The TDM Professional

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..

Green Business is getting the hint...

For folks who aren't following the Green Business community, a recent post from cleantechblog.com gives some insight into how parts of the business community are looking to TDM as a method of reducing their carbon footprint.

http://www.cleantechblog.com/2007/12/flexible-work.html

Chris Simmons, TDM Corridor Integration Planner, Washington State Department of Transportation

simmocw@wsdot.wa.gov

Tune In To See How Much Fun You Can Have Carpooling

Visited any of the local transportation web sites recently? If so, you may have seen this ad for Carpoolers, ABC's new half-hour comedy debuting on October 2. You might have wondered why are these agencies promoting a network sitcom? The answer is because we hope viewers may try carpooling as a result.

ABC's web site describes the show thusly:

"Four guys who carpool to work every day come to savor their commute as the only safe time to commiserate about jobs, families - and secrets. Even though "what happens in the carpool stays in the carpool," they'll go beyond the boundaries of this fast-moving commuter confessional to get involved in each other's lives and develop friendships."

At the recent Association for Commuter Transportation Conference in Seattle many of us got see a bunch of trailers as well as a sneak preview of the pilot for the show. The image that I remember most is that in all of the scenes showing the vehicle from afar you see our four carpoolers in the HOV lane whizzing by everybody else gridlocked in the regular lanes. I believe that kind of image can be a very powerful reinforcement of one of the major advantages of carpooling - being able to use the HOV lanes. Andy maybe people will see that carpooling can save money and be fun too.

Let's hope some people watch the show and as a result next time they are stuck in traffic resolve to start carpooling. And let's hope they realize that there are many fine services to help them find a carpool such as Commuter Connections ridematching service, GoLoco or NuRide.

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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.

Visited any of the local transportation web sites recently? If so, you may have seen this ad for Carpoolers, ABC's new half-hour comedy debuting on October 2. You might have wondered why are these agencies promoting a network sitcom? The answer is because we hope viewers may try carpooling as a result.

ABC's web site describes the show thusly:

"Four guys who carpool to work every day come to savor their commute as the only safe time to commiserate about jobs, families - and secrets. Even though "what happens in the carpool stays in the carpool," they'll go beyond the boundaries of this fast-moving commuter confessional to get involved in each other's lives and develop friendships."

At the recent Association for Commuter Transportation Conference in Seattle many of us got see a bunch of trailers as well as a sneak preview of the pilot for the show. The image that I remember most is that in all of the scenes showing the vehicle from afar you see our four carpoolers in the HOV lane whizzing by everybody else gridlocked in the regular lanes. I believe that kind of image can be a very powerful reinforcement of one of the major advantages of carpooling - being able to use the HOV lanes. Andy maybe people will see that carpooling can save money and be fun too.

Let's hope some people watch the show and as a result next time they are stuck in traffic resolve to start carpooling. And let's hope they realize that there are many fine services to help them find a carpool such as Commuter Connections ridematching service, GoLoco or NuRide.

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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.

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.

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.

Is a More Formalized Slugging in Our Future?

Our good friend Kristina over at the Make It Better blog forwarded a tip so interesting that we had to share. A company in New Zealand called Trip Convergence is marketing a service called HOVER (High Occupancy Vehicles in Express Routes) that provides a flexible way for people to carpool and thus increase the capacity of the road network and fight congestion. And according to their web site does this for a quarter the cost of new roads and half as much as new bus service, while being faster to implement. From their website:

"One of the biggest wasted resources in our cities is the thousands of empty seats that travel our transportation system every day. HOVER provides the transportation system a way of accessing those seats. A significant increase in ride sharing would bring about many benefits for most cities, including reducing congestion and its costs, relieving pressure on infrastructure, reducing consumption of fossil fuels, reducing emissions from those fuels, saving commuters money, time, resources, and building better communities."

Isn't this just what everyone wants? Sounds great, so how's it work?

If I'm understanding the concept correctly, it simply sounds like slugging (instant or casual ridesharing - perhaps they haven't heard of that term in New Zealand) from a series of "HOVERPorts" (think park and ride lots or garages) around the periphery of an urban area. They call it "Instant Facilitated Carpooling." The difference from traditional ridesharing or from the slugging we have now is that the instant rideshare is facilitated by a membership system that allows the sharing of ride credits between riders and drivers. Everything is tracked providing members with RFID tags. The HOVERPort sounds very high tech and very cool. As cars enter the facility they are directed to areas of the facility where people going to similar destinations gather. Drivers enter the center lane and wait while riders move to the side and park and then get in the cars in the center lane and take off.

Our area, largely because of the HOV system, has a great tradition of ridehsharing. In addition to Commuter Connection's traditional ridesharing service we have a long tradition of slugging too. More recently NuRide and GoLoco have entered the market to support more casual forms of ridesharing. Perhaps this HOVER system could help too. It's at least worth discussing. There's a great YouTube video on the HOVERPort web site that describes through an animation how this all works. Take a look and enjoy. I hope we'll be hearing more about this idea. We can use all the help we can get around here.

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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.

Rideshare 2.0

Reprinted from CommuterPageBlog.
In my family's efforts to stay a one-car household, I've always benefited from the kindness of strangers...and friends.  Public transportation isn't always an option for the many after-work events and I often have taken the leap of faith that I will find someone willing to drop me off somewhere on their way home.

Zipcar founder Robin Chase has taken her own leap of faith with a new web start-up aimed at helping people like me find rides AND to help facilitate paying back all those kind strangers. The ride-sharing service is called GoLoco.

This week's edition of Newsweek has the story.  (DCist also blogged about it for Earthday).

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Kevin Beekman lives in Alexandria, VA

Common Sense Trumps Technolgy When it Comes to Protecting Our HOV Lanes

"Common sense trumps technology" says Bob Hugman who has carpooled between his home in Woodbridge and his job in Rosslyn using the I-395 HOV lanes since 1988. Mr. Hugman, who wrote a wonderful opinion piece in the Washington Post's Close to Home section a few weeks back (More on Those Lexus, um HOT Lanes, April 8, 2007), was referring to the pro-Lexus (HOT) lanes folks who claim that technology will solve the problem of mixing paying SOV travelers with carpoolers. Says Mr. Hugman in a Comment last night to a recent post on the subject (Lexus Lane Plan Too Good to be True? Let's Give it More Time Before Rushing to a Decision, April 18, 2007):

"...Of course it will be possible to differentiate the toll payers and the HOVs with a cop at every ramp. It is just going to seriously inconvenience all of the carpools and vanpools every single day. Enforcement now is random, not full time. Full time enforcement (am and pm) of HOV even now would create a lot of problems. Thats why it isn't done. It is so tiresome to read the smug pro-HOT comments that smart tag and dynamic technology will solve everything. Common sense trumps technology."

In another comment on another post (Another Voice: HOT Lanes Make Sense, March 29, 2007) Mr. Hugman says:

"I note that the pro HOT crowd consistently ignores two key facts: 1. There is a difference between a new build HOT lane and a conversion, such as is planned for 395. 2. The 395 corridor is a major HOV success story. Basically all other HOTs in the country were failed HOV systems. The greatest argument against HOT lanes is the threat to the existing HOV. The fairness issue is a side issue compared to the potential to damage HOV."

Since the region's Transportation Planning Board (TPB) has delayed action (Board Delays Action on Va. HOT Lanes Proposal, April 19, 2007; by Eric Weiss, Washington Post) on approving turning over the HOV lanes to the private sector to run as Lexus (HOT) lanes for another month, will more carpoolers, vanpoolers, slugs and transit riders now using the lanes speak up? Let's hope so. Stay tuned...

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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.

Lexus Lane Plan Too Good to Be True? Let's Give it More Time Before Rushing to a Decision

Following our continuing coverage (So If Transit Folks and Carpool Folks Don't Like It, Why Are HOT Lanes So Great, April 9, 2007) and dismay over the rush to turn over the country's most successful HOV lanes on I-395 to the private sector so they can operate Lexus (HOT) Lanes, comes a story in today's Washington Post (HOT Lane Plan Comes With Promises, Eric Weiss, April 18, 2007) on the subject. Turns out that the day before today's key vote by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) considering the project, that the private companies looking to build and operate the Lexus Lanes are promising something for everyone. They promise that the lanes will remain "free-flowing" and they promise to provide additional bus service, new buses, new park-and-ride lots, a bus station at the Lorton VRE and a free blender for the first 10,000 people to sign up for the new service (okay I made up the part about the blender but that's what they make it sound like). It all sounds too good to be true.

What they don't say is how they will distinguish carpoolers from the Lexus drivers. Inquiring minds want to know. There are still too many questions and too many reasons not to go forward with this. The TPB should shelve this request today, get more details from the private companies, do more studies on the affect this will have on the HOV lanes and provide a much more open public process before moving forward. Lets remember that these lanes are meant for carpoolers, vanpoolers, slugs and buses and that they work. We shouldn't risk ruining it without a lot more information and discussion.

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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.

HOV Lanes, Hybrids and HOT (Lexus) Lanes

The following was reprinted from CommuterPageBlog. As TDM practitioners, shouldn't we be taking stands on the issue of hybrids in the HOV lanes and on converting the HOV lanes into HOT or Lexus lanes and protecting this resource for the people it was intended for? I certainly think so. You can follow this issue by going back through the links to past stories on the subject. What do others think?

The Dr. Says No to Hybrids in HOV Lanes
A couple weeks ago, Sprawl and Crawl Columnist Steve Eldridge said it (No on Hybrids in HOV Lanes, April 5, 2007, CommuterPageBlog) and today the Washington Post's Dr. Gridlock said it in his Sunday Column (Va. Should End Hybrids' HOV Use in '08, Robert Thomson, April 15, 2007; Washington Post). What he specifically said was this:

"Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed House Bill 2132, sponsored by Del. Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax), to extend the hybrid exemption one year until July 1, 2008, for motorists with the proper clean-fuel tags. Then Virginia should drop it and let the carpool lanes serve their original customers. What once seemed like a good way to encourage the purchase of cleaner-emission cars by allowing drivers an exemption on interstates 95, 395 and 66 and the Dulles Toll Road has turned out to be a mixed blessing."

Agreed! Thank you Dr. Gridlock for coming down on the right side of this issue. Now it would be interesting to know what Mr. Eldridge and Mr. Thomson think about converting the HOV lanes to HOT or Lexus Lanes. Stay tuned...

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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.