By Frank on July 21, 2008
Ho hum. Another quarter, another ridership record for Sounder, up 31% YOY.
Gee, it sure seems like people in the Puget Sound like their rail transit and want to see more of it. Too bad the Seattle Times is looking down their noses at these folks and basically telling them to go screw themselves.
Sorry to be crude, here, folks, but where’s the last place on Earth where people still buy and read printed newspapers? THE GODDAMNED TRAIN, THAT’S WHERE. The paper’s worth peanuts these days, you’d think that an injection of tens of thousands of new rail riders into the area would make them smile.
I know, I know… the Times editorial board and ownership is staffed by honorable public servants who would never use the editorial page to advance their financial self-interest.
Oh wait.
Posted in public investment, sr509
By joshkelley on July 21, 2008
I think I posted this a while back, but I’ve updated my Google maps of Link and Sounder alignments based on the proposed 15-year plan from Sound Transit.
http://maps.google.com/maps/user?uid=103428233658015669918&hl=en&gl=us&ptab=2
Posted in bicycles, i5, kcmetro, lightrail, O&M, public investment, roads, sr509, Trail
By Frank on July 19, 2008
People 1, Cars 0?
The work will be done without widening the overpass, which would have meant a costly retrofit. Instead, a lane is being eliminated to make room for the sidewalk, said Brian Holloway, the city’s project manager.
And:
Holloway said the city is making the change because more people are biking and walking these days instead of driving. “There didn’t seem to be a balance there,” he said of the vehicles and pedestrians sharing the intersection.
Indeed. I believe this is what they call a “tipping point.”
Posted in lake union
By Frank on July 17, 2008
Brewster writes:
Complicating the Ladenburg situation is his race for state attorney general, in which incumbent Rob McKenna, long a rail skeptic, is expected to wrap a yes vote by Ladenburg around his neck. Gregoire expects the same from gubernatorial challenger Dino Rossi, which is why she is said to be determined to block the vote in 2008. Nickels, still estranged from the governor over the Alaskan Way Viaduct, is paying her no heed on this score.
Gregoire’s strategy of cowering under the covers and praying for an Obama wave to sweep her into Olympia is looking more embarassing by the minute. America is awash with bold, progressive politicians in states far redder than WA (Kaine, Schweitzer, Sebelius, etc.), and Gregoire acts like it’s 1994 and Newt Gingrich is still running the national agenda.
Posted in lionel-industrial complex
By Frank on July 17, 2008
Ok… this is weird. Before I left town, I wrote, quite sarcastically:
I expect that when I return, Sound Transit’s board will have come to their senses, a solution will be in place for the viaduct, and David Brewster will stop publishing juvenile anti-rail screeds in Crosscut.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad. Sound Transit’s trumpeting that the big dogs on the board of directors are endorsing the new 15-year hybrid plan for 2008. And Crosscut acutally published a sweet pro-rail piece from Big Media Ben. Nice!
Maybe I should skip town more often.
Posted in orcacard
By Matt the Engineer on July 16, 2008
The Discovery Institute’s Cascadia Prospectus blog has an, um, interesting commentary today talking about how much we need to more road capacity, financed by private corporations who will toll us for the privilege.
Apparently the logic goes like this:
1. Gas prices have gone up. Therefore:
2. Driving has decreased. Therefore:
3. Revenue for building more roads is down. Therefore:
4. ??? Therefore:
5. We need to build more roads.
I haven’t quite figured out step 4 of the logic, but the rest looks solid. One might guess that less driving should result in needing fewer new roads, but I’m sure step 4 will clear up that misunderstanding.
I’m having less success with another line of logic in the piece. See if you can figure out what I’m missing:
1. We can’t afford new roads. Therefore:
2. We can have private companies build new roads. And:
3. They can toll us to make their money back. And:
4. Although this will cost us more, they’ll be able to build roads faster.
Maybe the previous step 4 will clear up not only why we need more roads, but also why we need them faster. Oh, and how paying more for them will make them affordable.
(I’ve asked for clarification on this step in the comments, but “comments are screened for tone” and sarcasm might not make it through the filter)
Posted in ATIS
By serial catowner on July 15, 2008
“Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) was never a solution, and it’s even less so in the current era of peak oil. This point could be debated endlessly on the technical merits, if you ignore the proven long-term economy of rail transit compared with buses, or you could simply look at the implementation.
In Curitabo they’re building rail transit, admitting they should have done it years ago. In Miami, people who ride the rail to the end of the line and then get on the BRT agree that it stinks. In Honolulu the BRT turned out to be too big for the streets. Pittsburgh has had buses running in dedicated right-of-way for decades, but nobody cites Pittsburgh as a great success story. In Boston BRT is turning out to be more expensive than upgrading existing rail lines. In Oakland the effort to build BRT is bankrupting the transit system.
There’s a place for buses. There are places for express buses. But BRT is, basically, just wrong- too big for the little tasks, and too small for the big tasks.
To be sure, we haven’t heard the end of this. There will always be some damn fool who thinks installing the rails is the most expensive part of building transit, or that what we need now is the ability to discontinue service without abandoning a costly investment in infrastructure. But in the real world, stick a fork in it- it’s done.
Posted in Uncategorized
By bgtothen on July 13, 2008
Why can’t LINK have grass?
Posted in Uncategorized
By bgtothen on July 12, 2008
Yesterday I spent most of the day at Pavillon de l’Arsenal which was very nice and has a great website ( www.pavillon-arsenal.com/home.php ). It is similar to the SLU discovery center but focus on history, urban redevelopment, and architecture. It includes a very nice timeline exhibit showing how Paris developed since it was founded. The exhibit included lots of old pictures as well as videos about project as well as interviews. It also included a very large scale model of Paris which you can see above.
The areas in yellow are areas where the government is focusing redevelopment efforts. They are mostly on the edge of the city and are located in areas that were previously industrial. The areas in purple are areas that are experiencing change. Combined these areas cover roughly 10 percent of Paris. As any good urban redevelopment project this effort includes the construction of a new tram line along the lime green line (tram line 3 www.ratp.info/orienter/plan_metro_pdf.php) which connects to many of the subway lines.
On a side note there are several things that I want to write about when I get back. They are:
-How bicycle design affect the riding experience
Yesterday I spent most of the day at Pavillon de l’Arsenal which was very nice and has a great website ( www.pavillon-arsenal.com/home.php ). It is similar to the SLU discovery center but focus on history, urban redevelopment, and architecture. It includes a very nice timeline exhibit showing how Paris developed since it was founded. The exhibit included lots of old pictures as well as videos about project as well as interviews. It also included a very large scale model of Paris which you can see above.
The areas in yellow are areas where the government is focusing redevelopment efforts. They are mostly on the edge of the city and are located in areas that were previously industrial. The areas in purple are areas that are experiencing change. Combined these areas cover roughly 10 percent of Paris. As any good urban redevelopment project this effort includes the construction of a new tram line along the lime green line (tram line 3 www.ratp.info/orienter/plan_metro_pdf.php) which connects to many of the subway lines.
On a side note there are several things that I want to write about when I get back. They are:
-How bicycle design affect the riding experience
-How best to mark bicycle lanes and the difference in bike lane design between the US and Europe
-How to improve the capacity and experience on buses and trains with flexible seating designs
-How to improve the capacity and experience on buses and trains with flexible seating designs
Posted in Uncategorized
By serial catowner on July 10, 2008
For whatever reason, Art Skolnik has decided to disgrace and chip away at the concept of historical preservation by using it as a tool for his own personal desire to keep the existing viaduct. It doesn’t matter to him if people look at his efforts and say “Boy, this historical preservation stuff is a real pile of crap”.
Why doesn’t it matter to him? Does he have a brain tumor? Has he himself decided that historical preservation is a pile of crap, something he no longer cares about and can denature with abandon, pissing in the soup, as it were?
Let’s be plain- the viaduct was no engineering marvel. It met no need, there was no cleverness in design, no great challenge in building, and it instantly denatured and destroyed vital neighborhoods that didn’t recover for 30 years. Lots of stuff happened in the past that is not worthy of historical preservation, and the viaduct is one of those events. Nor, in fact, is Skolnik actually proposing historical preservation, which entails painstaking repairs in the same manner as the original. Rebuilding the Cutty Sark in fiberglass, or adding a fiberglass skin, is not historical preservation.
Skolnik had a chance to go down in history as one of the good guys- and he’s blown it. It’s not the kind of thing we can be forgiving of, if we actually value historical preservation or why we do it.
Posted in Uncategorized
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