Transportation
Greater Greater Washington writes about how people get around the Washington region, whether on Metro, buses, streetcars, driving, walking, biking, or any other method.
One of the region’s strengths is the wide range of options for travel. There are many walkable places in DC, Maryland, and Virginia where people could choose transit, walk or bike, or if they don’t have their own car, grab a shared vehicle or hail a ride. This reduces the need to own cars, saving people money and reducing traffic congestion.
As our region grows, it is imperative to continue to make these options safe, economical, and available to even more people. It is imperative to ensure safe sidewalks and bicycle infrastructure, expand transit options, and add housing near existing transit stations.
-
Live chat with Marcel Acosta, Tuesday at noon
Our next chat guest is NCPC Executive Director Marcel Acosta, who was recently appointed by the federal government to the WMATA Board. From his WMATA bio:Acosta is the Executive Director of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the federal government’s central planning agency for the National Capital Region. Prior to joining NCPC in 2001, Mr. Acosta served… Keep reading…
-
Metro beats BART with suburban transit-oriented jobs
Planners from San Francisco’s SPUR recently visited Greater Washington to find out how Metrorail compares to BART. They found that our strong transit-oriented development at suburban stations has led to greater transit use and higher farebox recovery rates. According to their article, the two cities’ systems, while built at similar times with similar technology,… Keep reading…
-
Do we need a name for anti-bike-ism?
Bicycle advocates were surprised and disappointed that Virginia legislators, particularly Republicans, defeated a seemingly innocuous measure to change Virginia’s standard for drivers passing cyclists from 2 to 3 feet, to match the practice in most states. Based on their summary, the bill mainly didn’t go down to defeat because legislators thought 2 feet… Keep reading…
-
WMATA Board meeting this morning
The WMATA Board will meet this morning. The Finance committee will be discussing a Rosslyn station entrance, at-will employment, the 10¢ fare increase, the capital program, and then the FY2011 budget. The Customer Service, Operations and Safety Committee will then discuss the artwork and on-time performance; it doesn’t appear they’ll discuss snow or… Keep reading…
-
Breakfast links: WMATA and Richmond
Gunn to look at Metro; Snow buries budget; Arlington musters more for Metro; Bike-hating legislators; Driver assaults good Samaritan; Carpooling only for civilians?; Balancing budget on the backs of bikes; Drive exactly 55!. Keep reading…
-
TIGER means bus priority will start soon
The TIGER grants announced today mean that, instead of bus priority scraping along as a good idea without any serious attention, we’ll get bus lanes, signal priority, NextBus displays, and more in short order. I admit I was mildly disappointed to hear the results, because I was particularly excited about the K Street Transitway and the regional bike sharing program. Also,… Keep reading…
-
New art planned for Takoma, Farragut West
At tomorrow’s meeting, the WMATA Board will hold its first of many discussions on the FY2011 budget. It will also get to address a much lighter topic: art for Takoma and Farragut West stations. Keep reading…
-
Integrate WMATA customer service in departments
WMATA should integrate customer service staff within its Office of Information Technology, Bus Operations and MetroAccess, just like it did with Rail Operations in 2005. Keep reading…
-
TIGER funds bus corridors, not K Street or bike sharing
The Washington region will receive $58.8 million for bus priority improvements across the region, but no money for the K Street Transitway or regional bicycle sharing in the TIGER grants. USDOT announced the winners today. Through regional planning organization MWCOG, local governments had applied for $204 million in bus improvements, $13 million for regional bike sharing,… Keep reading…
-
Optimizing trunk bus lines could improve service
Metrobus riders, especially those in the suburbs, often face long wait times between buses. With WMATA’s budget crisis, it is extremely unlikely they can add more bus service. However, there are ways WMATA could dramatically improve service at little to no cost. Other cities, starting with Portland’s Tri-Met, have had great success with their bus networks by… Keep reading…