The TDM Professional

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.

2008 IRS Increase for Transportation Fringe Benefit

The IRS released Revenue Procedure 2007-66 which increases the monthly tax-free Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefits [IRC 132(f)] limits for transit from $110 to $115 and for parking from $215 to $220 in calendar year 2008.

With metro fares increasing, any increase in benefits is good news- even if it is only $5.  However, transit and parking are still not on par.  While a monthly space at a garage might cost more than $220, taking transit can be just as expensive.  For instance, just a MARC monthly ticket from Laurel to Union station cost $125, not even taking into account the cost of metro from Union Station to a work site.

To encourage even more people to take advantage of transit and get out of their cars to help the environment, wouldn't it make sense to increase the transit benefit to be equal with parking.  With the higher available parking benefit, it seems there isn't quite enough of a cost deterrent to get people out of their cars.... or maybe the benefits of taking transit aren't made clear enough?

Carly Nider, Arlington Transportation Partners

16? 2? 53A? &%@**#!!

About a month ago I said I would come back to the topic of numbers on buses.  Well, here we go.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In this post I may use ART and Metro as examples.  That's because--being local--I know more about them.  The points I am making are intended to apply to mass transit in general and are not intended as criticisms of these particular systems any more than transit systems anywhere else.

In Arlington (and many places) streets are numbered, which can be pretty useful: 10th St. is between 9th and 11th, which can be a huge help to those trying to find an address.  In Arlington, the buses are also numbered:  41, 51, 52, 53 (A?), 61, 62, 67, 74, 75, 82.  But what do these numbers mean?  Like the streets, can I use the numbers to help me find the bus or figure out where it's going or derive any useful information at all?  No.  As a rider they are entirely meaningless.  I asked around in Arlington County Commuter Services and virtually no one knew the "system" behind the numbers.  Eventually I found one person who had a clue about the system but readily admitted that it was, in essence, arbitrarily contrived.

Metro is even worse.  Not only are the numbers essentially arbitrary (I'm sure there's a system, but if it's opaque to the rider then it is no better than no system).  Take the #2 bus.  It  comes in 6 varieties (2A, 2B, 2C, 2G, 2W. . . and 2T on a separate timetable).  The 2W and the 2T are so different from the other 2's, they need a separate map and timetables.  Why even call them # 2's?  I'll bet you there isn't a single rider who can explain why those buses are called #2, why there are 6 different ones, why those particular letters of the alphabet are used, and why the 2W and 2T are somehow paired with the other 2's.  The numbering is worthless to the rider (who is, after all, the customer).  So here's a system that not only provides zero useful information but actually provides the disservice of confusing customers.

Imagine the streets were numbered like this:  8th, 11th, 5th, 1st, 4th, 9th, 2nd, 7th, 6th, 10th, 3rd, 12th.  The numbers are meaningless (actually there's a "system"--revealed at the end of this post).  If you tell someone you live on 5th Street you still have to describe where it is: "I live on 5th, which is between 11th and 1st."  The numbers have become meaningless.  Actually, this "system" is even worse than that; it creates more confusion than purpose.  Better that the streets were given names like colors or trees. 

"But how do you tell the buses apart?"  Yes, of course they need to be identified.  Everything needs some sort of identification: streets, animals, our friends, schools, devices, food.  They all have names, and those names evoke meaning.  Imagine if all the food in the grocery were just numbers.  "Be sure to pick up some 22, 135, 16 and--oh yes--311 on your way home, honey."  I find it hard enough to remember bread, milk and artichoke hearts, and--oh yes--toilet paper!  Eventually I would learn that 22 is milk, but it's so much harder.  Our brains are not wired to apply numbers in an arbitrary way like that.  We don't remember our friends by their phone numbers.

From early childhood we are taught that numbers are most usefully used as ordinal or cardinal identifiers--they help us put things in order or quantify them.  But on buses they serve neither purpose (these are called "nominal" numbers), and so we have to deliberately undo a lifetime of learning and try to understand the number on the bus as nothing more than an abstraction that equates to a name.  Better the bus be called the "phor" than 4; it would actually be easier.  In fact, the metrorail lines being identified with colors is easier to remember than if they were numbered.  And, although the colors are also essentially arbitrary, it is easier for the brain to bring meaning to them.

"But transit systems have been using numbers for generations, and it's been working."  Thanks, Dilbert.  Just because something has been done for decades doesn't make it good or leave no room for improvement.  In fact, just the opposite: often it's the things that we assume ought to be a certain way are the things that should be questioned the hardest.  Also, how do we know it's been working if we haven't tried something different to compare it with?

Boulder Colorado is one place I know of that has thrown out the number system (at least partially).  Many of the buses have names: Hop, Skip, Stampede, Bolt, Dash, etc.    The more complete names are things like "Skip Along Broadway" and "Dash down South Boulder Road."  Now that's useful info to a customer.  Personally I like the Jump (also called the Short Jump) and the Long Jump (which is the extension of the Jump--now there's a name that really works).

If the goal of transit is to help  people get around better and more easily, that goal needs to consider everything: ease of use, cost, convenience, etc..  The names of the buses are a key piece of information critical to people using the system.  Is what Boulder's done the best system?  I don't know, but it's a lot better than everywhere else.  In any event, the only system I can think of that would be worse than the arbitrary number system in common use is a system in which the buses have no identification at all.

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Steve Offutt, Arlington

Google Transit Now Available in 19 U.S. Cities

Google Transit is now alive and working in 19 cities across the U.S. and in all regions of Japan. It is a transit trip planning service using those wonderful Google maps. Put in your starting and ending address and you'll get a map and directions for which bus to take just like you do when you use the Google Maps service for driving directions.

It tells/shows you how to get to your bus stop and then which bus to hop on to your destination while indicating the next few buses that will go by. You can plug in alternate dates and times if you are planning a trip in advance too. I used Google Transit to plan some trips in Seattle since I'd just visited and it worked wonderfully. And who doesn't love those nice Google maps?

There are so many cool things that you can do with Google Maps. For example, we love the WalkScore web site (How Walkable is Your Neighborhood?, July 18, 2007) that was built on the Google Maps platform. Google Transit is actually brought to us from the Google Labs.

Right now none of those 19 cities include anything in my area of Washington, D.C. WMATA's Trip Planner is very good. But it doesn't include a map. And somehow it is more fun and useful with the map of the bus route on Google. Especially when you use the hybrid version that includes the satellite map. Let's hope WMATA and the local agencies are working on this and maybe someday we people can use Google Maps to get driving directions AND plan a transit trip.

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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.

Want to Fight Global Climate Change? Take the Bus

According to a just released report by APTA (American Public Transit Association), the most powerful weapon you can use to combat global climate change may be a daily transit pass. The Study, Public Transportation's Contribution to U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction, which was prepared by Science Applications International Corporation for APTA, points out that commuting by public transit is one of the most significant actions a household member can take to reduce their carbon footprint. According to the report:

"New research shows that a person who rides public transportation instead of driving reduces his or her carbon dioxide output, a harmful greenhouse gas, by more than 20 lbs a day and 4,800 lbs annually. That saves more than weatherizing a home, adjusting a thermostat, switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs and replacing older appliances with higher efficiency models, combined. A national climate change strategy that doesn't embrace public transportation has simply missed the bus."

Regarding land use impacts the report says:

"Investments in public transportation have the benefit of supporting higher density land uses that allow for fewer vehicle miles of travel...The results range from a reduction in VMT of between 1.4 miles and 9 miles for every transit passenger mile traveled. The outcome would be more efficient use of roadways, reduced road maintenance, shorter highway commute times and reduced need for street and off- street parking."

APTA is using the report to call on Congress to provide additional funding, to provide additional tax credits to employers who spend resources to support transit ridership programs and to provide tax credits to developers of mixed used transit oriented development projects.

Public Transportation's Contribution to U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fact Sheet

Public Transportation's Contribution to U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Full Report

Related Article: Taking Transit: The Most Effective Route to Cutting Carbon, September 27, 2007; Erica Barnett, WorldChanging.

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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.

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.

iRide - Follow-Up on Arlington's Teen Transit Initiative

In today's Washington Post, reporter Mark Berman shares a progress report (To Get Teen on the Bus, Free Tokens of Appreciation, May 3, 2007) on Arlington's initiative to do "something revolutionary: make public transportation cool. Well, maybe not "cool," but at least attractive to county teenagers."

We hadn't brought you an update on the program since a post back in October (More iRide - Teen Transit Follow-Up, October 27, 2006). Mr. Berman's article provides a good summary of what it took to get the program off the ground and how well it is being received so we hope you'll take a look. For additional information about iRide, the research that the article mentions, and more visit www.commuterpage.com/iride.

Photo: Yorktown High freshman Adrian Francis, left, and Bobbi Greenberg of Arlington County Commuter Services, at an event promoting iRide. (By Mark Berman, Washington Post)

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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.

Empowering the Riding Public

In this day and age of modern technology, we have come to expect information at our fingertips.  Mobile phones can browse the web for the latest game scores. WiFi hotspots allow us to do day-trading in the park.  You can read a digital version of a newspaper from across the globe minutes after the hardcopy version has been printed. Information is literally “at our fingertips” nearly all of the time.

I would like to give you some information to ponder. Arlington County is comprised of approximately twenty six square miles. On January 1^st, 2007, its population was estimated at 202,800, this reflects a 7% growth from the year 2000. And as I walk around the county, I see more and more cranes which indicates more and more growth. 

Arlington is among the most densely populated jurisdictions in the country with a population density of about 7,860 persons per square mile. Year 2000 reports have 31,703 residents of other jurisdictions working in Arlington with 7,106 Arlington residents working in other jurisdictions. Arlington has more private office space than downtown Boston, Dallas, Denver, or Los Angeles.

Let’s do some simple math.

202,800(population) – 7,106(residents working outside of County) = 195,694

195,694+ 31,703(non Arlington residents working in County) = 227,397

227,397 = Not enough parking places

This is why Customer Information Services are so important. We need to have the proper, up-to-date information at our fingertips so that we can make an informed decision on how and when we should travel to our destinations.

Arlington County provides this information to our Riding Public in an attempt to empower them with the information they need to fight the daily battle that we call the work commute. Additionally, Arlington is always looking for better, faster ways to get the right information to the right people.

You can find a plethora of information about transportation at the Commputer Pages, the Commuter Stores, and the Mobile Commuter Store. Busfinders display the estimated time of arrival of Art buses and can be found at nearly 50 stops throughout the County. NextBus displays the estimated time of arrival of Metro Buses on the 9A, 9E, and PikeRide lines at the Pentagon. 38B has displays along the Rosslyn Ballston corridor. A web display can be viewed at http://wmata.nextbus.com/wmata. Nextbus also features SMS messaging.

With the proper prior planning, we can all help prevent poor performance. By using the proper information, we can defeat the enemy called traffic congestion!

By Kird Dand, Arlington County Transit Team