Transit

Car Free Day Challenge and Celebration Today!

By Prince Of Petworth

Every September 22, people from around the world get together to celebrate a day without cars. Car Free Day Metro DC asks you to take the Car Free Challenge, and by doing so you could win an iPod nano or other great prizes!  Visit www.carfreemetrodc.com to pledge and see what Car Free Day activities are going on near you.

Come join us for the DC Car Free Day Street Celebration, taking place on September 22 from 11am – 3pm at 7th & F Streets NW, which will include:

– Live Music and Entertainment
– Free T-shirts and Other Giveaways
– SmartBike Test Rides and Discounted Memberships
– Free Bike Tune-ups from The Bike Rack
– Segway Demonstrations

– Yoga Classes Courtesy of Washington Sports Club

Ride your bike to the celebration and use the free bike valet!

Don’t have a bike? No need to worry: take the Circulator Bus, which will be providing free rides the entire day!  Or get a free bike rental for the day from Bike & Roll!”

Friday Question of the Day

By Prince Of Petworth

I’m very interested in this question which comes from a reader:

“Can you give us an update on the street car initiative for Georgia Avenue? Even though there are two metros in close proximity, even on this very site have been complaining that the metros are too far away. So it’d be really great for the people and businesses of Georgia Avenue, columbia Heights, Parkview and/or Pleasant Plains to get some more public transpo options. Can you let us know how we can mobilize and push this through?”

On a related transit note a reader also writes:

“Greater Greater Washington writes about an express circulator-type bus line that would center in Columbia Heights, branching west to its next stop in Adams Morgan, then again in Woodley Park, and branching south bound down 14th street, stopping at U St, then at Logan Circle, then finally at McPhearson Square. Jim Graham brought it up in a meeting last night for discussion.”

So does anyone know the status of the street car initiative? If a street were to come to Georgia Ave, would you be likely to use it or would you stick with metro/buses?

Is It Normal To Lock Up a Motorcycle?

By Prince Of Petworth

I’ve seen Scooters locked up before but never a motorcycle. I know there are a number of motorcyclist readers out there so what’s the story here?

PoP Public Service Announcement

By Prince Of Petworth

When riding the metro please don’t clip your nails. True story. I’m riding the metro this morning and a guy takes a nail clipper out and starts clipping his fucking nails right in the middle of the train. I was freaking disgusted. So I was inspired by my dad speaking out against litter and decided to say something. Let me just set the scene a bit better.

It was rush hour on the Green line and I was sitting down across the aisle from this guy. This guy was well dressed, had leather luggage, was probably 6 feet tall and 275 pounds. It was a fat 275 pounds but I have no doubt he could’ve crushed me rather easily. But I figure we all have our limits and I couldn’t believe he was clipping his fucking nails right in the middle of the train. So I stare at him with a look of disgust and he stares back at me.

So I say “you know that behavior is generally frowned upon in public spaces.” And he says, rather angrily, “that’s what you think”. And I said, “no, that is what is society thinks”. And he says, “no that is what you think.” And it was pretty much a stalemate at that point. I couldn’t believe that nobody else jumped in on my side. He then continues clipping his nails. And the fucking nails are falling on the floor, it was beyond foul. So I ask the lady next to me if I was out of line. And she said, she would rather not give an opinion. Ok.

Well, am I crazy or is clipping your fingernails on public transport generally frowned upon by society?  What’s the worst behavior you’ve seen on the metro?

What a Random Spot for an Express Box

By Prince Of Petworth

This was a bizarre sight. This Express box was right in the middle of a very quiet street with nearly no traffic. For the curious it was on Hobart Street. Now I get the Express every morning for my metro ride and enjoy it. But on Hobart Street there is no metro nor even a bus stop near this box. Like I said I do enjoy reading the Express for my metro ride. But then again if the Onion or the City Paper were distributed daily to read on the metro I’d probably be just as happy. I’m certainly not going to go home and stretch my legs over a cup of coffee while reading short excerpts from the Washington Post in the Express. So how do you think this box got to such a random location? Do people read Express when not on the metro?

Improving Transit Along 16th Street

By Prince Of Petworth

From the press release:

“The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA, or Metro)
and the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) have
teamed up to examine ways of improving transit service on the S1, S2,
and S4 routes between Silver Spring and Downtown DC. A major part of
this effort is determining the opinions of people who ride the 16th
Street buses. To that end, a public meeting will be held on July 15
to 1) identify issues related to the 16th Street Line, 2) listen to
comments and suggestions about ways to make improvements, and 3)
discuss the preliminary results of the rider survey.

The date, time, and location of the public meeting are: Tuesday, July
15, 2008 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at St Stephen and the Incarnation
Episcopal Church, 16th and Newton Streets NW. All are invited, no
RSVP is required, and we encourage you to pass this information along
to members of your community who may be interested in the study. Continues after jump. (more…)

DC2NY Bus To Go Out of Business?

By Prince Of Petworth

 Thanks to a reader for sending the below information. I don’t know if I’d call L’enfant plaza a “scary, unsafe” location but it is certainly interesting to know that DC2NY thinks they’d go out of business if forced to move there.  So what do you all think – is it unfair to make all the intercity buses move to this location?

“Your readers who use intercity buses should be aware that new ’emergency rules’ by the DC DOT are going to force all buses into a scary, unsafe, and inconvenient strip of road in southwest DC –by July 3rd.

DC2NY bus is probably going out of business due to the new DDOT emergency rules, WHEN they go in effect July 3rd. The owner of DC2NY returned my email with a voice mail and said they’d met with DDOT to tell them that they’re not the problem, but he said DDOT doesn’t care. He sounds like there is nothing he can do. New rules go into effect July 3, and the only DC Council person to get back to me was Mary Cheh, who said she was not aware of the new rules. I have it unconfirmed that one other bus company, with 20+ employees, will also leave DC, and I’m working to confirm that.  Looks like jobs will be lost, and minorities/poor will have one less travel option.  (Mayor Fenty and all the at-large council members have not returned my emails.)

The links below are the original story, the DCist story, and the DDOT’s website, which has PDF’s of the rules and the new application for using the strip of road in SW.  The application is really arrogant if you know anything about how these buses work.  For example, no public vending of tickets.  Anyhow, NY and Philly don’t seem to have a problem with the buses.  (The reader comments in both stories are great, too.)

I’d start an advocacy website/log, but it looks like these new rules are going to go in effect nothing short of a law suit, and after speaking with two bus companies, I do not get the feeling they are headed in that direction.

DC should prepare itself to be mightily embarrassed, once again; and we should all look forward to catching our buses in Bethesda after July 3rd.  Maybe you guys can find out what ‘complaints’ were really made about the buses?  Maybe the complaints come from a bus company that has it’s own private loading space and is exempt from the new rules?  Greyhound?  Why the ‘Emergency Rules’ with no live-public hearing, little media coverage, and a 30 day window?  Why weren’t the bus companies informed until 15 days after the rules were entered into the DC Register?”

http://www.examiner.com/a-1446804~Low_cost__regional_bus_companies_forced_to_load_in_designated_zone.html

http://dcist.com/2008/06/18/intercity_bus_terminal_planned_for.php

http://www.ddot.dc.gov/ddot/cwp/view,a,1255,q,563937,ddotNav,|32397|.asp

 

          
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