Kevin

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/free_downtown_transit_could_be.html

Last week Baltimore launched the Charm City Circulator, a free bus route that connects the city’s downtown with neighborhoods east and west and with other transit routes.  At a time when many transit providers are having to cut back on service, Baltimore is betting that the new service will entice economic activity.

Even better, the Circulator has a dedicated lane through congested areas and, by putting seven buses on the Orange Route (route above), the first of three planned, free Circulator routes, the city will be able to offer service at 10-minute headways. Neighborhoods served by the Orange Route, in addition to downtown, include the city’s popular Inner Harbor, Little Italy, and the University of Maryland’s Baltimore campus.  The fleet consists of environmentally friendly diesel-electric hybrids.

Writing on the web site Autopia, Zach Rosenberg reports that the system is funded by a 16 percent tax on parking, which will raise about $5 million annually, and that its underlying logic is compelling:

“Despite the high costs and massive subsidies implicit in driving, forking over a relatively small fee to ride a bus or subway is a psychological barrier to getting people out of cars. Even the most efficiently run buses can be crowded and slow, but by running at frequent intervals on dedicated lanes between fixed stops — as the Circulator does — delays can be kept to a minimum. The bus might not stop next to, or even near, every rider’s point of origin or destination, but it ensures a measure of proximity for most riders.”

The Charm City Circulator’s own web site stresses the environmental benefits:

“We service residents, downtown employees, students and tourists and anyone else who wishes to ride. The shuttle is intended to reduce congestion and greenhouse gas pollution by offering a convenient, reliable and eco-friendly form of public transportation.

“We’re not only dedicated to offering a stellar form of public transportation that links critical parts of the city—we are interested in doing it in the cleanest way possible. That’s why we’ve chosen 21 DesignLine 2009 EcoSaver IV LF Hybrid Electric vehicles—the first fleet of this type in a major metropolitan area. The Charm City Circulator is one part of Mayor Dixon’s vision of a ‘cleaner, greener Baltimore.’”

The Orange Route serves an east-west corridor, as can be seen above.  When introduced, the Purple Route will serve a north-south corridor will run all the way from Penn Station in the north to Federal Hill in the south. The U-shaped Green Route will run from City Hall down through Fells Point and then up to the Johns Hopkins University’s East Baltimore campus (see photo set).  The routes intersect each other at several points and also connect to other forms of transit, including trains, light rail, buses and water taxis.

Portland has long had a free downtown zone for its regular light rail service, but has had to cut back recently to address budget shortfalls.  Several cities in Europe have free transit zones.  Washington has popular circulator bus routes that link downtown with nearby neighborhoods and that link to but are operated separately from the main Metro transit system; the DC Circulator is not free, however, but operates on a reduced fare system.  Baltimore’s bold venture into free transit service is an exciting initiative well worth following.

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I love the snow, and what it does to life in cities. So much of our lives gets consumed by activity and noise, it’s refreshing when we’re forced to have much of that go away. Mainly, it’s wonderful just how quiet the city gets when vehicles can’t travel very well. We forget just how much of the noise of life is vehicular, except when a snowstorm comes and takes most of that away. It’s so… peaceful. Which of course makes you think.

You may wonder what a snowstorm can say about walkability and how we live our lives. Well, since we own this bit of cyberspace, let me share a few thoughts.

For one, it doesn’t take much of a weather event to reveal just how fragile our existence is. And how dependent we are on our machines. For so many, life just shuts down completely. That’s not always bad, except that it’s a forced choice, not a conscious one.

And it also reveals just how much of the “panic” that comes with a big storm is because of our auto-dependency. For example, if you live in a place where walking is the norm, a storm is just an inconvenience – you can still get to the store, the local bar, to work, and the kids can even get to school. But in a culture where all those things require a vehicular trip, we either shut life down completely or over-purchase on our vehicles for winter driving ability. Again, I kind of like how life quiets down from a storm, but not when it’s forced upon us.

Another thing that’s been at the top of the mind of Kansas City, MO residents in particular is snow plowing. Yes, the bane of our existence – we live in a city that is inept at plowing its streets (even though most of the same complainers don’t bother to clear their own sidewalks). But while I’d concede we live in a poorly managed city, is that really the root of the problem?

Like so many of our fiscal issues, it’s impossible to ignore the impact of how our cities are planned and built. KCMO is an extremely spread out municipality, with very low overall population density. This particular pattern of development is extremely expensive to service, with many more lane-miles of roadways than similarly-sized cities that are more compact. While the city contains certain areas (the urban core) that are fairly compact, it has extensive square miles of land that are low-density subdivisions or rural areas. All of those parts of the city still demand municipal services, regardless of their plus or minus contribution to the general fund. It’s nothing new or groundbreaking, but the reality is that the pattern of development we’ve primarily built in the last 50+ years is a money-losing proposition for city governments. It seems strange with all of the fees on new development and new tax revenue to say this, but those are all short-term hits that don’t even come close to paying for the long-term expenses of repair, maintenance and basic services.

It’s a funny catch-22 that the more compact and walkable a city is, the more likely it is able to provide quality municipal services, such as clearing, cleaning and repairing streets. Even though, you may need your vehicle even less!

Topic for another day: should municipal services be tailored to efficiency of the neighborhood, or in planner jargon terms, to Transect Zone?

So, what is the bottom line? Enjoy the snow. Let life slow down a little. But if you care about how quickly or effectively your street gets cleared, start paying to development and land use issues in your city.

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It’s often said that Americans love their cars above everything else, and many question the demand for walkable neighborhoods. And yet, as this and other studies have revealed, quality walkable places are highly valued. This shouldn’t be surprising – as human beings, we inherently like to interact with others, and we prefer to have options on how to experience life. Walking/biking, etc are all just examples of how to achieve what’s in our nature.  This is a blog post that I would like to share written by Kaid Benfield, who is the director of the Smart Growth Program in Washington, D.C.

How walkable neighborhoods increase home values

Home values in walkable neighborhoods are measurably higher than those that are not, even when other relevant factors are controlled in the analysis.

Below is an illuminating slide show on the subject that was presented by economist Joe Cortright at a transportation colloquium recently hosted by the Congress for the New Urbanism in Portland. Some key points from the presentation:

• “Walkability” is not just about sidewalks. Are there places you can walk to?
• Examining data from 98,000 home sales in 15 metropolitan areas, and controlling for other relevant factors, each increase of one point on Walk Score’s walkability scale raises home values by $700 to $3000.
• In Charlotte, the increase in value was $1,986 for each Walk Score point.
• Improving walkability raises home values by $10-30,000.
• Because mixed-use development produces big gains in walkability, the findings are evidence of a strong market for mixed-use neighborhoods.

I have to admit that the slide show was a little clunky on my computer (and there is no narration), but it is manageably short (24 slides) and well illustrated. Enjoy:

Click here to view

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When planning for our communities, though, it’s often best to think small. Not small as in small goals or dreams; but small as in the kinds of spaces that fill up our neighborhoods. This is especially true when it comes to spaces that sell things – shops, restaurants, etc.

What are the benefits of small spaces? For one, they are cheap to rent – very important to mom & pop operations and start-ups. If you want to encourage local flavor, local business, etc, thinking small is critical. An all-too-common mistake made by many new businesses is in trying to occupy a space too large from the beginning; especially for dining. But also, an abundance of small spaces creates more street life – just think of the impact of 10 small storefronts vs 2 large ones. And, more businesses means more competition, which is ultimately good for consumers as well. Places that are dominated by a handful of large operators are not only less interesting, but ultimately less responsive to their patrons.

But how to do small and cheap, especially with new construction? In this case, there’s no single answer, as it relies upon the creative possibilities inherent in each place and person. That said, a few examples keep coming back, including some themes we’ve discussed on this blog before. One story buildings that are modest in construction, for example; food carts, mobile stalls, etc. But another idea to examine is an updated version of market stalls, that can be inexpensively built and maintained. One of the best examples of this case is in the early New Urbanist community of Seaside, FL. You may know Seaside as a hallmark of pricey, resort-oriented New Urbanism. But the reality is it has some of the most effective approaches of any new community for how to create incubator retail with success.

Seaside’s town center has a variety of all the techniques mentioned above, in order to deal with the seasonal nature of its business. As the town has matured, more permanent structures have been able to work, but the bulk of the “selling” of things still happens in very informal, inexpensive construction (see photos). Some of the shops shown simply lock up their stall at night, and share a common courtyard with others. It’s a highly effective way to nurture small business in an emerging walkable environment.

Jane Jacobs used to write repeatedly about the virtue of cheap space for shops in an urban environment. She was writing to extol the benefits especially of older buildings. But in many cases we don’t have the older building stock to use, so instead, think about how to creatively build new space that has the same qualities. Small, flexible and cheap is good when it comes to successful, walkable retail.

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2. How walkable neighborhoods increase home values
3. Park: Milwaukee’s former planner embraces rail as key to urban development

Click here to watch video

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