The TDM Professional

Google Maps Credited With Increasing Duluth's Transit Ridership

More good stuff from our new friends at the Permanent Campaign Consulting blog. They report that according to the SubwayBlogger that bus ridership in Duluth, Minnesota has increased 12% since they put the online Google Trip Planner on their website. The transit planner not only shows the routes but the transfer points and schedule too. They also report that the Google Transit Trip Planner shows you businesses within a block or two of your stop. Very cool.

We agree that anything we can do to get more and better information in as many different formats that people will use is a good thing.

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

Mary Peters - The Folly of Higher Gas Taxes

Today's (Saturday, August 25) Washington Post included an op-ed by US Dept. of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters (who was just mentioned for other reasons on this blog the other day).  Her key point is that raising gas taxes to improve transportation infrastructure (which has been raised in the public's consciousness since the bridge collapse in Minnesota) is the wrong strategy.  She cites a couple of reasons:

1)  Because the money is deposited into a federal trust fund, its allocation becomes politicized, and Congress is apt to skew the priorities for its use.  I would tend to agree with this point.

2)  It does little or nothing to reduce traffic congestion, because it does not dissuade people from driving during congested times or on congested roadways.  I partially agree.  Large gas taxes would push people towards smaller cars and also get them to think about using them less, but it wouldn't necessarily affect congestion.  Small increases in the gas tax would probably make little difference.

I am in favor of raising gas prices, but for different reasons and in a different way.  Burning gasoline creates environmental damage.  Gas taxes could be used more appropriately to offset the damage caused by their use by being used for environmental protection.  A better strategy in my mind is that gas taxes could replace wage taxes.  The taxes collected would be used to reduce wage taxes.  This works well for progressivity of tax policy, because rich tend to buy more gas and poor pay more in wage taxes.

Her key point is that we currently provide virtually all of our roadways for free.  Any free good will tend to be overutilized.  The infrastructure itself should be priced rather than the gas.  I completely agree with this point.  If people and businesses were charged for the use of the roads--more during congested times; possibly more for larger, more damaging vehicles--then they would start to make decisions based on their use.  That's the idea behind congestion pricing (another recent blog): charge people for their use.  If we tolled every road then a lot more people would choose to take the train or bus or ride their bike or otherwise think a bit harder before hopping in their car and driving.
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Steve Offutt, Arlington resident and Director - Arlington Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE), Transportation Projects

Flexible Carpooling - Coffee Included - Coming to the States?

Back in May we brought you a story (Is a More Formalized Slugging in Our Future?, May 3, 2007) from a company in New Zealand called Trip Convergence that was marketing a new carpooling service in an effort to combat congestion that they called HOVER (High Occupancy Vehicles in Express Routes). Now comes word that they are trying to get the concept off the ground in New York City through their test web site called Less Cars in New York.

Thank goodness they dropped the acronym HOVER as a name for their concept and settled on "Flexible Carpooling." This seems way more consumer-friendly. For those who don't remember the concept is about a membership based system where drivers go to a carpooling park (garage) and park in areas with folks who are heading to the same destinations downtown. Who drives and who rides is flexible. As soon as there are at least 3 people the car leaves. So the system is more flexible than traditional carpool assignments and more akin to slugging.

The system's owner's say that providing a membership system allows for greater safety through a screening process that includes references and checks on driving and criminal records. The membership also allows for tracking participation and providing members with a ride credits system that allows riders to compensate drivers.

One of the fun perks of the system is that you can have a standing coffee order. As your car enters the facility and acknowledges you are there, the coffee barrista is told you've arrived and they make your order. It is then handed to you as you leave with the cost put on your membership. How cool is that?

At this point the system's proponents are asking people in the New York area to register and say that they'd use the system if it becomes available. It seems like they are trying to get New York officials to consider this program as part of a greater congestion fighting program the city is putting together. Questions can be addressed to Paul Minett at paulminett@tripconvergence.co.nz. Here's wishing them luck.

Perhaps someone in this area is willing to try to fund something similar? Would it get more people to carpool?

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria, Virginia.

Are Printed Transit Information Materials a Significant Barrier to Transit Use?

That was the question that the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) tackled in a recent study, the results of which were published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Public Transportation. First thanks go out to a fairly new and very interesting blog called Permanent Campaigns Consulting.  The blog is dedicated to a narrow specialty area of transit communications but for those interested in the subject or how we can increase transit use in general it looks to be like a go-to resource. It was from a story entitled Study: Teaching Nonriders How Transit Works Turns Them Into Riders (August 20, 2007) that we learned about the research on transit information.

So back to the question. Are printed transit information materials a significant barrier to transit use? While the nearly 20-page report offers a lot of advice for transit agencies and those of us charged with helping people choose to take the bus the short answer to the question is no.

The study found that only a little more than half (52.5%) of the sample participants from Tampa Bay - transit and non-transit riders alike - were able to successfully plan a transit trip using printed map and schedule information. Given this, they asked whether these difficulties would have an effect on transit usage. However the findings of the study suggested that this wasn't the real problem as none of the nontransit users cited lack of transit trip-planning ability as their main reason for not using transit. Their reasons were more obvious like their car was more convenient, the service wasn't available or convenient to them, etc. In fact, despite the difficulty it seems that many of the participants had in using the schedules, it was still by far the most commonly used method of trip planning.

One of the more interesting tid-bits from this research - as Permanent Campaigns Consulting blogger Dan Johnson-Weinberg notes - is that as a result of going through this exercise approximately two thirds of the participants stated that they had increased their level of confidence in using printed transit information materials. Further 20% of nonriders said they planned to ride in the future and 1/3 of the infrequent transit riders said they'd use it more. The study's author concludes: "Perhaps providing instruction or training in the correct use of the materials would be an effective way to improve trip-planning confidence and overall comprehension." And perhaps this would lead to increased transit use.

Those of us in the biz will take a closer look.

Related posts: Information, Information, Information (March 28, 2007); Transportation Information Everywhere, All the Time (December 4, 2006)

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria, Virginia.

Ridesharing 2.0 Revisted - GoLoco!

Back in April CommuterPageBlogger Kevin Beekman brought us news of a news of a new Ridematching service called GoLoco (Ride-sharing 2.0, April 25, 2007). In this morning's Examiner, Sprawl & Crawl Columnist Steve Eldridge provides more information on the service and informs us the GoLoco people (who brought us Zipcar) have teamed up with Facebook.com (Web Social Networking Takes the Carpool Lane, August 22, 2007) in what sounds like a great mash-up of Web 2.0 technologies. Mr. Eldridge points out that "the D.C. area does very well in terms of sharing the ride when compared with the national average of roughly 80 percent, but three out of four of us are still making the trip alone." (See State of the Commuter #1: D.C Region's Drive Alone Rate Goes Down! July 18, 2007 for stats.)

We're glad GoLoco is added to the mix of ridematching options which include CommuterConnections and NuRide too. We have a lot of faith in founders Mark and Robin Chase who did such a great job helping to launch Zipcar. So lets hope folks find this service useful and more people can find a way to share the ride.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria, Virginia.

Uninformed: Transportation Secretary Says Bikes Aren't Transportation

Richard Layman at the Rebuilding Place blog points us (U.S. Government to Bicyclists: Drop Dead! August 20, 2007) to a story that happened late last week. According to the StreetsBlog story:

On the PBS NewsHour with Jim Leher, DOT Secretary Mary Peters (pictured here) in an interview by Gwen Ifill said that instead of raising taxes on gasoline to renew the nation's sagging infrastructure, Congress should examine its spending priorities -- including investing in bike paths and trails, which Peters said, "are not transportation."

From the transcript on the PBS website we learn more:

• When asked about the possibility of adding a nickel a gallon to the gas tax for infrastructure: "I think we have to examine where we're spending money today. And if we think that we're spending money today in the highest and best use, then perhaps we would need to make that discussion, but I don't believe we are. You know, I think Americans would be shocked to learn that only about 60 percent of the gas tax money that they pay today actually goes into highway and bridge construction. Much of it goes in many, many other areas."
• "Well, there's about probably some 10 percent to 20 percent of the current spending that is going to projects that really are not transportation, directly transportation-related. Some of that money is being spent on things, as I said earlier, like bike paths or trails. Some is being spent on museums, on restoring lighthouses, as I indicated."

Presumably if these areas don't include highways and bridges than it is an in-appropriate use of federal dollars? Sheesh.

StreetsBlog also provides a link to a STPP report from 2003, debunking the myth that bridges are in ill repair because of spending in "other areas."

The League of American Bicyclists is asking people to repsond to the Secretary's Office.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and The TDM Professional blog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria, Virginia.

People Can Adapt to Avoid Congestion - Just Give Them the Tools

A CommuterPageBlog fan points us to a great article on the front page of today's very cool WorldChanging - Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future - web magazine about Seattle's current and surprisingly good experience with shutting down two lanes of its main arterial, Interstate 5 (I-5), for construction (Congestion as Incentive, Erica Barnett, August 17, 2007). Reporter Erica Barnett describes how after weeks of locals officials and media predicting disaster when the lanes were shut down (there's even a blog dedicated to the closing called "The Clog") that everyone is surprised that now that the construction is here that the drive is smoother than ever.

Now that they've had a moment to process things, Seattle officials surmise that "Drivers are adaptable. When faced with the prospect of gridlock—and given ample warning and time to prepare—people found alternate routes, rode transit, worked from home, and avoided unnecessary trips."  Ms. Barnett goes on to point out that people adapted when this happened after the 1989 San Francisco earthquake too. She goes on to posit that congestion, whether it is of the I-5 ilk or of the congestion pricing kind, can effect people's decision making process and provide them with an incentive to not drive. She continues:

"For congestion-as-incentive to work in the long term, it has to be paired with alternatives that are viable in the long term--flexible work schedules that allow workers to stay home a few days a week, mass transit that is affordable, frequent, and convenient, and an infrastructure that supports bike and pedestrian commuting, among other things."

All good points. And it sounds like Seattle's I-5 experience is similar to our own Douglass Bridge experience. D.C. officials did a good job of warning people about the construction and discussing alternatives and lo and behold people adapted with a bunch switching to Metro.

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

U.K. Report: Walk More and Lose Weight, Save the Environment

A CommuterPageBlog reader points us to this a story (School Run Car Ban Proposed, August 14) on the U.K.'s Channel 4 web site where some people are calling for 'car exclusion zones' around schools to get families to walk more and fight rising obesity rates. The cry for change is prompted by a report released August 13 by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) entitled Unfit for Purpose: How Car Use Fuels Climate Change and Obesity.

The main points of the report include:

• Since the Second World War, the continuous increase in car ownership has led to a dramatic decline in walking as a means of transport - muscle power gave way to fossil power.
• This report calculates that just by returning to the average distance walked by people in the UK without cars, the rising tide of obesity can be almost halted.
• At the same time, a substantial share of individuals' contribution to national carbon dioxide emissions could be avoided.
• The report goes on to argue that this could and should be done through renewed efforts to promote walking as transport. This would be vastly cheaper than dealing with the consequences of the obesity epidemic and climate change.

Some key findings from the report:

• 40% of all journeys in the UK are under 2 miles in length - distances easily covered by up to 30 minutes of brisk walking. Nonetheless, 38% of these journeys are currently by car.
• If a typical British adult were to walk just an hour more per week (equivalent to the difference in walking between a typical driver and a non-driver) this would counteract a weight increase of 2 stone (28 pounds) over a decade and a longer-term slide into obesity.
• This alone could make a major contribution to halting the trend of increasing obesity across the UK.
• The extra walking could displace at least 11 million tonnes of CO2 from cars - amounting to 15.4% of the total emissions from passenger cars.

The report author notes that "walking is the most obvious way for most people to burn calories." Seems like if we all tried to find ways to incorporate more walking into our routines we'd benefit as individuals and as a community. For more information on walking visit www.walkarlington.com.

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

Surprise! Feds Send Mixed Signals on Commuting Policy

A story in today's New York Times (Mixed Signals: Driving to Work as a Tax Break, William Neuman, August 16, 2007) shares that on the one hand while the U.S.DOT is giving out grants to get people out of their cars, on the other hand the IRS is giving tax breaks to help people pay for the cost parking when they drive to work. And people are just catching on to this discrepancy? Us TDM people have been screaming about this mixed signal for years.

The federal tax code allows commuters to use up to $215 a month in pre-tax wages to pay for their parking at work or employers can provide up to $215 a month in a tax-free (to the employer and the employee) benefit. The transit/vanpool benefit is $110. From the article:

"It is perverse," said Jeffrey M. Zupan, a senior fellow for transportation at the Regional Plan Association in New York. "If you're going to institute pricing measures (referring to Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan) that are intended to reduce the amount of driving, you don't want to keep in place other measures that encourage people to drive. What you want is a set of policies that work together... You're almost exactly counteracting one federal policy with another. We really shouldn't be doing that."

Agreed! And we get excited about the potential for $20 a month for bike commuting (House Passes Energy Bill, Includes Bike Commuters (August 14, 2007). The same thing is apparent in our own region where people are talking about congestion pricing, HOT lanes and other ideas to help battle traffic congestion. All of this is countered by a federal policy that favors driving and parking with tax breaks. Its time the tax break for parking for SOV drivers is ended.

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

Vanquishing the Density Demon

In an in-depth article (Vanquishing the Density Demon, August 13, 2007) this morning by Jim Bacon, of Bacon's Rebellion - The Op/Ed Page for Virginia's New Economy - we learn that Arlington County's efforts are an example for growing without making traffic congestion worse. Says Mr. Bacon:

"There's no reason that higher density has to mean worse traffic congestion. In the face of population growth and commercial development, Arlington County has kept its streets gridlock-free...Arlington is the leading jurisdiction in Virginia -- and a pace-setter nationally -- in creating innovative alternatives to the auto-centric society. It has come as close as anyone to finding the formula for reconciling population growth, commercial development and quality of life."

Mr. Bacon interviewed County officials, did some extensive touring and with the help of some traffic statistics paints a vivid picture of how this has come to be. One part of the story that we are particularly happy to see is that Mr. Bacon recognized the importance of TDM as a critical part of Arlington's success.

"To understand how Arlington has vanquished the density demon, it is necessary to look at three distinct but interrelated sets of policies: 1) Creating transportation options, 2) enforcing appropriate land use policies, and 3) marketing the one-car lifestyle to citizens."

Regarding # 3 he goes on to say that:

"Infrastructure and land use are critical, but there's one more essential step: marketing. Americans are so accustomed to relying on their automobiles, they need some hand-holding to learn how to use the subway and bus. That's where Chris Hamilton's commuter services come in. Arlington County aggressively markets the transit alternatives. Besides supporting the three commuter stores, Arlington maintains an elaborate wesite, a call center and an outreach program with major employers."

Transportation and land-use development fans should enjoy the article.

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