The latest articles from Transportation Nation

Citi Bike Fail Rate Drops Sharply

Andrea Bernstein — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:40:50 -0400

The number of Citi Bike docking stations out of service for more than four hours has dropped markedly, a WNYC Data News analysis shows. The system is still experiencing problems. But after we wrote about this last week, the percentage of stations out of service for four or more hours dropped from an average of ten percent to about two and a half percent.

Our gauge is blunt -- we're assuming all stations that are inactive for four hours (or more) are not working, and that none of the ones inactive for short periods are -- even though neither may be exactly right. But Paul Steely White, director of the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, confirms he's hearing many fewer complaints from users about technical problems.

"They have gotten on top of the technical issues," Steely White says. "The number of down stations is way down."

As we reported last week, the software New York City is using has not been tested in other major cities. Because of a dispute between Public Bike Share and the company that wrote the software for Boston, Washington, London and other cities, New York is using a software system tried only in Chattanooga, Tennessee -- a system comprised of 30 stations and 300 bikes.

But -- and no one's telling us what they did to fix it -- the glitches in the system seem to have shifted from a big software problem to the typical problems bike shares experience when they come to cities: broken bikes and unbalanced stations.

It's still far from perfect -- this morning I had to go to four stations before finding a working bike. In the last 24 hours, WNYC reporters Jim O'Grady and Kate Hinds had similar experiences. But in each case, the docks were virtually empty, with only a few remaining bikes.

That kind of complaint can still be found on Twitter. "First #citibike fails today. 2 stuy town stations report many bikes, actually empty. Then 1st & 14th has 10 bikes no-one can unlock" wrote @lindyboi Tuesday morning. But that's different from the problem many experienced last week, when users would arrive at full docks and be unable to undock any bikes.

Instead, the system is having trouble keeping bikes in docks -- particularly on the East Side and particularly in the morning, as people ride from where they live to where they work. That's similar to the experience other cities have had, like Barcelona, where riders bike downhill but not up, or London, where riders bring all the bikes into the center in the morning.

But system operators can adjust that over time by developing an algorithm to predict where bikes will move the fastest, and physically moving other bikes, via truck, to empty docks.

In the meantime, Citi Bike is still scrambling to keep up with customer calls, and to mail out keys -- which are promised in seven days but are frequently reported to be delayed far beyond that.

And New York City continues its information blackout -- except for good news. After one daily missive about the numbers (over 42,000 members, approaching 300,000 trips) one would-be user Shaun Reid wrote on Citi Bike's Facebook page: "would be more trips if I wasn't still waiting for my key! 3rd week about to start."

Feds Investigating Alta Bicycle Share Over DC Pay Dispute

Isabel Angell — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:00:00 -0400

After Capital Bikeshare employees complained about unfair wage practices, the Department of Labor opened an investigation into Alta Bicycle Share -- the company operating bike share systems in New York, D.C., and Boston.

Sixteen current and former employees of D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare are circulating a petition asking Alta for back pay and benefits. The effort has been taken up by labor groups -- most notably the AFL-CIO, which is urging its members to sign the petition. Now organizers have plans to deliver the (electronic) signatures to D.C.'s Department of Transportation (DDOT) on Wednesday.

Samuel Swenson is a former mechanic at the D.C. bike share. When he started at Alta, Swenson said he was making $13 an hour. But according to the Service Contract Act, which governs contracts between the federal or local D.C. governments and private companies, Alta was underpaying Swenson.

The SCA says that bicycle mechanics must be paid at least $14.43 hourly. The contract also promises benefits for all employees, at a minimum of $3.35/hour. Swenson quit after about a year at Capital Bikeshare, citing poor working conditions and frustration with his supervisors. He says he eventually got a raise to $15 an hour, but that he never got any benefits.

“If you total up the wages and the health and welfare benefit I'm entitled to in the contract, I'm owed about $5,000 for a year’s work,” Swenson said.

Swenson said when he asked management about the discrepancies in pay, they brushed him off. He added one of his bosses told him “you’re probably right about the contract, but Alta’s lawyers will find a way out of it.”

Swenson believes Alta is doing good work, but he says the company has to start treating its employees with respect. “I'm an environmentalist and I'm a bike enthusiast,” he said. “I'm hopeful that Alta can be different and take a lead in the Green Collar economy and treat workers right, and extend sustainability to workers and their families, not just the bikes they fix.”

Kermit Demus is a rebalancer in D.C. That means he helps move the bicycles between the stations, when some get too full and others too empty. It’s hard work, he said.

Demus said he started at $13 an hour too. He says he’s making $15.50 an hour now, but under Alta’s contract with D.C.’s Department of Transportation, he says should have been making $15.66 the whole time. And like Swenson, Demus said hasn’t received any of the benefits he was promised.

“To me personally, it feels like modern day slavery,” he said. “It’s raining today, if I were to fall off and get hurt, I wouldn’t have any benefits.”

Alta will be running the bike sharing program that hits San Francisco and Silicon Valley this summer. Because it’s not under the same federal contract that exists between Alta and the D.C. bikeshare, Alta won’t be bound by the Service Contract Act in the Bay Area. But Kermit Demus said he’s concerned for the future workers in San Francisco.

“If they do it in DC, the second city Alta started in, there’s no doubt in my mind they will do it elsewhere,” he said, referring to the company underpaying their workers.

Alta is responsible for Boston’s Hubway bike share, and it has the contract for the newly-launched Citi Bike in New York, the nation's largest bike share system. Back in March, Alta signed a contract with San Francisco and five other Bay Area cities to run the Bay Area’s first bike share that’s slated to open in August.

On their website, Alta acknowledges the Department of Labor has requested information from them for a federal wage investigation and says they have provided it, saying “We fully value our work force and are doing everything we can to ensure that we are in compliance.” Alta did not return requests for comment.

As the G Train Door Closes, Citi Bike's Window Opens

Kate Hinds — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:03:38 -0400

When New York's MTA closes the three northernmost stations on the G line later this summer, riders may have commuting options beyond shuttle buses: the transit agency is in talks with Citi Bike about the expansion of the city's bike share system to the affected areas.

"It's under discussion," MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said.

Citi Bike stations could provide some backup relief to a line that is becoming increasingly popular: ridership on the G line has boomed in recent years.

Starting in July, the MTA will begin repairing the Sandy-damaged tunnel that carries the G train under the Newtown Creek. The work will take place for 12 weekends in a row and will necessitate the closure of the Greenpoint, 21st Street, and Court Square stations. Next year, those stations will be closed 24/7 for a five-week period of time.

The black-and-white dotted line shows which stations will be affected by the upcoming work on the G train tunnel/MTA

The agency will be making repairs to the Greenpoint tube, which was flooded during last year's storm. Although temporary repairs were made to get the line up and running after Sandy, more permanent fixes need to be put in place.

Greenpoint and Long Island City were originally included in Citi Bike's initial launch, but were removed after Sandy damage curtailed the program.

Smoother Sailing Coming to Washington's Best-Traveled Bike Lane

Martin DiCaro — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:51:19 -0400

The busiest bike lane in the District of Columbia will be repaved this summer.

Every rush hour bicyclists bounce along on the potholes and rim-bending bumps that dot the 15th Street NW cycle track, a popular two-way bike lane running from Pennsylvania Avenue to U Street NW. Often cyclists will veer into the oncoming lane to avoid potholes.

"I was coming on 15th between Rhode Island and Massachusetts and this whole series of bumps and forests are here, and I just blew the tire. And while I was trying to cross Mass. Ave. I was riding on a flat," complained Kishan Putta, a Dupont Circle ANC Commissioner who has been pushing the District Department of Transportation since last year to fix the bike lane.

"This is the most used bike lane in Washington, D.C. and it needs to be kept up better," he said.

DDOT is responding, and repaving of the cycle track—which is separated from traffic by a line of parked cars—will begin this summer, about a year after the agency had hoped.

"We hope in the next month or so and it will probably take about three weeks," said Sam Zimbabwe, the associate director for policy, planning and sustainability for DDOT.

One mile of the 15th Street cycle track will be resurfaced from K Street NW north to Swann Street NW, with the two-way bike lane and the buffer parking lane, 18 feet wide from curb to car lane, getting a fresh layer of asphalt. The work will take place in segments, and the roughly 350 cyclists that use the cycle track per hour during the morning and evening commutes will be detoured around the repaving.

Cyclists are grateful -- and they have suggestions for other improvements.

"I like it. It would be great to have it repaved, but I'd honestly like it for them to take a look at the trees up here. It's impossible to see the signals northbound, especially at R Street," said one cyclist.

DDOT estimates the resurfacing will cost no more than $500,000.

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:03:50 -0400

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TOP STORIES ON TN:

Why the L Train Broke Monday... And Why It Might Keep Happening (link)

Study: 88% of Cars Speeding In Brooklyn (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

Monday’s derailment of a Long Island Rail Road train near Penn Station has thrown a very large wrench into Tuesday’s commute. (New York Times)

And by 'very large wrench,' we mean 'massive delays.' (DNA Info)

Rail safety and the value of a life: rail networks across the country are fighting a federal requirement to install anticrash systems by the end of 2015. (Wall Street Journal)

The Federal Transit Administration is "actively looking into" San Diego’s North County Transit District. This comes on the heels of a months-long inewsource investigation into security risks, contract failing, and high employee turnover at the transit agency. (KPBS)

Boston's transit agency says it will make its 15 busiest bus routes faster, more reliable, and more accessible through a series of changes this summer, which include relocating some stops and eliminating others. (Boston Globe)

An American cycling expert doffs his hat to Vancouver. "Canadians are much too modest. I think they need to brag a little more, because it turns out the city of Vancouver has the highest percentage of people who bike to work of any city in North America" (Vancouver Sun)

NJ Transit expanded its real-time bus information system to passengers in Northern Jersey. (The Record)

City officials will break ground on El Paso's new BRT line tomorrow. (El Paso Times)

San Francisco's new eco-friendly bus malfunctioned en route to a press conference -- with the city's mayor on board. (CBS SF)

Houston's free circulator bus isn't drawing all that many riders. Yet. (KUHF)

Car & Driver put Google Maps through its paces, and tested three methods of transportation -- driving, walking, and transit -- on a trip from the Bronx to the Battery. Lessons learned: "no matter the method of transportation, they all work in a symbiosis that keeps New York moving." (link)

NYC mayoral candidate (and former MTA head) Joe Lhota says cicadas are louder than the NYC subway system. "Subway trains are intermittent," said Lhota. "Cicadas never stop." (Staten Island Advance)

A concept for a 'flying train' was unveiled in Paris. But its creator says that before it becomes reality, "we still have to break down several barriers." (Global Rail News)

PHOTOS: stunt bicycle riders -- from the Edwardian era. (Guardian)

San Francisco Crowdsourcing Bike Share Stations

Isabel Angell — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:55:11 -0400

Bike sharing is coming to San Francisco and Silicon Valley this August. It’s being launched on a small scale at first -- just 750 bikes in the whole system. But the city is turning to the public to help them plan the system's expansion.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has already released the locations of where it plans to put the city’s 35 Bay Area Bike Share stations. They’re concentrated in the downtown Financial District and South of Market areas– parts of the city that have high numbers of commuters. There will also be a few stations along San Francisco’s waterfront, on Embarcadero.

In an article explaining the system, bike sharing program manager Heath Maddox explained, “this area is notably flat, has the densest bikeway network coverage and has the highest bicycle use counts in the city.”

Because the initial launch is so small, the system can't sustain stations that are too spread out beyond the initial launch area. But San Francisco plans to expand the program as quickly as possible, so it created a crowdsourcing website where people can recommend different spots for stations.

New York City took a similar approach when planning its bike share stations, and the city received thousands of suggestions on where to locate docks.

Currently, most votes center around that same downtown area, but other neighborhoods –- like the Mission District -– are getting some attention too. But some Bay Area residents hope the bike share won’t be limited to those central neighborhoods. Henry Pan, a native San Franciscan and biker, doesn’t want it to skip over the outlying neighborhoods.

“Especially at those neighborhoods with the least access to transit and probably the least access to a car,” he explained. “And those neighborhoods would imaginably be those with the lowest incomes.”

Pan has cousins who have curfews because they can’t rely on public transit to get them home safely. He thinks a bike share could help, and give them an easier way to get to the city.

Pan, who volunteers for the community group Folks for Polk, is excited about bike share coming to San Francisco. “This is one step that’s needed to get our city more access to sustainable modes of transportation,” he said. “That means less cars on the road, safer streets, and more willpower to galvanize protected bike lanes in the city.”

Why the L Train Broke Monday... And Why It Might Keep Happening

Jim O'Grady — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:45:23 -0400

A sight you do not want to see in the morning as you're walking down Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn toward the L train subway stop is a long line of commuters outside the local livery cab dispatch station. It can only mean one thing: the trains aren't moving. That's what happened Monday morning. Now the question is: will it keep happening?

Multiple L trains, filled beyond capacity from picking up passengers on city-bound runs through a wide swath of Brooklyn, couldn't leave the borough because nothing was moving on the Manhattan side of the tunnel. Those passengers were disgorged onto a dangerously overcrowded platform at the Bedford Avenue Station, where they absorbed conflicting messages from an overtaxed public address system. Most gave up and left. ("Officially changed my major to complaining about the #Ltrain," Tweeted rider Madeline Erlich.)

MTA spokesman Charles Seaton explained that signal problems around the First Avenue station resulted in "three trains with brakes in emergency."

A subway train's emergency brakes are tripped when it moves through a red signal. Seaton wouldn't say whether that is what caused the major delay, which drove commuters above ground in search of cabs, ferries or, after nearly a mile walk, the closest alternative subway station. He did say that, "There is a problem with a track circuit affecting the signals."

In other words, an electrical malfunction messed up the signals and that stopped three trains in their tracks, blocking the tunnel and stranding half of Brooklyn on the wrong side of the East River during rush hour. But the electrical nature of the problem raises the question of whether Storm Sandy, seven-and-a-half months after it blew through New York, was at the root of the turmoil.

It took 11 days to restore service to The Canarsie tube, used by the L train, after Sandy flooded it from track to ceiling. MTA interim executive director Tom Prendergast has repeatedly warned since then that electrical components exposed to salt water are less reliable and operating on a shorter life span. For example, the R train has been seeing a 120 percent increase in delays since Sandy flooded its Montague tunnel.

The R train will soon be shut down for a year of Sandy-related repairs. Could a similar fate await the L train? It would be a hard blow for its riders because there are fewer alternative lines than exist for the R train. And the L train's ridership is growing: by 141 percent between 1998 and 2012, largely because of a population boom in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Seaton wouldn't comment on whether damage from Sandy contributed to Monday's L train delay--only that "the cause is under investigation."

Study: 88% of Cars Speeding In Brooklyn

Alex Goldmark — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:59:00 -0400

Speeding is rampant in Brooklyn, according to a new study from the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. When surveyors clocked the speed of passing cars on Brooklyn neighborhood streets, they found 88 percent were breaking the posted limit.

Transportation Alternatives monitored traffic in four neighborhoods known for high rates of speeding -- Canarsie, Greenpoint, Midwood, and Bay Ridge. "

"Speeding is the number one cause of death in traffic," said TA's Juan Martinez. "Speeding drivers kill more New Yorkers than drunk drivers and drivers on cell phones combined."

The group chose to focus on Brooklyn because the borough had the highest number of traffic injuries: 23,058 in 2011, the latest available year with complete statistics. (Story continues after chart)

NYC Traffic Injuries, 2011 | Create infographics

Brooklyn also has the largest population of any of New York's five boroughs, so when population is taken into account, the borough does not stand out much, trailing Staten Island by just a bit for highest injury rates per 100,000 residents. For fatalities, the Bronx is worst on a per capita basis (see interactive chart above with several viewing options).

Still, speeding in Brooklyn appears to be a widespread practice.

"T.A. went out during morning and evening rush hours over the course of 10 days between September 2012 and April 2013. During peak morning travel periods, 28 percent, or 1 in 4 motorists, exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more. During peak evening hours, a slightly higher rate of 30 percent, or 1 in 3 motorists, traveled at speeds more than 10 mph over the limit."

Transportation Alternatives tracked the number of tickets issued in all of 2011 by NY Police Department precincts in Brooklyn and found 2,028 speeding violations in Brooklyn’s neighborhood streets. By contrast, the group found "2,232 speeding drivers in 12-hours in just four Brooklyn neighborhoods in 2012," as measured by the researchers. Those citation figures exclude the NYPD Highway Patrol unit summonses in Brooklyn, which focus on streets closed to pedestrians.

The NYPD did not return a request for comment.

The speeding study is part of a larger push by safety advocates and New York City officials to get traffic cameras installed around New York City. Speed cameras have local support but require approval from the state government. A bill authorizing NYC to test traffic cameras near schools is stalled in the NY State legislature.

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:02:06 -0400

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TOP STORIES ON TN:

BART Labor Negotiations Stall, State Mediator to Step In (link)

D.C.'s DOT Reverses Street Calming Measures After City Councilman Complains (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

China will move 250 million rural residents into newly constructed towns and cities over the next dozen years. (New York Times)

The new Huey P. Long Bridge opened in New Orleans. One protestor "held up two signs, saying the money could have been used to pay for passenger rail between Baton Rouge and New Orleans." (Times-Picayune)

Speeding vehicles kill more people in Brooklyn than in any other borough. (New York Post)

The bike lobby is real. And while it may not be all-powerful, "a scrappy band of bicycle manufacturers, smart-growth advocates and cycling nonprofits is increasingly fighting — and winning — battles at all levels of government." (Politico)

New York City's bike share program is "swell on wheels," declares the New York Daily News.

Meanwhile, the program put up its highest ridership numbers yet on Sunday. (Citi Bike)

In the U.K., 39 per cent of delays were caused by train operators themselves. (Telegraph)

Before repairing the beleaguered Silver Spring Transit Center, Maryland's Montgomery County may order more tests on the concrete. (Washington Post)

St. Paul wants community input into transit options for the city's east side. (Pioneer Press)

What does it take to deep-clean a Chicago bus? "Sometimes it's easy; sometimes it's rough. You have to be strong mentally to concentrate on what you are doing." (Chicago Tribune)

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, some bus drivers are becoming ill after the city sprays buses with pesticides. (Los Angeles Times)

JFK Airport is installing barriers to prevent turtles from crossing runways in search of nesting grounds. (ABC News)

BART Labor Negotiations Stall, State Mediator to Step In

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:44:10 -0400

BART has asked a state mediator to step in and helps the stalled labor talks between the Bay Area transit agency and its five unions. The mediator, whom unions have welcomed, is scheduled to start next week. The current labor contract expires on June 30th.

Labor contracts at BART have a troubled history. Four years ago, negotiations led to a near strike and left union employees without a raise after talks dragged on for months. But the unions say this time, they’re not backing down. They proposed a three-year deal with a five percent annual raise that is adjusted for inflation. That adds up to a 23% pay bump over the next three years. Union representatives point to a budget surplus and record ridership, saying workers deserve some of the benefits.

Antonette Bryant is the president of BART’s second biggest union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing train operators and station agents. At a public meeting last month, she urged the BART Board of Directors to look for funding from somewhere besides the workers and riders.

“We are operating at a deficit," she said. "The workers, not BART.”

But BART officials say the aging system needs billions of dollars over the next decade to fund maintenance projects, such as replacing old train cars. To close that gap, BART wants union employees to start contributing to their pensions– something the unions fiercely oppose. BART also wants to reform some of its work rules, like one that allows employees to get overtime while working fewer than 40 hours in a week.

“There’s no question that our workers are highly skilled and dedicated,” said BART General Manager Grace Crunican in a press release. “But they’ve got to take a greater stake in the financial future of BART.”

The union employees will also be getting a one percent raise on July 1 for meeting goals set out in the last contract, such as increased ridership and sales tax revenue. But both union and BART officials say that raise has no impact on the current negotiations.

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:12:07 -0400

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CHART: Mumford and Sons Fans Take the Subway to Barclays. Barbra Fans: Notsomuch (link)

Your Five-Boro Taxi Plan Questions, Answered: Part Deux (link)

Just Add Water: Mayor's Plan Calls for Instant Flood Walls (link)

FTC to D.C. Taxicab Commission: Avoid "Unwarranted Regulatory Restrictions" (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

A top federal official called unauthorized changes to Metro’s new Silver Line "alarming" -- and the issue could delay the ilne's December opening. (Washington Post)

The NYC Mayoral Matrix: where do the candidates stand on bike lanes? Turns out no one is in the 'clearly against' category. (New York World)

Portland's new light rail line has been designed so that power captured from braking trains can power accelerating ones. (Wired)

Why Chicago delayed its bike share launch: "Chicago doesn’t want Divvy to run into the same problems that are plaguing Citi Bikes in New York." (Forbes)

To build a new light rail line in Minneapolis, existing freight rail tracks will likely have to be relocated. (MPR)

California's high-speed rail can begin construction without waiting for more federal review. (McClatchy via SacBee)

Taking the scenic route: a NJ Transit bus ride became...interesting...when the driver got lost for two hours. (Star-Ledger)

327,865 miles on it and no hubcaps: Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) has done some hard travelling in his 2003 Passat. (The Hill)

CHART: Mumford and Sons Fans Take the Subway to Barclays. Barbra Fans: Notsomuch

Andrea Bernstein — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:42:02 -0400

A new report commissioned by the developers of Barclays Center shows fans using transit or walking most of the time. That's by design -- there are just 541 parking spots at Barclays, which is near 11 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road. About 60 percent of Nets fans take transit, but Mumford and Sons broke the bank at nearly 70.

Still some aficionados have a distinct preference for getting there behind the wheel: to wit, fans of Barbra Streisand and Andrea Bocelli. Also, those 400 bike racks? Not used that much. Here's a look at who's who:

Who Used Transit To Get to Barclays

Mumford & Sons: 68% Rode Transit

Nets: 60% Rode Transit

Swedish House Mafia: 55 % Rode Transit

Disney on Ice: 39% Rode Transit

Marc Anthony: 35% Rode Transit

Who Used the Barclays Center Parking Lot:

Andrea Bocelli: 450 Cars

Barbra Streisand: 375 cars

Marc Anthony: 355 Cars

Justin Bieber: 350 Cars

Nets v. Lakers 305 cars

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:47:14 -0400

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TOP STORIES ON TN:

Chicago Bike Share Also Hitting Snags (link)

NJ Transit Finds a Place to Store Trains, Out of Flood Zone (link)

NTSB Releases Preliminary Report on Washington Bridge Collapse (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

In Bogota, Colombia, activists are fighting a rise in pedestrian deaths. (Atlantic Cities)

A drunk driver who hit a pedestrian in Portland in 2008 was sentenced to five more years in prison after failing to pay his victim. (The Oregonian)

Going to be flying into the U.S. this summer? Bring a good book. "Three-hour lines at U.S. Customs checkpoints have caused so many travelers to miss connections that Miami International Airport set aside an auditorium filled with cots as an overnight shelter. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, chairs are on standby, ready to be rushed in for extra-long immigration-hall waits." (Wall Street Journal)

Meanwhile, airline passengers stuck on the tarmac for several hours broke out into "I Believe I Can Fly." (Little White Lion)

Transit expert: cities should be adding buses, not building streetcar routes. (Cincinnati.com)

On his way out of office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the start of a five-year effort to rewrite the city's 67-year-old zoning code. (Daily News)

Rail workers have gone on strike in France, crippling the country's train system -- a day after striking air traffic controllers triggered massive flight cancellations. (Deutsche Welle)

New York's City Council wants Albany to move on speed camera legislation. (NY1)

What the world needs now: a flying bike. "Researchers in the Czech Republic have unveiled a 95kg (210lb) remotely-controlled bicycle that can hover a few metres above ground for five minutes." (BBC)

But even a standard bike doesn't work for Stephen Colbert: "I prefer the simpler ways of yore: being conveyed to my apartment by four stout eunuchs. Fie, I say, on your bicycles." (tweet via @MattFleg)

It's baa-aack: Four months after 'the cruise from hell,' Carnival's Triumph will set sail today from Galveston. (Houston Chronicle)

Amtrak sold over 1.5 million bottles of water last year. (Washington Post)

Check it out: London's tube map, rendered in Lego. (Explore)

FTC to D.C. Taxicab Commission: Avoid "Unwarranted Regulatory Restrictions"

Martin DiCaro — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 06:54:54 -0400

Tech companies are complaining. A D.C. Council member is urging restraint. And now the Federal Trade Commission is asking the D.C. Taxicab Commission to be careful when it comes to weighing new regulations for app-based hailing services reshaping Washington's vehicle-for-hire industry.

The FTC says proposed rules up for consideration on June 25 may stifle competition. In written comments submitted to the DCTC, the FTC is recommending the agency avoid "unwarranted regulatory restrictions."

The tech companies Uber Taxi and mytaxi, two of seven now operating in Washington, are complaining about a new mandate requiring they integrate their app systems with whatever credit card payment machines taxi drivers install in their vehicles by a Sept. 1 deadline. The FTC is also concerned the proposals, designed to protect passengers from fraud, will be cumbersome.

In a statement, DCTC chair Ron Linton said the commission appreciates the comments from the FTC. "During the regulatory process we consider all comments seriously. We do believe the intent of the proposed regulations will allow the market to determine the selection of services," he wrote.

Earlier this week D.C. Council member Mary Cheh cautioned the proposed rules may stifle innovation and harm consumer choice.

Uber applauded the FTC's comments. "The FTC has recognized that there are serious problems with the DC Taxi Commission’s proposed regulations that would limit consumer choice in the District and impose unprecedented technological barriers. It’s time for the DCTC to listen to the overwhelming opinion of the DC Council, District residents, and the FTC, and to stop trying to hamstring innovative transportation options like Uber," said the company's Washington general manager Rachel Holt.

D.C.'s DOT Reverses Street Calming Measures After City Councilman Complains

Martin DiCaro — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 06:47:33 -0400

In Washington’s Glover Park, the District Department of Transportation tinkered with Wisconsin Avenue NW, a six-lane road where residents complained of speeding cars and difficult crossings.

After years of study, the DDOT made some changes. But following complaints by a D.C. council member, transportation planners reversed the traffic calming measures and returned the road to its old condition, angering Glover Park residents who claim DDOT bowed to political pressure.

From six lanes to four

If you stand at the corner of Wisconsin Ave. NW and Calvert Street you will see two different traffic patterns, depending on which way you are facing. South of the intersection, Wisconsin Ave. has been reduced from three north-south lanes in each direction to two plus a center turning lane. The changes were part of DDOT’s Wisconsin Avenue streetscape project to widen sidewalks and slow cars down.

North of Calvert Street, Wisconsin Avenue had the same new traffic pattern – until last week. Only six months after removing a travel lane to calm traffic, DDOT returned the avenue to its old condition of three lanes in each direction.

D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans was unhappy with the changes because they slowed down his frequent trips on Wisconsin Ave.

“The project really had its genesis back in 2006 when there was a Glover Park study to really improve the commercial area,” Evans said in an interview with WAMU 88.5. “The idea of re-lining the roadways to change the traffic flow, though, was a much later idea.”

Slowing down traffic to protect pedestrians is a worthy goal, Evans said. “However, you don’t reduce it to a stop, almost, and there had to be a balance between slowing down traffic and stopping traffic.”

DDOT provides few answers

For two days WAMU 88.5 submitted questions to the District Department of Transportation about why the traffic calming measures -- implemented after several pedestrians were struck by cars -- were reversed without notifying the Glover Park Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC).

The repeated requests for comment were answered with a brief statement from DDOT spokesman Reggie Sanders.

“The reason for the change in each instance was safety. Safety for all modes,” the statement said. “During the trial period DDOT implemented numerous signal plans. Traffic Control Offices monitored vehicular movement and in many of the segments public safety remained the key issue of focus. We have received numerous citizen reports and our safety team closely monitored the situation and will continue to work with the community throughout July and August as we continue to monitor the operations.”

ANC furious: “Councilman Evans has a veto over pedestrian safety projects”

The Glover Park ANC lobbied DDOT to slow down traffic on Wisconsin Avenue because the six-lane road had become a high-speed thoroughfare – despite the 25 m.p.h. speed limit – between Georgetown and upper Northwest.

After a long study period and only six months of implementation, the changes north of Calvert Street were stripped away in a matter of days.

“We went through years of study (and) millions of dollars to figure out how to make this road work for pedestrians and for cars. DDOT put those changes into effect and then in a blink of an eye, without any real analysis, they changed them back,” said ANC Commissioner Brian Cohen in an interview with WAMU 88.5.

“I don’t understand how Councilman Evans could get DDOT to make these changes that make our community less safe. He doesn’t live in this community. He doesn’t even represent this community,” said Cohen, who said traffic has not slowed to a crawl despite what the councilmember contends.

Glover Park is in Ward 3, represented by Councilmember Mary Cheh. Cheh and Evans held a transportation roundtable discussion in early May about the traffic calming measures. The Cleveland Park ANC also complained because the new lane alignment took away valuable parking spaces on the east side of Wisconsin Avenue north of Calvert Street – which is not part of Glover Park’s ANC3B.

But Cohen believes alternatives to simply reverting to the old six-lane traffic pattern should have been considered, like tweaking rush hour parking times, improving traffic light timing, and better enforcement of illegally parked cars.

More changes for Wisconsin Avenue?

South of the Calvert Street intersection during non-rush hours, Wisconsin Avenue provides motorists just one lane in each direction because parked cars consume the far right north- and southbound lanes. In Evans’ view, traffic is too slow on that stretch of Wisconsin Ave., too.

“It’s really unacceptable because on the weekends the traffic gets so backed up that you can’t traverse Wisconsin Avenue,” Evans said. “We’ve heard from merchants and others that it is hurting their business. People are very upset. [The ANC] are very committed to keeping it the way it is. They are not concerned about people getting frustrated.”

ANC Commissioner Cohen says the opposite is true: the narrower lane configuration has made Glover Park more -- not less -- livable.

“Prior to the Wisconsin Avenue project starting, we had had empty storefronts for years in Glover Park. Over the last year since the project started and since it’s been completed, we’ve filled just about every empty storefront in Glover Park,” Cohen said. “This has been good for business.”

Cohen says the ANC is concerned more pressure from Evans and others may force DDOT to mess with the traffic patterns on Wisconsin Avenue again to the detriment of pedestrians.

“Evans seems to view Glover Park simply as a place for him to get through as quickly as possible as he drives back and forth. He doesn’t seem to care about the people who live here. The balance in Glover Park had tipped too far to where our community had become nothing but a high-speed passage for cars to get from Bethesda to Georgetown,” Cohen said.

Follow @MartinDiCaro on Twitter.

NTSB Releases Preliminary Report on Washington Bridge Collapse

Derek Wang — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:34:40 -0400

(KUOW, Seattle) Federal investigators have some ideas about what led to last month’s I-5 bridge collapse over the Skagit River.

The preliminary report, released Tuesday, says the driver of the truck that struck the bridge before it fell had moved over closer to the edge of the bridge because of a passing truck.

The bridge collapsed on May 23 after a truck carrying an oversized load hit supports along the top.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the truck driver told investigators that he felt “crowded” by another semitruck that was trying to pass him on the left, so he moved to the right.

That confirms eyewitness accounts. One of them was from Dan Sligh. The night of the crash, he told KING 5 News that the second semi almost penned in the oversized truck.

“At that point the wide load caught the right side of the bridge," he said. "There was a loud boom. A big puff of dust appeared.”

Shortly after the puff of dust, the bridge span fell into the Skagit River.

The right lane had less clearance than the left lane, and the NTSB has previously said the oversized load could probably have crossed the bridge safely if it had been in the left lane. But the agency is still working to verify that.

The new information raises questions about bridge safety and truck regulations. For example, if a pilot car had been trailing the wide load, it could have prevented the second semi from passing. But that wasn’t required under current regulations.

Jim Wright, Washington State Department of Transportation’s program manager for oversized loads, said pilot cars that follow oversized loads have an important role. “They tell the operator of the transport vehicle, traffic that’s approaching from the rear, and if need be they can close off a lane so that transport vehicle can move over into that lane,” he said.

Under current rules, the load that hit the bridge was too small to require a rear pilot vehicle.

The NTSB continues to investigate. A WSDOT spokesman said the agency had no comment until the federal investigation is complete.

Follow Derek Wang on Twitter.

NJ Transit Finds a Place to Store Trains, Out of Flood Zone

Kate Hinds — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:47:03 -0400

During the next big storm, NJ Transit will store rail cars at yards in Linden and Garwood -- not the Meadowlands or Hoboken.

A WNYC/Record investigation had found that NJ Transit ignored multiple warnings before suffering $120 million in damage after its train cars were flooded. But officials say there's now a place to move the trains, out of harm's way.

The agency had been looking for storm-resilient rail facilities since Sandy, when it stored trains in two low-lying NJ Transit yards -- Hoboken and the Meadows Maintenance Complex (MMC) in Kearny. During Irene in 2011, the agency stored a large percentage of its rail fleet across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. The trains were fine -- but were stranded after tracks in Trenton flooded.

But at the agency's board meeting Wednesday, executive director Jim Weinstein said "we have an agreement with Conrail" to lease a storage facility in Linden, New Jersey.

Earlier this year, the agency said it was investigating the Linden facility and wanted to have it in place for the 2013 hurricane season.

The Linden yard is built on the site of an old General Motors facility and is now owned by Conrail. Weinstein said the Linden site, combined with the Garwood Industrial Track (another rail yard the agency operates in Garwood, New Jersey), would be NJ Transit's 'safe harbors' for rail cars during a storm.

As shown in the map below, the two yards sit outside the region's flood zone.

Weinstein said the agency will be moving some equipment currently awaiting repair at the MMC to the Linden facility, "so that in the event that we do have to evacuate in the future, that'll be 100 or 150 cars less."

Kevin O'Connor, the head of rail operations for NJ Transit, said the two sites can store a combined 450 rail cars.

To see where the NJ Transit's rail yards mentioned in this story are, check out the below map. The Garwood and Linden yards have pink balloons marking their locations.The Kearny and MMC yards are in blue.

Chicago Bike Share Also Hitting Snags

Transportation Nation — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:04:02 -0400

(Tim Akimoff, WBEZ) This summer was supposed to be the summer of the giant bike share launches. New York's started on Memorial Day, but with lots of bugs. Now Chicago's is being delayed, by two weeks.

Divvy was supposed to open for business Friday, capping off Bike to Work Week. But a statement posted on the program’s Tumblr site on Tuesday afternoon said the launch was being pushed back “to ensure we have the necessary time to test stations and ensure the system is fully functioning.”

Beyond the testing, Scott Kubly, Managing Deputy Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, said his agency wasn’t done building the 75 bike docking stations originally scheduled to come online with the launch.

A fastener used to connect bike holsters to the rest of the docking station arrived from a supplier only a few days ago.

Kubly called the components “minor but important,” and said that working without the parts in hand would have meant the majority of bike stations wouldn’t be finished in time.

“It would have been well below our goal of 50 [stations],” Kubly said. “It would have been in the teens at best.”

CDOT contracted with Portland, Oregon-based Public Bike Share Company to build Divvy’s infrastructure. PBSC works with a variety of subcontractors to manufacture its parts.

Kubly said his team will use the extra time to finish building the docking stations, and to test out each of the 950 bikes they hope to have available for the launch. Ultimately Divvy plans to have 300 stations with 3,000 bikes by the end of the summer, and an additional 100 stations and 1,000 bikes by next spring. Divvy is being launched in part with $22 million in federal funding.

Officials in Chicago have been closely monitoring the launch of another bike share program, New York’s Citi Bike, since it launched two weeks ago. According to the program’s blog, more than 36,000 people have signed up for annual memberships so far, and over 173,000 trips have been made. But the program has been beset by technical glitches, and some have complained that New York launched its bike share too hastily.

Both Chicago and New York are partnering with Montreal-based Alta to run their bike share programs.

So far 1,200 Chicagoans have signed up for Divvy annual memberships, which run $75 to $125. Users can purchase a daily pass for $7. Because the program was designed to help users make very short trips, and to address what some planners call the “last two miles” problem of commuting, trips are limited to 30 minutes. After that a usage fee kicks in.

Despite the delayed launch, CDOT officials are going ahead with a rally at Daley Plaza Friday to open Divvy’s first station.

“I signed up for a membership,” Kubly said. “And it’s not just because I’m managing the program.”

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:07:16 -0400

TN MOVING STORIES is available by email. Signup here.

TOP STORIES ON TN:

Ten Percent of Citi Bike Docks Appear to Fail Each Day (link)

The Senator Will See You Now: MTA Nominee Going to Albany (link)

Mayor Details Climate Plan, Including New Neighborhood (link)

San Francisco Eyes Congestion Pricing (link)

D.C. Taxicab Commission Considering "Burdensome" Regulations, Says Council Member (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

One-third of all designated drivers have had at least one drink, according to a new study. And twenty percent shouldn't be getting behind the wheel. (Washington Post)

Chicago has delayed the launch of its bike share system by two weeks for "more extensive testing." (Chicago Tribune)

Detroit is banking on a new streetcar rail system to help drive its economic revival. (Progressive Railroading)

Who wants to be NYC mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner's transportation commissioner? Figure out how to get delivery bikes to obey traffic rules, and it can be you. (Capital NY)

Transit workers in St. Louis voted to authorize a strike. (KSDK)

WBEZ's first ever 'Chicago summer transit summit' offered up road sharing tips.

D.C.'s Metro often blocks followers on Twitter. (Washingtonian)

Rebalancing red alert: bike share docks in NYC's East Village remain empty for most of the day after the morning commute. (DNA Info)

TSA officers held up the actor who plays Chewbacca in the "Star Wars" films from boarding a plane because of his light saber-inspired cane. (Ed. note: actual headline in The Hill. We can't improve upon it.)

Your Five-Boro Taxi Plan Questions, Answered: Part Deux

Kate Hinds — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:53:31 -0400

Last week we answered questions about New York City's newest class of taxi. But there were some follow-ups.

What's the official name for those bright green taxis?

We wondered about this too, because "Five Boro" is just not rolling off the tongue. According to the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, the technical term is "Street Hail Liveries." But they're going with "Boro Taxi." (We suspect "green cab" will take off, although a colleague is lobbying for "apple cab." Got a favorite? Weigh in in the comments section.) And technically the color is 'apple green.' (Want the paint color codes? Here you go.)

So I can take a Boro Taxi FROM another borough TO Manhattan, but not the reverse? That makes no sense -- especially for the driver, who has to turn around and leave Manhattan without a fare!

We got the most comments on this piece of the plan. Here's the city's official position: it's not about Manhattan. The TLC says 13,000 yellow cabs are already on Manhattan streets, with 2,000 more to come. "The moving principle behind Boro Taxis is to provide increased transport options to the underserved areas outside the Central Business District. If Boro Taxis were permitted to provide outbound service from Manhattan, they would be less available to serve these underserved areas."

So will the Boro Taxis stay in the outer boroughs and northern Manhattan?

Currently, livery cabs don't have GPS, so there's no real way to know how many of those trips are intra-borough vs. inter-borough. But the city says there are over 100,000 livery rides in the five boroughs every day. It's safe to say many of them don't go south of 110th Street in Manhattan (aka the Boro Taxi's "Forbidden Zone").

Let's say I live in Canarsie and I want to take a cab to JFK. Why should I have to pay the flat fee to the airport!

You don't. The flat airport fare ($52 -- plus tolls) only exists between Manhattan and JFK Airport. Otherwise, passengers pay the metered fare. So a Boro Taxi trip between, say, Astoria and LaGuardia should cost around $14 (if HopStop is any guide.)

It's not that yellow cabs can’t be hailed outside of Manhattan (and the airports), it’s that they’re hard to find, right? If I see an available yellow cab outside Manhattan I can still legally hail it, right?

Absolutely right -- if you can find one. Because most taxis serve Manhattan, they can be hard to find in the outer boroughs.

I'm in a wheelchair. Are there any accessible Boro Taxis?

Twenty percent of them must be wheelchair-accessible. To incentivize their adoption by the livery fleet, the city will give owners $15,000 to purchase an accessible vehicle.

Will I have as hard a time hailing a Boro Taxi at 4:30 pm as I do with getting a yellow cab?

Time will tell -- but liveries tend not to follow the same "shift change" structures as yellow cabs.

To read the first installment of "Your Five-Boro Taxi Plan Questions, Answered," go here.

The Senator Will See You Now: MTA Nominee Going to Albany

Kate Hinds — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:33:06 -0400

As New York's legislative session draws to a close, there's one piece of unfinished business bugging transit watchers: the nagging lack of a confirmation hearing for the new head of Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But that could be changing.

Sources in the New York Senate confirm that nominee Tom Prendergast will be heading to Albany Wednesday to meet with Senator Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick), the head of the Senate Transportation Committee.

When Governor Cuomo named Prendergast to be the next chairman and CEO of New York's MTA, observers thought he was a shoo-in for confirmation. Prendergast knows the lay of the land (he's been at the agency since 1982), is well-liked, and would provide continuity to an agency that has seen its two previous heads resign after relatively short tenures.

Not to mention the fact that New York is currently engaged in spending billions of dollars on repairing its Sandy-battered transit system.

Two months after Cuomo tapped Prendergast, the Senate -- which must officially approve the MTA head -- has yet to schedule a confirmation hearing. But Wednesday's meeting could signal the process is moving to the Senate's front burner.

MTA interim head Fernando Ferrer vented about Albany's foot dragging last week to reporters. "Why this has not been scheduled for a advise and consent confirmation hearing is beyond me," he said after the agency's June board meeting. "We need firm and stable leadership...this arrangement can't continue much longer."

There's some added pressure: barring an extension, New York's legislative session is scheduled to end on June 20th.

San Francisco Eyes Congestion Pricing

Bryan Goebel — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:33:04 -0400

Rush-hour traffic in downtown San Francisco is projected to get worse in the coming decade -- prompting officials to rethink car access to the urban core.

"We're going to be faced with severe congestion at some point. We're not able to say exactly when, but it's certainly within the next, I'd say, 10 years. And if we don't move decisively now, it might even be sooner than that,” said Tilly Chang, the deputy planning director at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority.

Chang said a plan to charge drivers to enter or leave downtown, known as congestion pricing, is again emerging as one solution to alleviate gridlock. She said something more is needed to really slow down the growth of traffic flooding into that area.

“We definitely see parking management and congestion pricing as examples of how we can encourage people to review their choices and to really think about, 'Do I really need to make this trip in a car?' ” Chang said.

Congestion pricing would involve a toll for vehicles entering or leaving downtown at certain hours. Drivers would pay a fee -- say, $3 a trip -- when they drive downtown. They’d be charged automatically, through a device like FasTrak or a camera system that would record their license plates. The money raised would be used to enhance transit and make the streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Congestion pricing has been talked about before in the Bay Area and it’s a tough sell to both drivers and politicians. But things might be changing.

Jane Kim represents South of Market on the Board of Supervisors. Her district has more than its share of traffic snarls and one of the city's highest rates of injuries and deaths from vehicle-pedestrian collisions.

“As South of Market grows in density, I think more and more residents are talking about it and switching from saying, 'This is a terrible idea" to thinking, 'This may be the only way I can have a livable neighborhood,' ” Kim said.

With several large developments on tap for her district, including a proposed basketball arena, she wants to explore congestion pricing.

“We're going to have to figure out ways to get people out of their cars, and onto other modes to get into the Financial District or downtown," Kim said. "Or we're going to have to ask people to pay if they do choose to drive so we can help improve that infrastructure."

A congestion pricing plan from the city Transportation Authority will soon undergo an environmental review. Any proposal the city develops would need approval from the Legislature.

Ten Percent of Citi Bike Docks Appear to Fail Each Day

Andrea Bernstein — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:05:31 -0400

Ten months ago, when Mayor Bloomberg announced Citi Bike would be delayed, he explained why: "The software doesn't work. Duh," he said on his weekly radio show. "Until it works, we're not going to put it out until it does work." Two weeks after the system launched, complaints of software failures are rife. And though the city refuses to release specific information on outages, a WNYC analysis indicates on any given day, about ten percent of docks have been failing.

Moreover, the city had ample warning the software was buggy -- and launched anyway.

To be sure, our analysis isn't perfect. But by scraping station data, the WNYC Data News Team found that, in the last week, an average of 35 stations -- ten percent of the program's 330 stations -- had no activity for four or more hours during the day, indicating no bikes were checked out or returned.

It's possible some of the docks simply weren't used. But many of the stations that didn't show activity for long periods include those near some of the most popular docks. The dock at Broadway and 55th Street was out for long stretches. So were the docks at Broadway and 39th Street, Ninth Avenue and West 18th Street, and Fifth Avenue and 29th Street.

We didn't use data from the Friday's heavy rain so as not to skew the results, and only counted stations listed as "in service" but appeared unused for long stretches between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

We did this analysis because the city has outright refused to answer our questions about the number of down stations, customer complaints, call wait times, and other indicators of system problems. Instead, we received this emailed statement from the city's transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan. "Every new bike share system has had an adjustment period as people learn how to use it and technicians troubleshoot the thousands of moving and virtual parts, and the scale in New York is like nowhere else. The good news is that there are fewer and fewer kinks even as we’re seeing more and more riders."

But that's not what we've experienced, what other journalists have seen, what riders are telling us, or what the numbers show. (Story continues below)

A look at tweets and posts on Citi Bike's Facebook page center on a number of recurring themes about software glitches, docking problems, and lengthy waits for a customer service representative. The tweets tend to read like this:

Had a terrible experience this morning with a lot of stations offline. (1)
I'm staring at at an interminable yellow light at a dock. (2)
None of these bikes will check out. What's up with that? (3)
Looked like a nice day to use CitiBike. 4 stations, 6 failed codes, 2 very long phone calls and 90 mins later I decided to go drink instead. (4)

Now, many of these early riders love the system anyway. They're thrilled to be able to pick up and drop off bikes, and are willing to put up with some glitches at this early stage. But there are a lot of complaints.

Citi Bike users might be forgiven for thinking they're being gaslighted. (Tweet from Crain's New York reporter Matt Chaban: Getting in a cab again because of a @CitibikeNYC malfunction. Is it me? Starting to think it's me.)

Matt, it's not you.

In fact, it turns out the nation's largest bike share is beta testing the entire software system. Other than in Chattanooga, Tennessee (31 stations, 300 bikes), the software system used in New York has never been used anywhere. Even in Chattanooga, where the system launch was also delayed, the system isn't perfect, ten months after that city's launch. "Our system has been working satisfactorily," Philip Pugliese, the Chattanooga bicycle coordinator said. But he added "we see it as evolutionary."

New York's bikes look just like the ones in Boston, Minneapolis, Washington, DC, and London. Those cities -- which used the same software developed for Montreal, North America's first large-scale bike share -- did not experience the kind of software issues New York is having. "We did not experience that problem at all," Chris Holben, the director of the bike share system for the District DOT in Washington told us. By the time Washington, DC, launched, the software had been tried out in several other cities.

But New York's bike share underwent a brain transplant before it came to the Big Apple.

It's not clear to what extent New York City officials were aware when they signed the contract with Citibank that they'd be getting an entirely new system. Again, no one is talking. But right before New York announced the sponsorship in May 2012, two things happened. The company that wrote the original software -- 8D -- sued Public Bike Share Company, the supplier for New York's system, for $26 million. PBSC had dumped 8D, saying it could develop its own software from scratch.

Also, that April Chattanooga delayed its bike share launch because of software problems.

In Tennessee, the break between 8D and PSBC caught officials off-guard. "That was not clear to us when the initial contract was awarded," Pugliese said. "It became clear to us prior to the installation. We made the conscious decision to move forward anyway."

None of this was apparent when Mayor Bloomberg announced on a May morning last year that bike share would launch in July of 2012, and that Citibank would sponsor it. That event that was all sunny optimism: no one let on there would be trouble.

But then, bikeshare didn't launch in July, as scheduled. By August, it was clear that the software wasn't working. "It really is very advanced technology," the mayor said then. "Each station is like a dock, each place you stick in a bike is a computer, and everything runs on solar power so you don't need a lot of wiring and there's no burden on the electrical system. There's an enormous number of transactions you have to communicate in real time to central computers."

Over the fall and winter, the city worked on testing the system at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Sandy flooded bikes and docks there, delaying the system even more. But even during the testing, sources say, there were problems.

And Chattanooga still wasn't perfect.

Two other cities, Chicago and San Francisco, are slated to use the same software as New York. On Wednesday, Chicago said it would delay its launch by two weeks for "more extensive testing." Karen Schkolnick, who runs San Francisco bike share, said no specific launch date had been set there.

Right now, Citi Bike users are enthusiastic early adopters, and many are willing to forgive the system's flaws. Some will even wait patiently on hold while the city adds customer service agents and gets them up to speed.

Citi Bike member Graham Lawlor seemed to speak for a number of users in one of many emails to TN. "In general," he wrote, "I'm a huge, huge fan. There do seem to be a few recurring glitches though."

Lawlor ticked off what he was seeing, which can be summed up in three words: persistent docking problems. He said several stations had no available spaces to return bikes -- despite guidance from the official app. "It kept showing open docks even though there was none," he wrote. He also described a problem many of us at WNYC are experiencing: often, the green light signaling a successful bike return doesn't come on. "You're trapped," said Lawlor. "You wonder if you'll be fined $1,000 for the loss of the bike, if it never shows up as having been returned." And more: "sometimes after returning a bike you don't seem to be able to take out another bike for some time. Twice I returned a bike, tried to take another one but got a red light. I checked my profile on the website and it showed the bike was still checked out. An hour or so later, it registered the bike was returned (and did show the correct timestamp, so I didn't get charged overage). But in the meantime, I couldn't check out another bike."

Another user wrote TN to say she and her partner had bought day passes on Sunday -- but they "received codes that didn't work. Often times, we had to apply for a new code about 3-4 times before being able to ride. We had 30 min. intervals to ride the bike. A bulk of the time was spent riding around looking for empty docking stations to park our bikes because most were full. I received numerous overcharges" as a result.

Despite such stories, the city is refusing to give any indication of the depth of the problem, or say what it's doing to resolve the problem.

Last week, Citi Bike's customer service phone number went down numerous times. Following the line's restoration, the company said on its Facebook page and in emails to bikeshare members that it had "more than doubled the capacity in our Customer Service Center to answer your calls and respond to your e-mails more quickly."

To which one Facebook fan responded: "I wish the docks worked. Then you wouldn't need to staff up customer service."

D.C. Taxicab Commission Considering "Burdensome" Regulations, Says Council Member

Martin DiCaro — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:43:38 -0400

The D.C. Taxicab Commission is considering adopting “burdensome” regulations that would “discourage new, innovative technology companies from operating in the District,” according to a D.C. council member.

In a letter to the DCTC’s chairman, Council member Mary Cheh cautioned against approving proposed regulations for the new sedan class of vehicle-for-hire services under which tech companies like Uber – one of seven tech companies doing business in D.C. – legally operate.

Last year, Cheh authored legislation allowing app-based hailing services to operate in Washington.

“Some of [the regulations] seem heavy-handed to me and not necessary, and they may reflect a kind of overly protective approach to something that doesn’t need protection,” said Cheh.

Specifically, she's concerned with a slew of proposed requirements and restrictions. If adopted at the next DCTC meeting June 25, “digital dispatch services” operating in the sedan class would have to “provide a detailed technical description to the Commission, including its technical specifications, its software applications, its operating systems and its trade names, all of which are subject to Commission approval,” said Cheh in her letter.

“Although these rules appear well-intentioned, I question the necessity of such a burdensome approval process,” she said.

The proposed rules would also require tech companies to provide “an inventory of all drivers and vehicles associated with its service, to produce business records to the Commission over the most-recent five years, and to provide an annual report of all incidents involving payment disputes of $50 or more, fraud or criminal activity, and violation of anti-discrimination regulations.”

Vehicle types would be restricted, too, a move that Cheh says runs counter to the District’s intention to widen consumer choice. For instance, hybrid vehicles would not qualify as “sedans,” barring Uber from introducing them nto its service.

“The Commission's proposed rules place significant limitations on the type of vehicles that can be used for sedan-class service in the District, including that the vehicle: (i) weighs at least 3,200 pounds, (ii) is fewer than five years old, (iii) is blue or black in color, and (iv) is equipped with luxury features (a premium sound system, reading lights, and aluminum wheels),” Cheh said.

Hailo, mytaxi, Taxi Magic, HitchRides, TaxiRadar, Yellow Cab, and Uber are the seven app-based companies currently operating in Washington. Uber has complained the loudest over the past year about proposed regulations, repeatedly accusing the DCTC of threatening to push it out of Washington. By issuing strongly-worded press releases and using social media to rally its customer base, Uber has attempted to pressure elected officials and regulators to back off.

DCTC Chairman Ron Linton declined to comment on the proposals up for consideration on June 25, citing the ongoing regulatory process.

“We take comments submitted in writing very seriously and give careful consideration to what is being said,” said Linton. Changes to the proposed rules by the commission would trigger another 30-day public comment period, he added.

In a statement, Uber’s D.C. general manager Rachel Holt excoriated the DCTC, accusing regulators of imposing barriers to “innovative transportation options.”

Cheh is urging regulators change their perspective on the evolving vehicle-for-hire industry. Instead of crafting regulations for either taxicabs or sedans, she wants the commission to focus on street hails versus app-based hailing, regardless of the kind or size of vehicles being used.

“The rules that are being proposed would eliminate that kind of choice,” she said. “We should have that choice. It will allow Uber and some of these other companies to have hybrid vehicles that may weigh less” than 3,200 pounds.

On another front, Uber and mytaxi contend the required installation of credit card payment machines in all D.C. taxicabs by Sept. 1 threatens their taxi hailing and payments apps. The issue is integration: the apps must work with whichever payment service providers cabbies choose to process credit card payments in their vehicles.

Uber claims integration has never been successfully implemented in any of the 35 cities where the company operates.

Read Mary Cheh's Letter to the DCTC

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 08:00:31 -0400

TN MOVING STORIES is available by email. Signup here.

TOP STORIES ON TN:

Maryland Gets In On Capital Bikeshare (link)

Ride Sharing Creates Turmoil In Seattle (link)

Wyoming Cattle Drive Turns Park Road Into Steer Highway -- Briefly (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

Rising housing costs near Seattle's light rail lines are starting to push out lower-income residents. Now, the city is trying to find ways to foster affordable housing near train stations. (Wall Street Journal)

A NYC mayoral candidate forum on Staten Island focused on the borough's mass transit options. Or lack thereof. (Staten Island Advance)

In the war on air pollution in Texas’s smoggiest cities, investigators say the state has slashed their funding -- even as they continue to find illegal vehicle inspection operations thriving in their communities. (State Impact Texas)

When will the New York State Senate hold a hearing confirming Governor Cuomo's pick to head the MTA? Good question. And one that requires props to act out. (WPIX)

The FAA wants to wean private aircraft off leaded fuel. (The Hill)

If Google acquires the navigation company Waze, it will know where you're driving. (Marketplace)

Stupid bus tricks: some riders in San Francisco are getting their kicks by kicking open the rear doors of Muni coaches and leaping out while the bus is rolling -- "and officials have no idea why." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Left behind: the Citi Bike membership discount for NYC public housing residents is effectively useless. "There are no bike stations in Harlem, Queens or the Bronx, where most public housing is concentrated, with the exception of the lower east side." (Tree Hugger)

Wi-Fi access on NJ Transit trains and stations could soon be a reality. (The Record)

Japan unveiled a prototype for a maglev train that goes 300 mph. (Fast CoExist)

General Motors has cut the price of the 2013 Chevrolet Volt by $4,000 to boost stalling sales. (Detroit Free Press)

Ride Sharing Creates Turmoil In Seattle

Derek Wang — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:50:14 -0400

In the Seattle area, some cars are driving around with oversized, hot pink moustaches on their front grills. The prop signals an increase in ride sharing. But for some companies and cabbies, the pink moustache is a red flag.

Those moustaches are trademarks for a new car service company called Lyft, one of several ride-sharing services now operating in the city. Think of them like Airbnb, but with a car and a driver. Lyft, Uber X and Sidecar allow laypeople to use their own cars and act as cabbies. The services are expanding in Seattle, and they’re drawing increased scrutiny from the cab industry, as well as from regulators and policymakers. Some officials say the businesses are illegal.

Sidecar started operating in Seattle last fall, followed by Lyft this past spring, and a third company, Uber, has launched a similar ride-sharing service called Uber X. These companies are also taking off across the country, filling a niche for on-demand rides.

The services are based on smartphone apps. Riders download a company’s app and create an account with their credit card information. When they want to book a ride, they start up the app and their phone will indicate how many drivers are nearby and how long it will take to get picked up. Once a ride is reserved, the app shows the user a picture of the driver, and a description of the driver’s vehicle. At the end of the ride, most of the services suggest a donation that’s split between the company and the driver. But riders can adjust the donation to any amount, including nothing.

For a driver, it’s a way to make some money off of a car--an asset that’s depreciating. Seattle resident Curtis Lui has been a driver for Sidecar since last December. He said he enjoys meeting new people. “The funniest moment I had was when I got some fast food for somebody,” he said. “It was 2:00 at night and they had been drinking quite a bit.”

Riders like the convenience and say the rides can be more enjoyable than a typical cab ride. Often, passengers ride in the front seat, as if they were getting a ride from a friend or a neighbor. Some drivers will offer snacks or even let the passenger operate the radio. The companies market themselves as a type of social network that helps the environment and the local economy.

Alex Lachance, city manager for Sidecar’s Seattle operations, said they’re trying to bring people together. “Just like all aspects of the shared economy, from Airbnb to Zipcar, we’re looking to share resources that we already have, to make people’s lives more efficient and more fun,” she said.

Critics, though, are concerned about the lack of regulation. In the city of Seattle, cab drivers either need a cab or a for-hire license in order to pick up passengers. But drivers with Uber X, Lyft and Sidecar often do not have such licenses, and the city doesn’t inspect their vehicles or their insurance policies.

The companies all say that safety is their top priority and that they conduct these checks on their own. But officials remain skeptical and want to learn more.

Meanwhile, cab drivers argue that the new companies have an unfair advantage because they’re not complying with the existing car-service rules. Samatar Guled runs a for-hire car service. During a recent city council meeting he laid the blame for the competition at the feet of city officials. “This whole industry is collapsing and the city is acting like nothing is happening.”

Some professional drivers, like Guled, want the city to issue more cab driver's licenses, something it hasn’t done in about two decades. They say the new ride-sharing companies are exploiting unmet demand for more car services, a need that wouldn’t exist if the city had allowed more cabs to be on the road.

The city has been reluctant to issue more cab licenses. Denise Movius, deputy director with Seattle’s Finance and Administrative Services, said the city hasn’t received any evidence that more licenses are needed. “What we are trying to guard against is putting too many new cars out there that would affect the income of the drivers who are already there, because the drivers that are out there now, are barely making a living wage,” she said.

Movius concedes that officials need more information about whether there is a need for more car services and more commercial licenses. That’s why the city has hired a consultant to take that up.

A report is due out later this year. After that it will be up the city council to decide whether it should step in and issue more regulations and possibly more licenses.

Until then, expect to see more cars with pink moustaches on Seattle's streets.

Follow Derek Wang on Twitter.

Maryland Gets In On Capital Bikeshare

Martin Austermuhle — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:24:06 -0400

Capital Bikeshare has been a huge hit for commuters and cyclists in D.C., Arlington and Alexandria, but up until now, the Maryland suburbs have largely been left out of the popular bike-sharing program.

By this summer, that will change.

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation is announcing it will expand Capital Bikeshare to various sites by this summer, including Bethesda, Friendship Heights, Life Sciences Center, Rockville, Shady Grove, Silver Spring, and Takoma Park.

All told, the downcounty sites will be located along Metro lines heading east and west out of D.C. and will get 250 bikes at 30 stations, while sites further into Montgomery County will get 250 bikes at 21 stations.

Those stations will be used as part of a pilot program to see how bike-sharing works for low-income workers and students in suburban areas like Rockville and Shady Grove. (See a map of the proposed stations here.)

Capital Bikeshare currently has over 1,650 bikes serving 22,000 members at 175 stations, though none of those are in Maryland.

County officials have planned three public meetings on the expansion: Monday, June 24 from 7-9 p.m. at Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center (4805 Edgemoor Lane, 2nd Floor, Bethesda); Tuesday, June 25 from 7-9 p.m. at Fire Station 1 (8110 Georgia Ave., 3rd Floor, Silver Spring); and Wednesday, June 26 the Life Sciences Center's auditorium (101 Monroe St., Rockville).

Follow Martin Austermuhle on Twitter.

Wyoming Cattle Drive Turns Park Road Into Steer Highway -- Briefly

Jackie Yamanaka — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:24:06 -0400

For about 30 minutes this weekend, a road normally devoted to cars instead became a cattle highway, as wranglers on horseback moved 290 steer through a portion of Grand Teton National Park.

The annual cattle drive "is part of the tapestry that makes the park unique, this vestige of the old West,” said GTNP spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs.

Workers were moving a herd belonging to a private ranch into a summer pasture, where the steer will be better protected from grizzly bears and wolves. But to get there, the cattle must head down several miles of one of the park's main highways.

The move "went very smoothly," said Skaggs. "The cattle seemed to know what they should be doing. It happened quickly and efficiently."

Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott, riding along during the cattle drive/Jackie Skaggs, GTNP

Park rangers set up barricades to prevent cars and cows from mingling during the cattle drive. Skaggs says because this has become an annual event, Jackson Hole residents and park visitors often come to watch.

“It’s such a part of western Americana to watch these cattle moving across the bridge with the Teton Range off in the distance,” Skaggs said, adding that the people who come out to watch treat the event like any other moment in their national park experience. "It's almost like seeing any of our wildlife -- there's a whole lineup of people with cameras watching the cattle drive move by."

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 07:55:11 -0400

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Wall Street Journal Editor Has Even More to Say on Bike Share (link)

Bay Area Traffic Rises with Economy (link)

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The U.S. and China agreed to talk about reducing hydrofluorocarbons, which are "mostly used in automobile air conditioners, something the car cultures of the U.S. and now China have in droves. HFC's are also hundreds to thousands times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide." (Marketplace)

A project to build a rail line at the Port of Los Angeles is in the crosshairs of environmentalists. (NPR)

The case against pedestrianizing Istanbul's main square: "Mr. Erdogan’s plan for removing buses and taxis and installing a single, vast pedestrian zone at Taksim, stripped of its gritty and unpredictable energy, turned into a polite shopping area, will sap the square of its pedestrian vitality, not make it pedestrian-friendlier." (New York Times)

With a gross salary of $333,000, the highest-paid BART employee was someone who actually didn't work for the agency in 2012: it was Dorothy Dugger, the agency's former general manager who resigned under pressure more than two years ago. (Bay Area News Group)

Attacks on Boston bus drivers are soaring this year. (WBUR)

Biking while drunk: not a good idea, but not illegal in Minnesota. How one bike pub crawl is trying to rein it in: "We made an announcement at the beginning of the event that this was a max one drink per stop,” said one organizer. (Star Tribune)

D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare is a real estate lure: "Craigslist showed 72 active housing listings touting proximity to bikeshare on Friday." (Washington Examiner)

New York City's bike share must raise more money before it can expand. In the meantime, "it's passing over neighborhoods where nearly 90% of the city population lives." (Wall Street Journal)

A dozen male train drivers in Sweden have circumvented a ban on shorts by wearing skirts to work. (BBC)

Wall Street Journal Editor Has Even More to Say on Bike Share

Andrea Bernstein — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:19:56 -0400

When the Wall Street Journal's Dorothy Rabinowitz called Citi Bike a product of Mayor Bloomberg's "autocratic, totalitarian" mind, the reaction wasn't exactly muted. New York Magazine concocted a Venn diagram addressing why conservatives hate Citi Bike (hint: it's vaguely French), and even Jon Stewart jumped in with"Slow Down, Lady Hunger Games!" and a hefty 5 1/2 minute segment. Now, Rabinowitz is back for more.

In her second video, Rabinowitz takes the "bike lobby" -- or "big wheel," as Stewart calls them -- to task for "terrorizing" every public official in New York, and for responding to her criticisms just as bikers on sidewalks do: with "outstreched" middle fingers. She calls arguments that bike share planners held hundreds of community meetings and that polls show New Yorkers love bike share "laughable." And she simply brushes off the idea that biking might be healthy.

But Rabinowitz isn't Citi Bike's only critic this week. Bike Share enthusiast Felix Salmon takes Citi Bike to task for its glitchy system. Salmon writes.

I’m a massive fan of bikeshare plans in theory, and I warmly welcomed NYC’s CitiBike system in particular, after it launched. I ran into a couple of problems with stations not being able to dispense bikes, but I put that down to teething troubles, and didn’t think them worth mentioning.

Now, however, I’m worried that the problem of stations being able to neither receive nor dispense bikes is a big one, and that it’s not going to be fixed any time soon. I sent some detailed questions on this issue to both CitiBike and NYC’s department of transportation, and I’ll let you know if and when I hear back from them, but so far they seem to be suspiciously close-mouthed about what’s going on — which in turn makes me think that this is no easy-to-fix glitch.

That about mirrors our own experience (down to not having our questions answered other than to be told something like all start ups have glitches). Plus, the phone system is frequently busy, has long waits, or is down altogether, as Citi Bike's twitter feed shows.

Still, the system is growing wildly. As of Thursday, there were over 33,000 members.

If you missed the Stewart video, it's really funny:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Bay Area Traffic Rises with Economy

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:07:51 -0400

The Bay Area has two of the top ten most congested cities in the country. No other state, let alone region, can claim that title. While San Francisco has always been a top contender for the worst car traffic, San Jose jumped up in the list this year.

In 2010, it didn’t even make the top ten. Now, San Jose commuters can expect to waste 33 hours per year sitting in traffic, while San Francisco drivers waste an extra 50 hours each year in their cars.

Traffic congestion in San Francisco and the East Bay increased almost 23% since last year. Inrix, a company that tracks traffic data, placed the greater San Francisco area as the third most congested city in the country, after Los Angeles and Honolulu. San Jose was named the seventh most congested city in the country.

But there’s actually a bright side to this commuter’s nightmare. The reason for the big increase, Inrix said in a press release, is that the economy is picking up. More people going to their jobs means more traffic. In places where the economy is still lagging, like the South, traffic congestion has significantly decreased over the last year.

Overall, the traffic congestion in the United States grew over nine percent– a sign that the national economy is getting stronger.

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:11:07 -0400

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Your Five-Boro Taxi Plan Questions, Answered (link)

D.C. Taxicab Commission Says It Doesn't Inhibit Innovation (link)

NYC's Five-Borough Taxi Hail Plan Can Move Forward: Court (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

California awarded a $985-million contract to begin building the first leg of its high-speed rail program. (Los Angeles Times)

Discuss amongst yourselves: parking placards for people with disabilities actually do little to help the disabled -- and in fact harm a city's transportation system. (Access)

Another Chinatown bus company was shut down for safety violations. (DNA Info)

Full Pedal Racket: New York City's bike share program made the Daily Show. Come for Jon, but stay for the resident of Bed-Stuy.

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D.C. Metro offered a select few a look at the agency's new fare gates. "The machines had been shrouded in white tarps for weeks." (Washington Post)

NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg on bike share: "All of those sturm and drang has gone away." (@DanaRubinstein)

Even with its plethora of issues, the new Bay Bridge is vastly safer than the old one. (Contra Costa Times)

Check out the world's most advanced street sign. (Mashable)

San Francisco produced a video teaching bus drivers how to share the streets with cyclists. (SF Streetsblog)

Your Five-Boro Taxi Plan Questions, Answered

Kate Hinds — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:31:29 -0400

Starting this summer, there will be a new taxi in town, and apple green cabs will start plying their trade citywide. Here's what you need to know about New York City's newest class of taxi service.

Can't I already hail a cab?

Yes, you can -- but only in Manhattan, or on a taxi line at JFK or LaGuardia. In the rest of the city, people who want to take a car service legally must 'prearrange' their ride by calling that number that has all the same phone digits in it. The Five Boro Taxi plan aims to do what it says -- expand street hail to all five boroughs.

What will the new cabs look like?

Check out the picture above and the slideshow below. As you'll see, the official color is apple green, because -- as Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky said -- that color is "pleasing to the eye, easy to see from a distance and blends well with the urban landscape." They'll also have roof lights, just like yellow cabs, and meters.

So how does it work?

Are you in Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island or Brooklyn? Are you standing in Manhattan north of 96th Street on the east side or above 110th on the west? Do you see that apple green car in the distance with the roof light on? Stick your arm out.

That's it? I don't have to call anyone?

No. But you can use your smartphone. (In a separate ruling Thursday, a court lifted an injunction on the city's pilot e-hail program.)

How much does it cost?

The Boro Taxis are metered, and the rates are the same as for yellow cabs. PS: you can pay by credit card.

I'm used to negotiating fares with livery drivers. Will this cost more than I'm used to?

Really, there's no way to know right now. But Yassky said preliminary research indicates "it's a slightly better deal for the passengers" as opposed to the negotiated fare. Your mileage may vary.

Just to recap: can I take it from an outer borough INTO Manhattan?

Yes. Rides can't originate in Manhattan, but they can terminate there.

Can I take a Boro Taxi from Manhattan TO an outer borough?

No.

Why not?

Because the GPS won't let you. The meter can't begin working in Manhattan. In a press conference Thursday, Yassky referred to the area roughly south of 96th Street as "the forbidden zone." We're hoping that term catches on.

How many will there be?

The city will issue 18,000 'HAIL' licenses' to livery cab drivers over the next three years. Yes, HAIL -- for 'Hail Accessible Interborough License.' To apply to for a license, call 311 -- but only if you're currently a livery owner/operator.

Are they wheelchair-accessible?

Twenty percent of them will be. In addition, later this fall the city will begin auctioning off 2,000 additional wheelchair-accessible yellow cab medallions. That plan is expected to generate over $1 billion in revenue for New York.

When am I going to start seeing them?

At a press conference Thursday the mayor said they'd start hitting the streets sometime this summer.

Why hasn't this happened sooner?

Yellow cab fleet owners said only yellow cabs had the exclusive right to street hail (which is why medallions cost upwards of $1 million), and they held the plan up in court.

NYC's Five-Borough Taxi Hail Plan Can Move Forward: Court

Kate Hinds — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:46:33 -0400

The green taxis in the outer boroughs finally have a green light. New York's highest court has okayed New York City's 5-boro taxi plan, after a year and a half of litigation by New York's powerful yellow cab industry.

As a result, New York City can move forward with its plans to create a new class of taxi service, expanding "street hails" to all five boroughs.

In a decision issued Thursday, the state's Court of Appeals reversed a previous decision by the State Supreme Court which had brought the city's plans to a screeching halt.

Under the new ruling, the city can now issue up to 18,000 'hail licenses' to livery drivers. In addition, the city will sell 2,000 new medallions for wheelchair-accessible yellow taxicabs. The city has said that auction could generate $1 billion in revenue.

The mayor's office whipped off several victorious tweets about the ruling, the most ebullient of which read "Unanimous court decision upholding Five-Boro Taxi Plan is a victory for everyone who lives in, works in or visits New York City."

The Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, called the ruling "a crushing blow."

Read the court's ruling below.

98 99 100opn13 Decision (PDF)98 99 100opn13 Decision (Text)

D.C. Taxicab Commission Says It Doesn't Inhibit Innovation

Martin DiCaro — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:22:15 -0400

The D.C. Taxicab Commission is deflecting criticism its regulations inhibit consumer-friendly innovations, even as tech companies again accuse District regulators of needlessly snarling their smart phone e-hail apps.

In an interview with WAMU 88.5, Ron Linton, the taxicab commission chairman, said the rise of "digital dispatch services" has forced regulators to strike a balance between innovators and the traditional taxi industry.

“We have responded rapidly to a fast-changing situation. We are using the marketplace,” Linton said.

Seven tech companies currently operate smart phone apps in D.C. that allow passengers to hail and pay for cabs using their digitally-stored credit card numbers. Two of the companies, Uber and mytaxi, say their apps’ payment functions could be killed by pending regulations.

By September 1, all taxicab drivers will be required to install credit card payment machines in their vehicles. This will allow passengers to swipe their cards to pay their fares. But the tech companies say a commission mandate to integrate their own smart phone payment systems with the payment service providers chosen by taxi drivers could force them to shut down.

“This has never been done anywhere in any city in the U.S.,” said Rachel Holt, Uber’s general manager in Washington. “We literally don’t even know how difficult it will be to integrate because no one’s ever successfully been able to integrate before.”

Uber is used to fighting the D.C. Taxicab Commission. In a resolution to a series of highly publicized clashes last year, the District created a new sedan class of vehicle-for-hire to accommodate Uber’s presence in the city. Mytaxi, which claims to have roughly 1,000 drivers using its app in D.C., has had no complaints until now.

“With the new regulations our product won’t be able to function on the market anymore unless we try to fulfill the new DCTC requirements,” said mytaxi spokeswoman Lina Wuller. “It will be a huge loss for our product.”

Mytaxi app users will only be able to hail cabs if the company is unable to integrate with any of the 13 payment service providers taxi drivers may choose from.

Taxicab Commission anticipates no problems

Chairman Linton says he does not understand what the problem is. “There is really no technical barrier.”

Smart phone apps must integrate their payment system to protect consumers from credit card fraud, Linton said. Without integration, cabbies would have to manually input credit card information and fare amounts into smart phones, creating opportunities for abuse.

“We’ve left everything to choice and there is no technical advance that will not function that we are aware of at this point,” Linton added. “It’s exactly what they do in New York.”

Not exactly, said Holt. Uber and the tech company Hailo were approved for an e-hail pilot program in New York that did not include e-payments, and a lawsuit against the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission has put the program on hold anyway.

“The [DCTC] wants to basically transmit price information automatically from the taxicab meter into the app. This has never been done in any Uber city and, to the best of my knowledge, anywhere in the world,” Holt said.

So what will happen to Uber Taxi come September? “I’m not sure,” Holt said. Uber’s officials are exasperated that the possibility of a problem even exists.

“I can’t even begin to tell you what’s going to happen on September 1 because in the last two weeks the rules have changed three times,” Holt added. “In the last year alone there have been eight sets of proposed regulations that would meaningfully change our business.”

DCTC not “a dinosaur”

Chairman Linton rejects the notion that his office is hostile to innovations. He bristles at the suggestion he has been at war with Uber, insisting his responsibility is protect consumers and the District’s $250 million taxicab industry in a highly competitive climate.

“If we give an exception to one company the law is going to require that we give that exception to all,” Linton said. “It’s not us against Uber. Uber is just one company struggling to dominate the city’s public vehicle-for-hire industry. We’re here to balance everybody’s struggle with each other in a competitive marketplace.”

The DCTC has seemed to be in a struggle against itself at times. The effort to get credit card payment machines into cabs suffered several delays, for instance.

“This is not an organization that has generally been on the forefront of technical innovation. I’d be very surprised if suddenly they had bounced into the future,” Uber’s Holt said.

As taxi drivers continue to install their credit card swipers, passengers will pay different fares depending on which taxi they hail. Cabs without the credit card option will continue to charge a base fare of $3.00. But once a cab installs a credit card machine its base fare will jump to $3.25 plus a $.25 surcharge, and those taxis will be allowed to charge $1.00 for any number of extra passengers.

“I think it is an unfair accusation to view us as a dinosaur,” said Linton, who said many of Uber’s accusations have had no basis in fact.

If history provides an indication, as technology continues to emerge in D.C.’s vehicle-for-hire industry so will the wrangling with regulators.

Come September 1, the tech companies say payment system integration will not work. The Taxicab Commission says there will not be any problems.

In the middle are consumers whom both the innovators and regulators claim they are trying to protect.

Follow Martin Di Caro on Twitter.

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:58:27 -0400

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TOP STORIES ON TN:

R Train Service to Halt Between Brooklyn, Manhattan (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

New York City will transition from towing illegally parked cars to booting them. (New York Times)

The TSA won't be allowing small knives on planes after all. (Politico)

NHTSA asked Chrysler to recall 2.7 million Jeeps for fire concerns. The automaker's response: we're good, thanks. (Marketplace)

But wait: now Chrysler is recalling 620,000 Jeeps -- but not for the reasons NHTSA sought. (Detroit News)

California's high-speed rail's choice: go with price or quality in building first leg? (Mercury News)

United Airlines will buy 15 million gallons of biofuel over the next three years. (Autopia)

Behold: Mobile's worst pedestrian intersection. It has a public housing development on one corner, a bus stop on another, and a convenience store on a third. "If you have a good arm, you could probably throw a football from the housing project to the bus station, and from the bus station to the convenience store. Yet, in order to walk the same trajectory, you have to cross 27 lanes of traffic, all without a crosswalk or a pedestrian signal." (All Alabama)

San Francisco filed a lawsuit to block ridesharing at SFO airport. (Examiner)

Sydney is getting driverless trains. (Sydney Morning Herald)

NYC bikeshare: the backlash. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman characterizes one reaction as "Nazi Islamic Bikes from Hell."

And this Venn diagram offers an explanation for why conservatives hate Citi Bike. (New York Magazine)

Chicago parking meter tradeoff: now you don't have to feed the meters on Sunday, but there will be longer meter hours during the rest of the week. (WBEZ)

Gulp: as a promotional stunt, the founder of Twitter climbed to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge and Vined himself. (SF Chronicle; video below)

R Train Service to Halt Between Brooklyn, Manhattan

Kate Hinds — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:32:10 -0400

There will be no R train service between Brooklyn and Manhattan for at least a year starting in August as the MTA shuts down a key tunnel to repair damage sustained during Sandy, officials say.

The closure of the Montague tube will likely last between 12 and 14 months, and affect about 65,000 daily riders.

In addition, the MTA will shut down all G train service between Brooklyn and Queens for 12 weekends beginning later this summer.

“Closing these two subway tubes is a difficult but necessary step to restore them to the condition they were in before Sandy struck,” said MTA Acting Chairman Fernando Ferrer in a statement.

“The temporary repairs that returned these tubes to operation after Sandy are not enough to provide reliable service. This is unfortunately the reality of recovery from Sandy: the damage is insidious and continuing, and repairing it will take billions of dollars over several years."

Some 4,025 linear feet of tunnel lay under seawater for ten days after Sandy, amounting to some 27 million gallons. Workers say even equipment that was cleaned showed signs of corrosion within days, in some cases.

The MTA maintains post-Sandy repairs were "never intended to be permanent," but officials say it only became clear in the months after Sandy that repairing the tunnels while keeping them in continuous operation would be impossible. Restoring the R train tunnel to reliability would have taken until 2016 if repairs had taking place only on nights and weekends, the MTA said.

"It will take that long because it's almost like building a tunnel from scratch," acting MTA director Thomas Prendergast said at a board meeting Wednesday.

Prendergast said he didn't believe any other subway tunnels were as extensively damaged or would need extensive closures, but he didn't rule that out.

There will be “some level of effort at the other," he said. "We don’t think the same order of magnitude, but in some cases until you get in and do a detailed examination, it’s difficult. But we don’t believe any of the others will be this order of magnitude at this time.”

In the Greenpoint tube, power cables that were immersed in salt water are corroding from the inside, while corrosion on the outside of rails and fasteners raises the potential for short circuits.

Damaged tunnel components on display at an MTA board meeting/Kate Hinds

The MTA describes damage to the Montague tube as "far worse." Concrete and terra cotta duct banks under the walkways along the sides of the Montague tunnels, built in 1920, were compromised while underwater for weeks and collapsed in many areas. That left cables exposed and unprotected, but the extensive damage makes it impossible to simply pull new cables through the ducts. The duct banks must be removed and rebuilt, making them available to be used as emergency exits from trains.

Delays caused by breakdowns led to a 120 percent increase in delays, according to the MTA, with up to 38,000 passengers affected each month.

At Jay Street MetroTech, R-train rider Keisha Spradley took the news in stride: "It's a little frustrating, I mean I know they have to do maintenance, and sometimes these shutdowns are necessary."

The MTA says straphangers can usethe 2, 3, 4, 5, A, B, C, D, F, N and Q lines, all of which are accessible from the R train’s final four stations in Brooklyn. On weekends, the R will run over the Manhattan Bridge.

130605 Montague and Greenpoint Briefing (PDF)130605 Montague and Greenpoint Briefing (Text)

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:23:22 -0400

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TOP STORIES ON TN:

Senator Frank Lautenberg to Take Amtrak One Last Time (link)

SLIDESHOW: Baby Falcons Nest High Above New York City (link)

Driver, Fleeing Police, Kills Child In New York (link)

Christie: Lautenberg's Tunnel Project "A Dog That Deserved to Be Gone" (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

A subway tunnel linking Brooklyn to Manhattan will close for a year for Sandy repairs. (Wall Street Journal)

Bus-only lanes are opening on Los Angeles's Wilshire Boulevard. "For the foreseeable future, and perhaps forever, buses will the backbone of our transit system," said a city transit official. (Los Angeles Times)

The nondescript entrance to a NYC mechanics shop in northern Manhattan has a much grander past. (Gizmodo)

Ford recorded a 45% hike in auto sales in China in May with record sales of passenger vehicles. (Detroit Free Press)

A decades-old turf war has been reignited by the prospects of a high-speed rail line in Texas. (Texas Tribune)

Galveston was hard-hit by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Officials want to replace a damaged bridge -- but now they've learned the structure is considered historic. (AP via Houston Chronicle)

The new group Hasidim for Bikes wants New York's bike share program to serve their Brooklyn neighborhood. (Voices of New York)

The TSA's passenger screening program is neither objective nor effective, says a new report. (New York Times)

A bus rapid transit project in the Twin Cities is still $10.2 million short. (Pioneer Press)

Christie: Lautenberg's Tunnel Project "A Dog That Deserved to Be Gone"

Andrea Bernstein — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:32:36 -0400

A day after Senator Frank Lautenberg passed away, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie didn't pull any punches over one of their most bitter disagreements: a transit tunnel under the Hudson River that Christie cancelled. The death of the so-called ARC tunnel, for "Access to the Region's Core," rankled Lautenberg to the end.

But Christie gave no quarter Tuesday. "That project was a flawed, failed project that was going to cost the people of New Jersey a fortune," he said, at a press conference announcing a special election to replace Lautenberg. "That project was a dog, and it's a dog that deserved to be gone."

Lautenberg had secured billions in federal funding for the project, which at the time of its death -- tunneling was already underway -- was the largest transit infrastructure project in the nation. But Christie, citing the potential for cost overruns, halted the project, sending billions back to the federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which was funding a third of the project. "You can't fit a size ten foot in a size seven shoe," Christie said at the time.

On Tuesday, he reprised his arguments. "I'm not going to have the taxpayers of New Jersey bearing the burden of any dollar of overrun on the project with the city of New York and the state of New York paying nothing, and have the tunnel end up underneath Macy's where there are no other transfer people to take."

But Christie said he was supportive of a second tunnel -- in concept. "I've said all along whether it's the Gateway tunnel or the 7 train -- we've been participating in conversations on both those projects. I've always said we need a second commuter tunnel."

Christie called for a special election on October 16, with an August 13th primary.

Driver, Fleeing Police, Kills Child In New York

Jim O'Grady — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:16:24 -0400

A 17-year-old boy is under arrest, charged with manslaughter, after the car he was driving struck and killed a girl and injured her grandmother on the Upper West Side. The crash occurred on Wednesday morning in a residential neighborhood at a time when many children were walking to school.

Four year-old Ariel Russo died when the teen's SUV was fleeing police, jumped a curb and pinned her and her grandmother against an apartment building. The grandmother is in the hospital in stable condition.

A woman who gave her name as Miriam gathered with others at the corner of 97th Street and Amsterdam Avenue to share information and view the crumpled SUV. She said she brings her 4 year-old son Rafi to a nearby Early Learning Center every weekday. "There by the grace of God, it could've been my son and I crossing the street," she said.

Bertha Hope, who has lived in the neighborhood for 44 years, said parts of the heavily trafficked neighborhood make her nervous. "I'm on this street often and I've never considered this a dangerous place to cross for myself," she said. "But I know other places where I'm freaked out."

The number of pedestrians struck and killed in New York rose 5 percent last year, and the total number of traffic fatalities rose 12 percent.

Senator Frank Lautenberg to Take Amtrak One Last Time

Kate Hinds — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:31:44 -0400

It's a fitting tribute to a man who fought ferociously for passenger rail: Frank Lautenberg's body will be transported to Washington, D.C. by Amtrak.

Lautenberg -- the last World War II veteran to serve in the Senate -- will be buried later this week in Arlington National Cemetery.

Following Wednesday's funeral service in Manhattan, the Senator's body will be taken to the Secaucus rail station that bears his name. His casket will then be placed on an Amtrak train to Washington, D.C.

On Monday, Amtrak issued a statement that read, in part: “We mourn the passing of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a tireless advocate of Amtrak, passenger rail and improved mobility for the entire Northeast region."

At the time of his death, the New Jersey senator was leading the Gateway project, a new trans-Hudson rail that would increase Amtrak's capacity in the Northeast Corridor.

Searching the word "Amtrak" on the Senator's website brings up 305 hits.

SLIDESHOW: Baby Falcons Nest High Above New York City

Kate Hinds — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:23:40 -0400

360-degree panoramic views, no board approval, occasional visits from the landlord: dozens of peregrine falcon chicks are living the high life in New York City.

Six chicks were born this spring on two New York City bridges: the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge in Queens and the Throgs Neck, which connects the Bronx and Queens.

According to New York's MTA, which operates the bridges, the structures "provide an excellent vantage point for hunting prey, including pigeons and small birds."

Chris Nadareski, a wildlife biologist with NYC's Department of Environmental Protection, climbs the city's bridges each year to band and record the falcons. So far, he's banded 33 nestlings in different locations across New York City. "And there will be a couple more before the season ends," he said.

You want to do WHAT?! (photo courtesy NYC DEP)

In New York State, the peregrine falcon is still listed as an endangered species. But Nadareski says the local population is doing quite well.

"We generally consider New York City to be one of the highest concentrations of nesting peregrine falcons anywhere," he said. "The varied topography of bridges, buildings and towers, with a lot of available food, like pigeons and blue jays, really has helped them survive and concentrate their breeding activity throughout the five boroughs of New York City."

The number of falcon nests increases slightly each year. Right now, New York City has 20 active nesting pairs.

"Of the 20 (pairs), I definitely know that 15 of those 20 are successful" this year, Nadareski said -- meaning the pairing has produced eggs.

The Throgs Neck and the Marine Parkway bridges are just two sites that play host to falcons. Nadareski says the Verrazano and Throgs Neck bridges have had nesting falcons since 1983.

"Those were the first two nests that were established back to New York State after a very long period," he said. The pesticide DDT had devastated the population. "The falcons were considered extinct in the wild in the eastern United States as of the early 1960s," he said. After DDT was banned, scientists began breeding the birds in captivity and releasing them in the wild.

And 'wild,' for many of the birds, means the George Washington Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. Two other reliable falcon locations: Riverside Church in Manhattan's Morningside Heights neighborhood and the Met Life building in Midtown.

One building in lower Manhattan operates a live falcon cam when a breeding pair is in residence.

Nadareski's job is to monitor the city's nesting population. He usually checks in on each nest when the chicks are three weeks old. He examines the young, treats them for external parasites if needed, and then places two bands on each bird. (Yes, he's been dive-bombed by anxious parents, which is why he usually wears a construction helmet, safety goggles, and thick gloves. "The falcon is one of the more aggressive species in terms of protecting the young, especially in and around the nest site," he said.)

One band is an aluminum tag with a numerical ID; the other is black over green, indicating the bird originated in the Northeastern United States.

While many New York City falcons remain in the city, some have been spotted by biologists as far away as Wisconsin and Virginia.

Nadareski says the birds reach adult size by six weeks. They usually start breeding by the time they are one to two years old.

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 08:11:57 -0400

TN MOVING STORIES is available by email. Signup here.

TOP STORIES ON TN:

'Every Transit Rider In America Owes a Huge Debt to Senator Frank Lautenberg' (link)

D.C.'s Outer Beltway Plan Draws Ferocious Opposition, as Business Leaders Cry For More Lanes (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

Houston is preparing drivers to share the streets with three new light rail lines. (KUHF)

Sales of the Chevy Volt fell for the third straight month. (Detroit News)

Two neighborhoods in northern Los Angeles are divided over a proposal to add eight miles of bike lanes. Some businesses are even hanging "NO BIKE LANES" signs in their store windows. (Southern California Public Radio)

Fort Lauderdale is considering a special tax district to pay for its proposed streetcar line. (Sun Sentinel)

Meanwhile, six streetcar routes are on the table in San Antonio. (mySA.com)

The protests in Turkey were sparked by plans to turn one of Istanbul’s last open parks into a mall. (National Post)

What's hidden in the old Spanish port city of Santander: 12,000 sensors buried under the asphalt, affixed to street lamps and atop city buses. The sensors measure everything from air pollution to where there are free parking spaces. They can even tell garbage collectors which dumpsters are full, and automatically dim street lights when no one is around. (NPR)

Study: spouses are the worst backseat drivers. Especially when they comment on how fast you're going. (Detroit Free Press)

What if pedestrians were treated like royalty, instead of like the victim in a game of Frogger? In Brazil -- where 10,000 pedestrians die a year -- a video humorously asks that question. (City Fix)

'Every Transit Rider In America Owes a Huge Debt to Senator Frank Lautenberg'

Kate Hinds — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:52:58 -0400

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg's final tweet was about a proposed train tunnel under the Hudson River. It was a fitting coda to a career that drove transportation policy — transforming everything from smoking on airplanes to instituting stricter blood alcohol standards for drivers.

On train travel in particular, Lautenberg never flagged, securing $6 billion in federal funding for a transit tunnel under the Hudson River and feuding with Governor Chris Christie almost until the end of his life after Christie pulled the plug on the project.

The 89-year old senator wasn't known for his oratory, or for his pithy soundbites. But when it came to transit, Lautenberg's rhetoric was unsparing.

"Your impertinence is barely tolerable," he once snapped at a senior Port Authority official during Senate testimony. But his persistence paid off — literally. “Every transit rider — not just in New Jersey but in America — owes a huge debt of gratitude to the efforts of Senator Frank Lautenberg,” said Peter Rogoff, the head of the Federal Transit Administration, at a transit conference in Philadelphia on Monday.

Lautenberg was a dogged supporter of Amtrak and he fought Republican attempts at its privatization. "When I was building my business, I learned firsthand — if you want to be successful tomorrow, you must begin laying the foundation today," he said at a 2011 hearing. "The same principle applies here. If we want to leave our children and grandchildren a better country, we must make smart investments on their behalf — and that means investing in Amtrak.”

"The reason we can get to Boston on intercity rail service in less than five and a half hours is all the work of Senator Frank Lautenberg," said Rogoff.

Lautenberg was the driving force between some of the country's most transformative transportation policies. He authored legislation banning smoking in airplanes, instituting stricter limits on blood alcohol levels for drivers, and increasing the federal drinking age to 21 — a move which experts estimate saved 25,000 lives. The senator also secured funding for a NJ Transit transfer station in Secaucus; it was named for him in 2003. On an average weekday, 23,440 NJ Transit riders pass through the Secaucus station. Lautenberg also served as a commissioner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1978 to 1982.

In recent years, Lautenberg clashed with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over the trans-Hudson rail project known as the ARC tunnel. Lautenberg had spent years lining up billions in federal support for the project, which would have dramatically increased capacity of NJ Transit and Amtrak trains and helped address the region's infamous rail bottleneck.

Christie killed the project his first year in office.

Lautenberg called that move "tragic" and "the biggest public-policy blunder in New Jersey history." Christie responded with his trademark swagger: "I'm happy to be criticized by Senator Frank Lautenberg...it means I'm doing something right for the taxpayers in this state."

Last year, things devolved further when the Senator feuded with a Christie-appointed executive for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at a hearing that was ostensibly about toll hikes — but became a proxy for the ARC tunnel.

In comments Monday, Christie didn't sugarcoat their relationship. "It’s no mystery that Senator Lautenberg and I didn’t always agree," he said."In fact, it probably is more honest to say we very often didn’t agree, and we had some pretty good fights between us over time."

"Senator Lautenberg fought for the things he believed in and sometimes he just fought because he liked to," Christie added. "I give him praise on a life well lived."

But Lautenberg got on well with another Republican, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. In 2009, LaHood said when it comes to transportation, Lautenberg "is doing it right." For his part, Lautenberg told LaHood "you're the best thing that ever happened" in a bit of live-mic theatre.

In a statement Monday, LaHood said "Frank’s tireless advocacy for transportation safety saved many lives – he truly was the Safety Senator."

Just last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced key funding to begin laying the groundwork for the Gateway Tunnel. Which led to Lautenberg's final tweet, on May 31: Worked with #Obama Admin to secure $185M for critical first segment of the new Gateway Tunnel.

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 07:49:30 -0400

TN MOVING STORIES is available by email. Signup here.

TOP STORIES ON TN:

Within First Week, NY's Bike Share Memberships Top Washington's (link)

Popularity of Morning Walks May Shape the Pedestrian Streetscape of Central Florida (link)

BART Extends Bikes on Board Pilot, Postpones Final Decision (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE:

Bike share comes to Moscow. Some advice from a local: “Don’t show fear!” he shouted, over the roar of traffic. “Cars are like dogs! They can smell fear! But if you ride like you aren’t afraid, they respect you!” Then he sped off, heading the wrong way up a one-way street. (New Yorker)

Boise has been trying to build a transit hub for years, but state reps are blocking it because they say it will attract panhandlers. (Idaho Statesman)

New York's bike share program is now open to everyone -- not just annual members. (New York Times)

Chicago's new 'L' cars make it hard for flashers to get away with it. (Chicago Now)

Wondering how much D.C.'s Metro pays top staff? Your wait is over. (Washington Post)

Tesla is expanding its network of fast-charging stations. "You’ll be able to drive all the way from Los Angeles to New York just using the supercharger network,” says founder Elon Musk. (Bloomberg)

Automakers just aren't incentivizing car purchases the way they used to. (Marketplace)

The Grim Reaper stalks New York's subways: a union-made video warns riders to stand back. (New York Daily News)

What the newspaper industry can learn from the world's best automakers: brand character. (Forbes)

This Los Angeles bike commuter passed 631 cars on his 3.1 mile ride to work. Video via LAist:

D.C.'s Outer Beltway Plan Draws Ferocious Opposition, as Business Leaders Cry For More Lanes

Martin Di Caro — Fri, 31 May 2013 14:40:49 -0400

A plan to add roadways to the D.C. suburbs is drawing fierce opposition. The so called "outer beltway" project stole the show at a recent public meeting, hinting at the ferocity of resistance in store for the plan to build a 45-mile, north-south corridor in the western suburbs of Washington.

At a public hearing on Virginia's six-year, $15 billion program to fund road and rail projects this week, about 200 unhappy residents turned out to condemn the plan to build a "north-south corridor of statewide significance."

"I double dog dare you to try to put this kind of a road through Loudoun County's non-development area. They would have you all tarred and feathered," said Mary Ann Ghadban, a resident of Gainesville, where 100 homes could potentially be condemned in the highway corridor. "We are not going to stand for this in Prince William County. It's our rural crescent. It's our historic district."

The new road would connect I-95 in Prince William County to Rt. 7 in Loudoun County, arcing west of Dulles Airport and rubbing the western fringe of Manassas Battlefield National Park. On a map, the corridor looks like part of an incomplete circle, leading opponents to refer to it as an "outer beltway."

The proposal has been around for years, and it's pitting homeowners and state Republican lawmakers against the Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, the Virginia Department of Transportation and real estate developers who are seeking approval of the highway plan in the governor's final year in office.

Opponents raised a range of issues during the three-hour hearing: the north-south highway would cost too much, condemn too many homes, open rural land to development, and introduce more tolled lanes to Northern Virginia. They contend a four- or six-lane limited access, divided highway would benefit truckers and real estate developers at the expense of commuters seeking east-west, not north-south, congestion relief.

"It's amazing how this road morphs. Its purpose changes and the name of the road changes," said Philomena Hefter, another Gainesville resident.

Once called the Tri-County Parkway in planning documents, only two counties remain involved, Prince William and Loudoun.

Residents of Pageland Lane in Gainesville showed up in force. They attacked the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) for allegedly proposing to close two roads (Rts. 234 and 29) cutting through Manassas Battlefield before completing other improvements to I-66 and a battlefield bypass, a step that would snarl traffic on already congested roadways.

"These projects should be ranked by the reduction in congestion for the funds spent, and under that criteria alone the north-south corridor should not get a dime of taxpayer funds," said Prince William County resident Martha Henley.

At a news conference in Manassas, business leaders responded to what they view as a dishonest campaign by opponents of the north-south corridor.

"They are really designed to scare folks off from the many benefits this road will bring. There has been less than a fair and open conversation about the many attributes of the bi-county parkway project," said Tony Howard, the president of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce. "We can advocate a message of reducing congestion in our region, of accommodating the substantial growth we know we are going to see. Our two communities brought in 250,000 new residents in the last ten years."

Future job and population growth in the Dulles area, he argues, necessitates more north-south lanes, even though state data show significantly more traffic volume on Northern Virginia's east-west routes. "Loudoun and Prince William County are no longer bedroom communities exclusively. They are now true employment centers," said Howard. "We know with the growth of the commercial tax base in our respective communities that there is going to be ever increasing demand for north-south connectivity."

Popularity of Morning Walks May Shape the Pedestrian Streetscape of Central Florida

Alicia Mandigo — Fri, 31 May 2013 14:27:29 -0400

What started as a mayor's morning walk for a healthier staff and community is expanding into a renewed dialogue about pedestrians in Central Florida.

In three small cities in the region, Maitland, Winter Park and Eatonville, city officials have initiated a series of morning walks. The walks are popular with residents trying to improve their health, like Sarah Williams.

“After seeing someone that was close to me have a stroke at the age of 46, it was an eye opener for me,” said Williams, who is overweight, pre-diabetic, and struggles with high blood pressure.

When she heard about the morning walks last November, she decided to join in and walk with all three cities. In less than six months, she’s lowered her blood pressure enough to go off one of her meds her blood glucose levels dropped by two points. “I didn’t lose a lot of weight, but I went down two dress sizes,” says Williams.

The community walks were launched in 2011 by Eatonville Mayor Bruce Mount. He says he was moved to start his Walk and Talk with the Mayor program because he was signing so many funeral resolutions for his small town.

Eatonville has the highest rate of diabetes, obesity and hypertension with 24 percent of residents diagnosed with diabetes. That puts Eatonville’s population at an increased risk for a host of health problems, including heart disease and stroke. But Eatonville’s walkers are getting results. The Mayor himself has lost 40 pounds. “I never thought walking could have that kind of result, just casually walking, walking at your own pace,” says Mount.

The mayor’s walking program proved so successful, it became the pilot for nearby Winter Park, Maitland and the Healthy Central Florida initiative that all three cities are now part of.

Organized walks, or any popular exercise program, are fine for the participants, but to make walking a healthy habit of a community at large, that means the pedestrian experience needs to be appealing to a wider public.

A group of Rollins College graduate students in urban planning, along with adjunct professor Bob Hahn, are looking for ways to rebuild Eatonville as a healthy community.

“Eatonville does in fact offer tremendous [connectivity]in that regard,” said Hahn, “of which, being walkable, is one component, the pedestrian, the bicycle… but also its potential connection to [Central Florida’s commuter rail system] SunRail, to transit to Lynx, that’s an important connection, so it has to me a very multi-modal appeal.” He stresses local governments need to look at the big picture, not just morning walks. “And when I say the big picture, I mean they need to look at the multi-modal connectivity that a city like Eatonville offers.”

Hahn’s students are examining Eatonville’s need for better sidewalks and brighter, more appealing street lights and access to transit. Hahn says cities also need gathering spots that help to draw pedestrians and cyclists and create a sense of place. Inspired in part by the success of the mayor's walking initiative, Eatonville is looking at ways to incorporate the Rollins students’ suggestions.

In the meantime, the walks are also bearing fruit on other fronts, as Sarah Williams found out. “You get to know people, and just meeting different people and if you have a city commissioner walking with you, you get to learn a lot of different things about the city,” says Williams.

The cities’ walks are on different days, making it easy for devotees like Sarah to hit all three.

Within First Week, NY's Bike Share Memberships Top Washington's

Andrea Bernstein — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:25:56 -0400

Four days into its operation, New York City's Citi Bike has more members than Capital Bikeshare, which has been in operation for two years, and until this week, was the largest bike sharing program in the country. That distinction now belongs to NYC. Despite software problems, protests, and glitches -- some of them well-publicized, Citi Bike's membership has been rising at a clip of about 2,000 members a day.

It hasn't been the smoothest of launches. The station map was down for much of the first day, the mobile phone app has been buggy, and news organizations have widely reported problems, especially around returning of bikes.

But not even a week into operations, according to its daily blog, Citi Bike has 23,749 members, at $95 a pop, plus tax. That's compared to 21,200 for Capital Bikeshare. To be sure, Washington's system is much smaller -- there are 1,800 bikes and 200 stations, compared to 6,000 bikes and 330 stations in New York. And with 31,000 trips, each Citi Bike is getting used only about once a day, compared to about three times a day in Washington.

The population of New York City is also about 13 times larger than that of Washington, D.C.

But Chris Holben, who directs Capital Bikeshare for the District Department of Transportation, is unimpressed. "Do they have 4 million trips yet?" he quipped.

In NYC, there have been 31,000 trips for a total of 85,585 miles, the equivalent of three rides around the earth.

Also, Washington has 306,000 daily members. As of now, New York has zero. Daily and weekly memberships don't start until Sunday.

BART Extends Bikes on Board Pilot, Postpones Final Decision

Isabel Angell — Fri, 31 May 2013 09:10:00 -0400

At a public meeting last week, the BART Board of Directors decided that two five-day pilots weren’t enough to make a permanent decision about whether to allow bikes on trains during peak hours. Instead, they decided to create another pilot -- this one five months long -- review the results, and make a permanent decision in November.

The two earlier pilot programs, called “Bikes on Board,” allowed bikes on trains at all hours and in all stations. Current rules don’t allow bikes on San Francisco-bound trains during peak morning hours or on East Bay-bound trains in the afternoon commute. And bikes aren’t allowed in the cramped 19th and 12th Street Oakland stations, where the passengers just get one half of a platform to wait for trains. The pilot programs, which BART staff called successful, lasted a combined total of ten days in 2012 and 2013.

At the board meeting, BART staff recommended that the board vote to lift the ban completely, starting July 1st. But the short length of the pilots caused concern for some of BART’s directors, who worried that not enough riders were aware of the rule changes to be a realistic situation.

While all nine directors said they would eventually support lifting the ban on bikes, six of them voted to create an extended five-month pilot instead, giving BART staff more time to survey riders and make adjustments.

“I do support lifting the blackout, but I do think five days in 2012 and five days in 2013 is not enough time,” said Director Gail Murray. “The general population needs more time to understand this.”

Public support at the board meeting was overwhelmingly in support of lifting the ban. Most of the speakers were cyclists, who shared stories about being stranded in the city after work and said bikers would continue to be considerate of other riders and follow the rules. Several pointed out that the New York City subway doesn’t have any rules about bikes (although New York's MTA "strongly recommends" avoiding rush hour), so BART should allow their riders the same choice.

But Stuart Gooderman of Albany (CA) expressed concern about rude bicyclists he has encountered on his daily commute from the East Bay to San Francisco.

“They don’t follow the rules, they block the doors,” he said.

“So do you!” someone shouted from the back of the room.

Gooderman later said he was glad the Board had decided to extend the pilot, which would give BART more time to work out the kinks of allowing bikes on BART. He added that comparing BART to New York’s subway system was pointless.

“I rode the subway in New York for years,” he said. “You never saw a bike during rush hour.”

Some of the cyclists, who have been pushing BART to lift the ban for years, initially seemed disappointed the ban wasn’t lifted outright. But community leaders were quick to call this vote a victory.

In a press release, Leah Shahum, the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, called the decision momentous.

“For years people on both sides of the Bay have had to contort their lives simply because they needed to take a bike on BART but couldn’t during commute times. We commend BART for taking the smart steps toward opening up regional travel by bike.”

The pilot will start on July 1st and run until December. All nine of the board members indicated that barring some unforeseen problem, they will vote to lift the ban at the end of the pilot.

TN MOVING STORIES: Transpo News Links from Around the Web

Kate Hinds — Fri, 31 May 2013 08:09:50 -0400

TN MOVING STORIES is available by email. Signup here.

TOP STORIES ON TN:

With A Line Service Restored, NYC Subway Is Whole Again (link)

NYC Bike Share Glitches Slow Some Riders (link)

Second Trans-Hudson Tunnel Gets Some Real Money (link)

Global Road Deaths at All-Time Low, but U.S. Still Ranks Poorly on Safety (link)

LINKS FROM ELSEWHERE

Everyone SCRAMBLE! Chicago is debuting its first all-way pedestrian crossing this morning. "For 35 seconds at a time, pedestrians at Jackson and State — one of the city’s busiest intersections — will be free to cross in all directions, including diagonally." (Chicago Sun Times)

Plans for a dedicated bus lane on 125th Street in Harlem were severely truncated. "The partial roll-out is setting it up to fail," says one transit advocate. (Observer)

A San Francisco start-up is offering a private shuttle service on a Muni bus route. Transit alternative -- or two-tiered transpo system? (San Francisco Chronicle)

Baby, you can program my car: Freakonomics rides shotgun in a driverless car -- and they can't wait for the technology to go mainstream: "The largest potential gain by far is in lives not lost." Give it a listen, below.

Reinventing the train: there is plenty of innovation coming down the track, from braking technology to a futuristic "moving platform" docking scheme that seems to be straight out of Star Trek. (The Economist)

A wildlife biologist is figuring out how to transition endangered falcons to the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Come for the story, stay for the squee: the photo alone is worth the click. (Newsday)

Survey says: 80 percent of transit riders said they’d be willing to pay more per ride for a journey that’s completely paperless. (Wired)

It's possible some ticketing machines on Germany's railway system are going to explode, since criminals attempting to break into them may have left them filled with explosive gas. (Guardian)