Recent Posts
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Metro safety presentation still doesn’t prioritize
WMATA will hold its first meeting of the new Safety and Security Committee tomorrow, split off from the previous Customer Service, Operations and Safety Committee. The staff presentation still needs more information to help the board oversee safety, including a sense of priorities. The presentation lists the status of NTSB recommendations and the cost to complete each. That… Keep reading…
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Bike sharing is the newest transit mode
With bike sharing systems popping up all over the world, it’s about time we look critically at the role these systems can play in a city’s urban fabric and transportation system. While bikes have been an integral part of the modal mix in many cities for years, they served a similar purpose to automobiles, exclusively personal mobility. Bike sharing has altered… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Go and stop on HSR
90 minutes to Richmond; No HSR for Palo Alto; Columbia for transit; Safe bike parking at school; What is the “area” for affordable housing?; Zoning marathon in PG; Potomac Yard neighbors protest taxes; Fight graffiti with art; And…. Keep reading…
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Student housing could fix problematic College Park bar scene
College Park officials want to shut down popular student bar The Thirsty Turtle after three people got stabbed there earlier this month. In the long run, College Park could best address its bar problems if it stopped fighting every student housing proposal. I went to the University of Maryland and lived in College Park for four years, but never set foot in the Thirsty Turtle until… Keep reading…
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If you want to take photos inside Metro, just do it
When I went to a Metro station to take photos for a post, I suspected in advance that I might encounter difficulty from the Metro employees working there. After all, photographers have run into trouble in Miami and many other transit systems, USDOT headquarters, and Union Station. I thought it would be fair to let the station manager know what I was doing. I approached the booth,… Keep reading…
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For ANC in Ward 3
Along Ward 3’s major commercial corridors, especially Wisconsin Avenue, are numerous low strip malls and ugly parking lots, in transit-rich neighborhoods where any developer would be happy to build. But the neighborhoods also have residents most vociferously opposed to nearly any development with the means to delay and even sue to stop projects. Recently, however,… Keep reading…
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CaBi goes corporate, should consider Eco Pass model
DDOT recently announced a corporate-sponsored bikeshare program that allows area employers to purchase bikeshare memberships to give to employees. As a next step, it should consider offering a blanket membership that applies to all employees, like the transit Eco Passes in a number of western cities. The current program has four membership levels, from Bronze to Platinum,… Keep reading…
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Defunding Pike conversion threatens Montgomery’s growth
Recently, the Montgomery County Executive submitted a funding plan for White Flint that omits converting Rockville Pike into an urban boulevard. Such a plan would cripple the new White Flint town and its potential to create economic growth for Montgomery County. Rockville Pike is currently hostile and dangerous to pedestrians, with too few crosswalks, too-fast automobile… Keep reading…
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For ANC in Ward 7
In a ward that usually has ANC races with no one running for some of the single-member districts, it is refreshing to see so many contested races. While there are six SMDs with no candidates, each ANC in Ward 7 at least has one contested SMD race. Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Questions in Alexandria
Should Alexandria spend on regional transportation?; Alexandria to wait and see on more bike signals; Not so much Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Good luck organizing a block party; Amtrak signals possibly sabotaged; How to balance the budget; Transit indirectly brings cars?; A bike section in the paper?. Keep reading…