Good day for transit lovers!

by Thayer-D on Nov 3, 2010 9:07 am  

I love to see articles relating to ASLA and Green Infrastructure/LID!

by Doug on Nov 3, 2010 9:11 am  

@Thayer-D

I appreciate the attempt to find a Silver lining here, but I fail to see how these results are good for transit lovers at the national scale. Not only have the Democrats lost the house, they've also lost longtime transportation advocates like Jim Oberstar.

Hopes for a good, sustainable transportation bill (we've been without one of any kind for 2 years now) now rests either with a lame-duck session or with a new Congress. Neither of those possibilities are particularly appealing, I must say.

by Alex B. on Nov 3, 2010 9:24 am  

How will this affect rents in the area? Lots of low level staffers will probably have to leave the area since its expensive and they probably don't have the experience to work at a lobbying firm or political consulting firm - especially those who worked for freshman congressmen.

As a renter, these next few months could (?) be good and maybe be the time to start looking for a new place, possibly cheaper? I'm talking about DC and/or Arlington.

by dmv rents on Nov 3, 2010 9:34 am  

@dmv rents

Not sure I follow you. Surely the low-level Democratic staffers will be replaced by low-level Republican staffers.

Will there be some churn? Yes, but that happens here every 2 years, regardless. I don't think it will be some big shift.

by Alex B. on Nov 3, 2010 9:44 am  

"good news to the north, bad news to the south" - isn't that the case with everything, not just transport?

by Weiwen Ng on Nov 3, 2010 9:45 am  

I have to agree with Alex on this one. While not a disaster, this is hardly good. Those conservatives love their road projects, and they are bound to cut elsewhere to send pork home. It doesn't help that the most transit-needy and transit-friendly jurisdictions tend not to elect Republicans, either.

I really wonder if this kills the Purple Line? Is the Federal funding already guaranteed for that, or will there be an opportunity for a vengeful Congress to take a little revenge for Bobby Haircut getting his ass handed to him by the Maryland electorate?

by Dave J on Nov 3, 2010 9:58 am  

Want to hear more about green roofs. Are they available for residential?

by poopieface on Nov 3, 2010 10:08 am  

^^ Yes, but you likely will need to strengthen your roof if it's already in place. Much more sensible for new construction.

by ah on Nov 3, 2010 10:15 am  

I have a green roof on my home; one of the few located in a DC residence. There are several things DC and WASA can do to make others consider putting one in.

While the city does have a program that will provide homeowners a subsidy for putting up a green roof, you are required to provide them an engineer's report that tells them the details of the difference between putting up a conventional roof and a green roof, complete with detailed analysis from said engineer. So if you want a subsidy, pay your engineer to create something at a cost of $750 and get back, in my case, a subsidy of $550 for a smallish roof. Yes, the math will change the larger the roof you may have, assuming the engineer's fee remains constant, but for me this was bad economics.

Second, our friends a WASA, with apologies to Mr. Hawkins who is really trying to change the culture there, provides me absolutely no credit for having a green-roof under their current regime of charging me for impervious property coverage. In their collective mind, my green roof does not exist. I'm not exactly sure how I get to appeal that determination from them, but would love to figure out how that gets done.

Aside from those complaints, I love my green roof. Cooler in summer, prettier all the time, slows rainwater runoff. Best of all, one of the main sources of green roof plants is less than an hour's drive north, where you can choose what works and looks best for your property.

by Steve S on Nov 3, 2010 10:22 am  

RE: Elections

The loss of Oberstar will be a big hit... though I do like Mica, I just hope he's able to help convert those within his party rather than his party converting him. If Mica is able to bring other Republicans over to his side on transportation issues, things *might* actually work out for the better... with any luck the disagreements within the once bipartisan transportation industry will fade somewhat, so long as both left and right don't opt to stay at loggerheads 100% of the time for the next two years.

by Bossi on Nov 3, 2010 10:24 am  

CaBi would have been a great option, had it worked. Unfortunately the system was completely crippled at at least 3 stations right off the Mall near the Lenfant metro station where the bikeshare would have been the most useful. After several failed attempts at getting my cards to go through, I quit; my friend had a worse experience when he was unable to rent a bike but subsequently charged both the usage fees and the $101 retainer.

The system is great, when you can use it.

by Scoot on Nov 3, 2010 10:39 am  

This country just elected a lot of Bob McDonnell clones to the Governor Houses across the country. The republican governor and state house landslide is the real story. US Congress maybe gridlocked for the next few years, but it is full steam ahead with the conservative agenda in many many states

by RJ on Nov 3, 2010 10:40 am  

@Scoot:

After several failed attempts at getting my cards to go through, I quit; my friend had a worse experience when he was unable to rent a bike but subsequently charged both the usage fees and the $101 retainer.

Wait.. So you're not a member? And you're complaining that the least-streamlined option for non-members wasn't performing flawlessly on the craziest day in DC since the Obama Inauguration?

I'm a member. Got one of those little key-fob things. No problems whatsoever.

by oboe on Nov 3, 2010 12:09 pm  

@ Oboe

"So you're not a member? And you're complaining that the least-streamlined option for non-members wasn't performing flawlessly on the craziest day in DC since the Obama Inauguration?"

Swiping a credit card is not the least-streamlined option for non-members, it's the ONLY option for non-members (as far as I know). Bottom line is, the system should generally work for anyone who wants to use it, not give preference to annual members. What an exclusionary and condescending point of view you have.

There happened to be a CaBi representative in the area who told us some of their stations had been experiencing problems. I understand that there could be hiccups with a new system on busy days (there was no CaBi during the Obama inauguration, so this is its first busiest day), but the popularity of the system relies greatly on its reputation of being reliable. Why should I approach a CaBi station with the expectation that it won't work? And by the way, I am now a member.

by Scoot on Nov 3, 2010 12:46 pm  

@Scoot

My guess is that the stations authorize credit cards using a cellular network, which as you probably know, was completely crippled during the rally.

Both Verizon and AT&T had a complete and total meltdown.

by andrew on Nov 3, 2010 12:55 pm  

Bottom line is, the system should generally work for anyone who wants to use it, not give preference to annual members.

Why not? We do this all the time. We preference SmarTrip over cash on transit. What's wrong with giving benefits to your core users? What's wrong with encouraging all users to become core users? (as we do with SmarTrip, to speed boarding, for example).

What other options are there? If the system is set up to take daily memberships, you need certain requirements - you need a credit card on file, for example. How else do you collect that information? Any method you use will take time - so, would you rather force members with keyfobs to wait? I don't think that's a good solution.

by Alex B. on Nov 3, 2010 1:44 pm  

@andrew,

You are probably right about what happened but the system needs to be smart enough to handle a situation like that (either by storing the data until the network is up again and running the risk that a some cards may be declined resulting in a few people not paying or simply displaying a message along the lines of "unable to accept credit cards at this time"). Refusing the rental and then charging people's credit cards anyway is an unacceptable level of service and may expose CaBi to legal liability or cause problems between CaBi and their payment processor if enough people file chargebacks.

by Jacob on Nov 3, 2010 2:01 pm  

@ Alex B

"Why not? We do this all the time. We preference SmarTrip over cash on transit. What's wrong with giving benefits to your core users? What's wrong with encouraging all users to become core users? (as we do with SmarTrip, to speed boarding, for example)."

Metro does not simply stop accepting valid fare cards all the time in order to encourage people to order Smartrip cards. Benefits of Smartrip is that it allows quick entry and the balance is recoverable in case of loss or theft. The card simply working is not a benefit, it's more like an expectation.

Picking up a bike quickly and having a better fee structure are benefits to membership to CaBi. Not being able to use the system (or worse, not being able to use the system, then being charged for it) just reflects poorly on the reliability of the system as opposed to reflecting well on the benefits of membership.

I became a member, so I have faith in the system. I just think some kinks need to be worked out to reduce the chance that this will happen again.

by Scoot on Nov 3, 2010 2:23 pm  

@Scoot

I still fail to see the difference. I've been in Metro mezzanines when the fare machines were not working and not accepting credit cards. Good thing I already had money on my SmarTrip!

As noted above, I'm almost positive that CaBi validates credit cards via cell phone technology. Cell service was overwhelmed by the crowds during the rally. It's not like they purposefully stopped accepting credit cards, nor is it even a problem that CaBi can control.

Would you blame Metro for a power outage?

Obviously, we all want CaBi to be as easy to use as possible. However, the only improvements I can think of to solve your particular problem involve some serious trade-offs. If you want more reliable credit card transactions, you'd probably need dedicated power and telephone lines - which would increase station costs, reduce flexibility, and substantially lengthen the time needed to install and expand the system - this is the exact problem that SmartBike DC had.

by Alex B. on Nov 3, 2010 2:32 pm  

@ Alex

I'm not saying that CaBi is immune to failure. I understand that the system is new and prone to failure if a cellular network crashes and that setting up a landline system is expensive and difficult to scale. And I'm not placing blame on CaBi for a cellular network failure.

All that I'm saying is that on Sat., having a membership was more or less necessary to use the system, it wasn't simply beneficial when using the system. For non-members, it was simply unusable, and it charged people for services without unlocking a bike. What is considered a benefit of membership to one person sours the experience completely for a non-member. And I would guess that souring the experience for non-members is not so great for business.

In public transport systems like Metro, CaBi, etc., the expectation of reliability is absolutely crucial to their success. When a system fails like CaBi did on Saturday (at least at the stations around the Mall), it tends to instill a sense that the system is unreliable, even in the face of perfectly rational explanation as to why the failure occurred.

by Scoot on Nov 3, 2010 3:01 pm  

Both Metro and CaBi must be reliable transportation for the casual and incidental user. Otherwise such people will drive.

by goldfish on Nov 3, 2010 3:17 pm  

it tends to instill a sense that the system is unreliable, even in the face of perfectly rational explanation as to why the failure occurred.

Nah. This system isn't going to succeed or fail on the basis of the experience of one-time users going to large events on the Mall. I predict the failure of the "ancillary" payment system during massive once-every-five-years events like this will have no impact at all on adoption of the system at large.

It sounds like you were inconvenienced, and that sucks. We've all been there. But it happens. It says nothing about CaBi.

by oboe on Nov 3, 2010 3:57 pm  

@oboe-

One thing to keep in mind is that travelers are avid talkers among other travelers. While one individual's bad day may not be too critical, they may share their frustrations with another, who shares them with another, who might be writing a travel blog or the like, etc. and the word gets out about an unreliable system based on one day's experience.

Hence why many professional travel guides tend to hire locally-based writers rather than rely on a short visit, as the locals tend to know whether something like this is chronically unreliable or if it's just a temporary hiccup.

Applicable to pretty much any subject: it's easy to share and remember bad experiences; those persist in mind and story. Good experiences are often forgotten or are attributed more to acute circumstances rather than something that's always that way.

by Bossi on Nov 3, 2010 4:20 pm  

andrew is right, CaBi is wireless. Solar power, cell phone payment system.

I'd blame the incompetent fools at AT&T and Verizon, not CaBi (Im not sure which wireless system they piggyback off of)

THEY are the ones that should be set up to handle large crowds.

by JJJJ on Nov 3, 2010 7:22 pm  

It sounds like Cabi should strongly consider hooking all stations within a vicinity of the mall green rally area to land-lines. We should determine exactly which stations did not have cellular access when it was most needed.

If Cabi stations can't handle non-members when the cellular networks crash, then that is a major drawback. This sounds like a permanent feature, no? Certainly this has the potential to give large numbers of people a bad first-impression of the system, which might be the only chance they give it. Whereas a good first impression may result in large numbers of people deciding to become members.

by Lee on Nov 4, 2010 7:10 am  

I think one could find one chain saw in 50 or so households. Then again I remember when they had waiting lists for Chainsaws after hurricane isabel blocked everyone's driveways in my rural hometown.

by Canaan on Nov 4, 2010 10:54 pm