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.
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Can oversight help transit safety without hurting transit?
The Obama administration is calling for federal safety oversight over the nation’s transit systems. Clearly, the existing oversight is failing, at least in the Washington region, as many local oversight boards lack the resources or the teeth to promote meaningful safety. The Tri-State Oversight Committee not only ran into a brick wall named Alexa Dupigny-Samuels… Keep reading…
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Early morning links: More openness elsewhere
MBTA releases bus location feeds; UK may mandate open transit data; Post’s Halsey cares what cyclists think; “Temporary urbanism”; Arlington approves parking plan; No trees, no town center for UMD; Plastic = higher taxi tips. Keep reading…
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Let’s get rid of parking tickets
In his Washington Post Metro column yesterday, John Kelly talked about parking tickets, and particularly the rush that comes from avoiding one. The column begins, “There are few pleasures greater than coming back to your car after you know your meter has expired and finding that you don’t have a parking ticket. It’s like getting away with murder.”… Keep reading…
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SmarTrip’s delayed, but at least we’re not San Francisco
Despite the issues with new SmartBenefits changes and delays in new features, Metro is well ahead of many other systems of comparable size in number of smart cards and integration across jurisdictions. Metro’s SmarTrip system is the oldest and largest of the major transit agencies’ smart card systems. SmarTrip launched in 1999 and now has 1.8 million cards “active… Keep reading…
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Many employers won’t refund unused pretax SmartBenefits
Many employers around the region are saying they will not refund unused pretax transit benefits to employees under the new SmartBenefits system. Pretax transit deductions take money out of an employee’s paycheck to put into transit benefits. Many employees, like commenter Chris, have received notices from their employers that once the new system goes into effect January… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Inadequate public policies
Cash for new clunkers; Carpooling recently illegal in Ontario; Inadequate for Elrich; Walking is transportation, even in Houston; Wheelchair users will get taxis; Performance parking is good for residents; One burglar down. Keep reading…
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Rock-throwers meet indifferent Metro employee
Groups of rowdy kids are getting in fights and throwing rocks in Hill East, on their way from school to the Potomac Avenue Metro. Keep reading…
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Block the lane moving out, block the lane moving in
Someone moved out of an apartment near the corner of 17th and Q, NW last week, and their moving van blocked the bike lane. And then, a week later, someone moved in, and their van blocked it too. Keep reading…
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Crossing the street often unsafe in Fairfax
If you live in Fairfax and want to walk or bicycle to the 7-11, your job or to your child’s school, chances are you will have to cross a major road designed more to move traffic than for your safety. To bicycle to our son’s elementary school, we have to cross both Route 236 and Route 50, plus a busy secondary road, Jermantown Road. During peak hours Route 236 and 50 have many… Keep reading…
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Metro changes bus map
Last week, I noticed the Metro bus maps posted online have a new format. Before you look at them and give your input, however, please take a very quick usability test. This test will randomly give you either the old or new map, then ask you to use that map to answer a real-world question about getting around central DC by bus. It focuses on central DC for simplicity, as it’s… Keep reading…