Posts about Bus Shelters
Public Spaces
Weekend video: Coffee table at the bus, slide at the train
People generally keep to themselves at bus stops and don't find train stations the most fun places. But when designer Julie Kim added a coffee table with some flowers, it transformed the space into a focal point for conversation. And a Utrecht train station now has a slide for passengers looking for a little more fun.
Tip: Veronica Davis. GOOD LA writes,
Kim thinks that creating better environments for transit riders is certainly a missed opportunity for the city. "People wait for a while at these stops, 15 to 20 minutes," she says. "This is an opportunity for the city to engage them." Included in her growing ideas of creating "surreal, out-of-place" situations, is the idea of building exercise equipment at stops, so people could squeeze a few pull-ups in.This isn't the first time someone has tried making ordinarily utilitarian public spaces around transit facilities fun. Designers have added swings to bus stops or made stairways musical.Sadly, she's got her work cut out for her, since most corners in L.A. offer the same ugly, uncomfortable bus benches, and not much else. "Many neighborhoods in L.A. still lack built features that stimulate the senses and elicit interest at pedestrian scale," she says. "Perhaps the coffee table filled that role momentarily."
Overvecht station in Utrecht. Image via The Pop-Up City.
A Utrecht station installed a slide, which they call a "transfer accelerator," at a train station. Previously, Volkswagen had done the same, but more temporarily, in Berlin.
The MTA told Gothamist they're pretty sure New Yorkers won't be getting anything like this. Does any US city do more creative things with its public spaces beyond the rare creative bus stop? Can we ever surmount the risk of theft and fear of liability to make public spaces and transit facilities a little more engaging and enjoyable?
Transit
Bus improvements coming soon
Electronic displays at bus stops, more dedicated bus lanes, bus priority at traffic signals, a new express bus route, and more improvements are all on the way, according to representatives from DDOT and WMATA.
Photo by Greenbelt Alliance on Flickr.
At a forum last week hosted by the Coalition for Smarter Growth, DDOT Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Sustainability Karina Ricks revealed a host of exciting initiatives the department is undertaking, including:
- Installing electronic information displays inside District bus shelters, including estimated next bus arrival, directions to the nearest Zipcars and Capital Bikeshare stations and nearby bus stops, traffic and road construction alerts, and even a list of nearby restaurants. Look for a demonstration of this technology at DDOT headquarters soon!
- Studying the conversion of the curbside lane in both directions on Georgia Avenue around Howard University into dedicated bus lanes, combined with tougher enforcement and penalties for violating motorists.
- Giving buses passive traffic signal priority on many routes.
Ricks described frequent complaints DDOT gets from drivers who see Pennsylvania Avenue's bike lanes largely empty while traffic clogs the other lanes. She admonished cycling advocates to work just as strongly to defend (and encourage use of) existing bike lanes as in calling for new ones.
Ricks also outlined the three laudable policy objectives that guide DDOT:
- To make walking the mode of choice for trips of 1 mile or less, and biking the mode of choice for trips under 3 miles. A short-term goal is to have 12% of commuting trips done by bicycle by 2020 (the number is currently only 3%, though this does not include recreational and infrequent cyclists).
- To prioritize transit expansion and enhancement, making transit competitive with driving in terms of travel time, cost, convenience and reliability.
- To minimize traffic congestion and promote efficient vehicle operations.
At the same forum, WMATA Bus Planning Director Jim Hamre pointed to the popularity of express routes such as the 79, which has been extended to all-day running from 6 am to 7 pm to keep up with demand, as a reason to explore more such opportunities. He said overall trip times on the 70s line have been cut by 25% on average.
Hamre explains ridership patterns. Photo by Andrew Bossi on Flickr.
- The December introduction of an express X9 bus on the District's H Street-Benning Road corridor, connecting Capitol Heights to the heart of downtown.
- Replacing the 13A and 13B buses, looping between downtown DC and Crystal City, with extensions of the 17F and 17E to Federal Triangle.
- Restructuring Metrobus routes serving Greenbelt to better cover the community and improve reliability.
- Hiring a full staff of service managers, redefinition of the roles of existing managers, incorporation of better real-time data monitoring, and personality evaluations for new bus operators. Driver cameras in new buses are used in coaching operators on better navigating their routes and treating riders courteously.
In addition, WMATA is completing a study of the K6 (New Hampshire Avenue from Fort Totten to White Oak through Takoma Park and Langley Park), and will soon release recommendations, including to run limited-stop service from Fort Totten to Northwest Park.
Overall, Hamre said, more TIGER capital funding would be helpful in making speedier bus service a reality.
Ricks admitted that the need for speedier bus service on K Street NW is still a big issue that needs to be tackled, and expressed hope that the National Capital Planning Commission (which hosted the forum) might help in this.
As has oft been repeated here, your involvement in public decisionmaking
Public Spaces
Shovel brigades clear out sidewalks and bus stops
While some people look forward to getting their street plowed after weeks of heavy snowfall, those who walk or use public transit to get around have a whole new problem: snowplows often push the snow into the sidewalk, leaving piles of hardened, icy snow several feet high.
Photo by Hans Riemer.
No doubt you've seen people walking along the sides of major local roads, like Randolph Road in Montgomery County, Massachusetts Avenue in DC, and Columbia Pike in Arlington, as speeding cars swerve around them.
That's why we called for volunteers to shovel out sidewalks and bus stops across the region yesterday. The idea expanded upon the group in Tenleytown that Neil Flanagan and ANC 3E Chairman Jon Bender organized last Thursday.
Readers Marc, Paul, and Eric joined Dennis Jaffe and Stephen Miller to work along 16th Street in Columbia Heights. Hans Riemer, Kathy Jentz and Tina Slater attacked bus stops in downtown Silver Spring.
Left: Tina Slater and Kathy Jentz survey a buried bus stop at Fenton and Bonifant streets. Right: Hans Riemer clears a bus stop at Fenton Street and Thayer Avenue. Photos by Hans Riemer.
Others picked icy but high-traffic patches of sidewalk, like commenters mogwit and rallycap, who tackled the M Street bridge between Foggy Bottom and Georgetown, and David Alpert and reader Rob along Q Street across the Connecticut Avenue underpass.
The call inspired many to shovel out individual bus stops near their homes. Lance Brown worked on his stop at Benning Road and 16th Street NE, and RAC member Penny Everline and her husband shoveled in Clarendon. Even Washington Post technology columnist Rob Pegoraro wrote that he shoveled out his local stop.
Left: David Alpert and Rob break up thick ice on the Connecticut Avenue overpass. Right: The Tenleytown group tackles a corner on Wisconsin Avenue. Photos by Neil Flanagan.
Over a dozen neighbors from all over Tenleytown worked together to open up paths and make walking safe and easy again, including Ben Nieva, Mike Sires, Steve Kelley, Athan Manuel, Angie Das, Hedda Garland, Felix Garland, Jenny McCarthy and Chris Frantz, as well as some whose names Neil might not have recorded.
That group focused on the street corners, which had become less passable with every visit by the plows. The delay of one day had allowed most owners and businesses to clear their sidewalks, but the hardening slush in the streets was still tripping people up. They even put down some salt and sand provided by the local Ace hardware store. The Current sent out a reporter, who also recorded an audio segment for WAMU.
Unfortunately, snow on many busy sidewalks had already condensed into packs of ice, preventing the group from clearing more. David and Rob were only able to clear about 60% of the sidewalk across Connecticut Avenue after two hours.
Many businesses and organizations also deserve attention for their lack of effort. In Tenleytown, Neisha Thai and several other establishments south of the Metro stood out. Circle Management left their construction site next to the Metro uncleared, while they or their tenants fulfilled the responsibility on the rest of their properties.
The Georgetown Day School shoveled its 42nd Street Sidewalks well enough, but its long stretch of sidewalk on River Road was left completely untouched. Finally, the National Park Service proved the worst offender, shoveling none of their many properties around Tenleytown. There are similar stories in neighborhoods all around the region.
But while other people let down their neighbors, it was reassuring to see so many people out on a snow day, helping each other out. Everyone came away knowing the others a little better as well.
Transit
New bus stop design taking shape
Metro is defining new standards for bus stops and shelters, including the size, spacing from curbs and corners, wheelchair accessibility, information, and spacing.
They will present the latest plans to the Board tomorrow. Metro doesn't actually maintain bus stops; local jurisdictions do, but standards can push local jurisdictions to make bus stops relatively uniform.
The informational signs on bus stops will get a significant overhaul to make them more usable. Right now, each jurisdiction attaches "flags" for its own local buses to stops, creating a crazy patchwork (PDF). Express buses like MetroExtra or the recently revised 30s buses have their own logos as well. The new design combines Metrobuses into a single flag, extending the new color scheme of red for local and blue for express. Other buses like ART, Ride-On, etc. will have their own flags below the main one, in similar fonts but different colors and with their own logos. The bus route numbers will be very large to aid accessibility for the visually impaired.
Metro also plans to improve the schedule listings in the vertical information case on the poles. Today, the cases show a schedule for the entire route. If the bus stop is not one of the major points, then the schedule doesn't say at what time the bus is supposed to arrive, and riders have to interpolate between the nearest two points, assuming they know what these are. Instead, the new design shows only the times when a bus is supposed to show up at that particular stop. A horizontal bar along the bottom will list major destinations farther along the route, and the approximate number of minutes the bus takes to get there.
This is a huge improvement in many ways. At many bus stops, it's too easy to get confused about which buses go to a particular destination. A bus showing up with a final destination sign of "Southern Avenue" doesn't make this easier. That will still be a problem at some very low-ridership bus stops, since the standards recommend information cases for stops exceeding 50 boardings a day, but almost any stop which a casual rider or tourist will use in an area that's not just their own neighborhood should exceed this threshold.
The one change that RAC members suggested when they saw this last month was to modify the grid of times. The proposed design lists the times in a table, reading horizontally. But many members noted that riders could easily assume they are supposed to read downward, like a schedule, to see arrival times; coloring alternate columns in gray, as the design does, further reinforces this incorrect conclusion.
Metro should consider a visual design, like stem and leaf schedules, that has no visual cues promoting a false reading of the list. When we see a grid, we assume that items relate to those left and right as well as those above and below. But that's not the case here. The stem and leaf schedule, or other layouts with horizontal but not vertical continuity, would maximize usability of these schedules.
Finally, the standards recommend revising bus stop spacing to 4-5 per mile, as we discussed recently. Overall, Metro has done a nice job of improving the bus stops, and more importantly, has communicated their thoughts to the RAC, the Accessibility Advisory Committee, the Board, and others to hear input. Even if they don't make every choice I would, we know they won't overlook anything huge, the way the SmarTrip team did when designing the new SmartBenefits system.
Transit
Bus stops: Guess the location
Several of you sent in a great post on Toxel showing "unusual and creative bus stops" from around the world. Each of them seems to reflect some element of its environment, from the design sensibility of the area to the weather to the cutural quirks. Can you guess the country or city where each of these is located?
Post your guesses in the comments. I'll update with the answers later. If you already saw this, please don't give the answers away to everyone else.
Development
On the calendar: Giant projects and public reactions
Enjoy hot cider and baked goods, meet with neighbors, and learn more about the proposed supermarket, residences, and neighborhood retail and amenities. See renderings of the proposed project. Find out how to express your views and let your voice be heard in the approval process. GC Murphy's, on Wisconsin Avenue between Macomb and Newark Streets, on the site of the proposed Giant development.The X3, 96, and 30s buses all run right by the Giant, so it's easy to get to the holiday party without driving. (The great bus service to this corner is also big reason why walkable development is the right choice at this spot.)
Weigh in on priorities for Hine Junior High: At the last community meeting to discuss the future of Hine Junior High on Capitol Hill, residents disagreed about whether the new use should accommodate youth, how much parking the site needs, and more. Help to continue to refine the vision, hopefully in a livable, walkable direction, at the third community meeting Saturday, 10-11:30 am at Tyler Elementary, 1001 G St, SE (just a few blocks from Eastern Market).
See plans for the McMillan Sand Filtration Site: This large parcel at Michigan and North Capitol is slated to become a brand-new neighborhood. See the plans and give feedback Saturday, 10 am-noon at Trinity University's Social Hall, 125 Michigan Ave. NE. Or just see the proposal online at Bloomingdale (For Now).
Next week: Monday night, the Sustainability area of the DC Zoning Update will discuss how our zoning can address water conservation and protection. 6:30-8:30 pm at 441 4th St NW, 11th Floor, Room 1107.
Wednesday evening is the public meeting on bus stop standards, 5-7:30 pm at WMATA headquarters, 600 5th Street, NW.
I'm also interested in hearing what people have to say at the ANC 4B meeting on Georgia Avenue development, including the proposed Sheridan Theatre landmarking and proposals for the Curtis Chevrolet (Georgia and Missouri) and Sabor Restaurant (Georgia and Sheridan) sites. 7 pm, Takoma Rec Center, 300 Van Buren Street, NW.
Update: I knew I was forgetting something this weekend. I've added the McMillan Sand Filtration Site community meeting, also Saturday.
Transit
What should our bus stop standards be?
Remember the debate in Chevy Chase DC about bus shelters? One resident opposed any bus shelters in front of her house because they "make the neighborhood feel urban." Neighbors suggest that instead of forcing people to stand in the rain, perhaps shelters in that area could reflect the local character.
Not our future bus stop standards. Dubai photo by elvis_payne on Flickr.
WMATA is embarking on a project to develop guidelines for bus stops. They hope these guidelines will not only affect Metrobus stops, but also Circulator, Ride-On, The Bus, ART, and the many other individual local buses across the region. And there's a public meeting on the topic on Wednesday, December 17th, 5-7:30 pm at WMATA headquarters, 600 5th Street, NW.
But design is only one part of the scope of this project:
These guidelines will assist WMATA and its member jurisdictions in applying a more uniform method for stop location and design. The current spacing of stops along routes, and the impact of consolidating bus stops along corridors where stops are currently spaced very close together, will also be examined as part of this project.Many of our buses stop every single block. Each stop helps the riders who live right on that block, but slow down everyone else. We need to ensure that buses are still accessible to the elderly and people with disabilities; at the same time, many people would ride buses (and thus not contribute to traffic) if they moved faster. We need to find a balance.
John Catoe's general strategy, which he implemented in LA, is to combine some local buses with express buses. Still, there are many bus stops which we should still eliminate from our current routes today, before we have expresses, and on routes which will never see express service. This project aims to determine standards for when it's right and wrong to consolidate stops, beyond simply whether or not some neighbors scream loudly enough. In general, I think every third block is a reasonable spacing, since anyone only needs to walk along the route one block to reach a stop.
What do you think the standards should be? What other standards do we need, and what flexibility do we need to deviate from standards, for our bus stops?
The meeting is structured as an open house, open from 5 to 7:30, with presentations at 5:30 and 6:30.
Transit
Are bus shelters too "urban" for Chevy Chase?
Chevy Chase, DC not only sits at the edge of DC, it straddles the psychological line between feeling like part of the city and feeling like a suburb. Its name even matches the bordering suburban town, but its older, urban street grid and decent walkability relate more closely to the surrounding DC neighborhoods.
Photo by Daquella manera on Flickr.
The latest debate: bus shelters. One resident wrote this on the Chevy Chase list:
I just discovered that someone (don't know who) put in a request to have a bus shelter installed in FRONT of my house [on Nebraska Ave]. There is no way I am going to allow this to happen!How "urban" is Chevy Chase? One resident pointed out that Nebraska really isn't just a little residential street, and as another said, "like it or not, we do live in an urban environment." One homeowner who lives near a bus stop explained how installing more soundproof windows had eliminated most bus noise.Please do NOT make any requests for bus shelters om residential streets in Chevy Chase. It makes the neigborhood feel urban and it's not pretty at all.
To list participants, bus shelters are either an ugly intrusion of an unwelcome urban atmosphere on the leafy community, or a valuable courtesy and convenience. As one wrote, "How would anyone feel with a large unattractive metal bus stand in front of their home? Much drier than I feel waiting for a bus unsheltered in the rain." But another neighbor argued that being sheltered from the elements isn't that important; after all, just to get to the bus stop, a rider ought to be dressed appropriately for the weather.
Clearly, the way people perceive bus shelters has a lot to do with whether they ride the bus. How about a compromise?
The problem could stem from a "one size fits all" attitude toward the design of bus shelters. Maybe side streets in neighborhoods like ours don't need shelters as large or visually disruptive as more dense urban neighborhoods or busier main streets like Connecticut Avenue. Why not a bus stop sign with some sort of built-in modest overhead protection sufficient to cover a couple people? A design that reflects the more suburban character of neighborhoods like Chevy Chase.What do you think? The list owner gave permission for me to quote anonymously, but also asked me to report suggestions back to the community. I'll forward along any comments posted here that would contribute positively to their discussion.
Meanwhile, speaking of Nebraska Avenue, residents' requests to reduce vehicle speeds have borne some fruit. According to the Current (start, continuation), DDOT will add a few median islands and some bulb-outs (but weren't they already planning bulb-outs?), and a wider painted median. At the ANC meeting, some residents disputed the effectiveness of bulb-outs, but engineer Mohammed Khalid held firm in his knowledge that bulb-outs do slow traffic.
How about a bike lane? Residents didn't seem opposed, even when DDOT's Kathleen Penney pointed out that a bike lane would necessitate removing parking from one side of Nebraska. According to former Commissioner Frank Buchholz, that's fine, because "nobody parks there."
Public Spaces
Swinging bus stops
Why can't bus stops be fun as well as functional? (Treehugger; tip: Neha)
@ggwash
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- Amid scandal, don't lose sight of Gray's policy achievements
- Montgomery plans 160-mile, "gold standard" BRT system
- Bethesda gets new but terrible bike racks
- DC's parks are 5th best in the nation, says "Park Score"
- VDOT ignores own data, pushes widening I-66
- DC's divide need not be black and white
Greater Washington
District of Columbia
