Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco: Cracked Beams

Like with what happened at the Silver Spring Transit Center or on the second phase of the Metrorail Silver Line--both had problems with structural integrity of concrete, there are structural problems with at least two structural beams at the new Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco, which will require adding temporary supports while figuring out in more detail the nature of the problem.  In the interim, buses are staging at a different location.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a visual essay about it, "What we know about the Transbay Transit Center's cracked beams," which is interesting mostly for the video it shows of the interior and the bus bays.  Quite attractive.

One of the noteworthy elements of the project is a rooftop park. It's closed too ("SF transit center’s rooftop park closure a tough blow for nearby neighbors").

WMATA Metrobus proposes to go cashless on limited stop (rapid) bus services

I didn't write about it, but last Monday was the deadline to submit comments about WMATA's plans to go cashless on the limited stop bus services, to reduce dwell time, both from taking cash for fares or adding cash to a SmarTrip card, which is a cumbersome and time consuming process at the fare machine on the buses.

-- Printed survey

I answered the online survey and submitted a brief set of "comments."  Mostly the submission was photos of marketing by Transport for London about places where people can put money cash or credit on their Oyster cards, outside or or external to transit stations.

User experience.  While I support moving to cashless to speed up bus service, I argued that moving to cashless without having fare card machines outside of train stations and greater attention paid to  locations where riders can put money on their SmarTrip cards in more convenient ways does riders a disservice.  Access to farecard services outside of the Metrorail system is the primary point as it relates to "user experience."

(The sections on:

The London Underground (Transport System) as a Design Artifact

Transit Systems and Legibility

Connectivity and access as questions of usability in mobility planning

Wayfinding

Overuse of the subway map concept as a way of representing information

from the entry "World Usability Day," discuss "transit user experience" matters in greater depth.)

Machines for buying Metrocards and adding money to them (either cash or credit) are only located within Metrorail stations.

Farecard machines aren't present on the surface at major bus stops where lines intersect--although the big hulking machines could be replaced by smaller ATM-like machines for non-station locations.

Note the the Transport for London ticket machine in the center of the picture above.  It's small enough to be able to be built into building facades, just like an ATM.  (One issue with stand-alone machines is security.  And admittedly, one issue with machines outside of Metrorail stations is the cost to service and operate them.)

Some retail stores service SmarTrip cards.  While there aren't WMATA fare machines outside of transit stations, it is possible to put money on cards at CVS Pharmacy, Giant Supermarkets, and Walmart stores, and certain other outlets.  Some sell the cards too (Giant, Walmart primarily).

Earlier this year CVS threatened to stop doing so because of problems working with WMATA ("CVS Agrees to Continue Selling Metro's SmarTrip Cards," NBC4).

It used to be that there was SmarTrip signage on some of the storefronts.  Even when present the materials aren't particularly noticeable.

Yesterday, I looked at the facades of five CVS stores in DC and Silver Spring, Maryland and didn't see any signage for the SmarTrip card program.  And Giant has a decal at the entryway stating all the non-grocery services they provide (selling stamps, etc.) and this decal does not list selling or adding money to SmarTrip cards.

Transport for London's marketing of off-transit Oyster card services.  That's why I submitted images from London.

Like this storefront in Hackney Borough on the Mare Street pedestrian mall, about one block from the Hackney Central London Overground Station.  Note the lighted sign reproductions of the Oyster card, communicating very clearly that the store offers Oyster-related services.

One of the marketing programs for off-site Oyster card money-adding services is called "Oyster Ticket Stop" and TfL provides a variety of graphic design treatments for affixing to storefronts.

Some materials refer to this service not as a "Ticket Stop" but a "Oyster Card Top-up"

Other stores even provide walk up windows.

Note that these are independent stores, not chains, and chain stores, with their own brand design requirements aren't likely to go for the same treatment, which in the examples shown above, tend to be garish.  

But it is possible to do something tasteful, such as this "Moneygram" sign posted in a window at a CVS store in Silver Spring.

Oyster Ticket Stop sites incorporated into transit mapping.  Unfortunately, I forgot to mention in the submission that station wayfinding signage and area map brochures for London train stations stations also show the location of Oyster Ticket Stops.  I can't remember if this extends to the maps in bus shelters.  Ticket Stop locations are not included on the Legible London wayfinding signage system (Bus stops are indicated.) 

Wayfinding Map brochure, Continuing Your Journey from Highbury & Islington London Underground Station

The ability to put money on fare cards outside of Metrorail stations needs to be heavily and creatively marketed.  One example is the "Orca To Go" program in Greater Seattle.

Transit marketing materials in St. Louis, by My House of Design

Billboard on the introduction of limited stop bus service in Los Angeles, branded MetroRapid, c. 2003 

This bag is offered to retailers, with the map diagram of the London Underground on one side and the option to imprint store information on the other.

And this should include advertising within the transit system at stations and on buses and trains.

In the surface transit network, locations where SmarTrip cards can be purchased and/or serviced should be indicated on WMATA maps at bus shelters and in dedicated signage at bus stops.

Airports.  I neglected to mention that there should be farecard machines at the BWI and Dulles Airports, since both are served by Metrobus but without the ability to buy a farecard.  Although technically this isn't part of the proposed expansion of the cashless bus program, although it is related to the general question of ensuring access to SmarTrip cards at main points within the system.

Actually at BWI, since there is a light rail station there (I haven't used it, I'll check it out the next time I'm there), you could buy a CharmCard and use it on Metrobus because the CharmCard and SmarTrip cards are inter-operable, meaning they can be used on transit in either Baltimore or the Washington area.

But that element of the transit card isn't well marketed, e.g., at BWI Airport the transit fare card should be marketed as usable on both Washington and Baltimore local transit systems.

(Baltimore) MTA farecard machine

Still, the bus stops at BWI are located away from the light rail station and so additional fare card machines should be made available in the surface mobility service area.

Like what Montreal's transit system does.  The Trudeau Airport is served by bus but not rail.  They call the bus the "747."

Of course, when the Dulles Metrorail station opens this won't be an issue any longer.

Chicken and egg transit planning: Greater San Francisco and the Clipper Card upgrade

Integrating transportation planning, delivery, and fares: the Germans do it best.  I am on record for promoting the German style transport association model for those regions that have a multiplicity of jurisdictions and transit operators.  Places like New York City, Philadelphia, DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles County definitely.  Places like Boston where the MBTA runs most of the services not so much.

-- "The power "of understandable graphics: a proposal for integrating NYC-area railroad passenger service
-- "One big idea: Getting MARC and Metrorail to integrate fares, stations, and marketing systems, using London Overground as an example

While there are still different agencies and service providers, the association takes on the responsibility for overarching planning, service, routes, and the creation of an integrated fare and fare media program that is not agency-dependent.

-- "The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association," 2017
-- "Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland," International Journal of Sustainable Transportation (2018)

Raleigh-Durham's collaborative model suffices.  Although in the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina, they have a variant of this model that is more collaborative and a little less integrated compared to the German model (also used in Switzerland and Vienna, Austria).

-- "Will buses ever be cool? Boston versus the Raleigh-Durham's GoTransit Model," 2017

Metropolitan mass transit planning.  This fits in with my "metropolitan mass transit planning" concept, where network breadth, network depth, levels of service, and levels of quality are planned at the regional scale, and then transit operators are contracted to provide service meeting those standards.

-- Metropolitan Mass Transit Planning: Towards a Hierarchical and Conceptual Framework, 2006/2010

This means that instead of planning and operations being satisficed because of budget, budget is appropriated based on meeting the requirements of the network plan.

In the DC area, this isn't how it's done.  The state line boundaries impose big barriers, e.g., Maryland hates to pay for integrated services along corridors linking DC and Maryland.  In Virginia, the various entities do their own things.  With Bus Rapid Transit, there are three different initiatives (WMATA, Fairfax, Montgomery) plus WMATA's Rapid Bus program (MetroExtra).  Etc.

-- "Route 7 BRT proposal communicates the reality that the DC area doesn't adequately conduct transportation planning at the metropolitan-scale," 2016

Clipper fare system in San Francisco.  In San Francisco, CurbedSF has a series of pieces about the next generation of the Clipper fare card system and faults of the process.

-- "Modernization of Clipper card won’t include high-tech features already used in other cities
-- "Multimillion dollar contract to upgrade Clipper biased toward incumbent, say vendors"
-- "Officials fail to simplify convoluted transit fares before costly Clipper upgrade"

The articles key on the idea of "Mobility as a Service" or what I call the "Sustainable Mobility Platform"

-- "Further updates to the sustainable mobility platform," 2018
-- "Integrating payment systems in the Sustainable Mobility Platform," 2018
-- "DC is a market leader in Mobility as a Service (MaaS)," 2018

and integrating payment for various modes in one fare media system.

Integrating payment systems across for profit and nonprofit modes.  I've argued that this is a lot more complicated than "smart mobility" types make out.  Yes there is a need for there to be "one" fare media system in a state or multi-state region, rather than a different one for each provider.

But integrating so called "smart mobility services" is more difficult, especially when they are for profit firms and operating across multiple markets.

For individual providers of non-transit services that operate across multiple markets, like Zipcar, Car2Go, Uber, Lyft, Jump, Getaround, LimeBike, Skip, etc., the cost of maintaining integrated applications for each individual market is greater than the benefit.

Plus, I wonder how much having all the potential services be integrated matters at the end of the day?  How many people use multiple modes each day versus primary modes, so that one or two fare media payment systems--a transit fare card that works across all modes ideally (rail, subway, light rail, streetcar, bus, ferry, water taxi) + car sharing app or bike sharing app or e-scooter app, etc. even if un-integrated suffice just fine.

Cross-mode integrated fare media card: Montreal.  Note that Montreal has done some of this with the area's initial local nonprofit car sharing provider operating exclusively in its area, plus with the bike share program. 

But it's not like STM added the for profit Car2Go car sharing program to their fare card system.  Still, they might be the only transit agency around that has integrated car share and bike share into their fare media system.  (LA MTA sort of does it with bike share, but not really.)

Provincial-wide/state-wide fare media systems.  In Ontario, the Presto fare media system developed by the Province of Ontario for Greater Toronto via Metrolinx is now deployed in all but one of the province's transit agencies.  So instead of each agency paying to develop a system on its own, there is one overarching provider.

Two metropolitan areas, one fare card system: DC and Baltimore.  In the US, I only know of one place that does something similar across different regions.  Surprising, it is DC and Baltimore, which use the same system, likely because the operator of transit in Baltimore, the Maryland Mass Transit Administration, is also a funder of the the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), so they ported the SmarTrip system to Baltimore.  A CharmCard in Baltimore is basically just a branded version of the DC SmarTrip card and either works on the other.

Note that PATH uses the NYC Transit fare card system, but this is not the same kind of cross-agency fare card program.

Shouldn't more states take this on?  E.g., in California, it would have been great for the State Department of Transportation to bring the large regional systems--Greater San Francisco, Los Angeles and Greater Los Angeles, San Diego, etc.--to develop one basic system comparable to what Metrolinx did in Ontario.

In the DC-Maryland-Virginia area, the Virginia State Department of Rail and Public Transportation should have "required" other transit agencies elsewhere in the state like Richmond or Hampton Roads to use the SmarTrip system, like in Baltimore with MTA.

This would leverage the investment in the system and make it more worthwhile for independent mode providers to link into the system.

Clipper failings are merely symptoms of bigger failures: the lack of a commitment to an integrated fare system, which in turn derives from not adopting the German transport association model.  The Curbed articles miss the point that the real fault isn't about the Clipper fare media system so much as it is that even though the regional transportation planner, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, is one of the better MPOs in the United States, the various transit agencies don't inter-operate at the scale and depth of integration comparable to a German transport association.  (Even if Clipper works on more modes than any other transit card in the US--two different railroads, BART heavy rail, MUNI's bus, light rail, streetcar, and cable cars, and ferry services.)

Note that in Germany, the model presupposes a preference for optimizing mass mobility and making it less expensive to use (it still isn't cheap), which means providing state subsidies.  One of the reasons that transit agencies are less likely to want to do this in the US is because funding systems are in large part jurisdictionally based.

It wasn't easy to do--after Hamburg figured out and committed to creating a common fare zone and payment system it still took five years to implement the first version. 

Legacy systems are expensive to upgrade.  The articles also miss the point about the problem of legacy systems and the cost of upgrades, and getting all the various entities (including credit/debit card networks) to participate.

-- "The Contactless Wave: A Case Study in Transit Payments," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

The problem with adopting Apple Pay and other smartphone-enabled payment applications isn't integrating it into a fare card system, it's integrating it into the current fare gate system, likely requiring an upgrade costing many hundreds of millions of dollars.

Although in London, it was done for less than $70 million, although the readers were developed by the fare media system operator, Cubic, the company with the contract in SF.

-- "Redesigning the public transportation experience: London's contactless card system," McKinsey
-- "The rollout of contactless ticketing in Europe," Metro Magazine

Adopting a focus on the quality of the user experience.  The Curbed series makes one particularly excellent point about how transit agencies are falling behind compared to private sector mobility providers like Uber, Lyft, and Chariot in terms of devoting resources to "User Experience."

The sections on:

• The London Underground (Transport System) as a Design Artifact
• Transit Systems and Legibility
• Connectivity and access as questions of usability in mobility planning
• Wayfinding
• Overuse of the subway map concept as a way of representing information

from the entry "World Usability Day," discuss this point in greater depth.

There's more competition for the mobility dollar -- public transit--bus, rail, subway, ferry/water taxi; nonprofit bike share; for profit bus; for profit rail (Brightline); for profit car share; nonprofit bike share (SF, Montreal); for profit scooter share; taxis and ride hailing; collective taxi/microtransit; for profit ferry/water taxi; and delivery.

People will use the services that are easier and more comfortable to use.  That doesn't necessarily mean that the cheapest service is the preferred service. 

Public agencies will need devote more resources to "product design" and the user experience in order to remain competitive in the more complex and convoluted environment of "Mobility as a Service."

-- "Further updates to the sustainable mobility platform," 2018

World Tourism Day, Thursday September 27th: Airbnb/Short term rentals, "overtourism" and impact on housing supply

-- World Tourism Day website

Given that this year's theme for WTD is "Tourism and the Digital Transformation," it makes sense to address the impact of digital/e-commerce enabling technologies on fractional rentals, to wit, home stay digital platforms like Home Away, Airbnb, and VRBO, which enable people to stay in non-traditional properties--homes and apartments--while traveling.

The thing is that in general I think "sharing services" like Airbnb are fine. Especially because they allow people to stay in real neighborhoods, and experience stays more like how a resident would, rather than a more homogeneous experience within a hotel.

But I wonder if I am not totally objective as a user of such services myself.  E.g., the place I stayed in in Hackney Wick, across from a London Overground station, was awesome.  Same with a basement apartment in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.  Etc.

Who rents properties, individuals?  Airbnb, the market leader, was originally created by some apartment dwellers who wanted to rent out space in their apartment to help pay the rent.

Or firms?  But over time, it and similar services have become marketing platforms that in terms of properties with the most frequent use are dominated by professional firms rather than individuals, and are "whole unit" use rather than fractional.

-- The State of Airbnb Hosting: An in-depth analysis of Airbnb and the home sharing industry, LearnAirbnb.com

Hotel opposition over profits, employment.  Plus, hotel workers unions and hotel firms are vociferous opponents, figuring it cuts down on hotel stays and thereby profits and employment ("Airbnb fight is about hotel profits, not workers," Albany Times Union).

My sense is that this impact is minimal, because the type of people using this form of travel are not likely to be a major proportion of the people who normally rent hotel rooms.  The same goes for patrons of bed and breakfast establishments, etc.

Is non-traditional home stay a driver of Overtourism?  Answer: generally no. NotionsCapital shares an article with us from the Guardian, "Airbnb and the so-called sharing economy is hollowing out our cities."

Relatedly, there was a piece in the New York Times about "Overtourism" attributing this in part to airbnb.  Earlier they ran a story about how Palma on Spain's island of Majorca has banned airbnb ("To Contain Tourism, One Spanish City Strikes a Ban, on Airbnb)

 Still, I don't think these services are is what is making places like Venice or Barcelona "overtouristed." It's not like the thousands of people who go into those cities from cruise ships are then using Airbnb.

But sometimes the answer is yes because small reductions in housing supply make a big difference in strong markets.  But I think what we've learned from the housing market is that even small and "marginal" changes in supply and demand make a big difference in price and availability, particularly in high demand real estate markets.

These graphics showing the NYC neighborhoods with the highest number of Airbnb rentals and the percentage of the local housing supply dedicated to short term rentals were produced by a student at Pratt Institute.





I can't remember the exact price of my stay in Hackney Wick/London, but it was less than £20 per night and literally, right across the street from the train station.

Combining the impact of housing sharing systems like Airbnb removing housing from the local rental market simultaneous with increases in demand to live in the city can result in significant price appreciation for rental properties.

Therefore, it's reasonable to regulate such short term housing travel arrangements, in high demand markets like  Barcelona ("How Barcelona Is Limiting Airbnb Rentals," CityLab), New York City or San Francisco ("Airbnb's Impact on San Francisco," five-part series, San Francisco Chronicle), etc.

Although according to this graphic produced as part of the study by the NYC Budget Office, the rent appreciation attributed to the impact of the short term rental market was relatively small in most neighborhoods.

Source: Statista.

However, many studies do not find a significant impact in various communities such as Denver ("Does Airbnb hurt Denver's rental market? Not much numbers suggest," Colorado Public Radio) or in Australia ("What impact does Airbnb have on Sydney and Melbourne housing markets," SGS Economics and Planning).

Recommendations

1.  Accommodating Airbnb and similar services should be considered both within a comprehensive accommodations element within an overall community's tourism development program and planning initiative and as part of a community housing master plan.

2. In hyper strong residential real estate markets like NYC and SF, depending on the neighborhood, short term rentals may need strict limits and regulation, because shifting even 5% of properties away from residential use will make a big difference in terms of rents, etc.

While I tend to hate the imposition of what I think of as often arbitrary limits through zoning and building regulation process, I would put a ceiling on the number of "whole unit" rentals that can made through sharing services. In DC that would be in places like Capitol Hill, Georgetown, Dupont Circle etc.

I could see a maximum number of 5% of total housing units being able to be let via fractional home stay services.  I would probably start with a low number like 2%, and evaluate it yearly.

3.  Still, weak market neighborhoods in otherwise strong market cities should be treated differently.  E.g. in DC there has been a lot of discussion of airbnb as a force of gentrification in lower income communities like Anacostia, when the reality is that most of the activity is west of the river.  And, increasing visitation and business for local businesses can be seen as an economic plus ("Airbnb: Stays east of the Anacostia River grew 65 percent since mid-2017," CurbedDC).

In any case, all neighborhoods should be regularly monitored as part of housing planning and limits set as needed.

4. It should be illegal to convert apartment buildings to ersatz hotels as some property owners have attempted ("D.C. sues company for allegedly treating rent-control apartments like ‘hotel rooms’," Washington Post.

5. But years ago, I thought apartment management firms should use the idea of a "bed and breakfast" service of a unit or two as a way to let people try a building out.  Why not?

Separately, generally fractional rental of an apartment is a lease violation, but some companies are considering the ramifications of allowing it ("Using Airbnb to your advantage," MultiHousing News).

6. Regardless, all such uses should require licensing and payment of local hotel taxes for each stay.

7. However, I wouldn't put a limit on people doing fractional use rentals--making a room available in their house or apartment when they still occupy it. They should still have to collect the equivalent of hotel taxes.

World Tourism Day, September 27th: UK to hold first ever National Tour Guide conference, Friday November 9th

Presentation, Discover England Fund.

The UK Government, to promote tourism, has created the Discover England Fund to provide funds to various local tourism initiatives.  One effort is the country's first National Tour Guiding Conference. From the press release:

Amanda Lumley, Executive Director for Destination Plymouth and US Connections Project Director, said: “Research demonstrates that there is a significant demand from US visitors to have a guided tour while in the UK, allowing them to meet local people and bring stories to life through immersing themselves in the heritage and history of England.”

The event will provide tour guides with tips for making their tours ‘bookable’ and accessible to international audiences, and offer networking opportunities for all types of tour guide – from Blue, Green and White Badge guides, to ancestral guides, driver guides, volunteers and local greeter schemes, costumed and character-led guides.

There will be speakers from organisations including Wanderlust, Unique Devon Tours, Kuoni Global Travel Services, XV Insights, Robin Hood @EzekialBone, Visit Cambridge and Beyond and VisitBritain.

Emma Thornton, Chief Executive for Visit Cambridge and Beyond – the lead partner supporting the delivery of this event – said: “Visit Cambridge delivers guided walking tours for around 80,000 visitors each year and tours form a very significant part of our business.

From the standpoint of technical assistance and support programming, more "convention and visitors bureaus" need to be doing this.

Years ago, I came across the Detroit Orientation Institute at Wayne State University, which is a form of this, but not limited to "tour guides."

Given Baltimore's decline in visitation experienced after the fallout over the death of Freddie Gray, riots, etc. ("Visit Baltimore to 'actively pursue' five counties to woo locals back to city," Baltimore Business Journal), they need a similar program, to work in conjunction with the Live Baltimore resident recruitment program.

The Baltimore Business Journal is running a series of articles in response, titled "Stop apologizing, Baltimore."

World Tourism Day, Thursday September 27th: Regions need to work together more on delivering tourism information

-- World Tourism Day, September 27, 2018

Because jurisdictions have very specific boundaries and revenue generating systems, it's difficult to get multiple jurisdictions "to work together" at the metropolitan scale on tourism matters, because it's seen as a zero sum game.

I admit I wasn't happy when a previous director of DC's convention and visitors bureau thought it was reasonable to promote National Harbor in nearby Prince George's County as part of "DC," or how Montgomery County in Maryland had a "DC days, Montgomery nights" campaign to promote staying at hotels there, or how Fairfax County in Virginia says they're just outside of DC in their tourism promotion etc.

On the other hand, from the tourist's perspective, they are visiting the area, not necessarily just one specific jurisdiction, and it would be helpful to have information from "the area" at a visitors center rather than just the one community.

This isn't a problem limited to the Washington, DC area which is split across "three states."

I was surprised when visiting Liverpool in June that the city's visitor centers only had information for Liverpool, not for any other parts of the Merseyside region (except for bike maps at the transit information centers).  The same was true for London--but those centers barely had any information for the city's various boroughs let alone the immediate area outside of the city.

John Wayne Airport tourist information desk.

Airports are a good place for delivery of tourist information at the regional scale, and this is the case for many places, not just the Washington-Baltimore area.  (The John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana/Orange County, California does a pretty good job on this dimension.)

In the I-95 Corridor, many of the states offer comprehensive visitors center which include information from the entire state, as well as sometimes, info on DC, because DC is a primary destination for travelers.

Maryland and Pennsylvania are standouts in terms of the quality and breadth of information presented in their visitor centers.

These centers are models for what can be done at the regional scale.

Washington DC section of attraction brochures, City of Fairfax Visitor Center.

In the DC area, on the Virginia side, Alexandria, Fairfax City, and other jurisdictions have particularly good visitor centers.

The Fairfax City visitors center goes out of its way to get information for various DC attractions, because they find that many of the visitors to the center are most interested in DC destinations.

Transit information delivery.  The Brits seem to do the best job of delivering transit information as part of ticket sales.

The centers in the Liverpool train system (pictured at right) even sell sundries and food--the magazine section in one had at least one magazine focusing on railroads (because of the extensive railway network there used for commuting, this is still a matter of high interest), Rail Magazine is published twice/month.

Transport for London's information centers also had some tourist information.

Transit wayfinding for visitors generally has a great deal of room for improvement.  The City of Alexandria, Virginia does a nice job with signs outside the Metrorail station and on the waterfront.  Newcastle


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Problems special to DC

1.  Federal visitor centers won't distribute non-federal information and sometimes won't even distribute information from different agencies.

2.  In one of yesterday's posts on this subject, I suggested that the National Park Service create "regional visitor centers" in the Greater Washington region, to deliver services and information beyond that of a specific park or site.

3.  The area is served by three airports, two in Virginia and one in Maryland.  There are "traveler's aid" desks in the airports but not comprehensive visitor services.  (The same is true for Union Station in DC.)

4.  Unlike many other cities, DC does not have a program that supports the development of visitor brochures for sub-city neighborhood destinations such as "Downtown," "Georgetown,or "Capitol Hill."

This Friday: DC's Art All Night Event | Once again, too much of a good thing

I've commented in the past about "Art All Night," modeled after similar events in other cities like Paris and Toronto.  The event is held in the evening and overnight hours. 

-- "DC Art all Night, Saturday September 23rd," 2017

Unlike events in the other cities, which are tightly bounded geographically, DC's event is held in multiple neighborhoods simultaneously.

I've argued that this is a waste of resources, especially for those communities that are less central and or less popular.

And obviously, the city arts establishment hasn't paid any attention, since this year the number of participating communities is greater than last year's. These neighborhoods are participating: Congress Heights; Deanwood Heights*; Dupont Circle; H Street; Minnesota Avenue*; North Capitol; Shaw; and Tenleytown. (* = new in 2018)

-- Art All Night DC, Saturday September 29th, 2018

Here are my comments on the subject from my response to the DC Cultural Plan Draft document, submitted in February.

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... DC should consider developing and sponsoring an annual city wide “Doors Open” event as a way to highlight the local arts and culture ecosystem in a manner that is distinct from the federal/nationally-oriented assets.

Doors Open events are held in many cities in Europe and North America. On our continent, Toronto, New York City, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee are some of the places that sponsor such events. In Toronto, the Star newspaper is media sponsor for the event and publishes a special guide in the hard copy newspaper.

Note that similar more localized events are sponsored by the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium in June and the Galleries on Book Hill in Georgetown (usually extending to the Katzen Center at AU, Dumbarton Oaks Museum, and the Krieger Museum) hold a similar event in November called “Do the Loop.” And Cultural Tourism DC sponsors Walking Town, a week of outdoor tours on foot and by bike, and a “Doors Open” event with embassies.

These events need to be pulled into a more integrated calendar of programming.

It helps to create a typology of event types. One type of event is regular and recurring such as the various “First Friday” type events across the city such as in Petworth or Dupont Circle (or a farmers market or regular craft fair). Another is neighborhood/business district specific, such as the Georgetown Glow Festival. Finally are multi-site simultaneous events such as “Art All Night.”

Note that multi-site short term simultaneous events are likely a poor use of resources. Art All Night is sponsored by various DC Government agencies and implemented mostly by Main Street organizations. But held in five to seven neighborhoods at once, over a few hour period, with long distances between sites, and including both popular and less popular destinations makes for “an event” that is too diffuse and spread out, making it difficult to go to more than one district in the short period of time the event is running, and maybe people don't even want to go to more than one, especially when their choices include more popular and less popular destinations.

But think of all the planning and other efforts--social, community, and organizational capital--that are required to successfully organize and present a slate of events in each of the participating districts. This organizing is wasted if it doesn't reach an audience.

By contrast “Nuit Blanche” events in other cities like Toronto or Paris are offered over much tighter geographies.

Alternatively, focus and concentrate. I suggest making Art all Night a rotating event operating on a district scale but marketed as a city wide program. It could be held most months, like various "First Friday", "Second Thursday," "Third Saturday," Monthly Arts Walk type activities held in various arts and entertainment districts across the globe.

But instead of being offered in multiple districts simultaneously, each month’s event should be held in one specific district. This would allow each neighborhood group to organize its Nuit Blanche event over a longer period of time, but also increases the likelihood of more media attention in advance of the event, as well as getting a much greater audience than is possible when competing against four to six other places for the same audience.

A framework for planning events for time of the year (season), month, day of the week, (time of day), and scale (city wide, neighborhood, regional, etc.) was proffered by one of the teams submitting proposals for the 11th Street Bridge Park and should be examined with the aim of developing a more robust event planning framework operating at the city wide and “community” or neighborhood scale.

Programming planning framework for parks, public squares, commercial districts, Balmori & Associates

Montgomery County Maryland Parks Department Speaker Series: David Barth, Wednesday October 3rd

I never realized that the Montgomery County Parks Department has a speaker series separate from that of the Planning Department.  Both units are part of one overarching agency, the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning Commission's Montgomery County Division.

Previous presentations have been video recorded and are accessible via the website

It's been brought to my attention that next week's speaker is parks planner David Barth, whose work has had a great deal of influence on my thinking ever since I saw him speak at the American Planning Association conference in 2004, where he was trying to unify "new urbanism" approaches with "City Beautiful" ideas--e.g., one of the points was that cities should treat streets as "linear parks."

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David Barth – The Benefits of High-Performance Public Spaces
October 3, 2018 | 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m
Silver Spring Civic Building, Ellsworth Room | One Veterans Place, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Learn about creating High-Performance Public Spaces (HPPSs) which help to generate economic, environmental, and social sustainability benefits for the local community.

Dr. David Barth is the Principal of Barth Associates. He is a registered Landscape Architect, Certified Planner, and Certified Parks and Recreation Professional who specializes in the planning, design, and implementation of the public realm.

Details on the first speaker session are available here.

Registrants get a boxed lunch!

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While I came up with the Signature Streets idea separately, one of his diagrams is a great illustration of the concept and I use it all the time.  The concept is discussed within this entry, "Town-City Management: We are all asset managers now."

Public Realm as an Interconnected system, Slide from presentation, Leadership and the Role of Parks and Recreation in the New Economy, David Barth

World Tourism Day: In terms of providing great visitor services, is DC being a highly visited tourism destination a good or a bad thing?

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This partially written piece had been up briefly.  It's now complete with a new publishing date (Wednesday instead of Monday).
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World Tourism Day is Thursday September 27th.

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Last month, the Washington Business Journal reported ("D.C. gets international boost, breaks tourism record for eighth year in a row on 2017 tourism statistics. From the article:

The District of Columbia saw an uptick in overseas visitors in 2017, helping it break its eighth straight overall tourism record.

About 2 million overseas visitors — those from countries other than Canada and Mexico — came to D.C. last year, a 2.5 percent increase from 2016, when the number fell 1.7 percent.

D.C. welcomed 22.8 million visitors overall when domestic tourism is included, a 3.6 percent increase from the previous year. Those visitors spent $7.5 billion in the District in 2017.

Destination D.C., the city’s tourism marketing organization, released the numbers Tuesday using international visitor data from the U.S. Department of Commerce and its own survey of international travelers.

Family Circus cartoon, 8/14/2008.

I do lean towards the latter out of the belief that being highly visited breeds a sense of complacency, that the city takes the lesson that it must be doing a great job in terms of visitor services and hospitality, otherwise we wouldn't be so highly visited.

It's not just that the city:

(1) doesn't have a real visitor center or set of visitor centers, including Union Station, the city's most highly visited destination

(2) doesn't have a system for supporting sub-city tourism in places like Georgetown, Capitol Hill, and Dupont Circle

(3) is parsimonious in providing tourism literature to area visitor centers in Virginia and Maryland

(4) needs to update its wayfinding system and federal entities like the US Capitol and the National Park Service have separate systems

(5) makes it hard for visitors to make sense of the transit system

(6) hasn't worked with other entities to create adequate regional tourism centers at the airports.

It's further complicated by the fact that the federal government visitor centers are disjoint and refuse to distribute non-federal information, e.g., local tourism materials and maps, and sometimes fail to distribute information from other federal governments.

It would probably help if the National Park Service, which has park installations and historic sites throughout the region--DC, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania--should consider developing not only a master set of integrated brochures, but also a set of "master visitor centers" organized on a regional basis and treating all of the park units as an integrated system, to provide information beyond those of any specific park installation.


People buying farecards at Union Station.

The Federal Government's Comprehensive Plan for DC does address visitor services in the Visitor and Commemoration Element.  The plan recommendations do address some of my concerns (not sure if previous comments on NCPC planning processes have had some impact on this):

VC.B.1 Support the dissemination of information at regional locations frequented by visitors (e.g., hotels, restaurants, Metrorail stations, and major transportation centers). Information should include federal and local visitor attractions, events, tours, stores, shops, and restaurants nearby.

VC.B.4 Explore the feasibility of creating a central visitor information center and/or multi-media platform that includes information about both public and private visitor attractions.

VC.B.5 Develop information visitor centers, kiosks, exhibits, and other educational programming in public areas of government facilities and
other appropriate locations in the National Capital Region to inspire and educate visitors about the role of government and national attractions

VC.B.7 Support the location of information kiosks and visitor centers at federal facilities throughout the National Capital Region.

VC.B.8 Enhance visual and functional connections to visitor attractions through well-designed and coordinated signage, pathways, parkways,
streetscaping, wayfinding tools, and programming.

The challenge is to push these recommendations into actual practice.

DC's Comprehensive Plan does not have a visitor element, nor do we have a Tourism Development and Management Plan. Although it has problems, Charleston's Tourism Management Plan is a model.

Past writings of particular relevance

-- "A National Mall-focused heritage (replica) streetcar service to serve visitors is a way bigger idea than a parking garage under the Mall," 2013
-- "Need for a comprehensive visitor transportation plan in DC," 2011
-- "Parking under the National Mall should be part of an integrated approach to visitor services and management," 2013

This entry makes these recommendations:

• an infill Yellow Line subway station to serve the west edge of the Mall, specifically the Jefferson Memorial (although the station would have to be on the Long Bridge side, which is east of the Memorial
• a visitor center located at the proposed Jefferson Memorial Station
• a primary visitor center for the city at Union Station
• promoting parking to tourists at Union Station
• running a bus service on the National Mall between the visitor centers and the various destinations, with the main staging sites being Union Station and the Jefferson Memorial subway station
• developing service corridors under the National Mall as part of the parking structure so that waste removal and other services for the National Mall can be delivered underground.

-- "New DC Circulator route serving National Mall reminds us that we are neglecting connections from west to east and fail to adequately connect Georgetown to the National Mall," 2015

This piece makes the point that a proposed heritage streetcar transportation system for "the National Mall" should include service to Arlington Memorial Cemetery and the Iwo Jima Memorial.  The NPS brochure map "The National Mall and Smithsonian Museums" treats the National Mall as spanning DC and Arlington County.



-- "DC State Rail Planning Initiative," 2015, has extensive discussion about tourism development elements of Union Station, including serving as a staging point for railfan tourism, having a tourism center, creating a small tourism-transportation museum within the expanded program for the station, etc.

National Park Service Visitor Transportation Study

-- Visitor Transportation Study for the National Mall and Surrounding Park Areas

World Tourism Day, Thursday September 27th: Theme is Digital Transformation | over digitalizing the distribution of travel information

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This entry was published before it was finished, therefore it has been republished with a new date and the missing addendum of three particularly interesting best practices for visitor services.

I had intended on reading this book, The Competitive Destination: A Sustainable Tourism Perspective in advance of publishing these pieces but I didn't get around to it:

I did re-read the out-of-print Tourism Development Handbook: A Practical Approach to Planning and Marketing, and except for one chapter on digital marketing which is now 15 years old, it's still excellent.
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World Tourism Day

This year's theme is on digital transformation.  And I am going to take a slight luddite position.

While there is no question that digital provision of information and services is vitally important, I'd argue too many tourism agencies are "throwing out the baby with the bathwater" by at the same time that they are increasing their focus on delivering information digitally, especially through social media, for many agencies this is coming at the expense of providing and distributing printed (analogue) matter.

One of the most important books I ever read on marketing is the book Maximarketing.  It predates by a few years the creation of the graphical and interactive browser-based Internet.  But it is still fully relevant to e-commerce.

The basic point they made is what is now called "omnichannel" marketing, delivering through all possible channels, choosing the ones that work best, and determining which channels make the most sense for which segments.

This matters because there are multiple channels for communicating with potential and actual visitors--in other words, communicating with people before they visit a place and communicating with people once they visit a place.

From a marketing and advertising standpoint, people need a variety of triggers, especially once they're in a place, to learn about and decide to visit places they may not have been aware of previously.

The belief that all this communication happens digital is mistaken.

But increasingly, visitor centers are shifting away from providing printed information, directing people to kiosks or attendants, either of which can only be "accessed" by one person at a time. And also losing the value of printed matter as "visual cues" to introduce people to a wide variety of topics and places that they might not have considered otherwise.

I've seen this change in visitor centers in communities such as Lancaster, PA, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City.

By contrast, there are more traditional centers that rely on printed matter including state visitor centers in Pennsylvania and Maryland, which deliver information at two scales, for the immediate area, and for the entire state.

The visitor center in Park City, Utah is a mix.  It still has a heavy provision of printed matter, although less provision of items from across the state in a structured way.  It also has digital screens, exhibits, and one or more attendants.  That particular center is in a building that serves as a gateway to town and in a welcome twist, the space includes an affiliated coffee shop.

They also have converted some of the brochure products that function as large scale maps into large scale maps, by laminating them and displaying them on a counter so people can consult them.

Some best practices

-- Miami-Dade County, Florida. By contrast to DC, Miami-Dade County has a very active program in supporting the creation and maintenance of welcome centers across the city and county ("Why Miami-Dade has more visitor centers than any city in the U.S.," Miami Herald).  And cities like Montreal and New York City have both main visitor centers as well as welcome centers in high profile neighborhoods such as the Fashion District in Manhattan or Mont Royal-Plateau in Montreal. Every state in the US has a network of visitor centers involving state and local agencies and groups.&nbsp

-- Melbourne's approach to visitability. Years ago I came across a presentation on what the Melbourne tourism agency calls "visitability."

THE FIVE PILLARS OF VISITABILITY

Five key factors were identified as having a significant impact on an outstanding visitor experience and journey. We focus on these pillars to help guide businesses in their delivery and development of positive and valuable visitor experiences.

Sense of Welcome

Sense of Welcome is the first impression a visitor gets of a destination, service or product, including your website. Visitability is about ensuring your visitors feel highly valued, and the connection at each stage is warm, friendly, and – where possible – personalised.

Digital Connectivity

Visitors worldwide increasingly rely on modern technology to plan, book, travel to and share their holiday experiences. Ensuring businesses are visible online, and are using up to date technology, is critical to Melbourne’s relevance and ongoing success as a destination. For example, providing free, reliable WiFi is widely expected by today’s traveller.

Integrated Messaging

Integrated messaging, or the integrated provision of visitor services, aims to ensure that visitors receive consistent messaging and information from all aspects of their visit to provide a seamless experience. This factor is focused on three elements in particular; signage and way finding, printed and online products and key messaging.

Public Transport

The role of Visitability is to advocate for public transport systems to keep visitors' needs top of mind when delivering products and services, ensure that networks are easy and safe to navigate and that route and fare information can be easily found.

Accessibility

As well as providing socially responsible visitor services, an aging population and the importance of inclusiveness provides us with a compelling business case for making Victoria’s visitor industry more accessible and inclusive to all travellers.

VISITABILITY CASE STUDIES from Melbourne.

-- Queensland State, Australia's program to support visitor information centers.  Tourism and Events Queensland has a program of support for locally-provided visitor information centers.  Certainly there are comparable programs in the US, such as in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

From the standpoint of analog versus digital dissemination of materials, they have a couple of papers on the broad topic:

-- Australia's Accredited VICs: Strategic Directions
-- A Way Forward For Queensland's VICs

Car culture and automobility in Anne Arundel County: Part 1 | A cycletrack on Main Street in Annapolis

I started using the term "car culture and automobility" more than a decade ago after seeing the terms used separately.  I just found out that the phrase "systems of automobility" was coined by John Urry, but I don't know if he was "the first."

It was at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland in 2005 at the Preservation Maryland conference, on a walking tour led by the city's chief planner, when I got more nuanced insight into reflexive resident opposition to new development on the grounds of increased traffic.

In a place like Annapolis, which does have some bicyclists and a small bus-based transit system, virtually every trip to a destination is performed in an automobile.

So you can get a sense that opposition to new projects over traffic isn't necessarily reflexive, but a recognition of reality.

By contrast, in a walkable-bikeable-transit city, a majority of the trips, depending on how proximate the new development is to transit and/or its WalkScore or BikeScore, a majority of the trips to and from the site are likely to be conducted by sustainable modes.

Opposition to existing light rail service.  I still haven't finished another post about how residents in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, close to the Linthicum light rail station, have been calling for its closure because they don't use it much and they think the people who do are likely to be criminals ("Fight over light rail in Anne Arundel takes to the streets in rallies," Annapolis Capital-Gazette).

Controversy, mostly against, a bicycle lane on Main Street in Annapolis.  Separately, in Annapolis, the county seat, some residents and business owners are fighting the insertion of a cycle track on Main Street, saying it makes it harder to park, hurts business, etc.

The mayor has initiated a temporary bike lane on the street, which will be up through most of October.

-- "Coverage and commentary: The Annapolis bike lane program," Capital-Gazette

Obviously, I disagree, but it's true that the likelihood of a high number of bike riders there, at least currently, isn't that high.  And the average resident is likely to be wed to the automobile and has a difficult time imagining anyone getting around by any mode other than the car.


Photo: Jen Rynda / Baltimore Sun Media Group. Bikers make their way down Main Street during Annapolis Bike Day bike ride in Annapolis on Saturday, September 22, 2018.


Jen Rynda / BSMG. Protestors Erin George of Centreville and Yaw Obeng Sarkodie, right, of Beltsville gather on Main Street before the Lighted Bike Parade in Annapolis on Friday, September 21, 2018.

Sunday's front page of the Capital featured this article, "Did Buckley's bike lane break Annapolis."

But as I wrote last week ("Parking isn't "the third rail" of local politics, it's the car and automobility") the reality is that Annapolis has thousands of parking spaces in the vicinity in public and private parking garages and lots, and giving up a few parking spots on the street in favor of supporting sustainable modes, urban design, and placemaking is a plus.

But people, imprinted with the automobility paradigm, disagree, such as this letter writer:

Move to Europe
For those of us who work in downtown Annapolis, the new bike path on Main Street is a bad idea, to say the least.

Since the implementation, I haven't seen one biker use the path. Parking downtown is a headache most of the time and to take away 36 parking spaces on Main Street is abominable.

As a Realtor at Long & Foster, I can tell you that we get a lot of walk-in traffic because people love Annapolis and want to move here. This bike path won't generate more business for the shops or restaurants. If anything it will hurt these businesses.

Has Mayor Gavin Buckley given any thought about the problems we incur when the boat shows are here or when the legislature is in session? If I wanted a European atmosphere, I would move to Europe. What's next tearing down old Historic buildings?

MARY CLARE HOLDER
Annapolis

Getting elected officials and stakeholders on board with innovation. I argue that for the best results in trying to adopt new sustainable mobility infrastructure, it's a waste of breath to discuss examples from Europe. People can't relate.

They even have a hard time with other examples elsewhere across the continent. Montreal, Portland, Minneapolis, Boulder, etc. seem too distant and irrelevant and they can always come up with reasons about why those examples aren't relevant "to my city."

Elected officials can usually accept similar examples from elsewhere in the state although there remains the urban-center city-suburban/exurban divide. That's the basis of the concept of "positive deviance" as a way to move change forward (see links in this entry, "I get tired of all the talk about rewarding "failure" because it shows people are trying, and won't be penalized for it" ) in uncongenial environments.

That's why I argue that state departments of transportation need to focus on the installation and demonstration of infrastructure in highly visible locations in the state, and use that as an example with jurisdictions across the state.

Producing graphics like this, but with state-specific examples, would be a good step forward.  (Image People for Bikes.)

I thought I convinced a top Maryland transportation planner on this in 2010/2011, but I guess not because a few years later when I interviewed for a job they lacked the courtesy to tell me I didn't get it, I just never heard from them again.

 (Although a paper I wrote influenced their decision to incorporate bicycle infrastructure in parts of the Purple Line routing where it doesn't already exist.)

In talking, I suggested that Wisconsin Avenue-Rockville Pike in Montgomery County would be a perfect example. If you can make it work there, no one would be able to talk against such infrastructure. (See the discussion here, "PL #5: Creating a Silver Spring "Sustainable Mobility District": Part 1: Setting the stage.")

Rockville Pike. Washington Post photo.

Maybe Annapolis could serve as that sustainable mobility demonstration site for Maryland? But now that I think about it, maybe Annapolis would be better, because so many of the state's elected officials and stakeholders go to Annapolis to meet with legislators and government officials. When there they would see such infrastructure with their own eyes, and consider adopting it in their hometowns.

This would be comparable to the impact of DC's Capital Bikeshare on local elected officials across the country. They come to DC, see it in operation, and go back home primed with the idea of installing similar systems.


In the meantime, Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley is doing his best to move the project forward.  (It reminds me some of the example of the now former mayor of Columbia, Missouri.  See "A Free-Wheeling City," Parade Magazine; "The age of Hindman," Columbia Daily Tribune.)

From the "Break Annapolis" article:

Sandwiched between protests organized by the angriest of the anti-bike lane community members Friday night and Saturday afternoon, Buckley rallied about 100 bikers Saturday morning for a Bike Day ride down Main Street.

Before the ride, he gathered bikers on West Street for a rallying cry.

Mayor Gavin Buckley leads a bike ride from Whitmore Park to Susan Campbell Park followed by a Children's Bike Rodeo to reinforce safety habits and teach basic biking skills in Annapolis on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (Staff Photos by Jen Rynda / BSMG)
“Cars own our town,” he told the crowd. “We have a historic town, and cars own the best real estate. They own the City Dock, they own both sides of Main Street.

“I don’t think that’s right, but that’s just my opinion. We’re all entitled to our opinion. But when we look around the country, our cities are investing in bike infrastructure and putting people before cars — other cities that we go to and say, ‘How amazing is this?’ ”

He joked about protesters and bike lane-opposers, thanking riders for their bravery.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen on the other side, if it will be torches and pitchforks. We’ll just kill ‘em with kindness and go down to City Dock to enjoy this city the way it’s meant to be enjoyed.”

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From ""The age of Hindman," written on the retirement of Darwin Hindman as Mayor of Columbia, Missouri:

In his 15 years of active service, Hindman has taken many bold stands, some infuriating to certain people. His undying promotion of parks, trails and alternative transportation is an example. But without his pushiness, consider our bereavement.

Hindman might fairly be remembered as the father of the Katy Trail.

In an effort to exploit the new opportunity provided by Congress with passage of the so-called Rails to Trails Act, the newly elected mayor of Columbia planned a trip to lobby then-Gov. John Ashcroft for support of a plan to convert abandoned railroad rights of way into a public, cross-state trail that would become one of Missouri’s most popular state parks.

Hindman says Ashcroft was for the idea but recognized the strong opposition it would face, mainly from rural interests. The mayor figured his entreaty would have more weight if he took along a well-known person from the business community. He knew that the president of an investment firm bearing his family name was interested in public recreation, so he asked Ted Jones. With typical lack of hesitation Jones quickly agreed, and the two set off for Jefferson City.

Gov. Ashcroft thanked the two solicitors for their civic-minded interest but reminded them the state had no money for such a project, at which time Jones quickly said he would pay for restrooms all along the trail, a kickoff gesture typical of Jones’ leadership style.

With strong support from Ed Stegner of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, the fight began in the General Assembly. Not much state startup money was needed -- a few hundred thousand dollars -- but getting the state behind the transition of the rail rights of way required a formidable fight over the dead bodies of the Farm Bureau and other conservative rural interests. Finally, by one vote as Hindman recalls, the legislature approved the deal, and the battle over implementation was launched, peppered with court battles to resolve issues regarding legal authority and ownership of the land. ...

The point of this story is to describe Darry Hindman’s style. When something is worth promoting, he is off his duff and on the road, going for it. Without him and cohort Jones, we might not have a cross-state trail. Certainly, we would not have one as comprehensive or quickly developed.

Since then, Hindman and Columbia have become known nationally for development of trails and the federally funded GetAbout Columbia project to enhance nonmotorized transportation.

The mayor put himself in the perfect position to catch flak for every new stripe on a city street or a redirected lane at a busy intersection. Amid this flurry of slings and arrows he has remained receptive and even ebullient, testing the program’s progress on his own bicycle, dedicated to making it work rather than fighting with detractors. Another “leader” would have hunkered down in thoughtful contemplation about bike and trail ideas, avoiding trouble and accomplishing nothing.

Note that "Ted Jones" mentioned above was "Edward Jones" of the investment firm Edward Jones...