We want to commend this committee and the Mayor for advancing a commuter benefits provision in the Sustainable DC Act which would allow workers to opt for pre-tax transit commute benefits or enable workers to receive a transit rather than parking commute benefit offered by his or her employer. We are eager to continue to work with the committee to refine this bill to cover most employers since compliance does not cost the employer anything, and to add a “parking cashout” provision which gives walk and bicycle commuters the option to cashout a parking subsidy if one is provided by the employer.
Author: Elena Sorokina
Testimony Re: DC Transit Benefit Bill
We want to express our strong support for the transit benefits provision of Title III, Subitle A of Bill 20-573. We applaud this definitive step to encourage riding transit, and help level the playing field for subsidies that incentivize driving over using transit.
Planners approve transportation priorities for D.C. region
People who represent the fragmented jurisdictions across the D.C. region agreed Wednesday on a set of priorities for transportation planners.
The plan adopted unanimously by the Transportation Planning Board urges local governments to think regionally in selecting projects, emphasize ones that fix the road and transit network we already have, strengthen public confidence in their decisions and give people more options about how to travel.
The Regional Transportation Priorities Plan attempts to shape planners’ thinking in choosing projects, but it doesn’t name any projects to advance. The lack of specificity frustrates some transportation advocates, including Bob Chase, the president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance. He refers to it as an Alice’s Restaurant “You can get anything you want” approach to planning.
Supporters, including Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, see progress in the fact that a planning panel is willing to set regional priorities. Virginia, the District and Maryland have their separate systems for selecting and advancing projects. They are more responsive to local interests than to regional needs. While Schwartz has criticized aspects of the plan, he has supported its emphasis on fixing things first, and on improving the efficiency of the existing road and rail network.
The priorities plan doesn’t affect the underlying structure of local planning. but the formal regional support for its goals could influence upcoming decisions. The power of the Transportation Planning Board lies in the legal need for the jurisdictions to incorporate their projects in the region’s Constrained Long-Range Transportation Plan.
The priorities plan now becomes a policy guide for local and state leaders who want to get their projects into the regional long-range plan. Local travelers naturally remain more focused on how they’re going to get home tonight rather than on what the transportation network will look like in a decade or two. But as they back up on the Beltway or squeeze aboard crowded Metro trains, many do wonder if there is any connection between their plight and the planning process.
The plan approved Wednesday is one of those rare documents dedicated to the lateRonald F. Kirby, who as director of transportation planning for the board, guided the development of the document. The dedication says in part: “This plan, which Ron worked tirelessly to develop, is a reflection of his innovative yet pragmatic approach to improving the region’s transportation system and making the region a better place.”
The plan’s priorities are grouped into three areas.
Meet existing obligations. Maintain the region’s existing transportation system. For example: Fix Metro and maintain it in a state of good repair.
Strengthen public confidence and ensure fairness. Pursue greater accountability, efficiency and access to transportation for everyone.
Move more people, more efficiently. Make strategic decisions to lessen crowding and congestion on the region’s roadways and transit system to accommodate growth.
Use this link to see the Regional Transportation Priorities Plan.
Todd Turner, a Bowie city council member and chairman of the priority plan task force, said the existence of such a plan, underpinned by a survey that sought public opinion on these priorities, will help restore public confidence in transportation planning. “But people have to take leadership in their own communities,” he said. In effect, addressing his local government colleagues across the region, he added: “We’re giving you the guidance. It’s up to you to do it.”
Read the original article at Washington Post >>
Photo Credit: Gerald Marineau
Ten Things I Learned at TransportationCamp
TransportationCamp DC ‘14, organized by Mobility Lab, Open Plans, Conveyal, Young Professionals in Transportation, the Transportation Research Board, and the George Mason University School of Public Policy, took place Saturday.
With more than 400 registered attendees (totally sold out), the third-annual conference in D.C. (it happens in other places like Atlanta and San Francisco as well) contained more information than one person could process, and innumerable lessons as well. Still, I’ve managed to enumerate 10 of them, in no particular order:
1. The importance of being an “unconference.” TransportationCamp, as a user-driven conference (or “unconference”), has a collaborative and empowering feel unlike most other typical conferences. As Paul Mackie, my friend and colleague at Mobility Lab, said, “At most conferences, you simply sit and listen to speaker after speaker. TransportationCamp offers inspiration on some aspect of your work that you are currently trying to complete. There will no doubt be tons of apps and products that will result from the networking there.”
2. TransportationCamp = technology. The event – with a Collaboration Site and whose attendees and organizers undoubtedly put stress on Twitter’s and Google Docs’ servers (tweets from the event can be seen at the Twitter hash tag #transpo) – uses technology in ways other organizations can and should emulate.
3. Collaborate, don’t compete. The vibe at the conference was one of tremendous collaboration, unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Mackie concurs, stating, “One small and simple example came from the excellent marketing session. A signup sheet was passed around so that transit marketers can start a listserv to work together towards getting more people educated and excited about transportation options that don’t involve driving alone.”
4. Open up data, and transform organizations. The emphasis on collaboration and opening up datasets is built in to the DNA of the participants at TransportationCamp, who seem determined to transform the old guard of transportation agencies as well. WMATA and DOT (and many others from around the country) were represented at the Camp, boding well for the future of these organizations.
5. “It’s all about the share.” That line was used by one participant at a breakout session I attended on mobility management. The future of transportation is all about the sharing economy: for example, bike sharing, car sharing, and information sharing.
6. Our industry is underfunded. The bang-for-your-buck produced by “transportation demand management” (for example) isn’t a secret, yet I ran across many transportation professionals whose full-time jobs are unrelated to this industry, or who are only part-time employed in our field. We need to lobby harder for funding.
7. We are passionate and idealistic. The fact that many of us at the Camp were essentially unfunded underlines another important issue: we are people who believe in our industry, who are passionate about transportation and technology. And as cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For indeed, that’s all who ever have.”
8. Marketing is essential but not well understood. The marketing session I attended, led by, among others, Alex Baca, communications coordinator of the Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA), brought home the issue that while many of us know how important marketing is, we’re a little in the dark as to how to engage in it. Aimee Custis, communications manager of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, shared some of her valuable experience (among others: include people in photos of transportation), and the above-referenced listserv means members of that break-out group are going to share insights post-Camp as well.
9. Infrastructure is important. Mobility Lab Contributor Kurt Raschke, one of the developers of the OneBusAway infrastructure on display at the event, explained this takeaway to me: “People are far more interested in end results than the elegance of the underlying infrastructure. Our challenge is to make infrastructure something that the average person sees as important and values, because it has a huge long-term impact on sustainability.” Rashke’s infrastructure is one that’s truly open, available as an API for free to developers.
10. Equity issues can be tackled with ingenuity. The intersection between land use and transportation and the way these affect equity and access are issues that keep coming up, but more and more are being addressed by people passionate about the issue. Capital Bikeshare of D.C., for example, is extending memberships to low-income and homeless residents of the city via a partnership with Back on My Feet.
Read the original article at Mobility Lab >>
Photo Credit: M.V. Jantzen
Testimony Re: Southern Green Line Station Area Sector Plan and Endorsed Sectional Map Amendment
Regrettably, the Coalition for Smarter Growth expresses its opposition to the proposed amendments to the Adopted Southern Green Line Station Area Sector Plan and Endorsed Sectional Map Amendment. While we have testified in support of many helpful bills and resolutions that advance the County’s efforts to attract high quality investments around its Metro stations, we regret that this proposed overlay, while well-intentioned, is likely to do more harm than good …
Update on The Bi-County Parkway: A Chance to “Take a Second Look”
During his campaign, Governor McAuliffe said he would take a hard-look at the controversial $440 million Bi-County Parkway, reevaluating this project and others proposed by VDOT. In his campaign platform, under the section titled “Pick the right projects; build the best ones,” he stated:
Letter to Montgomery County Planning Board Re: State Transportation Funding Priorities
Dear Planning Board: Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the county’s Transportation Priority Letter. My name is Cheryl Cort and I am speaking on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the leading non-profit group advocating for transit and walkable communities in the DC region, which counts thousands of supporters in Montgomery County. We’d like to remind the Board that state law governing the priority letter process “requires MDOT and the local jurisdictions seeking project fundi…
Letter of support for Alexandria’s King Street Bike Lanes
Mayor Euille and Members of Council: I have been quite surprised and concerned that opponents to safe, connected bike lanes on King Street between the Metro and Janneys Lane have elevated the issue to make it a national cause célèbre in conservative circles with extremely hostile OpEds in the Wall Street Journal and the American Spectator. They are bringing negative publicity upon Alexandria and threaten the ability of our city to attract young, well-educated, creative, entrepreneurial workers that are so critical to the future of our economy and tax base. Alexandria has been making great progress in bringing sustainable new development, investing in new transit, setting up bike-sharing, and more, but this particular debate is casting a shadow on that progress and will chase away the creative economy workforce and the businesses they attract…
Group appeals 460 plan
Representatives from nine groups opposed to the new Route 460 have put their names on a letter to governor-elect Terry McAuliffe, calling on him to halt the project immediately.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, Virginia League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter, Virginia Conservation Network, The Piedmont Environmental Council, The Coalition for Smarter Growth, Blackwater Nottoway Riverkeeper Program, Partnership for Smarter Growth and Wetlands Watch sent the letter to McAuliffe on Dec. 18.
“The proposed new U.S. Route 460 is one project that does not make sense economically or environmentally, and we agree with your recent statements about the wisdom of halting further spending on this project pending careful consideration of its merits,” the groups wrote.
“We believe the new Route 460 proposal is clearly not in the best interests of the commonwealth, and therefore urge you to take the further step of terminating this project.”
The groups claim the limited-access toll road would run parallel to an existing 460 that is underutilized to begin with, and note the $1.4-billion cost hits taxpayers for almost $1.2 billion while the rest comes from tolls.
Taxpayers will have to pay to maintain both new and existing roads, they say, and the project “would cause significant environmental harm, yet it would do little to address the critical transportation needs of the Hampton Roads region.”
Money earmarked for the project would be better spent on upgrading the existing Route 460, rail in the 460 corridor, Interstate 64 or U.S. Route 58, building the I-564 to I-664 connector, or extending light rail to Virginia Beach, they say.
Also, transportation officials should consider “buying down” the cost of coming tolls on the Midtown and Downtown tunnels, the groups write.
The letter goes on to cite a recent sizeable expansion in estimated wetlands impacts, describing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ concerns regarding the environmental cost versus public benefit, as well as mentioning impacts on farms and open space, habitat of endangered species, and air and water quality.
The project would “spur inefficient development along its lengthy route,” the groups wrote.
Arguments for the project proffered by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the outgoing Gov. Bob McDonnell, including freight and economic development, traffic and safety, hurricane evacuation and military connectivity, are criticized in the letter.
“Every one of the justifications for the proposed new Route 460 can be more effectively accomplished at lower cost to taxpayers by investing in other alternatives,” the groups state.
Finally, the groups call upon McAuliffe to request the McDonnell administration halt work on the project both ongoing and planned, including engineering, design, and right-of-way acquisition.
“We hope you will agree that this project is unnecessary and would waste scarce resources that should instead be invested in projects that can do far more to address Hampton Roads’ critical transportation needs,” the letter concludes.
Some of the best travel apps to help holiday travelers this season
Need to book a hotel at the last minute? Want to find cheap gas?
Just in time for the holiday travel season, we thought we’d recommend some apps that could make your trip — whether it’s by plane, train, car or bike — a little less stressful. We consulted with travel experts, including the folks at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and our own app expert, Hayley Tsukayama (be sure to catch her app recommendations each Sunday in The Washington Post’s Business section). Thanks, too, to Aimee Custis, communications director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
We’ve tried to focus on free apps, organized by mode of travel. If there are apps out there that you love, please feel free to share them with us.
(Note: Unless otherwise noted, all apps listed are available for iOS and Android devices.)
Driving
Travelers will fill the nation’s highways this holiday season. According to AAA, 86 million people are expected to drive to their holiday destination.
Headed to see relatives? RoadNinja could make that trip a little easier (and save you some money). RoadNinja tracks your location and lets you know the price of gas at stations at upcoming exits. It also lets you know what’s at exits in the opposite direction just in case gas is cheaper going that way. The app also will tell you which restaurants, shops and other attractions are just down the road.
If your travels take you through Virginia, the Virginia Department of Transportation has its VDOT 511 app. When you switch on this app, the first thing you’ll see is the following warning: “DO NOT USE THIS APP WHILE DRIVING.” It’s a straightforward app, without a lot of fancy doodads or graphics. It gives you travel times for the state’s major routes tied to your current location. The “Basic map” tab will show you a color-coded map that helps spot delays. There’s also a link to VDOT Twitter messages grouped by region.
If your travels take you beyond Virginia, think about downloading the INRIX app, which offers just about everything a commuter or road warrior might want. There’s traffic news and a traffic map. When I set my location, I also got screenshots from VDOT’s traffic cameras. With one click, you can text or e-mail your arrival time to family and friends. The app will note construction or congestion with small icons along your planned route and places a little checkered flag icon at your destination.
Parking
If you’re big-city bound, you may need to find a place to park once you arrive.
SpotHero is a parking app that allows you to find, reserve and pay for available spaces at nearby lots. Enter the time and date you need parking and the interface will show you a map of available garages and lots, complete with the cost for the time period selected. It will give you a description of the garage or lot complete with photo and directions for where to enter. It also will tell you how far the garage is from your destination. (In some cases you’ll need to print your reservation and hand it to the valet.) SpotHero is available in Washington, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Newark and New York City.
Along those same lines, ParkWhiz helps you find available spaces — in some cases with a discount — and reserve and pay for them online. It offers you a description of the lot and a handy Google map of the location. We found it worked on garages in Washington and around the region, in such towns as Rockville and Ballston.
Flying
According to AAA, about 5.5 million holiday travelers will be flying to their destination. Frequent fliers recommend downloading the app for the airline that you’re using.
There are lots of apps that will help you track your flights, but here are two recommended by our frequent fliers:
The FlightAware app will allow you to track your flight (or that of your loved one). You can check individual airports for delays. A map will show you the flights arriving and departing into the airport of your choice. As a reporter who writes about airports, theFlightAware Web site is indispensable.
The free version of Flight Tracker operates much the same as FlightAware. Input your flight information and it will tell you what type of aircraft you’ll be flying, advise you of any delays and tell you the gate from which you’ll be departing. It also gives you a weather forecast for your destination. A minor quibble: I wish the app had the same pull-down menu of airlines that FlightAware offers.
If you get stuck or perhaps you’re looking for an escape from all that family togetherness,Hotel Tonight offers same-night reservations of hotels close to where you are. We love the ranking system, which includes categories such as “luxe,” “solid,” “basic” and “hip.” The gold bed next to your selection is the “high roller” category.
Train
Amtrak ’s mobile app offers all the basics: It will allow you to book tickets and check schedules and train status. The welcome screen has a lovely shot of a train against a scenic background. (A second app offers Amtrak’s glossy on-train magazine, Arrive). It gets pretty good reviews from users, though one said he wished service alerts were available directly from the app, noting that it’s not always convenient to go to the Web site.
Weather
Part of traveling is knowing what the weather will be at your destination. Some folks are perfectly happy with the weather app that’s packaged with their phone, but many want a bit more.
The newest AccuWeather app version offers some fresh features, including forecasts that refresh every five minutes and options that allow you to get more detail. You can easily add cities by name or by Zip code. A fun feature takes the forecast and offers advice on whether it’s good weather for, say, a barbecue or a trip to the beach. The health tab ranks the risk for particular medical conditions, such as the flu or migraines. The app also has a video and news feed.