News Notables: 11/25/08

I've noticed a few newsworthy items recently. I thought I'd pass along some links.

Metro advises patrons to walk--if you live within 2 miles of the Capitol. Expecting large crowds, perhaps up to 1 million riders by noon on January 20th, WMATA officials are encouraging urban riders who can to walk to the Mall. It is likely that even if you go to a Metro station near your home, trains coming in from the 'burbs will be pretty full already.

Who will be the newest Navy Yard Metro commuter? The Washington Post discusses the prospects for the next Secretary of Transportation. And there certainly are hurdles. From Reauthorization to an empty Trust Fund, our nation's crumbling infrastructure needs a big advocate from USDOT.

Space-Age Transit for the Silicon Valley: The measure to extend BART from Warm Springs (near Fremont) to San Jose narrowly passed on November 4, but we're just finding out about it now. After counting absentee and provisional ballots, it seems the transit tax achieved the requisite 66.67% needed to pass. The extension will be 16 miles in length and will charge a 1/8 cent sales tax to fund construction and operations. The tax will only be collected if federal funding is obtained. The line will open in 2018.

West Virginians speak out against MARC Cuts: Apparently, MTA is considering a proposal to terminate all MARC service at Brunswick, Maryland. Riders from the West Virginia Panhandle aren't too happy, either. This would eliminate service to Harpers Ferry, Duffields, and Martinsburg, WV. An interesting aside, West Virginia does not seem to subsidize the service, something I was not aware of.

Got a transit headline? Send it to me: matt.tracktwentynine@gmail.com

MTA Light Rail Service Improves

Last week, I reported on MTA's Light Rail disruptions up in Baltimore. Service will be much improved starting Sunday, November 23 2008. The Penn-Camden Shuttle will still not operate, and many trains will only be one car long, but service to Hunt Valley has been restored.

Trains will operate every 15 minutes between Hunt Valley and Linthicum and every 30 minutes on the branches to BWI and Cromwell/Glen Burnie.

Understanding the Blue Line Reroute

Metro's growth in ridership has never been pain free, but overcrowding on the Orange Line is reaching absurd levels. WMATA has already lengthened many trains to 8 cars, which is the length of the platforms. A shortage of rollingstock and power substation issues are preventing more trains from being lengthened, but even so, the day is coming when nothing can be done but add trains.

This unfortunately, can only happen at the expense of the Blue Line.

Metro trains can operate 90 seconds apart, but require 135 seconds of separation at locations where switches must be realigned between trains. In this case, the bottleneck is the "Rosslyn Portal," the area of tunnel just west of Rosslyn Station, where the Blue and Orange Lines diverge.

Planners at WMATA have gotten a little extra capacity out of the system by running two consecutive Orange Line trains followed by one Blue Line train. This way, the switches don't need to be realigned as much--and that saves 45 seconds. This is possible because for every 2 Blue trains, WMATA runs 3 Orange trains. Still, the throughput is limited.

Since pictures are worth more than words, I'll just demonstrate by referring to the diagram below. *If you don't understand something, leave a comment, and I'll try to address it.*

Based on the 135 second headway, WMATA can run 5 trains through a given segment of track every 12 minutes. Each the diagrams below represents a 12 minute interval during rush hour. Each of the lines on the diagram represents a train in each direction. Therefore, a trackway with two lines (like between Navy Yard and Anacostia) represents a headway of 6 minutes--12/2.

The first diagram represents WMATA's current service pattern during rush hours.

*In the first version of my maps, I erroneously showed the Yellow Line going all the way to Fort Totten. During rush periods, the Yellow Line terminates at Mount Vernon Square. The corrected map is below.


The chief limitation for the Orange Line, as you can see here is the 4 minute headway on the Vienna-Rosslyn segment. Adding one train would reduce headways to 3 minutes and would add a capacity of 1000-1400 passengers for every 12 minute period. Any additional capacity is sorely needed, but the segment of track between Rosslyn and Stadium Armory is essentially at capacity.

Hence the so-called "Blue Line Split." Under this proposal, approximately every other Blue Line train leaving Franconia-Springfield would follow the Yellow Line across the Potomac, and up to Greenbelt. While this would shave about 8 minutes off of a trip between Franconia and L'Enfant, it would decrease the frequency of trains running directly to Rosslyn, Farragut, and Metro Center from Franconia. According to Metro reports, however, trips from the Alexandria/southern Fairfax stations to Farragut and Metro Center have been decreasing (by about 4%) while trips to the east side of Downtown (L'Enfant, Gallery Place) have been increasing (by 11%).

Here's what WMATA is proposing:

*In the first version of my maps, I erroneously showed the Yellow Line going all the way to Fort Totten. During rush periods, the Yellow Line terminates at Mount Vernon Square. The corrected map is below.


Under this scenario, all stations maintain their current headways or increase them except for Arlington Cemetery. To offset the Blue Line trains to Greenbelt on the east side of the system, the new Orange Line train that will be running in place of the Blue Line train will also run to Largo.

While the Blue Line via Rosslyn is certainly less patronized, there could still be potential for overcrowding. This could be alleviated by making sure that all Blues via Rosslyn are 8 cars (which hold about 400 more passengers than a 6-car train).

Still, some are understandably upset. But there is a greater good to think about. All they need to do is get to the Metro station 6 minutes earlier, and they'll get to work 6 minutes earlier. There is no trip time impact to Blue Line trains operating via Rosslyn. Of course, that's assuming that normal operations are underway. Since the Blue Line Split will increase efficiency and reliability at the Rosslyn Portal, riders via Rosslyn on both Blue and Orange Lines will experience fewer delays, and therefore an increased trip time on average (not considering wait times).

To analyze the travel time cost to riders, I created an additional schematic (I've spent several hours this week working on this post--that's what having a cold is good for). The schematic on the left side of the diagram shows the current travel times. Assuming someone wanted to leave Franconia-Springfield at 7:30, they would take train "A." Were they to miss that train, the next one (B) would leave 6 minutes later at 7:36. Since trains take the same routing, B would arrive at each destination 6 minutes after A. Passengers wishing to travel to L'Enfant would save 5 minutes by transferring to the Yellow Line at King Street or Pentagon.

On the right side of the diagram, I've shown projected travel times (based on current station-station travel times) with the Blue Line Split. Since approximately every other Blue train at rush hour would follow the Yellow Line, I've assumed that train A would be the re-routed train. It has the same departure time from Franconia as train A does under the current travel time scenario.

Passengers traveling to L'Enfant now save 9 minutes over the one-seat ride, and 5 minutes over the transfer-to-Yellow ride. Passengers traveling to Farragut West and Metro Center would still get to work quicker by waiting 6 additional minutes at Franconia for train B, but they would only be saving 3 minutes over train A. But their trip is not actually longer, just their wait. Since trains (even Metro trains) run on schedules--and remember, this rerouting will help on-time performance--the riders in question can just show up at Franconia (in the AM) or Farragut (in the PM) 6 minutes earlier or later and get to work in the same time.

The only people inconvenienced by this plan are people traveling to Arlington Cemetery during rush hours. Most of them are tourists, and can use their additional 6 minutes of waiting to puzzle over the Metro map or stand at the top of an escalator.

Therefore, I judge the direct cost to Franconia->Farragut riders as 6 minutes each way. Some will not like this. They are already complaining to Dr. Gridlock and Metro, but the time savings for everyone else in the system is quite appreciable.


Some have also contended that this scenario will cause confusion. Staff at WMATA have proposed dubbing the reroute, which would only occur during rush hours, the Brown Line. David over at Greater Greater Washington disagrees. He thinks dubbing it the Yellow Line makes the most sense, and I agree. For simplicity's sake, on the diagram showing the re-route, I have colored it light blue.

This proposal becomes even more essential (and probably assured) once the Silver Line to Dulles comes on line. With trains from Tysons and Loudoun County sharing tracks with the Orange Line between East Falls Church and Stadium-Armory, service will need to be reduced at WFC, Dunn Loring, and Vienna (see below).

These cuts would be less if the Blue Line had a separated subway along M Street, as WMATA is now proposing. Funding for this massive project has not been identified, but in my opinion is more likely under an Obama Presidency.

I also think that the Silver Line will eventually need it's own tunnel downtown. After all, as popular as the Orange Line is currently, the Silver Line will serve much more popular destinations. There's not much at Vienna, while the four stations in Tysons will be in the largest job center in the entire state of Virginia. Additionally, Silver trains will run much further into the suburbs than Orange Line trains--so they might be more popular with commuters. At the same time, I don't see the popularity of Vienna's parking garages dropping off.

*In the first version of my maps, I erroneously showed the Yellow Line going all the way to Fort Totten. During rush periods, the Yellow Line terminates at Mount Vernon Square. The corrected map is below.


Anyone have any thoughts? Questions?

Metro Plans for 1.6 Million(!) Riders Jan. 20

Yes, you did read that headline correctly. As reported earlier on Track Twenty-Nine, Metro expects to move 1.6 million riders on rail & bus for Barack Obama's inauguration. They just released their plans for the day. I'll outline them below.


But first, don't forget to vote in my poll. Do you think Metro is being overly optimistic? Tell us what you think by voting.


Metro's Plans
View the Press Release here.

Hours:

• Metro will be open from 4am 1/20 until 2am 1/21
• Continuous Rush Hour service will be operated from 4am-7pm 1/20

Service

• Archives Station [GR/YL] will be CLOSED all day 1/20
• Smithsonain Station [BL/OR] will have it's northern entrance (Nat'l Mall) CLOSED all day 1/20
• Many escalators will be turned off due to crowding
• Passengers should expect major delays in boarding immediately after the event
• Wait times could be around 30 minutes (T29 projects higher wait times, based on 7/4/08)

Parking:

• Parking will be free all day on 1/20
• Metro expects all 59,000 spaces to be filled on 1/20

*I'll update you on MARC and VRE Service when information becomes available. Stay tuned.

T-29 Projection/*New Poll*

Track Twenty-Nine is ready to make a projection:

January 20, 2009 will be Metro's highest ridership day ever.

*Don't forget to vote in my new poll*

With gas prices soaring over the summer, Metro flirted with the highest ridership date several times, finally surpassing the date of Ronald Reagan's state funeral this year on July 11. That day, free slurpies (j/k) drew 854,638 trips on Metrorail.

Before this summer, the highest ridership date had been set by mourners at the Reagan Funeral. On that date, June 9, 2004, 850,636 rides were taken. This date is currently the second-highest.

Of the top 10 highest ridership days of all time, 8 occurred during 2008. (#2 was in 2004, #9 in April of 07). But the inauuration is coming soon, and it promises to be one for the ages.

According to DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, the District is expecting between 3 and 5 million visitors to see Barack Obama's swearing in and the inaugural parade. This is unprecedented. So far, the most popular inauguration was Lyndon Johnson's in 1964, when 1.2 million citizens came out to watch. If Fenty is correct, we could see 3 times as many people this go 'round.

And the region is bracing. WTOP reports that Metro is having an all-hands-on-deck day, with every piece of available equipment ready to move passengers through the city.

Based on my experience, Fenty's projections are not unreasonable. Everyone I know has fielded calls from people looking for a place to stay. (Sorry dear readers, I'm already putting up 4 people, so I can't help you out). Even CNN commentator Donna Brazile has written about this phenomenon. People are coming with tickets or without, and hotel rooms in metropolitan Washington are booked. Yes--all of them. I hear that Baltimore and Richmond are already filling up, too.

Some are cashing in on the opportunity, and I don't blame them. But friends come first, so I'm putting my guests up for free. And I'm going down to the Mall with them to be a part of history. You know, even if I can't hear President Obama take the oath, I think it'll be worth it. I can always watch the rerun on C-SPAN when I get home.

I've put up a new poll. What do you think? Will WMATA surpass ridership records?

The prior poll asked about your plans for the Inauguration. Here are
the results:

• 41% of you live in Washington and are being swamped by calls for floor
  space.
• 37% of you are staying warm, and watching on CNN.
• 12% of you are charging exorbitant rates for a room.
• 4% of you are begging for places to stay.
• 4% of you want to know what the inauguration is.

**Update:
After writing this, but before submitting it, I recieved a press release from WMATA. They have already announced their plans for the Inauguration, and will run continuous *rush hour* service from 4am-7pm on January 20th. The system will be open from 4am-2am on that date.

The Post is now reporting that WMATA expects 1.6 million rail riders on January 20th. This would *double* the current ridership record.

***Update to the Update (2:30pm, 11/20):
The Post has corrected their story to reflect that the 1.6 million is for both rail and bus. On an average day, WMATA moves about 1.2 million customers on rail and bus (around 800,000 on rail).

Next Stop: River City

This is the second post in my series "Profiles in Transit." This series looks at transit systems around the country that I've ridden and reflects on them.

As with my first post in this series, I was able to visit Sacramento while attending the Railvolution Conference in San Francisco a few weeks ago. I mainly went to Sacramento to ride their light rail system, but I did take time to visit some other things in the city. If you ever find yourself in the River City, make sure to visit the California State Railroad Museum. It's very well done.

Sacramento is a medium-sized city, and while I was there for only a few hours, it looks like it could use some work. Old Sacramento was nice, with frontier-style buildings along the river acting as a tourist attraction. After going through a pedestrian tunnel under a freeway, I found myself on the edge of a large shopping mall. This retail center has colonized several city blocks (with bridges over streets and such). On the edges, it turns a blank wall to the surrounding streets and buildings. I was very unimpressed.

Soon I arrived at a light rail stop, and hopped on. The Sacramento RT (Regional Transit) operates 37 miles of light rail on two lines. There are 45 stations in the system, which radiates out from downtown Sacramento to the Northeast, East, and South. The first segment of the system opened in 1987. With close to 50,000 average daily boardings, the Sacramento RT is the 10th busiest light rail system in the United States.

The high ridership is especially noteworthy because in my opinion, the Sacramento Light Rail was done on the cheap. That's not a bad thing. It demonstrates that we can get more bang for our buck.

Anyway, I say that it seems to have been done on the cheap for a few reasons. First off, at least downtown, the LRVs do not get their own lane. They travel in the left lane of traffic, in a similar configuration to the Portland Streetcar. This is one of the corners they probably shouldn't have cut. But some more innocuous cost reductions can be seen at stations. At one station, 12th& I, the northbound track is in its own lane, and passengers board from the eastern sidewalk. But southbound trains are in the left lane of traffic. Passengers board from the northbound trackway. I assume that RT has some kind of hold out rule to keep northbound trains out of the station while southbound trains are boarding.

A similar issue I faced, occurred when I was on my way back to the Amtrak Station. When I got off the LRT at 7th & K, I exited directly into the middle of an intersection. Sacramento RT runs 4 car trains, and these trains are longer than the downtown blocks, so when I exited the last car, I was standing in front of a row of cars (they were held by a traffic signal). It was just a little unnerving, but I suppose that it's the only way to increase capacity. One of the things I'd heard about Portland was that their LRT can't run trains longer than 2 cars because of the short blocks. But if Trimet follows RT's example, they could still board passengers while blocking cross traffic.

Another cost-saving measure is that parts of the LRT were built on already-constructed but canceled freeway bridges and abutments. That just seems practical. Plus, what's a better way to heal a city scarred by freeways than to replace the freeways with transit.

Segments Ridden:
Archives Plaza-Swanston

Stations Visited:
Archives Plaza,
8th & O,
7th & Capitol,
8th & Capitol,
7th & K,
Swanston.

Thoughts on the Sacramento LRT?

Texas Tea

Lately, oil prices have been falling like a rock. Gas, too, has been dropping. As of November 17, the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded was down to just $2.07. I can still remember when I had a learner's permit, you could get it for $0.79.

I was under the impression that most Americans understood that the recent price drop was due to a reduction in demand, but I've heard some comments in the last week which have liberated me of that opinion. The truth of the matter is that because the economy is in the toilet, people are driving less. Once the economy recovers, we'll have the same supply issues as before. This is no time to stop our efforts at reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

Still, reduced gas prices seem to have at least partially contributed to the defeat of transit ballot measures in Saint Louis and Kansas City on election day. The oil crisis is not over, it's just on hold because of the recession.

And that fact needs to be communicated to the American consumer. Right now, most are not in a position to make major structural changes in their lives. They're not going to go out and buy a new car, and they're not going to move further out into the suburbs. But they are liable to stop supporting transit-friendly and walkable community-centered policies if they think that life will go back to normal as soon as the economy improves.

I posit, however, that this is not a time like the early 1980s. In the 1980s, after high oil prices, Americans were treated to two decades of cheap energy, and they sprawled more and more. We need to realize that there aren't going to be two decades of cheap oil henceforth.

Even if oil stays cheaper than it was this summer for a while, it is going to trend upward in price. Failing to restructure our society for expensive energy only makes us even more vulnerable to the next oil shock.

While oil prices did not cause this recession, they certainly didn't help the situation. But it isn't oil that's the culprit. It would be nice to blame OPEC or China's (formerly) fast- growing economy, but the blame really lies at the feet of our lawmakers here in Washington.

By continuing to endorse sprawling development, by continuing to fund roads at a much higher rate than other modes, and by failing to tell the American people what they need to hear, the government has failed to prepare our economy for oil shocks like the one of Summer 2008. Now that the economy is tottering on the edge of recession, it makes it harder to create the necessary structural change. Certainly a New Deal type of program could create green infrastructure, and perhaps that sort of legislation will be in the works under the new administration, but this crisis in policy is something that has been in the making since the 1970s.

Unfortunately, America hit the snooze alarm after the first oil crisis in 1973, and failed to heed the wakeup call again in 1979. We allowed ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of energy security by the gas prices of the mid-1980s. We cannot afford to let that happen now.

While oil prices are currently about 1/3 of what they were in July, they won't stay this low forever. Oil closed at $54.95 on Monday 11/17. I remember the first time it climbed above $50 in my lifetime. I was a sophomore in college at the time. I thought it would be temporary, but shortly thereafter it passed $60. I was hopeful that it would mean major change in this country, both politically and geographically.

Since that date, back in March 2005, oil has not dropped below $50.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't want oil prices to hurt Americans, but I saw no other way of affecting settlement patterns. Americans respond to economic incentives, as was indicated by the shocks of 2008. Transit ridership was higher in many places than it's been in decades and national VMT dropped for the first time since 1979. Suddenly, in the face of the mortgage and housing crises, we discovered that houses near transit retain their value better.

Americans value mobility, and were beginning to realize that the car was not the only way to get around--in fact, with high gas prices, being isolated in a car-dependent suburb was suddenly not as popular as it once was.

Of course a spike is bad. A gradual increase in oil prices would give Americans a chance to adjust, but a spike on the order of what happened this summer occurs too fast to allow adaptation.

Anyway, one of President-elect Obama's most long-lasting legacies could be a reduction of America's dependence on oil (foreign or otherwise). But it will take a huge effort to change the way Americans think about energy. Carter tried and failed. However, if anyone has the ability, I think it's Obama.

Good luck, Mr. President-elect.

GM to US: 'Spare some change buddy?'

In these troubled times, there has been quite a lot of talk of bailouts. With $700 billion already in the pipe to save creditors, or bankers, or real estate (whoever it is this week) the federal government has committed a lot of resources to getting the country back on its feet.

As well it should. After all, even President Bush, who has a penchant for being out to lunch when it comes to policy, has pointed out that without decisive action on the part of governments, the world economy could sink below the level of the Great Depression.

Mr. Bush's sudden uptick in government check-writing led some TV pundits to label him as America's first socialist president. Nothing could be further from the truth. He's not a socialist; just a (really) big-spender. Socialists are usually in favor of supporting people, not companies. That's a typical Republican strategy.

So is the $700 billion going to homeowners? The unemployed? Infrastructure projects? No. It's going to banks. And the bankers and insurance agents get to go to spas with the proceeds.

Of course, from a policy standpoint, there are a multitude of reasons for the bank bailout. There are certainly reasons not to bailout corporations--and the interesting policy question addresses the balance between these sides of the debate. But let's not argue about the bailout. That's water under the bridge.

But there are new people seeking handouts these days. It appears that General Motors is the proverbial beggar in sheep's clothing hanging around the Capitol steps. That's right, in an era of high gas prices, the manufacturer of the Hummer is asking for help because it can't seem to foist these cars off on consumers. This isn't a new quagmire for Detroit.

In the 1970s, with gas lines stretching around the block, GM was making cars the size of small tugboats. By the turn of the century, they'd graduated to marketing cars based on the idea that in an accident, they'd flatten anything else on the road. And a few years ago, when gas prices were starting to inch upwards, they introduced the H3 as a smaller version of their suburban assault vehicle.

Excuse me? The H3--a more fuel efficient Hummer? The whole reason people bought Hummers was to show your neighbors that you didn't care about trivial things like gas prices and saving the environment. Doesn't a (more) fuel efficient mini-tank defeat the purpose?

Anyway, now it looks like up on the Hill, conservatives and liberals alike are leaning toward a GM bailout. Because corporate Darwinism is apparently not enough. A company which has over time proven itself unable to adapt to building anything other than the largest cars on the road deserves life support in the eyes of Congress.

And it's certainly understandable as to why. After all, GM employs over 250,000 people and is a major employer for Michigan. Were the company to go under, it would deal a devastating blow to the economy. But a blank check certainly doesn't seem to be the right way to go. If the past is any indication, they'll use the government money to finance the construction of something that takes even more money to fill up.

But besides the obvious tilt toward financing our auto- and oil-addicted society, the whole premise of corporate bailout rankles me. After all, for the past several decades conservatives have derided programs like Workfare as socialism. Bailouts stemming from corporate malfeasance, however, is treated as good policy.

And GM certainly has a history of malfeasance. Beyond poor decision-making in terms of car models, they were also convicted in a conspiracy to dismantle transit networks across the United States. Harvey Wasserman over at Common Dreams thinks that GM should be forced to rebuild what they destroyed as a condition of being bailed out. That's not such a bad idea.

Perhaps it's time for the transit industry to get a serious infrastructure program. What if 2009 was for transit what 1956 was for highways?

In this time of change, dare we dream big? I think so.

MTA Light Rail Disruptions

Track Twenty-Nine does not typically cover Baltimore, but our friends further up the bay are having some major transit issues that I think warrant a post.

This weekend, MTA Maryland, the agency which runs Baltimore's transit system announced that due to emergency maintenance on their light rail vehicles, major service cuts would be going into effect immediately. These cuts are temporary, but MTA has not yet announced a timetable for renewal of services.

As of November 15, all light rail services north of North Avenue are canceled. A shuttle bus will take passengers to all stops north of North Avenue. Additionally, no service will be provided on the Penn-Camden Shuttle. Buses will take passengers between Penn Station and Mount Royal/U of B Station. On the rest of the light rail system, one-car trains will be in operation, with the potential for serious overcrowding.


Apparently the cause of these disruptions is damage to the wheels of MTA's LRVs caused by "Slippery Rail Season." This season is recognized by many transit agencies, including WMATA, as the time of the year when falling leaves get ground to mush on the tracks. This causes rails to be slippery and reduces traction and braking power to trains. According to MTA, their LRVs are more prone than other systems to be damaged by slippery rail season.

MTA reports that staff are working overtime to resolve the problem. While this is reassuring, I wonder what is being done to keep this problem from being manifested again next year.

If you're up in Baltimore, hang in there, hopefully service will be restored shortly.

*The Metro Subway is unaffected by these problems.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

This is a new series I've started for the blog profiling transit systems I've ridden and found interesting.

When I was out west at Railvolution a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to ride down to San Jose and spend a few hours there. I have to say I was impressed. I was expecting a car-oriented suburban landscape of office parks, but found that the city has a nice core downtown.

The city has a light rail system which operates along 42 miles of track with 62 stations. The system first opened in 1987, and has been upgraded and expanded since. It is operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, VTA. The LRVs currently used on the system are low-floor. They replaced the original fleet of high-floor LRVs in 2003. Platforms are presently being brought up to allow for level boarding.


Portions of the system still are single-track, but most of the system is double-tracked. Still, I found frequencies somewhat lacking. I had to wait almost 30 minutes for a train at Diridon Station. Ridership seemed to be decent considering the context. Approximately 37,000 people board the system every day, putting it in 14th place for American light rail ridership.

Notables:
In my opinion, the San Jose Light Rail offers a few notable practices.

Downtown, the line operates in a pedestrian mall-type environment on parallel one-way streets. The picture at top illustrates this. Here, the rails are embedded in a linear-plaza setting, and between trains people walk and bike along the tracks. With street trees planted only feet away from the sides of the vehicles, the catenary wire is almost invisible. (See UMD, it can be done!)


Additionally, ample space for bikes is provided on board. I've ridden many light rail systems, but nowhere can I remember seeing quite so much space allocated for cyclists. This system is definitely bike-friendly, and I found that interesting, because I never imagined San Jose to be a great bike city. Apparently, however, the two-wheeled mode is popular in the Silicon Valley.

Unfortunately, I only had enough time to ride a small portion of the system. I wish I'd had more time to explore, but I suppose I'll be back in the Bay Area eventually.

Segments Ridden:
San Jose Diridon - St. James,
Lick Mill - Mountain View

Stations Visited:
San Jose Diridon,
San Fernando,
Convention Center,
Paseo de San Antonio,
Santa Clara,
St. James,
Lick Mill,
Mountain View

I'm interested in your opinions on this new segment. So comment with the following questions in mind:

1. What other information would you like to see in the segment "Profiles in Transit?"
2. What thoughts do you have on VTA Light Rail?

A Day in the Newseum

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking a trip to the Newseum. Located near the National Archives on Pennsylvania Avenue, the facility is a huge, modern building dedicated to memorializing and exploring the free (and the not-so-free) press.

I've lived in Washington for over a year, and visited many of its museums, but the Newseum is by far my favorite. I'll go so far as to endorse it: If you're in Washington and have time for only one museum, visit the Newseum. But make sure to have plenty of time, the place is vast and is absolutely filled with interesting exhibits.

Of course, the focus of the Newseum is not just the history of the news. Indeed, the museum shows the importance of the media in today's times. From Climate Change to Saturday Night Live, there are plenty of exhibits dealing with the present. And while Stephen Colbert derides the museum as the Newsoleum because he says that it's a place where visitors can see the history of the old, dead news, nothing could be farther from the truth.

The open, airy design of the structure allows for many large exhibits, including a newscopter and part of the transmission antenna from the World Trade Center. I think that the antenna is the centerpiece of the most eerie of the exhibits: it's surrounded by the front pages of all the newspapers reporting the September 11th tragedy. From the Atlanta Journal's "OUTRAGE" to the San Francisco Examiner's "BASTARDS!", this mosaic of sadness and pain is a moving display.

And most breathtaking of all is their terrace. Called the best view of the Capitol anywhere in DC, the outdoor rooftop observation deck is six stories above Pennsylvania Avenue and only 5 blocks from the grand centerpiece of L'Enfant's city. This view alone is worth the admission fee, but the exhibits are a nice byproduct, too.

So, from the 6 segments of the Berlin Wall (including guard tower) on the ground floor to the gallery of today's front pages on the top, this museum is one of the finest gems in Washington. Make sure not to miss it if you find yourself in our nation's captial.

New Poll: The Inaguration

I've launched my first poll on Track Twenty-Nine. Make sure to stop by and vote! The poll closes on November 20.

Metro Service Advisory: 11/15/08

Due to the G-20 Conference this weekend at the National Building Museum, Metro's Judiciary Square Station will be closed for most of Saturday. Red Line trains will continue to pass through without stopping. The station will be closed from opening Saturday, 11/15 until 8PM on Saturday. Additionally, the F Street (National Building Museum) Entrance will close at 7PM on Friday 11/14. Passengers traveling to the area should use Gallery Place/Chinatown on the Red, Green, and Yellow Lines, located a few blocks west.


In addition, construction outside the Navy Yard Station on the Green Line will cause one entrance to be closed on Saturday. The West Entrance (M & Half SE) will be closed from 7am-4pm on Saturday, November 15. The East Entrance, located at M & New Jersey SE, will be open all weekend as usual.

GO VOTE!

The day has finally come at long last.

Once every four years, Americans have the opportunity to go to the polls and elect the leader of the free world. This tradition is one of our greatest, and everyone who is eligible should participate.

And whether you would have elected America's first African-American President or the first female Vice-President, it is your right and solemn duty as an American to go and pull the lever, punch the card, or touch the screen to elect your candidate.

So today, you'll find me standing in line up on Upshur Street where I'll be voting on a host of issues. And whether it be snowing (as it was for me during the primaries) or whether I must stand in line for hours, I'll do what it takes to cast my ballot. You should too.

I'm sure this is not the first time that anyone has called an election "the most important in a generation," but I can't remember one that surpasses this one in my (relatively short) lifetime. From climate change to transportation reauthorization; from the war in Iraq to the war on poverty; from healthcare to the energy crisis; from new urbanism to the economic meltdown, America is on the brink of change. Both candidates have promised it and Americans are demanding it.

Hopefully in less than 24 hours, we'll know which direction policy is to take for the next four years.

Track Twenty-Nine is not going to take the step of endorsing any candidate. If you haven't yet made up your mind, I've posted a review of some of the issues important to this blog to help you decide, but it's not my place to tell you how to vote.

But let's not forget, on this most sacred of days for our republic, that there are still some who are not yet free to govern for themselves. Unfortunately, as one of the almost 600,000 residents of the District of Columbia, I too find myself without representation in Congress.

The work of the Founding Fathers is not yet done, and will not be until all citizens of this fair land are given equal representation under the Constitution.

But that's no excuse not to...
...GO VOTE!

Conference by the Bay

As you know, I recently attended Railvolution in beautiful San Francisco. As always, the conference was stimulating and inspiring. I saw old friends and colleagues, met other transportation planners and advocates, and sat in on informative sessions. I highly encourage all of you to try and attend in Boston next year.

The conference was very clear on the point that the next year will be very important for transportation in this country. With the reauthorization of the transportation bill (or "authorization", as we were encouraged to call it) due next fall and an administration committed to change (both Obama and McCain have called for it), transit may hope to make gains next year.

We as citizens, however, must take action. In one session I attended, we were told that because the transit advocacy community was silent, transit was left out of the recent climate bill. We cannot delay in writing our elected officials and encouraging them to support transit as a way of reducing pollution and our dependence on foreign oil.

There were also speakers from the world of policy who are working to improve our urban areas. One of the highlights of both of my Railvolutions has been the speech by US Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. The Congressman is one of the tireless champions of transit in Washington and he is dedicated to working with the new administration to get transit moving in the United States. Also speaking was Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the New York City DOT. NYC DOT has been making huge strides recently to reclaim urban space for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users.

My favorite session this year, however, was the session on blogging. Even though I already blog, I found the session informative and engaging. I also thought it was the best-geared session (that I attended) for advocates. After all, electronic media offers so many new ways of displaying information and interacting with readers.

I do think that there were fewer advocates at the conference this year. Last year, I met many in the advocacy community, but this year the conference seemed to be more professional-focused. I think that advocates add a lot to the conference, and I hope that more of them are able to attend the Railvolution in Boston next fall.

Of course, I took the time while in the Bay Area to ride the transit systems out there. I plan on reflecting on these individually over the next few days, but the experience was very positive. I'd already ridden BART and Muni, but I was able to add to my list Caltrain, VTA light rail, ACE, and Sacramento's light rail. Incidentally, I also rode the Minneapolis Hiawatha Line during my layover there on my way home.

Adding these systems has furthered my goal of riding every rail transit system in America. I've now ridden 51% of light rail systems and 45% of commuter rail systems. (Yay!)