Climate change legislation may be laudable, but it doesn't really apply to your particlar situation.

by Froggie on Jul 24, 2010 9:51 am  

Bike sharing and DC bike route have been getting a lot of play and money. It would seem to me that DDOT is spending an inordinate amount of time and money on a very limited transit population. What is the subsidy per rider? The number I read was about 6 million for the bike sharing.

by Interested on Jul 24, 2010 9:59 am  

There are worse places to be stranded than Chicago. At least you can get on the L and go someplace, even if its' raining. When I lived in another city, I once got stuck for most of a day at Dulles--that really sucked.

Stories about cities owning blighted properties--yawn. That's why they wind up with them. Stories like this have been popping up for decades when journalists and gadflies run out of things to write about. Prostitution is another dog day favorite.

Georgetown is inhabited by a lot of people who feel like they should be branding the place, because the rich and "successful" often are the most gullible.

by Rich on Jul 24, 2010 10:21 am  

My candidate for their campaign is: "Come on out to Georgetown. OK, that's too much."

by mark on Jul 24, 2010 10:24 am  

How about "Georgetown, a historic preservation success story!"

by Lance on Jul 24, 2010 10:31 am  

When rain stops the plane you can still take the train. (unless the airline has your luggage)

by steve s. on Jul 24, 2010 11:24 am  

For tourists Georgetown is fun, because so many tv-series come through there. From Scarecrow & Ms King to NCIS. And as long as the tourists stick to the Canal, M St and WI Ave, they won't meet the sourpusses that live in the rest of Georgetown.

You know, the people that are against streetcars, but at the same time want to preserve the old streetcar lines in P St. The people rent out their leaking basements at outrageous prices to students, but protest every move Georgetown makes. These open-minded people that favor citizen input, but regardless vote no anyway.

Georgetown: The origin of the no-vote!

by Jasper on Jul 24, 2010 12:02 pm  

re: O'Hare.
O'Hare seems to be the worst major airport for weather-related delays.

The FAA stats on delays give a pass to "weather" as something outside the control of the airlines. Cancellations are not counted, too, which are the frequent result of weather. I think that this gives a free pass to the airlines.

However, if the airlines chose to fly through O'Hare, Buffalo, etc, (instead of, say, Houston) there is going to be more delays. It is therefore within their control. I would like the FAA to include weather in its delay stats. Only then would the consumers have better information and the airlines have a better incentive to avoid weather. After all, if I am delayed, I am delayed.

PS: none of this is hating on Chicago, which I love. Its just that I see so many delays. When travelling with small children, delays can be very hard.

by SJE on Jul 24, 2010 1:43 pm  

O'Hare has lots of delays because it's a very congested airport and has congested airspace. There was a time a while back where they had more takeoffs and landings scheduled in a day than the airport could ever hope to accommodate even under ideal conditions - this resulted in the FAA capping the number of flights in and out of O'Hare.

When you couple that with good old Midwestern thunderstorms, a little weather can have big implications for travel around the country.

by Alex B. on Jul 24, 2010 2:16 pm  

The system costs $5M to start up and $1.5M per year to operate. Much of the operation costs will be covered by user fees (60-70% in the first year and eventually reaching 100% at some point). The bikes last ten years. So the subsidy is closer to $750,000 a year over the life of the system.

SmartBike saw average usage of 1 trip per bike per day. Scaled up to CaBi, that would be 365,000 trips per year. That breaks down to $2 per trip. Not sure how that compares to other transit systems. And with a larger system, it's reasonable to see more trips per bike per day. Paris sees more like 4 per day. So that would bring the subsidy down quite a bit.

So it's more like $1 per trip. Does that seem too expensive for a cleaner, healthier, safer, more fun, and occasionally faster form of transportation?

by David C on Jul 24, 2010 2:25 pm  

@David C- Thanks for the data . Of course the subsidy is predicated on usage which is speculative. Early estimates are often heavily over optimistic. In an environment of sparse capital, I think the money would be better directed to bus .

by Interested on Jul 24, 2010 2:37 pm  

It's going to be interesting to see what happens when you unleash all these bicycles on downtown's roads. I'm hoping increased numbers of bikers will mean better respect for traffic laws by those choosing this alternate transportation mode. If it doesn't, it's going to be complete chaos until some solution is devised.

by Lance on Jul 24, 2010 2:41 pm  

Actually with bike sharing, early estimates have often been overly Pessimistic. Paris and Montreal have far exceeded their initial estimates of usage.

And, if the usage is speculative, then so is your claim that the money would be better directed to bus. The Metrobus subsidy per ride is $2.47 (which doesn't include capital costs). How much would you care to bet that CaBi's subsidy on operating costs is lower after year one?

by David C on Jul 24, 2010 2:44 pm  

Considering cyclists follow the law more than drivers, I don't think chaos will be a risk.

by David C on Jul 24, 2010 2:45 pm  

Re: Good and bad bike reporting
That's Kate *Ryan* reporting.

by JeffB on Jul 24, 2010 8:44 pm  

David, a better number would be 6 uses per bike per day in year 1, escalating to 10 per day in year 5. I dont know if thats what DC used, but thats what we used for our bike system (unfortunately, I cant tell you which system that was). On the other hand, bikes do not last 10 years. I dont know what DC used, but our projection was 20% loss per year (shrinkage). Also, if managed correctly (including ads on bikes and at stations) bike share should be profitable for the company running the system.

by Bike share on Jul 25, 2010 2:29 am  

"On the other hand, bikes do not last 10 years."

Assuming you're referring to these commercial bikes. Because the bike I own has lasted 13 years thus far...

by Froggie on Jul 25, 2010 1:12 pm  

@froggie
The atmosphere now holds approximately 1.5 extra Lake Superiors worth of water. Higher average air temperatures add extra energy to the atmosphere. The outcome is more extreme weather events like what happened to David in the Midwest.

Can we attribute this particular rain event to climate change? No, so you are right that his being stranded cannot be specifically blamed on climate change. But we can say that these types of events (1000-year floods happening twice a decade, 10 inches rain destroying dams in Iowa, etc.) will become more common. So, expect to get stranded at airports more often in the summer storm season.

So I'm with David in agreeing that Congress cannot see the forest for the trees.

by Steve O on Jul 25, 2010 4:01 pm  

Thanks JeffB, for making the correction for me, Kate Ryan here at WTOP reporting on Alice Swanson, and thanks so much for the kind mention. Not a commercial, but I will say WTOP really sees bikes as part of our transportation picture--so while I'm a reporter who covers the waterfront, expect more on these issues. And @ the weather, I'm with you on the extremes. Can we get a crisp, cool fall day please?

by Kate Ryan on Jul 25, 2010 11:16 pm  

Oops, sorry Kate! Fixed.

by David Alpert on Jul 26, 2010 9:46 am