Archive for the ‘VA’ Category
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
I posted the following on
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/snowsummit/
I bike at least 2-3 times a week from Herndon to Tysons Corner, except after it snowed. Since the snow I have biked once, because the clearing snow for cars has take priority over other forms of transport, in fact the snow clearing for cars has had a negative impact on peoples ability to walk, bike or take a bus. During snow clearing side walks are used as a dumping area for snow from roads, huge piles of snow are formed at cross walks forcing pedestrians to walk on roads that are already narrow from snow on the roads. Bike paths were not cleared and bus stops had 4 foot high snow piles making the dangerous to use. I tried crossing the toll road using Wiehle Ave, and was forced to turn back because of a 10 foot snow mound on the bridge blocking the path. which was created by VDOT clearing Wiehle.
I see a huge amount of money being spent of clearing roads for cars, but I don’t see any focus on clearing roads to allow people to use mass transit. We should be focusing on creating snow routes that are chosen based on there use Transit not cars. We should then make it a priority to clear side walks and bike paths to allow people to forgo using their car and walk or bike to a transit line, where they can take mass transit. We should be focusing on clearing side walks to allow children to walk safely to school.
Tags:snow
Posted in bus, VA | No Comments »
Saturday, December 27th, 2008
The choice to have a car is personal one, I grew up in a two car family, but do you really need a two huge cars? I know people who have gone out and bought a new SUV because they were having a baby, on pressing a little more, it turned out the the stroller wouldn’t fit in the old car, which seems a little odd to me. For our family the only reason we have two cars, is that both are paid off and not costing us anything other than fuel and insurance, but we have made the commitment to walk and bike more. This year I have biked over 1400 miles while commuting to work and I intend on continuing that trend.
Faab recently posted a story about one less car in Virginia and how Paul made the choice to sell the family’s second car which echos the bike manufacture Trek‘s message of biking any trip under 2 miles with their 1 world 2 wheels program. They hope to increase the number of trips taken in the U.S. by bike from the current 1% to 5% by 2017.
When we look at other reasons why people have two cars, a common reason is to ferry their children back and forward to school. 20% to 25&% of morning rush hour traffic is attributable to parents driving their children to school. We should be looking at is how to create safe routes to our schools, especially for those living within two miles of their school where bike trains or creating a walking school bus is possible. This would also reduce our reliance on the need for the 1700 school buses in Fairfax county which is facing painful choices on how to cut it’s budget.
Tags:1 less car, 1 world 2 wheels, Fairfax County, safe routes to schools
Posted in Bicycling, bus, Dundee, Metro, Scotland, VA, WMATA | No Comments »
Sunday, December 21st, 2008
As of the 23rd of December you will be able to buy a SmarTrip card from 190 CVS locations in the DC, MD, and Washington area. The cards will be available for $10 which include $5 which can be used for fares for Bus and Metro Trips as well as Metro parking. You can also purchase the cards at Metro Stations and select Giant Stores.
You can add value to the card at either a fare machine at a Metro station or using the fare box on a Metrobus. I am assuming that you can also add money to you card using the fareboxes on the regional buses that accept SmarTrip.
Tags:Metro, Metrobus, SmarTrip
Posted in bus, DC, MD, Metro, VA, WMATA | No Comments »
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
Greater Greater Washington has an article up on why we should add rapid transit bus lanes.
WMATA believes that the future of Greater Washington’s transportation rests on priority bus corridors throughout the region, like the MetroExtra (#79) bus from Silver Spring to downtown DC. With Metrorail running out of capacity by 2030 and serious core expansion costing billions, Metro sees rapid buses as the best chance for a real capacity boost.
This has been adopted in many countries include the UK where I grew up, and if the DC area can move away from a car focused transport policy, then rapid bus lanes might actually become a reality.
Tags:dedicated bus lanes, rapid transit buses, WMATA
Posted in bus, DC, MD, VA, WMATA | No Comments »
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
The Dulles Rail Silver Line extenstion passes another hurdle by getting the sign off from the FTA for the federal contribution of 900 million to the $1.63 billion needed to build the first stage of the Metro rail extension out to Dulles Airport.
Metro has also started procurement of 64 new 7000 series metro rail cars that will look significantly different from the existing fleet. The rail cars would have a stainless steel exterior. The exterior brown paint and stripes would be gone. The Fiberglass seats would be replaced with stainless steel ones and carpet would be eliminated. They are also considering interactive linear maps, and automated announcements stating the station names. While I am all for the automated announcements, I remember the 6000’s doing it when they first started rolling out, so why don’t they do it now?
With the silver line looking like it might actually be built Track Twenty Nine has some very interesting diagrams on the capacity issues the Silver line will create at Rosslyn Station.
Metro is considering routing some blue line trans across the bridge to DC rather than going to Rosslyn as they currently do. When you add the silver line in the rosslyn tunnel it doesn’t look like metro will have any other choice than to reduce the blue line service to the station unless they expand or build another tunnel into DC.
Tags:7000 series, dulles rail, Metro, silver line, WMATA
Posted in bus, DC, Metro, Uncategorized, VA | No Comments »
Friday, October 31st, 2008
It seems that DC Metro may have been affected by the collapse of AIG. StreetBlog looks at the affect of AIG on transit leasing, they quote the Philly Inquirer
The trouble stems from leasing arrangements made years ago between transit agencies and lenders in which the banks bought transit equipment and facilities, such as railcars and stations, and leased them back to the agencies.
The transit agencies got much-needed cash, and the banks got tax benefits. In 2003, the tax benefits from those kinds of transactions were prohibited by the IRS.
AIG served as the insurer of many of those deals. The collapse of AIG downgraded its credit rating, allowing the lenders to demand full payment from the transit agencies if the agencies did not quickly find other insurers.
The Washington Post says the Washington Metro needs to pay back 43 Million.
In Metro’s case, the regional transit agency could face up to $400 million in payments, the system’s chief financial officer, Carol Kissal, said in an interview yesterday. One bank, KBC Group of Belgium, has told Metro that it needs to pay $43 million by next week. Metro officials confirmed the details but declined to name the bank.
This is a sad time when public transit is at a all time high.
Tags:AIG, Metro, WMATA
Posted in DC, MD, VA, WMATA | No Comments »
Monday, October 27th, 2008
While working in DC I was able to to put my bike on the 980 bus in Herndon and then bike from West Falls Church to DC. While traveling in China last month my contract came to an unexpected screeching halt. So I now find my self looking for a new job and as a byproduct a new commute.
The Strongest contender at the moment is in Tysons Corner, but they don’t have shower facilities which will officially suck in the summer.
So now I am looking for the best way to get there by bike. My first thought was W&OD trail from Herndon to Gallows Road, then up Gallows to International Drive. Another option might be to hit 123 north. On looking at the Fairfax bike map more closely I came up with a third plan but I don’t really know the roads so not sure if there are any gotchas that I am missing.
Also if anyone has any leads on shower facilities near Tyson’s Mall please let me know, I checked with fitness first, but they don’t offer a shower and locker only plan.
Tags:Herndon, Tysons Corner, W&OD
Posted in Bicycling, bus, VA | 4 Comments »
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
In response to Councilman Husch’s proposal to confiscate all bicycles that are chained, tied to trees or road sign posts in the public right-of-ways, I decided to take a trip out to Historic Herndon and see who would be affected by his proposal.
I saw a lot of bikers, most of them were using the trail to travel through Herndon. Other were stopping to buy drinks or ice cream. Two bikes were locked outside Jimmy’s Tavern. Another outside the bread shop.
What I didn’t find were any people who would fit the profile of an illegal, instead I found mostly white Americans.
As a biked a little further along the trail I spotted this couple locking up their bikes to a street sign next to an open house.
The couple had biked to Herndon and were looking to buy a town house in Herndon specifically because it was close to the trail. They chose to lock up their bike to the street sign at Branch Drive because it was close to their destination and was a solid secure object.
If Councilman Husch’s proposal becomes law, I wonder what their reaction would have been to coming back to find their bikes had been confiscated?
Councilman Husch said that a Virginia Law already prohibits bicycles from being chained to signposts or left in the public right of way. I searched the Virginia law and didn’t find anything that would appear to give them the authority to confiscate bikes parked in the public right of way. So I would ask Mr Husch to let us know the section of the code he is referring to so we can review it.
Tags:Confiscating bikes, Councilman Husch, Town of Herndon, W&OD
Posted in Bicycling, VA | No Comments »
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
The Washington Post has picked up on a memo from Dennis D. Husch on his proposal to confiscate bikes in Herndon.
Town officials want to step up police activity and zoning enforcement where the workers gather, ban carryout alcoholic beverage sales downtown and remove the pay phones that the workers use to call their home countries. They want to institute a permitting process for homeowners to rent out rooms, in hopes of reducing the number of workers living in crowded conditions. They also want to confiscate bicycles — a common mode of transport for the workers — that are parked illegally in public places. Dennis D. Husch
I wrote an email to Mr Husch, which he hasn’t taken the time to reply to yet. I did get an email from Connie Hutchinson the Vice Mayor of Herndon saying the Council, as a whole, has not discussed Councilman Husch’s proposal yet and she is against the proposal of confiscating bikes in the public right of way.
I also had a lengthy emails conversation with Bill Tirrell who is on the Herndon Council. Although he has been supportive of installation of the traffic signal at W&OD and Elden and agrees that we need more bike racks in Herndon, he is siding with Mr Husch and feels that confiscating bikes in the public right of way is an appropriate response to illegal residents in the Town of Herndon even though it will also be targeting legal residents.
Tags:Bill Tirrell, Confiscating, Confiscating bikes, Conie Hutchinson, Dennis Husch, Elden Street, Herndon, Town of Herndon, W&OD
Posted in Bicycling, VA | No Comments »
