Streetsblog San Francisco

Pittsburgh faces transit cuts of 35 percent. Image: Port Authority of Allegheny County

The last four years have been rough on American transit riders, as fare increases and route reductions became the norm, even as demand for service increased.

For many cities there’s still no end in sight, as Pittsburgh can attest. The Steel City is facing across-the-board cuts of 35 percent if the state doesn’t step in — and that comes just a year after the Port Authority slashed transit spending 15 percent.

Yonah Freemark at the Transport Politic says Pittsburgh — and other cities around the country — are suffering as a result of systemic problems with the way transit is funded at the local and national level:

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Within the big pro-transit tent, positions on Buy America policies — which compel agencies to purchase domestically-made materials — vary wildly. But from the perspective of providing more rail service to more people, these restrictions are unequivocally bad news. How bad?

Image: Systemic Failure

Network blog Systemic Failure recently looked at how the Federal Railroad Administration is about to spend a staggering sum to ensure that its new railcars are made with materials sourced from America. Rail in the United States will be worse for it:

The FRA is soliciting bids for a $551 million contract for 130 bi-level railcars. As a condition for the contract, the railcars must be manufactured entirely with American steel and components. If you do the math, that comes to 4.2 million dollars each – double the global market price for a bi-level car.

In other words, the FRA is pissing away a quarter billion dollars. Imagine all the projects that might have been done with $250 million. Imagine all the jobs that might have been created with that money. I’m talking real jobs — not bureaucrats enforcing Made-in-America rules. Jobs like installing new PTC signaling, repairing bridges, or expanding the transit network. You know, things that have tangible benefit to riders.

Sorry, but domestic passenger rail manufacturing is gone. And subsidizing obsolete FRA-compliant rolling stock isn’t the way to revitalize it.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Greater Greater Washington reports on how the suburb of White Flint is making itself more walkable and sustainable. M-bike.org peeks in on Detroiters who are carfree by choice. And The Political Environment shares the disappointing news that US DOT has thrown its support behind the billion-dollar-plus Zoo Interchange in Wisconsin — a boondoggle if there ever was one.

Los Angeles' Gold Line's ridership is still growing, two years after its opening -- blowing a huge hole in new "research" by the Reason Foundation. Photo: Stop and Move

The Reason Foundation’s “research” on high-speed rail is pretty predictable. We know what this oil industry-backed think tank is going to say before they’ve said it: Ridership will be lower than expected; costs will be higher.

What’s more interesting than the conclusions, to us anyway, is the methodological contortion needed to draw them. So with some nose-holding, today we’ll examine Reason’s latest report on LA’s Exposition line.

The group claims the $930 million line will take 60 to 170 years to pay for its construction costs. (Never mind that nobody expects the line to pay for its construction costs, just like nobody expects roads to pay for themselves. Moving on.)

Here’s how the Reason folks reached their specious conclusion: They stood at the station on two of the first several days this rail line was open and counted passengers. Too bad that’s a nonsensical way to judge how many people will be riding the line a year from now, much less 60 years into the future, says James Sinclair at Network blog Stop and Move:

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To freeway or not to freeway? That’s been the question facing Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.

A freeway revolt in Dallas? A grassroots campaign produced this graphic as part of their push to stop the Trinity Parkway project, a planned downtown highway. Photo: Dallas Morning News Transportation Blog

Where at one time this would have been an open-and-shut case of “just build it,” Dallas’s Trinity Parkway toll road saga is already full of interesting twists and turns. Earlier this week, Rawlings sought public opinion on the project through his Facebook page, drawing far more jeers than cheers. Meanwhile, a petition has been circulating urging the city to call this one off. This has led some observers to wonder whether Dallas was witnessing its first “freeway revolt.”

Yesterday, Rawlings came out in favor of building the highway.

The anti-highway forces aren’t giving up. Helping to lead the charge is Patrick Kennedy, proprietor of Network blog Walkable Dallas-Fort Worth and well-known regional planning pundit. Responding to the mayor’s pro-highway statement, Kennedy posted this open letter to Rawlings:

If growth is what we’re focused on, then that is growth the highway may trigger regionally, i.e. outside of the city of Dallas boundaries. If we’re thinking that could induce investment in South Dallas, what kind of investment might that be? More gas stations and XXX shops, the eventual highest and best use of highway frontage property? South Dallas needs less car dependence and more empowerment via legitimate street networks, transit, and walkable infrastructure. More highway capacity simply adds more drivers and more dependence upon the car. It is South Dallas that will feel that pain the most.

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If there’s one thing we can say about way transit riders and cyclists are portrayed on television and in the movies, it’s that there’s definitely room for improvement. Car-free people somehow become either the 40-year-old virgin (Hollywood will never live down that one) or conspicuously absent — erased from consciousness.

As the 40-year-old virgin, Steve Carell played an adult who still behaved like a child in many ways. One of his quirks was his choice of transportation: a bicycle. Photo: Entertainment Wallpaper

Adonia Lugo at Network blog Urban Adonia says the media reflects reality — up to a point. Non-automotive transportation is imbued with connotations of class and social standing — and the entertainment industry has not been shy about exploiting them:

Pretty much every time I watch TV or mainstream movies, I notice some scripted jab at people who don’t drive. In The 40 Year Old Virgin, the filmmakers indicate the main character’s incompetence at being an adult, along with his virginity and penchant for collecting toys, through the fact that he rides a bike to get around. Last week I watched an episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” where one character tells another that any adult who does not drive must be “retarded.” Jokes built on the subtle or blatant assertion that only driving counts, that people who bike, ride transit, and walk are weirdos, seem to be stock material for writers.

These jokes hinge on the idea that people who can pay to drive everywhere should know better than to choose to associate with the dregs of society outside of cars. To me, this comes across as pretty racist and classist. The continuing contempt for the poor is a huge problem for sustainable transportation because so many Americans think of the stuff we promote as symbolic of poverty and disempowerment. Whether it’s intentional or not, imagining that people can be tainted by the mode of transport they use is pretty dehumanizing. I’ve felt the shame of standing at a bus stop, waiting and waiting, while cars flow past. You’re not supposed to have to wait; you’re an American, the cultural conditioning says in the back of my mind.

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A growing number of communities across the country now have complete streets policies — somewhere in the neighborhood of 280, if you want to get specific. But now comes the hard part: implementing those policies on real streets.

The city of Cleveland recently installed a temporary, "pop-up" cycle track. But can the city get used to designing all its streets this way following the passage of a complete streets policy? Photo: Bike Cleveland

Complete streets policies represent a complete 180 from the way transportation planning has been done in 99 percent of communities for the past, oh, six decades. Former New Jersey DOT executive Gary Toth, now of Project for Public Spaces, was in Cleveland last week to help local engineers and construction managers understand exactly what the city’s new complete streets policy means.

Here’s a sampling of Toth’s message, as reported by Mark Lefkowitz of Green City Blue Lake:

The new reality, says Toth, will ask traffic engineers to consider ‘quality of place’ and to remove the blinders on such context sensitive issues as how is land being used.

Cities like Cleveland are discovering that they can create more value in this tumultuous funding landscape, he assured, when items like bike lanes are baked in to the design.

Engineers have a key role to play in leading the charge. Done right, complete streets can be good for cars, too.

“Completing the street does not change travel times,” Toth said, citing data from the addition of a bike lane on Prospect Park in New York City. “They decreased crash rates. Travel time is pretty much the same, but more cyclists are getting more value out of that road.”

Toth spent the better part of his career making the case for more highways and wider roads as an engineer for the New Jersey Department of Transportation until his revelation that ‘context’ and ‘quality of place’ don’t have to be pitted against the flow of motor vehicles.

Now, he helps cities design and use ‘multi-modal’ guidelines. He helps engineers gain the confidence to challenge assumptions that might work at odds with the new emphasis on vibrant places. For example, most engineers are padding in more ‘design speed’ which leads to wider roads even though street design standards already have a margin of error.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The FABB Blog peeks in on London, where some 10,000 gathered in the streets over the weekend to demonstrate for safer cycling conditions. Charleston Moves shares the disappointing news that leaders there are considering a skateboarding ban in many parts of the city. And Mobilizing the Region reports that complete streets policies are sweeping across the meadowlands of New Jersey.

In all the havoc this latest recession has unleashed upon Detroit, a few refrains have been echoed repeatedly: recapture the city’s entrepreneurial spirit, embrace the green economy, and reduce dependency on the auto industry.

Detroit Bikes is helping to keep manufacturing jobs in the Motor City. Photo: Detroit News

There’s no better example of Detroit taking those recommendations to heart than Detroit Bikes. Todd Scott at M-Bike.org has this report:

They are creating simple, low-cost, practical urban bikes that should retail for just under $500. And they expect to be building them in the city of Detroit – up to 100 a day if all goes as planned.

Detroit Bikes is starting to get noticed. The Detroit News and Crain’s Detroit Business both wrote about the new company and its founder, Zak Pashak, an entrepreneur from Calgary. Pashak told the News, “Henry Ford’s goal was to create affordable, reliable transportation. That’s my goal.”

This is really exciting. We’re not sure the last time bicycles were built in earnest within the city of Detroit.

Pashak told Detroit Make it Here that “it’s possible to produce affordable, American-made bikes in volume, especially in Detroit,” due to the city’s low cost.

Little known fact: Henry Ford tinkered with bicycles before getting sidetracked with that whole cars-and-assembly-lines business.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The League of American Bicyclists looks at a study finding that men are overrepresented on local bicycle and pedestrian advisory panels. Streets.mn examines how certain transportation projects can detract from local wealth, despite local leaders’ expectations to the contrary. And Cap’n Transit observes how drivers tend to see their vehicles as extensions of themselves, and how that can have deadly consequences for those without tons of metal protecting them.

It’s been interesting to watch the scrutiny building around how police handle collisions between cyclists and drivers in New York City. It’s become something of a scandal the way devastating or fatal crashes involving cyclists are rarely prosecuted or even investigated.

San Diego Police Lieutenant Rick O'Hanlon says unless a cyclist is killed in a collision, the department will not pursue criminal charges. Photo: BikeSD

Sadly, New York is certainly not alone in this respect. Today we have a case study out of San Diego.

Sam Ollinger at Network blog Bike San Diego recently followed up with her local police department on the results of five crashes where cyclists were killed or injured. What she found was very similar to what’s happening in New York.

Rick O’Hanlon, San Diego’s lieutenant of Traffic Division, told Ollinger that unless a cyclist dies, charges won’t rise beyond a traffic violation. And even in cases when a cyclist is killed, criminal charges are no sure thing:

No charges have been filed against the driver who struck the little ten-year-old girl who was injured while riding with her father. No charges were filed because the little girl survived.

Since [Grant] Fisher survived, no charges have been filed. The SDPD has asked the DMV to reexamine the driver’s license [of the 76-year-old who was responsible]. Fisher, in the meantime, has filed a civil suit against the driver that is currently ongoing.

When asked for specific details on the [fatal] [Charles] Gilbreth case and details about the collision. O’Hanlon stated that speed, alcohol, road rage nor the sun’s glare (as was the reason stated in the Ortiz case) were not factors in the Gilbreth crash. He said that investigation was still ongoing as results from the medical examiner and the toxicologist could take anywhere from 6-8 weeks to wrap up. There were no witnesses in this crash as the MTS driver didn’t witness the crash.

O’Hanlon responded, “to be charged with a crime, there has to be a death.” Thus, the only recourse for the party injured is to pursue the case in Civil Court for damages. In order for a case to go to the District Attorney’s office the case has to be a felony – and the criteria for a felony includes intent, malice, gross negligence or substance abuse. But in a case that is not a manslaughter, “the law is very restrictive. We don’t have a misdemeanor.” Intentional road rage acts have “malice and premeditation and you have assault with a deadly weapon.”  Absent that, “you have a vehicle code violation.”

I imagine those tickets will be little consolation to individuals who have been badly injured, perhaps permanently. Hopefully, the campaign around this issue in New York will result in a more fair system for cyclists — one that can be replicated in San Diego and elsewhere around the nation.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Urban Milwaukee looks at the auto industry’s (successful) attempts to link driving with the hallowed concept of freedom. And Systemic Failure shares a picture that perfectly captures the absurdity of American car culture: an SUV with a built-in stationary bicycle!

This building was torn down and replaced by a suburban style office with a parking lot in front. Photo: UrbanReviewSTL

In a way, this story is about one property in St. Louis. But in a deeper sense, this story is much bigger than one block, bigger even than the city of St. Louis.

After decades of losing population to suburban areas, the attitude among many urban leaders was “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” St. Louis and other cities around the country endeavored to make themselves more like their suburban cousins.

Except now times are changing. Many urban areas have an appeal that is stronger than the places they once aspired to be like.

After. Via UrbanReviewSTL

But old habits die hard, reports Steve Patterson at UrbanReviewSTL. St. Louis is back to its old ways, this time on Delmar Boulevard, he reports:

For decades St. Louis’ “leadership” has thought that anything new — any investment — was better than no investment at all. What they continue to fail to understand is disconnected buildings set back behind parking doesn’t create anyplace special. Furthermore with old storefronts up to the sidewalk and new buildings set back, the look and feel isn’t pleasant. It’s not a contiguous wall of buildings or or consistent setback common in suburbia.

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“California High Speed Rail will forever need an operating subsidy.” That is the latest claim from an anti-HSR group called the Community Coalition on High Speed Rail.

The group recently assailed CAHSR’s estimates that the system will cost 10 cents per passenger mile to operate, saying the figure is far too low and questioning the official math that the $81 San Francisco-to-LA fare would cover the costs of the trip.

But their numbers just don’t check out, says Network blog Systemic Failure:

CC-HSR extrapolated a 10-cent operating cost per passenger mile based on the the published $81 LA-SF premium fare, and assuming 50% profit. They compared this 10-cents number to a study done in 2007 that reports a per-mile operating cost of around 30-50 cents per mile for European high-speed rail operators.

So according to the CC-HSR, the LA-SF fares are too low, and would have to be at least triple the $81 fare just to break even. Does this argument make sense? Well, let’s look at SNCF fares for Paris-Avignon, which is exactly same distance as LA-SF. This image is a screenshot taken for a random reservation on the SNCF web site:

You are welcome to try your own trip reservations, and do the Euros to Dollars conversion —  but the SNCF fares don’t seem all the far off from CHSRA fares. And if it really cost SNCF more than 30 cents/passenger mile, then the Sud-Est wouldn’t even be profitable, which even CC-HSR admits is not the case.

Systemic Failure hints that CC-HSR’s supposedly economic objections are actually grounded in NIMBYism. The group is composed of people whose homes border the proposed rail line, whose published concerns include “dirt, dust noise” and “loss of trees.”

Elsewhere on the Network today: Discover Lee County marvels at the complete unwalkability of the greater Ft. Myers, Florida area, where walkscores of 0 — yep, zilch — are the default condition. Urban Review STL readers sound off on the Missouri proposal to allow concealed firearms on public transit. And This Big City shares 10 crowd-sourced ideas for improving cycling in cities.