Amtrak's Hiawatha and Vermonter Routes to Allow Walk-On Bike Serivce

Amtrak has announced that it will now allow for walk-on bike service on its Hiawatha and Vermonter routes.  Amtrak's Hiawatha service originates in Chicago's Union Station and terminates in Milwaukee, WI. The Vermonter route originates in Washington DC's Union Station and terminates at St. Alban's station in northern Vermont (between Burlington and the Canadian border).

I have updated a map mash up that I put together showing routes and stations that now allow for walk-on bicycles (green map markers). Click on each station marker for more information. Please check with the Amtrak website for more details and updates.

Amtrak Routes and Stations

You must reserve a spot for you bike on the Hiawatha service on the Amtrak website or the Amtrak Quick-Trak Kiosks. The cost is $5.

The service is available on Vermonter trains 54, 55, 56, 57 at all station stops from Washington, DC , to St. Albans in Northern Vermont. Advance reservations are required for walk-on bicycle service onboard the Vermonter. A bicycle fee of $20 applies if you're traveling to and from station stops between Washington, DC, and New Haven and $10 if you're traveling between New Haven and St. Albans. Bike reservations cannot be made through Amtrak mobile apps. You must go online to the Amtrak website or the Quick-Trak Kiok's located in Amtrak station.

Amtrak request that you arrive 30 minutes prior to your train's departure to allow sufficient time to maneuver your bicycle through the station and be in position to board. Train cars marked with a "Bike Friendly" sticker can accommodate bicycles. A conductor may also direct you to the appropriate train car. For more details on Vermonter route stations please refer to this link to the timetable link to the pdf file.

Loading Bicycles

The loading of your bicycle is a bit different that California passengers are used to. You will be required to remove the front wheel of your bicycle before hanging it by the back wheel and securing it using the provided strap. Loading instructions will be available in the bike rack area and Amtrak crew members will be available to assist if necessary.

Here is some photos Amtrak provided illustrating how bikes must be loaded in each coach.

What goes up must come down or have the chickens finally coming home to roost?

For curses are like arrows

San Jose Mayor
Louis S. Solari
July 1958 - June 1960

shot upright, which falling
down light on the suters
[shooters] head.

The Lamentable and True Tragedy of Arden of Feversham - 1592

Today's Roadshow column in the San Jose Mercury News led with the headline: "San Jose pothole blamed on Reed, Brown, and Pruius drivers". Well, for those of you from out of state, Reed is San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, and Brown is California Governor Jerry Brown.

San Jose resident Joe Coughlin writes to Mr. Roadshow Gary Richards:

"Mayor Chuck Reed should be ashamed of the job he is doing regarding road repair. And we all ought to be embarrassed. We are not only the worst in California, we are the worst in the NATION."

I find this readers rant somewhat timely given that the evening before I attended the city's Planning Commission meeting. On the agenda was a study session to review the city's capital budget five-year plan. One set of figures that shocked me a bit (and after seeing these numbers for a few years I don't get shocked that easily) was the total infrastructure backlog reported at $909 million. Given that this year the city budget is $2.6 billion about 35% of the cities annual budget is represented by infrastructure backlog. Of the cities $909 million in infrastructure backlog $460 million is for transportation backlog, or just over 50%. Of that $460 million, $303 million is needed just to maintain the roadways back to normal levels.

But back to Mr. Coughlin's point. Who do we blame? Do we blame Mayor Chuck Reed, Governor Jerry Brown, or those

Population estimates used to
sell large infrastructure building progam
 in San Jose in the early 60's

high and mighty, wimpy green Prius owners. Well I have a new spin on their conundrum. Mr. Coughlin the next time you go to city hall to blame Mayor Reed; as you enter the elevator to the second floor council chamber gallery, look to your left on the wall. There you will see pictures and drawings, of most of the cites mayors going all the way back to the early days. Look carefully at those mayors from about 1945 to 1973; names such as Doerr, Solari (pictured above), Moore, Welch, Pace, and others. While were at it, let's also include A. P. (Dutch) Hamann, the city Manager from 1950 to 1969, a huge player in San Jose's expansionary history.



These mayors, and many other post-war U.S. mayors set us up with a new blueprint for the design of cities that pushed cities and their boundaries outward in a rush to annex tax generating development. In those days, it appeared that as soon as a new development was built, Dutch Hamann was out to annex it; One example routinely given is the Valley Fair shopping center. Leonard McKay told it so well in a series of two blog posts in 2006. (Dutch Hamann Part I and Part II)



Photo: wikipedia (San Jose)

 

"At that time, a sales tax was a major generator of revenue, and with the council’s approval, a program of strip annexation was set in motion.  Hamann determined where future shopping centers were likely to be located, and then the city proceeded to annex a narrow band of land out along each major road and intersection, thus ensuring that the sales tax revenue would come to San Jose. 

Along Stevens Creek Road to Cupertino, Bascom Boulevard, North First Street, and Monterey Highway to Morgan Hill—each and every area was annexed.  Prior to Hamann’s tenure—more than 100 years—only 46 annexations occurred.  During his 19 years, 1,377 annexations were effected"




If you've ever looked a map of Paris it looks by its very shape, its very design that it would be easy and relatively inexpensive to administer and maintain. Compare that with a map of San Jose (shown above) and

you ask yourself, how do you effectively police a city like this, maintain the roadway system or run an efficient library or parks system? In many areas of the city that fully enclose unincorporated county areas it even becomes more puzzling. Now try to figure out how you administer an effective police force, sanitary sewer systems, roads, streetlights, schools and water systems.

Yes it is extremely complicated. Just ask anyone living in the Burbank section of San Jose, an area where most neighbhors don't know who administers (county or city) parts of their own neighborhood.

Actually the layout of the city used to be worse. That is why 40 years ago the California State legislature created a regulatory vehicle to control crazy city boundaries that were confusing even city officials. Known by their acronym LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission), these independent regulatory commissions where created to control the boundaries of cities and most special districts (such as utility, school, sewage, vector, etc.). But more on that in a later post.

Given this willy nilly style of development and city leaders gross over-projection of population growth (see graph) infrastructure building (construction) was the real growth industry when an Apple in this valley was still something you ate. Even though California, the Bay Area, and San Jose grew at astonishing rates in the 1960's, 70's, and 80's their projections show that in 2010 San Jose's population would be at 1.8 million residents. In 2010 the city population was only 952,612 per the United States Census Bureau, or just over half what was projected.

To accommodate this overly inflated growth rate, the city built new sewer systems and water treatment plants (the current plant in Alviso), realigned roadways (Nagle Taylor, Julian and the Alameda), widened streets to nowhere (Park Ave., Minnesota at Meridian), built new railway under crossings (Park Ave. near Diridon), and new satellite libraries (West Valley branch etc. which was rebuilt several years ago), and fire stations.

What these leaders failed to realize was that the future money needed to maintain all this growing infrastructure base could not be recouped by the low yields (nowadays we call this sustainable) on a tax base reflected in the form of bedroom communities and urban sprawl. Many of these projects would not pencil out, or pay for themselves; and this was before Californians (not Mayor Reed or Jerry Brown) decided to severely restrict cities ability to maintain it all by passing Proposition 13 in 1978. So since 1978 cities have had to become very creative to tax these essentials of suburban living; investments in sewer pipe, pumping stations, wide Almaden neighborhood streets, or cul-du-sac living of the Evergreen area.

These leaders threw away the old tried and traditional rules of building cites and went on to build over 4,000 miles of municipal roadways. Now the potholes are coming home to roost (oh well I tried), or the archers arrow has returned to earth only to strike the shooter in the head.

As I have mentioned in many a post we, and many other California cities were built in the postwar era without a thought to how we would maintain these roadways. We have $303 million in unfunded road backlogs. We need around $100 million per year to maintain the system. We have no room in the general budget for repair. What funds are used to fix potholes, at about $16 million per year come from federal and state sources. We are now starting to receive the benefits of the recently enacted $10 vehicle fee but these amounts are nowhere near enough to cover the repair and maintenance of our roadways. State and federal gasoline taxes do not directly finance our maintenance program. Those funds are for building and maintaining  the federal and state highway systems.

Yes we do have a huge pothole problem, a problem that many has grown immensely in the last few years. However until residents and motorist realize how complex, how expensive, and how poorly funded our roadway system is, the problem is just not going to get any better anytime soon.

The chickens have come home to roost.



Creating a nonprofit to enhance profits. Or is this road paved with good intentions?

Everybody wants good roads but paying
 for them is a whole other story.

In a San Jose Mercury News column written by Gary Richards titled Mr. Roadshow, a reader asks after describing the conditions of local roads and the abundance of potholes:

"I'm wondering. Has anyone looked into what that ends up costing all drivers in added maintenance costs?"

Mr. Roadshow responds quoting "a nonprofit group known as The Road Information Project (TRIP)" that the additional vehicle operating costs due to road conditions in San Jose are the highest in the nation (TRIP's Urban Road Report 9/22/2010). This may be so, but what he fails to clarify is that TRIP (and it's California affiliate, Transportation California), although a non-profit, is organized to enhance the business growth of its member companies which build and maintain transportation infrastructure (also known as roads, highways, bridges, and tunnels). There is a reason they are located in Washington D.C. (and Sacramento), and that is to influence federal and state construction funds and transportation financing to benefit their companies.

Now there is nothing wrong with that (influencing public opinion to benefit the construction industry). But to give readers a false sense of security that they are some altruist nonprofit tasked with providing Americans with the complete picture on transportation, confuses readers, many of which have no idea how our roads are built, maintained and financed.

The board of directors of TRIP reads like a who's who of the construction industry (and you have to be a company to join, no individuals please) but this is no different than the California Transportation Commission that (outside of Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Learderhip Group representing the tech industry) has its fair share of commissioners from the real estate development and construction industry.

For the last 60 years, since the construction of the federal interstate system, we have built a transportation system that relies exclusively on automobile travel and consisted of large and expensive infrastructure projects. Now the maintenance bill is coming due and our information is coming from the very industry that stands to profit from it. Mr. Roadshow, all I am asking is that we balance this view with other voices.We should be more transparent in the future when a "nonprofit" issues reports which will bolster their bottom line long before it will improve our lives.

Thank you.

For more on the current status of California Roads see my series "Road's Cost"

TRIP Urban Road Report 9/22/2010
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D

A solar system in search of a sun - decentralization has its costs




photo:Destination:Freedom

 Most readers of this blog may know of my involvement with trains. While a student in Japan, I had used local trolleys, commuter and express trains, and even have considerable experience with their "bullet trains". Travelling throughout Europe, I have travelled to and within thirteen countries by train.

Here locally in addition to the Caltrain and Bart systems, I have also used long distance Amtrak trains as well. I have chaired  a Caltrain committee and have participated in the process of developing station (rail) plans. Recently while browsing Caltrans (Caltrans administers Amtrak California) I came across the draft of a new California State Rail Plan. I was surprised to learn that the public open house meetings to comment on the plan was taking place only during the month February of this year.

When I check the locations of the meetings these are the cities that were listed:

• Sacramento
• Oakland
• San Diego
• Los Angeles
• Fresno
• and an online webinar

Except for Sacramento (the state capitol) they were all the home of a Caltrans district offices and the venues were either in Caltrans offices and state office buildings.

This got me to thinking. If San Jose is the third largest city in California, the future home of the "largest train station west of the Mississippi" (during station plan meetings city planning staff often repeated this phrase), and a future high speed rail station,  how did we get passed up by places like Fresno, Sacramento, and Oakland?

One reason comes to mind. When it comes to San Jose, and especially downtown San Jose; the city is a government, corporate, agency, and non-profit leadership backwater. Every city on the list for the rail plan open house is the home to some type of California state district office. San Jose has none. It was only recently that the city even got additional representation on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC is the regional transportation funding authority) board to match the growth in population.

To develop a more vibrant downtown, yes you need to have housing, jobs, retail, and entertainment. But to truly be a central part of a major city you need to be a nexus, a hub, a network; were leaders, administrators, legislators, media outlets, judicial bodies, doers, thinkers, creators, and innovators all come together; face to face; and not just on Skype.

If you look at the downtown area it is absent many of these institutions. Yes the city brought back city hall to downtown San Jose after a long absence, and yes San Jose State University never left, and yes thanks to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's muscle the U.S. Patent office has relocated for the first time an office outside of Washington D.C.; although in a much vacant city hall.

Absent are governmental organizations that in most cities are located in a downtown core. Santa Clara County headquarters left downtown long ago, as did the city's largest newspaper, and the NBC affiliate vacated several years ago. The state office building is a depressing two-story concrete bunker that houses only a few offices. Likewise the federal building is only five stories hosting mainly a immigration office. Above the city level, no elected official has an office in downtown San Jose (see map below).

Likewise agencies, such as the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority are located in the sprawling suburbs to the south. The San Jose Water District and VTA (both the regional transportation authority and transit provider) moved out to the northern suburbs. Many nonprofit institutions like the United Way and YMCA, and even the Silicon Valley Leadership Group also mange their affairs from outside the downtown area.

If San Jose truly wants to be "the Capitol of the Silicon Valley", to make their city a more vibrant, lively, and more enriching city it should start to woo these institutions, these leaders to this corner of the world. The city would benefit greatly to have a central place for leaders and ideas.

In my train example, if more locals could have provided input to a rail plan as residents of a city with the largest train station west of the Mississippi, we could be on our path to a true transportation hub as well as a modern technological center.

Partial listing of goverment and agency offices in the Bay Area


View San Jose Administration in a larger map

San Jose: Road and trail improvement projects in process.



Shopping on the Avenue (Willow Glen)
photo: WGBA website

 As chair of the city of San Jose's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) I recently signed a letter of support for funding for various transportation projects in the city.  The city will be submitting grant requests for the projects listed below. Funding is through the One Bay Area Grant Program (OBAG) administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). 

OBAG is investing roughly $800 million over a four-year period (FYs 2012-13 through 2015-16), funded through continuations of the current surface transportation legislation currently known as SAFETEA (the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act).
.
OBAG will better integrate the Bay Area region’s federal transportation program with California’s climate law (Senate Bill 375, Steinberg, 2008) and the Sustainable Communities Strategy.

Please note the city will apply for these grants individually and these grants are on a competitive basis with other Bay Area (the nine-county region) cities, counties, and agencies. These projects are in the very initial, or conceptual stages (with the exception of the first project, the Alameda "Beautiful Way").  These grants will help fund the planning and design phases of the projects. Most of the projects have not been put before the public in community meetings. That will be included in a later phase.

I have included at map at the bottom to illustrate approximate citywide locations where possible.

• The Alameda “Beautiful Way” Grand Boulevard Phase 2
• St. John Complete Street Corridor:  HP Pavilion to St. James LRT Station
• Cottle Light Rail – Urban Village Connection
• East San Jose Bike/Ped/Transit Connections
• Penitencia Creek Trail Connection to Berryessa BART Station
• San José PDA Pedestrian Oriented Traffic Safety Signals Program
• San José PDA Ped/Bike/Transit Safety Lighting Program
• Jackson Complete Streets
• Autumn Parkway Extension – Diridon Transit Center Area
• Almaden/Vine “Livable Streets” Couplet Conversion
• Willow Street/Bird Avenue “Road Diet” and Three Creeks Trail Connection
• Oakridge/Almaden Urban Village Trail & Transit Connections

View OBAG - One Bay Area Grant Request in a larger map

This is South Carolina but it could be anywhere USA

Thanks to Chuck Mahron over at Strong Towns with a post of this video. The original productions has been overdubbed into so many permutations, but this is the first I've seen having to do with transportation planners. Enjoy.

Megabus returning to the west coast?

Megabus coming to the Bay Area

My good friend Richard over at Cyclelicious informs me that he spotted a Megabus in San Jose this morning. He says that he spoke with the bus driver who stated that they are doing some test runs in the area. Megabus first launched its U.S. fleet in April of 2006 and currently serves 80 cities across North America.

When the system was running through San Jose I was very impressed. On one occasion I got a $3 ticket and the ride only took around 6 hours from Los Angeles' Union Station to San Jose's Diridon Station (see map). That works out to less than 1 penny per mile at about 60 mph pace!

Megabus used to run a San Francisco to Los Angeles Union Station route about four years ago. The bus used to make a stop right at Diridon Station. So before your groan and compare Megabus to Greyhound bus lets go over some major differences.

Try the new Megabus phone app.

• Megabus is a British based company that currently has bus stops in 37 states and the province of Ontario. 
• Buses are new and immaculate, most are double decker style with on board wi-fi, at seat plug-ins
• Unlike Greyhound they own no property but rely on cities allocating convenient bus stops in high traffic areas.
• Ticketing is all done online.
• The unique feature of Megabus is that the first ticket for a run is always $1 and goes up from there, making the bus line very affordable.
• Unfortunately Megabus does not carry bicycles on board or in the luggage compartment.

 Megabus is extremely popular amoung students in the heavily traveled Washington DC to New York to Boston corridor, competing with Amtrak's Acela train.

 Megabus also has a mobile phone app which you can find using the QR code located on the right. They have an app for both the iPhone IOS systems and the Android system.

I'll try to keep you posted on any details.

Thanks for the heads up, Richard!

Well I pay taxes and....

"I pay taxes and...."

At a public meeting last month a woman in the audience shouted out "Well I pay taxes, I pay taxes for the roads and bicyclists don't". Well here is a breakdown of roads and the agencies that maintain them, courtesy of the California Transportation Commision.

As you can see gasoline (excise) taxes which are collected at the pump only pay for a small amount of the roadways we drive on, about 17%. This is not counting for the fact that gasoline taxes do not cover the complete cost of maintaining our roadways.

Roadways in cities and counties are paid by property and sales taxes which are not dependent on automobile ownership or useage. Therefore cyclists, pedestrians, and transit users also pay for the roads they use.

http://www.catc.ca.gov/reports/2011Reports/2011_Needs_Assessment_updated.pdf
California Transportation System Needs Assesment.

http://www.sjcog.org/docs/pdf/media/shortfall,11-6-11.pdf


California’s 58 counties and 4,803 cities own and maintain 141,2354 miles of local streets and roads. This is an impressive 82 percent of the state’s total publicly maintained centerline miles (see Figure 2-6 below). About 146.4 billion vehicle miles are traveled on this street network annually. That’s approximately 45 percent of the total miles traveled every year in California.

Conservatively, this network is valued at $271 billion. Figure 2-6. Breakdown of Maintained Road Centerline Miles by Agency Table 2-2 shows the breakdown of lane-miles by functional classification, for local streets and roads and for unpaved roads. Arterials or collectors are categorized as major streets or roads, while residential streets and alleys are categorized as local streets and roads.

Local officials celebrate phase I completion of Capitol Expressway improvements

L to R SC County Supervisor Dave Cortese,
CA Assemblymember Nora Campos,
San Jose City Council Xavier Campos and
Rose Herrera and VTA GM
Michael Burns

Ribbon cutting on the Expressway

City, County, State, and VTA officials celebrated the first phase completion of the Capital Expressway Corridor Project on Friday at the intersection of Tully Rd. and Capitol Expressway.The project includes new sidewalks, street lighting and a landscaping buffer between the sidewalk and the roadway from Capitol Avenue to Quimby Road. Originally during this phase, the reconstruction of the Eastridge Transit Center was to take place. These improvements will also support subsequent rapid transit (RT) shelters and amenities at Story and Ocala as part of the future Santa Clara-Alum Rock RT service along Capitol Expressway.

Pedestrian Pathway along
Capitol

Phase II will extend light rail from the existing Alum Rock Light Rail Station to the Eastridge Transit Center. Light rail will operate primarily in the center of Capitol Expressway with elevated track structures crossing Capitol Avenue, Story Road, and Tully Road. The Eastridge extension will include three stations: Story Road, Ocala Avenue and Eastridge.

The reconstruction of the Eastridge Transit Center should take place this winter, however the funding for the light rail extension is still unclear. When fully completed light rail and bus rapid transit will all converge on this main transit center, essentially extending the Alum Rock Station down to Eastridge.

Project Costs
The cost estimate for Phase I Pedestrian and Bus Improvements including Eastridge Transit Center is $60 million, which includes State funding and is included in the approved VTA FY 2012-13 budget. The total cost estimate of Phase II, the extension of light rail from the Alum Rock Transit Center to Eastridge Transit Center is $310 million. This project is included in the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvements Program.

“In addition to the access and safety benefits, these pedestrian and bus improvements are designed to integrate with future bus rapid transit system along Alum Rock Avenue and Santa Clara Street, and eventually light rail,” said Xavier Campos, San Jose City Council member and VTA Board member. “In just a few short years, Capitol Expressway will be a shining example of a modern travel corridor that embraces the use of all forms of transportation which is crucial as we move towards higher gas prices and increased roadway congestion.”

“Since being elected four years ago, I’ve advocated for changes to Capitol Expressway to make it safe for all of us – bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, and drivers,” says Rose Herrera, City of San Jose Councilmember and VTA Board member, “Everyone benefits from these critical safety improvements that are paving the way for future light rail service.”

Expect to see construction start soon on a new, improvement Eastridge Transit Center.

Elected Official Jurisdictional Representation
City of San Jose (District Map)
District 5 - Xavier Campos
District 8 - Rose Herrera

County of Santa Clara
Supervisor George Shirokawa (District Map)
Supervisor Dave Cortese  (District Map)

State of California
23rd Assembly District - Nora Campos (District Map)

Federal - US Congress
US Congress - CA 16 - Zoe Lofgren

STIP (State Transportation Improvement Program) funding memo from the CTC (California Transportation Commision) Carl Guardino - CTC member and President and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Starting today use your Clipper Card on three SF Bay ferry routes

Golden Gate Ferry at
Ferry Building dock

Starting today, October 1, 2012, you can use your Clipper card on three San Francisco Bay Ferry routes:

• South San Francisco/Alameda/Oakland
• Alameda Main Street/Oakland/San Francisco
• Alameda Harbor Bay/San Francisco

Passengers purchasing adult single one-way tickets can save between $1.25 and $1.50 each time they ride the ferry. Transferring to and from MUNI? San Francisco Bay Ferry will offer a $0.50 discount to adult MUNI passengers using Clipper.  These transfer discounts will only be available to riders using Clipper. Paper transfers will no longer be accepted by MUNI after November 1, 2012.

Clipper will be accepted on the Vallejo/San Francisco route later in 2013.

Before using Clipper on the San Francisco Bay Ferry, you must make sure your card has enough value. You can use passes or cash value on your Clipper card to ride the ferry. Currently you cannot add value to your Clipper card at the South San Francisco, Oakland, or Alameda ferry terminals. You can purchase a Clipper card or load value:

• Online at clippercard.com
• In person at a participating Clipper retailer, such as Walgreens and at a Golden Gate Ferry ticket vending machines (TVM) at the San Francisco ferry terminal or at transit ticket offices
• By phone at 877.878.8883 (TDD/TTY 711 or 800.735.2929)
• At work through your employee transit benefit program

To learn where and how to add value to your Clipper card, click here
How to Use Your Clipper Card
When boarding the ferry, make sure you Tag On.

1. Locate the Clipper card reader at the ferry terminal.
2. Tag your card by holding it to the Clipper logo on the reader.
3. Wait for the beep, look for the green light and continue to board.

When leaving the ferry, make sure you Tag Off. You must tag off at your destination station by holding your card to the Clipper logo on the card reader. When you tag off, the system calculates your actual fare based on the route(s) traveled and refunds you the difference. Tagging off at the end of your trip ensures that you are not overcharged for your trip.

Mark Gorton energizes the crowd at the Pro Walk Pro Bike Conference in Long Beach

Yesterday, Mark Gorton stirred up the crowd with a rousing keynote speech at the 2012 Pro Walk Pro Bike Conference wrapping up yesterday in Long Beach. In a speech titled "Rethinking the Automobile" he delivered a message on the need for change in the priorities of our elected officials and highway engineers.


The following was included as subtext to a Streetfilms.org post with an included video titled "Rethinking the Automobile".

For more than 100 years New York City government policy has prioritized the needs of the automobile over the needs of any other mode of transport. Working under the faulty assumption that more car traffic would improve business, planners and engineers have systematically made our streets more dangerous and less livable. As a result, even the idea that a street could truly be a “place” – a shared space for human interaction and play – has been almost completely destroyed.

During his decade long effort to understand and improve the streets of New York City, entrepreneur and livable streets advocate Mark Gorton has gathered together a compelling set of examples of how transportation policy impacts the quality of our daily lives. Mark is regularly invited to speak in public about these issues.

In his current presentation “Rethinking the Automobile” Mark explores the history of autocentric planning and considers how New York and other cities can change. Filled with ample video footage of dozens of Streetfilms, we’ve worked with Mark to create a version of the presentation here.

As the founder of Streetfilms, Streetsblog, OpenPlans, and the New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign, Gorton has been on the front lines of the battle to transform New York’s streets. But Mark is not done fighting. He contends that the recent improvements that have been implemented in New York should only be considered as the “tip of the iceberg” and that a truly comprehensive set of changes are still necessary.

For more on Mark’s continued efforts to make our world more equitable, livable, and safe visit www.rethinktheauto.org

Trails & Rails, Amtrak Partners with National Park Service



National Park Service
Trails & Rails



If you've ever experienced an Amtrak ride it is definitely different than flying; no TSA body scans, no bumped flights, and seats that seem like lounge chairs made for giants, rather than for school children.

Although you wont get there as quick, the experience is thoroughly enjoyable, mixing America's scenic beauty with it's cultural past and historical stories. As you sit in the parlor car while the California Zephyr crosses the Rocky Mountains you can almost see the two coasts linking up in Utah to watch the last spike driven to link the revolutionary east with the expansive west. Riding the Coast Starlight through California you can imagine the hardships that Juan Bautista deAnza and his party encountered while pioneering an overland route to Alta California beyond the Spanish frontier to San Francisco Bay.

Through a partnership with Amtrak and the National Parks Service, the Rails & Trails program went national in 2000. The Rails & Trails mission is to;

Amtrak Rails & Trails
docents get ready to board
 the southbound Coast Starlight
 at Diridon Station

Enable Amtrak to enhance the overall experience of customers by offering interpretive programs that educate them about national and historic content of the scenery while also creating awareness in respect for America's "special" places within the National Park System.

While passing through San Jose's Diridon Station the other day I ran into two docents who were getting ready to board the southbound Coast Starlight train to Los Angeles to present their program. Since the route of the Coast Starlight roughly parallels Deanza's route to the Bay Area, the docents make this point in California history come alive.

Next summer I plan to do a bike tour from Buffalo, New York to Albany, New York along the historic Erie Canal and catch the Hudson River Valley Greenway in Albany to New York city. While on Amtrak's Maple Leaf route I hope to hear Rails & Trails volunteers present a history of on the Erie Canal and it's impact on the greater New York region 200 years ago.

Trails & Rails Partnership with Texas A&M university

NPS brochures

The National Park Service and the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences (RPTS) at Texas A&M University in College Station entered into a partnership in September 2008 to relocate and house the management and coordination of the National Trails & Rails Program to the University.

RPTS has provided logistical and technical support to the Trails & Rails Program in interpretation, education, marketing, tourism and recreational opportunities. Undergraduate students in RPTS are currently developing podcasts so passengers can listen to a thematic Trail & Rails program on their iPods or Mp3 players. Currently available are routes from Los Angeles, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago, but other routes are being developed.

Here are some Trails & Rails facts

• Amtrak passengers participating - 3,488,150
• Trails & Rails programs presented on Amtrak 73,615
• Volunteer guides participating in Trails & Rails - 754
• Volunteer hours donated to Trails & Rails - 267,082
• Value of volunteer hours based as the "independent sector" - $5,081,685

Taking it to the 'poles'

This morning while cycling on the Alameda, headed to Peet's for my first cup of coffee I found some some flyers you normally don't see. They weren't asking to help find a lost dog, or about an upcoming yards sale; no, these flyers were in opposition to the changes that are happening on the Alameda. The text from the flyer I have transcribed below.

---

Speed up drivers Keep Cyclists on the Sidewalk.
These are the messages the City of San Jose is sending with its "cars only" Alameda redesign.

Changes to The Alameda starting in September will increase the top speeds of cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles (raised center medians are designed to do this), and keep cyclists on the sidewalk.

Cyclists will still not have a safe place to ride. Pedestrians will continue to be endangered by fast-moving cars and sidewalk cyclists .
Drivers will continue worrying about maiming and killing bikers (right), and face increasing traffic and parking shortages. Businesses will continue to suffer an air- and noise-polluted sidewalk experience.

Protected bike lanes are good for everyone, especially pedestrians.
 LA Streetsblog reports on a similar project completed in Long Beach:

And what's good for bikes is often times good for pedestrians. Gandy struck up a conversation with a mother and father pushing a stroller while I took pictures of the separated bike paths on 3rd Street. Even though they haven't ridden a bike in years, they loved the lane. Why? Because it got all the bikes off the sidewalk. "I used to see bikes on the sidewalk everyday on 3rd. I haven't seen one in months, "the father smiled while pushing the stroller.

Please join the Google Group ' Cycletracks for The Alameda' and contact Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio (District 6) right away. $4 Million and a year + of construction / dust /  debris /traffic / headaches --tell our elected officials we want a safer, more pleasant Alameda, that accommodates cyclists safety and comfortably. [408 535-4906 and Pierluigi.Oliverio@sanjoseca.gov]

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The author makes some valid points, however I do not recall these points being made at any of the public outreach meetings. Although I have an idea who the author is, it is a bit naive to start a campaign three months before the stated September construction debate.

Instead of a late night utility pole "tape up" campaign; wouldn't a visit and plea to the city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee have been in order. At least this persons pitch would have been on public record. I wish this person some luck because they are definitely going to need it. It may be a bit more worthwhile in the future to understand how the political system works in addition to the street and traffic systems.

New generation of San Jose leaders poised for positive changes

Hans Larsen, Director of SJ DOT
 before a SJ Bike Party ride
 last summer.

While riding the streets of downtown San Jose in the early evening hours the other day, I tweeted about my sighting of the city's Director of the Department of Transportation, Hans Larsen heading home after a day at the office in his suit, and on his bike on the the San Fernando Bicycle Route.

Yesterday, while riding near San Pedro Square I caught the city's Trail Program Manager, Yves Zsutty walking to work in the morning hours just before an unseasonable rain shower.

And just this morning I happen to run into the city's Director of the Office of Economic Development and she asked if I had any additional information regarding San Jose Bike Party's annual 'Lady's Ride'. She mentioned that she wanted to invite some of her friends along.



Poster from 2011 Ladies Ride.
 Art: Jill Quindiagan

I am glad to say that I was not surprised by her interest in the ride. Kim Walesh, the Director of the Office of Economic Development, along with Hans Larsen SJ DOT Director have both been on multiple San Jose Bike Party Rides. In fact it was because of Kim Walesh public support for SJ Bike Party that I even considered putting on the Dublin Mayor's Ride, an early morning ride with the Mayor of Dublin, Ireland.

Council members Pierluigi Oliverio, Sam Liccardo, and Rose Herrera also get it. Council member Oliverio has been extremely supportive of many cycling and community building events such as Bike Party and Kidical Mass in the Glen. Sam Liccardo, the council representative for the downtown area has been a strong supporter of cycling and is a yearly competitor in the King of the Mountain ride. Rose Herrera has also supported Via Velo and was one of the only council members to show for the Dublin Mayor's ride.

It is encouraging to see these newer leaders in the Parks, Transportation, and Economic Development fields. These new leaders get it. Not so much with the old guard, some of whom are no longer with the city. My most memorable quote was from the former head of the San Jose Redevelopment Director Harry Mavrogenes. When asked by columnist Scott Herhold in a August, 2010 column about the San Jose MarketCenter development he responded directly from the sprawl playbook.

When I asked Mavrogenes why he believed MarketCenter was downtown, he resorted to a bureaucratic defense: "It's part of the greater downtown," he told me. "When we extended the borders of the redevelopment area, we included this center." Then I asked how he'd gotten to the grand opening. He said he had driven from his City Hall office. So we have a downtown location that you have to drive to from your downtown office. Sorry, Harry. Something doesn't compute.

Another instance was at the very same event where Kim Walesh took a stand and publicly supported San Jose Bike Party. Just a few moments later when San Jose Planning Director was asked about author and feisty critic of the planning profession during its last 50 years, Mr. Hordwell was unclear as to just who Mr. James Howard Kunstler is. Where as Messrs. Walesh, Larsen, and Zsuetty have made countless appearances to neighborhood workshops, meetings, and events I have yet to see the Planning Director leave the City Hall campus.

So given all of the fiscal constraint, labor tensions, and other challenges that face today's leaders I applaud these new leaders, both elected and city staff who not only make a difference but are also highly visible in their communities. The only problem is that we need more like you.

Amtrak now using smart phones on the operations side as well

In line with National Train Day this Saturday, Amtrak has announced the introduction of an  iPhone ticket processing app to be used among conductors on select Amtrak routes.

In this blog I have chronicled some of the great ways Amtrak has slowly introduced new technologies and features within the nationwide national passenger rail system. In addition to the ample legroom, extremely comfortable seats I also highlighted the great bike accessibility to the California Corridor line linking the Bay Area to our state capitol in Sacramento.

In November of last year, Amtrak California announced the addition of Wi-Fi on its  Capital Corridor, San Jaoquin, and Pacific Surfiner routes. The next month Amtrak unveiled their new e-ticketing system on their Downeaster line linking Boston to Maine. This new system allows Amtrak customers the ability to change their reservations at the last minute. It will also give Amtrak the ability to have an updated passenger manifest at all times.

The unique environment of train operations which is unlike airlines, allows for passengers to get on or off at any number of stations along the way, making difficult to keep track of not only the passenger manifest but the seating arrangements as well. With airlines, their is only one check in point to collect this essential data but on trains, with multiple train cars and conductors collecting the ticket information, the task is trickier.

Conductors along the Capitol Corridor line (from San Jose to Sacramento) and Downeaster line have been using the new systems since November according to the New York Times article. This new e-ticketing system is currently available on the iPhone system but will soon be introduced on the Android system as well.

Let us know what you think.

This evening's Caltrain BAC meeting - update on Warm Planet Bikes

This evening's Caltrain Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting should be a good one. An update will be given on the near term status for Warm Planet Bicycles located at the 4th and King Street station. Warm Planet Bicycles provides an invaluable service to San Francisco residents as well as cyclists arriving to the city for work or play.

Also, a presentation will be given by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority on bicycle facilities in the Transbay Transit Center. Meeting starts at 6:45 pm at the Caltrain Office at 1250 San Carlos Ave., Second Floor, San Carlos, CA.

For this evenings agenda, click here. 

Comments on VTA Chair Yeagers remarks - January 5, 2012

Silicon Valley's push to lead the Bay Area

On January 5, 2012 incoming Chair to the VTA Board of Directors Ken Yeager spoke about his goals for the new year (complete text of his remarks). His three main themes of his speech was:

1. The ambitious transportation goals the county has over the next decade.
2. The innovative response by VTA towards those goals (efficiencies, cost containment, etc),and
3. The lack of political effectiveness that the county has given its population and employment size.

Ambitious transportation goals over the next decade

The county of Santa Clara has an impressive list of transportation projects over the next ten years, involving rail, transit, freeways, roads, and expressways. As Mr. Yeager mentioned the 880-280-Stevens Creek Interchange, which is one of the most congested in the Bay Area, is due for a makeover beginning in September of this year. Work is currently in progress on the Tully Road 101 interchange. At last month's VTA Board meeting the new BART extension to the Silicon Valley was formally announced.

VTA is currently in the implementation stages on a Bus Rapid Transit system through the valley as well as a new upgraded Express Bus System beginning Monday, January 9, 2012.

VTA innovations, structural efficiencies, and cost containment strategies

As Chair Yeager mentioned in his opening remarks, VTA's political and administrative efficiencies are due to its consolidated structure. Transit operations and management, which includes VTA bus and light rail service, congestion management, as well as sales tax authority are all under one roof.

VTA is not only the "bus operator" but also the name given to the umbrella organization of these three components. The transit portion is an operational entity and actually does very little construction projects. (For more detail see VTA's own description of its structure)

The congestion management (CMA, or Congestion Management Agency) portion of VTA is the bulk of the VTA umbrella organization. It acts as the local funding arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), while also coordinating road, expressway, freeway, bicycle, and rail projects in the area. It also works with cities in local monitoring regional guidelines such as Greenhouse Gas Emissions goals, VMT reduction goals (Vehicle Miles Traveled), and Complete Streets Guidelines. Complete Streets guidelines help to ensure that new roadway improvements also take into account pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, the disabled, and the elderly.

Congestion management agencies were formed by California State legislation. These agencies are organized to receive, administer, and fund projects that are from funds outside the area such as Federal and State funds.

Local sales, fuel, and property taxes to fund transportation projects are generally referred to "Self Help" funds in that they are voted on by local residents with the intent to tax themselves. In California sales tax measures are administered by the state's Franchise Tax Board which collects the taxes and apportions these taxes back to the city, county, CMA, or transit authority. As part of the sales tax initiative "self help" taxes usually include a watchdog group or committee associated with the funds. In this instance the CAC, or Citizens Advisory Committee serves that function.

Santa Clara County's VTA is administered by the same board for all three functions under the VTA umbrella. The board whose makeup is determined by a formula to ensure adequate representation from the big city (San Jose), smaller cities, and county representation as well. As Yeager states "this is not necessarily true for all counties".

To contrast with Santa Clara County San Mateo County has different organizations with different leadership, meeting in different locations. The Transit Operator, SamTrans (9 members) meets once a month with its own board. The sales tax authority also known as the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (7 members) meets each month with a different board, and the Congestion Management Agency (City/County Association of Governments) meets in a different city with a completely different board. (23 members) representing all San Mateo cities as well as county government.

With a CMA of over 20 members from a geographically disperse (bayside and Pacific Oceanside cities) county such as San Mateo it becomes increasing difficult to manage from a political and administrative point of view. Added to this fact that Caltrain (Caltrain JPB or Joint Powers Board) also shares staff and office space with these county agencies and you can see how unwieldy it can be. Only one individual within all of San Mateo County sits on all three agency boards.

Cyclists Frustrations - Case in Point

One of the many frustrations shared by cyclists in San Mateo County is this fractured structure and its effect on getting adequate bicycle infrastructure built within the county. Funds coming from outside sources (from the MTC) are administered out of the county's CMA, or Cities and County Association of Governments(C/CAG), however the self-help or funds originated by local sales taxes are administered out of the San Mateo County Transportation Authority. Neither organization has a bicycle coordinator that would help administer these bifurcated funds. The two agencies are even housed in different San Mateo County cities.

VTA has created a extemely useful resource called Bicycle Technical Guidline (BTG). The BTG manual is a set of optimum standards and best practices for roadway and bikeway design. VTA was able to write, adopt, and revise this excellent resource due to adequate staffing at the countywide level. It is highly unlikely that this would happen in San Mateo County given its current transportation management structure.

Alameda County Tries a Different Approach

In an effort to streamline their agencies and make them more effective, just last year Alameda county combined their sales tax authority and congestion management agency into one organization. What used to be the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency (ACCMA) and the Alamaeda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTIA) is now the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC).

Santa Clara County's push for greater regional representation

The Silicon Valley, which in the past was referred to as the Valley of Heart's Delight has found it hard to shake its rural and agricultural routes vis a vis its more urbane neighbors to the north (namely San Francisco). Commerce, banking, shipping, rail, and trade along with all of the other political, administrative, and organization functions traditional found a home in either San Francisco or Oakland.

Organizations such as the regents of the University of California, ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments), BAAQMD (Bay Area Air Quality Management District), BART, MTC, are all located in either San Francisco or Oakland. Civic and urban policy groups such as the Commonwealth Club, and SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research) are also located in San Francisco along with major media outlets in print, radio & television (see map below).

Similar to the passionate scene in the first Godfather movie where the older brother "Fredo" tells his younger brother Michael Corleone that he should have been chosen to be the family Don, sometimes San Jose and the Silicon Valle feel the same way. With 25% of the Bay Area's population they feel that like Fredo Corleone in the "I'm Smart" scene from the movie Godfather II, they "were passed over" and its not what they "wanted".

Now as Chair Yeager states in his remark with over one-quarter of the regions population and jobs its time San Jose got the respect it deserves; not just sent out to take care of some Mickey Mouse nightclub somewhere.


Chair Yeager is maybe the first locally elected official to publicly state that we're "smart and want some respect". If you notice the map below I have placed markers showing the offices of regional transportation and planning agencies, media offices, and leading civic organizations. With a city of over 1 million residents downtown San Jose is not home to one of these organizations. Not even the local transportation planning and transit operator is located downtown (its actually 5.5 miles to the north). Same for any media organizations. This does a city of its size a disservice. With only one major corporate headquarters based downtown the area lacks the vitality that a downtown Oakland or San Francisco has to offer.

Conclusion

So although I applaud Supervisor Yeager's plea for more political representation, somehow I get the feeling that it will only mean more more of the same auto oriented and prioritized expansion. What this area does not need is more expressway expansion (along with an increase in speed and volume), more freeway interchange expansions, which severely impact struggling neighborhoods, and more auto oriented benefits to residents who choose to live at the south end of the valley and work in the north and on the peninsula. Let's hope that this year does bring greater representation but also great wisdom at how we look at our transportation options. Happy New Year.

San Francisco Bay Area Agencies, Organization, and Media Resources

View San Francisco Bay Area Agencies and Organizations in a larger map