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One of the biggies that affects the usefulness of public transit for the elderly and disabled and simple sidewalk access. The transit agency has no control over the quality of the sidewalk or even the bus stop amenities in many cases.
In Santa Cruz County, California, happily, we have a group meddling do-gooder seniors and disabled advocates who have identified high priority sidewalks that they need to get to their bus stops along with the correct jurisdictional contacts so they know who to bug. The transit agency for our county participates in grant funding applications with the appropriate jurisdiction to fix these accesses.
This reminds me of another transit access issue which transit agencies have no control over, and that's the practice by many cities to bury bus stops in snow, since plows shove the snow to the side of the road and onto the sidewalk. Transit users absolutely should call the city and complain loudly about this practice.
when transit agencies say "we don't control that!" (email of the week)
Ask: Who does? From Mark Szarkowski: A common transit agency response to these pleas for improved service ... is that the problem is out of their control. And in some cases, such as "bunching" due to traffic, they're right. So do you think irate passengers would get more mileage by directing th...
This looks interesting, but it doesn't seem to work for me using either Chrome (35.0.1916.153 m -- up to date) or I.E. (11.0.9600.17126 also up to date) on Windows.
I get the "choose a city" dialog, accept the San Francisco default, press "Start" and ... nothing happens.
Looking at the Javascript console, it appears the mapbox library might be broken (or perhaps has an invalid key for whatever service it uses?). The error message says: "Unable to geocode city. Womp Womp. undefined" followed by: "Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'geometry' of undefined"
Transitmix: a new tool for armchair transit planners (and pros too?)
Another interesting web transit app, this time from a group of Code for America developers: Transitmix is a sketching tool for transit planners (both professional and armchair) to quickly design routes and share with the public. Transitmix is simple way to think about transit in terms of bu...
@Jack: Commute times are available from the US Census Factfinder app. Clikc here and modify the Geography tab if you'd like to see different cities.
I used Metro areas to compare Portland/Vancouver vs Houston, which shows 25 minutes vs 28 minutes commute times for workers who don't work at home. I also included San Jose CA because that's my town.
If the link to the Census website doesn't work, I captured a screenshot here.
I'm sure someobody has broken this down by ZIP code and created a map to show this in graphical form.
a glimpse into the road lobby's echo chamber, and how to respond
Canada's leading newspaper has published an anti-transit rant, by Brian Lee Crowley of the "non-partisan" MacDonald-Laurier Institute. It's based on the work of the Texas Transportation Institute, a leading source of studies that view cities from behind the wheel of a single-occupant car. It's...
I guess I've assumed traffic projections are based on *some* kind of real world experience. Are they designed on models created in the 1970s or something and never updated since then?
The Signal and the Noise - Must Read for Traffic Forecasters
Nate Silver of political forecasting blog 538 fame has a new book out - The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - but Some Don't. I started reading it on Monday and am half way through it. I'm reading slowly because my traffic engineering brain keeps thinking of how this appl...
Good stuff.
Perhaps worth mentioning that sharrows can sometimes be placed incorrectly in the gutter zone, depending on jurisdiction.
Seven more crash avoidance tips for new road cyclists
IN MY PREVIOUS POST, I WROTE ABOUT A FEW WAYS to avoid crashes as a new roadie. This post continues that theme. If you’re new to riding a road bike, these tips will help you to keep the rubber side down. Don’t trust bike lanes. Lots of new bike riders think bike lanes are the solution to safe cy...
The only "DIY" skirt guards I've seen are crocheted jobs that you hook to the rear fenders with clips, like the ones available from http://www.simeli.nl/
Skirt Guard Bike Hack Wanted
Typically we post hacks that we spot, come up with, or receive from readers, but occasionally readers contact us with a plea for help with a bike related issue. Reader Mike contacted us with an issue I have zero experience/advice regarding, however I thought the broader community might be able ...
I just noticed this says in California. It looks a lot like the railroad I sometimes bike on, though without the fancy outrigger.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bike/3318007572/
Rail biking
via twentytwowords.com whoa -- please tell us this is done on abandoned tracks. HT abrahampiper.
Yeah, almost always on abandoned track. I have a friend here who goes exploring like this through southern California and Arizona. It's a special thrill biking over a deep canyon using an unmaintained railroad trestle bridge.
Rail biking
via twentytwowords.com whoa -- please tell us this is done on abandoned tracks. HT abrahampiper.
@awyllie hints at this, but it's the reason planning is often closely tied to cycling promotion. Conversely, our historically low gasoline prices encouraged development that took advantage of those low prices. Our collective spendthriftness is catching up to us now.
Driving costs money, but biking costs time
Soaring gasoline prices are making it easier for cycling organizations in Columbus to build a case for commuting on two wheels instead of four... ...But not everyone can get to work on a bike, said Joe Fish, a planner at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. It depends on people's experienc...
Urbana used the BMX stem and handlebars to get some front-back and height adjustability, rather than going with replacing the stem. Yeah, it seems a little clunky, but it works.
Threadless Stems are still Debatable
via lovelybike.blogspot.com Photo: Lovely Bicycle Lovely Bike rides an Urbana and then posts about the merit of threadless stems . . . In the world of classic and vintage bicycles, you will find a strong preference for threaded (quill) stems, and for good reason: Threadless stems are a fairly ...
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Jul 29, 2010
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