Breakfast links: Tackling weighty issues

by Erik Weber • March 24, 2011 8:38 am

Photo by bradlee9119 on Flickr.

Fatter Americans mean heavier buses: The FTA is proposing new bus safety regulations that increase the average passenger weight assumption from 150 to 175 pounds and increase the floor space required per passenger. (Bloomberg, Alex B.)

Dealing with paratransit: WMATA's travel training program helps riders with disabilities use the system's fixed route services, reducing their reliance on MetroAccess, and Metro's cost burden. (METRO Magazine) ... The WMATA Board postponed a decision on MetroAccess' contract after allegations that former WMATA executive Emeka Moneme lobbied the agency on behalf of current contractor MV Transportation.

MD vehicular manslaughter bill advances: The Maryland House Judiciary Committee yesterday unanimously passed House Bill 363 which would create a new crime of negligent homicide by vehicle or vessel, with a maximum sentence of 3 years. (WABA)

Gilliland becomes manager of CaBi: Former WABA and NACTO head Eric Gilliland will become General Manager of Capital Bikeshare, working for Alta, the company that operates the system on a day to day basis. (TheWashCycle)

Weaver, Biddle top GLAA rankings: DC At-Large Candidates Sekou Biddle and Bryan Weaver received the highest scores from the city's Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, which rates candidates' positions on marriage equality, HIV and other issues. (DCist)

Former PG Exec influencing development?: Former Prince George's County Executive Wayne Curry, who is particularly proud of bringing sprawl-driving FedEx field and National Harbor to the county, is regaining influence in the county's development with an equity interest in New Carrolton TOD and several former staffers in County jobs. (Post)

Gray will let Brodsky go: Mayor Gray will not reappoint alcohol control board chair Charles Brodsky in light of accusations that Brodsky used his position to gain sponsorships and neighborhood support for his National Marathon event. Gray may actively remove Brodsky pending investigation results. (Examiner)

A developer who believes: A big property owner is revitalizing a small upstate NY town, by providing low rents to small Main Street business, requiring them to leave lights on at night, stay open in the evenings and change the window displays quarterly. (NYT)

And...: Council member Michael A. Brown wants to rename Pennsylvania, Constitution and Independence Avenues in honor of DC's fight for statehood. (DCist) ... A new website hopes to help you avoid another disastrous apartment rental experience. (UrbanTurf) ... In Prince George's County, even the churches are strip malls. (Housing Complex)

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26 comments

Tags: bike safety, bike sharing, Bryan Weaver, buses, Capital Bikeshare, DC, DC Council, development, disabilities, economic development, Eric Gilliland, FTA, links, Maryland, Maryland legislature, MetroAccess, Michael A Brown, National Harbor, obesity, pedestrian safety, Prince George's, road safety, same-sex marriage, Sekou Biddle, street naming, urbanism, Vincent Gray, Wayne Curry, WMATA

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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The NYT article requires a log-in.

by Canaan on Mar 24, 2011 9:04 am

At least they don't want to rename Pennsylvania, Constitution, and Independence after the 40th president.

by Jack Love on Mar 24, 2011 9:10 am

John Catoe, the former GM also works for MV Transportation.

Nice to see MetroAccess costs aren't growing. But someone with asthma qualifies for MetroAccess?

by charlie on Mar 24, 2011 9:29 am

NYT fail.

by Josh C. on Mar 24, 2011 9:38 am

On the NYT:

Get used to it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/opinion/l18times.html?WT.mc_id=ED-SEM-E-GOOG-SEM-TXT-VAR-ROS-0311-NA&WT.mc_ev=click

by Alex B. on Mar 24, 2011 9:48 am

And when you log in it still doesn't take you to the actual story...at least it didn't for me.

by thump on Mar 24, 2011 10:02 am

I thought the Times was gonna allow links from blogs. Their loss.

by Jasper on Mar 24, 2011 10:08 am

@thump - click the link again after logging in. Like a lot of websites the login doesn't have a redirect to the original link.

by ah on Mar 24, 2011 10:10 am

it's not just that people are heavier, they seem to be carrying a lot more crap when they're on the bus too. lots of people require space for their bags. perhaps we could have metro start purchasing buses with overhead compartments for stuff like that?

by Geoffrey Hatchard on Mar 24, 2011 10:14 am

Forget overhead compartments; I'd be happy if Metro just stopped using buses from the first Reagan administration.

by Phil on Mar 24, 2011 10:18 am

Buses, planes...everything has been up designed to accomodate our expanding girth.

I had to spend a couple days at a "plane graveyard" out in New Mexico a few years ago for work. There are tons of mothballed passenger planes from the early 70's sitting out in the middle of the desert and the size of the seats in these old planes is pretty telling. The average American middleschooler today would have difficulty squeezing into them.

Generation X is apparently supposed to be the first generation of Americans with a shorter lifespan than the previous generation. Even the worlds most whiz-bang drugs can only keep an obese generation alive so long.

by freely on Mar 24, 2011 10:34 am

To borrow the infamous anti-freeway quote, "widening the bus seats to solve the space problem is like loosening your belt to cure obesity."

by Froggie on Mar 24, 2011 10:59 am

Isn't the easier answer, rather than upgrade the buses to handle more weight, is have limits on how many people can get on a bus?

Adding more weight to buses hurts roads and possibly fuel efficiency. That's even more true since most of the time buses aren't 100% full.

by charlie on Mar 24, 2011 11:07 am

Institute weight limits and install a central scale on each bus.

by snowpeas on Mar 24, 2011 11:24 am

Is it accurate to say that Wayne Curry is proud of bringing Fed-Ex field to Landover?

At the time, he was proud of making the Redskins pay for their own stadium--in stark contrast to the free stadium that Governor Glendenning gave the Ravens around the same time. (The Nationals did not pay for their stadium either). As I recall, alot of state officials were mad at him because he refused to provide county funds to improve state highways near the stadium, and exacted some other concessions, based on the logic that PG should be friendly to business but if it takes a subsidy to bring the Redskins to Landover, then the Redskins should go elsewhere.

by Jim Titus on Mar 24, 2011 11:25 am

@Snowpeas-don't forget to have a bag sizer to limit carry ons.

by ah on Mar 24, 2011 11:30 am

@Phil: Metro's oldest buses are from the first Clinton, not Reagan, administration and even those are due for retirement sooner than later. The last Reagan-era buses were retired five years ago, the last Bush 41-era buses are in the emergency reserve fleet after two rehabs and 18 months mid-life off the road.

If you want old buses, many agencies in Canada are running buses from the 1970's. Metro, on the other hand, has bought over 700 buses since 2005.

by Jason on Mar 24, 2011 12:36 pm

That fat bus story is the most depressing thing I've read in a while. That's a lot like saying "too much freeway congestion?... the widen the highways!!".

How about we make being car-free easier and encourage people to walk for crying out loud? Sort of related is the issue of bus stop removal... God forbid you have to walk a block and a half to the nearest bus stop! We must have bus stops at *everyone's* doorsteps!

by John M on Mar 24, 2011 1:22 pm

Apologies for the mistake, the old Metrobuses just look and feel like they are from the early 80s even if they are of early 90s vintage. The fact that most bus drivers don't drive with any regard for passenger comfort doesn't help matters.

by Phil on Mar 24, 2011 3:41 pm

But seriously can anyone repost or mirror the NYT article? Its probably the one link I'm most interested in.

by Canaan on Mar 24, 2011 4:22 pm

What are they gonna call Penn Ave?

Bitch set me up Blvd?

by TGEoA on Mar 24, 2011 4:39 pm

This used to work in the days of the old NYT paywall. Let's see if linking to the printer version helps:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/magazine/mag-20KEYSmallTown-t.html?_r=4&pagewanted=print

by TJ on Mar 24, 2011 4:55 pm

@TJ: Yes - That works, thanks!

by anon on Mar 24, 2011 5:17 pm

Wow. Greg O’Connell really does believe. That guy should be running some sort of institute teaching others to invest in locations that the development herd has passed by...

by DavidDuck on Mar 24, 2011 5:44 pm

Surprised tgeoa's comment hasn't been removed yet. They seem like a right wing troll most of the time, which can actually be good for discussion now and then, but this time it's just stupid and offensive.

by burgersub on Mar 24, 2011 7:48 pm

It still didn't work for me but I'll stop worrying about it.

by Canaan on Mar 25, 2011 12:13 am