The Overhead Wire

Setting the Table for a Buffet

2009-11-08T23:30:00.001-08:00

Perhaps a knowledgeable and keen businessman such as Warren Buffet is the key to restoring the railroads to prominence in this country. It would be interesting to see if such a large buy in BNSF is going to give others a small push to start thinking about passenger rail as a buy situation as well. One of the things that I think he will benefit from are the billions of dollars that will go into rail lines between cities for high speed rail. Because the government is pushing harder for HSR than anything else, and so far it's a popular program, he knows that if he plays correctly within the confines of the current government parameters, the sky is the limit. Who knows, perhaps he'll be on track to follow in Vanderbilt's footsteps.

Spinning the Dials

2009-11-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

The state is stepping forward to do scenario plans for the State of California. It will be interesting to see what the wizards over at Calthorpe associates can put together. They've done similar work for Salt Lake City, Austin, and Portland. But I don't think anyone has seen it done at this level before.

But even if a formal state plan doesn't emerge, Vision California could affect state policy. The impetus to reduce carbon emissions is one example: State agencies eventually could draw on the studies to require local governments to allow additional high-density development near bus and train stops. "Once we build the base cases, we have a tool where we can spin the dials," Calthorpe said. "Let's just get the information together. That's a giant step forward in itself."

Ultimately the scenarios will show how much the path we are going down now will cost. My guess is that it will be shocking but educational to know how much we just toss away.

Sunday Night Notes

2009-11-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

I wish there were more time in the day. I have some land value and transportation reading to catch up on.
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Senators driving buses? Electric ones?
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If the Corridor Cities high ridership route is so circuitous, then why does the model say it will get more riders? When do we get to blow up the new starts process? And when do we get to stop wasting money on sprawling development that creates these situations?
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It's quite an intense process to secure rights of way especially in Dallas on the way to the airport.
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Richard Layman posted this about innovators. I thought it was worth the read.

Setting Up Fiscal Sustainability

2009-11-07T13:46:00.001-08:00

I was interested to see former Texas State Rep Mike Krusee talking about the subsidization of roads and others at the CNU Transportation Networks conference talking about his conversion from evil, especially after we know he screwed Austin back in 2000 and 2004 essentially getting them into the mess they are in now in a somewhat roundabout way.

What was especially interesting was to hear him mention that he was the one that wanted to look at how much roads cost and thus authorized the study to index how much roads cost in Texas. What did they find? No road pays for itself. None. Curiously, that study or any mention of it exists no where on the TxDOT site. The only memory of it existing is on the blogs that picked it up after it showed up again in a newsletter. We covered this back in 2007 and notice that the pages that once kept this information front and center at TxDOT are gone.

It seems like information like this would be extremely powerful in pointing out everywhere around the country that essentially our way of funding expansion of roads now is broken. And even though he's not one of my favorite people for many reasons, Krusee made a basic point that I think is important even if we probably don't agree on the outcomes. We have enough money in the system. We just need to start allocating it correctly.

Over the past 50 years, Krusee argued, the federal government was using tax money that came by and large from cities to subsidize roads to areas without access otherwise. "City dwellers have subsidized the land purchases and the development costs out in the suburbs," said Krusee. What's more, the gas tax, which city dwellers pay when driving on city roads, but which goes to freeways largely outside of urban cores, is "a huge transfer of wealth from the cities to the suburbs to build these rings."

This admission is important, and it points the way towards sustainability for the whole urban economic system. Once we realize that we can't keep expanding roads(or sewer, electrical systems which have similar costs to the roads in terms of return according to Scott Bernstein) further and further out, and that the goals of the interstate system have been co-opted by suburban development forces for fiscally and environmentally unsustainable practices, the more of an effect we'll have on changing every citizens fortunes, not just those who build sprawl.

This also brings me to a point that Scott Bernstein made at the conference, that in these hard economic times, we need to really focus on how these investments will create value and wealth for people and cities in hard economic times over the long run. As my college professor Shane Davies always said, if you want to make change, you "hit people in the pocketbook".

Stories Like This

2009-11-04T00:10:00.000-08:00

When I see headlines like this, It makes me a bit upset.

"Woman Raped Along Uptown Light Rail Line"

Not just because someone was violated against their will, but also because the insertion of along Uptown Light Rail Line vilifies the line itself for something it really had nothing to do with. If you read closer into the story, the woman was not riding the light rail line and was assaulted downtown walking on a sidewalk. Could have been any sidewalk and she could have been leaving any bar. But the headline screams "transit is dangerous". These kind of associations happen all the time and will continue to happen. I just wish they didn't.

Monday Night Notes

2009-11-03T00:04:00.000-08:00

Chris Leinberger tells us that "value capture" is the term of the next year. Though I wish he would dig a bit deeper.
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Izmir imports trams from China.
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Is McCrory for transit or against it? He likes the train when he's in Tampa, but doesn't want to spend money for the streetcars or an extension of light rail. Kay Hagen understands.

Hagan rode to her new Charlotte office – a symbolic short hop – on the Lynx light rail line, a reminder that earlier this year, she secured $24 million for the Charlotte Area Transit System

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Edmonton will levy a fee on suburban developers to pay for new transit.

Job Centers Should Be Center

2009-11-01T19:14:00.001-08:00

As Becks notes, I think its important to start thinking 20 years ago about transbay capacity. Unfortunately we haven't had a real conversation in the region about it. A second tube (I believe with four tracks for commuter rail and BART) is certainly needed to reinforce San Francisco and Oakland as the central job centers of the region. But why waste $10B on a new tube as Rafael from CAHSR blog says in the comments when you could be creating more jobs in the regions other centers.

Instead of demanding the construction of a second BART tube for $10 billion, perhaps we should be asking why everybody and their grandmother absolutely, positively has to work in downtown San Francisco to begin with.

I'm pretty sure San Francisco's CBD only has a certain small share of the region's overall jobs, perhaps 10-15% at most. I'm guessing here but for the most part this is the case in most of the country. But the reality is that since the jobs are clustered so tightly, they demand usage of alternative transport. They also are places of agglomeration and its not an issue of the execs getting a corner office but where face to face meetings and deals happen at lunch. (This is a whole other topic but I don't believe E-working is every going to replace working in an office with other people) There is a reason why the first BART system was built, because leaders of the area wanted to be the Banking Center of the West Coast and needed that critical mass of density and prestige to achieve it.

Another issue here is that of sprawl. There is this belief that the highways and housing policies were what caused the sprawl with the thought that more people could just drive into the central city. But in reality its even more nuanced than that. We've been building these roads out but when we do that we create these job centers and edge cities on the periphery that increase the outward migration pattern. People keep moving out and towards the exact point at which they can have a thirty minute commute or less from their job center. For jobs such as finance or research or science that are transit oriented, this means less people taking transit and more people deciding to drive their cars. I'm fairly confident that less Chevron employees take transit to work these days. It also means less urban office parks with parking lots that increase reliance on SOVs even more. We see this with Pleasanton and the continued movement of people out to Stockton.

If we're truely going to be transit oriented and sustainable in this region, we can't put a cap on the jobs in the center cities and continue to push jobs out to the periphery. If you don't spend that $10B on a second tube and push for more development (residential and employment) in BART's current reach in the inner East and West bay and even more money on an actual urban rapid transit network to connect to the existing bus network, I would argue that you're going to be spending much much more money to try and get people to and from their exurban and suburban job centers let alone the difference in city services (water sewer police fire) that must be supplied to all of these new suburbs and growth.

At Rail~Volution

2009-10-29T21:57:00.001-07:00

Posting is going to be slow over the weekend as I am at Rail~Volution. Got some good sessions lined up including one with Ryan Avent, Aaron Renn (The Urbanophile) and Adam Gaffin (Universal Hub). You can follow along on twitter with the hash tag #RV09.

Tuesday Night Notes

2009-10-28T01:19:00.000-07:00

It's just not like when we grew up. I remember riding my bike to school.

"The biggest problem presented in the report is the fact that cities are being planned especially for cars and for adults,"

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Redevelopers have tighter funding these days.
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Learning to live without a car. Moving from the burbs to the bright lights.

I used to make a big grocery shopping trip just about every Saturday, driving several miles to a store and throwing half a dozen shopping bags into the trunk. Now I can walk to a supermarket three blocks away

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Suburbanization and climate change. They are linked.
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Apple will spend some cash to revitalize a Chicago Subway Station.
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I couldn't agree with Ryan more on this point.

There is a terrible chicken-and-egg problem to transportation planning, in which planners express regret that there is so little transit demand and so much traffic before building new roads. They have to accommodate the demand they've got! But you can't have transit demand if you don't have transit, and if you don't recognize that, then you're doomed to keep building roads forever. No one in the mind of the planners has yet invented a substitute for the automobile.

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The electric transit revolution is upon the British. Trolleybuses return.

Who Said That?

2009-10-28T01:09:00.001-07:00

The leader of which country made the following statements?

He said one great problem facing cities was historic under-investment in public transport, which meant services were under heavy strain or, on city fringes, non-existent. Better planning was needed to ensure communities were not separated from jobs and services. "Isolated communities breed social exclusion and entrenched disadvantage," Mr **** said. 'Increasing density in cities is part of the solution to urban growth, alongside greenfield development." He said the development had to happen with regard to climate change, with carbon emissions reduced through better design and greater consideration of water use.

Why Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The willingness to punish for past and possible future transgressions was not unnoticed either.

Kevin Rudd wants to seize greater control of urban planning by denying infrastructure funding to states and councils that won't agree to improve public transport and ban haphazard housing development.

If only didn't spend more money on cars than transit here in the United States and had rules with teeth. But in the current system everyone has to get theirs whether they deserve it or not.

Monday Night Notes

2009-10-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a picnic on the grass on a major bridge?
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Officials in India are calling for high rises. I'm surprised they didn't go up before.
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Businesses in the UK are starting to use carshare companies instead of keeping their own fleets.
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Integrating BRT with a Metro should be a no brainer.
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I can see why folks in East LA wanted a subway. Its a dense area and it would have been nice. But whining about it and getting upset right before it opens seems a bit lame to me.
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Lots of regulation of safety on commuter rail are causing a strain.

Funnel Cloud

2009-10-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

While these are nice pleasantries, I think the Obama administration needs to back up their words with action. Metro regions are the economic engines of this nation yet the stimulus is evidence that they are still not getting the attention they deserve from the administration. There's a great opportunity in the transportation bill to funnel money directly to cities, but the administration has decided just like the Bush administration to push it back, even though it could act as a second stimulus.

The Obama administration may funnel more federal aid directly to cities and bypass states, Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president, said during a Chicago appearance with her former boss, Mayor Richard M. Daley.

I'll believe it when I see it happen.

Voting for Streetlights, Manhole Cover Locations

2009-10-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

I don't quite understand where there is this want to vote for transit improvements that aren't related to tax increases. The most recent example of this after Cincinnati's issue 9 is Boise, where local city council member Dave Lister is looking to put a measure on the Ballot that would require a 50% vote to build a streetcar even though there is no tax increase involved.

The precedent for this is Capital Metro in Austin, which is the only public agency in the United States that has ever required a vote for city services for which it already had the money to construct. In fact if a vote was required for every rail project in the United States we might not have successful rail projects in San Diego, Houston, or Denver who's first lines were built with existing funds without voter approval.

We don't have votes for road expansions, only bond measures to pay for them. We don't have votes for water treatment plants or new sewer systems that we have money for. Perhaps if we need to raise money we would ask the people. What is so different about rail transit infrastructure that requires a pure democratic vote? Isn't that why we elect city council members? To make more informed decisions on these issues than the general electorate can take on.

It's actually a road we've been traveling down in California and other places where elected officials wimp out behind expected voter mandates instead of taking a strong stand. Many places have councils that have taken a stand against streetcars and other projects which is great because they are stepping up to say yes or no, but whenever a council gets close to making a decision in their favor, it seems like these pure democracy votes pop up for something that doesn't require a tax increase. Ultimately infrastructure decisions shouldn't be left up to a vote unless there is a tax increase involved. I imagine that nothing would ever get done if it were the case that every infrastructure decision needed a vote. It's bad enough as it is with lacking political will in this country to do anything forward thinking, why put another layer on it?

Abu Dhabi Moving on Tram Plan

2009-10-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

When I think of Abu Dhabi I think of Nermal. You know, the cat that Garfield always wanted to get rid of and send to the middle eastern region.

Jim Davis, Garfield via Photobucket

But soon you might be thinking about tramways as Abu Dhabi looks to potentially build 340km of tramways.

The project, known as the Abu Dhabi Light Rail Transit/Tram study involves 340 kilometers of tram lines and is one of several major transportation projects that make up the Surface Transport Master Plan. The department expects the LRT to start operating in 2014.

What I'm wondering about with these tram plans in middle eastern cities is are they connected to urban development plans that focus on walkability? It seems that a common complaint about the system in Dubai is that buildings aren't really in sync with how the transit operates. But that is likely a building design issue with urbanism in the area around the line. I say this mostly because it looks like there is a good grid pattern in the city.

I'll Juice You Up

2009-10-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

In St. Paul the utility company is going to have to rip up the streets anyway for light rail so they are trying an innovative energy rebate program and testing smart grid technology. Sounds pretty interesting.

The area is being dubbed “the Innovation Corridor,” says James Lockwood, a spokesman in Mayor Chris Coleman’s office. “Since all the utilities have to get in there to move lines because of the installation of light rail, they saw this as a great opportunity to figure out what to do to create smart grid technology to improve energy efficiency for businesses and homes,” he says.

I just hope they aren't asking for free cable...

California Air Raid

2009-10-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

Just like the transit folks, the CRA is not going to take it from the state anymore. Or at least they are not going to let it be taken. Recently the state supreme court ruled that transit money couldn't be just thrown into the general fund and now the redevelopment agencies are trying to block to keep California from stealing their money as well. Who is the plaintiff? Why Union City who has been trying to redevelop around their BART station.

In Union City, the State raid threatens to delay the 100-acre BART Station District redevelopment project. The project, a collaboration between the Union City Redevelopment Agency, other local transit agencies and the state and federal governments, includes remodeling the BART station to create a two-sided station with additional parking; nearby new housing; new offices; and retail space. This transit-oriented development has been in the works for 10 years.

Here's a solution. Fix prop 13! Fix the budget process and hold a constitutional convention. Cut out the shell games because everyone is tired of you not bringing enough lunch money and bumming off of them.

Tuesday Night Notes

2009-10-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

China is having the same issue with urban growth that we have with VMT. It seems as if they are growing so fast that it negates their sustainable development goals. This is just like driving in that we increase it so much that its likely to negate any fuel economy gains we make.
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Tampa is looking at a transit tax in 2020. By the time they implement it and build something, I'll be 50. When I think about all the things that happened between 1950 and 1970 I'm amazed that we can move with such sloth these days.
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Houston residents are getting ancy about their lack of euclidean zoning regulations. I kind of like the lack of definitions inside the loop. It's a nice experiment in what can happen, even though there really are parking and setback regulations.

Four Two Through

2009-10-19T23:37:00.000-07:00

Dave thinks there might be a correlation between the number of trains into a station and its development pattern. I think there is a bit more to do with it than that including market and available zoning allowances. But I think sometimes the market can be influenced by the amount of transportation available to an area over time.

For example I believe downtown Oakland was a little hamstrung when BART decided to split off trains to Fremont before going through a downtown Oakland station. With four lines instead of two going through downtown Oakland, it seems like it could have changed Oakland's equasion. Currently there is high frequency in the morning and evening rush, but at other times it could really use more trains into and from San Francisco. When there are opportunities to provide more service to a major destination, it seems like more service is a wise move that might be able to set the table for other improvements.

A Small Charge

2009-10-19T23:06:00.000-07:00

I thought this article on ultracapacitor buses was interesting in that they have been used in China for a number of years. One of the surprising things to me was that they didn't recharge for much shorter intervals at more charging stations but for a long time at a single station for 5 to 10 minutes. It seems to me that with improvements this type of tech could also be used for trams. It will come at some point, but I still don't think its worth discharging overhead wires.

And I'm Back in the Game! Italy Blogging

2009-10-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a good two weeks. My two weeks were awesome. I think everyone should take a break once in a while. It will do wonders for your mind.

I don't have as many transit pictures from this trip as I wasn't in cities as much. I did visit Milan and Turin and got a couple of streetcar, bus, and train shots but i'll share those later. I also took a lot of different modes of transportation, basically everything except a bike which i've already gotten crap for on facebook :) The final tab is such: Car, tram, train, subway, bus, cog railway, arial ropeway (tram), boat, plane, taxi, foot. Lots of foot. I did see a lot of bike sharing in small towns which was surprising and I really enjoyed my boat rides, which I don't do much here. In any event, here are some of my favorite places from the trip. I'll get back to regular blogging tomorrow.

The beaches were mostly stones

This is Zoagli (Zwal-e) The towns on the coast hug the hills

In Zoagli we got to see how silk and velvet fabric was made

We drove through the Alps on Mountain Roads

See the three portals for the road?

Drove through the upper lakes, prettiest bus stop ever?

Scene from the top of the aerial ropeway

Portofino was nice

My Great Grandparents likely graced these spots in the hills above Chiavari in a small commune called Ne. It was really great to see where at least part of my past came from. The terraced hills are everywhere, these are for olive trees.

The Cinque Terre was amazing

and the water was blue, but a color I had never seen.

It was a great way to take a break. I highly recommend going to Italy, especially the Piedmont south of Turin.

Replay 8/7/08: What if the Trams Were Gone?

2009-10-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

A very cool video that probably saved Melbourne's Tram system from the usual suspects back in the day. Visit Keep Melbourne Moving for More...

Replay: 10/3/08 Walking and Biking is Wacky

2009-10-14T02:24:00.000-07:00

h/t Treehugger

Replay: 10/09/08 Patriotic Beer Redux

2009-10-12T02:22:00.000-07:00

I know I've posted this commercial before but it came through my reader again and I was about to skip it but decided maybe I'd have another listen. What I found, was that it had even more to do with the situation we're in today more than ever. Tough times call for tough men. Here's the transcript:

Ah. That's the way patriot. Let the OPECs keep their gasoline. We'll just tap into a far more efficient energy source. Man....power. If we all learn to pull our weight. Nobody, nobody will be able to siphon away, our high life.

HT Twin Cities Streets for People for the Reminder.

Replay: 10/07/07 Transit and Acupuncture

2009-10-11T02:04:00.000-07:00

So I've been kinda sick for the last few months with a number of things like vertigo and sinus infections. I've decided to go get acupuncture and see if it changes anything. So today was going to be my first day and I wanted to go to my Gramma's afterwards so i decided to drive. Well the transit gods were not happy about that so they smited my car mid bay bridge. I pulled off onto treasure island as my engine temperature light was flashing at me and checked the temperature. It was above normal but wasn't to the red yet. So I let it cool off for a little bit and started to drive again. I go to the other end of the bridge before I had to stop again. Eventually I got the car to the Volkswagen dealership in Oakland and took the 51 to work downtown.

So now I had to get to the acupuncturist in Montclaire. I left an hour before the appointment as the 59 comes every hour from Lake Merritt BART. I sat in the back of a 30 foot VanHool bus and watched the really nice houses pass by on the hills. It was actually a nice ride if not a little bumpy. But there was a catch. My appointment was going to be over at 5 but the last 59 went to the Rockridge BART at 4:15 or so. Not good. So I had to figure out a way back. Well where the 59 dropped off the 18 picked up and I was lucky enough that it ran every 15 minutes into the evening. So when I was done at 5 I hopped on the 18 and traveled on the other side of the hill from the 59. It took me to the 12th Street BART station and I hopped on the 24th street and mission turn around train to go home since I wouldn't be going to my Gramma's house.

I was thinking a bit negatively that there wasn't a 59 but my roommate pointed out that we are lucky to live in a fairly transit friendly place in the bay area and the fact that there was an 18 at all was good. It was still at 15 minute headways so yes, that was pretty good. I imagine that if I were in Houston or somewhere else this wouldn't have worked. So my car died, but i knew that I could depend on transit to get me where I needed to go. It took a little more time, but I got to watch the world go by instead of having to slog through traffic.

Replay: 10/25/08 Urban Bumper Sticker

2009-10-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Considering a lot of people around here don't have cars and take transit, the bumper sticker is not an available option of displaying your politics or causes. However, I've noticed even before the presidential election that messenger bags can have the same affect. After the election started though, they have increased exponentially around here. Mostly Obama and No on Prop 8. I've noticed people on the train checking out my bag as well, which has my own "urban bumper stickers"

I've got the longhorn patch which has brought me closer to fellow Texans randomly on BART and the Hey Mercedes buttons of my favorite band that have gotten comments from some rock kids. Though no one has said much about the SF Municipal Railway or the Market Street Railway pins, it might be because we're usually smooshed together on the J Church.

The thing though is that unlike bumper stickers, you have to be in close quarters to see what the pins and buttons say, which makes people a bit more cordial than if they were in the space of their own car. No honking on transit.