The TDM Professional

Welcome TDM Professionals

Welcome to The TDM Professional. This Blog is intended for use by ACT members and their colleagues to foster sharing of ideas and industry news. All are welcome to become authors. To become a contributing blogger please contact me. After providing your name and email address, you'll receive an email with instructions from Typepad on how to start blogging. It's real easy.

Some notes and tips for our bloggers:

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Where's the Operations-Ready in the Shovel-Ready Stimulus?

Dr. Gridlock (Stimulating a Better Commute, January 29, 2009; Washington Post) and Eric Weiss (New Cash, Not New Projects, January 29, 2009; Washington Post) discuss what the Stimulus may mean for our commute here in the DC area. The good news is that the stimulus will pump money into state DOTs and Metro for shovel-ready transportation projects that would other-wise not happen anytime soon. But according to the authors, as much as these are needed, it doesn't seem like these projects will really improve your commute anytime soon.

Says Weiss "Although the stimulus funds might sound like a lot of money, they fall far short of the region's needs. Washington has the second-worst traffic in the country, according to the Texas Transportation Institute. Only Los Angeles has worse." And both Weiss and Dr. Gridlock point out that the money will be spent on existing, not new projects, with emphasis on maintenance. Says the good Dr. "But huge as this stimulus plan is, it won't be cutting 20 minutes off your commute or guaranteeing you a seat on a train. That's going to take a bit longer and cost a lot more."

But there are indeed some "operations-ready" programs we could initiate or expand right now that would affect the area's roads in the short term. Problem is the entire Stimulus discussion seems to be centered on capital - thus the term shovel-ready - projects. We just need policy makers to include some of these lower-cost, yet high impact TDM operations-ready programs along with the shovel-ready list.

What am I talking about?

Reprising some of a post done a while back (Time For Plan B for Northern Virginia Traffic. Invest More In TDM, July 1, 2008, CommuterPageBlog), there are indeed things the region could do more of to help alleviate traffic congestion, and help our environment at the same time, in the relatively short-term. It's called TDM (transportation (or travel) demand management). It's fairly inexpensive when compared to building additional supply (roads and transit) and it can be implemented much more quickly than capital intensive projects. Don't take my word for it. According to the Transportation Research Board:

"Many studies that have compared mobility and air quality strategies have concluded that demand management strategies are among the most cost-effective in that they can reduce a trip, mile of travel or ton of emissions for a relatively modest amount of money. Demand-side strategies may not be the primary solution to these problems, but if they are applied in the right situation, they can help address traffic and air pollution problems in modest, yet very affordable way.

  Most localities across the U.S. woefully underfund demand-side strategies. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because it's the softer side of transportation, because it is less understood or newer. There's a build it and they'll come philosophy with transportation projects that just isn't borne out by the research when it is applied to non-drive alone modes. It's time the politicians and transportation planners put some real money into the demand side. Tripling the budgets of local and regional TDM agencies annually would be equivalent to the cost of enhancing one local traffic interchange and have way more regional impact.

One of the main tenants of the Stimulus is job creation. If new TDM programs were started or the existing ones were quickly expanded (this would take months not years), TDM agencies across the country would be hiring sales people to help companies implement flex-time, telework, and commuter benefits; customer service agents working at retail Commuter Stores; distribution staff who process and deliver transportation information to individuals and companies; logistics staff who keep information up-to-date at bus stops or in building lobbies and retail stores; commuter specialists who help you over the phone or online or who fulfill your ticket request; marketing people who help you understand the benefits of commute options; web people who develop cool tools to make your commuter easy; and people who educate about biking, walking and other modes. This is just some of what TDM looks like as an operation on the ground.

Investments in operations-ready TDM would mean more jobs and less congestion. Now. It needs to be part of the Stimulus and overall transportation strategy of the region and country. And it will help all those shovel-ready transit and roads projects be more efficient too. It all needs to be done and to work together.

Resources about how TDM works and it's effectiveness:

• Arlington County Commuter Services  (TDM done right)
• Montgomery County Commuter Services(Another great example of TDM done right)
• TDM Strategies from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute
• Mitigating Traffic Congestion. The Role of Demand-Side Strategies. By U.S. DOT & ACT
• Analyzing the Effectiveness of Commuter Benefits Programs - Transportation Research Board Report
• ACT - Association for Commuter Transportation- the TDM's industry's professional trade association
• UITP - International Association of Public Transport
• CUTR - Center for Urban Transportation Research
• ACCS TDM Research Center- local research into TDM
• This is Smart Growth, Chapter 6: Freedom to Choose How We Get Around. Published by the Smart Growth Network
• Vanquishing the Density Demon- Jim Bacon's great take on TDM

Chris Hamilton is the Commuter ServicesChief for Arlington County in the Transportation Division of the Department of Environmental Services, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a Metro/biking commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.

Transit Benefit to Increase?

A legislative provision increasing the cap on the transit portion of the transportation fringe benefit was included in the Senate's version of the Economic Recovey Package. While there will be a lot of negotiations back and forth, I am hopeful that this provision will be included in the final version of the economic recovery legislation. Final passage is expected by the end of the month. In addition to this, there are many other commuter/TDM related provisions included in the House and Senate versions of the economic stimulus bill. For more information, feel free to contact me or go to the Association for Commuter Transportation's Website, www.actweb.org

Jason Pavluchuk

Government Relations Inc. (Representing ACT)

Jasonp325@aol.com

New Development. It's All About Sustainability

So says San Francisco Zoning Administrator and Assistant Planning Director Lawrence Badiner in reference to his City's 2005 ordinance requiring new residential buildings to reduce parking requirements and promote transportation options. "The idea is that if there are fewer cars in the world, more people use the Muni (local transit line) and there are less carbon emissions. It's all about sustainability." We learn this from the always interesting Neil Takemoto at his Cool Town Studios blog in a post entitled Developers Provide Green Incentives to Home Buyers (November 13, 2008).

Mr. Takemoto, who's blog has for years been on the cutting edge of placemaking development trends, says there's an emerging market for "green housing and transportation." He brings a few examples from the the bay area in Oakland and San Francisco where developers are offering free carsharing services and memberships, free bikes, bike repair lounges and lockers and free annual transit passes. And we learn that as of September, 2008 Oakland requires all developers with projects of more than 50 residential units or 50,000 s.f. of non-residential space to complete a "transportation demand management" plan, including strategies to increase bicycle, pedestrian, transit and car-share use. We also find from Neil that in San Francisco the parking requirements are as low as one parking space per four units in some neighborhoods. Now that's aggressive.

In our area these kinds of requirements have been in place since the late 1980's in Montgomery County (Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance) and the City of Alexandria (TMP Ordinance) and since 1990 in Arlington (TDM Policy). And to good effect. We'll come back and share some examples and findings in the future. It should be noted that the District and Fairfax are now exploring wasy to implement these kinds of TDM policies with new development too. What's interesting is that while these policies seem to have generally started as way to fight traffic congestion, they are now gaining additional currency as a green or sustainability issues. Let's hope more areas catch on to these good practices, regardless of the reason.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

 

World Bikesharing Leader Paris Aims for Carsharing Lead Too

In a story out of the Associated Press this week (Paris Eyes Electric Car Sharing Plan, July 28, 2008, by Gaelle Faure) we learn that Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, who brought the wildly successful 16,000 count, 200,000 member Velib' bikesharing service to his City, wants to bring carsharing to his City too. And he wants to start with 4,000 electric vehicles no less. Program start in 2009/10. We love this guy!

And the name? Autolib' of course. The service will be run by the City. The plan has it's critics who don't want to see any car use encouraged. But we know that studies show that carsharing actually cuts car use, increases the use of options like transit and encourages people to get rid of cars or forgo buying them altogether. That's exactly what program advocates want - to discourage Parisians who don't have vehicles from even thinking of buying one.

This is one mayor who knows how to fight traffic and pollution.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Cosmoburb. Does That Come With a Twist?

In an Op-Ed (Diversity and the Changing Face of Suburbia, July 18) at Next American City they argue that for some American suburbs the old stereotypes don't apply anymore. They are characterized by diversity and a majority of households without children. They have essentially the same elements that make a place urban - they just arrange it a bit differently than traditional central cities. And "Cosmoburbs" is the term used to describe these places.

According to the book, Boomburbs: The Rise of America's Accidental Cities, the term is used to describe wealthy suburbs that are also divers and increasingly contain non-traditional households. Places like Lakewood, Colorado and Arlington, Virginia. From the article:

"Lakewood, Colorado is following a land-use planning model set by Arlington, Va., in the 1980s when it focused denser growth along the Washington Metro system’s Orange Line. Arlington in 1980, like Lakewood today, contained mostly post-World War II single-family housing in mostly homogeneous neighborhoods. But the Orange Line changed the city into a more diverse and vibrant place. Lakewood is poised to do the same over the next decade, as will other suburbs with new light-rail systems, such as Tempe, Ariz."

While the op-ed focuses on diversity as a drawing card for attracting a creative class of people to these prospering places, another element is there too. These places are also largely more dense and transit-oriented than traditional suburbs. All together these elements make for what the authors call the new economic hubs for an increasingly “brain"-oriented economy. And I bet they drink of lot of cosmos there too.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Can Other Cities Have What Portland Has?

That's the question posed to Mia Birk, Portland's first Bike Coordinator by CBS Sunday Morning reporter Serena Altschul after spending some time there. Says Birk:

"I'll just challenge your viewers to think about substituting one trip a week that they normally take by car, try it on a bike," Birk said. "Try a short trip that's 2 miles or less." According to a recent federal study, that's 40% of all urban trips in America. "See how much easier it is than you think it is," Birk said. "Just try it."

The excellent 10-minute plus story spends some time with Portland's Mayor-elect Sam Adams, who is said to have "rode to victory on a bicycle platform." In the last ten years the number of trips made by bike in Portland is up 150% and is now six percent of all trip. "And it makes me proud because, you know, imagine all the smog we're not producing with these bikes trips. Imagine all the health improvements" says the Mayor-elect.

Can any city catch up with Portland?

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Online Directions for Bikes, Peds and Transit Coming Soon?

A few articles/posts last week bring us information that with the high cost of gasoline, and more people looking for options to driving, that people are looking for 'how to get there from here' map information for walking, biking and transit just like they've been getting for driving for years.

On Yahoo a story out of Philadelphia (Bikers, Pedestrians Seeking Better Better Web Maps, July 25, 2008, by Patrick Walters, AP), which also appeared in this morning's Express, says that Google, MapQuest and others are experimenting and working with groups or cities to solve the technical issues with overlaying detailed information for biking and walking onto existing map systems. Apparently not always that easy. Walkers and bikers can go places cars can't and this complicates matters. Therefore mapmakers are more reliant on community knowledge than they've been with driving directions.

Over at the Google Maps 'Bike There' blog, whose mission is to prod the Google Maps team to work on adding bike directions, we find a Beta "Ride The City" (NYC) site that tries to help bicyclists get riding directions using Google maps data.

The Google Lat Long Blog says that beginning on July 22 Google Maps lets you tell it that you want walking directions (Pound the Pavement, July 22, 2008). This is a Beta version and I couldn't get either the Directions by Public Transit or Walking when I put in local information. But it is working in Seattle. Figures.

Google Transit is coming to more and more cities, but still isn't in our area. Despite strong interest by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, WMATA, and some local agencies it seems that the hold-up is the agreements between Google and these folks. Google wants to make it clear to the public that the information they supply is only as good as the data they get from the transit agencies. For some reason this gives the agencies pause. Meanwhile the traveling public waits. Come on guys lets get this going!

Bottom line, "The easier you make it for people...the more they're going to do it" says Joe Minott, Executive Director of Philly's Clean Air Council in reference to why these new maps are needed. I couldn't have said it better. Maybe in a couple years when you go to Google Maps or MapQuest, and you ask for directions, it will automatically ask you if you'd like walking, biking and transit directions as well as by car. Let's hope this day comes soon.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

It's Not About Rising Fuel Costs. It's About Time.

So says noted urbanologist and creator of the term "creative class" Richard Florida from his new perch as Toronto University's Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute. In an article in the Globe and Mail (The Days of Urban Sprawl Are Over...But Not for the Reasons You Think, July 11, 2008) Florida says it isn't rising gas prices that are sealing the end of development in the suburban fringe and driving consumer interest in developing and redeveloping neighborhoods closer to the core but rather its time costs that really matter. Says Florida:

"With the constant pressure to be more efficient and to innovate, it makes little sense to waste countless collective hours commuting. So the most efficient and productive regions are the ones in which people are thinking and working – not sitting in traffic. And, according to detailed research by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, commuting is among the least enjoyable, if not the single least enjoyable, of all human activities."

He goes on to say that in the world's major urban centers the trend is even more pronounced "as talented, ambitious people trade more space for shorter commutes." Hmmm...reminds of the Think Arlington campaign. Regardless, it makes sense that smart people don't want to waste all that time commuting and that places without the long commutes will continue to capture more and more of the creative class and prosper.

Enjoy the article. Mr. Florida is always an interesting read.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Time For Plan B for Northern Virginia Traffic. Invest More In TDM - Part 1

"It was bad enough for gridlocked Northern Virginia that leaders in Richmond failed this week to come up with a transportation funding plan, but there's even worse news: There's no Plan B. The result will be more congested roads, crowded trains and possibly an exodus of jobs from the region, officials said yesterday."

Thus began a story by the ever thoughtful Eric Weiss and Michael Laris in Saturday's Washington Post about the consequences for Northern Virginia on the failure of our elected officials to successfully deal with transportation funding issues (Hope for The Best, Expect The Worst, July 12). Weiss and Laris document the opportunities lost to partisan bickering for an infusion of needed dollars that would help Northern Virginia climb out of the second-worst traffic congestion in the nation. Local officials worry about Northern Virginia's competitiveness with other areas and cite companies moving away from Atlanta's traffic-clogged roads as a cautionary tale. But what really struck me about the story though was the statement that "there's no Plan B." True enough.

There doesn't seem to be any Plan B other than to hope for the political players to change next election and to try again next year. However, there are indeed things Northern Virginia could do more of to help alleviate traffic congestion, and help our environment at the same time, in the relatively short-term. It's called TDM (transportation (or travel) demand management). It's fairly inexpensive when compared to building additional supply (roads and transit) and it can be implemented much more quickly than capital intensive projects. Don't take my word for it. According to the Transportation Research Board:

"Many studies that have compared mobility and air quality strategies have concluded that demand management strategies are among the most cost-effective in that they can reduce a trip, mile of travel or ton of emissions for a relatively modest amount of money. Demand-side strategies may not be the primary solution to these problems, but if they are applied in the right situation, they can help address traffic and air pollution problems in modest, yet very affordable way.

So what is TDM? Managing demand encourages travelers to change their travel mode from driving alone to a shared ride, public transit, bike, walk or other alternatives like telework. It also encourages those who do drive to make informed choices of travel route, time and location. (Here's one local example of how you get people to do this). These strategies help us get the best we can out of our existing roads and transit infrastructure. Simple enough. So TDM could be our Plan B, right?

I think it is fair to say that if our region is going to maintain its quality of life and it's competitiveness we need to invest more money in transportation infrastructure from transit to bike facilities to roads and more walkable streetscapes. Using TDM should always be part of the mix to get the most out of these facilities. But for the short-term, if there isn't the hundreds of millions we need and expected on the supply-side, shouldn't we be putting more money than we currently are, maybe tens of millions, into TDM as our Plan B? Surely we can come up with that relatively small amount.

Northern Virginia, the region and most places across the U.S. woefully underfund demand-side strategies. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because it's the softer side of transportation, because it is less understood or newer. Other than in Arlington and parts of Montgomery County the staff and resources allocated to TDM across the region is a pittance compared to what is spent on the supply side of transportation. And Arlington and Montgomery - as good of models as they are - could be doing a whole lot more if they had the resources. It's time the politicians and transportation planners put some real money into the demand side. Doubling or even tripling the budgets of local and regional (Commuter Connections) TDM agencies annually would be equivalent to the cost of enhancing one traffic interchange. The results could help us better get through these tough times. It could be our Plan B.

In some near future posts I'll begin to explore some specific examples. In the meantime there are some resources below for folks that want to learn more.

Resources:

• Arlington County Commuter Services  (TDM done right)
• Montgomery County Commuter Services (Another great example of TDM done right)
• TDM Strategies from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute
• Mitigating Traffic Congestion. The Role of Demand-Side Strategies. By U.S. DOT & ACT
• Analyzing the Effectiveness of Commuter Benefits Programs - Transportation Research Board Report
• ACT - Association for Commuter Transportation - the TDM's industry's professional trade association
• UITP - International Association of Public Transport
• CUTR - Center for Urban Transportation Research
• ACCS TDM Research Center - local research into TDM
• This is Smart Growth, Chapter 6: Freedom to Choose How We Get Around. Published by the Smart Growth Network
• Vanquishing the Density Demon - Jim Bacon's great take on TDM

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Quote of the Day: People are Tired of Sitting in Traffic

" Solutions have escaped us because we can't imagine a Virginia in which businesses will leave because of traffic, or that the military could leave. But businesses can leave and the military will leave and yank its people if it can't move them around like they need to. And our universities won't prosper if people can't get to them...Imagine what Virginia will be like if businesses leave, if the military leaves and our children leave because the good jobs are gone.? Anything we can make up our minds to do, we can do. And we must solve this transportation problem."

Senator Yvonne B. Miller, Norfolk
Senate Finance Committee Debate on SB6009
June 26, 2008
Quote from the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Quote of the Day: We Cannot Drill Ourselves Out of this Situation

"We have to keep pace with demands for public transit, and give this country a reason to be proud of its high-speed trains, light-rail lines, and both rapid and conventional bus transit. We need to make more of our streets safe and convenient for walking and biking to work, school, shops and transit stops. We have to create incentives for developers to invest in our close-in suburbs and urban centers, to meet the huge demand for affordable homes in convenient locations. Americans are not dumb: We would much rather invest in well-located real estate than in gasoline.

We are tired of feeling like victims – whether of oil companies, poor planning, or a lack of vision. We are ready for innovative change, if only our leaders will follow us."

Parris N. Glendening
President of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute and Former Maryland Governor
July 7, 2008; Americans Demand More and Better Options, Planetizen

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

"We have to keep pace with demands for public transit, and give this country a reason to be proud of its high-speed trains, light-rail lines, and both rapid and conventional bus transit. We need to make more of our streets safe and convenient for walking and biking to work, school, shops and transit stops. We have to create incentives for developers to invest in our close-in suburbs and urban centers, to meet the huge demand for affordable homes in convenient locations. Americans are not dumb: We would much rather invest in well-located real estate than in gasoline.

We are tired of feeling like victims – whether of oil companies, poor planning, or a lack of vision. We are ready for innovative change, if only our leaders will follow us."

Parris N. Glendening
President of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute and Former Maryland Governor
July 7, 2008; Americans Demand More and Better Options, Planetizen

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

The Portland Affect: More Bicycling is Coming

The mainstream media is catching on. Now can any other city catch up to Portland, Oregon?

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Quote of the Day: The Time Tax is the Time You Spend Stuck in Traffic

"The time tax is the time you spend stuck in traffic. And when you talk to people, they're stuck in traffic, they're not home with their kids, they can't get to work. What's more valuable, your time or your money? Well they're both valuable, but for some people, time is actually at that point worth more, so you've got to cut the time tax."

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano in an interview on June 27, 2008 with Dan Goldstein at The American Prospect in answer to the following question:

Question: "Your transportation plan is built around a sales tax, and must be approved by voters at the ballot. But it seems that throughout the nation, with the exception of a few major cities, asking people to drive less and consider other modes of transportation has not worked very well. That's why we see this pandering from Senators Clinton and McCain on lifting the gas tax. Is mass transit a losing issue?"

Full Response:  "I would disagree. I would think, for example, that light rail to link Tucson to Phoenix to Flag, up the center spine of our state, particularly if there are spokes that go out into other transit, particularly in light of the ever-increasing cost of gasoline, makes a lot of sense from a commercial-traffic standpoint if not just a passenger-traffic standpoint. And again, well over half of these funds are going toward highways and roads. It's going to reduce what I call the time tax.  The time tax is the time you spend stuck in traffic. And when you talk to people, they're stuck in traffic, they're not home with their kids, they can't get to work. What's more valuable, your time or your money? Well they're both valuable, but for some people, time is actually at that point worth more, so you've got to cut the time tax."

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

America's Most Fuel-Efficient Neighborhoods

Forbes.com which regularly brings us fun Top Ten Lists, brings us another one today (America's Most Fuel-Efficient Neighborhoods, by Matthew Swibel, July 7, 2008). Forbes tells us that according to the nonpartisan Center for Housing Policy, for every dollar working families save on housing, it spends nearly $2 on transportation. Their research shows that 15 of the 20 fastest growing U.S. counties are located 30 miles or more from the closest central business districts. Yikes.

We find that owning a home in a walkable neighborhood saves residents $300 to $400 a month on gas expenses alone. So Forbes asked the Center for Neighborhood Technology to help identify cheap rides in America's largest metropolitan areas as energy usage can vary widely within the same market. For example in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the average household in urban East Isles, drives 9,420 miles per year and spends $620 compared to 21,684 miles per year in exurban Rosemount, where monthly transportation costs top $1,000. In most metro areas, including our own, you can do the same.

So where are America's most fuel-efficient neighborhoods? Here's the Top Ten List:

America's Most Fuel Efficient Neighborhoods

Rank, Neighborhood, Monthly Transportation Cost
1. Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.)    $643
2. Koreatown (Los Angeles, CA)          $658
3. Logan Square (Chicago, IL)             $742
4. Arlington, VA (Washington, D.C.)   $747
5. The Mission (San Francisco, CA)      $746
6. Fishtown (Philadelphia, PA)             $674
7. Jamaica Plain (Boston, MA)             $728
8. Woodward Corridor (Detroit, MI)     $728
9. Greenville (Dallas, TX)                    $745
10. Montrose (Houston, TX)                $760

According to Forbes:

"You can't always rule out the suburbs. The central location of Arlington, Va., which doubles as a government-contracting hub and a D.C. bedroom community to Northern Virginia's high-tech firms and Washington's downtown section, makes monthly transit costs here cheaper than large sections of the nation's capital."

Hat tip to Jeff Price for forwarding the article. Fishtown and Arlington are pictured.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

44 Seconds on Fixing Our Roadways

From the Smart Growth America blog we find a nice 44-second video that illustrates how traffic congestion can be conquered. Says the video's creator Eric De Place of the Sightline Institute:

"It's difficult to illustrate the opportunities that are available now on our roads. We don't need big expensive building projects, just smarter systems that protect both our pocketbooks and our natural resources.

It's fairly easy to make the case analytically, but it often doesn't sink in. To find that intuitive hook, I was planning an interpretive modern dance about traffic congestion. But at the last minute, we were all saved from what would surely have been an uncomfortable experience. Instead, I give you Sightline's new 44 second video on fixing our roadways."

But we knew this already, no? The visuals work though.

Enjoy

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C..

Biking, Hungarian Style

We love it. From the CarFreeUSA blog we find this Hungarian Bike To Work ad that somehow reminds me of an old Love, American Style skit (I date myself I know). The CarFreeUSA people say the ad roughly translates to "Honey, why don't you bike to work?" In any language the point is easy to understand. Enjoy.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Hope for Change on Bikes as Transportation

From the Carfree USA Blog we learn that bicycle advocates are gaining respect with the federal government in a story from Congressional Quarterly's CQ Politics (Bicycle Campaign Gears Up for Campaign Cycle, By Colby Itkowitz, July 1, 2008). Two items seem to give bike proponents cause for optimism that bicycling will gain expanded federal funding in the future.

The first is Presidential Candidate Barack Obama's commitment to bicyclists. Says Executive Director of the Bikes Belong Coalition  Tim Blumenthal of a recent meeting Mr. Obama had with him and other bike advocacy groups:

“It was an important coming-out moment for the bike industry in terms of political sophistication,” said Blumenthal, the executive director of the Bikes Belong Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Boulder, Colo. “Never in my memory has a biking event with a presidential candidate happened.”

The presidential candidate told the group he doesn't usually make promises, but that they could count on his support. The second item for hope says Congressional Quarterly is:

“Next year, Congress is slated to write a new highway bill, which is already being touted as embodying the greatest overhaul of federal transportation policy since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act into law half a century ago. Bicycling advocates are hoping to build on a significant set of wins in the current highway law, written in 2005 — including new initiatives to fund “complete streets,” the term for new road projects outfitted with dedicated bike lanes — and arguing to step up federal funding to encourage bike commuting.”

With the potential for change in Washington with this year's elections and the rewriting of the next federal transportation bill slated for next year, bicycle advocates are hoping that their time has come to be taken seriously as a transportation option. Bike fans will want to read the entire article. Enjoy!

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Real Estate Agents Discover Walk Score

I was in one of my most favorite walkable cities on vacation last week, Portland, no not that Portland but the one in Maine, and I came across this article (Walk-Friendly Neighborhoods Gain Appeal, by Patricia V. Rivera, June 20, 2008*) in the Portland Press Harold Sunday Real Estate Section that rang true. The thrust of the article is that to have greater access to exercise options and to reduce one's reliance on driving a car, more and more homeowners and renters place a high value on the "walkability" of where they choose to live.

The article goes on to say that the Google enabled WalkScore.com web site (How Walkable Is Your Neighborhood?, July 18, 2007) has become a popular place for consumers and now Real Estate agents in helping them figure out a home's walkability. Walk Score co-creator Matt Lerner is quoted as saying of the site, which receives 100,000 visits a day, "Increasingly, it's a tool for real estate agents. We hope to see more listings that read 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,200 square feet, Walk Score 90," he says.

We've been discussing these ideas for some time and we're happy to see that the mainstream media is picking up these themes too. It shows that increasingly people are looking at more than curb appeal and the bottom line when choosing where to live and are taking into account the ability to walk places rather than hop in a car to get everywhere. And that's a good thing for all of us.

* Note the article in the link is for the same article printed a couple of weeks earlier in Seattle. Thus a different title, but the exact same article.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Ciclovia Comes To North America

Ciclovia, that wonderful concept we've shared about before (Ciclovia en Bogota, March 19, 2008; Could Bogota's Example Lead to Ciclovia: Metro Washington, D.C.?, December 8, 2007; Another Car-Free Idea From Mexico City, August 2, 2007), where local governments close down the streets to cars and open them up to bikes and pedestrians, has just had a very successful debut in North America. Guess where? Portland, Oregon of course. Monday's front page story in the Oregonian says it all (For Six Hours on Sunday, Cars are Banned on Six Miles of North Portland's Streets, Leaving Them to Walkers, Cyclists, Joggers and In-line Skates, by Dylan Rivera, June 23, 2008).

We learned from our own Diane Stanton Kean (No Car Zone...In NYC?!, June 19, 2008) last week that New York City is doing something similar later this summer (Where the Streets Have No Cars, June 18, 2008, Wall Street Journal) and San Francisco is also planning to do the same (Proposal Would Turn Streets into Recreational Spaces, May 12, 2008, Examiner). Shouldn't our area do the same?

Ciclovia seems like something that could bring our region together and encourage people to try biking and walking more. We need to become a world-wide leader in options to driving alone. This kind of program could build upon the good walk and bike facilities we have and lead to even more good things. Is 2009 to early for our first Ciclovia?

Thanks to CarFreeUSA blog for the tip.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.

Greening Your Organic Shopping

How can environmentally oriented folks who want to do their grocery shopping for local meat and produce make their green practice even greener? Well, the Sierra Club's Hey Mr. Green says you can take fewer trips, ride your bike or best of all carpool and make grocery shopping an event (Thinking Outside (and Inside) the Car, June 25, 2008). Good to see the coming together of green living and green transportation. Enjoy!

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and is a biking/Metrorail commuter from Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C.