Design as a tool for rethinking and reconfiguring services (including transit)

Images by Robert Firth and the staff of Informing Design.

The Next Page is an amazing feature in the Sunday edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It runs on the back page of the commentary section and is a long-form special feature focused on the region.

In the office of Neighbors in the Strip, I saw the page from 1/28/2007, as it was posted up on the wall in the organization. This particular feature, "The long Squiggly Line that's killing our transit system (and news of a Brazilian cure)," proposes an alternative to the Port Authority of Allegheny County's proposal for massive cuts in transit service paired with signficant price increases.

Robert Firth's alternative is to reconfigure how the system to provide better service, probably at reduced cost. (Mr. Firth created Pittsburgh wayfinding system and signage, which I think is quite good and cost-effective.)


Multiply this out...


Instead reconceptualize and reconfigure...


In fact, this is something I suggest in DC (and within the idea of transit shed planning). Rather than having people in Ward 5 (or Maryland) to the Brookland, Rhode Island Avenue, and Fort Totten stations, there ought to be convenient "circulator" service within neighborhoods to take people to the stations. Parking lots are about the worst possible use for land. And certainly, the cost for parking should be a lot higher. (Furthermore, ward zoned residential parking permits allow for people in far away parts of the ward to take up parking on residential streets by the Brookland commercial district, which doesn't benefit the retail district.)

Check out "The long Squiggly Line that's killing our transit system (and news of a Brazilian cure)," for all the images. (There are more than 30.)
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And while I don't want to be seen as a shill for WMATA, remember that bus service in our region is quite inexpensive compared to other major city transit systems.

DC bus fare: $1.25; transfer = free; transfer = both way service for two hours

Pittsburgh bus fare: $1.75 to $2.50; transfer = 50 cents; transfer = good in one direction only, technically only once (some drivers take the transfer, some don't)

Of course, the subway in DC costs more. In Pittsburgh there is a 50 cent surcharge on the subway during peak hours.