#WalkBikePlaces Conference in Vancouver

Logo credit Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place.

A few weeks ago, I attended Pro Walk, Pro Bike, Pro Place, an urban design and active transportation conference, to present a joint panel session about MARTA Army's TimelyTrip crowdfunding phase I did with IOBY and Transit Center. This conference takes place every two years, and this year it was held in Vancouver, Canada.

It was my first time in Vancouver. I heard about its claim to be the world's greenest city, but wow is what I said once there! The scenery is just gorgeous. Weather has been quite warm and dry as well, and I met quite a few nice people.

Vancouver/Squamish - Sea to Sky Gondola

Vancouver - Sunset on English Bay

Over the weekend before the conference, I went on a tour of that included the Britannia Mining Museum, the Sea to Sky gondola, Shannon Falls, and Horseshoe Bay. Again the views were amazing. I spent evenings at the English Bay in the West End district, and sunsets on the ocean are worth their gold!

Vancouver - City view

What is the first thing you do at a conference in Vancouver? Get the Mobi bike share pass (included in registration) then get on a "mobile workshop" using one of the many bike lanes/paths! Again, the views are impressive. On that tour, local urbanists explained how the city plans to improve land use and activate the space in less-favored areas and turn them into [land use] "innovation" districts.

#WalkBikePlaces - Project management for tactical urbanism

As far as the conference was concerned, close to 800 attendees, mostly from North America, crowded over fifty sessions on topics ranging from transit, walking, and placemaking. The venue was the Sheraton Wall Center in Downtown Vancouver. I liked the keynote speeches on making cities happy with Charles Montgomery and healthy with the city's health officials. Who knew that health, happiness and urban design were linked together? One of my favorite sessions was on tactical urbanism, where the panel described how they applied modern, fast and incremental project management methodologies (Lean Startup anyone?) to achieve quick sidewalks and street improvements.

#WalkBikePlaces - MARTA Army 1-year launch

During the joint IOBY/MARTA Army/Transit Center panel session, David Weinberger presented IOBY's crowdfunding platform that I initially used. I presented the making of MARTA Army's TimelyTrip initiative. I passed around one of our laminated signs to the audience. Last but not least, Kirk Hovenkotter presented Transit Center's vision on the possibilities offered by tactical urbanism. We had passionate transit advocates in the room who stayed for questions after the session time was up. The toughest question we got is how to sustain such programs after launch. To be quite honest, we are still figuring how we'll do it at the MARTA Army. We'll have to keep the "Soldiers" interested and donations flowing.

There was another set of "mobile workshops" in the afternoon. I went on a tour explaining what "Vancouverism" is. The guide, a former city council member, explained how different Vancouver neighborhoods figured out how to design themselves around (former) trolley lines, parking, less parking, and different eras of apartment buildings (1960s to 2000s), while maintaining human-scale commercial store fronts.

In the evening, I managed to string 3 transportation modes to go from conference hotel to the evening function: bike share, trolley bus, and ferry. Best way to conclude a conference on mobility! Generally speaking, I have found Vancouver's SkyTrain, buses, and ferries to be frequent and reliable.

I was up the following morning at 4am to go to the airport, landing in Atlanta at around 10pm, filled with memories of this fun and fulfilling trip. I am looking forward to the next Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place conference in 2018 in New Orleans!

Riding MARTA's double decker bus!

MARTA trial of double-decker bus.

The highlight of my commute this morning was to be able to try out MARTA's double decker bus, fleet number 1719.
MARTA is test-driving a double-decker bus on a route rotation over a few months weeks. This morning, that bus happened to travel on my usual route 140 to work in Alpharetta:

• North Springs Station
• GA-400
• Mansell Park & Ride
• North Point Mall
• Onwards on North Point Parkway to Windward Park & Ride

The bus is an ADL Enviro 500, leased for just a few weeks, in use in places like Toronto and Singapore (thanks to Brian C for identifying the model). The closest experience I have is in London and intercity buses in Brazil. Here are my impressions from the ride.

MARTA double-decker lower floor cabin.

• "Trial" size: Total capacity is around 100, and everyone was seated comfortably whereas normally some people have to stand. The bus is really tall and doesn't fit under any bus bay at North Springs. We boarded near the 185 bay instead of the usual bay. MARTA placed removable destination stickers on the windshield and side window. The electronic signs were not used during this trial.
• Very good comfort: The ride was very smooth and quiet. Engine noise was minimal. There is a nice panoramic view from the upper deck. As with Xpress coaches, this bus is well suited for long rides on the freeway. Seats are padded, and upper deck seats also recline. There are reading lights, individual vents, and stop request buttons above most seats (there is no stop cord to pull). There is a standard bike rack at the front of the bus.
• Additional safety awareness needed: The driver made safety announcements upon departure. Namely, standing and luggage are not permitted in the stairwell or on the upper deck. Movement is not permitted on the upper deck and in the stairwell while the bus is in motion. These rules probably need to be repeated should MARTA decide to "adopt" a double-decker bus.
• Longer dwells at stops: All doors are opened and closed by the driver. Front and rear doors take a few seconds to open and close, and the driver must wait for all passengers to clear the stairwell and the upper aisle. With the density of bus stops in Atlanta, this could increase travel time quite a bit over standard buses. Should MARTA decide to use double-decker buses, they would best fit on freeway-heavy routes, or it could be necessary to revise spacing between bus stops so that travel time does not get excessively long. 

MARTA double-decker bus upper deck.

In conclusion, this trial should be interesting to validate double-decker feasibility. It is good that MARTA tries new tech to keep things exciting, especially if there is little MARTA can do at present to improve service frequency.

Projects on the #MARTA16 referendum must make transit competitive

On the 2016 Referendum

The City of Atlanta is about to decide on projects to be executed should a MARTA 0.5% sales tax and a city 0.5% TSPLOST sales tax be approved by the residents in November 2016, for a total of up to 1% increase. It is important that the projects enable a competitive transit offering in order to attract ridership.

City officials like to speak about how transportation, and public transit in particular, is an "instrument" for "equity, mobility, and prosperity," and that the anticipated growth of Atlanta to 1 million inhabitants can be fostered if planners can get people out their cars to get around.

The list of MARTA projects calls for several new streetcar and strengthened bus service. The list of city projects includes multi-use trails, street makeovers (as "complete streets" or "neighborhood greenways"), and more, especially around existing transit centers. If specified and executed well, these projects will dramatically improve the transit landscape in Atlanta.

 

On the need for competitiveness

I said at a recent public hearing that it is really important that the projects make transit a competitive travel option. Let's examine two recent transit projects in Atlanta that have not been executed to the fullest potential, do not provide a competitive offer, and failed the ridership test. I have highlighted the shortcomings points in red.

 

Atlanta Streetcar

• Length: 2.7 miles for entire loop.
• Distinctive signage and branding.
• Service: every 15 minutes 6am-10pm.
• Average speed including stops and traffic lights: 6 mph. 30-40 minutes to ride entire loop.
• Separate $1 fare using MARTA Breeze system. Partner transfers not accepted and not issued.
• Shared right-of-way with automobile traffic.
• Extended waits at traffic signals.
• Disruptions from multiple crashes involving cars at fault.

Ridership with the Atlanta Streetcar has plummeted since the $1 fare has been introduced. Some safety incidents are not enhancing the picture, and now GDOT is threatening to shutdown the streetcar. For people to ride, the streetcar has to be much faster than walking. Increased frequency and faster travel through traffic light priority (and dedicated lanes?) is a must to bring customers back. Free transfers would further attract riders already using MARTA or other systems. 

 

MARTA "Q" Bus on Memorial Drive (2009-2011 - Discontinued)

• Length: 6 miles.
• Service: Every 10 minutes rush hour only.
• Average speed: unknown.
• Limited number of stops.
• No distinctive markings, signage, or amenities (fleet or shelters).
• Shared right-of-way with automobile traffic.
• 2 protected intersections with green light extension and queue jumper lanes (no priority for red lights).
• Extended waits at most traffic signals.

Except for the limited number of stops, the MARTA "Q" bus had no distinctive feature from other MARTA routes. The 2 intersections fitted with queue jumping lanes to give priority to the bus did not contribute enough to improve travel time and make the public notice, and the routes have been discontinued since.

 

My plea for the referendum projects

The projects must include good performance metrics in order to avoid the fiascos of the Atlanta Streetcar or the defunct MARTA Memorial Drive Q Bus.

If streetcars or bus-rapid-transit lines are built, they must provide the following in my opinion:

• Dedicated right-of-way,
• Reasonable spacing between stations,
• Reasonable travel speeds between stations,
• Minimal time wasted in mixed traffic and traffic lights,
• Frequency so that captive ridership is confident they don't have to deal with long waits if they wanted to try the streetcars,
• Electronic signs on platforms with real-time arrivals,
• Signage, maps, and branding on par with the premium service offered.
• Beautiful street redesign that encourages walking around the stations.

If strong arterial bus service is built, it must provide in my opinion:

• Increased travel speeds compared to current service, with minimal time wasted at traffic lights,
• Reasonable spacing between stops,
• Shelters, benches, and pedestrian amenities at/near most stops,
• Frequency so that captive ridership is confident they don't have to deal with long waits if they wanted to try the arterial bus service,
• Signage, maps, and branding on par with the premium service offered.

 

Conclusion

If done well, the new transit projects that will come from the MARTA referendum will drastically improve the image of public transit in Atlanta. That includes setting a new standard for transit frequency, travel speeds, and signage. Officials will only have one shot at executing the projects, and it is really important that the resulting offering be competitive to attract riders who would otherwise drive.

Recap of the Buford Highway Bus Crawl

Image welovebuhi.com

Last Wednesday evening, April 27, WeLoveBuHi and MARTA Army organized the first-ever Buford Highway Bus Crawl (#BuHiBusCrawl). About 120 people took the MARTA bus in Doraville, Chamblee, and Brookhaven to sample the Asian and Hispanic food that makes Buford Highway famous.

WeLoveBuHi regularly organizes events such as bike rides, marathons, etc. along Buford Highway to promote quality of life and businesses along that corridor. MARTA Army is a new grassroots organizations that reclaims your MARTA experience, and is known for the TimelyTrip adopt-a-stop program.

The Logistics

6 groups of about 20 people were scattered on multiple MARTA buses on route 39 at the end of rush hour, starting from Doraville Station and riding south. Route 39 is THE most frequent route in the entire MARTA system (every 12 minutes peak and weekends, every 15 minutes midday and at night). I used to live along that route, and I can tell you how good of a model it is for the rest of Atlanta. There were some delays, and some groups ended up riding with others. Everyone made it safely to the final destination. It is amazing to see this many hungry people waiting at MARTA bus stops!

Waiting for the bus during the Buford Highway Bus Crawl.

I was the leader for one of the groups. I think boarding and exiting buses went much better (faster) than I initially thought. Scheduling at each location was very tight because we didn't want to miss buses, so the next groups could enjoy each location and the rides comfortably.

Because of delays in bus service, my group rode with the next group for most of the event (some buses ended up too close to each other, and there was just not enough time for groups to visit a location). It was OK because the two groups were about 15 people each and could still fit on one bus. Other larger groups did not have that luxury.

All the credit goes to MARTA Army's Simon Berrebi and WeLoveBuHi founder Marian Liou for organizing this event!

The Food

The most important part of the event.

Taco bar during the Buford Highway Bus Crawl.

We stopped at the following locations, sampled excellent food, and heard from amazing speakers:

Location	Food	Speaker
Yen Jing (near Koreatown)	Chinese dumplings	Victoria Huynh (Center for Pan Asian Community Services - cpacs.org)
Doraville City Farmer's Market (Saigon Market)	Vietnamese sandwiches and rolls Guava candies	Tour with store manager.
Plaza Fiesta	Tacos, Venezuelan empenadas	Amanda Rhein (MARTA) on Developments around Brookhaven Station (TOD)
Bismallah (near Plaza Fiesta)	Bangladeshi samosas	Sally Hammock (PEDS) on excess Buford Highway capacity
Royal Lounge (Druid Hills)	Drink specials	Ryan Gravel (City of Atlanta, Beltline creator) on shaping Buford Highway's future

Ryan Gravel speaking at Buford Highway Bus Crawl.

The event concluded at Royal Lounge. To access the lounge, we had to cross Buford Highway as a large group. At the lounge, keynote speaker Ryan Gravel spoke about his background as a Chamblee native, and how communities have to rethink Buford Highway's future outside of the all-highway mindset to avoid fading into the mix of other suburban neighborhoods.

And most importantly, the Buford Highway International Dining Guide was handed out. Grab it, now!

Buford Highway International Dining Guide by WeLoveBuHi.com

The interest for this event was surprising. Many people rode MARTA buses for the first time. Tickets for the event sold out - twice. During pre-event discussions, we thought novelty was a key aspect. Simon and Marian felt it was essential to showcase the true character and day-to-day challenges of Buford Highway. Looking forward to more of these in the future, maybe in other neighborhoods!

Not one or two, but THREE petitions for MARTA expansion

There is growing, strong citizen interest for the most talked-about MARTA expansion plan since the transit agency was created.

(Photo: LWV)

Last Thursday, Sen. Brandon Beach's bill flexing a 0.5% sales tax to MARTA (known as SB330) passed the GA Senate Transportation Committee 8-3. The bill still has to be voted by the full GA legislature.

Citizens must continue to push officials until the MARTA referendum is held and passed by residents. If passed, $4 billion could be raised and matched to build and operate the proposed MARTA extensions. Citizens have now at least THREE related petitions they can sign:

1. "Support MARTA Expansion in Metro Atlanta" by Advance Atlanta. On the concepts outlined in the proposed map and the general legislative process.
2. "Support The Red Line to North Fulton – It’s About Time" by M. Hadden. Focused on Roswell and North Fulton areas and the general legislative process.
3. "Put MARTA rail expansion in north Fulton County on the November 2016 ballot" by B. Smith. This one is geared to county commissioners, who are responsible for holding the MARTA referendum if SB330 passes the GA legislature.
4. John's Creek wants MARTA - Facebook page that provides the facts and benefits of the proposed expansion in John's Creek.

Start by picking your petition! Then you can contact the individuals and organizations behind the petitions and learn how you can help make the MARTA expansion happen. 

IEEE PES Atlanta: Space Solar Power

This week at the IEEE PES Atlanta lunch event, the topic was on space solar power (SSP) . The presenter was Space Solar Power Institute President Derel Preble. Here are my notes from his presentation.

NASA started research on SSP in the 1980s. The principle is relatively simple: harvest photovoltaic (PV) energy from solar rays in the space before they get attenuated by the Earth's atmosphere, then transmit that energy to the ground using a low density microwave beam. Such beam would not be attenuated by the atmosphere. The energy from the beam would be collected using antennas rectifiers ("rectennas"). Each geo-orbit satellite could provide 1 GW of power. Northrop Grumman has committed $17 million for SSP research at Caltech to further advance the field.

There are big advantages to this concept, shown in the photo above:

• Maximized PV energy collection,
• Reduced transmission losses to the ground,
• 24-hour availability without weather sensitivity,
• Dispatchability (can modulate output anytime),
• Reduced land use, with dual-use of land for farming.

The major drawbacks are the high financial and engineering risks:

• Prohibitive cost to build/launch satellites (sweet spot at $150/lb with reusable rockets),
• Challenges harvesting/capturing the energy transmitted from the satellites,
• Maintenance of the equipment in space (by robots),
• Effective, large scale storage (compressed air seems most cost effective).

Space solar power should be transmitted on a reserved microwave frequency, such as 5.8 GHz, to avoid interference with other equipment. Microwave ovens operate at 2.5 GHz. The Georgia Tech students in Prof. Durgin's lab presented their work on building a cost-effective rectenna to harvest 5.8 GHz microwaves using off-the-shelf products (e.g. a regular printer). They are able to use the energy from an emitter one meter away to power a diode!

Derel Preble noted important aspects of offsetting fossil fuels and carbon emissions:

• There are no actions in place to mitigate rising CO2 levels (EPA hearing Atlanta Nov. 2015).
• High CO2 levels decreases the nitrogen nutrients absorbed by plants, negatively affecting cattle quality in turn.
• While high fuel prices tend to lead to recessions, the economy doesn't improve with low fuel prices after a recession as consumers struggle to recover.
• Energy ROI (EROI) must be considered when designing renewable energy production and storage. "Buffered" EROI is half when including storage (energy buffers) because of the energy involved to build the storage technology. Derel Preble mentions that it is not worth the EROI trying to store PV and wind output.

In conclusion, I am excited to learn about space solar power because it is an opportunity to make the most of our Sun. What is still unknown is whether launching costs will be favorable, and whether the technology to harvest energy beams is feasible.

Retrospective: Delta Gold Medallion Status

As you might know, I had Gold Medallion status with Delta for the last two years, and that was a lot of fun. Before that, I was Silver Medallion for a year. I will hold no status for 2016 until I requalify. You need to fly 25,000 miles a year for Silver, 50,000 miles for Gold, and meet minimum spend. Here is a quick recap of what I got to enjoy.

• Extra baggage allowance.
• Sky Priority for you and your luggage on all SkyTeam airlines worldwide.
• Random TSA PreCheck access once in a while. (UPDATE: happens even without elite status)
• Additional bonus miles per trip.
• Premium phone line for customer service with amazing reps.
• You get called by name when interacting with agents.
• Free same-day confirmed or standby, with priority.
• Drink tickets and luggage tags. (UPDATE: Gold Medallions don't get luggage tags anymore)
• Free access to preferred seats (exit row on the A330!) and Delta Comfort+ seats when available.
• Complimentary upgrades to First Class and medium-haul Business Class on Delta
• 40% of the time on short and medium haul flights.
• 1 involuntary upgrade to Premium Economy on a partner airline.
• Free lounge access on international itineraries
• Delta Sky Club: 6x
• Salons Air France: 7x
• KLM Crown Lounge: 3x
• And a few more!

There are only 2 perks that I have not used:

• Guaranteed reservations on long-haul, oversold international flights. This one is scary, you need to buy a full-fare ticket 24 hours in advance for that.
• Medallion parking lot at Turner Field (the Braves Stadium). Better access the ball park by transit!

Overall, status comes with some nice tokens of appreciation, especially when you travel often. The biggest perks are lounge access and Sky Priority access, especially with international travel, which makes 2/3 of my trips. I will miss these perks, but hey why bother if I don't spend too much time in the air anymore?

Twitter good for short posts

I have been experimenting with Twitter recently. My handle is @bdenergytransit. You may see my tweets and retweets on the right sidebar of this page.

Going forward, most of the content will come from Twitter because of how easy it is to post and tag using mobile devices. I tried with the Blogger app, but there are too many shortcomings that are not worth fighting. Plus, Twitter makes it very easy to find and to follow and grab content from others you don't necessarily know.

At times I think I still need to elaborate, and the longer posts will continue to appear on this blog. So far so good, I don't have to spend too much time publishing AND formatting the posts. Let's see how that goes in the future.

Three (Updated: Four) things the Atlanta Streetcar needs to get right

The Atlanta Streetcar just celebrated its first year in operation with the introduction of a $1 paid fare requirement ("A buck is fare"). Here are a few things I think officials need to get right for the Atlanta Streetcar to bring a competitive value proposition:

• Service frequency
  Currently, the streetcar runs every 15 mins, with two trains in service out of a fleet of four.
• For a downtown line this short, daytime headways should be 10 mins or less to match MARTA's peak rail service.
  
• Fare integration and transfer policy
  Having to pay separate fares when transferring between MARTA and the streetcar makes the streetcar unattractive money-wise for those who would use the streetcar as a last-mile connection. Here is a suggestion and an opportunity to integrate all regional fares:
• $1 fare
• A one-way single-ride ticket on the streetcar, no transfers.
• $2.50 cash fare (Regional One-Way):
• A single-ride ticket on the streetcar, and
• A transfer to MARTA rail/buses or CCT/GCT local routes.
• $5.00 cash fare (Express One-Way)
• A single-ride ticket on the streetcar, and
• A transfer to MARTA rail/buses and any GRTA, CCT, GCT bus (express/local).
• MARTA fare products accepted. Customers holding MARTA passes (and maybe later regional passes) would receive, upon validation:
• A single-ride ticket on the streetcar, and
• A transfer to MARTA rail/buses.
  In addition, customers transferring from MARTA would receive a single-ride ticket at no additional cost. 
• Of course, this suggestion requires loading transfers on the customer's Breeze Card at the time of validation, and using the financial clearinghouse to distribute fare revenue.
• Traffic signal priority
  The streetcar will often get stuck at traffic lights with long red cycles, drastically slowing travel and service frequency on the already short downtown loop. Sadly, travel speeds are currently so low that walking is only marginally slower than taking the streetcar. Removing wait times at traffic lights would go a long way in improving service speeds and frequency.
• Officials should implement traffic signal priority at all streetcar intersections, with appropriate timing of green and red lights upon train approach (extension or shortening depending on location, accommodating for stops).
• Schedules and real-time information
  Only "hours of operation" for the line are shown. To remove ambiguity in determining if service has ended, especially towards to close of service, here is what needs to happen:
• The times of the first and last trains for each stop/destination should be posted.
• Real-time and other arrival information should be displayed, and data published for OneBusAway to use. Displays may need new electronic signs or using vending machine screens already available at each stop.

In most of my trips to the MLK district, the $1 fare without transfers is not attractive enough to justify paying for it. I would get there faster taking MARTA to King Memorial station and walk a few blocks, rather than waiting at Peachtree Center. On the way back at night, it is already faster for me to time bus 99 rather than waiting for a streetcar and then for another MARTA train.
 
In conclusion, the threefour major gaps in the Atlanta Streetcar operation are around the frequency, transfer policy, travel times, and schedules/real-time signage. Addressing any of these gaps would make the streetcar way more appealing than it is now.

State of MARTA Breakfast Recap

On Thursday I went to the third annual State of MARTA breakfast. Sold out, full house, with invited members of the press and local organizations. I'm summarizing a few highlights in this post, and below I'm including the #MARTAredefined Twitter feed for the event.

#MARTAredefined Tweets
For the highlights:

• The new imperatives for MARTA are S.E.A.T.: Service, Economy, Arts, Technology.  
• MARTA board chairman Robbie Ashe quoted to say "we can't efficiency ourselves to expansion." Moves to push referendum in City of Atlanta, Fulton, DeKalb to build the rail line extensions to Alpharetta, Stonecrest, and the Emory/Clifton line.
• MARTA employees were recognized, as well as retired couple who helped a student fix his tie on MARTA.
• Guest speaker and Stanford professor Tony Seba explains the disruptive nature of energy technology on transportation (price point, efficiency, electric vehicles) and that car ownership in cities will decrease over time. New technologies will enable on-demand transportation.
• MARTA CEO Keith Parker announces a MARTA Arts task force, systemwide WiFi for 2018, and hints at a fleet of MARTA autonomous cars that could take you from a transit stop to your final destination.  He speaks of moving from "Happy MARTA" to "Transformed MARTA" to "Super MARTA."
• MARTA Army announces new program for crowdfunding of transit amenities, where communities around select bus stops will be able to pool money towards purchase and maintenance of benches and shelters.

Topics that could have been more developed:

• CEO Parker mentioned about the comprehensive operations analysis and a resulting service overhaul, but still no word yet on what the outcomes are going to be.
• Parker mentioned about the gap between rail and bus customers. I would have liked to hear more about streamlining connections between the two modes.

In conclusion, it was a well attended event with recaps of the initiatives taken to date and directions for future improvements that we can't wait to happen. Good job MARTA!