When comparing costs of various modes of transit, units measured "per passenger-mile" are very common. It makes sense intuitively – people take trips of varying length, and longer trips are more expensive than shorter trips, so the desire to standardize and compare makes us want to simply divide … [Read more...]
Environmentalism vs. density
Recently I was reading an article about the death-by-delay of an upzoning proposal near a train station in Boston because the property might have been "considered 'priority habitat' for rare species, including the eastern box turtle," and I thought about all the times I've heard of opponents of … [Read more...]
Weekend links
Links, links, links!1. The Washington City Paper has a great expose on street food in DC called "Inside D.C.'s Food-Truck Wars" with the subtitle "How some of Washington's most powerful interests are trying to curb the city's most popular new cuisine."2. Mary Newsom at the Charlotte Observer … [Read more...]
Building what you can
by Stephen SmithBLDG blog has a cool post about a book by two architects about "minor development," or small construction projects that don't require planning permission – things like sheds, garages, and extensions. It talks about recent legal changes in Europe that have encouraged this sort of … [Read more...]
A comment on rolling stock protectionism
by Stephen SmithIn response to an article I posted yesterday about protectionism in public transit procurement, frequent commenter Alon Levy left this great comment about the history of rolling stock procurement in the US:What happened in the 1970s was that the rolling stock market shrank, … [Read more...]
North Jersey jitneys take off
by Stephen SmithIn the past few years, a relatively new phenomenon seems to be taking hold in cities across North Jersey: the jitney. Similar to the dollar vans that ply the streets of Brooklyn and Queens, jitneys carry more than a taxi but less than a full-sized bus, and run semi-regular … [Read more...]
“Buy American” drives up cost of transit
by Stephen SmithAs if America's public transportation networks weren't hobbled enough by union wages and pensions, the Obama administration's "Buy American" pandering is adding to the burden. One streetcar line in Houston has been sent back to the drawing board because it didn't comply with … [Read more...]
Lazy link list
by Stephen SmithBehold, a list of links that's turned into a list of short paragraphs:1. The greater DC area is considering a "massive new toll system" – 1,650 miles of "variably priced" lanes – along with a "500-mile rapid transit bus system" along the toll roads (in my opinion, a BRT would … [Read more...]