Transit on Thursday: The Dedicated Lane Edition
Regardless of whether you support it as a viable alternative to light rail or not, Bus Rapid Transit is being seriously considered in many local jurisdictions as a way to move more people around.
But in order for BRT to work properly, there's got to be an effective way to keep car drivers out of dedicated bus lanes. Which is why we found this video report from NBC4 a proper jumping point for today's post - Tom Sherwood ventured out onto 7th and 9th Streets in D.C. and discovered that very few people, if any, were actually obeying the dedicated bus-only lanes on the far right sides of the streets. In fact, Sherwood even asked former DDOT Director Emeka Moneme whether or not it was legal for drivers to make a right-hand turn across the face of a bus if they felt it was moving too slow or stopped - a worse driving decision at a busy city corner, we can't imagine; Moneme was similarly stupefied. The rest of the report runs how you'd expect: bus drivers dislike cars that clog the lanes and make them late, car drivers don't like sharing the road, bus riders don't like later buses, ad nauseum.
Just to get it out of the way: yes, we realize that Metrobus is not BRT, and that what's being planned around the metro area is only "kinda-sorta" BRT. But one real question that arises is whether or not we can expect to see problems with lanes in areas where rejuvenated bus service has support. Prince William County, which received funding to explore BRT along Route 1 back in March, has a presentation which shows the different types of BRT lane options it's exploring, including the curb lanes that Metro runs normal bus service on which have these pesky issues. The county's current plan is to construct a median HOT lane, which eliminates some of the issues, but not all. What would stop some rogue driver from taking up a bus lane in a high-occupancy section of road? (Hey, if they're willing to turn right in front of a bus on 7th Street, it's probably not that crazy of a suggestion.)
Another spot where many have wondered about dedicated express bus lanes is Metrobus's 16th Street S Lines that are currently under new planning - would a dedicated bus lane on one side of the street there have the same issues that the lanes on 7th Street and 9th Street have? Both are similar north-south, highly-trafficked streets.
Photo by korrileigh04.
That Said, There's No Dedicated Bus Lanes When The Road's Closed: The stretch of 7th Street NW near the Gallery Place Metro station is a fairly well-traveled road by car, bus, and foot; so it's understandable that when it's closed down for an extended period of time - well, we get a little curious.
Numerous sources, including City Desk, the DCist tip line, and friends of this transit report noted that the street was closed between F and H Streets on Sunday evening around 7 p.m. Apparently, it's the second "bomb threat" or suspicious package that the area has seen in a couple of weeks. Luckily, there's no word that the shutdown affected Metro service at all - Metro was working on three lines and starting a new maintenance program last weekend, so the last thing it needed was a shutdown at the confluence of three lines.
Were you delayed by this shutdown?
Engines and Cabooses: Track maintenance will cause delays on the Red, Orange, and Green lines this weekend... Private charter bus service from Landover station to FedEx Field could cost up to $20 per trip, according to a Redskins official - as a reminder, there won't be any Metro shuttles for Saturday's game, due to new restrictions... Md. Gov. O'Malley announces plans for more ethanol pumps around the state... Metro's new commuter cost comparison calculator is pretty simplistic (i.e. it doesn't factor in any sort of time commitment), but still, the results can be rather striking... You know, AAA is probably just being logical when their spokesman notes that "it'd be really stupid" if HOT lanes in Northern Virginia simply stopped upon entering Montgomery County, but that still doesn't mean that we're looking forward to the inevitable Purple Line vs. HOT Lane debates... Infosnack HQ has some very interesting statistical analysis (and graphs, natch) of Metro's peak ridership data.