Saturday, March 25, 2006
The term that some use to describe this is "peak spreading"
March 26, 2006
N.Y.: Expanding Workday Makes Its Mark on Transit
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
The first train of the day pulls out of the Croton-Harmon station at 4:56 a.m., almost a full hour before sunrise, but it is not early enough for Ben Hoyer.
Mr. Hoyer, 36, like a fast-growing cohort of commuters, wants to get to Grand Central Terminal even earlier than is now possible. By 6 a.m., Mr. Hoyer said, the demands of his job as the head stock trader for an investment firm have already piled up. He is looking forward to next week when the train will start its run 11 minutes sooner and deposit him in Manhattan at 5:45 a.m.
"Work is fast-paced, and I need every minute I can get," said Mr. Hoyer, who lives with his wife and two children in Briarcliff Manor, about 30 miles north of the city.
This is one way that many residents of large metropolitan areas foil efforts to force them to move closer-in to the city. They just leave for work early enough to avoid at least some of the congestion - even if they use transit, as Mr. Hoyer, mentioned above, does.
N.Y.: Expanding Workday Makes Its Mark on Transit
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
The first train of the day pulls out of the Croton-Harmon station at 4:56 a.m., almost a full hour before sunrise, but it is not early enough for Ben Hoyer.
Mr. Hoyer, 36, like a fast-growing cohort of commuters, wants to get to Grand Central Terminal even earlier than is now possible. By 6 a.m., Mr. Hoyer said, the demands of his job as the head stock trader for an investment firm have already piled up. He is looking forward to next week when the train will start its run 11 minutes sooner and deposit him in Manhattan at 5:45 a.m.
"Work is fast-paced, and I need every minute I can get," said Mr. Hoyer, who lives with his wife and two children in Briarcliff Manor, about 30 miles north of the city.
This is one way that many residents of large metropolitan areas foil efforts to force them to move closer-in to the city. They just leave for work early enough to avoid at least some of the congestion - even if they use transit, as Mr. Hoyer, mentioned above, does.
Journalists don't always ask the right questions
Consider the story below, published in the Baltimore Sun today as an example.
City could keep rolling if $100 oil parked cars
By Meredith Cohn
Sun reporter
March 25, 2006
Believe ... we could survive $100-a-barrel oil?
Baltimore would be one of the best U.S. cities to be stranded without a car during an oil crisis, partly due to its public transportation, an earth-friendly San Francisco group said in a study it released yesterday.
SustainLane, an online information provider about resource conservation, ranked Baltimore ninth, behind New York, Boston and Philadelphia in coping with $100-a-barrel oil.
Baltimore even beat Washington, ranked No. 11, which has perhaps the nation's largest circular parking lot in the Capitol Beltway but also carried 190 million riders on its Metro subway system in fiscal 2004.
Now I suppose it is possible that "SustainLane" has not heard the old saw, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it, but that caveat applies here. If a large drop-off in highway use (which SustainLane seems to desire) were to happen as the result of a big increase in the cost of petroleum-based fuels, then there would likely be a big cutback in transit subsidies (and thus an increase in fares or a cutback in scheduled transit service), at least in Maryland.
The transit system that serves most of the Washington, D.C. area and its suburbs, WMATA, gets most of its Maryland operating subsidies from motorists (motor fuel taxes, titling and registration fees and so on). According to published data, WMATA recovers about 57% of the money it needs to operate from fares.
None of WMATA's capital costs are funded by rider fares.
You can read all about it here (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 707 KB) - this is a analysis of WMATA operating and capital costs prepared by staff with the Maryland Department of Legislative Services (DLS).
Now I know that the article above was from the Baltimore Sun, and was supposed to be about Baltimore. So here's the story from the other end of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
Transit services operated by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA for short), excluding the MARC commuter rail services, recover only about 34% of their operating costs from fares. So the other 68% comes mostly from Maryland motorists. For more details, click here (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 966 KB) for the DLS analysis.
And consistent with Washington, Baltimore's transit riders don't fund any of the capital costs of the systems that they ride.
And if you are interested in knowing where the revenue comes from, the DLS has that covered as well. Click here (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 666 KB) for the analysis.
City could keep rolling if $100 oil parked cars
By Meredith Cohn
Sun reporter
March 25, 2006
Believe ... we could survive $100-a-barrel oil?
Baltimore would be one of the best U.S. cities to be stranded without a car during an oil crisis, partly due to its public transportation, an earth-friendly San Francisco group said in a study it released yesterday.
SustainLane, an online information provider about resource conservation, ranked Baltimore ninth, behind New York, Boston and Philadelphia in coping with $100-a-barrel oil.
Baltimore even beat Washington, ranked No. 11, which has perhaps the nation's largest circular parking lot in the Capitol Beltway but also carried 190 million riders on its Metro subway system in fiscal 2004.
Now I suppose it is possible that "SustainLane" has not heard the old saw, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it, but that caveat applies here. If a large drop-off in highway use (which SustainLane seems to desire) were to happen as the result of a big increase in the cost of petroleum-based fuels, then there would likely be a big cutback in transit subsidies (and thus an increase in fares or a cutback in scheduled transit service), at least in Maryland.
The transit system that serves most of the Washington, D.C. area and its suburbs, WMATA, gets most of its Maryland operating subsidies from motorists (motor fuel taxes, titling and registration fees and so on). According to published data, WMATA recovers about 57% of the money it needs to operate from fares.
None of WMATA's capital costs are funded by rider fares.
You can read all about it here (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 707 KB) - this is a analysis of WMATA operating and capital costs prepared by staff with the Maryland Department of Legislative Services (DLS).
Now I know that the article above was from the Baltimore Sun, and was supposed to be about Baltimore. So here's the story from the other end of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
Transit services operated by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA for short), excluding the MARC commuter rail services, recover only about 34% of their operating costs from fares. So the other 68% comes mostly from Maryland motorists. For more details, click here (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 966 KB) for the DLS analysis.
And consistent with Washington, Baltimore's transit riders don't fund any of the capital costs of the systems that they ride.
And if you are interested in knowing where the revenue comes from, the DLS has that covered as well. Click here (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 666 KB) for the analysis.
D.C./Md./Va.: Area Soon to Be Mostly Minority
Area Soon to Be Mostly Minority
Shift in 4-8 Years Will Reshape Politics, Priorities, Experts Say
By D'Vera Cohn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 25, 2006; A01
The minority population in the Washington region will become the majority in well under a decade, a benchmark of the racial and ethnic change that is reconfiguring the area's political, economic and social identity.
Among residents younger than 40, minorities already outnumber whites, and experts say the trends that have driven up those numbers are certain to continue.
When it hits the majority-minority threshold, the Washington region will join a handful of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, among them Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The New York City region will soon be among them.
Washington will cross the threshold in four to eight years, according to various forecasts.
There are two points in this story that were not made very well by the writer.
First, the key word here in growth. Not the color or tace of the people. Just that there are going to be more people in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area.
Second, the Washington region is home to one of the largest and most-affluent majority-minority suburban juridictions now - that would be Prince George's County, Maryland.
Shift in 4-8 Years Will Reshape Politics, Priorities, Experts Say
By D'Vera Cohn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 25, 2006; A01
The minority population in the Washington region will become the majority in well under a decade, a benchmark of the racial and ethnic change that is reconfiguring the area's political, economic and social identity.
Among residents younger than 40, minorities already outnumber whites, and experts say the trends that have driven up those numbers are certain to continue.
When it hits the majority-minority threshold, the Washington region will join a handful of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, among them Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The New York City region will soon be among them.
Washington will cross the threshold in four to eight years, according to various forecasts.
There are two points in this story that were not made very well by the writer.
First, the key word here in growth. Not the color or tace of the people. Just that there are going to be more people in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area.
Second, the Washington region is home to one of the largest and most-affluent majority-minority suburban juridictions now - that would be Prince George's County, Maryland.
If It Grows, Tax It. . .
Metro, Portland's regional planning agency, has expanded the urban-growth boundary. But before anything can be built, it wants to spend years planning the development. To pay for that planning, it wants to tax all new homebuilding.
"If it moves, they want to tax it," Ronald Reagan used to say. "If it still moves, they want to regulate it. If it stops moving, they want to subsidize it." That's a fair description of Metro policies, though not in that particular order. They want to regulate develop, tax it to pay for the regulation, and then subsidize it to get the kind of high-density development they thing people should live in.
It used to be that builders could buy land and start construction and a year or so later you would have housing, sometimes compete with schools, roads, parks, and other infrastructure, all planned and paid for by the developer. Now government planners have to intervene, adding years to the process and driving up housing prices with delay, taxes, and limits on what can be built.
"If it moves, they want to tax it," Ronald Reagan used to say. "If it still moves, they want to regulate it. If it stops moving, they want to subsidize it." That's a fair description of Metro policies, though not in that particular order. They want to regulate develop, tax it to pay for the regulation, and then subsidize it to get the kind of high-density development they thing people should live in.
It used to be that builders could buy land and start construction and a year or so later you would have housing, sometimes compete with schools, roads, parks, and other infrastructure, all planned and paid for by the developer. Now government planners have to intervene, adding years to the process and driving up housing prices with delay, taxes, and limits on what can be built.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Europe's Mania for Trains Wastes Money
Writing in Financial Times, European Parliament member Ari Vatanen says that Europe's efforts to get cars and trucks off the road by investing more money in rail lines is a waste and is reducing Europe's competitiveness in the world. Despite government spending of hundreds of billions of euros on rail, Europeans are showing their preference for cars and trucks.
Vatanen says that European countries collect 330 billion euros a year from auto and truck users but spend only 100 billion euros on roads. Meanwhile, they spend 105 billion euros on passenger trains but only collect 40 billion in fares.
This document from the European Union shows that, from 1980 to 2000, rail's market share of freight in Europe declined from 22 to 14 percent and its share of urban and intercity passenger travel declined from 9.6 to 7.4 percent. Meanwhile, trucks went from 62 to 75 percent of freight while autos increased from 76.4. to 78.3 percent.
The interesting thing about these figures is that Europe has a deliberate policy of trying to get more freight to go by rail. The U.S. has no such policy; instead, it deregulated all of its transport in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a result, over the same period, U.S. railroads increased their market share of freight transport while truck's share has declined. Maybe Europe should think about deregulation rather than more planning.
Vatanen says that European countries collect 330 billion euros a year from auto and truck users but spend only 100 billion euros on roads. Meanwhile, they spend 105 billion euros on passenger trains but only collect 40 billion in fares.
This document from the European Union shows that, from 1980 to 2000, rail's market share of freight in Europe declined from 22 to 14 percent and its share of urban and intercity passenger travel declined from 9.6 to 7.4 percent. Meanwhile, trucks went from 62 to 75 percent of freight while autos increased from 76.4. to 78.3 percent.
The interesting thing about these figures is that Europe has a deliberate policy of trying to get more freight to go by rail. The U.S. has no such policy; instead, it deregulated all of its transport in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a result, over the same period, U.S. railroads increased their market share of freight transport while truck's share has declined. Maybe Europe should think about deregulation rather than more planning.
Material Injury = Municipal Taxes
STATE SUPREME COURT, North Carolina - Based on analysis, the Court ruled the Village’s annexation was unlawful because the administrative services such as zoning administration and tax collection which would be furnished by the Village to the newly annexed area would simply fill needs created by the annexation itself, without providing any significant benefits to the annexed property owners and residents. The Court made clear that its ruling did not mean a municipality is required to provide all types of public services to an involuntarily annexed area, but rather that the services provided by the municipality must confer some significant benefit to the annexed property owners and residents. Finally, the Court found that the property owners would suffer material injury, in the form of municipal taxes, if the Village’s annexation proceeded.
Fed's Data Shows Low Perfomance is Good
REASEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina - The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight publishes data quarterly and tracks average house price changes in repeat sales or refinancings of the same single-family properties. Home prices in the Triangle region last year appreciated at a slower pace than in the rest of the state and country. In the Durham home prices rose an average 5.69 percent and in the Raleigh-Cary area home prices appreciated 4.74 percent, while home appreciation in the United States was 12.95 percent.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Va.: Cost Dooms Metro Plan For Tunnel At Tysons
Cost Dooms Metro Plan For Tunnel At Tysons
By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 24, 2006; Page A01
A plan for Metro trains to rumble under the heart of Tysons Corner through a tunnel was rejected by the project managers yesterday as too expensive, a decision that could further jeopardize Fairfax County's grand vision of remaking Tysons into an urban-style, pedestrian-friendly downtown for Northern Virginia.
The Virginia transportation commissioner and Metro officials had, in recent months, urged the project managers to use an advanced technology to build a tunnel under Tysons, saying it would be easier for the area to develop into a true urban center -- and simpler to build the project without aboveground disruptions -- if there weren't elevated tracks slicing across it.
This project gets more expensive as we go along - but then, consider that the original "Adopted Regional System" for Washington's Metrorail was estimated to cost $2.55 billion in 1969, but ended up costing at least $9 billion, and maybe as much as $12 billion, depending on how inflation is accounted for.
By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 24, 2006; Page A01
A plan for Metro trains to rumble under the heart of Tysons Corner through a tunnel was rejected by the project managers yesterday as too expensive, a decision that could further jeopardize Fairfax County's grand vision of remaking Tysons into an urban-style, pedestrian-friendly downtown for Northern Virginia.
The Virginia transportation commissioner and Metro officials had, in recent months, urged the project managers to use an advanced technology to build a tunnel under Tysons, saying it would be easier for the area to develop into a true urban center -- and simpler to build the project without aboveground disruptions -- if there weren't elevated tracks slicing across it.
This project gets more expensive as we go along - but then, consider that the original "Adopted Regional System" for Washington's Metrorail was estimated to cost $2.55 billion in 1969, but ended up costing at least $9 billion, and maybe as much as $12 billion, depending on how inflation is accounted for.
Transit Bus - with a skilled driver at the wheel, it's a safe and smooth mode of transportation
MASS TRANSIT
In D.C. Area, King of the Route
Longtime Metrobus Driver to Be Honored for Safety Record
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 22, 2006; Page B09
The ride on Robert Miles's shiny new Metrobus is smooth and even. On the route from the Greenbelt Metrorail station to Laurel, Miles steers his 40-foot-long "New Flyer" with a light but firm touch at the wheel. At each stop, it glides to a halt a few inches from the curb. No jerky starts, no sharp lurches.
Miles, 58, is the best bus driver in the Washington region, having logged nearly 2.8 million miles in horrible traffic, road and weather conditions without a single accident in 29 years. He is one of only four bus operators among the transit agency's 2,315 to drive more than 2 million accident-free miles.
In D.C. Area, King of the Route
Longtime Metrobus Driver to Be Honored for Safety Record
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 22, 2006; Page B09
The ride on Robert Miles's shiny new Metrobus is smooth and even. On the route from the Greenbelt Metrorail station to Laurel, Miles steers his 40-foot-long "New Flyer" with a light but firm touch at the wheel. At each stop, it glides to a halt a few inches from the curb. No jerky starts, no sharp lurches.
Miles, 58, is the best bus driver in the Washington region, having logged nearly 2.8 million miles in horrible traffic, road and weather conditions without a single accident in 29 years. He is one of only four bus operators among the transit agency's 2,315 to drive more than 2 million accident-free miles.
D.C.: Dozing Operator Blamed in Rail Crash
Dozing Operator Blamed in Rail Crash
2004 Collision Crippled Red Line
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 24, 2006; Page A01
The operator of the runaway Metro train that rolled backward for 78 seconds and slammed into another train at the Woodley Park Station in November 2004 failed to brake because he was very likely asleep, federal safety officials said yesterday.
The crash, which occurred in the middle of the day, injured about 20 people and caused about $3.5 million in damage. It hobbled the Red Line, the system's busiest, for days.
No one was killed, but investigators calculated that at least 79 would have died if the runaway train had been full of passengers.
"The only thing that kept this accident from being catastrophic was the time of day that it occurred," said Debbie Hersman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
From the National Transportation Safety Board:
Report of Railroad Accident
Collision Between Two Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Trains
at the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Station
Washington, D.C., November 3, 2004
NTSB/RAR-06/01:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Press Release
2004 Collision Crippled Red Line
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 24, 2006; Page A01
The operator of the runaway Metro train that rolled backward for 78 seconds and slammed into another train at the Woodley Park Station in November 2004 failed to brake because he was very likely asleep, federal safety officials said yesterday.
The crash, which occurred in the middle of the day, injured about 20 people and caused about $3.5 million in damage. It hobbled the Red Line, the system's busiest, for days.
No one was killed, but investigators calculated that at least 79 would have died if the runaway train had been full of passengers.
"The only thing that kept this accident from being catastrophic was the time of day that it occurred," said Debbie Hersman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
From the National Transportation Safety Board:
Report of Railroad Accident
Collision Between Two Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Trains
at the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Station
Washington, D.C., November 3, 2004
NTSB/RAR-06/01:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Press Release
Md.: Highway Expected to Get Green Light
Intercounty Connector
Highway Expected to Get Green Light
By Steven Ginsberg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 23, 2006; Page B02
The public comment period for the intercounty connector ends today, despite objections from the highway's opponents, moving the decades-old project a step closer to a 2006 construction start, Maryland officials said yesterday.
In the final step before the state starts buying land and building the road, the Federal Highway Administration will review comments submitted by residents and interest groups and will render a final decision on the project. State officials said they expect a favorable decision this spring and plan to begin construction as soon as this summer.
Let's just say that the InterCounty Connector (ICC) has been on Maryland's planning maps for about 50 years, and much development (especially in Montgomery County) has been approved with the understanding that this highway would be built.
And in spite of Maryland's ex-Gov. Parris N. Glendening's effort to kill the ICC in 1997, 1998 and 1999 (during his election campaign in 1994, which he won on a razor-thin margin, he promised to get the road built), it's been needed for a long, long time.
Intercounty Connector (ICC) project study website (official State of Maryland site)
Highway Expected to Get Green Light
By Steven Ginsberg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 23, 2006; Page B02
The public comment period for the intercounty connector ends today, despite objections from the highway's opponents, moving the decades-old project a step closer to a 2006 construction start, Maryland officials said yesterday.
In the final step before the state starts buying land and building the road, the Federal Highway Administration will review comments submitted by residents and interest groups and will render a final decision on the project. State officials said they expect a favorable decision this spring and plan to begin construction as soon as this summer.
Let's just say that the InterCounty Connector (ICC) has been on Maryland's planning maps for about 50 years, and much development (especially in Montgomery County) has been approved with the understanding that this highway would be built.
And in spite of Maryland's ex-Gov. Parris N. Glendening's effort to kill the ICC in 1997, 1998 and 1999 (during his election campaign in 1994, which he won on a razor-thin margin, he promised to get the road built), it's been needed for a long, long time.
Intercounty Connector (ICC) project study website (official State of Maryland site)
"Low Density Is the Attraction"
The Census Bureau reports that the nation's fastest growing counties continue to be rural and suburban. People seem to want "big yards and open spaces, even if that means a long commute," says this Associated Press article.
“I think low density is the attraction,” said William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. “People would rather make a long commute and have a big yard and a big house.” The article points out that jobs are moving outward too.
Wendell Cox's analysis of the numbers is mentioned below (Demographia, March 21st).
“I think low density is the attraction,” said William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. “People would rather make a long commute and have a big yard and a big house.” The article points out that jobs are moving outward too.
Wendell Cox's analysis of the numbers is mentioned below (Demographia, March 21st).
Sham Excuses for Tram
Jack Bogdanski, author of Jack Bog's Blog, intercepted letters from the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) to Portland business leaders supporting the So What District's aerial tram fiasco. As you may recall from this space before, the tram was supposed to cost $15 million, current estimate is up to $55 million.
The letters make the following points:
It is time for the American Dream Coalition to start taking on TIF, which is funding many of the inane "transit-oriented developments" and other smart-growth fantasies around the U.S. If you have any good TIF stories, please forward them to me.
The letters make the following points:
- Not a dime of the cost of the tram comes from Portland's general fund. No, but a lot comes from TIF money, which means it comes out of property taxes that would otherwise go to schools, fire, police, etc.
- The tram will be able to move 980 people per hour with cars going every five minutes. Yes, if you can jam 82 people, some in wheelchairs, into it at a time-- and if 82 people actually want to go.
- The tram has spurred $2 billion in investment in Portland. This is the old "every dollar spent after we decided to build something was only spent because we decided to build it" lie, taken straight from the light-rail playbook.
- If we couldn't have the tram, we would move part or all of our hospital to the suburbs instead of keeping it in Portland. In other words, the whole point is to feed the egos of Portland leaders, not to be responsible to taxpayers.
- The best line: "The tram already is 45 percent complete and is delivering on its promise." How can it deliver on its promise if it is only 45 percent complete? The only promise made about the construction was that it would cost $15 million and it certainly delivered on that promise, and more!
It is time for the American Dream Coalition to start taking on TIF, which is funding many of the inane "transit-oriented developments" and other smart-growth fantasies around the U.S. If you have any good TIF stories, please forward them to me.
Dulles Rail Project Costs Swell
Is that a redundent headline or what? I mean, it is a rail project, so of course the costs are swelling.
In this case, the project is a proposed 23-mile extension of the Washington DC subway to Dulles Airport. Expected to cost $1.8 billion, the estimates have now risen to $2.4 billion. Three-fourths of the costs are to be paid with gas taxes and auto tolls. Since they only expect to have $2 billion, they are talking about saving money by buying fewer train cars and not building pedestrian accessways to the trains.
That would make the perfect rail project. It costs a lot of money, no one can get to it, and there aren't any trains to ride even if you could. Why don't they just skip the train cars and stations altogether -- think how many miles of rail you could build if you didn't have to pay those extra costs!
Washington's rail system is popular with those who use it, but it is a failure by any objective measure. Mainly what it did was cut bus service to low-income minority neighborhoods in order to provide rail service to wealthy white suburbanites. And not many of them are using it: Honolulu has a higher rate of per capita transit ridership than the Washington metro area. (Honolulu is going to fix that by building a rail system, but that is another story.)
Between 1990 and 2000, the DC area gained more than 100,000 commuters, every single one of which drove to work. Meanwhile, 22,000 people who had taken transit to work in 1990 switched to driving by 2000. Washington's subways are great for tourists, but they aren't doing anything to relieve congestion.
In this case, the project is a proposed 23-mile extension of the Washington DC subway to Dulles Airport. Expected to cost $1.8 billion, the estimates have now risen to $2.4 billion. Three-fourths of the costs are to be paid with gas taxes and auto tolls. Since they only expect to have $2 billion, they are talking about saving money by buying fewer train cars and not building pedestrian accessways to the trains.
That would make the perfect rail project. It costs a lot of money, no one can get to it, and there aren't any trains to ride even if you could. Why don't they just skip the train cars and stations altogether -- think how many miles of rail you could build if you didn't have to pay those extra costs!
Washington's rail system is popular with those who use it, but it is a failure by any objective measure. Mainly what it did was cut bus service to low-income minority neighborhoods in order to provide rail service to wealthy white suburbanites. And not many of them are using it: Honolulu has a higher rate of per capita transit ridership than the Washington metro area. (Honolulu is going to fix that by building a rail system, but that is another story.)
Between 1990 and 2000, the DC area gained more than 100,000 commuters, every single one of which drove to work. Meanwhile, 22,000 people who had taken transit to work in 1990 switched to driving by 2000. Washington's subways are great for tourists, but they aren't doing anything to relieve congestion.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Mayor Ignores Sunshine Week
STOVALL, North Carolina - Only a few days after National Sunshine Week, Mayor Janet Parrott was forced to apologize to the news media for being excluded from covering a meeting of her, a pair of town commissioners and four Granville County officials where they discussed the town's long-awaited water project. "It wasn't anything that was said that would have been a secret or anything like that, except for a possible housing development in town," the Mayor said.
Use the Allocated Funding for Funding
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee - Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) opposes the Bush administration's plan to sell nearly 3,000 acres of the Cherokee National Forest along the North Carolina border as part of a national public lands sale to pay for roads and schools in rural communities. The sale proposal is part of Bush's 2007 budget request and must be approved by Congress. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) wrote the leadership of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to protest the sale saying "I do not believe it is a wise investment to sell our public lands in return for short-term funding of a program that deserves full funding on its own — especially when the lands have been selected without the input of local communities and park rangers."
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Demographia: Domestic Migration: Moving to Smaller Metropolitan Areas
[please note - all text below is quoted verbatim from an e-mail authored by Wendell Cox]
Latest US Census Bureau data continues to show heavy domestic losses in the largest metropolitan areas. From 2000 to 2005, metropolitan areas over 5 million lost 2.7 million population through domestic migration. Metropolitan areas between 250,000 and 5,000,000 gained approximately the same amount. In many metropolitan areas, the loss in domestic migration was offset by international migration.
Domestic Migration: US Metropolitan Areas: 2000-2005
(Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 505 KB)
International Migration: US Metropolitan Areas: 2000-2005
(Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 519 KB)
A previous Demographia report covering 2000 to 2004 had shown that the heaviest domestic losses have been in the core counties
(Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 465 KB)
The same trend is illustrated in the new data, as the examples below indicate. New York City has lost more than 800,000 domestic migrants, or nearly 10 percent of its population since 2000. The city of San Francisco has lost more than 13 percent of its population.
New York Population & Migration
San Francisco Population & Migration
Boston Population & Migration
Washington-Baltimore Population & Migration
Providence Population & Migration
Latest US Census Bureau data continues to show heavy domestic losses in the largest metropolitan areas. From 2000 to 2005, metropolitan areas over 5 million lost 2.7 million population through domestic migration. Metropolitan areas between 250,000 and 5,000,000 gained approximately the same amount. In many metropolitan areas, the loss in domestic migration was offset by international migration.
Domestic Migration: US Metropolitan Areas: 2000-2005
(Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 505 KB)
International Migration: US Metropolitan Areas: 2000-2005
(Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 519 KB)
A previous Demographia report covering 2000 to 2004 had shown that the heaviest domestic losses have been in the core counties
(Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 465 KB)
The same trend is illustrated in the new data, as the examples below indicate. New York City has lost more than 800,000 domestic migrants, or nearly 10 percent of its population since 2000. The city of San Francisco has lost more than 13 percent of its population.
New York Population & Migration
San Francisco Population & Migration
Boston Population & Migration
Washington-Baltimore Population & Migration
Providence Population & Migration
Wrong Hybrid Marketing
High fuel prices created a buzz around buying hybrid vehicles, but as consumers do the math, the cars are becoming a tougher sell. Auto makers are seeing some cracks in consumer demand as more people question hybrids' financial payback. If the auto industry would instead market the decline in pollution, rather than gas efficiency, they might be able to maintain a steady demand for the hybrids. Due to a simple device designed to insure that the catalytic converter runs at its optimal temperature at all times, hybrids cause less than 10 percent as much pollution as do regular cars.
Feds Decline Rail Offer for Second Year in a Row
RALEIGH, NC - The Federal Transit Authority's officials provided new details about why they have, for a second year, declined the Triangle Transit Authority's rail plan stating that they have problems with TTA's forecast for how many people would ride its trains and about whether TTA could cover the cost of building and operating the rail system while continuing to provide bus service. "They [TTA officials] assume that the growth in [operating] costs will be less than inflation, and the growth of revenues will be more than inflation," said Sean Libberton, who oversees an FTA analysis office. "History does not bear that out."
Monday, March 20, 2006
[Op-Ed] Va.: Liberate Mass Transit
Jim Bacon of Bacon's Rebellion, "Virginia's op-ed page for the New Economy" has some interesting and provocative ideas about transit in the Commonwealth. Some of his ideas strike me as extremely worthy, one not so hot:
Here are some of Jim's ideas I think are worthy:
Imagine a private company running a bus every morning from, say, Fredericksburg to Crystal City. Instead of 12 rows of seats, imagine there were 10, creating enough room for passengers to flip down a tray, airline style, where they could comfortably rest their laptops. Imagine there were electric sockets where they could plug in so their batteries wouldn’t run out.
It is important to note that there was a service like this - in Virginia's I-95/I-395 corridor, as far back as the early 1970's. The buses did not have the technology that he mentions above, but they were state-of-the-art for their time. Below is a photograph of one of the Shirley Express buses, as they were called (image from the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission):
Imagine that the bus operator charged $20 per round trip, filling up 40 seats per day and yielding $200,000 annually in revenue per bus. Numbers in that ballpark should be sufficient to generate a profit.
Furthermore, the private-sector capability to provide a commuting service exists. A good number of companies already provide charter and tour services.
Blame Virginia’s failure to develop a dynamic commuter-bus industry upon local transit monopolies and taxi franchises ossified by state law and local ordinance. Blame also a failure of imagination. Virginia’s Political Class and its apologists can conceive of only one solution to traffic congestion – bolstering revenues to fund spectacular new road- and rail-building programs.
I think Jim is calling for deregulation of the bus and taxi industries, which seems like a fine idea to me. I have always had a hard time understanding why most local governments that I've seen in the United States rigidly regulate the taxicab industry.
Federal involvement has been particularly damaging. As Gabriel Roth, a transportation scholar with the Cato Institute explained to me, federal regulations drove up labor costs by mandating pay levels, restricting the ability of bus drivers to work in split shifts and making it prohibitively expensive to fire or lay anyone off.
See also US Urban Transport (Transit) Labor Law Puts Employees Above Riders & Taxpayers on The Public Purpose.
The woes of mass transit in Virginia are compounded by the unique inefficiency of the Washington Metro system. Metro combines all the woes of the typical metropolitan bus system with unique pathologies of its own. With an unwieldy governing structure representing the often-divergent interests of Virginia , Maryland and Washington, D.C., contends Roth, Metro “is almost impossible to reform."
Jim should consider what Wendell Cox wrote in the Washington Post in January of 2005, Better Money Management at Metro . . .
Remove barriers to entry.
In the not so hot category is this:
Another factor, rarely discussed in political circles, has been the phenomenon commonly referred to as "suburban sprawl,” a pattern of scattered, disconnected, low density development accompanied by an inattention to creating pedestrian-friendly walkways. As a rule of thumb, people are willing to walk a quarter mile to a bus stop, but little farther.
Alter land use patterns.
Especially in the freeway corridor between Fredericksburg and Washington, D.C., there are numerous park-and-ride lots, which, from my point of view, obviate the need for the land use to compel transit use.
And based on personal experience across the Potomac River from Virginia, I am not at all enthusiastic about residential densification for the sake of increasing transit ridership.
Here are some of Jim's ideas I think are worthy:
Imagine a private company running a bus every morning from, say, Fredericksburg to Crystal City. Instead of 12 rows of seats, imagine there were 10, creating enough room for passengers to flip down a tray, airline style, where they could comfortably rest their laptops. Imagine there were electric sockets where they could plug in so their batteries wouldn’t run out.
It is important to note that there was a service like this - in Virginia's I-95/I-395 corridor, as far back as the early 1970's. The buses did not have the technology that he mentions above, but they were state-of-the-art for their time. Below is a photograph of one of the Shirley Express buses, as they were called (image from the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission):
Imagine that the bus operator charged $20 per round trip, filling up 40 seats per day and yielding $200,000 annually in revenue per bus. Numbers in that ballpark should be sufficient to generate a profit.
Furthermore, the private-sector capability to provide a commuting service exists. A good number of companies already provide charter and tour services.
Blame Virginia’s failure to develop a dynamic commuter-bus industry upon local transit monopolies and taxi franchises ossified by state law and local ordinance. Blame also a failure of imagination. Virginia’s Political Class and its apologists can conceive of only one solution to traffic congestion – bolstering revenues to fund spectacular new road- and rail-building programs.
I think Jim is calling for deregulation of the bus and taxi industries, which seems like a fine idea to me. I have always had a hard time understanding why most local governments that I've seen in the United States rigidly regulate the taxicab industry.
Federal involvement has been particularly damaging. As Gabriel Roth, a transportation scholar with the Cato Institute explained to me, federal regulations drove up labor costs by mandating pay levels, restricting the ability of bus drivers to work in split shifts and making it prohibitively expensive to fire or lay anyone off.
See also US Urban Transport (Transit) Labor Law Puts Employees Above Riders & Taxpayers on The Public Purpose.
The woes of mass transit in Virginia are compounded by the unique inefficiency of the Washington Metro system. Metro combines all the woes of the typical metropolitan bus system with unique pathologies of its own. With an unwieldy governing structure representing the often-divergent interests of Virginia , Maryland and Washington, D.C., contends Roth, Metro “is almost impossible to reform."
Jim should consider what Wendell Cox wrote in the Washington Post in January of 2005, Better Money Management at Metro . . .
Remove barriers to entry.
In the not so hot category is this:
Another factor, rarely discussed in political circles, has been the phenomenon commonly referred to as "suburban sprawl,” a pattern of scattered, disconnected, low density development accompanied by an inattention to creating pedestrian-friendly walkways. As a rule of thumb, people are willing to walk a quarter mile to a bus stop, but little farther.
Alter land use patterns.
Especially in the freeway corridor between Fredericksburg and Washington, D.C., there are numerous park-and-ride lots, which, from my point of view, obviate the need for the land use to compel transit use.
And based on personal experience across the Potomac River from Virginia, I am not at all enthusiastic about residential densification for the sake of increasing transit ridership.
Winston-Salem Schoolyard Bully
Filing a Writ of Certiorari, 17,000 Forsyth County residents are asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to overturn the city of Winston-Salem’s attempt to annex them by force. A recent decision in Nolan vs. Village of Marvin, the court ruled to overturn forced annexation.
It Takes a Village... to Steal a Golf Course
The Mayor of North Hills New York, Marvin Natiss, stated his intention of seizing the 17th ranked ultra-private golf course Deepdale, for exclusive use by city residents. "I consider a village golf course and recreational facility for residents a public use." The mayor does not plan on raising the $100 million asking price, but is instead, relying on eminent domain to cover the costs.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Va.: Oceana battle may take years
Oceana battle may take years
If Virginia Beach's plans to save base are rejected, appeals, suits may follow
BY BILL GEROUX
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Sunday, March 19, 2006
VIRGINIA BEACH The city has to declare by March 31 how far it will go to prune back the suburbs from Oceana Naval Air Station to keep
its jets and jobs. City leaders and their representatives in Congress conferred last week in Washington.
But even if Virginia Beach's plans are rejected by the Department of Defense's inspector general's office, the city appears to have appeals available - including a federal lawsuit - that could go on for several years.
And the threat of losing the jets to Jacksonville, Fla., lost credibility last fall, when the Jacksonville City Council announced that the city did not want the noisy jets after all.
The struggle over Oceana's jets is without precedent in the base-closing process, said Gary Comerford, a spokesman for inspector general's office, which has never before been called upon to decide such a case. "We're completely new turf."
Virginia Beach's save-the-jets plan, developed with the state and the city of Chesapeake, includes new ordinances to halt development in the primary crash zones near Oceana's runways; tax incentives for businesses that move out of the area; more restrictive zoning in areas of loud jet noise; and the purchase of land and development rights to land under flight paths between Oceana and the outlying Fentress landing field in Chesapeake.
This is an interesting and difficult problem for the elected officials of Virginia Beach. Clearly they gain much from having the U.S. Navy's jets based at the NAS Oceana base. But do they really want to order people and businesses away from places where some of them have been for decades?
If Virginia Beach's plans to save base are rejected, appeals, suits may follow
BY BILL GEROUX
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Sunday, March 19, 2006
VIRGINIA BEACH The city has to declare by March 31 how far it will go to prune back the suburbs from Oceana Naval Air Station to keep
its jets and jobs. City leaders and their representatives in Congress conferred last week in Washington.
But even if Virginia Beach's plans are rejected by the Department of Defense's inspector general's office, the city appears to have appeals available - including a federal lawsuit - that could go on for several years.
And the threat of losing the jets to Jacksonville, Fla., lost credibility last fall, when the Jacksonville City Council announced that the city did not want the noisy jets after all.
The struggle over Oceana's jets is without precedent in the base-closing process, said Gary Comerford, a spokesman for inspector general's office, which has never before been called upon to decide such a case. "We're completely new turf."
Virginia Beach's save-the-jets plan, developed with the state and the city of Chesapeake, includes new ordinances to halt development in the primary crash zones near Oceana's runways; tax incentives for businesses that move out of the area; more restrictive zoning in areas of loud jet noise; and the purchase of land and development rights to land under flight paths between Oceana and the outlying Fentress landing field in Chesapeake.
This is an interesting and difficult problem for the elected officials of Virginia Beach. Clearly they gain much from having the U.S. Navy's jets based at the NAS Oceana base. But do they really want to order people and businesses away from places where some of them have been for decades?
Md.: Jacksonville faces water dilemma
From the Baltimore Sun
Jacksonville faces water dilemma
Many wary of development, but gas leak has spurred concern
By Laura Barnhardt
Sun reporter
March 19, 2006
It was once considered almost sacrilegious to suggest piping city water to Jacksonville.
But that was before three tanker trucks' worth of gasoline seeped into the ground at the community's crossroads. Before cases of bottled water were stacked waist-high in pantries and basements. Before takeout coffee and shower water from the household well became causes for concern.
Now, the idea of a centralized water supply -- a community well, or the politically charged notion of municipal water -- is getting
a fresh look in Jacksonville.
In Jacksonville, as in other areas of northern Baltimore County that rely on wells for water and septic systems for waste disposal, the traditional thinking has held that public water and sewage would be closely followed by rampant development.
"What concerns me is once there's city water, we'll soon get municipal waste. Construction will take off," said J.B. Jennings, a Republican state delegate who grew up in Jacksonville. "Then, it won't be long before Jacksonville looks like Cockeysville."
The Urban-Rural Demarcation Line -- commonly referred to as the URDL (pronounced "urdle") -- marks the outer limits of territory served by water from reservoirs owned by Baltimore City. The boundary was created in 1967 and has changed little. It has been compared to the Great Wall of China and described as a third rail of county politics.
A proposal by the County Council that would have allowed officials to adjust the line in certain cases brought "everybody to their feet," said Teresa Moore, executive director of the Valleys Planning Council, an influential land preservation group whose master plan first called for the URDL.
The Baltimore County URDL may have been the first Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) in the United States. It pre-dates the Montgomery County Agricultural Preserve and the Portland, Oregon UGB by over a decade, and as the article above correctly points out, is little changed since it was establishded in 1967.
What the URDL has not prevented is plenty of "leapfrog" development in the south-central municpalities of Pennsylvania, in particular in York and Adams Counties.
Jacksonville faces water dilemma
Many wary of development, but gas leak has spurred concern
By Laura Barnhardt
Sun reporter
March 19, 2006
It was once considered almost sacrilegious to suggest piping city water to Jacksonville.
But that was before three tanker trucks' worth of gasoline seeped into the ground at the community's crossroads. Before cases of bottled water were stacked waist-high in pantries and basements. Before takeout coffee and shower water from the household well became causes for concern.
Now, the idea of a centralized water supply -- a community well, or the politically charged notion of municipal water -- is getting
a fresh look in Jacksonville.
In Jacksonville, as in other areas of northern Baltimore County that rely on wells for water and septic systems for waste disposal, the traditional thinking has held that public water and sewage would be closely followed by rampant development.
"What concerns me is once there's city water, we'll soon get municipal waste. Construction will take off," said J.B. Jennings, a Republican state delegate who grew up in Jacksonville. "Then, it won't be long before Jacksonville looks like Cockeysville."
The Urban-Rural Demarcation Line -- commonly referred to as the URDL (pronounced "urdle") -- marks the outer limits of territory served by water from reservoirs owned by Baltimore City. The boundary was created in 1967 and has changed little. It has been compared to the Great Wall of China and described as a third rail of county politics.
A proposal by the County Council that would have allowed officials to adjust the line in certain cases brought "everybody to their feet," said Teresa Moore, executive director of the Valleys Planning Council, an influential land preservation group whose master plan first called for the URDL.
The Baltimore County URDL may have been the first Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) in the United States. It pre-dates the Montgomery County Agricultural Preserve and the Portland, Oregon UGB by over a decade, and as the article above correctly points out, is little changed since it was establishded in 1967.
What the URDL has not prevented is plenty of "leapfrog" development in the south-central municpalities of Pennsylvania, in particular in York and Adams Counties.
D.C.: Circulator Bus Service Heading Toward the Mall
Circulator Bus Service Heading Toward the Mall
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 19, 2006; C11
The D.C. Circulator, a public bus system that has been providing inexpensive, frequent service in downtown Washington since July, will start a new route around the Mall this week, just in time for the spring tourist season.
The Circulator buses will operate a continuous loop on the streets bordering the Mall, stopping at each of the Smithsonian museums as well as the two National Gallery buildings. Like the two current Circulator routes -- one runs east-west and the other north-south -- the new loop's buses will run every five to 10 minutes and cost $1 a ride, making the fare the cheapest public transportation available downtown. Metrobus is $1.25; Metrorail is $1.35.
The expanded bus service is not welcome news to Tom Mack, owner and board chairman of Tourmobile Sightseeing Inc., which has held exclusive rights to provide the sightseeing transportation on the Mall under agreements with the National Park Service dating to 1969. The average adult fare is $20 for the day.
The new route, he said, has the potential to damage -- and possibly destroy -- his business. Last year, Tourmobile served more than 1 million people at all of its sites, including Arlington National Cemetery and the major memorials.
"I believe this is an intentional infringement upon my contract," he said.
The Circulator in downtown Washington, D.C. is revolutionary in one important way - it's the first privately-operated transit service in D.C. since the early 1970's.
As for Mr. Mack, owner of the government-sanctioned monopoly Tourmobile service, well, I think he "doth protest too much," as Bill Shakespeare put it.
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 19, 2006; C11
The D.C. Circulator, a public bus system that has been providing inexpensive, frequent service in downtown Washington since July, will start a new route around the Mall this week, just in time for the spring tourist season.
The Circulator buses will operate a continuous loop on the streets bordering the Mall, stopping at each of the Smithsonian museums as well as the two National Gallery buildings. Like the two current Circulator routes -- one runs east-west and the other north-south -- the new loop's buses will run every five to 10 minutes and cost $1 a ride, making the fare the cheapest public transportation available downtown. Metrobus is $1.25; Metrorail is $1.35.
The expanded bus service is not welcome news to Tom Mack, owner and board chairman of Tourmobile Sightseeing Inc., which has held exclusive rights to provide the sightseeing transportation on the Mall under agreements with the National Park Service dating to 1969. The average adult fare is $20 for the day.
The new route, he said, has the potential to damage -- and possibly destroy -- his business. Last year, Tourmobile served more than 1 million people at all of its sites, including Arlington National Cemetery and the major memorials.
"I believe this is an intentional infringement upon my contract," he said.
The Circulator in downtown Washington, D.C. is revolutionary in one important way - it's the first privately-operated transit service in D.C. since the early 1970's.
As for Mr. Mack, owner of the government-sanctioned monopoly Tourmobile service, well, I think he "doth protest too much," as Bill Shakespeare put it.
