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Sustainable Urbanism Summit – CNU New England, April 3, 2009

Jason Schrieber, Nelson\Nygaard Consulting 1

Transit!



What is at Stake?

Thanks to Projjal Dutta, NYMTA



Transportation50%

Residential11%

Oil Refining6% Electricity

)local( Generation7%

Industrial/Commercial

26%

Source: BAAQMD

Transportation is 40-50% of our CO2 Problem



Which travel choices are “Green?”

Thanks to Projjal Dutta, NYMTA



What we already know…



Transit Planning 101 (in under 18 minutes)

Travel time

Cost

Reliability

Dignity

What influences your decision?



Successful transit operation must offer its passengers dignity

Making transit work



Most Transit in New England

Spreads investment out, serving all areas equally



Coverage vs. Productivity

Low Ridership- but really important for the people

who use it

“Mobility for people who need it!”

“Get cars off the road!”

High Ridership- but no service in many places



Politics-Based Transit



Rule 1: Transit Follows Density

•As density increases, so does potential market

•Density allows for increases in frequency



Rule 2: Ridership Follows Frequency

•Frequencies every 12 minutes or better start to attract “choice riders”



Rule 3: Ridership Follows Travel Time

•If it’s faster to take the bus or train, people will use it in droves

•True for buses as well as rail



Moral

If we want sustainable communities, we must invest in fast, efficient transit. This is geometry, not ideology.



Street Capacity and Geometry

Cars on a street




People in Cars




People on a bus



Accommodating growth with transit

910

10,000

16,200

6,750

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

Auto Regularbus

Semi-rapid bus

Light rail

Per

son

s p

er l

ane

per

ho

ur



Accommodating growth with transit

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Six lanes for alltraffic

Four lanes plussemi-rapid bus

Per

son

s/h

ou

r



Time for Pretty Pictures of Trains



Now the Streetcars



Tallaght, Germany



Lyon, France



Strasbourg, France



Ah, the “Affordable” BRT



Istanbul, Turkey



One important consideration:

$



3 Points:

•Keep it simple

•Make it legible

•Stop focusing on park & ride



Quito, Ecuador



L.A.’s Rapid Bus



Dignity



Coverage vs. Productivity

Low Ridership- but really important for the people

who use it

“Mobility for people who need it!”

“Get cars off the road!”

High Ridership- but no service in many places



2. Legibility (What good is a stop without info?)



Info



Nothing fancy



•Transit oriented development (TOD)

3. Stop thinking park & ride



Stop thinking park & ride



Ridership trends “Before” TOD and parking management

Ridership trends “After” TOD and parking management

Stop thinking park & ride



Reinventing Transit

•Is transit system expansion the answer?

•FTA thinks so. They fund projected NEW riders… not making it better for existing riders

•Why must transit agencies compete against each other for a shrinking pie? Do DOTs compete for road money?

•Why shouldn’t transit compete against highway projects for solving air quality, mobility and CO2 problems?



12.80

13.20

13.60

14.00

14.40

14.80

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Deg

rees

Cel

sius

Source: GISS

Global Average Temperature at Earth's Surface (Land-Ocean Index), 1880-2003



Jason Schrieber, Principal

Nelson\NygaardTransportation Planning for Livable [email protected]

www.nelsonnygaard.com

Boston Office:

10 High Street, Suite 903Boston, MA 02110