Comments on Breakfast links: Cabs and CaBi - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by GWalum

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:20:44 EDT

An Arlington Boathouse would be nice but why is the NPS holding up approval on the George Washington University boathouse, adjacent to the Georgetown Waterfront Park in DC? It has none of the issues associated with the controversial GU boathouse proposal.

Comment by Joshua Cranmer

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:47:39 EDT

When I flew through O'Hare during a snowstorm last winter, the first thing I did was call my parents to try to book an Amtrak ticket down to University while I ran to see if there were any flights with available standby positions, also trying to figure out if I could make it from O'Hare to Union Station in time. The plane beat the train though.

When we had mechanical problems on my flight from Newark to Baltimore, I pondered using Amtrak to get down, but the airport didn't have free Wifi, and I was concerned with shuttle arrangement issues from the train station as opposed to the airport.

Comment by Mike S.

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:06:16 EDT

Intermodal transit allows me to take the Metro to Union Station to get either a MARC Penn Line train or AMTRAK to BWI to catch a cheap Southwest flight in as little as 58 minutes from my apartment to the boarding gate.

And while AMTRAK often shines in bad weather (they do better than just about anyone when it snows), there are times - like this past weekend - when storms make the tracks impassable. 232 AMTRAK passengers were stranded on a train in Prince, West Virginia for 20 hours when fallen trees blocked the tracks. Their intermodal rescue was a number of buses that finally arrived to take them to Cincy and points west to Chicago. Being stuck on a stopped train for 20 hours may be no picnic, but I'd take it any day over being stuck on a plane for that length of time.

Comment by Jasper

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:53:14 EDT

@ Octavius:suburbs need to use CaBi as only part of a concerted plan for bikeability, walkability, and urban reform.

Didn't Fairfax just present it's bike lane plan?

Comment by OctaviusIII

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:04:12 EDT

I don't know if it's healthy for CaBi to be seen as magic urban dust (to overstate) to sprinkle around otherwise unbikeable areas. It's great that it wants to expand into the suburbs, but the suburbs need to use CaBi as only part of a concerted plan for bikeability, walkability, and urban reform. I don't want it to come too soon.

Comment by Rob

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 11:02:41 EDT

I sure hope no one from the taxi cab lobby reads that Atlantic Cities article. The way that cabs deal with new competition isn't by improving service -- it's by lobbying to get the competition outlawed (e.g., what happened with Uber). If taxi drivers figure out that car2go is competition, it will probably get a lot harder for car2go to expand.

Comment by selxic

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:38:59 EDT

Regarding the "Raschke on Transport" link, it's worth noting that it's a television show and to quote a comment on that site

I saw that episode too and thought the same thing …. they were actually stuck in Tampa and the options they were given were either go to St. Louis, stay the night and catch a flight to Milwaukee, Stay in Tampa till the next day, or, as the above article indicated, fly into Midway and find your own transport …. it amazes me how many people don’t even consider rail ….. I would have loved it, either way, I wouldn’t have to drive …….

As much as we would all like every mode of transportation to be an easy and convenient end, that is not always the case.

Comment by Gavin

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:31:31 EDT

Does anybody know whether rentals (e.g. kayaks and canoes) are a possibility for the Arlington boathouse? Or will it only be for people who own boats to store them there?

Comment by Boomer

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:28:07 EDT

"TV for passengers"

No!!

Comment by Falls Church

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:11:19 EDT

I agree with AWITC that the focus for FFX should be Cabi in Tysons but Tysons needs to build out some of its bike infrastructure in the bike master plan for Cabi to be successful there.

In the meantime, Fall Church City needs to get on board with Cabi ASAP. It's the logical extension of Cabi down the RBC/W&OD corridor. Also, disappointing that Arlington's Cabi master plan doesn't include stations in East Falls Church given the pending development there and its rising importance as a orange/silver line transfer point.

Comment by AWalkerInTheCity

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:42:59 EDT

Glad FFX is looking at bike share, but I think it shouuld be CaBi to integrate with the region, esp with Arlington - RBC and soon Shirlington and Columbia Pike via W&OD and other connections. Tysons is the key place. They may want to try Reston first to get the bugs out, but the vision should be focused on Tysons, not a free standing system in Reston.