Breakfast links: Buses off, buses on

by Erik Weber • September 14, 2010 9:03 am

Photo by jem on Flickr.

PG bus drivers on strike: Drivers for Prince George's "The Bus" system are on strike, with only 28 of the 65 buses in service yesterday. The county's Board of Elections dismissed any possible impact on election turn-out. (Post, Eric Fidler)

Buses back in service: Metro returned its Orion VI diesel buses to service yesterday after temporary fixes in the wake last week's bus fire on the Beltway. (Post, Cavan)

Metro takes bids on U Street: WMATA is collecting bids on its now-highly-sought-after properties in the U St. corridor. Because of site complexity and size, the agency will consider more than just bid price on many properties. (Post, Cavan)

No more "Highway to Nowhere": Maryland is removing pieces of West Baltimore's stillborn "Highway to Nowhere." Neighborhoods will be stitched back together. The same is in store for the Barney Circle Freeway here in DC. (Planetizen, Eric Fidler)

In the far-off year 2009: In 1909, a New York Times writer made a series of predictions about what the year 2009 would look like. Most notably, his vision of a futuristic NYC is very pedestrian-friendly, including the abolition of the automobile. (io9, andrew)

New community center in Shaw: After years of letting vacant buildings crumble, one Shaw church is breaking ground on a new community center. (TBD, Eric Fidler)

Promoting mixed-income TOD: For those of you who missed its original release in March, the Center for Transit-Oriented Development has released an updated version of their Mixed-Income TOD Action Guide. (Reconnecting America)

Not so rapid transit: Students in Surrey, BC knew their bus service was slow, so they decided to figure out just how slow in the Beat-the-Bus competition. (Surrey Now)

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16 comments

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Erik Weber has been living car-free in the District since 2009. Hailing from the home of the nation's first Urban Growth Boundary, Erik has been interested in transit since spending summers in Germany as a kid where he rode as many buses, trains and streetcars as he could find. Views expressed here are Erik's alone.

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An interesting article on streetcar line history:
http://www.thehillishome.com/2010/09/lost-capitol-hill-street-cars-on-the-hill/

by goldfish on Sep 14, 2010 9:14 am • link • report

An item missing from your "Highway to Nowhere" blurb (and also Planitizen's piece on it) is that the segment of unused highway being torn out will be replaced by expanded parking lots for the West Baltimore MARC station.

by Froggie on Sep 14, 2010 9:17 am • link • report

Renderings of the proposed building on WMATA's Florida Ave/U St property. To say that it clashes with the neighborhood is a bit of an understatement.

by andrew on Sep 14, 2010 9:56 am • link • report

I'm surprised you didn't mention the speed-bump-rage that resulted in a homicide on Sunday night!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091306579.html?hpid=newswell

by Michael on Sep 14, 2010 10:02 am • link • report

A Christian community center only 3-4 miles from the Pentagon? This is an outrage! Why are we allowing them to build a "victory church?"

by Tim on Sep 14, 2010 10:27 am • link • report

So, does anyone know if that means Circulator drivers can also go on strike?

And I do love the quote that their beef is with cameras to monitor red light running.

by charlie on Sep 14, 2010 10:51 am • link • report

I love the students outrunning the bus. I bet you can do that too in DC with many buses.

by Jasper on Sep 14, 2010 11:26 am • link • report

@Charlie: yes, Circulator operators also have the right to strike. They are employees of First Transit, a private contractor.

by kreeggo on Sep 14, 2010 11:47 am • link • report

@Jasper; I do that game all the time with the 38B in Georgetown! The BB replacement is even slower, and I look forward to wining regularly in that contest.

by charlie on Sep 14, 2010 11:50 am • link • report

@andrew. Re: 8th and U. At least it appears that the crappy little CVS and its surface parking would be gone.

by Paul on Sep 14, 2010 2:06 pm • link • report

If you actually look at the Baltimore highway to nowhere "removal" project, it really only takes out 2 blocks of freeway in exchange for two blocks of parking, and leaves the rest of the stub highway intact. In reality it does nothing for the surrounding community except connect one extra road-why they couldn't have worked up the political courage to take the entire damn thing out, I'm not sure-it doesn't speed traffic if it stubs to city streets on both ends anyway...

by Ryan on Sep 14, 2010 2:38 pm • link • report

... and maybe put in a tram/subway in its place. Or at least preserve the ROW for the future. A tram from West Baltimore station to downtown would be delicious.

by Amber on Sep 14, 2010 9:08 pm • link • report

Ryan-

re: Why the Hell don't they Demolish ALL of the Freeways in Virginia, North Carolina, Atlanta, and Texas before they rip off any highways in Baltimore.......

by James on Sep 14, 2010 10:12 pm • link • report

by Amber...

and maybe put in a tram/subway in its place. Or at least preserve the ROW for the future. A tram from West Baltimore station to downtown would be delicious.

re: The original plan was to build an East-West Expressway through Baltimore with a Subway in the median like the Kennedy/Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago, I-66 in Virginia, and GA 400 in Atlanta.......

by James on Sep 14, 2010 10:15 pm • link • report

Hmmm... interesting. Well, the original plan was half-right. They just built the wrong half.

by Amber on Sep 14, 2010 11:56 pm • link • report

Ryan/Amber: not sure if you two knew this, but that highway right-of-way is intended for the future Baltimore Red Line. Presumably, the rest of the highway would be torn down and reconfigured when the Red Line gets built.

by Froggie on Sep 15, 2010 3:06 pm • link • report