Hourcar and the Minnesota State Fair

Hourcar is a nonprofit car share organization serving Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.  It's a rare non profit organization in the field that has survived--many of the initial firms sold themselves to for profit providers around the time that they needed to raise funds for the first wholesale replacement of the original fleet of cars as they aged.

The Minnesota State Fair works with vendors to provide a unique food and drink program.   Branding focuses on the Fair more than the individual firm, at least with cups for beer.

Judging by all the articles in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (especially about food and drink, like this article about Pyres Brewing, "Pryes Brewing is going big at the 2026 Minnesota State Fair. Here’s why."), the Minnesota State Fair is a big deal.  This year, instead of providing a special drop off area for cars at the Fair, they're encouraging people to use special drop offs set up at the parking lots that are staging points for free transit shuttles to the fair.

That makes more sense than warehousing individual cars at the Fair.

Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 26 programs

I have always been big on differentiation in analyzing places and programs, but lately I've become aware that I may not be as thorough as I could be.

I've written hundreds of blog entries about bicycling and how to promote it as a real form of transportation, focused on but not limited to DC, which is a perfect city for it.

A big point I make with bicycling is that given the automobile dependency that's been fostered on the US given the predominate land use and transportation development paradigm, is that people have to be assisted in making the shift from driving to mostly bicycling.

Building infrastructure isn't enough.  Even great infrastructure can be empty much of the time.  If anything, that's an indicator that people need help to make the change.

Granted for "biking most of the time" a lot of conditions have to be congruent including distance from origin to destination, topography, weather.

I have a piece, "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 18 programs," and speaking of differentiation what I realize it that it should be organized in terms of mass/district/place based supports versus what we might call individualized and personal biking.

An example might be living in Capitol Hill, DC and riding around on various errands, trips to work, for recreation etc., within your neighborhood, versus living 4.5 miles direct to the University of Maryland, and riding there.  

Similarly, Capitol Hill has dozens of bike sharing stations, while the route from Takoma Park to University of Maryland does not.  In Manor Park, there are few bike sharing stations, so having your own bike makes the most sense.

==========

That entry updates "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 18 programs," with the addition of more programs, which I have included below, marked by an asterisk, but without adding much in the way of additional text.

Critical Mass of Riders/Place/District

1. Creating "sustainable mobility stores." Relatedly providing support and subsidies to bicycle shops.

3.  Cycling training

9.  Bike sharing programs ought to be an obvious opportunity for promoting cycling take up.

10.  Discounted bike sharing memberships on a means-tested basis.

12.  Campus specific bike share programs.  

Ciclavia in December 2014.  Los Angeles Times photo.

19.** Open Streets Programs/Community Cycling Promotion programs at the neighborhood and community scale, including promotion of biking through affinity groups.  I've written about both a lot but somehow neglected to include this as part of the comprehensive list.

Neighborhood and district rides at one scale, whole community rides at the others.  I am always amazed to see photos of such events and say "where did all the bikes come from?" because you don't see that many bicyclists riding to work or on errands.

20.**  Electric bike discount programs.  This has the advantage of "expanding" the distance and radius of the area in which someone is willing to bike.  Research shows it can shift people in significant ways from cars.

21.**  Free bicycle share trips to extend transit trips to reaching your final destination.  Columbia SC (bus) transit does this, as does Bogota. (First mile/last mile connection and access issues.)

23.**  Bike bus programs.  Often deployed in conjunction with "bike to school programs" ("I Started a Bike Bus, and You Can Too," Wired, 8 routes for the Montclair Bike Bus in New Jersey, "A cool way to get kids to school -- the bike bus" Boston Globe, ""‘It’s a bit of freedom’: traffic-stopping tech helps Glasgow school’s bike bus on its way"," Guardian).

Bike bus in Brooklyn.  Video at Reddit.

25.** Expansion and Improvement of Trails. Until I rode a trail for some distance after 20 years of  mostly being a street rider, I didn't realize how much mental energy is spent while street riding on safety measures and defensive cycling.  Separation from cars encourages more people to bike.  It lets you "shed" that mental load.

-- "Denver and Rio Grande Rail Trail in Davis County, Utah: a great foundation, full of (missed) opportunity" 2022

26.** Bike (sustainable mobility) Festivals.  I've written about college bike weeks and the Bike Rodeo that used to be sponsored by Utah Transit Authority.  Sometimes an Open Streets program includes some of these features.  Obviously it's a way to get people consider sustainable mobility.

More recently, Washington Area Bicyclists Association has sponsored such events for seniors specifically ("Older adult transportation block party").

Individually-focused

1. Creating "sustainable mobility stores".  Relatedly providing support and subsidies to bicycle shops.

2.  Cycle Borrowing programs.

3.  Cycling training

4.  Bike safety training for children AND YOUTH.

5.  Integrating cycling promotion programs into public recreation centers.  

6.  Other demographic focused cycling initiatives.

7.  Senior cycling promotion programs.

8.  Bikes as tools for improving access to jobs.

11.  Cycle access programs on college campuses and by large employers.

13.  Employer and college-assisted buying programs.

14.  Credit union loans to buy bikes.

15.  Bike donations for children.

16.  Bike bundling programs in public housing.

17.  Donating abandoned and unclaimed bikes to programs serving low income populations.

18.  Short term on-site bicycle provision.

19.** Open Streets Programs/Community Cycling Promotion programs at the neighborhood and community scale, including promotion of biking through affinity groups.  I've written about both a lot but somehow neglected to include this item in this listing.   

Neighborhood and district rides at one scale, whole community rides at the others.  I am always amazed to see photos of such events and say "where did all the bikes come from?"  This item is listed in this section more for affinity groups and community rides.

20.**  Electric bike discount programs.  This has the advantage of "expanding" the size of a district a person is willing to bike it.  Research demonstrates it's a good way to shift trips away from the car.

22.** Secure bicycle parking systems at the city and metropolitan scale ("Another mention of the idea of creating a network of metropolitan scale secure bicycle parking facilities").  Again something I write about a lot that should be integrated into this list.

24.**  Provision of secure bicycle parking, and lockers and showers in destination districts.  Zoning requirements to build them in office buildings and campuses of a certain size.  Or as a proffer/ community benefit. 

25.** Expansion and Improvement of Trails. I didn't realize until I rode a trail as opposed to street riding, how much mental energy is spent while street riding on safety measures and defensive cycling.  Separation from cars encourages more people to bike.

26.** Bike (sustainable mobility) Festivals.  I've written about college bike weeks and the Bike Rodeo that used to be sponsored by Utah Transit Authority.  Sometimes an Open Streets program includes some of these features.  Obviously it's a way to get people consider sustainable mobility.

More recently, Washington Area Bicyclists Association has sponsored such events for seniors specifically ("Older adult transportation block party").

Denver and Rio Grande Rail Trail in Davis County, Utah: a great foundation, full of (missed) opportunity

I rode this trail the other day.  As a trail it's nice, although it could use more trees.  

It's an old rail corridor that was acquired by the Utah Transit Authority ("From rails to trails," Deseret News, 2005) and is a joint project with the communities it passes through.  The land use context is what I might call exsuburban, a combination of exurban and suburban in that it is in the midst of distant sprawl, with farmland converted to residential subdivisions.

All to the good, I was surprised to see that more than a handful of houses have gates so they can access the trail, some with elaborate connections because of grade.   This is important, because in many places trails are initially opposed as potential crime inducers, so having gates to the trail is an indicator of people's sense of safety and comfort wrt the trail.

Some yards are even open to the trail with no fence.  A number of subdivisions have trail connections.  Here and there were creeks, including Farmington Creek in Farmington, which did have an interpretation sign (the only one I saw).

There were incursions onto the corridor from some houses but it was pretty rare--some bad, but many would be considered acceptable--growing stuff, art works, etc.

 

I saw horses, and heard chickens and goats.  The trail passes through areas that are being built up, and were former farmland.

It connects to Salt Lake City via the Legacy Parkway Trail and the Jordan River Parkway Trail.

Negatives.  But:

1.  There is no website specific to the trail (although some government websites, in particular Farmington, Bountiful, and Davis County have information but can have severe presentation and user experience faults).

2. There is no brochure for the trail, neither printed nor digital. Although government, independent trail sites and apps have information.

3.  There is zero wayfinding signage, including map signage.  No directional signage pointing to destinations off the trail.  Inadequate distance markings.  No signage pointing to links to other trails.

4.  There is a "gateway" sign but it isn't much.  In the section I rode, from Layton to Parrish Lane in Centerville, there were no trailheads. 

5.  No rules signage.  

Note the rules sign in the background at this Virginia Capital Trail trailhead in Richmond. (Flickr)

6.  No signage for park connections abutting the trail.  And one park, in an HOA subdivision had signage specifically forbidding non residents.  It's not in operation because of covid but there is a miniature railroad park, S&S Shoreline Railroad, abutting the trail in Farmington.  They did have a sign.  But none of the local parks did.

Trail connection to a local park, with a baseball field, pavilion and other amenities, but you'd never know it.

7.  No signage on the adjoining streets directing people to the trail.

8.  There were two detours on the trail, and one provided zero detour signage.  And the connection to the Legacy Parkway Trail was blocked off, with no additional information provided.

9.  There were some amenities here and there.  Benches, dog waste bag distributors and trash cans (all in all, the trail was pretty clean).  And bike repair stands and air pumps--although most were broken.

This was the only working repair stand and air pump on the stretch of the trail I rode, probably because it was both newer and sponsored by a law firm.  Facilities such as these should be maintained as part of a trail, rather than left to degrade.

10.  Street crossings are poorly defined.  Indianapolis Cultural Trail shows the way.

 

Granted, I should have looked up the trail and the connections before I set out on this trip.  

But I just presumed that local trail standards included wayfinding and directional signage and the occasional map.  That's because with the way we've designed the transportation system for automobility, you can get away with minimal pre-planning, unless you're going to an out of the way place.  Directional signage, supplemented by maps or GPS suffices.

This is the only bicycle wayfinding sign I've ever seen that includes bus stop access as an element--rail transit sure, but not bus.

By contrast the Jordan River Trail in Salt Lake County (also in Davis County and branded as the Provo River Parkway Trail in Utah County but I haven't ridden those sections) is stellar, even though I argue the signage and brochure is in need of serious updating, they have a brochure (which also needs to be updated to include the Davis County section), trailhead map signs (again they need to be updated to include Davis County), directional signage on the route, signs--albeit haphazard--pointing to the trail from nearby streets, and some amenities--I don't recall any bike repair stands in the sections I've ridden, and interpretation signage created by some of the cities through which the trail passes through, and some by Salt Lake County Parks.

-- My Flickr photos on the Jordan River Trail (still adding)

Salt Lake City's Parks and Public Lands signage program includes the city's section of the Jordan River Parkway Trail.  City sign below.  Above, a sign by Salt Lake County in West Valley City.
 

These failures on the DRGW trail are a travesty from a planning and bicycle planning perspective.  (I don't know if they are repeated on the Legacy Parkway Trail, and I wonder if the Jordan River Parkway Trail's continuation into Davis County meets the signage standards executed in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County.)

The trail is definitely utilized.  I was on it from maybe 3pm to 5pm and there were cyclists, roller bladers, runners, mothers with their kids coming home from school, walkers, an older male cyclist with his little dog in a front basket.  That part was cool.  

But with active management and promotion (the kind of stuff I write about frequently, e.g., "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 18 programs"), there could be way more cyclists in that area, because it is a foundational bikeway, over 20 miles long, covering much of Davis County and into Weber County.

While there are connection from DRGW to the Legacy Parkway Trail in Farmington and in North Salt Lake City to the Jordan River Parkway Trail, these connections are obscure, or at least not signed at all and poorly marketed.

This map sign on the Virginia Capital Trail (in Richmond) presents at two scales: the immediate area and the full trail.  (Flickr)

Long range directional signage on the Virginia Capital Trail in Richmond.

Destination signage on the Virginia Capital Trail.  Photo: Phil Riggan for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Proof of concept trailhead sign for the Salt Lake City Foothills Natural Area.

MPOs and "active transportation."  In the DC area, I argued that the creation of a Capital Trails Coalition by advocates was a duplication of what the Metropolitan Transportation Organization--the conglomeration of local governments tasked by the federal government with coordinating transportation planning at the metropolitan and regional scales--should already be doing, although I later came to agree that you need both--the formal committee and the advocacy committee-because advocates can do and say things that government employees can't do.

-- ""Government" or "advocacy" approaches: either/or vs. and/and and DC area regional trails planning," 2020

The Salt Lake Valley is served by the Wasatch Front Regional Council, and the MPO function is one element of its mission.  And yes, they have an Active Transportation Committee focused on developing sustainable mobility options.  

But I guess they don't have a set of basic standards about what a regional bikeway network should look like and how it should be implemented.

The fact is the ability to cycle from Ogden to Provo--81 miles and backstopped by Frontrunner commuter railroad service--on bikeways mostly separated from traffic is an incredible accomplishment, and it's do-able because of the DRGW, Legacy Parkway, Jordan River Parkway and Provo River Parkway Trails.

But I would argue it's dis-coordinated, and addressing these omissions should be a top priority of the MPO's Active Transportation Committee.

The Frontrunner commuter railroad runs from Utah County to Ogden in Weber County.  It doesn't run on Sundays.  It's quite comfortable and trains have bike cars.  

(There is also a plan afoot to extend Frontrunner to Boise and Las Vegas ("Train corridors proposed connecting Boise, Las Vegas to Salt Lake City," Fox13) along the lines of how I suggest multi-state rail planning should be working anyway, see "Two train/regional transit ideas: Part 1 | Amtrak should acquire Greyhound").

And while they're at it, the MPO could begin working on my concept of a metropolitan scaled secure bicycle parking network (first proposed for DC and Baltimore), which no MPO has put forth in the US at present.

-- "Bike to Work Day as an opportunity to assess the state of bicycle planning: Part 2, building a network of bike facilities at the regional scale," 2017

Oh, and standards for dealing with trail detours comparable to that for roads and freeways.

====

Also see for discussion of robust trail planning:

-- "Comments on the Central Avenue Connector Trail concept (Prince George's County, Maryland," 2015 

And a framework for sustainable mobility planning:

-- "Further updates to the Sustainable Mobility Platform Framework," 2018

WMATA is pathetic: of course it belongs to "the public"

In college in the early 1980s, the University of Michigan repositioned its focus on fundraising (what universities call "development") in part by hiring a top development official from Stanford, creating a new campaign, etc.--the University has successfully raised billions since.

In an interview the new VP for Development said something like "students don't think about it, but they become alumni in four years," making the point they (we) should start thinking about donating.

My response was "neither does the university, because if they did they would invest a lot more in the quality of the student experience." Although 40 years later my sense is that they invest plenty in that now.

Metro (WMATA) Owner's Manual: Your Metro...How to Use It, table of contents, Advertising supplement to the Washington Star, 3/21/1976.

This comes up because Randy Clarke, the new leader of the Washington area's transit system (Metrorail and Metrobus), has an op-ed in the Washington Post, stating that the transit system is really "we the people" (not his words), "New Metro GM: It’s your transit system."  From the article:

The capital improvement program reflects the region’s commitment to maintaining and improving your community’s $100 billion transit asset. The question of how best to fund Metro is an important one that requires thought leadership and extensive community input. It begins with “What do we want Metro to be?” Together with our board of directors, who represent our regional governing jurisdictions and the federal government, we are developing a strategic transformation plan that will address our funding future, fare policy and service equity and frequency, which we look forward to talking with customers about over the next several months to help us set Metro’s goals.

In the near term, we are supporting returning customers with more rapid social media engagement, and extended customer service hours Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For frequent, new and visiting customers, we are piloting new signage, beginning with putting service information at street level at Metro Center. We are also going to test way-finding signage to the new Dulles station in 33 stations and seek feedback from the community. ...

Everyone at Metro is focused on providing the excellent experience our customers and the region need and deserve. We are keeping customers at the center of everything we do. Operating safely isn’t a choice. It’s either safe or we won’t do it. I am empowering all staff members to own our service outcomes and to proudly represent America’s transit system.

As you travel the region this fall, I hope you will choose Metro. We beat traffic and gas prices, and we fight climate change. Though I am privileged to be the general manager, it’s your Metro, so please let us know how we can serve you better.

Despite publishing the op-ed, other reporting in the Post says the situation is dire, "Fallout grows from Metro’s train shortage amid safety probe."

People like me have been saying this for years, that WMATA needs to invest in its relationship with area residents as customers, riders, funders (as taxpayers), and supporters of transit.

-- "Making Transit Sexy," 2005 (!)
-- "More on Metro and rethinking transit marketing," 2006
-- "Helping Government Learn," 2009
-- "Transit, stations, and placemaking: stations as entrypoints into neighborhoods," 2013 
-- "Posting information on board members and the Metro in train stations," 2017

My concept of a "complementary investment program in the transit network in association with the introduction of new transit infrastructure," in this case the Purple Line, had a number of suggestions for improvements in "our Metro."

-- "Codifying the complementary transit network improvements and planning initiatives recommended in the Purple Line writings," 2022 (original posts 2017)

In 2009, after the crash which killed 9 people, I wrote that WMATA needed to update and rebuild the regional consensus on the support of transit, because in the 40ish years since the beginning creation of the system, most all of the original leaders have since died or moved on, and the millions of new residents in the region never participated in the development of that system.

-- "St. Louis regional transit planning process as a model for what needs to be done in the DC Metropolitan region"

Plus, once the system opened, it took for granted the need to constantly invest in building and maintaining support.

In fact, I mention that as an issue a lot in terms of funding.  

Now that the system is in ongoing crisis ("Getting WMATA out of crisis: a continuation of a multi-year problem that keeps getting worse, not better," 2015) although it's been more than 10 years, they are looking for additional funding, including a sales tax (actually that's been discussed for going on 20 years, "DC area transit commission board member thinks he has a brilliant idea on how to fund Metrorail: sales taxes," 2022).

My point is you ask for money when you are wildly successful and everyone is looking to join the bandwagon, not when you are failing, in crisis, and you have few friends.

Since they didn't do it in 2009, in 2014, I suggested with the impending 40th anniversary of the system's opening, they should rebuild the consensus.

-- "WMATA 40th anniversary in 2016 as an opportunity for assessment"
-- "What it will take to get WMATA out of crisis continued and 2016's 40th anniversary of WMATA as an opportunity to rebuild," 2015

Since then the system has degraded beyond imagination, with most trains out of service because of a derailment problem and more recently the failure to maintain the certification of hundreds of train drivers.

Metro (WMATA) Owner's Manual: Your Metro...How to Use It, cover, Advertising supplement to the Washington Star, 3/21/1976.

I guess WMATA still has this opportunity with upcoming 50th anniversary of the start of service--2026--to get their "stuff" together, rebuild the consensus, actually figure out how to operate the system, grow it, if possible, etc.

BART is celebrating its 50th.  Note that BART is celebrating its 50th anniversary of the start of service this year, although I don't think they have a big rebuilding consensus program.  

-- 50 Years of BART | bart.gov
-- "BART has carried riders for 50 years. It also changed how the Bay Area lives," San Francisco Chronicle (note registration required, although turning off your javascript simplifies access, other links at end of article)  
-- "BART 50 year anniversary: The past, present and future of Bay Area Rapid Transit," ABC7 San Francisco

They need to do it probably, but as a region the Bay Area is continuing to grow transit in terms of railroad, heavy rail, and light rail (+ ferry), in coordinating services across transit agencies, having a overnight transit network, funding transit through sales taxes and other means, etc.

Andy Byford.  I was surprised to see that Andy Byford has stepped down as CEO of Transport for London, as it was his dream job ("Ex-NYC subways chief Andy Byford quits London gig, plans return to US," New York Post). 

I do know it must have been bittersweet because to get the national government to re-fund the system given its covid-related financial problems, they had to agree to a lot of anti-rider changes ("'No choice': Khan accepts £3.6bn deal for London's transport," Inside Croydon), even though they've successfully begun opening Crossrail/Elizabeth Line.

Byford went to TfL after being forced out of the NYC Subway system by the since disgraced then Governor Cuomo, who didn't like that Byford got lots of great publicity when he wanted the accolades, and before that the Toronto Transit Commission, which is the third busiest transit system in the US and Canada.

Could Byford be brought in as a "special master" to "unsuck" WMATA?  Is he even capable of pulling off such a feat? 

Transit marketing.  Too many resources to list, although this entry lists many, "Advocates to Feds: We Need a New Traffic-Control Manual | My response: Create "the" Manual of Uniform Urban Mobility Control Devices."  Part of marketing is just successfully delivering transit service.

DC area transit commission board member thinks he has a brilliant idea on how to fund Metrorail: sales taxes

Given that I only tangentially "live" in DC these days, writing all the time about DC seems misplaced.  

Then again, I understand the place, there are universal lessons, and a lot of dumb stuff that I feel compelled to write about--I joke that I might not be a good planner, but I am great at gap analysis, and man are there many "gaps" in how planning is done in the DMV.

Similarly, my writings on DC area transit, even if trenchant, sometimes bore even me.  I mean, how many times can you write the same thing over and over and over, like this piece just two weeks ago:

-- "What to do about DC area Metrorail?," May 18, 2022

The Washington Post reports "Transit commission chairman offers advice for Metro’s funding problems." From the article:

Michael Goldman proposes Metro pitch the public on a sales tax after it wins back confidence

Sales taxes will save WMATA?  Um, wtf?

The reason this gets me is that for about 20 years, the idea of funding WMATA in part through sales taxes has been bandied about, editorialized about favorably in the Washington Post, etc.  Brookings fellow (I think now Virginia Tech professor) Robert Puentes has been the most visible proponent.

-- Washington's Metro: Deficits by Design, Brookings, 2004
-- "Keeping Metro On Track: The Federal Government's Role in Balacing Investment With Accountability at Washington's Transit Agency," Brookings, 2005
-- "Mass Transit: Issues Related to Providing Dedicated Funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority," GAO, 2006

I think sales taxes should be one of the funding streams, sure, but the 2008 Recession proved that sales taxes as a revenue stream for transit drop precipitously in recessions, endangering service.  Systems across the country big and small made massive service cuts in response to funding losses.

But the problem is bigger than safety and successful operation.    

1.  Crisis is a bad time to ask for money.  Although yes, first, being in crisis and performing badly isn't the time to ask for such funding.  Although to be fair, Michael Goldman concedes the point.

2.  The three jurisdictions controlling WMATA, Maryland, Virginia, and DC, disagree on the purpose of transit.  Sadly, the three jurisdictions, especially Maryland and Virginia, don't have congruence on what they think the system is supposed to do and how to fund it.  

3. The best time to ask for regularized funding is when you're successful.  I've made the point, in part because of this issue, that the best time to ask for regularized funding is when you're wildly successful, not desperate.  This should have been pursued in the 1980s, when WMATA was wildly successful, growing, and seemingly well managed, definitely a still young system in good repair.

Rebuilding the regional consensus about transit.  Note that in 2009 and later, after the crash that killed 9 people, I wrote that it was necessary to rebuild the regional consensus on transit, what it was supposed to do and why, how to manage it, etc.

-- What it will take to get WMATA out of crisis continued and 2016's 40th anniversary of WMATA as an opportunity to rebuild (2015)
-- "WMATA and two types of public relations programs (2015)
-- WMATA 40th anniversary in 2016 as an opportunity for assessment (2014)
-- St. Louis regional transit planning process as a model for what needs to be done in the DC Metropolitan region (2009)

Even without the crash this was necessary because from a planning standpoint the system was over 50 years old, even if it didn't start opening until 1976

The consensus "thingy" is important because transit service is hardly the exclusive domain of WMATA.  Yes they provide the precovid most frequently used transit service in the region, Metrorail heavy rail, and highly used "regional bus services," Metrobus.  

But most of the jurisdictions now provide bus service, DC has a streetcar service independent of WMATA, Maryland will be running the Purple Line light rail independent of WMATA (although fares will be integrated), the MARC and VRE rail services are independent of WMATA, and other transit types of services are being promoted like gondola or ferries, to be operated independently of WMATA, etc.  Amtrak Virginia offers services, there are inter-city bus services, etc.

Commenter charlie argues that the problems result from the tension of acting as commuter rail versus a city subway for DC and Arlington (see comments here, "Can WMATA's death spiral be staunched?," 2016).

Transit financing.  And I've written a lot about WMATA and financing.  It has a big problem in that the jurisdictions appropriate money on a year-by-year basis, not as a matter of course.  Yes, this does make it harder for the agency.  Especially because jurisdictions will put off capital expenditures as long as possible.  Many people make the point that lack of dedicated funding is why the system is in failure mode.  I disagree.

-- Getting WMATA out of crisis: a continuation of a multi-year problem that keeps getting worse, not better (2015)
-- What it will take to get WMATA out of crisis (2015)

And as I've argued, the federal transit pass has historically disproportionately funded the system, alongside the practice of charging fares by mode--most systems charge one fare for a bus+rail ride.  Not WMATA.  They charge two.  And pass products lowering the overall cost of transit have historically been a low priority.

This let the system get sloppy in terms of finance, budgeting, and understanding why "WMATA is so successful at funding operations from farebox revenue."

My solution: Step 1: creating a regional transport association.  The fact that there are so many "mobility" services, even beyond transit (taxis, car sharing, bike sharing, scooters, etc.) is why I've argued that the DC area should adopt the German form of regional transport association (called a VV, Verkehrsverbund), which links planning, budgeting and operation into one overarching organization, even if many different entities provide actual transit service.    They have an integrated planning and transit fare media system.  But there are over 20 operators of the various services, including private operators of bus lines.

-- The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association, 2017
-- Metropolitan Mass Transit Planning: Towards a Hierarchical and Conceptual Framework
(presentation in 2010, at the University of Delaware Institute of Public Administration)
-- (Sort of a repeat) Without the right transportation planning framework, metropolitan areas are screwed, and that includes the DC area (2011)
-- "Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland," Ralph Buehler, John Pucher & Oliver Dümmler,  International Journal of Sustainable Transportation (2018)
-- "Branding's (NOT) All you need for transit," 2018

It should also aim to integrate for profit providers (car sharing, etc.) into what I call the "sustainable mobility platform framework."

Step 2: Separate planning from budgeting.  Too many transit services in the DC area make planning subsidiary to budgeting.  I understand why this happens, but if there were true "mass transit planning," we would define the breadth and depth of the network that we want.  And then come up with the funding to make it happen.

Transit operators would come back and say: you've defined the network breadth and depth (level of service) as X.  But the funding won't support that.  Then there would have to be a discussion of how to address funding shortfalls in terms of raising revenues or cutting service.

Step 3: Fix the Funding.  Yep, it needs to be done, but not just for Metrorail, for all of the regional transit services.  This entry from 2013, "Metrolinx Toronto: 25 potential tools to fund transit-transportation infrastructure," suggests a more structured process for identifying funding than an interview published in the Post.

Step 4: WRT WMATA, declare force majeure, and contract out operation of the heavy rail system to Hong Kong's MTR.  Start over.  Force majeure allows the abrogation of all contracts and starting over.  MTR runs the subway system in Hong Kong, the just opened Elizabeth Line and other lines in London. lines in at least three cities in China, and the heavy rail systems in Stockholm and Melbourne (London’s new Elizabeth Line is open – and it’s being run by Hong Kong’s MTR," South China Morning Post). (Then again, there is that US versus China political issue.)

Pre-covid, the Hong Kong subway system had about 5 million daily riders, which is about 7x higher than WMATA's precovid ridership on Metrorail.

MTR does a good job.   By contrast WMATA is failing.

As the British would say "WMATA needs to be sorted."  

The way it's being overseen, managed, operated, and funded isn't working.

All but one of the bus transit providers in Raleigh-Durham use the same logo and livery design, 

with different colors for different agencies.

Step 5: Reconfigure bus service in the metropolitan area.  A VV also has the opportunity to rearticulate bus service.  Recommendation 13 in "Setting the stage for the Purple Line light rail line to be an overwhelming success: Part 2 | the program (macro changes)" suggests:

Consider a redesign and rebranding of the the metropolitan area's bus systems into an integrated framework, comparable to that of GoTransit in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Although recommendations 10, 11, 12, and 15 also address bus service, with 15 focused on an overnight metropolitan Night Owl bus network.

-- "Will buses ever be cool? Boston versus the Raleigh-Durham's GoTransit Model," 2017
-- "Making bus service sexy and more equiable," 2012
-- "Route 7 BRT proposal communicates the reality that the DC area doesn't adequately conduct transportation planning at the metropolitan-scale," 2016

What to do about DC area Metrorail?

 A few months ago I wrote a couple posts about how it seems as if DC area transit planning and operations is deliberately designed to destroy support for transit and transit expansion.

-- "Sometimes you have to wonder if transit/transit projects are being deliberately screwed up to make transit expansion almost impossible" 
-- "A tenure of failure doesn't deserve encomiums: Paul Wiedefeld, WMATA CEO"

The second entry criticizes the Washington Post editorial board for saying the CEO was great even though WMATA got even worse during his tenure, not better.

Then a few days later the Post editorialized something similar ("Metrorail is a mess. What’s going to happen when more commuters return?").   

Tom Toles editorial cartoon, Washington Post

8/19/2015

This after most of the trains are out of service because of a derailment problem that has sidelined most every train, leading to service of 3-4 trains per hour, in each direction, on each line ("Dramatic drop in DC Metro's on-time performance, rider satisfaction: Report," WJLA-TV).

How could things get any worse?

But they did!

Last week, it was announced that half the train operators aren't certified, that service had to reduced further, and abruptly the CEO accelerated his retirement and the COO resigned ("Top Metro leaders step down one day after agency announces training lapses," Washington Post).

In 1994, the New Yorker ran a story, "Lost in the Mail," about the repetitive failures of the post office system in Chicago.  I remember how they said  because post offices are so embedded within communities, they are more a part of local bureaucratic systems than national (this has changed in the years since) and it was emblematic of local government failure.

WMATA's repetitive failures since 2009, when 9 people died as a result of a signals failure that had been identified but mostly ignored as anomalous rather than an indicator of a systematic problem, have gotten worse, not better.

• The signals problem still exists.  
• Financial problems still exist. 
• Inspection problems and tunnel fires led to a death and injuries
• ... abetted by poor emergency response action and coordination failures.  
• For a time financial reporting problems made WMATA ineligible for funding from the Federal Transit Administration.  
• There are continued problems with how the Operations Center operates
• and safety on the tracks for workers ("Metro commits to more stringent safety standards to protect track workers," Post)
• The wheel problems were known but not addressed, until the oversight body required trains be taken out of service.  
• Now the certification of train operators.

Although under Wiedefeld there has been a reasonable program of station and system infrastructure improvements 

And we're not even counting the effects of covid, which has led to massive ridership drops, leading to major financial problems.

Why is organizational failure so endemic to Metrorail?

After the crash I did write a piece suggesting that 30ish years after the initial opening, it was time to rebuild regional consensus about transit and Metrorail.  That didn't happen and later I suggested the same thing, using the 40th anniversary of initial operation as the lever.  

-- Getting WMATA out of crisis: a continuation of a multi-year problem that keeps getting worse, not better, (2015)
-- What it will take to get WMATA out of crisis (2015)
-- What it will take to get WMATA out of crisis continued and 2016's 40th anniversary of WMATA as an opportunity to rebuild (2015)
-- "WMATA and two types of public relations programs (2015)
-- WMATA 40th anniversary in 2016 as an opportunity for assessment (2014)
-- St. Louis regional transit planning process as a model for what needs to be done in the DC Metropolitan region (2009)

Later writing about financial issues ("Proposed WMATA fare increases (DC region)," 2012) and points about problems resulting from system design especially interlining ("More on Redundancy, engineered resilience, and subway systems: Metrorail failures will increase without adding capacity in the core," 2016), I suggested that the region should reorganize transit along the lines of the German set up of "transport associations," which links but separates planning, ownership,  operation, and budgeting.  

-- The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association, 2017
-- Metropolitan Mass Transit Planning: Towards a Hierarchical and Conceptual Framework
(presentation in 2010, at the University of Delaware Institute of Public Administration)
-- (Sort of a repeat) Without the right transportation planning framework, metropolitan areas are screwed, and that includes the DC area (2011)

By contrast, there isn't really true transit planning for the DC area at the regional scale.  By default WMATA is the planner, but too often transit service is satisficed because of budgetary considerations.

The same goes for buses: 

-- "Will buses ever be cool? Boston versus the Raleigh-Durham's GoTransit Model," 2017
-- "Making bus service sexy and more equiable," 2012
-- "Route 7 BRT proposal communicates the reality that the DC area doesn't adequately conduct transportation planning at the metropolitan-scale," 2016

charlie argues that the problems result from the tension of acting as commuter rail versus a city subway for DC and Arlington (see comments here, "Can WMATA's death spiral be staunched?," 2016).

Definitely the agency is schizophrenic in terms of mission between commuter rail, in-city rail, and bus operator.

A new leader as the solution?  WMATA announced a couple weeks ago that the next CEO will be Randy Clarke, from the Capital Metro transit agency serving Austin, Texas.  He worked for MBTA in Boston, and has a great deal of expertise in safety management.  But it is enough?  

Is failure systemic and endemic?  Is he so capable that he can reorient WMATA towards excellence and away from systematic and endemic failure? ("Metro’s new general manager is optimistic riders will return," Post).

For years, I've suggested that a top notch transit executive from Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, France or London should be recruited to fix Metrorail.  

But probably the best transit executives aren't interested.

What is it about WMATA that generates failure as the routine outcome?

Although part of this is that often failure begets failure because in the best of times, people aren't very good decision makers.  And crisis makes it worse.

My joke is that the problem started at the beginning, when the first CEO came from the Army Corps of Engineers.  With a very bureaucratic orientation.

It didn't help when the system stopped expanding, and so Metrorail RIFed most of its construction engineering and planning personnel, excising from the system decades of engineering and operations experience.

I don't believe that necessarily it is the Compact, that it is necessarily the tri-partite structure involving the States of Virginia and Maryland and the City of Washington in joint ownership and management.

But it is problematic that support for transit waxes and wanes depending on who is in office.  Eg., Maryland Republican Governor Hogan wasn't too keen on WMATA.  Now, the Republican Governor of Virginia isn't either.  Even before, when McAuliffe was Governor, he understood that Metrorail favored DC and he pursued other transportation priorities.  And DC's elected officials just don't feel it in their bones that DC's competitive advantage as a place to live and work is built on the foundation of strong transit.

School bus travails and International Walk and Bike to School Day (first Wednesday in October)

Marissa James gets off the bus at Summit Elementary School in Summit, Miss., on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021, on the first day of the 2021-22 school year for students in the McComb School District. (Matt Williamson /The Enterprise-Journal via AP.

I was remiss in not writing about International Walk and Bike to School Day, which is held the first Wednesday in October, in other words earlier this week.  

-- Toolkit for International Walk and Bike to School Day

It's a great event in that it's held in the fall, pretty early into the school year, and it has the opportunity to repattern people's choices on how they get to school. The 2019 post has a bunch of recommendations.

Of course, the biggest problem with "walk or bike to school" is how in the expansive land use and transportation development paradigm that the US has adopted--called sprawl--schools have been repositioned to serve larger populations and multiple neighborhoods, and are located at distances where walking to school is no longer emphasized, and school bus based transportation is required to get students to and from school.

GM has promoted driving to school as a way to promote car usage for almost 100 years.  Ad from the Saturday Evening Post Magazine, 1927.

This has been written about plenty over the past 20 years:

-- Why Johnny Can't Walk To School: Historic Neighborhoods in the Age of Sprawl
-- Helping Johnny Walk to School: Policy Recommendations for Removing Barriers to Community-Centered Schools, National Trust for Historic Preservation
-- "Why Johnny Can't Walk to School, op ed, Chicago Tribune

The vehicle-dependent travel paradigm for K-12 education has been a problem for a long time.  From the article:

School sprawl doesn't affect just kids, it also makes life worse for parents. A 1999 report by the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a Washington-based research and policy organization, reported that mothers with school-aged children make an average of more than five car trips a day, 20 percent more than other women. Today, the average American parent is trapped behind the wheel of a car--an average of 72 minutes a day, chauffeuring children to school, and then from there to soccer games, birthday parties, friends' houses and the like.

But now it's become even worse in the post-vaccine period of the pandemic because it has discombobulated the job market, especially for drivers of school buses ("As Schools Reopen, Districts Are Desperate for Bus Drivers," New York Times).

Many communities are now unable to operate all their bus routes, and parents and others are stepping up with car pools etc. to fill in the gap.  But there are plenty of students wasting hours each day because of missed bus runs ("Canceled bus routes caused 1,164 Fayette students to miss a half day or more this year," Lexington Herald-Leader, "‘This is a huge burden on families:’ Henrico students missing classes thanks to bus driver shortage," ABC8).

Business Insider argues it's a function of "underfunding schools" ("America's bus-driver 'shortage' isn't new: It's due to years of underfunding, and it's putting kids at risk.") completely missing the real issue, that it's a function of developing a vehicle-dependent paradigm for K-12 student transportation.

When I was a child in Detroit, a mile was about the maximum distance for elementary schools.  We all walked to school.  And older kids helped shepherd younger kids.

Here in Salt Lake City, it's comparable.  The school district makes a point of building walkable schools, and most schools have bike and scooter racks (even if the accommodations aren't up to the recommendations of national policy bodies).  This is true even though the region is firmly committed to sprawl (but also probably has to do with the Mormon Church's focus on siting churches at distances convenient to being able to walk to church--even though these days it appears that few people walk to church).

In DC, sometimes I would escort the girl next door on her bike ride to school.  

A lot of DC's schools would be walkable, except that probably most students don't attend local schools, but schools all across the city.

And if schools are farther away, kids need to be driven.

(Note, yes, with open enrollment schools, a greater number of students don't live near the school they attend.)

Conclusion.  Going forward, things will only get worse in terms of (1) finding bus drivers; (2) wages; (3) the cost of fuel; and (4) the cost of buses.  

The solution is for schools to reduce their dependence on bus transportation, and should be required to do balanced transportation planning, with a focus on shifting trips to walking and biking.  

-- School Walk and Bike Routes: A Guide for Planning and Improving Walk and Bike to School Options for Students, State of Washington DOT

But most states have requirements for school bus transportation planning, and few if any requirements for balanced transportation planning for all modes.  

One exception is the Boulder Valley School District serving Boulder, Colorado, which has walking and biking planners as part of their "student" (not "bus") transportation department. 

Many school systems create safe routes to school maps focused on walking and biking to school.

Palo Alto, California extends its Safe Routes to School planning to junior and senior high schools, whereas most school districts that do have good SRTS programs tend to limit them to elementary schools.

States should address that omission and require school systems do walk and bike to school planning as an element of comprehensive "student transportation" (not "school bus transportation"), rather than just leave it up to the vagaries of parent interest and propinquity.

In addition, as a way to help strengthen local transit systems ("Creativity helps Rochester bus system turn a profit,"  New York Times), school systems should aim to shift some students to public transit systems, because it can be more efficient to do so.  (Many school districts do this for junior and senior high, since these schools tend to be located not within walking distance.)

(Although ADA requirements mean that separate disability transportation is still a part of the mix regardless.)

Note that the MUNI system in San Francisco does this for K-12 students already ("SFMTA announces young people to ride Muni for free," Mass Transit Magazine). 

Gaps in planning practice: privately owned White's Ferry on the Potomac River and county transportation planning

Master plans frequently don't include privately owned services.  I've written a bunch about how "master plans" should truly be master plans, and cover a community's complete range of assets and programs within functional planning elements such as parks (so include privately run gyms, etc. as well as county, state, federal and other assets), culture (include public and private assets, media and communication, higher education, etc.) and transportation, such as taxis or privately owned parking ("Another example of the need to reconfigure transpo planning and operations at the metropolitan scale: Boston is seizing dockless bike share bikes, which compete with their dock-based system," 2018).  

Relevant to this question are private "public places" where the private owners ought to manage their properties as if they were public, and therefore do some public planning and engagement to build consensus on operational decisions.  Mostly they don't do this, or don't do it very well.  A good example is parking planning at Reston Town Center ("Boston Properties backs down in Reston," 2017).

German transport associations as a model for integrated planning and transit services.  WRT transportation I argue that US metropolitan regions should create German style "transport associations" ("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) to integrate planning and operations across large areas. 

And that as part of this, planning for network breadth, depth and integration should be a separate function from operating and funding the services.

This was pioneered in Hamburg in the early 1960s, when they realized that to maximize ridership it behooved them to make transit fares and service patterns easy to understand.  That it was the job of the planners and operators to make it the service seamless.  

While there are a variety of operators, for profit and government, the city-state of Hamburg ends up being a key player in ownership in many of the entities, and the planning function of the transport association extends into neighboring states. 

The DC area doesn't have such a system.  Mostly the jurisdictions do planning separately, although by default, the Metrorail system ends up being the primary planner.

A privately owned ferry continues to operate in the DC area (well it did)

White's Ferry makes its way to the Montgomery County, Md., side of the Potomac River in June. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post).

White's Ferry is a remnant service from the time when most transit services were privately operated.  

It's an old fashioned ferry that crosses the Potomac River between Montgomery County Maryland and Loudoun County Virginia.  It's privately owned, and when operating serves more than 600 people per day.

The service ceased operations in December because of a dispute between the owner of the service, based in Maryland, and the owner of property on the Virginia side of the river, where the ferry lands ("After Decade-Long Legal Battle, White’s Ferry Closes," Loudon Now).  

I would argue that the transportation agencies in Montgomery and Loudoun Counties should have been more actively engaged in working to maintain the service.

The ferry business was just purchased by a firm with significant financial resources, and presumably the new owners will come to terms with the Virginia landowner and reopen the service ("With new owner, beloved White’s Ferry has a chance of reopening," Washington Post).

1.  County transportation plans don't acknowledge White's Ferry.  Unfortunately Montgomery County Maryland makes their transportation plan difficult to use via the web.  It's on the web, but broken up into a bunch of pieces.  

The Ferry is mentioned in the Rustic Roads plan, but not as a functional service.  Loudoun County's Transportation Plan doesn't mention White's Ferry as a functional service either, and they spell it differently (White's) from MoCo (Whites).

A mobility service relied upon by hundreds of people, and providing unique river-based access between two counties otherwise not very well connected ought to be acknowledged, planned, and if useful, marketed as an element of the transportation system more generally.

But because it's not a publicly owned service it falls through the cracks.

2.  Transport associations and the inclusion of privately owned services.  To be fair, I think even German transport associations have a difficult time with privately owned services like taxis and car sharing.  But there needs to be a way to bring them to the same table.

Maybe it's a bit better in London, Montreal, and San Francisco, where the local transportation authority has planning responsibilities for taxis, sometimes roads, and other services, not just transit.

But were a transport association structure in place, for profit mobility services like car share, ferry services, and toll roads and bridges should be at the table.

Although, like with the privately owned Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor a difficult owner can lead the government sector to create their own separate services ("Manuel ‘Matty’ Moroun, Owner of Ambassador Bridge, Dies at 93," Detroit News).