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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“Follies” hotel proposed for N Street
A long-running saga over a proposed hotel on N Street, NW has once again boiled over, as developer Morton Bender will go to the Board of Zoning Adjustment for a ruling on the latest version of plans. Dupont Circle neighbors and some surrounding businesses have been fighting elements of this proposal for years. In this case, the zoning laws seem to clearly come down against the plan as… Keep reading…
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DC on a roll with Circulator iPhone app
DC’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer strikes again. In June, OCTO, DDOT, and the Office of Planning created Where’s My Bus, a Web app that lets you find out real-time positions of all Circulator buses. Today, they announced an iPhone app (“DC Circulator”) to make it even easier for iPhone users to find Circulator stops and track their buses. Keep reading…
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Ask Kwame Brown to maintain public access in downtown Ward 7
This afternoon, the DC Council Committee on Economic Development will decide whether to give Donatelli Development an entire large parcel at the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road for free, or whether to give them almost all of the parcel while maintaining a public right-of-way around the perimeter for a future road connection and a reasonable Community Benefits Agreement. Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: You break it, you buy it
Metro sues for Orange Line damage; Not the right route; No more E-Z perks; Vacuum chic not cycle chic?; Riders would pay for bikes on Amtrak; Speed cameras working, mostly; Commuters find a way around I-66; Thanks, states. Keep reading…
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Arlington plans performance parking pilot, other progressive parking policies
Arlington is ready to put a lot of Dr. Shoup’s ideas from The High Cost of Free Parking, and other progressive urban ideas, into the County’s parking policy. At the September 26 meeting of the County Board, Arlington officially proposed major changes to its parking and curbspace policies by advertising a new Parking and Curb Space Element (PDF) for the Master Transportation… Keep reading…
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Innovation resistance at Metro, part 3: Missing the forest for the trees
Unlike many other transit agencies, Metro has resisted encouraging third party applications that help riders, partly because they perceive technology from a top-down point of view, and from unrealistic expectations because Google is big and rich. But this obsession with control and getting revenue is causing Metro staff to lose sight of the bigger picture. Greater Greater… Keep reading…
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Innovation resistance at Metro, part 2: The Google bugaboo
Yesterday, I discussed the way the burdens from a “top-down” approach hinders innovation far more than any potential benefits to Metro. That addresses the first of the two major issues, releasing data to developers. Metro did release its schedule data, but under a restrictive license, and when asked about doing the same for bus position data, Board member Gordon… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Cutting back and cutting through
Cherry blossoms without Circulation; More park, less cut-through in SF; Dulles taxis unpopular; A tale of two Safeways; Parking far more subsidized; San Jose rail light but not rapid; Everybody wants the TIGER. Keep reading…
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Innovation resistance at Metro, part 1: The value of “bottom-up”
Yesterday, you saw the exchanges between Metro Directors Chris Zimmerman of Arlington and Gordon Linton of Maryland on open APIs and Google Transit. Linton wants to lock down all licensing issues before allowing new applications that use the bus position data (as NextBus does) or schedule data (like Google Transit), while Zimmerman advocated for “seeding” innovation… Keep reading…
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The Price of Safety
Following the June 22 crash on Metro’s Red Line, numerous questions have arisen regarding safety on Metro. Most of these questions focused on the immediate cause of the crash that killed 9 and left scores injured. At this point, the National Transportation Safety Board has still not completed their investigation, so much of the information available is, at best, informed… Keep reading…