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Archive | November, 2014

The Future of Car Ownership

By on November 30, 2014 in Automobiles

Via Planetizen:

Accounting/consulting firm KPMG predicts that the share of multi-car households will drop from today’s 57% to 43% by 2040. That will be driven by a combination of demographics and ridesharing (e.g., Uber) and carsharing (e.g. Zipcar) services.

Others suggest that autonomous vehicles could be an additional disrupter.

BRT 101 by Metro

By on November 25, 2014 in Bus Rapid Transit, Powell/Division

Metro is holding an “introduction to BRT” session next week as part of the Powell/Division Corridor process:

December 1: Catch a sneak preview of the future of transit

Metro invites you to a sneak preview of our region’s transit future. The popcorn’s on us.
Monday, Dec. 1, noon to 1 p.m.
Clinton Street Theater
2522 SE Clinton St., Portland

The Powell-Division Transit and Development Project is studying the region’s first bus rapid transit line, which will bring faster, more reliable transit service to a corridor that really needs it.

Bus rapid transit on Powell-Division will save riders time, make transit more comfortable, and connect places we all care about. It will go from downtown Portland and Gresham, linking businesses, educational institutions and thousands of residences in a diverse and growing area. Service could begin as soon as 2020.

But bus rapid transit doesn’t look the same everywhere. There are multiple choices to consider. How will it fit with existing transportation facilities? What could stations look like? What will the experience be like for riders? How might it serve surrounding neighborhoods and support other ways of getting around?

On Monday, Dec. 1 at the unique Clinton Street Theater, we’ll explore examples of bus rapid transit from around the country to see what it could look like here — in the street, at the stations and on board the vehicles. We’ll also highlight existing transit facilities in theregion that can help illustrate options for the new line.

Project staff from Metro and TriMet will be on hand to answer your questions and hear your ideas about bus rapid transit.

Learn more about this event (http://www.oregonmetro.gov/event/powell-division-brt-101/2014-12-01)

 

A Bold Step Toward Vision Zero

By on November 19, 2014 in Safety

During the public hearings on the Comprehensive Plan, and in the Transportation Expert Group (advising PBOT on the Transportation System Plan) PBOT took some heat on a lackluster safety policy (someone characterized it as “keep doing what we’ve been doing”).

I’m happy to report that PBOT has stepped up. At Tuesday’s Planning and Sustainability Commission meeting they proposed the following policy language to guide the City’s efforts for the next 20 years:

Transportation safety impacts the livability of a city and the comfort and security of those using City streets. Comprehensive efforts to improve transportation safety through engineering, education, enforcement and evaluation will be used to eliminate traffic related fatalities and serious injuries from Portland’s transportation system.

(emphasis mine)

That’s a pretty damn clear articulation of Vision Zero. Well done!

Bikes Have a Level of Service Too!

By on November 14, 2014 in Bikes

PSU Transportation Seminar

Speaker: Nick Foster, Senior Planner, Kittelson and Associates
Topic:  Evaluating the Level-of-Service of Protected Bike Lanes
When: Friday, November 21, 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Where: PSU Urban Center Building, SW 6th and Mill, Room 204

Summary: The most recent edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) contains analysis procedures for measuring the level-of-service (LOS), also referred to as quality of service, provided by an urban roadway to bicyclists. The method uses different design and operating features of the roadway segment (e.g. width, motor vehicle volumes and speeds) to assess an LOS grade of A (best) to F (worst). These procedures are used by planners and engineers to recommend how existing streets could be retrofitted or new streets designed to better serve people on bicycles (and other modes). However, the current HCM does not include methods that address protected bike lanes (aka “cycle tracks” or “separated bike lanes”), only conventional striped bike lanes, shoulders, and shared streets. There are other methods for predicting comfort from a bicyclist’s perspective that do consider protected bike lanes, but they are either based only on expert opinion or on surveys in Denmark.
 
This presentation will describe how to evaluate the level-of-service of a protected bike lane using results from surveys conducted in the United States. The model developed by this project could be used to supplement the current HCM to objectively consider a wider range of options for improving the environment for bicycling. This is increasingly important as the implementation of, and demand for, protected bike lanes surges around the US.