Posts about Stimulus

Planners at WMATA have also been busy developing several new ideas. They have developed "hypothetical" bus lanes that would produce roughly estimated additional savings of about $13 million. WMATA designates them as "hypothetical" because the feasibility of implementing the lanes has not been evaluated yet.

WMATA's cost saving assumptions are not unreasonable, but depend heavily on good implementation of the improvements.

WMATA also has a consultant looking at potential bus lanes based on the number of buses and the slowness of speed and have identified a "top 10" list that overlaps some of the TIGER projects. Several other corridors narrowly missed being included in the "top ten." Among those just missing the list were Columbia Road NW, 7th Street NW (further north) and Wisconsin Avenue near Tenley Circle.

The elements of well designed bus lanes, wider stop spacing of up to one every 0.2 or 0.25 miles, transit signal priority with proper stop location, queue jumpers and bulbouts when implemented around the country have resulted in time savings. If done properly in the District, buses can become an increasingly attractive part of urban mobility—and provide substantial savings that can be used to further improve transit service.

Hopefully the Park Service will allow a number of bike stations on the Mall. With poor transportation around much of the Mall, bike sharing could be a perfect way to help many people bridge the gaps if there could be stations at most major attractions (so they can return the bikes quickly upon reaching a desired memorial).

Mall stations are also close to Arlington, and a connected bike share system could let someone ride, for example, from Crystal City to Arlington Cemetery, drop off the bike, see the cemetery, pick up another bike to go to the FDR memorial, drop the bike off, get another to go to downtown DC, and so on.

Last year, we made a map together of potential locations for the new bike sharing.

The system won't be called SmartBike, which is a Clear Channel brand name. DC and Arlington have created a survey to help select among names including WeCycle, UCycle, Capital Bixi, ZoomBike, Velo2Go, Bike Around, Bikington, and more.

The stations cost about $35,000 for a small station (7 bikes and 11 docking spaces), up to $52,000 for a large 13-bike, 19-dock station. The operating cost will be $155 per bike not counting memberships; the membership revenue DC and Arlington get will go to offset each jurisdiction's contribution to operating costs.

It's great that jurisdictions were able to cooperate to create this regional system. Arlington has always been a national leader in Smart Growth and sustainable practices, and County Board members Jay Fisette and Chris Zimmerman provided strong leadership for this project. DDOT under Gabe Klein is quickly implementing some of the most cutting-edge transportation ideas. Together, the system can be better than either's alone.

When Arlington was first exploring bike sharing over a year ago, I worried about the proliferation of incompatible bike sharing systems. In the case of bike sharing, the whole is definitely greater than the parts. With this system, run by companies interested in expanding it rather than just getting ad revenue, it should be able to grow to more jurisdictions in the region, and perhaps local universities or other organizations (USDOT?) can sponsor their own stations.

BeyondDC tweeted from Wednesday's TPB meeting that they're likely to re-submit the regional bike sharing system in the original TIGER grant application for the second round of TIGER funding.

A TIGER grant could boost this system from a nice start to a real showcase of what bike sharing can do for a metropolitan area. 114 stations is fantastic, but if we wanted to match Paris's Vélib's density of bike sharing, DC and Arlington should have 5,400 bikes. The original TIGER application asked for 2,250 bikes at 225 stations in DC, Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax City, Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, Hyattsville, and National Harbor, in addition to the 1,000 the District is already funding and announced today.

• 16th Street Bus Priority Improvements: Proposed capital improvements include a queue jump lane, NextBus real time passenger information displays at 17 stop locations, and transit signal priority/traffic system management (left turn phase for bus) at a number of intersections.

• Georgia Avenue Bus Priority Improvements: Improvements include completing TSP implementation at several intersections, bulb-outs, and nearly 30 stop locations enhanced with NextBus real time arrival technology. Additionally, a bus only lane would be constructed on Georgia Avenue for short span.

• H Street/Benning Road Bus Priority Improvements: A left turn phase for buses at a busy intersection, a queue jump lane, and NextBus real time arrival technology displays at 22 bus stop locations. These improvements support future streetcar plans.

• Wisconsin Avenue Bus Priority Improvements: Capital improvements include transit signal priority and/or traffic signal management at a number of intersections and NextBus real time arrival technology deployed to a number of express service stop locations.

• Addison Road Improvements: Bus shelters along the existing P12 bus route will be upgraded with NextBus realtime arrival prediction displays.

• University Boulevard Bus Priority Improvements: Improvements include four queue jump lanes, transit signal priority at around 20 intersections, and a number of bus stop enhancements, such as the deployment of NextBus technology. This project will support planned light rail transit, such as the Purple Line, and will utilize the Takoma Langley Transit Center also included in this proposal.

• U.S. Route 1 Bus Priority Improvements: Capital improvements proposed include queue jump lanes and transit signal priority at several intersections.

• Veirs Mill Bus Priority Improvements: Capital improvements include a queue jump lane and NextBus real time bus arrival displays at several stations along the route.

• Potomac Yard Transitway: Bus transitway in the median of US 1 within Alexandria city limits, providing exclusive right of way for buses. Other funding sources have been identified to provide passenger amenities, such as transitway stations and new buses. Alexandria's portion of the Crystal City / Potomac Yard Transitway, a joint facility with Arlington. Arlington's portion is already funded.

• VA 7 (Leesburg Pike) Bus Priority Improvements: Improvements include NextBus displays at several express service bus stops and transit signal priority at a number of intersections along the corridor.

• Van Dorn-Pentagon Rapid Bus: New rapid bus service in the City of Alexandria from the Van Dorn Metrorail Station in the City of Alexandria to the Pentagon. It will incorporate limited stop service, signal prioritization, super stops, and possibly queue jump lanes; however, the City of Alexandria eventually seeks to build exclusive bus lanes on Van Dorn Street. This project is being developed partly to support a the Mark Center BRAC facility opening at Seminary Road and I-395 by September 2011.

• Theodore Roosevelt Bridge to K Street Bus Priority Improvements: This corridor is a major access point for commuters into the Washington D.C. central business district, and would receive complimentary transit signal priority and bus mounted enforcement cameras along E Street, northbound 18th Street, and southbound 19th Street. Local money may be provided for dedicated curbside bus lanes, if deemed feasible.

• 14th Street Bus Priority Improvements: This is a major access point for commuters into the Washington D.C. central business district, and includes complimentary transit signal priority and bus mounted enforcement cameras along 14th Street from the bridge to K Street. Bus only lanes may be included along 14th Street to south of Constitution Ave, which is consistent with a current federal EIS process to reconfigure the bridge in concert with HOT lane development on I-395 south of the bridge. Local money may be provided to extend the bus only lanes to K Street.

• I-95/395 Multimodal Improvements: Station improvements at Pentagon Station and Franconia/Springfield Station, including bus bays, real time bus information, and traffic circulation/access/security improvements. Major technology improvements include a mobile web application for real-time bus information, bus information display, cameras outfitted on 40 buses, computer-aided dispatch and automatic vehicle location technology. Finally, this component includes the retirement of 13 buses, replacing them with state-of-the-art clean-fuel technology.

• Takoma/Langley Transit Center: This bustling intersection is one of the busiest transit locations in the DC area, however bus stops are currently scattered far from each other at different locations around the intersection. The new transit center will consolidate all the bus stops at the intersection into one facility. This will eliminate the need for transferring passengers to cross wide and busy roads where there is an unfortunate history of vehicles colliding with pedestrians. This will also provide a permanent and visible transit amenity. Through new bus bays, pedestrian walkways, a full canopy, restrooms, lighting, and bus information, the transit center will ultimately provide a safe, attractive, comfortable and efficient facility for passengers and for bus transfer activities, and will also improve pedestrian safety, accessibility, and connections to bus services in an area that is largely low income and transit dependent.

It doesn't fund the Medical Center underpass, a second entrance to Rosslyn Metro, I-66 bus, bike sharing, or K Street. The table on page 11 of the application shows all of the improvements requested and their individual dollar amounts.

According to a so-far-unconfirmed rumor, the K Street project scored very highly on the metrics USDOT was using, but they excluded it because of potential bad press surrounding any funds going to "K Street" with its lobbyist connotations. If that's true, DC should immediately introduce a bill to rename K Street as "Abraham Lincoln Boulevard" or something. While they're at it, maybe they should rename Capitol Hill just in case.

Or, that could be totally false, and they simply decided that the Washington region could get almost $60 million but, at nearly $140 million, the K Street project was too large and more money had to go to other cities.