The Revitalist

A Venice waterbus.

Venice has too many tourists, and they are making life hard for the city's full-time residents. So, the city has just opened a new waterbus line that caters to residents; it only takes those with a Carta Venezia pass (the pass is discounted for residents, a kind of long-term subway pass). Residents had complained that the waterbuses were so jammed with tourists and their big suitcases that there was little room for regular riders. The mayor said, "If people want to come to Venice they can come, but we have to allow residents to live better." Can you imagine Bloomberg or Daley saying something like that?

Architect's rendering of the proposed Tyson's Corner station. (Di Domenico + Partners)

Here's an unintended consequence of the Big Dig: the Federal government is more reluctant to fund large scale transit projects (via Planetizen). The Dulles rail line in Washington DC that would connect the existing Metro system with the Dulles International Airport through Tysons Corner in northern Virginia. A recent report from consultants for the Federal Transit Administration said that the project met all the qualifications for federal funding. But FTA officials are now saying that the project may not be funded. (Previously, projects that met the qualifications were automatically funded.) The Congressional and State delegations that supported the project have been caught unawares. Anonymous officials are quoted in the article, saying that the Administration is "concerned about the price tag and the specter of another Big Dig. ... The agency has been reluctant to promote large-scale transit projects." Uh oh.

The Charles River Conservancy has proposed Sunday morning closures of Storrow Drive westbound so that bikes, rollerblades and runners can use the roadway (via Planning Liveable Communities). The five-mile stretch would be closed to cars only on Sunday mornings from April to November, 7:30 to 10:30 am. There is a similar closure of a two-mile stretch of Memorial Drive on the opposite side of the river, but that is interrupted by car access to the bridges. The Storrow section runs underneath the bridges, so it could be an uninterrupted path. The article cites excited comments from pedestrian and bike organizations and much more lukewarm comments from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, who would be responsible for oversight. But the CRC argues that if Mayor Menino is really serious about his biking enthusiasm, he ought to support this idea; no comment from the Mayor's office.

Planned Metro for Dublin (looks like St. Stephen's Green). Expected to start construction in 2009.

An article in BusinessWeek on the spreading popularity of urban subway systems (or some kind of light rail) has been noticed in the blogosphere. As the article puts it, a subway system is more than just transit or ecologically practical, it provides "some big-city glamour." Transit planners, train manufacturers and related businesses are all experiencing a boom time as cities all over the world, including cities such as Santo Domingo, for whom a subway might have been thought out of reach, are planning or building subways. The article has a nice slideshow to accompany.

When you visit a new city, do you seek out the subway or bus system? Does it feel like an essential part of the cosmopolitan, metropolitan experience? 

The St. Charles Avenue Streetcar in New Orleans is up and running again. The streetcar line (not the famous Desire Street line) is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the country (not counting the disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina), and the only one surviving from New Orleans original streetcar system. The line runs historic trolleys and passes through the Garden District popular with tourists. The city rightly identifies the trolleys as a tourist amenity, but they are also clearly a point of pride for NO residents.

Long lines of first time riders.NC's largest city, Charlotte, has embarked upon a new light rail system that many mid-size cities around the country will no doubt be watching. Cutting from whole cloth, Charlotte has created a system, complete with TOD condo developments and neighborhood groups up in arms. The opening day saw huge crowds of curious life-long suburbanites and fans on their way to the Carolina Panthers football game. The crowds the second day were much more in keeping with the transit system estimates. It will be interesting to see how people use the system once the novelty has worn off.

 

Soon you'll be able to yack your way from the South Shore to the North Shore. The installation of wireless antennas from the big four carriers (AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon) is set to begin in the Big Dig tunnels. You will be happy to know to that they have also determined that the antenna cables will not weigh down the epoxy-anchored ceiling panels enough to cause them to come crashing down on people. Even though the legislature ordered the Turnpike Authority make a deal with the wireless companies and get these antennas installed, the inevitable sound bites about talking-while-driving safety have begun. But State Senator Michael Morrissey has a slightly different perspective on the issue, "I'm surprised more people haven't been in accidents because they have to redial."

The Greenbush line serves the South Shore.

The MBTA's Greenbush commuter rail line started rolling into South Station yesterday morning. WBUR chronicled one of the first rides, noting that it took their reporter an extra 1/2 hour to get to the office (connecting via the Red and Green lines). The Globe has a nice summary of the roughly 25 year, $500M saga of the Greenbush line.

Historic streetcar photo from the City's feasibility study.

The City of Cincinnati is considering a streetcar system (via Planetizen). The project is estimated at $102 M, according to a recent feasibility study commissioned by the city. The city is banking on the streetcar attracting investment in the downtown, including the storied Over-the-Rhine neighborhood where the streetcar would stop at the historic Findlay Market. The proposal is meeting some resistance from people who point out that the city is already carrying a deficit of $29M. So question is if you build it, will the people, businesses, investments come? The streetcar idea worked great in Portland and Tampa, will it work for Cincinnati?

NPR recently reported (but did not cite the study, for shame) that the average American commute is 25 minutes. New York City has the longest average commute (36 minutes), while Omaha and Buffalo have the shortest (and, as NPR pointed out, much lower housing prices). As the average commute, that 25 minutes disguises the people who live upstairs from their small store or commute their home office and those who ride the commuter rail over an hour or drive for two.

A recent post on Planetizen's Interchange blog wonders about recent moves to make some these long rides more productive. Will having WiFi on commuter buses and trains encourage more people take transit? More transit users is a good thing, right? What if we wind up with more extreme commuters who work during their rides? Is this an unintended consequence that we'll regret? Or would it improve quality of life for commuters and workers?