Transit on Thursday: The Case for Streetcars Edition
Last week, the Washington Business Journal ran a Q & A with Metro Chairman Chris Zimmerman, and while the majority of the interview was "Metro needs more funding" ad infinitum (not that we can argue), this one bit did catch our eye:
Transit-oriented development is what has made a success out of Arlington’s Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. Where else in Metro’s system do you see the best potential for new development?Anywhere there’s a station. At first, it was just about getting revenue for Metro, but now, we’re trying to promote development that is environmentally sustainable and good for the system. The Prince George’s County stations all have good possibilities, but the biggest potential is at the stations that already have a lot going on, such as Navy Yard and NoMa.
Now, take into consideration a piece of our interview with David Alpert back in May:
H Street is the last major commercial corridor to recover from the 1968 riots, partly because it's the one without Metro access. There are many undeveloped parcels and residents are eager for development. More stores would locate there if Metro could bring shoppers and diners in from around the city and region. H Street is perhaps the best spot in all of D.C. to put a new Metro station.
Partly inspired by these quotes and partly inspired by Ryan Avent's late-August post lamenting the lack of a push on the issue (yes, we're admittedly late to this party - we blame Labor Day RSS backup), we got to thinking: aren't streetcars the answer to both these snippets of thought about development? We'd wager that building an east-west streetcar line with multiple stops down H Street, connecting to lines through Capitol Hill and points Southeast would not only work to bring more people and businesses to the H Street area, but would also be much more plausible in the short-term than Metro expansion there.
Photo by i love joy (more).
Maybe it's because there's a stigma that streetcars are nothing but a touristy relic of transit years gone by (for instance, San Francisco's street trolleys): but look at other cosmopolitan cities like Portland, which uses streetcars to encourage inter-neighborhood transit, and Toronto, a city that uses streetcars to massively increase cross-town accessibility. These cities have found the perfect niche for the medium: supplementation.
Richard Layman's drool-worthy and constantly evolving People's Transportation Plan 2008 notes that while we shouldn't overlook the "cultural heritage" of streetcars, bus service should be improved first. It's a legitimate argument - buses are cheaper to obtain, easier to maneuver, don't require all sorts of zoning and infrastructural hoops to run, and could certainly be improved upon. But one thing that streetcars has over buses is a sense of permanence - buses come and go, and when you miss one, it could be a while before you see one again. There's something more reassuring about that track in the road.
Of course, there's the rub. As it's been noted several times, overhead wires are currently banned in our fair city, and there's always the risk that anything without an overhead wire could just end up being a spiffier upgrade to buses: it'd be something, but not really streetcars. So we ask you — DDOT and the National Capital Planning Commission aside — do you think that allowing overhead wires would kill the "feeling" on H Street?
Holiday Traffic Was "Too Good": Well, we certainly feared the worst — and it almost was for a short period Friday morning — but on the whole, traffic on the return leg of the Labor Day weekend wasn't actually that bad. In a case of no news is good news, the Washington Post reports that folks manning the Maryland Highway Administration were mostly bored on Monday. (And they were probably also bored on Saturday and Sunday, to boot.) Virginia also saw a lower number of cars on the road this Labor Day. Consequently, the state saw a marked decline in traffic fatalities over last year's holiday.
There's plenty of reasons why Labor Day travel, usually the third busiest traffic weekend of the year (behind Thanksgiving and July 4th weekends), was so sluggish: gas prices, beautiful weather, and foreboding projects like the Bay Bridge lane closure might have helped keep most of those who were thinking about a last-minute trip in the area.
New Commuting Website For The Slug-Aversive: We asked you a couple of weeks ago about slugging, and didn't hear much back. (We can only assume that you're just as terrified about hopping into strange cars as we are.) Luckily, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments had you in mind when they launched Commuter Connections. The web site, which took two years to redevelop, offers commuters looking for carpools a way to connect with other like-minded folks who are looking to lower the cost of their commutes. Perhaps the most useful reason to sign up: up to four times per year, members can take advantage of the web site's Guaranteed Ride Home service, in which the program will pay for a cab ride from your workplace back home. (Of course, there are a few restrictions.) The site also offers traffic news and links to all three major DOTs in the area. Well played, Council of Governments.
Bait Bikes: On our post about what you can do after your bike's been stolen, commenter mho brought our attention to a note from First District MPD Commander heralding the successful use of "bait bikes" to catch would-be bike thieves. Well, that program is now getting some more press. According to the Examiner, seven of the first ten people caught taking the bait bikes had "extensive criminal histories, ranging from burglary to robbery to assault." Yikes. While it was no secret that bike thefts are about as common as a motorcade around here, it's a bit disconcerting to think that so many thieves are more hardened thugs than opportunists. I guess it's as good a time as any to bone up on how to properly lock your bike. Kudos to the First District for its common sense approach to dealing with a difficult and widespread problem.
Engines and Cabooses: Metro unveils online emergency maps for each Metro stop, with bus routes and walking radii... Have you experienced your commute's "September shock" yet?... Looks like Montgomery County picked a perfect place to introduce its new pedestrian safety plan... Wildly profitable MontCo speeding cameras are in court... Anacostia elevator to be rehabbed... MARC's got some fancy new double-decker trains... You can now get an RSS feed from WMATA of Metrobus and Metrorail delays, among other information.