this one is designed to carry people from the historic town which is located in a narrow valley up to the village which sits 1800 feet higher than the historic village. Once again there is no real urban fabric that the gondola travels over.

The third gondola compared is the only one that comes close to what Godfrey is trying to build and that is the urban gondola in Medellin, Columbia. This one is designed to take people from a poor section of town to the main transportation hub. Of course the gondola like Miami’s Metromover travels over city streets and does little for the urban fabric is passes over.

The fourth project talked about once again is a poor comparison to Godfrey’s dream which is the Portland Ariel Tram. Like the telluride situation this gondola is designed to carry passengers from the waterfront area up a steep incline to the Oregon Health and Science University which is located on a cliff area to the west of the waterfront area. As a side note this does not replace a streetcar route but connects the Portland Streetcar to the University area.

The line does travel along Gibbs Street which lies between the cliff and Interstate 5, but once again because the gondola travels over this isolated area, it is doing nothing to help this neighborhood.

The next couple of gondola’s mentioned join Godfrey’s as pipe dreams which includes proposals in Baltimore, Maryland and Camden, New Jersey.

What it comes down to is a gondola is good for point to point transportation especially for situations that involve huge elevation changes. What it is not designed to do is blend into the urban fabric of a community. How will 25^th Street benefit from the Gondola? Instead imagine a streetcar traveling along the street bring people from FrontRunner to shop and dine in Ogden.

What Godfrey should be working on is bringing a new vision to the city, one that focuses on the character of the city, provides the opportunity for independently owned retail stores and restaurants which would give residents of Salt Lake City an alternative to the chain stores and restaurants of Gateway and other developments. Ogden could build something really unique that would cause people to want to travel to the city. Between the river walk, 25^th Street, and Washington Blvd Ogden has an outstanding opportunity to develop a unique destination that will bring new life to the city.

Or will Godfrey take the opportunity that Ogden has and squander it on some pipe dream?

Why turning UTA over to UDOT is a bad idea.

UTA Gillig Advantage 0114 on route 217
Originally uploaded by jmdspk

Some in the Bus Riders Union (clearly from their rhetoric they are not a transit riders union), apparently think that turning control of the UTA over to UDOT would be the greatest thing since sliced cheese. So would the state running UTA be such a good thing?

First of all lets remember that almost all state dept. of transportation units started off as department of highways but had their name changed to show that they are more than highways. However most DOT's are still dominated by highway hard liners who have no love of transit of any kind.

Not only would the Utah State Highway Department be running UTA under the Bus Riders Union dream, but that would mean our state legislature would have more control over the funds. Lets remember that our state legislature has clearly shown they are very anti-transit and would love nothing more than to transfer those funds to highway projects.

In essence you would have someone from Bluff, Utah deciding how transit funds would be spent in Salt Lake City. How were do you think the guy from Bluff would want money spent, on some bus line in Salt Lake City that only the 'transit dependent' ride or on a highway project near Bluff that would help him or her get reelected?

Now lets take a look at some of the few examples of were a state controls transit funding and operations.

First of all, lets take a look at New Jersey. While New Jersey has an extensive bus and rail network things are all not well in the state. The head of New Jersey transit is the person who is politically connected not the best person for the job. This creates a situation were some projects are develop in such a way that is best for those who are politically connected than the actual people using the service.

Now I know that our friends at the bus riders union hate John Inglish, but what can of person do you think our state legislature would put into the job? Do you really think it would be the best person for the job or will it be some politically connected hack who could care less about the riders?

Another state that runs the transit systems is Maryland who provides transit service in Baltimore. Bus service in Baltimore is poor and it is hard to move about the area. A couple of years ago I was attending a conference in Baltimore and found it nearly impossible to find a motel that I could stay in that would have transit service to downtown.

In addition the transit agencies funding is at the mercy of state government who cut transit funding for a period of years but increased highway spending. This led to less transit service for the 'transit dependent' because of things being controlled by politics. This past session the Maryland legislature passed a fare box recovery requirement for transit in the state. This is one of the those feel good bills that sounds great to create more responsible spending but has unintended consequences.

To put it into perspective lets say that UTA is giving over to UDOT and this same bill passes our legislature and is signed by the governor. What would happen to transit service? Well guess what, TRAX and Frontrunner would still be around because they would meet the fare box recovery target but 99% of ALL bus service would be gone, history, dead. As pointed out, the bus system does not do well when it comes to fare box recovery especially compared to rail. The bus riders union would have been directly responsible for death of most transit service to the 'transit dependent' due to unintended consequences.

Turning UTA over will not give more bus service to the 'transit dependent'. What it will do is make UTA funding political and at the whims of a hostile state legislature who rather see roads funded that buses to the 'transit dependent'.

IF the bus riders union truly cares about the so called 'transit dependent', maybe they should start fighting against some of are auto centric development policies, decisions and subsidies that create a situation that people are forced into housing that is not convenient to transit due to lack of good choices.