Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

RIGHT ON CUE

—

by

James A. Bacon
in , ,

Jim Bacon did a find job of pointing out some of the problems with innovation in shared-vehicle systems in his lead column this week. “The Innovation Gap.”

Right on cue, METRO demonstrated how right he is.

In today’s WaPo it is reported that METRO is considering running some Blue Line trains through the underutilized Yellow Line Potomac tunnel. We will not bother with the details, except to say it is a good idea.

It is such a good idea that over 25 years ago, while working to increase the capacity of the Orange line we suggested this very same move.

Most of the ideas that became the Backgrounder “It is Time to Fundamentally Rethink METRO and Mobility in the National Capital Subregion” https://www.baconsrebellion.com/ surfaced in white papers by EMR and reports by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee. (FCC of C Trans Comm was one of the seven large Enterprise-backed Organizations EMR chaired / served on from the mid 70s to the late 80s.)

The initial feedback from staff at METRO was positive on the ideas including the Turquoise Line. Later we learned that they were vetoed by senior staff. “We are going to complete the 101 mile system before we make any changes,” and “it would cost too much to reprint all the maps” were the only specifics that we ever heard.

So Jim is right. To understand why he is right read Supercapitalism by Robert Reich.

The problem is now that the settlement pattern in most of the urbanized area within R=23 to R= 25 is not suitable for METRO-like shared-vehicle systems (aka, Heavy Rail). That means citzens must morph the settlement patterns and come up with new technology.

We focus on these critical issues in column after column on Rail to Dulles. See “Who Killed Rail-to-Dulles?” and “Why METRO-to-Tysons Is a Mess.”

In a comment yesterday, Larry Gross noted interest in Personal Rapid Transit. For years the advocates of PRT including our friends who started the Advanced Transit Organization have said that PRT can better serve dispersed origins and destinations.

We have reservations. Those interested in PRT search “PRT” in the back columns at https://www.baconsrebellion.com/

Vocabulary is also an issue here as it is everywhere in the real world. As long as shared-vehicle systems are called “mass transit” few will be interested in the topic.

EMR

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  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    The Orange line is near peak capacity now, and running some of it on the Blue line while calling it Orange won’t change that. It is smoke and mirrors.

    As eight car trains come on board, it is harder for the operators to hit the station exactly. It takes longer to get people on and off, and the trains need increased headway. They also need, longer platforms, and more electrical power. The whole thing was underdesigned from the get-go, and now we pay the price with reduced seating and higher fares.

    The real question is this: If we had honestly calculated the costs required to build and operate metro properly, would it have ever been built?

    One of the arguments against expansion is that now that we know (from sad experience) what it really costs, maybe it is too expensive,or we aren’t eilling to pay.

    Personal rapid transit may have utility in some places, but it is no more a panacea than creating pedestrian oriented communities is.

    And, in the end a personal rapid transit vehicle is still a personal vehicle, sort of. It just lacks the personal ownership and the care that comes with it, plus the ability to go where you want, unless we replace or augment the expensive road system with another expensive system.

    When you see that Mexico city now has sex segregated buses in order to give travelers the minimum amount of personal space, you realize that there is a limit to trafic density that can be achieved. Sometimes the best and cheapest thing to do is – use more space.

    RH

  2. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    “The problem is now that the settlement pattern in most of the urbanized area within R=23 to R= 25 is not suitable for METRO-like shared-vehicle systems (aka, Heavy Rail). That means citzens must morph the settlement patterns and come up with new technology.”

    how does this happen?

    serious question.

    you said citizens.

    did you mean government?

    what needs to happen NEXT to move evolutionary towards better/more functional settlement patterns with respect to METRO.

    and if you send me off to read more obscure vocabulary.. I’m going to
    brain you…

    🙂

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    The way I see it the area within r23 to r25 is less than 4% of the area within r50.

    Why do they get to call the shots?

    RH

  4. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Larry:

    “The problem is now that the settlement pattern in most of the urbanized area within R=23 to R= 25 …

    CLARIFICATION: THIS IS THE APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF THE CLEAR EDGE IF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE URBANSIDE AND THE COUNTRYSIDE WERE DRAWN AT THIS TIME.

    … is not suitable for METRO-like shared-vehicle systems (aka, Heavy Rail). That means citzens …

    CLARIFICATION: BY “CITIZENS” WE MEAN CITIZENS IN THE NEW FOURTH ESTATE. SEE THE ESTATES MATRIX

    … must morph the settlement patterns and come up with new technology.”

    how does this happen?

    serious question.

    you said citizens.

    did you mean government?

    WE LIVE, FOR NOW, IN A DEMOCRACY.

    “FOR NOW” BECAUSE OF THE FORCES ERODING IT ARE IN CONTROL

    what needs to happen NEXT to move evolutionary towards better/more functional settlement patterns with respect to METRO.

    SEE PROPERTY DYNAMICS

    and if you send me off to read more obscure vocabulary.. I’m going to
    brain you…

    🙂

    SORRY, I HAVE WORK TO DO AND DO NOT HAVE TIME TO REPEAT WHAT I HAVE SAID BEFORE.

    EMR

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