Fringe Benefits

No one will argue that high gas prices aren't causing Americans grief, but that isn't to say they aren't without some good aspects. Time Magazine recently released a list of 10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas. It's definitely worth a read.

As they point out in their opening paragraph, one reason that Amercians seemed so unrepentant when it came to driving is the lack of alternatives:

"We truthfully didn't have lots of options. Unlike Europeans, we didn't have
jobs we could bike to or convenient public transit."

But we did at one time. And we could have it now. Imagine what America would look like today if all of the monies spent on the Interstate Highway System had been instead invested in public transit. Places like Rochester wouldn't have sacrificed their subway (Light Rail) to build a freeway right-of-way, and perhaps places like Los Angeles would have had a Metro long before theirs finally opened in 1993 (currently America's newest).

The writers of the article point out that transit ridership is at a 50 year high. If we subtract 50 from 2008, we get 1958. Two years after the passage of the Interstate Highway Act, and already transit use was being affected. Now, after a half-century, we are starting to put the right foot forward and if Time is correct, we might just come out of this oil crisis ahead.

That, however, will depend on how good we are at adapting to a new reality, one where $4 gas looks like a bargain. It's time to move into the 21st Century, and I applaud Time for not sinking to the gloom-and-doom stories most of the Media are putting out about petrochemicals these days.

Here's the list:

1. Globalized jobs return home
2. Sprawl stalls
3. Four-day workweeks
4. Less polution
5. More frugality
6. Fewer traffic deaths
7. Cheaper insurance
8. Less traffic
9. More cops on the beat
10. Less obesity

Can you think of others?

Last Train Out

One thing that Washingtonians know is that it's often easier to take Metro. And for the most part, I think they're right. However, Metroing around has its limitations--especially after dark. The system is one of the first heavy rail systems in the United States to close every evening, and it is the first to start closing (unless you count CTA's Skokie Station).

Of course, WMATA is a chronically underfunded agency with many unmet needs. Still, it would seem on the surface to be essential for the subway to stay open late in Our Nation's Captial. While it is true that Washington has long held the distinction of being known as an early-to-bed, early-to-rise sort of town, they don't exactly roll up the sidewalks at 11:30. They do start rolling up the Metro, though. They start shutting it down at 11:24 every evening Sunday through Thursday.

And while the party-goers and clubbers have the benefit of an extra 3 hours of service on Fridays and Saturdays, this strategy leaves out the idea of equity. After all, it's not just clubbers who are out after midnight. All of those service workers have to get home somehow, and many of them don't get off until late. Besides, do we really want to be known as the city that has the first subway to retire each night? Even Baltimore's Metro starts to close later than WMATA.

Let's have a look at the data. I created this bar chart to illustrate the service periods of America's 13 heavy rail systems. They are shown (from top to bottom) in ascending order of first last train. So, for instance, Washington has the first last train of all the systems, when the train bound for Greenbelt leaves Branch Avenue for the last time each weekday at 11:24. The three bottom-most systems don't close at all (although service patterns are different late at night) and Chicago keeps its Red and Blue Lines open all night.

Graphic Notes:
Opening: refers to the period between the earliest scheduled departure until all stations are open in all directions of travel.
Open: refers to the period when the entire system is in revenue service.
Closing: refers to the period between the last revenue departure at a station (in any direction) and the final revenue offload of the evening.
Example: WMATA is opening from 4:54, when the first Blue Line train leaves Largo, until 6:04, when the first train to leave Franconia arrives at Largo. WMATA starts closing at 11:24P, when the last train of the evening leaves Branch Avenue and is closed at 12:40, when the last train of the evening terminates at Shady Grove.

Most people agree that it would be better if Metro stayed open later--at least to a certain point. There seems to be little incentive or need to have trains running at 3 in the morning, but 12:30 doesn't strike me as unreasonable. Of course, Fridays and Saturdays tend to see demand for those really late night trains and when WMATA suggested cancelling them last year, there was a good deal of outcry.

But what about the rest of the week? Where is the outcry then?

When I flew back from Vancouver (via Atlanta), I was subjected to weather delays. My flight pulled up to Gate 21 at National at 11:34 PM. I had just 10 minutes to get off the plane, clear the terminal, buy a farecard, and run up an escalator. I made it--with 4 minutes to spare. I don't know how. I might have broken some laws of physics to do it, but I wasn't about to sell my firstborn to pay for the cab ride to Prince George's Plaza. The fact of the matter is that 11:44 is far too early to stop inbound service on the most direct route from the Airport to Downtown.

In Atlanta, where the airport is not only a major visitor/resident destination, but also a major job center, the last train leaves at 1:00 AM sharp. Sure, it takes until 1:43 to get to Doraville, but I never had to worry about missing the last train, and while the train was never at crush, there is a lot that could be said about the benefits of mobility--and having a system that meets the needs of people other than suburban commuters is an essential aspect of a world-class transit system.

Of course there are larger issues at stake. It often seems that the only constants in Washington are humidity and a transit system with a perpetual funding crisis. (Which is funny, because I could say the same thing about Atlanta). And I certainly would not argue in favor of later service in the evening at the expense of rush hour service. And if we aren't cutting expenses somewhere, that means more outlays for operations. So what kind of money are we talking about here?

Well, the exact number isn't clear. According to WMATA, they charge venues $21,000 per hour to keep the system open late for special events (think evening Redskins games). It so happens that if a certain ridership threshhold is crossed, the venue gets their money back, and it's not uncommon for these events to keep the system open. So if we wanted the last train to leave Branch Avenue an hour and a half later at 12:54 AM, it would theoretically cost about $30,000 per day. That's $150,000 per week or about $600,000 over a month.

It's not quite that simple, though. While these are all back-of-the-napkin sorts of calculations, a permenant or long-term extension of service in the evening would likely come with a readjustment of bus services and the like, so it could wind up being slightly more expensive.

But of even greater concern to Metro is when they would do their maintenance. We all know what happens when Metro defers maintenance, and it isn't pretty. And 90 minutes less time to upgrade and repair tracks and stations is not a trivial amount of time. Still, other systems manage to do it.

The early closing time of Metro does not seem to jibe fully with the maintenance argument. While WMATA is in the same league as some of the systems in terms of downtime, it is quite different from its peers. San Francisco's BART is 4 years older, MARTA is 3 years younger, both have less than 2.5 hours to do maintenance. The more extensive systems (Metro is second in distance, behind NYC Subway and just ahead of CTA) tend to have less downtime--none actually.

The point is that if Metro really wanted to extend service, it would be possible. Systems just as lengthy and of a similar era make do with less time for repairs. In some cases, notably Chicago and New York, places where the subway doesn't sleep, the maintenance issues are far more pronounced than Metro's. Chicago has more slow zones than you can count on all your fingers and New York's system faces the same sorts of problems that all centenarians face.

The maintenance issue is a non sequitur. Even if the maintenance that needed to be done was on a crossover, trains could still operate at 20 minute headways, which is just about right for late evenings. When switch work several weeks ago disrupted Green and Yellow service at Mount Vernon Square, trains operated every 20 minutes through two interlocking segments. Besides, Metro already does maintenance at night, often well before service ceases, but after passenger volumes have fallen off.

With high gas prices strangling the economy and a resurgence of interest in urban living, it is time for Metro to make significant improvements to its service. Later service is one step that can be taken. Even adding 30 minutes of service would be a considerable achievement for this, America's finest of subways.

Let's hope that soon Metro will be Opening Doors later and leaving the light on for a broader spectrum of riders.

What are your thoughts?

Ride the Rocket

So, readers, I'm sure you've been wondering when I'd update you on my Canada trip. Unfortunately, I have been extremely busy trying to catch back up to speed on errands and find housing. Both of these objectives have now been completed, so hopefully my blogging will be more regular.

Anyway, many of you know from reading posts on the blog or through personal interaction that my goal is to ride every rail transit system in America. This trip did not further that goal whatsoever. It did, however, mark the first instance in which I had ridden every rail system in an entire country.

Prochain Station: Montreal.


The world's second largest French-speaking city has a subway system worthy of praise. When Montreal decided to build one back in the 1960s, they brought subway designers from (where else?) Paris to work on the system and the result is a quiet, rubber-tired ride which is entirely underground. In 1966, in time for the Montreal Expo, the Metro was opened. The system has just over 40 miles of trackage on four lines, with 68 stations. It carries some 835,000 per day on average. In comparison, the Washington Metro has 106 miles of track, 86 stations, and of late has been breaking the 800,000 mark frequently. Incidentally, the Washington Metro has only broken the 835,000 threshold once--June 9, 2004 for the state funeral of President Ronald Reagan.

Montreal also operates commuter rail trains under the guise of AMT. I rode one from Lucien-L'Allier to De La Concorde. The ride was smooth and quick, offering good views of Montreal, which the average tourist would not see. In comparison with the American commuter rail services I have ridden, the insides of the train was rather spartan, but as long as one can get from point A to point B, it's all good.


Ottawa has made a name for itself by building busways. I typically hear Ottawa and Pittsburgh held up as examples of why bus rapid transit would work in the United States. And I think it will, if it's built like it is in Ottawa and not like it's proposed in Atlanta--but that's another argument for another time. At any rate, Ottawa has a series of bus-only roadways which make up "the Transitway."

A new part of their transit infrastructure, however, is the prototype O-Train. This service was built on the cheap to demonstrate light rail to Ottawans. It is one of only two instances of diesel light rail in North America, with the other being the River Line in the Camden-Trenton corridor of New Jersey. The vehicles were built for German Railways and some German can be seen in the car (for instance, "drücken" is on the door-open buttons).

The line is single-tracked, except for one passing track in the middle. Only three trainsets are needed to operate the line, which sees frequencies of 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the line does not yet make it downtown, but one can transfer to the Transitway at either end.


Toronto has Canada's oldest and most-developed rail-transit system. The subway opened in 1954 and has expanded constantly since. The system is great for an FRN like myself because of the so-called railfan seat. Unlike the Washington Metro, the operator's booth only takes up the right half of the front, so one can sit directly left of the operator (like on PATH and SEPTA's MFSE) and have an unobstructed view out of the cab. This is especially exciting on these older systems because one can watch the signals change and so on. Contrastingly, WMATA only has signals at interlockings, and they only show three aspects (Stop, Proceed, and Proceed Diverging).

The Toronto Subway is complemented with streetcar/light rail service on the surface. These cute little cars can be seen dashing around Toronto with gusto. They seemed to come quite frequently and certainly offered service I'd love to have in the District. Imagine trolleys every 5-6 minutes running from Farragut Square to Silver Spring on 16th. It would be awesome!
Toronto also has very distinctive commuter rail cars. Operated by GO Transit, these bright green, bi-level cars carry 160,000 commuters each weekday. The Bombardier-built cars were made for GO back in the 1970s, but are now used widely around North America on commuter systems.
And rounding out Toronto's transit system, the trusty Scarborough RT. These short vehicles are fully grade-separated and connect Scarborough to the Bloor-Danforth Subway line. They are the same type of vehicle I would be seeing later on my trip on the Vancouver SkyTrain, although the Scarborough RT is not automated.


It would be almost 2,000 miles to my next transit adventure: Edmonton. Here, the LRT, as it is simply called, operates a short one-line segment totaling 8 miles. Of the nice aspects of the system, in my opinion, is the downtown subway section. In Calgary (and other places, Baltimore and Portland come to mind) the light rail trains operate at grade, competing with cross traffic. Edmonton, chose to bury a five station segment downtown, with one additional subway station at the University of Alberta also underground.
Calgary's C-Train uses the same rolling stock as the Edmonton system (although they also have some newer vehicles), and the operation is similar. Of course, as mentioned above, there is no downtown subway, and stations are located on a transit mall (which is a fare-free zone). There are two lines adding up to almost 28 miles.

With only two rail transit systems left, I find myself in Vancouver. Here, the world's largest automated guideway system provides 220,000 average daily trips. The SkyTrain opened in 1985. My first sighting of the system was of the Fraser River bridge, the world's longest transit-only bridge. Vancouver's system currently has 2 lines, but the Canada Line will soon link the Airport with Waterfront Station. Since the new line will use a different technology for its vehicle (still automated, though), I'll have to plan a return trip in late 2009.

West Coast Express is the commuter rail service running along the Burrard Inlet and the Canadian Pacific mainline. One really great asset to Vancouver, I think, is Waterfront Station. The station has a barrier-free transfer between Commuter Rail, SkyTrain, and SeaBus, and the Canada Line will soon be calling there as well. Unfortunately, VIA and Amtrak services stop at Pacific Central Station, originally home to rival Canadian National Railways.
It was quite a trip, visiting all of these transit systems. I still have a long way to go before I finish off the States, but I'm confident that I'll get it done soon enough. Thanks for your patience will I catch up on things. And thanks for reading!

Pitch In

Just yesterday, I caught another Metro-produced ad encouraging riders to do something-or-other. In this case, it was a corny imitation of a Kung Fu movie telling riders that they shouldn't leave their newspapers on the seats.

Imagine my surprise, therefore, this morning when on my way to the doctor's office, a Metro employee wearing the customary blue metro shirt, blue metro hat, and neon orange and green WMATA safety vest, finished reading the Express and threw it on his seat as he exited at Addison Road. The offending paper is top left.

Metro is concerned about litter (and it is littering, not "recycling") because it just looks, well, trashy. It is also a danger to customers and employees. Earlier this year WMATA reported that newspapers blowing into tunnels were a cause of the track fires which occur all too frequently.

What these ads (and yes, WMATA has a series of them) are attempting to do is get riders to take ownership of the system. This is an important element of keeping the system clean and safe. Just like the almost-constant reminders to "say something" whenever you see something suspicious, WMATA is enlisting patrons to treat the Metro like their own personal property, which, in a way, it is. If you pay taxes in the United States, you own a share of Metro. In Atlanta, MARTA launched a similar campaign, saying "not on MY MARTA."

And that brings me to a question I have for you, dear readers:

How do you handle your subway when you see people treating it with disrespect?

Saturday evening, I got on the train at Dupont Circle. As soon as I entered the mezzanine, I heard a loud banging, which as it turned out, was being generated by some teenager. He was beating on one of the brown columns, in this case, the one holding the Passenger Information Screen. Not only was it irritating, it was potentially damaging to the hardware. He could easily have shaken lose a wire feeding the wait times to the sign.

The day before, I encountered a group of teens who were making a ruckus on the Green Line. One of them was even smoking in the train car. At Fort Totten, they held open the doors on a Silver Spring-bound Red Line train for at least a minute while they waited on some acquaintance to come up from the mezzanine.

In the first case, my instinct was to say something to the juvenile, but I chickened out. Even though the platform was crowded, mostly with people coming from the Pride Parade, I wasn't certain anyone else would back me up. The second case tempted me to call the transit police (at 202-962-2121, in case you ever need to know), but I didn't do that either.

At some level I feel like it's none of my business to get involved, while another part of me is outraged that some delinquent can delay a few hundred people for no reason at all. Why should we, the masses, let a few rabble rousers destroy the security (or at least appearance of security) and serenity of our transit system?

In his book chronicling the history of the Washington Metro, The Great Society Subway, Dr. Zachary Schrag recounts a story of Metro riders taking ownership of the system (from page 268):

"only Washington Subway People on a 10:00 o'clock morning gather in a group to silently watch a girl deface the printing on a column with a penny. In less than five minutes, they were in a half-circle around her and the post. Without expression, a leader or a spoken word, they inched closer moving forward by half-steps. Others joined as they came downstairs. Suddenly the girl looked up, threw her penny on the tracks, broke through the half-circle and ran up the still escalator. The people had spoken about their subway"

(Joan Sugarman, "I Saw It on the Subway"
Subway Magazine, Fall 1978)

Their Subway. This is an excellent example of the concept of public ownership. Yet in the instances I have seen, riders don't step up to the plate (myself included). Why not? Shouldn't we find a way to stand up for our subway?

What are your thoughts? Do you feel like it's your Metro? Would you take a stand?

Now Here's an Idea

You know those pesky chain emails you get sometimes? You know how they go. They tell you they've got this really great way for you to save on gas and stick it to the oil companies at the same time. All you have to do is get all your friends not to buy gas on a particular day.

The theory, so the email says, is that if there is a sudden drop in demand, prices will fall. And while this concept is economically sound on the surface, the hypothesis breaks down if you still drive the same amount on the given day. You see, the problem with this proposal is that people just buy twice as much gas the next day, which drives prices back up (if they went down in the first place, which is unlikely anyway).

Unfortunately, demand is not really decreasing. Demand for gasoline only really goes down if you, well, don't demand it. It's not about how much you buy at each trip to the gas station or how many times you go to the gas station, it's the total volume of consumption that really matters.

So that brings us to the idea that should work: Dump the Pump.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA), is hosting this annual event for the third time on Thursday. It encourages Americans to beat high gas prices the only way they can: by not purchasing gasoline. Locally, WMATA is giving away a $100 SmarTrip card to the rider who can guess the number of riders who will use the system on June 19.

Nationally transit ridership is up, up, up. This is certainly a good thing, but local officials are quickly realizing that their policies have not funded transit enough in the past. Now demand for space on the train and bus is increasing faster than the supply of space can. Even here in Washington where it already seems like everyone takes the Metro, even more people are crowding on.

Some transit officials at WMATA are suggesting that Washington might need to go to mandatory staggered work schedules, reports Planetizen. It seems like trains are going to be so crowded with $5 gas that they will literally be in danger of exploding and spewing commuters all over the nice station architecture.

Ok, so maybe the Metro isn't that bad, but if $5 gas is going to be bad, how are we going to cope when it gets even higher? Can we even cope? I don't know if $5 gas is one of the signs of the apocalypse, but Sonny Perdue, Governor of Georgia, supporting transit expansion is. And that's just what he did shortly before pigs were seen flying near Jonesboro last week.

That's right, Mr. Perdue, who has been doing as much as possible to ignore the problem since he was elected in 2002 as Georgia's first Republican governor since Reconstruction (1872), has agreed to the idea, saying that he "fully supports" the commuter rail line to Lovejoy, south of Atlanta. And why is this so shocking? Because the federal government had already earmarked some $87 million in funding, along with $106 million in programmed state DOT funding. The only component missing was operating expenses (more info). But the state chose not to build. Repeatedly.

So instead of having the foresight to build a commuter rail line five years ago, when he took office, Mr. Perdue waited until the project was urgently needed to throw his support behind it. Now it will take some time to prepare the project for operation, meaning that gas might be nearer $6 a gallon by the time the train pulls into the station. And while I applaud the governor's decision to get on board, he (and many other politicians around the country) need to be chided for waiting until a crisis occurred before taking action.

So the long and short of it is that we commuters may have to deal with standing room only for now. Transit fixes take time to work out. We can't afford to wait any longer to start addressing these problems. We need action from our elected officials, and that action has to start with you, dear reader. Write your elected officials. Tell them how you feel.

And tell them to dump the pump on Thursday.

From Atlantic to Pacific

At long last, I have returned from my trip between the "two great oceans of the world." After traveling some 4229.4 miles, I visited every major city in Canada along with a few smaller ones as well.

Except for 250 miles traveled by car between Edmonton, Calgary, and Banff, the entire trip was by train. Along the way, I was snowed on in the valleys of western Alberta and rained on in the rain forest of British Columbia. Our train passed muskegs too numerous to count and through cuts of some of the oldest rock on the continent.

The journey across this mighty land revealed a people diverse and proud. From the seafaring Nova Scotians to the lumberjacks of the West, Canada stretches across an area second only to Russia in overall size. And it was the railroad that kept it together.

Our train passed through communities whose only connection to the rest of the Dominion and indeed the rest of the planet lies in the spikes and ties of the Railway. For most of the trip through the pine forests of western Ontario, no humans were to be spotted from the windows of our carriages. With a land area greater than that of the United States, Canada contains only one tenth of the population. Most of that, according to humorists Will and Ian Ferguson, is located near the "U.S. border, where they huddle together for warmth." It is no coincidence that this population pattern follows the railway.

It is, as explorer William Butler once remarked, "the great lone land." The Canadian spent almost 24 hours crossing the Canadian Shield alone. Even after traveling for almost 2000 miles west of Toronto (to Edmonton), the Rockies are still below the horizon.

Of course, there is much, much more to tell about my long trek across the wilds (and civils) of Canada; and I will fill in the details. It is a busy time for me however. I start a new job on Monday and I'm looking for housing*. But fear not, I will update you as soon as I can. Thanks for reading.

*So if any of you know of any four bedroom houses for rent within a 10 minute walk of a Metro station, preferably along the Green Line or in Eastern Market/Capitol Hill sections of DC, please let me know.

There Isn't a Train I Wouldn't Take

Hello dear readers. I'm sitting here at an internet cafe in Toronto while taking care of a few internet-related things. I thought I'd update you on my trip so far.

I've now travelled 1,488 miles across Canada--not even halfway. It's almost 2,000 miles just for the next leg of my trip, on The Canadian to Edmonton. Along the way I have seen many wonderful places, and I will have much to say about my travels and the lessons that America could take from Canadian planners.

So far I have experienced the atmosphere of 4 provinces, and have visited the wonderful metropolises of Halifax, Montreal, Quebec City, and Toronto. My journey has taken me from the cold Atlantic to the smallest and most easterly of the Great Lakes, Ontario. The next part of my trek will be through the Muskeg and across a sea of wheat. And even after two days and two nights on Via's premiere train, the Rockes will not yet be in sight.

This country is truly a land full of wonders and discovery. I can't wait to share my experiences with you.

O Canada

As I have mentioned before, I will be setting off on the journey of a lifetime tomorrow. I will be riding the rails clear across Canada, from Atlantic to Pacific.

If all goes according to plan, in two-and-one-half weeks, Canada will be the first nation in which I have ridden every rail-transit system.

Soon, I will be traveling through some of the most rugged territory on the continent on one of the continent's last vestiges of golden-age rail travel.

I'll be sure to write updates to the blog, and I'll include as many pictures as I can. However, I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to update Track Twenty-Nine until I get back to Washington in mid-June.

So, to keep you occupied during my absence, I am remembering some of my fonder posts:

• Around the District in 80 Days: My most labor-intensive post (I did, after all, have to collect the pictures personally).
• Fruit of the Broom: One of my more light-hearted posts.
• When Is It Going to Stop?: Perhaps one of the most reactionary, but I like the format
• Sunset on the Sunset Limited?: This post gets a lot of google hits still. I'm still waiting on Amtrak to make the right decision.
• And two local favorites: Making Your Mind Up and Regional Rail Redux.
  

My, My Maryland

Today marked graduation ceremonies at the University of Maryland, College Park, where I am a graduate student. Since the final finals were yesterday, campus was dead quiet this afternoon when I went in to pack up my office.

The eerie lack of students reminded me of my post-Tech experience. Campus is just not the same without the life it usually sees. While I love it here in Washington, and am confident in my decision to attend Maryland, I still miss Ma Tech.

It has been just over nine months since I moved to the DC Area and I am still learning the ins and outs of this city. In time, I am sure I will know it as well as a non-native can know it; but now I find that I still have a long way to go. These months have not yet turned into a year, but I have made many fond memories already.

This post, according to Blogger, is my 100th. Since August 2007, I have covered many issues, and I hope to cover many more. I think this post should mark an appropriate reflection of my intentions and my vision for Track Twenty-Nine.

When I started this blog, I had little idea of where it would go. My original intentions were mainly to keep my friends back home up to date and to organize my own thoughts. I doubted that I would write about major policy issues any time soon. At the time, I felt like I was too new to the area and too out-of-the-loop to be taken seriously. Yet over the past eight months, I have written about policy, I have written about transportation, and I have written about many other things. And I have met with your approval. People have commented; they have contributed to a discussion of which I am only a small part, and that is more validation than ever I could have hoped to receive. And I have many visitors each day. They come from all around and they come for many different reasons.

And that brings me to why I blog. I blog because I hope that I can help make a difference. Our region and our country face many difficult policy decisions and I hope that, in the least, I can make my fellow citizens better informed. That is really the vision I see for this site. I haven't the time or knowledge of the inner-workings of DC-Area politics to write any substantive commentary. Instead, I feel I can make a better use of my time (and yours) by introducing topics and providing links to places where more information can be obtained.

But, as I'm sure you've noticed, some of my objectives have already fallen by the wayside. This blog is now linked to from many sites, and I owe my success to these other blogs. But these sites link to me because I provide a discussion of issues related to planning, policy, and the DC region--not to hear my life's story. I have therefore refrained often from writing posts on my own happenings. Recently, I toyed with the idea of creating a separate blog in which to house my personal thoughts and reflections, keeping Track Twenty-Nine purely issue-focused. I haven't decided yet and I'd love to hear your input.

And to you, dear readers, where do you think I should go with this blog? Are you satisfied with the content? The discussion? The issues I cover? What would you like to see more of? Less of?

I welcome your comments. Thank you for reading and thank you for your input!

--

I especially want to thank a few blogs who have linked or referred readers to Track Twenty-Nine. Thanks for helping me get a good start. Without your help, I might not have made it to the 100-post milestone, at least not so soon. (Sorry for any I leave out. I watch for referring URLs, these are the most common or are people who have personally encouraged me.)

Greater Greater Washington
City Transit Aggregator
The Overhead Wire
Goodspeed Update
District Dirt
Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

Thanks again!

Let's Defuel America

Streetsblog is reporting on Chrysler's plan to defuel America. If you plan on driving a lot, you should just go ahead and sign up for a brand new Aspen and get their Pricelock program. By locking the price at $2.99/gallon for 3 years, Chrysler will encourage its owners to drive more, thereby making fuel more expensive for everyone else.

It will also deplete America's energy resources at a faster rate than it would if Chrysler owners just let the market decide. I wrote at length about the supply and demand issues involved last month just after Senator Clinton urged a suspension of the gas tax.

One of the phrases which I did not use was moral imperative. Throughout that post, I talked about the value of each gallon of gasoline. Since oil is a finite resource, we will run out of the recoverable bits of it one day (although it will stop being cheap long before then). Therefore, I think it is appropriate to say that we have a moral imperative to use alternatives every chance we get.

As I have pointed out many times on this blog, everyone in America benefits when transit wins a new convert. Senator Coburn, one of Oklahoma's Republican Senators, is blocking a bill that will fund the Metro, even though the local jurisdictions have proposed a match of funding. According to Mr. Coburn, funding the Metro is the same as "stealing from our children."

On the contrary Mr. Coburn, transit funding is not stealing from our children, it is crazy gimmicks like Chrysler's and the proposed suspension of the federal gas tax that really steal from our children. Every time someone here in Washington choses the Metro over their car, they leave several gallons of gasoline for the rest of America to use, and that includes Oklahoma's children. They have a particularly raw deal--after all, Oklahoma doesn't have any rail transit alternatives, so they have to drive all the more.

And the good news is that we've finally managed to get people to ride transit. Seats are filling up and oil consumption is going down. Remember America, every time you choose an alternative mode of transportation over your car, you extend the deadline before which we must either come up with alternative fuels and/or redesign our society.

You also reduce the price of oil. I'm sure you've all seen the chain email that goes around encouraging Americans not to buy gas on a certain day in order to drive down oil prices. It doesn't work. At least it doesn't work if you still buy the same amount of oil. It does, however, work if you choose not to drive on a given day. So America, do you really want to stick it to the oil companies? Do you really want to hurt the terrorists? Do you really want to drive down oil prices?

Then take the train or bus.

Do your part to help ensure America's energy future. I know that Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney have assured you that there is no need to sacrifice, but the truth is Americans are already sacrificing. They are cutting back on charity, they are cutting back on driving, and they are cutting back on spending. Go on, help out your fellow Americans--it's easy. I'm not asking you to give up your car, just give it a try and take the subway to work one day.

And Chrysler, if you really want to refuel America, you'll hand out transit passes with your new SUVs.

Making Your Mind Up

Despite what Bucks Fizz had to say on the matter, I don't have to "be sure that it's something everybody's going to talk about before [I] decide the time's arrived for making [my] mind up." Still it would be nice to stop revising these rail plans. Of course in the real world (as opposed to the academic exercise shown below), plans are almost always fluid.

I have responded to your comments on my transit plan for Washington, originally posted here with a revised proposal.

The main changes I made were the extension of the Southeast Light Rail (now called the Eastside Light Rail), the line colored lime on the map, from Minnesota Avenue up to Columbia. I also separated the Silver Line from the Orange and Blue Lines based on WMATA's recent release of the Station Access and Capacity Study. I've routed the Blue Line along M Street, while taking the Silver Line through the heart of downtown, under H Street. I also instituted "Airporter" service which would operate on the Silver Line from Union Station to Dulles, operating express from East Falls Church to the Airport, with an intermediate stop at Whiele Avenue (more on that later).

The Eastside Light Rail
This newly-dubbed light rail transitway will extend from National Harbor to Minnesota Avenue Metro over the alignment described in my earlier post. North of Minnesota Avenue, the Eastside will parallel the Orange Line to Deanwood, then follow the Alexandria Branch of the B&O (now CSX) to Bladensburg and Hyattsville. Trains then parallel the Camden Line through Riverdale to College Park Metro, where an interchange can be made to the Green and Purple Lines. The line then joins the Purple Line briefly along Paint Branch Parkway, splitting to follow the ex-Rhode Island Avenue Trolley right-of-way toward Beltsville.

Outside of the Beltway, the line turns to follow on the east side of Route 1 to Powder Mill Road, where it will run adjacent to the CSX Capital Subdivision once again. At Muirkirk, passengers can change to the Camden Line. The line then turns to run along the Intercounty Connector to Interstate 95, where the line turns north in the median. At Maryland Route 32, the line turns west toward Columbia. The Columbia stops are accessed while the line runs at grade alongside Broken Land Parkway to Columbia Mall.

East-West Subway Service Downtown
According to WMATA's recent Station Access and Capacity Study, the Orange Line will be overburdened by 2025 even if 100% 8-car trains are operated. These figures assume that the Silver Line will be constructed and that the Blue Line will run some trains to Greenbelt as proposed earlier this year. Personally, I like Greater Greater Washington's proposal to brand it as a Yellow Line shift.

Based on this report and reader comments, I have decided to rethink the idea of east-west Metro access through downtown. The only way to add capacity in an east-west direction is to build a new subway. Under WMATA's proposal, trains will already be operating at their maximum length and headway. The report did resurrect the idea of an M Street Subway, which I proposed in the first iteration of my rail plan as Silver, but I'm not sure the plan goes far enough.

One of the criticisms of WMATA is that no express service is provided. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to retrofit the existing stations due to their monolithic nature to handle additional tracks or platforms. However, a parallel subway would take demand off of the overcrowded conditions on the existing Blue and Orange Lines, especially if its stops were more limited.

Limited Stops in the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor
My proposal for the Silver Line calls for a new tunnel to be constructed from I-66 to Rosslyn, parallel to the Orange Line between Rosslyn and Ballston. In this section, a stop would be included at Glebe Road (at Wilson) to serve the jobs in the area, but would not include an interchange to the Orange Line at Ballston. Silver trains would then (in the new subway) proceed directly to Rosslyn with no intermediate stops.

The new subway could be constructed under (from west to east) Fairfax Drive, Glebe Road, Wilson Boulevard, 10th Street N, Arlington Boulevard, and Fort Meyer Drive.

On the western end of the corridor, Silver Line trains would operate in the median of I-66 on the outside two tracks of a new four-track line. East Falls Church Station would be redesigned with two island platforms and four tracks. Silver trains would then shift to the Dulles Toll Road without sharing tracks with the Orange Line.

Rosslyn Redesign
The Rosslyn Station would consist of 3 island platforms and 6 tracks. The existing station, under North Lynn Street would continue to operate in its current form, but only serving Blue Line trains. On the Blue Line, Rosslyn would be between Arlington Cemetery and Georgetown. The Blue Line would use the new M Street subway I proposed before as Silver to access downtown.

A new part of the station would be constructed just west of the present station, under Fort Meyer Drive. This station would have two levels of trains, with westbound trains on the two upper level tracks and eastbound trains on the lower level. At Rosslyn the Silver and Orange Lines would have their own tracks and would not be mixed. The Orange Line would continue east over its current alignment to Foggy Bottom while the Silver Line would operate in a new H Street Subway.

H Street Subway
From Rosslyn, the Silver Line would cross under the Potomac in a new tunnel, continuing under H Street NW. The line could be bored deep under the Watergate, or it could cross the Potomac next to the present Metro tunnel and jog south to H under Virginia Avenue. Continuing east under H, the line would not stop in Foggy Bottom. It would jog north to follow H under the triangle parks at Pennsylvania Avenue. A Farragut Square station would be constructed at 17th Street, with pedestrian connection (fare paid) under 17th to connect to the existing Farragut West (Orange) Station under I Street, the existing Farragut North (Red) Station under Connecticut Avenue, the proposed Blue Line/Regional Rail Tunnel Station under K Street, and the proposed Westside (Baby Blue) Light Rail Station cutting diagonally under Farragut Square itself.

Continuing under H Street, the line would add platforms at the north end of Metro Center (H/12th) and at the north end of Gallery Place (H/7th) for easy transfer to the Red/Orange and Green/Yellow Lines. Just after jogging north to continue under H Street at Massachusetts Avenue, the line would include a Blue Line interchange at the New Jersey Avenue station. The final stop on the western H Street segment would be Union Station/NoMa. This station would be located under H Street and could connect to a new commuter rail concourse for MARC trains. A walkway could also be constructed (fare paid) to connect with the northern mezzanine at the existing Red Line Union Station platforms.

Old City/Capitol Hill
Transit service in this part of Washington would be greatly improved in my plan. Because both the Blue and Silver Lines need to continue toward the suburbs, it seems to make sense to build both subways. Additionally, building the M Street (Blue) Subway under Massachusetts Avenue allows for a more direct connection to the Red Line at Union Station. Meanwhile, the H Street Subway (Silver) would continue under H Street NE to Benning Road and D&G Junction.

BLUE:
From the New Jersey Avenue station, Blue Line trains turn southeast under Massachusetts Avenue, making stops at Union Station, Capitol Hill (Stanton Park), and Lincoln Park. East of Lincoln Park, the subway would turn under North Carolina Avenue then C Street NE. Near RFK Stadium, trains would emerge from subway to join the Orange Line viaduct (on their own tracks). A new 4-track station would be constructed at Oklahoma Avenue (existing Metro viaduct, just south of Benning Road). This station would keep the Blue and Orange Lines separate all the way to D&G Junction to eliminate interlining. A fare paid connection would exist to a Silver subway station under Benning Road (also called Oklahoma Avenue).

SILVER:
Continuing under H Street and the Union Station platforms, the line would include a station at H and 6th NE (H Street/Old City) and Atlas District (H and 14 NE). Finally, the line would turn under Benning Road and include a station at Oklahoma Avenue. Some trains would terminate there, and two layup tracks would exist east of the station. However, rail connections will be constructed to allow revenue Silver trains to continue east to serve New Carrollton and Largo.
Airporters
A new concept in my plan would provide a faster trip from Dulles to downtown. From Union Station to East Falls Church 'Airporter' trains would share tracks with the Silver Line. Once in the median of the Dulles Toll Road, however, these trains would get their own set of tracks which would bypass the four Tysons Corner stations by staying in the median. A 4-track Whiele Avenue Station would allow passengers to transfer to "local" Silver trains. After While Avenue, Airporters would be express to Dulles Airport, where trains could turn back on a center track at the platform (like National Airport) or proceed through and use a turnback loop west of the station (like Brooklyn Bridge on the #6).

These trains would allow passengers coming from Ryan Road to change for a faster trip to downtown in addition to allowing flyers a shorter time on the Metro. From Dulles to Farragut Square on an Airporter is only 6 stops. On a Silver train there are 12, and that number is 16 under Metro's current proposal, running Silver trains along the existing Orange Line.

While sharing tracks from Union Station to East Falls Church would degrade express service, I don't think it's feasible to construct 2 more tracks through downtown. Besides, if we assume that trains can operate every 135 seconds (current design capacity at Rosslyn), in a 10 minute period, 4.4 trains can pass a given point. Since Metro says higher frequencies can be produced without switch realignment (like at Rosslyn) we can assume that more trains can fit through, perhaps up to 5 in a 10 minute period.

If that is the case, 1 out of every 5 Silver trains could be an Airporter, giving a 10 miunte headway, while service on the Silver Line west of EFC is 2.5 minutes apart on average and 2 minutes apart downtown. Of course, WMATA could adjust service necessarily, but I don't think a lack of separate Airporter tracks downtown will make the service infeasible.

Anyway, that's my revised proposal. I'd love to hear what you think about it. Thanks for the comments last time. And sorry if I've made the map even busier. I don't have a graphic design background, so I just muddle along.

*Since so many of you have asked, I use Inkscape for my graphics. It is a freeware product similar to Adobe Illustrator. I have only scratched the surface of its potential.

'They looked in the future and what did they see?'

On May 24, 1830, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first passenger railroad in the United States, operating regularly scheduled trains from Baltimore to Ellicott City, a distance of only 13 miles. Yet this achievement changed the course of America's history. Ironically, it was Charles Carroll, last living signer of the Declaration of Independence who broke the ground for the B&O.

"There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
when the wild, majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
long before the white man and long before the wheel
when the green, dark forest was too silent to be real"

It would be almost 39 years before trains could travel from one coast to the another in the United States, but on one fateful day in May of 1869, Leland Stanford, President of the Central Pacific, drove the final spike into the line that would become America's steel wedding band--marrying East and West less than a decade after the Civil War had threatened to tear the country asunder.

Written on one side of the Golden Spike was the phrase:
"May God continue the unity of our Country, as this Railroad unites the two great oceans of the world"

At that moment, travel across the country became much easier. An eight day trip by train replaced a month long journey by covered wagon. The railroad opened up the fertile farmlands of the western United States and set America's course irrevocably toward Manifest Destiny..

"For they looked in the future and what did they see?
They saw and iron road running from the sea to the sea"

Today, Amtrak celebrated the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad with the first annual National Train Day. At major train stations around the country, Amtrak opened its doors to (if Washington was any indication) teeming throngs of railfans.

At Union Station, here in DC, there were model train layouts, a concert, and a tour of railcars of the modern and historic varieties. I'm not sure whether the highlight for me was the Acela walkthrough or the New York Central lookout lounge, "Hickory Creek"

"Look away, said they, across this mighty land
from the eastern shore to the western strand
bring in the workers and bring up the rails
we gotta lay down tracks and tear up the trails
open her heart, let the life-blood flow
gotta get on our way, 'cause we're movin' too slow"

Part of the celebration, I think, was rejoicing on the resurgence of rail travel. Amtrak's numbers have been up lately, and more and more Americans are taking to the rails to travel. With gas prices going up and the disappearance of the 'friendly' skies, travelers are rediscovering the romance (and just plain practicality) of going by train.

On my way to the festivities this afternoon, I overheard two gentlemen talking (loudly) on the Metro about politics. They were clearly McCain supporters, but as we pulled into New York Avenue they saw an Amtrak Regional consist being pushed toward Union Station. One commented to the other that trains were the way to travel, and that Amtrak was a nice setup in that regard.

I chose not to point out to them that Mr. McCain is not known for his support for the ailing national passenger railroad system.

Of course the other part of the celebration was an acknowledgement of the importance of the small ceremony that took place in the dusty hills of Utah 139 years ago today. For it was that ribbon of steel that build America's foundation for the 20th Century.

"For the song of the future has been sung
all the battles have been won
on the mountiantops we stand
all the world at our command
we have opened up the soil
with our teardrops and our toil
for there was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run..."

America is far from alone, however, in its journey through time. Our northern neighbor, Canada, completed their transcontinental line in 1885. The words interspersed through this post are lyrics to a song by Gordon Lightfoot. The song, the Canadian Railroad Trilogy, was written for the CBC in 1967 and has always struck a chord with me. Even though the song is about the building of Canada's line, the words seem appropriate for a reflection on our own Railroad.

And soon, I too will share in the romanticism of Lightfoot's song--first hand. In a little less than a month, I will be setting off to cross Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This trip will be the trip of a lifetime for me. It's strange, I've always wanted to cross Canada by train, but I don't have the same inclination for America.

I suppose that part of my desire is to experience the romanticism of a foreign land, a land with two languages and one of the harshest landscapes in the world. It's also probably a desire to step back in time. The flagship train of Via Rail Canada is The Canadian which I will be riding from Toronto to Edmonton. The train's consist is made of 1955-built stainless steel Budd cars.

While Amtrak standardized their equipment (you gotta love Amcans) over the years, Via's fleet is a diverse mixture of new and old. After all, rolling stock on The Canadian, like the old cars on Twentieth Century Limited and The City of New Orleans, was built as the last hurrah--no, I'll call it the most recent hurrah because I'm not convinced that it is the final hurrah--of passenger railroading in North America. These trains were the epitome of luxury--and Via kept them.


The Amfleet has all the grace of a slow 747 with legroom and a cafe. Of course, I don't mean to come down hard on rail travel. Even on Amtrak, the experience is top notch. I have yet to find a better way to travel and I've ridden Amtrak in 22 states. But it would be nice to see the older equipment now and then. Give the fallen flags a couple of more flaps in the breeze, eh?

I am hopeful that our next president will recognize the ability of rail to build more sustainable America. While National Train Day (and this post) screamed 'nostalgia,' rail has a future here. The Acela is the first step in achieving a modern, first-world rail system (again) in the United States. It must not be the last step. We are decades behind Europe and Japan when it comes to an efficient transportation network. We need to step up to the plate if we are going to continue to be competitive in a world facing energy supply and demand issues.

So, in short, National Train Day is, for me at least, about remembering a time "when the railroad did not run" and also remembering a time when "all the battles [had] been won." At the same time, it is an admonition to look in the future.

And since I'm feeling nostalgic, I'll close with my favorite poem:

"The railroad track is miles away,
And the day is loud with voices speaking,
Yet there isn't a train goes by all day
But I hear its whistle shrieking.

"All night there isn't a train goes by,
Thought the night is still for sleep and dreaming,
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
and hear its engine steaming.

"My heart is warm with the friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing;
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
No matter where it's going."
--Edna St. Vincent Millay, Travel

How Appropriate

Only watch this if you're from Atnalta. (Otherwise, you'll miss all the jokes).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mMwmtJjkwFU

The View from the Top

Sorry for the lag in blogging lately. I was away from my computer for several days while visiting my old hometown, Atlanta.

I was there to celebrate the joyous union of two of my best friends; and while I'm now tackling final papers and job interviews, they are honeymooning in New Zealand.

I also took the opportunity of this trip to introduce my boyfriend to my parents, a first-time experience for all four of us. I think that the meeting went well and I hope it will foster greater understanding between my parents and myself. While I came out during my undergraduate years, they are still coming to terms with the idea of a gay son.

At any rate, I also used this too-brief respite from my studies to do a few things I'd never done as an Atlanta resident. One of those things was to ascend to the 72nd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel to view the Atlanta-scape during the daytime. I had been up at night (it's free after 11), but never during the bright hours. The view is spectacular, even though many of the buildings still show damage from the Tornado which struck the city in March.

The Westin from Centennial Park

The Equitable Building was hard-hit
by the Tornado, Downtown is in
the background--looking South

I also visited the world's largest aquarium, located just north of Centennial Park. The 8 million gallon facility houses much marine life and was impressive. My favorite exhibit involved going through a 'tunnel' directly under the waters of the largest tank.

Fish swim overhead at
the Georgia Aquarium

My wanderings through showed me how quickly the urban environment is changing. Already, several new condo towers are climbing into the skies above Midtown. Soon, I don't think I'll recognize the skyline. Underground is still declining. Even though I was there on a weekend, I've never seen the place so empty. And traffic is worse than ever. Part of the problem is the removal of the 14th Street Bridge (for replacement) and the ongoing repaving project on the Downtown Connector.

1010 Peachtree rises
from the Midtown Mile

I did have the pleasure of visiting one of my favorite Atlanta restaurants for a Raspberry Turkey Wrap. Front Page News is as good as I remember, and I only wish I'd had a chance to sample their marvelous Bloody Mary on this trip.

I rounded out my visit to the gleaming heart of the Southland with a visit to one of my favorite urban spaces, Piedmont Park. The park was surprisingly full for a Sunday afternoon, and the people watching was excellent. I think this Olmstead park is one of the greatest emeralds in America.

The high-rises of Midtown are reflected
in the ripples of Lake Clara Meer

My Senator Takes the Morning Train

Ok, so I don't know if my Senator takes the morning train, but you can say that if you're from Delaware. In a speech earlier this week, Senator Thomas Carper (D, Delaware), the junior senator from Delaware told his colleagues that he takes the train home, almost every night.

And why shouldn't he? The end of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor is only 2500 feet from the Senate Chamber. The Senator needs to walk less than a half mile up (ironically) Delaware Avenue to Burnham's masterpiece, Union Station.

So yesterday, while we bloggers were lamenting the lack of leadership on this issue, Mr. Carper was on the floor of the Senate saying this (excerpt):

I ride the train back and forth most days. I live in Delaware, and I go back and forth. As my colleague, the Presiding Officer, knows, I go back and forth almost every night to Delaware. A strange thing is going on with respect to passenger rail ridership in this country.

I used to serve on the Amtrak board when I was Governor of Delaware, and every year we would see ridership go up by a couple of percentage points. We would struggle, try to raise money out of the fare box to pay for the system and the expansion of the system. Well, the first quarter of this fiscal year, ridership at Amtrak is up 15 percent. Revenues are up by 15 percent. People are starting to realize that maybe it makes sense to get out of our cars, trucks, and vans and take the train or take transit. Transit ridership is up again this fiscal year more dramatically than it has been in some time.

Americans are beginning to literally buy homes in places that are closer to opportunities for transit--for rail, for bus, for subways, for the metro systems. As we have seen the drop in home prices across the country--in some cases, very dramatic--among the surprises, at least for me, is to see housing prices stable and in some cases actually going up in places where people can buy a home and live and get to work or wherever they need to go to shop without driving to get there.

I don't know how gullible we think the American voters are to suggest to them that we are going to have this holiday on gas taxes, Federal gas taxes, for 3 months or for 6 months, maybe to get us through the next election, and then when the elections are over we will go ahead and reinstate the gasoline tax to what it has been even though in doing that we might be depleting further the money available for transportation improvements. I don't know how foolish we think the American voters are. They are a lot smarter than that. They are a lot smarter, maybe, than we give them credit for being.

I think in this country people are crying out for leadership. They are calling out for Presidential leadership, whether it is from our side of the aisle or the Republican side. People want leaders who are willing to stay out of step when everybody else is marching to the wrong tune, and I would suggest that the wrong tune is to suspend the Federal gasoline tax and at the same time not replace the dollars that would otherwise go into the transportation trust fund to fix our dilapidated, our decaying transportation system. Voters in this country deserve better leadership from us. I am determined, I am committed to making sure we provide and pay for that.

Before I close, there are a lot of good ideas for things we ought to do. I mentioned, tongue in cheek, that we ought to provide more R&D investment for a new generation of lithium batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles. I say, tongue in cheek, we ought to use the Government purchasing power to commercialize advanced technology vehicles. We are doing that. I said with tongue in cheek we ought to provide tax credits to encourage people to buy highly efficient hybrid vehicles and very low diesel-powered vehicles that are efficient. We are doing that.

There other things we need to do too. We need to invest in rail service. We can send from Washington, DC, to Boston, MA, a ton of freight by rail on 1 gallon of diesel fuel. I will say that again. We could send from Washington, DC, to Boston, MA, a ton of freight by rail on 1 gallon of diesel fuel. But we as a government choose not to invest in freight rail and, frankly, to invest very modestly in passenger rail. It is a highly energy-efficient way to move people and goods.

(Emphasis mine)

And just to prove that politicians can do more than pander on energy policy, he closed by saying:

I will have a chance to come back later in the week and talk about this some more. Sometimes we underestimate the wisdom of the voters. I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said: If you tell the American people the truth, they won't make a mistake. I will do my dead level best to make sure, during the course of the debate on this notion of waiving the gasoline tax or having a holiday on the gasoline tax until after the election, I am going to make sure, I hope with a number of my colleagues, the American people understand the truth and the full picture and that they will make the right decision. Hopefully, we will too.

(Emphasis mine)

This is the kind of leadership we should get from our elected officials. I wish I could call Mr. Carper my Senator.

Thanks to JW for the heads up on this speech.