Posts by Dan Malouff — Editorial Board
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Why cities rarely build monorails, explained (again)
Monorails are cool! Wowee! Whiz-bang! So why don’t cities build more of them? It turns out that compared to normal rail, monorails have some legitimate downsides that make them an impractical option for most (but not all) transit corridors. Keep reading…
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Seven early takeaways from the H & I Street bus lanes
DC’s most ambitious bus lanes in decades opened this week, on H and I Streets downtown. Following their first days open, here are seven observations about how well—and not well—they seem to be working so far. Keep reading…
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Poland’s “Unicorn Stable” tram station is dazzling and I want to nerd out with you about it
This is the central tram station in Łódź, Poland. It’s nicknamed the Unicorn Stable, because it’s made of rainbows and magic, obviously. Technically the station is named Piotrkowska-Centrum. You can see it on the Łódź tramway map where the orange and blue lines come together. Keep reading…
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10 things I learned carting a stroller on transit for two years
I became a father in 2016. Shortly thereafter, thanks to the magic of a baby stroller, I began to navigate and experience transit differently. Here are 10 things I learned from that experience, Keep reading…
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Here’s what that bus route number means
Every bus agency in the Washington region has some kind of system it uses to decide which bus route gets which number. This post tells you what those numbers mean. Keep reading…
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Urban areas represent what cities really are. See them with this map.
How do you compare the population of cities across the country, correcting for the randomness of political borders? You can't use official city populations, and metropolitan areas are only a little better. Here's a better method. Keep reading…
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Watch this timelapse of 28 years of Virginia sprawl
The most striking change is vast land development in Loudoun County, but that’s not the only visible growth. What else do you notice in this time lapse of 28 years of Virginia sprawl? Keep reading…
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Gaithersburg illustrates how school capacity tests make sprawl worse
Several years ago Gaithersburg adopted an ordinance to ensure that infrastructure keeps up with growth. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, the law turned out to be counterproductive, as it damaged the city’s ability to grow in the right places. Keep reading…
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Philadelphia’s streetcar infrastructure is old but interesting
Philadelphia’s streetcar network is the largest and busiest in the mid-Atlantic. It has several interesting features, some of which can help inform the planning for DC’s growing system. Keep reading…
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Spot a double-decker commuter bus in DC, this month only
OmniRide, which runs commuter buses on I-66 and I-95 from Prince William County, is testing out a double-decker bus. You may spot it this week plying the region's highways and streets. Keep reading…