Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Build It & Will They Come?
I asked this of the TIP interactive meeting last night at County Commission Chambers via email:
As a Miami-Dade public transit user since 1995, I have 3 interconnected questions, please:
1. Mr Roosevelt Bradley, who maximized bus improvement, was, in essence, a “bus man.” Our growing gridlock problems demand including fixed guideway—lightrail and streetcar—modes of public transportation in our near-term transit planning. What’s being done to make sure the new transit chief understands this?;
2. Why is the County not 100% behind the City of Miami’s attempts to get a streetcar system up and running?; and
3. When the proposed North Corridor heavyrail extension collapses—the Federal government won’t be funding a system of such low ridership projections—what are the County’s plans for reviving BayLink, the needed system?
They were overly edited before being asked, and the interim director was able to answer, or, more to the point, grunt, yes or no answers. That’ll be the last time that I don’t appear to ask my own questions. Bureaucrats. In the event, the answers pretty much were “I don’t know”; “that’s a Miami project”; and, “BayLink would have to move up.” Part of the leaning curve, I guess. Still, it confirms my suspicion that MPO members, like commissioners, will hide one behind the other rather than take meaningful action. And that’s why it’s up to us citizens.
Gabrielle Redfern did an outstanding job of chairing this televised event.
Changing of the Transit Guard
I watched Roosevelt Bradley’s late night impromptu “name clearing” speech at County Commission Chambers March 22. Fascinating stuff. The transit system’s former director was angry, betrayed, he felt, by strong mayor Alvarez. Now, I don’t know about those budgets he kept or the charges of nepotism—grounds for dismissal—but I bet they were small potatoes compared to regular Miami-Dade business as usual. And it really was farcical watching the worked-up commissioners turn the proceedings into theatre of the absurd. Tears, teeth gnashing, dais pounding—a real commissioner tour-de-force. Do watch if you get the chance; it’ll explain that whiff of ridiculousness that clings about these elected officials.
Back to Bradley. I’ve worked, talked, and observed the man for a number of years, and he’s been accessible, open, forthcoming. He genuinely seemed to have the interests of transit riders at heart. Having ridden the system for over 10 years, I can personally attest to his great accomplishment of bringing what were essentially leaking, wheezing, rolling homeless shelters to their current state of respectability. Of course, driver etiquette training always seems lagging (they still take a fiendish delight in slamming the doors and pulling away), and the wait can still be abysmal, but hey, as far as buses go, he did great.
Therein lies the paradox. As the quintessential bus man, Bradley’s boast of adding x hundred of buses, and x million miles to bus routes, begs the question of spending our money most wisely. And whenever I brought up the subject of streetcars, he’d rejoin that the new hybrid buses (how expensive are they?) looked just like ‘em. But a streetcar’s a streetcar, and a bus ain’t.
I do wish Roosevelt well, and thank him, and I hope his successor is more of a rail person.
Bike Department: On Dooring
The Hampshire Street Bicycle Lane Study
In 2003, the City of Cambridge embarked on a major study to evaluate the influence of bike lanes and other pavement markings on how motorists and bicyclists travel on the road (using Hampshire Street as the study site). The study was particularly focused on how far away bicyclists travel from parked cars, since the threat of being hit by a car door opening suddenly is a serious one. The study found that when bike lanes or other pavement markings were present, bicyclists traveled further away from parked cars than when no markings were present.
On-street surveys of bicyclists and motorists were also conducted. Bicyclists overwhelmingly favored bike lanes, with 90% of them preferring the lanes, and another 5% preferring a line marking. Motorists were highly likely to identify the bike lanes as a reason they noticed bicyclists.
See http://www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/et/bike/bike_lanes.html#hamp for the story.
And you can reach David Henderson, the MPO go-to guy on bicycles, at davidh@miamidade.gov, with questions or comments.
(Submitted by Gabrielle)
As Promised—Pedicabs!
Felipe Azenha has been trying to interest Miami Beach city officials in pedicabs for over 6 years with little success. I’ve always liked this idea, because it represents a way of changing the unacceptable car-pandering that passes for transportation progress. See http://www.miamisunpost.com/archives/2007/03-01/murmur.htm.
Anyway, I sent this letter to the SunPost in support.
Re: Murmurs, Pedicab Rage/Miami SunPost, March 1, 2007
Now, that’s my kind of guy. Brings forward a feasible idea, gets shot down by a suddenly recalcitrant commission, then, boom!—pipes up, and says what he thinks. (I won’t repeat it, ‘cause I got friends in high places.)
I empathize, tho.’ Pedicabs may not be your cup of tea, but they’ll surely accomplish two needful goals: present an alternative to carbon-spewing, road-hogging SUVs, buses and taxis, and inhibit some on-street parking.
See, I would outlaw ALL on-street parking, or make it prohibitively expensive—say, there’s an idea: call it Quik Buck Park, and charge $10 an hour (vs cheap garage rates)—and, zoopty doopty, the Beach’ll make a killin.’
Seems Felipe’s on to something. Like myself, he envisions streets as traffic movers, not as horizontal parking lots. We’re trying to discourage cars, not crowd ‘em in even thicker. It’s that vision thing again, and I’m surprised to see the commission has lost it, since we elected them to make the Beach a friendlier place to live, not drive. But I guess the squeaky steering wheel still gets the oil.
Here’s the vista we’d like to see: Well-terraced medians holding stately palm or canopy trees, like on Washington, south of 5th; open plazas of brickwork mosaics; sidewalks wide enough to actually walk on, with pedestrian-friendly crossways; streetcar circulators to eliminate hundreds of smelly bus trips a day; bicycle lanes crisscrossing our neighborhoods—and, yes, pedicabs to move tourists and residents quickly and safely.
While we’re at it, why not put tolls on the causeways, and add vehicle collection points for visitors entering the Beach? (they can take the circulators from there). And lastly, slap a moratorium on any more hideous parking garages that only gobble up real estate, and create eyesores.
Hey, I’m on a roll. Let’s ban cars altogether on Ocean Drive and turn it into a walkway. Then, we’ll connect it to Lincoln Road, maybe along about-to-be refurbished 16th Street.
See, these changes won’t add to the congestion clogging our lifestyle because they mean shifting away from the current mess of speeding, parking, noise and confusion, let alone the dependence on an archaic technology (yes, the internal combustion engine was invented in 1866, and has only gotten better at spewing pollution).
Note to commission/candidates: Sounds like this upcoming election will have to be about the problems of gridlock, and solutions to it. Please, have your answers ready.
And about Felipe? Give the man a chance. Show us you’re willing to seize opportunities.
JHB
