Primary Resources: The Metro Transportation Library Blog

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Recent Research: Urban Congestion Trends, High-Speed Rail Lessons & Travel Assistance Device Deployment

2010-12-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

Is traffic congestion getting better or worse? The Federal Highway Administration collects various statistics each year to help us understand whether traffic is improving or increasing.

We wanted to take a closer look at a document titled 2009 Urban Congestion Trends: How Operations Is Solving Congestion Problems (8p. PDF).

Of course, we need to understand what we're looking at. Congestion is defined as the amount of time when freeways operate below 50mph. The FHA statistics show that "whatever the day of the week, whatever the time of day, mobility has improved -- almost across the board." When looking at the three primary performance measures,, improvement can be seen in at least one of them in 20 of 23 monitored regions.

But...how much? And why?

First off, there is less traffic on the road. Whether people are using public transit, telecommuting, combining trips, spending more time with family, consciously lowering their fuel consumption or are simply out of work, we see fewer cars on the roads travelling shorter distances.

Additionally, the economic downtown of the past few years has also played a role in congestion reduction in the United States.

Finally, traffic operations are playing a role in congestion management. The document contains a number of success stories detailing how state and local agencies reduced the effects of congestion in their locales.

As America moves toward construction of new high-speed rail networks in regions throughout the country, we have much to learn from experiences abroad.

In A Track Record Of Success: High-Speed Rail Around The World And Its Promise For America (53p. PDF), the U.S. PIRG Educational Fund reports on the wealth of information about what the United States can expect from high-speed rail and how we can receive the greatest possible benefits from our investment.

They base their report on the track record of high-speed rail lines that have operated for more than 45 years in Japan and for three decades in Europe -- with some exciting conclusions.

Indeed, the experience of high-speed rail lines abroad, as well as America’s limited experience with high-speed rail on the East Coast, suggests that the United States can expect great benefits from investing in a high-speed passenger rail system, particularly if it makes steady commitments to rail improvements and designs the system wisely.

High-speed rail systems in other nations have been able to dramatically reduce the volume of short-haul flights between nearby cities and significantly reduce inter-city car travel.

Some particularly interested examples include:

The number of air passengers between London and Paris has been cut in half since high-speed rail service was introduced.

High-Speed rail service between Madrid and Seville reduced the share of car travel between the two cities from 60% to 34%, and service between Madrid and Barcelona, once the world's busiest passenger air route, has been cut by one-third.

The ability to travel where and when one desires is a basic requirement for independent living that most people take for
granted.

To travel independently, a transit rider practices at least 23 skills including finding the route, arriving at the correct stop on time, and determining when to exit at destination.

The University of South Florida's National Center for Transit Research has published Travel Assistance Device Deployment To Transit Agencies (103p. PDF) which discusses the successful deployment of devices assisting those with cognitive challenges in these tasks.

Travel trainers who provide one-on-one instruction on public
transportation, report that recognizing a landmark near the desired bus stop, requesting a stop at the proper time, and exiting the bus at the destination stop are among the most challenging skills to master for individuals with cognitive disabilities.

Parents/guardians are often reluctant to encourage the use of fixed-route transit due to their own hesitations about a person's abilities and well being.

Prior studies by the research team developed the Travel Assistance Device (TAD)
mobile phone software application that addresses these challenges and supplements the trainer’s instruction.

TAD provides various informational prompts including the audio messages “Get ready” and “Pull the cord now!” and vibrates to alert the rider to pull the stop cord. These prompts are delivered to the rider in real-time as he or she rides the bus using the embedded global positioning system (GPS) technology in off-the-shelf cell phones.

TAD’s real-time location of the rider can be viewed by the travel trainer or family member through a Web page.

This document reviews how the TAD application has been successfully deployed in the Hillsborough (FL) Area Regional Transit (HART) bus system.

New And Notable: Oil On The Brain, Transport Geographies & Early Downtown Los Angeles

2010-12-13T15:52:00.001-08:00

Oil On The Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip To Your Tank is a smart, surprisingly funny account of the oil industry — the people, economies, and pipelines that bring us petroleum, brilliantly illuminating a world we encounter every day.

Americans buy ten thousand gallons of gasoline a second, without giving it much of a thought. Where does all this gas come from?

Author Lisa Margonelli’s desire to learn took her on a one-hundred thousand mile journey from her local gas station to oil fields half a world away.

In search of the truth behind the myths, she wriggled her way into some of the most off-limits places on earth: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the New York Mercantile Exchange’s crude oil market, oil fields from Venezuela, to Texas, to Chad, and even an Iranian oil platform where the United States fought a forgotten one-day battle.

In a story by turns surreal and alarming, Margonelli meets lonely workers on a Texas drilling rig, an oil analyst who almost gave birth on the NYMEX trading floor, Chadian villagers who are said to wander the oil fields in the guise of lions, a Nigerian warlord who changed the world price of oil with a single cell phone call, and Shanghai bureaucrats who dream of creating a new Detroit.

Deftly piecing together the mammoth economy of oil, Margonelli finds a series of stark warning signs for American drivers. Rave reviews for Oil On The Brain include:

“If you drive a car, you must read this book.” —Mary Roach, author of Stiff

“By giving voice to the people who are the links in the global oil chain, Margonelli invites us to leapfrog all the rhetoric, dry statistics, and dire pronouncements about oil in order to truly understand it.” —Fast Company

“Hugely enjoyable, compulsively readable, and brilliantly reported.” —Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do with My Life?

The PBS Newshour conducted an extensive interview with the author, which can be found here.

Transport Geographies: Mobilities, Flows And Spaces brings together a formidable range of expert insight to introduce the key ideas, concepts and themes of transport geography.

Using an issues-based, qualitative approach, the contributors feature a wide range of case-study material.

This work explores the relationship between transport geography and wider geographical concerns, as well as connections to other areas of study -- economics, engineering, environmental studies, political science, psychology, spatial planning, sociology and transport studies.

The book highlights the role of transport geography in globalization, and its interplay with economic, social and environmental geographies at a range of spatial scales. It reviews contemporary policy and the role transport geographers can play in policy debates.

Both empirically informed and theoretically robust, this compelling text shows the significance of transport in terms of the needs and demands of future travel.

Growing south from the plaza where the city of Los Angeles was founded as a tiny pueblo in 1781, the area now known as downtown L.A. was first developed in the late 1800s as a residential neighborhood, complete with churches and schools.

As the population surged at the turn of the 20th century, the downtown area was transformed into a busy business and entertainment center of shops, banks, hotels, and theaters.

The explosion of the postcard craze in the early 1900s coincided with this period of downtown's tremendous growth toward a formidable metropolis.

Early Downtown Los Angeles is a collection of vintage postcard images offers a glimpse into the changing city through the 1940s. Transportation is afforded its own chapter.

It includes rarely seen images of La Grande Station, the passenger terminal constructed by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1893. Santa Fe and Southern Pacific's competitive rail pricing fueled the real estate boom and unprecedented population growth throughout the region in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Early interior images of Union Station, Angels Flight, and other rail lines are of particular topical interest.

Resources To Know: California Transit Association & Its Annual Legislative Summary

2010-12-06T17:13:00.001-08:00

Since its founding in 1965, the California Transit Association (CTA) has been a primary advocate for public transportation in the state.

The Association's team of legislative advocates works to promote multi-year transit funding and to represent transit's interests before the California State Legislature, the Governor and regulatory agencies on the local, state and federal levels.

CTA is dedicated to a collaborative approach to advocating for improved transit operations throughout California. Key to that approach is engaging our members in the advocacy process.

Members are frequently updated on policy developments through a variety of communications processes, and their participation is enlisted in numerous outreach efforts, including personal visits with elected officials, testifying before legislative committees and regulatory agencies, and conducting media relations campaigns.

To cultivate support and increased member activity, the Association strives to strategically mobilize members in key political districts and to build statewide coalitions to focus pressure on policy development.

Of increasing importance is the mobilization of organizations other than transit providers in the
cause.

CTA's partnership with such "non-traditional" transit advocates has supplemented the advocacy effort and has helped members to forge relationships with and utilize the resources of everything from nationwide public interest organizations to local ridership groups.

With support and active engagement from member organizations and other community interests, CTA is focused on implementing transit-friendly policy, a balanced transportation system, and increased transit funding.

Each year, CTA publishes a Legislative Summary that provides a synopsis and analysis of state legislation affecting public transportation and the transit-relevant components of the state budget process.

Compiled by the Association's team of legislative advocates, the annual publication is a great reference tool for those seeking information about statewide transit and transportation legislation.

The report for the 2010 legislative session (31p. PDF) is divided into three catagories:

Significant Transit Legislation: identifying and describing high-priority legislation supported by the Association, pending the Governor's signature in 2010

2010-2011 State Budget: describing the budget's impact on public transportation and the State Transit Assistance (STA) Program, and Proposition 1B allocations

Matrix Of Significant Transit-Related Legislation: Identifying the most significant transit-related legislation considered by the Association's Legislative Committee during the 2010 Legislative Session, whether enacted or not.

Once an information-seeker has located legislation of interest, they can visit the CTA's Advocacy webpage to search for the full-text of bills (as well as fact sheets, links to other reports, etc.)

The CTA website also features Legislative Bulletin Resources for recently passed legislation, and an Advocacy Archive featuring resources such as a Summary Of Provisions And Impact Of The Gas Tax Swap, as proposed earlier this year.

New And Notable: Smart Growth Manual, "Unplanning," & Asphalt And Politics

2010-12-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

Everyone is calling for smart growth...but what exactly is it?

In The Smart Growth Manual (New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2009), two leading city planners provide a thorough answer. From the expanse of the metropolis to the detail of the window box, they address the pressing challenges of urban development with easy-to-follow advice and broad array of best practices.

With their landmark book Suburban Nation, Andres Duany and Jeff Speck "set forth more clearly than anyone has done in our time the elements of good town planning" (The New Yorker).

In this long-awaited companion volume, the authors have organized the latest contributions of new urbanism, green design, and healthy communities into a comprehensive handbook, fully illustrated with the built work of the nation's leading practitioners.

This work also features a valuable Smart Growth Directory, with contact information for national, regional and state organizations.

Lieutenant Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom, writing as Mayor of San Francisco, touted The Smart Growth Manual as "an indispensable guide to city planning. This kind of progressive development is the only way to full restore our economic strength and create new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete in the first rank of world economies."

An extensive interview with the authors is featured on the American Society of Landscape Architects "The Dirt" blog.

The conventional wisdom says that we need strict planning to build walkable neighborhoods around transit stations - even though these neighborhoods are like the streetcar suburbs that were common in America before anyone heard of city planning.

In reality, many of our greatest successes in urban design have occurred when we treated the issues as political questions - not as technical problems that the planners should solve for us.

According to Unplanning: Livable Cities And Political Choices (Berkeley, Calif.: Preservation Institute, 2010), the anti-freeway movement of the 1960s and 1970s and the anti-sprawl movement of recent decades were both political movements, and citizen-activists often had to work against projects that planners proposed and approved.

This book uses an intriguing thought experiment to show that, in order to build livable cities, we should go further than the anti-freeway and anti-sprawl movements by putting direct political limits on urban growth.

Political choices about how we want to live can transform our cities more effectively than planning.

From animal paths to superhighways, transportation has been the backbone of American expansion and growth.

Asphalt And Politics: A History Of The American Highway System (New York: McFarland, 2009) examines the interstate highway system in the United States, and the forces that shaped it, includes the introduction of the automobile, the Good Roads Movement, and the Lincoln Highway Association.

The book offers an analysis of state and federal road funding, modern road-building options, and the successes and failures of the current highway system.

Resources To Know: The MUTCD -- A Book In The News This Week You May Never Have Heard Of That Impacts You Every Day

2010-12-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

A relatively obscure book is receiving its 15 minutes (or more) of fame this week, The Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

This set of federal standards for traffic signs, road surface markings, and signals is a primary resource to know about, so we wanted to take a closer look – especially since it is in the news right now.

New MUTCD standards announced recently require compliance over the next several years, depending on what type of changes are required.

For example, states, counties, cities and towns across America will need to increase the size of letters on street signs for roads with speed limits over 25 mph from 4 inches to 6 inches by January, 2012.

Street signs requiring new reflective lettering which is more visible at night must be installed by January, 2018.

These required changes will affect both large cities and small jurisdictions across the country. ABC News reported on some sample impacts this week:

“In Milwaukee, this will cost the cash-strapped city nearly $2 million, double the city’s entire annual for traffic control.

In Dinwiddie County, Virginia – with lots of roads but not many people – the cost comes to about $10 for every man, woman and child.”

So where did these regulations, which some may consider to be overly-bureaucratic, come from?

In the early 20^th Century, roads were promoted and maintained by automobile clubs of private individuals. Each road and highway had its own type of signage, without regard for directional assistance or safety promotion.

By 1927, the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO - the predecessor to today's AASHTO) published the first standards, titled the Manual And Specifications For The Manufacture, Display, And Erection Of U.S. Standard Road Markers And Signs, a precursor to the MUTCD that is still in use today.

The first MUTCD was released in 1935, setting standards for both road signs and pavement markings. Since then, eight more editions have been published with numerous updates that include changes in usage as well as technological improvements over the years.

Some of these changes are particularly noteworthy. It wasn’t until 1971 that all center lines were to be painted in yellow (as opposed to white) and all highway signs were required to be in white on a green background.

The most recent edition (2009) weighs in at 864 pages, dictating required standards for everything from simple items like street names and route signs to more complex topics, such as how to designate Bicycle Lane Treatment At A Parking Lane Into A Right Turn Only Lane and Examples Of Light Rail Transit Vehicle Dynamic Envelope Markings For Mixed-Use Alignments.

Additions and revisions are recommended to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) by the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD), a private, non-profit organization, which is made up of twenty-one sponsoring organizations comprised of transportation and engineering industry groups, safety-oriented organizations, and others such as the American Automobile Association.

This takes us back to this week’s controversy.

Federal standards promote safety and recognizable meanings, but when those standards are changed there will be ripple effects across local jurisdictions with limited resources to comply.

In places like Dinwiddie County, Virginia, citizens may argue that standards compliance could take funds away from education or public safety.

The Federal Highway Association says the new regulations, written under the Bush Administration, are designed to be easily read by America’s aging population. However, the FHWA announced this week a 45-day period for public comment on the new rules, “a step that could lead to easing on the guidelines,” according to ABC News.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation took matters a step further today, stating:

“I believe this regulation makes no sense. It does not property take into account the high costs that local governments would have to bear. States, cities, and towns should not be required to spend money that they don’t have to replace perfectly good traffic signs.”

LaHood tried to put a balanced spin on the controversy by summing up, "Safety is our priority, but so is good government."

Additional resources:

Evolution Of The MUTCD, Part I: Early Standards For Traffic Control Devices, ITE Journal, July 1992

Evolution Of The MUTCD, Part II: Early Editions Of The MUTCD, ITE Journal, August 1992

Evolution Of The MUTCD, Part III: The MUTCD Since World War II, ITE Journal, November 1992

An MUTCD history.

The MUTCD: Where It’s Been And Where It’s Going.

New And Notable: Los Angeles From The Air Then And Now, Makeshift Metropolis & Down The Asphalt Path

2010-11-29T14:51:00.001-08:00

Avid readers of local history are usually intrigued by photos of historic sites juxtaposed against contemporary images. This format of visual history has a particularly strong impact when the subject is Los Angeles: a city that grew up -- and outward -- so quickly.

Those seeking pictorial overviews will likely have checked out aerial photography books as well.

Los Angeles From The Air: Then And Now (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2010) is a hybrid of these two types of pictorial books. It presents decades-old photographs of both familiar and lesser-known landmarks along side more current ones.

This takes the reader on a trip through Los Angeles like never before, featuring inspiring, sky-high then-and-now images of some of LA's most famous locations.

Some of the landmarks' origins are well-known, but the authors provide context for both familiar and hidden pieces of Los Angeles history.

Many of the photos feature snow-capped peaks in the distance -- a testament to our clear Winter days being the best for photography.

Unfortunately, the work falls flat in its description of transportation in downtown Los Angeles. The authors write:

"Metrolink [sic] provides service to Union Station in the form of three rail lines -- Red, Purple, Gold..."

While Metro and Metrolink may sound similar to those outside of Los Angeles (the book is, after all, published in San Diego), it gives one pause that other information found here may not be entirely accurate. Ultimately, one can ignore the text entirely, as these beautiful photos speak for themselves.

In Makeshift Metropolis: Ideas About Cities (New York: Scribner, 2010), noted architecture writer Witold Rybczynski offers a glimpse of an urban future that might very well serve as a template for cities around the world.

Rybczynski integrates history and prediction of the development of the American city in a brisk look back that takes us from colonial town planning to the Garden City and City Beautiful initiatives of the early 20th century and on to the "Big Box Era."

He also examines how contemporary urban designers and planners are revisiting and refreshing older urban ideas, such as bringing gardens to a blighted Brooklyn waterfront.

Rybczynski's study is kept relevant by his focus on what the past can teach us about creating the "cities we want" and "cities we need."

The prose is instructive and always engaging, and the author's enthusiasm for the future of cities and his enduring love of urban settings of all kinds is evident.

He not only writes about what people want from their cities, he inspires the reader to imagine the possibilities.

In Down The Asphalt Path: The Automobile And The American City, author Clay McShane examines the uniquely American relationship between "automobility" and urbanization.

Writing at the cutting edge of urban and technological history, he depicts how new technology, namely the private automobile, and the modernization of the American city redefined each other.

The author motors us across the country -- from Boston to New York, from Milwaukee to Los Angeles and the suburbs in between -- chronicling the urban embrace of the automobile.

The New York Times calls this work "A treat to read, loaded with interesting facts...a notable book about urban transportation."

Barron's wrote that "this fascinating, well-researched history of the automobile industry...is written from a social and cultural perspective rarely included in traditional books about the business."

The Whole Earth Review claims "this fascinating treatise is the most credible look yet at how automobiles have changed American society for better or worse."

New And Notable: Sprawl Repair Manual, Republic Of Drivers & Urban Mass Transit's Life Story

2010-11-23T15:51:00.000-08:00

There is a wealth of research and literature explaining suburban sprawl and the urgent need to retrofit suburbia. However, until now there has been no single guide that directly explains how to repair typical sprawl elements.

Sprawl Repair Manual demonstrates a step-by-step design process for the re-balancing and re-urbanization of suburbia into more sustainable, economical, energy- and resource-efficient patterns, from the region and the community to the block and the individual building. (Even more information can be found at the Sprawl Repair Manual website).

Author Galina Tachieva asserts in this exceptionally useful (and exceptionaly handsome) book that sprawl repair will require a proactive and aggressive approach, focused on design, regulation and incentives.

The work provides much-needed, single-volume reference for fixing sprawl, incorporating changes into the regulatory system, and implementing repairs through incentives and permitting strategies. It draws on more than two decades of practical experience in the field of repairing and building communities to analyze the current pattern of sprawl development, disassemble it into its elemental components, and present a process for transforming them into human-scale, sustainable elements.

The techniques are illustrated both two- and three-dimensionally, providing users with clear methodologies for the sprawl repair interventions, some of which are radical, but all of which will produce positive results.

Rising gas prices, sprawl and congestion, global warming, even obesity—driving is a factor in many of the most contentious issues of our time. So how did we get here? How did automobile use become so vital to the identity of Americans?

Republic Of Drivers: A Cultural History Of Automobility In America looks back at the period between 1895 and 1961—from the founding of the first automobile factory in America to the creation of the Interstate Highway System—to find out how driving evolved into a crucial symbol of freedom and agency.

Author Cotten Seiler combs through a vast number of historical, social scientific, philosophical, and literary sources to illustrate the importance of driving to modern American conceptions of the self and the social and political order.

He finds that as the figure of the driver blurred into the figure of the citizen, automobility became a powerful resource for women, African Americans, and others seeking entry into the public sphere.

And yet, he argues, the individualistic but anonymous act of driving has also monopolized our thinking about freedom and democracy, discouraging the crafting of a more sustainable way of life.

As our fantasies of the open road turn into fears of a looming energy crisis, Seiler shows us just how we ended up a republic of drivers—and where we might be headed.

In Urban Mass Transit: The Life Story Of A Technology, the history of mass transit is vividly illustrated as the technological and social struggles that have accompanied urbanization and the need for an efficient and cost-effective means of transportation in cities.

From the omnibus and horsecar in the 1830s to the renaissance of urban mass transit at the turn of the 21st century, author Robert C. Post depicts mass transit as a technological system that provided an essential complement to industrialization, urbanization and, ultimately, to the rise of consumer culture.

At the heart of the story is the streetcar, a conveyance that played a central role in the development of U.S. cities and towns. Once dominating the urban landscape, the streetcar has all but disappeared. Post traces its evolution and demise, debunking the urban myth that the downfall of the electric streetcar was directly attributable to the corporate malfeasance of General Motors and others from the automotive world.

Post concludes with a meditation on the prospects for mass transit in a postmodern society that must face up to the contradictions of privatized mobility and the reality of dwindling natural resources.

Digitization And Transportation: Northwestern University's Google Books Project

2010-11-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

Beginning today, Northwestern University's Transportation Library begins its Google Books Digitization Project.

The University Libraries and Google are partnering to digitize hundreds of thousands of print volumes from their collections, rendering the contents readily available to scholars and researchers worldwide.

This is no small undertaking. The Transportation Library alone is one of the most extensive in the United States, containing over 500,000 items.

The Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium of the Midwest's Big Ten Schools' plus the University of Chicago, signed on to digitize their libraries in June, 2007 but the process is just getting underway this Fall.

The project is expected to take several years, but the Transportation Library is one of the first campus libraries to send library items to Google for digitization. Google covers the transportation and digitization costs and Northwestern has received a generous donation from the Office of the Provost to help cover other technical costs.

We are told that books sent to Google for digitization may be off the shelves for up to three months. Once everything eligible for converting into electronic format has been digitized, those searching the library catalog will have the choice of borrowing the original print item or accessing the full-text document online.

Results from Google Book Search show up in both general Google searches as well as through the dedicated Google Books site.

The entire Google Books project has been a source of controversy over the last decade. Some hail the initiative's capacity to provide "anytime, anywhere" access to all of human knowledge. Others question the application of copyright laws for works published in one place but accessed around the world.

The Google Books enterprise is a complicated endeavor. While access to the ever-increasing (and increasingly digitized) world of knowledge is great, how can Google maintain a high-level of retrievability from a growing pool of millions of items? A recent article in The Atlantic highlights this challenge, with a concise overview of "Rich Results," Google's latest search algorithm that helps users find what they're looking for...even when they don't specifically ask for it.

Last month, Google speculated that it had scanned more than 15 million books from more than 100 countries in over 400 languages since 2004. Google Books' Engineering Director James Crawford went on to state:

"Our shared vision of bringing all the incredible content stored in the world's books online depends on working with libraries, publishers, authors and book lovers.

The greater the diversity of content on the web, the more useful it becomes. And the more people who can access the information cataloged in books, the more enlightening those works become."

Our goals are the same. Here at Metro's Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library & Archive, we have embarked on a digitization project of our own (sans Google) as outlined here. We want to provide greater access to our rich collections, make items more easily findable and retrievable, and preserve information and knowledge for generations to come.

Los Angeles In Maps & The Curious Case Of Miss Laura J. Whitlock

2010-11-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

One the most exciting new books in a long time has been released this month: Glen Creason's Los Angeles In Maps (New York: Rizzoli, 2010).

Creason is the Map Libraran at Los Angeles Public Library and co-curated the landmark 2008-2009 exhibition L.A. Unfolded: Maps From The Los Angeles Public Library.

This new work guides the reader through the variety of maps created for Los Angeles, from the 1849 Plan De La Ciudad De Los Angeles ("Ord's Survey") to modern day interactive maps.

The book works on a number of levels: as history lesson, as a beautiful coffee table book with intriguing graphics, as a thought-provoking work showing how spatial depictions have changed over the past century and a half, and how Los Angeles can be viewed in historical context in ways other than chronological.

It is organized into chapters that tell the various stories of Los Angeles, such as Early Growth, Social Life, Water, Age of the Automobile, Tourism, etc.

Fortunately for us, there is a Transportation section, where we learn the story of Laura J. Whitlock, official mapmaker of Los Angeles County - and the only female map publisher in the United States when she was working in the early 20th century.

Pirated copies of her work were widely distributed without her consent, and she filed suit for copyright infringement. We'll leave it to you to discover what happened with this landmark case, but it did set a precedent for map copyright -- an important contribution to American map history made here in Los Angeles.

The rest of the transportation maps and information are equally interesting, as are the other subject areas covered, but you'll have to read the book yourself to find out more.

It suffices to say that the highly-readable nature of Los Angeles In Maps makes it an instant classic for those interested not just in maps, but the history and growth of the city as well.

We had hoped to find the same maps featured in the book on the Los Angeles Public Library website. Unfortunately, the L.A. Unfolded exhibit is not listed on the LAPL Past Exhibits webpage, but some of their 100,000 maps can be found in their digital collection online.

We, however, maintain an online map collection titled Past Visions Of L.A.'s Transportation Future: Mass Rapid Transit Concept Maps.

Here you will find an online gallery from 1925 to present-day, focusing on proposed rail and rapid transit plans over the years.

We are hoping to bring more map resources online as time permits.

(Above: 1925 Pacific Electric Route Map, click to enlarge. These old maps are full of intriguing tidbits, like Sunset Boulevard being the original Beverly Boulevard - as noted here).

Readers are also invited to explore our full-text digital collection of Los Angeles Transit And Transportation Studies, 1911-1957. These documents also include rare maps and other illustrative material from L.A.'s transit and transportation history.

Light Rail On Wilshire? Why, That Would Be Illegal!

2010-11-16T14:42:00.000-08:00

The recent selection of a route alignment for the Westside Subway Extension, as well as the release of the Wilshire Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit final environmental impact report started us thinking about something we read aways back regarding Wilshire Boulevard.

It was in Kevin Roderick's Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse Of Los Angeles (Santa Monica: Angel City Press, 2005). The author briefly mentions (on page 20):

"New subdivisions around the periphery of Los Angeles were not unusual in the mid-1890s, but the Wilshires had grander ambitions. Across the center of their land, they promised to grade a generous, one-hundred-twenty-foot-wide graveled boulevard.

It would stretch just four blocks between the two parks, but the brothers believed that even a short stub of remarkable avenue would attract lot buyers.

To spur sales, they lobbied to encircle the tract with special streetcar lines, but insisted that the city council forbid the laying of tracks - forever - on their boulevard."

Forbid the laying of tracks?

Forever?

Really?

We had to determine if this had actually been codified, and turned to the City of Los Angeles Municipal Code to investigate.

Sure enough, we discovered in SEC. 62.129. PUBLIC BOULEVARDS - USE OF:

That the following regulations shall apply to those certain streets in this City, known as Wilshire Boulevard, from Park View Avenue to the west City limits; Adams Street from Grand Avenue to Hoover Street; Boyle Avenue from Whittier Boulevard to First Street; Alvarado Street from Seventh Street to Hoover Street; and Occidental Boulevard from First Street to Sixth Street; which have been heretofore dedicated as open, public boulevards:
(a) No railroad or pipe line franchise shall ever be granted, and no railroad track or pipe line shall ever be laid or constructed, except water pipes, sewers, gas mains and conduits for telephone and electric wires, for service of the property fronting on said boulevards and house connections and connections of water, sewers, and gas pipe lines, or conduits for telephone and electric wires on intersecting streets.

The early developers of Wilshire were successful in banishing rail lines from the Boulevard forever. Despite having the greatest urban rail system in the world in its heyday, no streetcars ever rumbled down Los Angeles' grandest street.

This 1925 Kelker DeLeuw City/County Comprehensive Rapid Transit Plan Urban Map shows nothing on Wilshire - cross-town streetcars were designated for Pico Boulevard, 3rd Street, and Hollywood Boulevard.

A 1938 Los Angeles Railway map depicts cross-town streetcars on several east-west lines: 3rd Street (R), 10th Street / Olympic Boulevard (L), Pico "Street" (P), Washington Boulevard (W), and Jefferson Boulevard (J). Only motor coaches served Wilshire Boulevard.

Wilshire still became the city's grandest boulevard despite its lack of "rapid transit" - or perhaps because of it - and Rodericks' book is a fascinating account of Los Angeles' iconic boulevard and how one street can influence such a large city.

We can't know how the street or city would have developed had streetcars run along it, but Wilshire Boulevard never got stuck with overhead transit either.

We might be thankful we didn't end up with a Wilshire monorail, as one proposal depicted the intersection of Wilshire & Fairfax here.

Meanwhile, this Saturday marks the annual Great Los Angeles Walk, which goes back to its roots this year.

The day-long trek will take participants 15.6 miles along the entire length of Wilshire Boulevard, from Pershing Square downtown to its west end at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica.

The L.A. Conservancy has a wonderful interactive website that helps visitors create their own customized tours of Wilshire Boulevard's past and present.

New & Notable: America's Failing Infrastructure, "Climatopolis," & Why Do Shepherds Need A Bush?

2010-11-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

In August 2007, the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis, MN, collapsed, killing 13 and injuring 145 others. Investigations following the tragedy revealed that it could have been prevented. The grave reality is that it is a tragedy that threatens to be repeated at many of the thousands of bridges located across the nation.

In Too Big To Fall: America's Failing Infrastructure And The Way Forward (New York: Foster, 2010), author Barry LePatner chronicles the problems that led to the I-35W catastrophe — poor bridge design,shoddy maintenance, ignored expert repair recommendations, and misallocated funding — and digs through the National Transportation Safety Board’s report on the tragedy, which failed to present the full story.

From there LePatner evaluates what the I-35W Bridge collapse means for the country as a whole — outlining the possibility of a nationwide infrastructure breakdown.

He exposes government failure on a national as well as state level, explains why we must maintain an effective infrastructure system — including how it plays a central role in supporting both our nation’s economic strength and our national security — and rounds out the book by providing his own well-researched solutions.

Too Big to Fall presents an eye-opening critique of a bureaucratic system that has allowed political best interests to trump those of the American people. It contains special comments by James Oberstar, the outgoing Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure.

Cities are the engines of the economic growth and the foundation of our prosperity. But what will become of them as our world gets hotter?

In Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive In The Hotter Future (New York: Basic, 2010), Matthew Kahn, one of the world's foremost experts on the economics of the environment and of cities, argues that our future lies in our ability to adapt. Cities and regions will slowly transform as we change our behaviors and our surroundings in response to the changing climate. Kahn - professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, the UCLA School of Public Affairs' Department of Public Policy, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research - shows us how this will happen.

The author is optimistic about the quality of our lives in the cities of the future, despite a high chance of less hospitable climate conditions than we face today. At the heart of his conviction in a bright future is our individual freedom of choice. This personal freedom will reveal pathways that will greatly help urbanites cope with climate change.

Taking the reader on a tour of the world's cities - from New York to Los Angeles, Beijing to Mumbai - Kahn's clear-eyed, engaging, and optomistic messages presents a positive yet realistic picture of what our urban future will look like.

An entire chapter is devoted to Los Angeles, including sub-sections titled "Los Angeles Has A Subway?" and "Could Public Transit Become Hip In Los Angeles?"

The names of the 300 or so London underground stations are often quite unusual, yet so familiar that Tube riders take them for granted.

We hardly ever question their meanings or origins—yet these well-known names are almost always linked with fascinating stories of bygone times.

In Why Do Shepherds Need A Bush?: London's Underground History Of Tube Station Names (Stroud, Eng.: History Press, 2010), author David Hilliam not only uncovers the little-known history behind the station stops below ground, but also explores the eccentric etymology of some of London's landmarks, offering trivia boxes that will surely amuse.

Until the mid-19th century, London was almost unbelievably rural, with names belonging to a countryside we could never recognize or imagine today.

Who in the 21st century, thinks of a real flesh-and-blood shepherd lolling back on a specially-trimmed hawthorn bush, when traveling through Shepherd's Bush underground station?

And who, traveling through Totteridge and Whetstone on the Northern Line, imagines medieval soldiers sharpening their swords and daggers at the aptly named Whetstone just before engaging in the appallingly bloody battle of Barnet?

This entertaining book will ensure that readers never view their normal Tube journey the same way again.

2010 Transportation Ballot Measures: An Examination Of Key Trends And Results

2010-11-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

Election Day has come and gone. Yesterday, our daily Transportation Headlines highlighted the Center For Transportation Excellence's state-by-state results of all transportation ballot measures in 2010.

43 of 56 measures passed: a 77% success rate.

But what does it mean for local and national transportation issues? The pundits, planners, pollsters and prognosticators have only just begun reading the tea leaves as well as the writing on the wall.

This Friday, CFTE will host a webinar recapping the outcomes of this year's transportation measures across the country and take a look at key trends from other recent elections.

This is a great opportunity to learn how communities are using ballot measures to improve their transportation systems, so we wanted to share more information about it:

Free Webinar: Trends And Results From 2010 Transportation Ballot Measures (Register Here)

Hosted by the Center for Transportation Excellence, NAPTA and APTA State Transit Association Leaders

Fri, Nov 5, 2010 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM PST

In advance of the webinar, the following resources might be worth reviewing:

CFTE's State-By-State 2010 Transportation Ballot Measures results

CFTE's report: Transportation Finance At The Ballot Box: Voters Support Increased Investment & Choice (34p. PDF)

Transportation For America's Future Of Transportation Nation Survey (26p. PDF : March, 2010), for which a summary of survey findings can be found here.

In other post-election news, Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Chair of the House Transportation And Infrastructure Committee, was defeated after 18 terms in the House of Representatives. John Mica (R-FL), the Committee's Republican leader, said in a statement today:

“Among my top legislative priorities will be passing a long-term federal highways and transit reauthorization, a long-overdue Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, a new water resources measure, and a long-term Coast Guard reauthorization.
“I will also focus on major initiatives to find ways within the Committee’s jurisdiction to save taxpayer dollars. That includes better management and utilization of federal assets, including real property, and more efficient, cost effective passenger rail transportation, including a better directed high-speed rail program.”

We also wanted to share more information about CFTE, which does an excellent job rounding up information about transportation measures and election results. They also serve as a "clearinghouse for information in support of quality transportation choices. "

CFTE is committed to two main objectives: (1) responding to transit’s critics and (2) equipping local leaders with the information they need to be successful with their public transportation initiatives and ballot measures.

How does CFTE accomplish its mission? Their goal is to deliver the message of sensible transportation choice by:

Creating case studies that illustrate the power of effective public transportation
Developing “tool kits” that aid local leaders in communicating the benefits of their programs
Maintaining an interactive website that provides clear information on effective public transportation development
Reaching out to media sources with the arguments in support of sensible transportation choice
Mobilizing in response to media coverage of the opposition with Letters to the Editor, Op/Ed submissions, editorial board meetings, etc.
Tracking legislative efforts and ballot measures and reporting on the outcomes and trendsTracking research outcomes and publicizing research results to the media, stakeholders, and local leaders

Now more than ever, as state governments struggle with massive budget deficits, and communities suffer under burgeoning traffic, support for sensible transportation solutions is in peril. Opponents using erroneous arguments and fomenting fear are eroding the great strides made over the past decade.

Supporters of balanced, practical transportation development look to CFTE for assistance with:

Distributing information that proves the effectiveness of public transportation
Engaging the opposition wherever and whenever they appear
Coaching community leaders in techniques for engaging the opposition in their own communities
Promoting transportation victories at the local, state, and national levels

Image courtesy of Flickr

Our National Archives At Risk: What The Government Accountability Office Has Found

2010-11-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

We wanted to share important (and frankly, frightening) news with you regarding the findings released last week of an audit of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

The audit (42p. PDF) was prompted in part by the loss of the Wright Brothers' original patent and maps for atomic bomb missions in Japan.

These losses led investigators to discover that some of the nation's prized historical documents are in danger of being lost for good. It follows a previous audit (66p. PDF) earlier in October highlighting oversight and management improvements, but pointing out that more action was needed.

The Government Accountability Office has also released a Summary Of Audit Findings as well as a Highlights page. The NARA website has posted a Statement in response to the audit findings from Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero.

Nearly 80 percent of U.S. government agencies are at risk of illegally destroying public records and the National Archives is backlogged with hefty volumes of records needing preservation care, the audit by the Government Accountability Office found.

The report by the watchdog arm of Congress, completed this month after a year's work, also found many U.S. agencies do not follow proper procedures for disposing of public records.

The report comes more than a year after news reports of key items missing at the nation's record-keeping agency. Some of the items have been missing for decades but their absence only became widely known in recent years.

The patent file for the Wright Brothers flying machine was last seen in 1980 after passing around multiple Archives offices, the Patents and Trademarks Office and the National Air and Space Museum.

As for maps for the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, military representatives checked them out in 1962, and they've been missing ever since.

The GAO report did not specifically mention those or other examples of missing items including Civil War telegrams from Abraham Lincoln, Eli Whitney's cotton gin patent and some NASA photographs on the moon.

Meanwhile, some documents face the threat of deterioration even though they're already at the Archives. Figures from 2009 show 65 percent of its holdings need preservation steps. In some cases, a document's condition already is so poor, it can't be read – a backlog amounting to more than 2 million cubic feet of records.

The National Archives and Records Administration has 44 facilities in 20 states, including 13 presidential libraries, funded by about $470 million this year from Congress.

NARA also maintains a "Help The National Archives Recover Lost And Stolen Documents" website.

Research Roundup: Social Media For Public Transportation, Funding The Needs Of An Aging Population & An Overview Of U.S. Parking Management Strategies

2010-11-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Each and every day, social media tools change the way that organizations
interact with their users.

A recent report from the Center For Urban Transportation Research at University of South Florida titled Routes To New Networks: A Guide To Social Media For The Public Transportation Industry (66p. PDF) explains how these new platforms offer not only more personal one-on-one interaction than traditional media, but also represent the essence of niche marketing.

It is undeniable that social media is all the buzz. For some, utilizing new media tools may come as second nature. For others, however, entering the world of social media means taking a giant leap into the world of online communications.

One thing is certain – social media platforms are allowing a new opportunity for transportation providers to directly communicate with their target audiences. Communication is moving in this direction – with or without your organization.

The report analyzes the usefulness of and applications for social networks, written blogs, audio/video blogs, microblogs (e.g. Twitter), photo sharing, video sharing, user-generated content and mobile web content.

The report states that key points to consider when determining which tool(s) to use are:

1) Who is my target audience and what tools are they using?
2) What type of information do I want to communicate?

Content must always resonate with your audience. What can you provide that would be of value?

Earlier this year, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) published Funding The Public Transportation Needs Of An Aging Population (57p. PDF).

It explains how rapid growth in the number of older people in the United States during the coming decades will lead to greatly increased needs for expanded and enhanced public transportation services. This report:

a) identifies the range of actions that will be needed to expand mobility options for older people, including accessible public transportation services;
b) quantifies the demand for these public transportation services; and
c) estimates the funding that will be needed to provide them.

Needed actions have been identified by means of a review of the extensive literature on this
subject. The actions needed to expand mobility options for older people include:

Enhancements to fixed-route public transportation operations and planning such as additional bus operator training, incorporating travel needs of older people in route planning and stop placement, and coordination with other agencies and transportation providers
Enhancements to public transportation vehicles such as low-floor buses, kneeling buses, improved interior circulation, additional stanchions and grab bars, ergonomic seating designed for older riders, and accessibility features either required or encouraged by ADA like lifts and ramps, larger letters on head signs, and stop announcements
Actions to help older people take advantage of existing services, like presenting information in ways that are easy to read and as clear as possible, information and assistance programs to connect older people with appropriate services, and outreach and training programs
Expansion of supplementary services including flexible route and community transportation services, ADA complementary paratransit, non-ADA demand-responsive services, taxi subsidy programs, and volunteer driver programs
Application of universal design strategies at transit facilities, bus stops, and on streets and sidewalks in the immediate vicinity of transit facilities and stops

These are the actions of greatest concern to public transportation agencies, but they are not the
only actions needed.

Other important actions include assuring supportive services to caregivers
who provide transportation, encouraging further development of unsubsidized private
transportation services, increasing the availability of accessible taxicabs, coordinating with non-emergency medical transportation provided under Medicaid and Medicare, and supporting
modifications to automobiles and roadways to increase the safety of older drivers.

Finally, we wanted to take a closer look at U.S. Parking Policies: An Overview Of Management Strategies put out by the Institute For Transportation And Development Policy in New York.

This report highlights best practices in parking management in the United States.

In the last decade, some municipalities have reconsidered poorly conceived parking policies to address a host of negative impacts resulting from private automobile use such as traffic congestion and climate change. Unchecked, these policies have proven to be a major barrier to establishing a balanced urban transportation network.

Many aspects of current parking management in the United States do not work reliably or efficiently for anyone: Motorists find themselves circling for long periods in search of a place to park; retail employees take choice parking locations away from potential customers; developers are compelled to provide more parking than the market requires; and traffic managers encounter difficulty handling traffic generated by new parking as there is often no link between parking price, supply and the amount of available road space.

Finally, the old parking paradigm doesn’t work for the environment, as hidden subsidies encourage over reliance on private car use — a major, growing contributor to global warming and air pollution.

This report identifies core sustainable parking principles and illustrates how smarter parking management can benefit consumers and businesses in time and money savings, while also leading to more livable, attractive communities.

New & Notable: Inventing L.A.'s Autopia, Rival Trancontinental Rails, Rules For Sustainable Communities & Transportation Privatization

2010-10-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

In 1920, as its population began to explode, Los Angeles was a largely pastoral city of bungalows and palm trees. Thirty years later, choked with smog and traffic, the city had become synonymous with urban sprawl and unplanned growth.

Yet Los Angeles was anything but unplanned, as Jeremiah B.C. Axelrod reveals in this compelling, visually oriented history of the metropolis during its formative years. In a deft mix of cultural and intellectual history that brilliantly illuminates the profound relationship between imagination and place, Inventing Autopia: Dreams And Visions Of The Modern Metropolis In Jazz Age Los Angeles (Berkeley: University Of California Press, 2009) shows how the clash of irreconcilable utopian visions and dreams resulted in the invention of an unforeseen new form of urbanism--sprawling, illegible, fractured--that would reshape not only Southern California but much of the nation in the years to come.

At 401 pages, it could seem like a daunting read, but those interested in Los Angeles history, urbanization, or the rise of the automobile will find this enjoyable. It's a great compliment to the Metro Library's historic transit and transportation studies collection. Many of these documents, which date back to 1911, have been digitized and are available on our website in full-text PDF.

Axelrod focuses on the 1920s when Los Angeles was growing at a fast clip. As we noted back in July, the number of automobile registrations in Los Angeles County quadrupled between 1914 and 1922 - making it very clear that the city's embrace of the auto would set the stage for decades of congestion and other issues.

Going back further in history is another equally seminal story about transportation in the West. Acclaimed historian Walter R. Borneman has written a dazzling account of the battle to build the first transportation system across America.

Rival Rails: The Race To Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad (New York: Random House, 2010) is an action-packed epic of how an empire was born—and the remarkable men who made it happen.

After the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, the rest of the country was up for grabs, and the race was on. The prize: a better, shorter, less snowy route through the corridors of the American Southwest, linking Los Angeles to Chicago.

Borneman lays out in compelling detail the sectional rivalries, contested routes, political posturing, and ambitious business dealings that unfolded as an increasing number of lines pushed their way across the country.

The author brings to life the legendary business geniuses and so-called robber barons who made millions and fought the elements—and one another—to move America, including:

William Jackson Palmer, whose leadership of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad relied on innovative narrow gauge trains that could climb steeper grades and take tighter curves;

Collis P. Huntington of the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific lines, a magnate insatiably obsessed with trains—and who was not above bribing congressmen to satisfy his passion;

Edward Payson Ripley, visionary president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, whose fiscal conservatism and smarts brought the industry back from the brink; and

Jay Gould, ultrasecretive, strong-armer and one-man powerhouse.

In addition, Borneman captures the herculean efforts required to construct these roads—the laborers who did the back-breaking work, boring tunnels through mountains and throwing bridges across unruly rivers, the brakemen who ran atop moving cars, the tracklayers crushed and killed by runaway trains.

From backroom deals in Washington, D.C., to armed robberies of trains in the wild deserts, from glorified cattle cars to streamliners and Super Chiefs, all the great incidents and innovations of a mighty American era are re-created with unprecedented power in this new work destined to be a classic.

Turning now to urban planning, author Patrick Condon discusses transportation, housing equity, job distribution, economic development, and ecological systems issues and synthesizes his knowledge and research into a simple-to-understand set of urban design rules that can, if followed, help save the planet.

Seven Rules For Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies For The Post Carbon World (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2010) clearly connects the form of our cities to their ecological, economic, and social consequences. This book takes on a wide range of complex and contentious issues and distills them down to convincing and practical solutions.

Of particular importance is how city form affects the production of planet-warming greenhouse gases. The author explains this relationship in an accessible way, and goes on to show how conforming to seven simple rules for community design could literally do a world of good. Each chapter in the book explains one rule in depth, adding a wealth of research to support each claim. If widely used, Condon argues, these rules would lead to a much more livable world for future generations—a world that is not unlike the better parts of our own.

In Last Exit: Privatization And Deregulation Of The U.S. Transportation System (Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 2010), Clifford Winston reminds us that transportation services and infrastructure in the United States were originally introduced by private firms.

The case for subsequent public ownership and management of the system was weak, in his view, and here he assesses the case for privatization and deregulation to greatly improve Americans satisfaction with their transportation systems. How can this be done?

Writing in the New York Times, Harvard University economics professor Edward L. Glaeser points out that:

Because the public sector controls almost all roads, airports and urban transit, we see the downsides of public control on a daily basis, but we don’t experience the social costs that could accompany privatization. A private airport operator might try to exploit its monopoly power over a particular market or cut costs in a way that increases the probability of very costly, but rare, disaster.

The complexity and risks of switching to private provision means that Mr. Winston is wise to call for experimentation rather than wholesale privatization. An incremental process of trying things out will provide information and build public support.

Yet many of Mr. Winston’s recommendations are incremental and can be done without privatization or much risk.

The book covers privatization and deregulation of roads, airports, air traffic control, mass transit, intercity buses and railway networks.

Research Roundup: Spawl Crawl And Rethinking Peak Hour Commutes, The New Sharing Economy & Smart Mobility For The 21st Century

2010-10-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

The organization CEOs For Cities released a widely-cited report last month titled Measuring Urban Transportation Performance: A Critique Of Mobility Measures And Synthesis (71p. PDF). Their research finds that the secret to reducing the amount of time Americans spend in peak hour traffic has more to do with how we build our cities than how we build our roads.

The report explains how the cities studied have managed to achieve shorter travel times and actually reduce the peak hour travel times. Some metropolitan areas have land use patterns and transportation systems that enable their residents to take shorter trips and minimize the burden of peak hour travel.

This runs counter to the conclusions of the Texas Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Report year after year. The CEO For Cities document explains that the UMR approach has completely overlooked the role that variations in travel distances play in driving urban transportation problems.

In the best performing cities -- those that have achieved the shortest peak hour travel distances -- such as Chicago, Portland and Sacramento, the typical traveler spends 40 fewer hours per year in peak hour travel than the average American. Because of smart land use planning and investment in alternative transportation, Portland has seen its average trip lengths decline by 20%.

In contrast, in the most sprawling metropolitan areas, such as Nashville, Indianapolis and Raleigh, the average resident spends as much as 240 hours per year in peak period travel because travel distances are so much greater. The report's 20-page Executive Summary is titled Driven Apart: How Sprawl Is Lengthening Our Commutes And Why Misleading Mobility Measures Are Making Things Worse.

In The New Sharing Economy, a study by Latitude in collaboration with Shareable Magazine, the authors look at new opportunities for sharing.

An interesting graph (click to enlarge) plots various endeavors on a market saturation and latent demand scale. The resulting plot points fall into four quandrants, labeled:

Low Interest and Low Prior Success (e.g. bike, outdoor sporting goods)

Done Well Already (e.g. work space, storage space, food co-op)

Opportunities Still Remain (e.g. physical media, digital media)

Best New Opportunities (automobile, time/responsibilities, money lending/borrowing)

This last category, Best New Opportunities, provides the launch point for discussion of car sharing. The report notes that there's still a large amount of unfulfilled demand for car-sharing. More than half of all participants surveyed either shared vehicles casually or weren't sharing currently but expressed interest in doing so. For people who share in an organized fashion, cars and bikes were popular for sharing amongst family and close friends but weren't commonly shared outside this immediate network, relative to other categories of goods.

This intriguing and visually appealing report goes on to point out the new sharing takeaways for non-sharing businesses, including "we-based brands," the value in social and alternative currencies, and the "contagiousness" of sharing.

Finally, Transportation For America recently released a White Paper titled Smart Mobility For A 21st Century America: Strategies For Maximizing Technology To Minimize Congestion, Reduce Emissions And Increase Efficiency (39p. PDF).

It proposes that improving transportation efficiency through operational innovation is critical as our population grows and ages, budgets tighten and consumer preferences shift.

As Congress prepares to review and reauthorize the nation’s transportation program, an array of innovations that were either overlooked or did not exist at the time of previous authorizations can be incentivized.

Just as the Internet, smart phones and social media changed they way we acquire news, listen to music or connect with friends and family, these same innovations have implications for how we move around. While high-tech gadgets can be a problem when they distract motorists from driving, they open up a whole new world for people using other modes.

But what if we could manage traffic to help drivers avoid congestion before they get stuck in it? What if you always knew when the next bus was going to arrive, the closest parking space or which train car had a seat available for you? The innovative technologies and strategies outlined in the White Paper include:

Making transportation systems more efficient (e.g. ramp meters, highway advisory radio)
Providing more travel options (e.g. online databases to match up vanpool riders, car-sharing services)
Providing travelers with better, more accurate, and more connected information (e.g. computerized vehicle tracking)
Making pricing and payments more convenient and efficient (e.g. EZ passes, electronic benefits)
Reducing trips and traffic (flex-time, consolidating services online)

The report goes on to discuss changes in demographics and make recommendations for federal transportation policy, as well as highlight several intriguing "smart mobility case studies."

Metro Library's Digital Documents Collection: What You Need To Know About "Anytime, Anywhere" Access

2010-10-26T13:06:00.001-07:00

The Metro Transportation Library has begun collecting, cataloging and providing access to “digital” documents via our online catalog. These important resources have been produced and disseminated in electronic format – rather than being released “on paper.”

Up until now, we had been providing access to plenty of digitized documents - those which were scanned to provide electronic portability for resource sharing.

Some of our print documents (books, reports, etc.) had digital versions published along with print copies, and we had linked to those in our online catalog. Other items that were published in print were scanned to create a PDF document, allowing them to be emailed or easily accessed in other ways. For example, our collection of historic L.A. transit plans offers numerous full-text digital documents.

In both cases, the digital documents supplemented the original print versions. They appear in our online catalog just as a book does, but with links to a URL that opens the PDF document for that title.

However, more and more information is being “born digital” -- published electronically, as opposed to in print format. Rather than printing these items out to add to our collection, we are cataloging the electronic version to conserve resources and provide better access and more options for our users.

We wanted to share with you some of the many benefits of growing our digital documents collection and why it is important to capture these “born digital” documents for posterity.

Digital documents do not take up valuable space. We save paper (and time, and ink) by not printing out electronic documents. We save additional resources by not binding, labeling and barcoding printed documents, as well as other physical processing. Cataloging the electronic version provides all the content directly to our users in a direct, cost-efficient manner.

Digital documents do not get lost or stolen. The Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library & Archive has its own server space to host digital documents in our digital libraries. We have created organized directories to facilitate sharing resources in a timely manner. By storing the documents electronically on our own servers, they are easily located and safeguarded from disappearing from the collection. There are numerous ways books, reports and other print documents can disappear from a collection: theft, mis-shelving, loss, never returned after checkout, or sustaining damage that hinders their use. Electronic access does not pose these problems.

Digital documents can serve multiple users simultaneously. While there is something to be said for the experience of curling up in bed with a great book, that book can only be experienced by one person at a time. Libraries are embracing eBooks because they reduce or eliminate the wait time for popular titles.

Likewise, our digital documents collection will accommodate multiple users at the same time. For example, when lengthy environmental impact reports (EIRs) are released to the public for review and comment, we now provide the user with the ability to consume this information at the same time as others, as well as at the time and place of his or her choosing.

Digital documents are findable as well as searchable. These resources are located the same way as other material formats in our collection. Our users will find relevant digital documents when searching the online catalog, although we do not currently have the ability to limit search results to only digital documents.

However, once a digital document is found, the user can open the link to the PDF and execute a keyword search within the document for the information they want.

Users can quickly locate specific data or text with a few keystrokes from home or their mobile device, as opposed to making a request of the Metro Library, having staff search for and locate a print document, scanning or sending the document to the user, and the user then searching through it for the information they need.

Like online news stories that disappear all too quickly, some resources that should persist forever often go away before they can be accessed. References to them often last longer than the access provided by the producer, leading users to waste time trying to track down something that no longer exists.

Transit advocacy groups go by the wayside, organizations merge with others, while other entities change their Internet domain names -- all these scenarios cause users to waste time searching for vanished resources, or search for URL links to desired documents that cannot be found.

Creating a lasting home for these items and making them permanently accessible meets these challenges. By cataloging electronic resources that fit our collection profile, we not only provide access to them, but preserve them as well.

As one of the premier transportation research collections in the country, we want to grow our collection to remain responsive to Metro’s ambitious mobility agenda moving forward. We can achieve this without using up more physical space or many of the costs associated with print documents.

Finally, we are mindful that more and more users will be accessing our collection via mobile devices in the coming years. New smartphones, e-readers and iPads allow students, researchers, historians, and anyone interested in transportation information the ability to access us however they like.

These devices will continue to provide users with greater amounts of information, more quickly, and in more customizable fashion, where they want and need it. Our growing digital documents collection helps us prepare for these for 24/7 access needs: anytime, anywhere.

New And Notable: Transport For Suburbia, ArcGIS & High Speed Passenger Rail

2010-10-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

The need for effective public transport is greater than ever in the 21st century. With countries like China and India moving towards mass-automobility, we face the prospects of an environmental and urban health disaster unless alternatives are found--it is time to move beyond the automobile age.

But while public transport has worked well in the dense cores of some big cities, the problem is that most residents of developed countries now live in dispersed suburbs and smaller cities and towns. These places usually have little or no public transport, and most transport commentators have given up on the task of changing this: it all seems too hard.

Transport For Suburbia: Beyond The Automobile Age (London: Earthscan, 2010) argues that the secret of European-style public transport lies in a generalizable model of network planning that has worked in places as diverse as rural Switzerland, the Brazilian city of Curitiba and the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver. It shows how this model can be adapted to suburban, exurban and even rural areas to provide a genuine alternative to the car, and outlines the governance, funding and service planning policies that underpin the success of the world's best public transport systems.

Getting To Know ArcGIS Desktop (Redlands, Calif.: ESRI Press, 2010) introduces principles of GIS as it teaches the mechanics of using ESRI’s leading technology.

Key concepts are combined with detailed illustrations and step-by-step exercises to acquaint readers with the building blocks of ArcGIS Desktop including ArcMap, for displaying and querying maps, ArcCatalog, for organizing geographic data, and ModelBuilder, for diagramming and processing solutions to complex spatial analysis problems.

Its broad scope, simple style, and practical orientation make this book an ideal classroom text and an excellent resource for those learning GIS on their own.

The factors affecting the economic viability of high speed rail lines include the level of expected riders, costs, and public benefits, which are influenced by a line's corridor and service characteristics.

High speed rail tends to attract riders in dense, highly populated corridors, especially when there is congestion on existing transportation modes.

Characteristics of the proposed service are also key considerations, as high speed rail attracts riders where it compares favorably to travel alternatives with regard to door-to-door trip times, prices, frequency of service, reliability and safety.

In High Speed Passenger Rail: Viability, Challenges And Federal Role (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2010), a strategic vision for high speed rail is offered, particularly in relation to the role that high speed rail can play in the national transportation system, clearly identifying potential objectives and goals for high speed rail systems and the roles that federal and other stakeholders should play in achieving each objective and goal.

The recently enacted Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 will likely increase the federal role in the development of high speed rail, as will the newly enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

The 24-Hour City: 104 Years Of Owl Transit Service In Los Angeles

2010-09-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

-- By Matt Barrett

Los Angeles has been a 24-hour city for much longer that most would imagine, and transit service has played an important role in keeping the city moving overnight for over 100 years.

(LAMTA Car 3022 trundles down the R Line tracks on owl service in 1963. Photo courtesy of Alan Weeks)

According to the September 11, 1906 edition of the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper, in a brief article entitled “Owl Cars Are Run on Principal Lines”:

The “owl” car service began last night. Cars on the principal lines left First and Spring streets at 1 and 2 o’clock. They were well patronized. The lines included are Boyle Heights, Grand Avenue, Vernon Avenue, University, Main Street, and Pico Heights.

At the time service began, these lines linked Downtown with what were then LA’s most populated neighborhoods around 6th and Rampart, Central and Slauson, Boyle Heights, 46th and Wesley, Vermont and 54th, and Pico and Wilton.

Owl service continued in operation as the fledgling network of streetcar lines, buses and interurban rail lines was purchased in 1911 and organized into two main transit companies: Pacific Electric, for long-distance interurban service, and Los Angeles Railway serving urban inner-city Los Angeles.

As Los Angeles grew outward, so did the length of the lines offering owl service. Special owl service guides were published and system maps included extensive owl service information for passengers.

Even as streetcar service slowly began the conversion to bus service, beginning as early as 1925 and continuing until the last rail line was shut down in 1963, owl service remained a part of the transit system – as it does today.

(This 1947 brochure advertised LAMTA's Owl Service)

Currently, Metro has 59 buses running on 26 lines during its overnight owl service, roughly midnight to 5 a.m., connecting Downtown to points north to the San Fernando Valley, south to Long Beach, east to El Monte and west to Santa Monica and Venice.

New And Notable: Strategic Collaboration In Public & Non-Profit, Managing Public Sector Projects, Government Contracting

2010-09-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

This week, we highlight three new titles from the ASPA Series in Public Administration and Public Policy.

Market disruptions, climate change, and health pandemics lead the growing list of challenges faced by today’s leaders. These issues, along with countless others that do not make the daily news, require novel thinking and collaborative action to find workable solutions. However, many administrators stumble into collaboration without a strategic orientation.

Using a practitioner-oriented style, Strategic Collaboration In Public And Non-Profit Administration: A Practice-Based Approach To Solving Shared Problems provides guidance on how to collaborate more effectively, with less frustration and better results.

Linking collaboration theory to effective practice, this book offers essential advice that fosters shared understanding, creative answers, and transformation results through strategic collaborative action. With an emphasis on application, it uses scenarios, real-world cases, tables, figures, tools, and checklists to highlight key points.

The appendix includes supplemental resources such as collaboration operating guidelines, a meeting checklist, and a collaboration literature review to help public and nonprofit managers successfully convene, administer, and lead collaboration. The book presents a framework for engaging in collaboration in a way that stretches current thinking and advances public service practice.

A guidebook through the minefield of government contracting and procurement, Government Contracting: Promises and Perils describes the dangerous practices commonly applied in the development and management of government contracts and provides advice for avoiding the sort of errors that might compromise their ability to protect the public interest.

It includes strategies for increasing profits for government contractors, rather than incurring burdensome costs, through compliance with government mandated subcontracting and financial management systems.

Drawing from his in-depth investigation of government agencies across the country, the author examines present-day scenarios that regularly lead public servants and government committees to manage contracts with tools that are less than optimal and to select contractors that may not be the best qualified. He then delineates practical processes, contracting documents, and contract management tools to mitigate detrimental outcomes and alternative approaches to supplant the imperfect methodologies.

The author includes a CD-ROM with the book that provides a number of practical tools that you can apply as well as examples of contracts and templates that are the best he discovered during his research. The book also outlines an approach for performing advance contract planning, conducting contract negotiations, and administering contracts useful when planning for the management of the contracting process throughout the contracting cycle, negotiating a contract that protects the interest of all contracting parties, and ensuring successful contractor performance.

Filling a gap in project management literature, Managing Public Sector Projects: A Strategic Framework for Success in an Era of Downsized Government supplies managers and administrators—at all levels of government—with expert guidance on all aspects of public sector project management.

From properly allocating risks in drafting contracts to dealing with downsized staffs and privatized services, this book clearly explains the technical concepts and the political issues involved.

In line with the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and the PMBOK^® (Project Management Body of Knowledge), David S. Kassel establishes a framework those in the public sector can follow to ensure the success of their public projects and programs. He supplies more than 30 real-life examples to illustrate the concepts behind the framework—including reconstruction projects in Iraq, the Big Dig project in Boston, local sewer system and library construction projects, and software technology.

This authoritative resource provides strategic recommendations for effective planning, execution, and maintenance of public projects. It also:

Highlights the differences between managing projects in the public sector versus the private sector
Explains how to scrutinize costs, performance claims, and the backgrounds of prospective contractors
Presents key safeguards that should be included in all contracts with contractors, consultants, suppliers, and other service providers
Details the basics of project cost estimation, design and scheduling, and how to hold contractors responsible for meeting established project standards

In an age of downsized government and in the face of a general distrust of public service, this book is a dependable guide for avoiding management practices that are common to projects that fail and for adopting the practices common to projects that succeed in terms of cost, schedule, and quality.

New And Notable: Cities For People, Transportation Infrastructure Security, Railway Noise And Vibration

2010-09-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

For more than forty years Jan Gehl has helped to transform urban environments around the world based on his research into the ways people actually use — or could use — the spaces where they live and work.

In Cities For People (Washington : Island Press, 2010), his revolutionary new book, Gehl presents his latest work creating (or recreating) cityscapes on a human scale. He clearly explains the methods and tools he uses to reconfigure unworkable cityscapes into the landscapes he believes they should be: cities for people.

Taking into account changing demographics and changing lifestyles, Gehl explains how to develop cities that are lively, safe, sustainable, and healthy.

“Jan Gehl is our greatest observer of urban quality and an indispensable philosopher of cities as solutions to the environmental and health crises that we face. With over half the world’s population now in urban areas, the entire planet needs to learn the lessons he offers in Cities for People.” --Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation

The book is extensively illustrated with over 700 photos and drawings of examples from Gehl’s work around the globe. Jan Gehl is based in Copenhagen.

Intelligent Transportation Systems, or ITS, integrates different computing, control, and communication technologies to help monitor and manage traffic management that helps reduce congestion while saving lives, time, and money.

While mobility and safety are the primary objectives of any good transportation system, security has also become an equally important consideration in their design and operation.

This new work, Transportation Infrastructure Security Utilizing Intelligent Transportation Systems (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2008), provides a comprehensive treatment of techniques to leverage ITS in support of security and safety for surface transportation infrastructure.

Through the book's multidisciplinary approach, readers gain a comprehensive introduction to the diverse aspects of transportation infrastructure security as well as how ITS can reduce risks and be protected from threats with such topics as computer systems, risk analysis, and multi-modal transportation systems.

This book, which will serve as a textbook and guide, provides:

Current ITS approaches to security issues such as freight security, disaster and evacuation response, HAZMAT incidents, rail security, and ITS Wide Area Alerts
Guidance on the development of a regional transportation security plan
Securing ITS itself and privacy issues involved in any collection and use of personally identifiable tracking data
Exercises, question-and-answer sections, and other helpful review tools for the reader

Filling a gap in the practical application of security, this book offers both students and transportation professionals valuable insights into the new security challenges encountered and how to manage these challenges with the use of computerized transportation systems.

Railways are an environmentally friendly means of transport well suited to modern society.

However, noise and vibration are key obstacles to further development of the railway networks for high-speed intercity traffic, for freight and for suburban metros and light-rail.

Railway Noise And Vibration: Mechanisms, Modelling And Means Of Control (Amsterdam : Elsevier, 2009) brings together coverage of the theory of railway noise and vibration with practical applications of noise control technology at source to solve noise and vibration problems from railways.

Each source of noise and vibration is described in a systematic way: rolling noise, curve squeal, bridge noise, aerodynamic noise, ground vibration and ground-borne noise, and vehicle interior noise.

This work also discusses in full the theoretical background and practical workings of railway noise, including the latest research findings, and forms an extended case study in the application of noise control techniques.

Author David Thompson is Professor of Railway Noise and Vibration at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton (U.K.).

This Is Social Media Week In Los Angeles!

2010-09-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

It's Social Media Week here in Los Angeles.

This global platform for conversation, collaboration and learning connects hundreds of thousands of people in different cities around the world in hopes of raising consciousness about social media's role in society.

Participating cities this week include not only Los Angeles, but Bogota, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Milan.

According to the organizers, programming and content are "designed to cover every emerging trend, technology area and industry sector." Events are primarily free to attend or significantly subsidized. By being both collaborative and co-curated, the event reflects the local market rather than one vision distributed throughout participating cities.

The programming on deck in Los Angeles this week includes a Cleantech Social Media Panel sponsored by CleanTech Los Angeles at 2:00pm Tuesday afternoon, September 21. "Panelists range from established social media cleantech groups to new cleantech initiatives seeking to capitalize on social media techniques."

Other events deal with How Geolocation Technology Is Changing The World, Listening And Engaging With The Public: Political Process In Social Media and the convergence of Search Engine Optimization And Social Media.

Back in February, Social Media Week rolled into Berlin, London, New York, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Toronto. You can find more information on the Social Media Week website, as well as on Twitter, their Facebook page, and on YouTube.

Research Roundup: More Transit = More Jobs, Congestion Trends & Statistics, Managing Increased Ridership

2010-09-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

The Transportation Equity Network (TEN) has released More Transit = More Jobs: The Impact Of Increasing Funding For Public Transit (31p. PDF). TEN is a coalition of more than 350 grassroots organizations in 41 states that has worked since 1997 to build a more just, prosperous, and connected America.

This study asks two key questions:

What would be the effect on jobs in each metropolitan area of shifting 50% of the money spent on highways to public transit?

How many jobs would be created in each metro area if we increased funding on public transit at the rate indicated by the Transportation For America proposal for the next transportation authorization act?

The report highlights several statistics in answering those questions based on data from Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPS) in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas. For example, 1,123,674 new transit jobs would be created over a 5-year period for a net gain of 180,150 jobs without a single dollar of new spending.

However, if federal spending on transit increased as proposed by TEN and Transportation For America, an estimated 1.3 million jobs over the life of the law would be created, as well as almost 800,000 more jobs than under present federal transporation law (SAFETEA-LU).

The Federal Highway Administration published the 2009 Urban Congestion Trends (8p. PDF) document last week. This brief report utilizes a dashboard format to convey year-over-year changes in key traffic measures: daily hours of congestion, time penalty for eqach trip, worst-trip time penalty. Some key observations include:

Overall, congestion had declined in almost all monitored regions between 2008 and 2009
Less wasted time and fewer hours of the day were devoted to stop-and-go traffic in 16 of the 23 monitored regions
At least one of the three measures improved in 20 of the 23 monitored regions
Congestion is lowest during the summer vacation season

The report goes on to explain how operational improvements can mitigate congestion and promote smooth, safe and consistent traffic flow.

Examples provided from around the country include high-occupancy/toll lanes, freeway ramp metering, improved information coordination, work-zone management, and traffic signal system improvement programs.

In Managing Increasing Ridership Demand (32p. PDF), The FTA's Transit Cooperative Research Program presents an overview of a study mission investigating how several transit operators and agencies in Latin America accomodate sudden and significant growth in the number of riders and increasing demand for service.

Case studies from Guayaquil (Ecuador), Santiago (Chile), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Porto Alegre (Brazil) were selected because they have faced and successfully dealt with challenges similar to recent ridership grown in the United States.

Each city's responses offer unique insight into managing increasing transit ridership and providing various perspectives on serving the mobility needs of their communities.

Two International Transit Studies Program study missions such as this are conducted each year. They have three objectives: To afford team members the opportunity to expand their network of domestic and international public transportation peers, to provide a forum for discussion of global initiatives and lessons learned in public transportation, and to facilitate idea sharing and the possible import of strategies for application to transportation communities in the United States.

5th Annual L.A. As Subject Archives Bazaar: Save The Date For L.A.'s Premiere Historical & Cultural Event On Oct. 23 (And It's Free!)

2010-09-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

Southern California: Just thinking about our vast region (larger than many states), diverse population (numbering in the millions), and its unique role in the historical and cultural development of the state and nation boggles the mind.

(Click on all images to enlarge)

How the Los Angeles region became what it is today is a long and complex story. Much of our local history is preserved in libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions. Other valuable and unique collections - those that reveal the stories of neighborhoods, families, influential Angelenos - are scattered across the region, and are curated by smaller institutions and individual enthusiasts.

Our own collections at Metro's Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library and Archive are also an integral part of the history of the Los Angeles area. In order to promote the rich legacy of transportation history in Southern California, we play an active role in L.A. As Subject, a research alliance of more than 250 separate collections dedicated to preserving and improving access to the unique history and culture of Los Angeles. L.A. As Subject is hosted by Unversity of Southern California, and has announced the program for its marquee event of the year.

On Saturday, October 23, 2010 during American Archives Month, L.A. As Subject holds its 5th Annual Archives Bazaar in USC's Doheny Memorial Library.

The event runs from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., features more than 70 historical collections and archives, and is free of charge.

History comes alive at this wonderful event where you can browse rare collections, consult with experts, and learn about researching Los Angeles and Southern California history, online tools, how to preserve your own personal history collections and images, and many other topics.

The full program for 2010 can be found here. The Special Guest Speaker will be KPCC host and L.A. Times columnist Patt Morrison, discussing how libraries and historical archives have informed her work. Morrison was a member of two Los Angeles Times reporting teams that won Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of the 1992 riots and the city's 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The Archives Bazaar is a great opportunity for the public to interact with these member institutions and individuals who bring their unique collections together in one place. This event allows scholars, researchers, archivists, librarians, students, history enthusiasts, documentary filmmakers and "L.A. Nerds" the opportunity to visit several institutions at once - to network, explore, ponder, and marvel at the many fascinating facets of Los Angeles and Southern California.

Imagine all those fascinating libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and cultural institutions from throughout Southern California sharing their collections and stories in an "Antiques Road Show" type of setting. It would cost a small fortune in admission and transportation costs to visit just some of the more than 70 participating institutions (including us) which have reserved their exhibit space so far. On October 23, they're all on display for you to peruse, ask questions, and explore...for free!

Other programming for the 5th Annual Archives Bazaar includes:

PANEL DISCUSSION: EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Today, the iconic newsboy hawking a newspaper on the street corner is only a memory. When will the newspaper and the newsstand also become memories? When will newspaper morgues become just that, or are they still a viable source for researchers? Join a panel of newspersons and newspaper archivists who will discuss the past, present, and future of the newspaper industry in Southern California.

PANEL DISCUSSION: BLOGGING L.A.
In recent years, blogs have become an indispensable source of news and information about the Los Angeles region. But what is their role in promoting Los Angeles history and investigating the city’s identity? Join three Southern California bloggers as they discuss how blogs can interpret the region’s past, present, and future.

PANEL DISCUSSION: UNCOVERING THE LEGACY OF DAVID ALFARO SIQUEIROS
Join Luis C. Garza, Oliver Mayer, and moderator Liza Posas for a conversation about the ongoing legacy of Mexican mural artist David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974). In 1932, Siqueiros traveled to Los Angeles and painted three murals, which were met with resistance—two were whitewashed shortly after their creation. Despite the efforts to censor his artistic vision, his work has inspired artists from the 1930s to the present day and contributed to the development of the modern mural movement in Los Angeles and beyond.

PANEL DISCUSSION: L.A. TAKES FLIGHT
From aviation pioneers to daring test pilots to space shuttle assembly plants, human flight has long played an important role in Southern California. Learn how Los Angeles took flight as panelists Kenneth E. Pauley, Linda McCann, and Michael Palmer share the hidden aviation stories they have discovered in the region’s libraries and archives.

DOCUMENTARY FILM SCREENING: BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: TOM BRADLEY AND THE POLITICS OF RACE
This documentary is the first to tell the story of Tom Bradley, the first African-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city without a black majority. It is the story of an extraordinary multiracial coalition that transformed the city and in, the process, changed American politics. We will be screening a 20-minute trailer of this work-in-progress.

DOCUMENTARY FILM SCREENING: THE LEGEND OF PANCHO BARNES
Florence “Pancho” Barnes was one of the most important women in twentieth century aviation. A tough and fearless aviatrix, Pancho opened a ranch near Edwards Air Force Base that became a famous—some would say notorious—hangout for test pilots and movie stars. Known as the Happy Bottom Riding Club, it became the epicenter of the aviation world during the early Jet Age. Since then, Pancho herself has become something of a legend, a fascinating yet enigmatic icon whose swagger is often celebrated, but whose story has been largely unknown—until now.

EDUCATIONAL SESSION: PRIVATE PASSION — PUBLIC RESOURCE
A personal fascination and individual zeal can create a collection that has value to the wider world. Such focus can illuminate details and connections that more general collections might miss. Local collectors will share their personal insights into history, and how they have assembled materials that might otherwise be dispersed and potentially never available to researchers.

EDUCATIONAL SESSION: RESEARCHING LA 101
Ever wondered how to get started with your Los Angeles research, or research in general? This presentation will provide a detailed overview of how and where to start, including researching basics useful for anyone working with primary and secondary source material. Topics will include researching from home, visiting the archives, the ins and outs of reading rooms, and more.

Scan A Barcode, Find A Library: Bringing The World's Library Collections To Your Phone

2010-09-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder about those ubiquitous Universal Product barcodes on the back of just about every book? We've been scanning UPC barcodes at the grocery checkout for years, but there never seemed to be a consumer application for those found on books...until now.

Imagine strolling through a bookstore and finding an intriguing title. Wouldn't it be great to instantly know if you could perform some comparison shopping online?

Even better, wouldn't you want to know whether the public library down the street could lend it to you for free, or provide an inter-library loan to you from another institution?

We wanted to share some very exciting news from the converging worlds of libraries, data access and mobile technology.

iPhone users can now download two updated applications that will scan a barcode on a book and find that book in a nearby library using data from WorldCat, the world's largest online database of records representing items held in libraries.

The RedLaser application, developed by Occipital, of Boulder, Colorado, is a barcode scanning application and technology for the iPhone, available through the Apple App Store.

The RedLaser app, which is currently among the top 25 paid apps in the App Store, turns the iPhone camera into a barcode scanner. For book barcodes, the app uses WorldCat APIs to deliver localized U.S. library results based on the user’s geolocation, providing library holdings, library location, contact and map information.

Another exciting new app available is Pic2shop, one of the original mobile apps designed for consumers who like to comparison shop. Users scan a book barcode with their iPhone, and can compare costs to get the book at various retailers or, now, a local library.

This app also uses the WorldCat Search API and WorldCat Registry APIs to deliver results for libraries nearby who hold the item in WorldCat. Location and mapping information is also available.

Developed by Vision Smarts, a technology company based in Belgium, pic2shop was the first iPhone app that could read UPCs and EANs. It broadens the availability for book barcode-scanning functionality, as it offers a free download and works on all available iPhones—even first generation models.

In addition, pic2shop works in all countries, although not all users may have nearby libraries with up-to-date holdings in WorldCat. Vision Smarts is also developing pic2shop apps for additional platforms beyond the iPhone.

Benoit Maison, founder of Vision Smarts and lead developer for the pic2shop app says that "Cataloging books is what we originally had in mind when we set out to build pic2shop more than a year ago. As an avid reader, I find WorldCat truly amazing. I am very proud to help make library results more widely known and available to all pic2shop users."

Mike Teets, OCLC Vice President for Innovation, explains that “putting library results in mobile phone apps such as pic2shop helps remind users that a local library might have the book they’re thinking to buy. And libraries gain extra visibility and value from their OCLC membership, thanks to the cooperative power of WorldCat.”

WorldCat is the world's largest database of bibliographic information built continuously by OCLC member libraries around the world since 1971. WorldCat maintains persistent, Web-accessible identifiers to bibliographic descriptions of items in libraries and connection information to the institutions that hold each item. The institutions share these records, using them to create local catalogs, arrange interlibrary loans and conduct reference work. Libraries contribute records for items not found in WorldCat using the OCLC shared cataloging system.

There are now more than 165 million records in WorldCat spanning five millennia of recorded knowledge. Like the knowledge it describes, WorldCat grows steadily. Every second, OCLC and its member libraries add seven records to WorldCat.

Metro's Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library & Archive has been using the OCLC database to help catalog our collections for years.

WorldCat APIs are available to anyone interested in creating noncommercial mash-ups or mobile apps that include library data. Commercial apps like RedLaser use the WorldCat Search API through a simple partnership agreement.

"OCLC continues to explore new and different ways to provide library data where users need it," said Teets. "Mobile devices are fast becoming the medium of choice for access to information for many people."

Thousands of libraries and millions of books - now at your fingertips. Literally.

Before TAP: The 1963 Vision Of Smart-Card Fare Collection And Rapid Transit For L.A.

2010-09-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

The Metro TAP Program has been in the news quite a bit lately, and it reminded us of a long-forgotten piece of Los Angeles transit history.

On January 7, 1963, local business and political leaders gathered at the Statler-Hilton Hotel downtown to hear a presentation on the need for a rapid transit system in Los Angeles.

While countless traffic plans and rapid transit solutions for our region have been proposed as far back as the 1915 Study Of Street Traffic Conditions In The City Of Los Angeles, the Rapid Transit: ...A Reality (53p. PDF) document of 1963 deserves special mention for a number of reasons.

One of the presentations that day was a speech by C.M. Gilliss, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority. He outlined the plan for a rapid transit system for Los Angeles, and buried in that statement is his prescient vision for what is known today as "smart card technology."

A half-century before TAP, Gilliss spoke of a typical passenger on the new system:

He shows his individually coded credit card to the magic-eye fare computer, is admitted through the turnstile concourse and is taken by escalator quickly to the train platform. A computer-tabulating device will automatically record his entrance and his exit and he will be billed automatically for his total mileage at the end of the month.

So what happened to this vision?

Gilliss' appealing portrait of hassle-free and stress-free commuting sounded too good to be true - and it was. Despite the appeal of an alternative to new but congested freeways (and "Sig Alerts"), the following year, the California State Legislature recognized that they had granted limited authority to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority to solve Southern California's transit problems. As then constituted, the Authority would be unable to deliver the needed comprehensive mass rapid transit system.

LAMTA did not have the power to levy taxes for any purpose whatsoever, its Board did not wield sufficient political influence to build broad public support, and it did not have the right to acquire real property by eminent domain. While it could issue revenue bonds, it did not have sufficient revenue sources to implement a large-scale system with broad local support.

The following year, the California State Legislature approved a bill authored by Senator Tom Rees (D-Beverly Hills) creating the Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD) in order to ensure that sufficient resources would be available to build a true mass transit system for Southern California.

The notion of smart-card fare collection fell by the wayside, as the last of Los Angeles' streetcars were put out to pasture the year before, and true rapid transit was still 25 years in the future. The concept was renewed in the 1990s when technology caught up to the vision put forth here, and transit agencies around the world began looking at new methods of electronic fare collection.

We have posted the full text of this rapid transit vision statement below. We think it's an exciting read for any student of Los Angeles transit, history, or past visions of future transportation projects. You may click on all images to enlarge them. You may notice some interesting details, such as the train bound for Century City, complete with period "tail fins."

It is followed by some eye-popping information about rapid transit to Westwood and a Resource List for more information. We now present to you, C.M. Gilliss:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We only wish somebody would complete some one of the many proposed rapid transit lines and put it in operation.” How many times have we, in the public transportation business, heard this plea? But these are the words of a prominent writer that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on November 5, 1888.

Since that time, the 19th Century version of a rapid transit system was actually built and it served well for 50 years. Many of you will remember the shrill whistle in the distance and the clanging and rumbling of the train as it passed. It served its purpose until a new, convenient, and flexible transportation tool, the automobile, began shaping the living, working, and travel habits of all of Southern California.

Then thousands of new streets laid over the train tracks brought millions of automobiles to impede the progress of those wonderful old trains until the system died.

It was made obsolete in many other ways. For one thing, the remarkable success of the freeways has taught us that any successful commuter facility must travel on its own free right of way.

Look, too, at the almost unbelievable technological advancements of the last 20-30 years. They make possible new and fantastic 20th Century systems that are hard even to imagine. The car, the station, the track structures I will briefly describe to you today are as modern as an orbiting space craft, and could no more be compared to the 19th Century train than one can compare the 1963 Thunderbird with the Model T Ford; or the 19th Century Hall of Records on Broadway to the new Hall of Administration.

What we will build in Los Angeles is the most modern mass rapid transit system in the whole world. The basic design of the car was adopted after many meetings with leading aircraft manufacturers, electronic specialists, railroad construction engineers, electrical equipment firms, transit designers, and "monorail" developers. Every possible technological development was investigated to assure that the system would provide the highest of speeds, operating efficiency, passenger comfort and convenience as well as engineering flexibility and safety.

This system is designed, quite frankly, to compete with the automobile, not for space on the already crowded streets and highways, as our buses must do today, but to compete with it for passengers during commuter time to relieve those streets and highways.

As Mr. Robert Bradford, Chairman of the California Highway Commission, has said last week, his highway engineers are estimating highway needs on the assumption that Los Angeles would join the San Francisco Bay Area in building a rapid transit system.

He went on to say he believes the average California driver will take less time getting home from work in 1980 than now; but he emphasizes that this depends on one fundamental condition - mass rapid transit in metropolitan areas. This system we build, then, must compete in attractiveness and convenience with the private automobile in order to relieve the streets and highways of thousands of peak-hour commuters.

There is a booklet at the door for each of you containing more information than time will permit today, but I would like you to take a trip with me now an your new system. The employee or the executive in the Tishman Building on Wilshire Blvd. leaves his office and building at 5 o'clock. This is the time when everybody else is trying to find his car and move it out through the churning stop-and-go traffic toward his home.

Our commuter goes through the unobtrusive subway station entrance on the corner and takes the escalator to the brightly lighted, attractively decorated and tiled mezzanine. He does not need a timetable because trains operate at 90-second intervals in peak hours. He shows his individually coded credit card to the magic-eye fare computer, is admitted through the turnstile concourse and is taken by escalator quickly to the train platform.

A computer-tabulating device will automatically record his entrance and his exit and he will be billed automatically for his total mileage at the end of each month. He has missed his train, but in the time it takes to buy his newspaper, another train is there.

He enters quickly through one of the several entrance doors in the eight-car train as the train makes its 20-second stop. He seats himself comfortably in a wide contoured upholstered bucket-type seat. He is aware of the soft background music and the automatic announcement of travel information and station stops.

He is aware of the bright and beautiful and attractive interior and the diffused air conditioning without drafts. The fluorescent interior light is soft and without bright contrasts. The wide and deep windows provide a maximum view from the interior and through the whole train. They are safety-plate glass, tinted, laminated, and heat repellent.

Our friend can hear the soft background music or the conversation of his companion because the new vehicle was especially designed for interior quietness. It is virtually silent and vibration free. An insulated floor muffles any sounds from the wheel-track contact, and a skirt of special sound-suppressing construction runs the full length of the train to muffle and restrict the transmission of noise to those outside. The trucks are also equipped with vibration-isolating devices. Rubber insulation pads are used throughout the construction of all the auxiliary components.

The gear and compulsion components are of advanced quiet design. Our commuter is literally riding on air. An air spring control suspension system adjusts automatically at each load change in order that the car body level remains constant. He may not notice that the track incline is slightly downward leaving the station and slightly upward approaching each station to assist in smooth acceleration and dynamic braking.

The train accelerates quickly and moves swiftly from station to station governed entirely by a centrally located electronic computer -- a-la John Glenn. This automatic system is fail-safe. The MTA attendant is along mainly to reassure the passengers - our traveler moves at speeds above 70 miles an hour & even with stops, his average speed is 35 to 40 mph.

In the time I will spend telling you about the equipment and the system and in the time our commuter has taken to read his favorite newspaper, his station at Rosemead Boulevard has been called. He has traveled in subway from along Wilshire Boulevard through the downtown civic center area onto the median strip of the San Bernardino Freeway moving along freely on his private right-of-way while his neighbor on the freeway in the bumper-to-bumper struggle to get home hopes fervently that there will be enough highway funds next year to complete the Pomona and the Foothill Freeway so that these "other motorists will get off his freeway," --- or perhaps, he too, next time, will try the train. Our commuter will leave us at the Rosemead Blvd. station; walk over the outbound freeway lanes into the attractive and spacious station and free parking lot area.

Whether he is a park and ride or a kiss and ride commuter, or whether he travels from his home area to the rapid transit station on the frequent schedule of the feeder buses moving through the less congested suburban streets, he arrives at home comfortable and relaxed, and we know that he will be with us tomorrow morning, for he has learned that this new service is as simple to use as his new office elevator, and he knows that if he boards the train at 8:00 in the morning he can be at his desk by 8:30.

The trip has cost him the same as a 1963 bus fare. The 16 miles has been covered in 23 minutes with no traffic lights or Sig Alerts.

We have taken an imaginary trip today - the trip will actually be made by thousands of commuters in 1967. The Long Beach extension will be finished April 1967 - in time for the World's Fair. The whole 4-corridor system will be in service by July 1969. The rider may then move from UCLA, from north of North Hollywood, from East of El Monte, or from the Long Beach-San Pedro area to any one of 52 stations along the 4-corridor system.

Slimline Skyway structures with supports of light weight materials and pre-stressed members made possible by dramatic new construction techniques will grace and beautify the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach Lines.

The Wilshire Blvd. Line will be in subway - along the San Bernardino Freeway median strip, the train will travel at grade. A secondary distribution system will serve the growing Civic Center and the Bunker Hill high-rise redevelopment project. Hollywood - Beverly Hills - Monterey Park - Compton are some of the way points in the system which will take roughly half of its passengers along one leg or all the way through the congested central area.

Construction of this system will be one of the largest projects ever carried out in Los Angeles County. It will provide employment for an average of 3,000 people annually over the six-year construction period. The peak labor force will reach 5, 000 during the height of construction. The project will require 220,000 tons of steel, 1,700,000 cubic yards of concrete, 2,000,000 barrels of cement, over 60,000,000 board feet of lumber, and almost $60,000,000 worth of electrical and electronic equipment.

Actual construction would begin early in 1964 following the preparation of final designs, purchasing of rights-of-way and the acceptance of contract bids. The first transit line would be in operation in October, 1966.

The system would be completed by July, 1969. The new system in Toronto, Canada has proved without question that a modern mass rapid transit system adds value to the surrounding property and the property it serves in a measurable and substantial way. That will happen also in Los Angeles. The real question comes - who is going to ride it. Who is going to get out of their car and actually ride a mass rapid transit system?

Your opinion and mine is only opinion and not dependable enough for an investment of this size. Just as any prudent businessman would do before starting a major project or marketing a new product, we have made a massive market survey. Some of this survey was made in cooperation with the City Traffic Department, the County Road Department, State Division of Highways, and others interested in an integrated transportation system.

We have employed also the best independent brains in the world with the greatest possible experience in projecting the number of passengers that would use such a facility. They have previously conservatively and successfully estimated and projected the traffic for the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the new Carquinez Bridge, the New Jersey Turnpike project, Sunshine Parkway project, and other similar projects. Their survey and study has been made in depth - and their opinion will sell bonds. The result, of our own modest efforts has also supplied reassuring evidence that people will leave their cars and ride new and modern and speedy service.

Three years ago we provided a freeway flyer from the San Fernando Valley. It began with 4 units and now some 15 units a day are required to handle the patronage on that single line. Wherever possible in the recent San Fernando Valley service improvements, MTA established express and limited service on principal lines. The response was immediate. On one line patronage increased 39% - on another, 32%. These are new riders who have left their cars in their garages to ride buses which cannot expect to compete in travel time with the automobile.

These and other experiences we have had recently encourage us greatly that the experts do know what they're talking about when they say that, with a modern and fast mass rapid transit system, many, many people will leave their cars at home at commuter time. If your travel requirements are such that you cannot and, therefore, will not use the system, remember that those who work with you, those who serve you in the stores, those who come to shop at your stores, those who work in your home, those that provide the services and goods will use it and, to the extent that they use it, they will make the freeways and surface streets free for your use.

Our rapid transit line can carry 5 times as many commuters and occupy only 1/4 the amount of right of way necessary for a modern six-lane automobile freeway. I say it can carry, because it can only carry those passengers if they ride the system, and that is the very reason that the system is designed to serve the congested area at commuter time. Such a service will help to relieve all traffic in the Los Angeles Basin. Off-peak service will be a community bonus. The mystery traffic jams on freeways are not mysteries to the transportation engineer. He knows that a completed street highway and freeway system plus a rapid transit system will answer most of those Sig Alerts. We might consider what the alternates are. Frankly, since the freeway system to serve the congested core area depends on one fundamental condition, more mass rapid transit in metropolitan areas; there is no satisfactory alternate.

The community cannot afford to build the additional freeways downtown that will be needed to carry only commuters. The high construction cost would delay the construction of many miles of freeway connecting links needed to complete the planned 1980 freeway, and needed to provide access and convenience in areas such as the Antelope Valley. These freeways are doing the job and more than the freeway planners expected but they need help at commuter time. We propose to give the community that help in the most modern, attractive, efficient, speedy, silent, and safe system that can be designed by the best talents available. The system has been laid out. It is the foundation of a total system that can be built and adapted with extensions as the population and traffic make it desirable.

It can be built, it must be built --- if not today, it will be built at a later time out of sheer desperation. What an opportunity we have to make Los Angeles the most convenient place in the world to live and be in business. May I now direct your attention and interest to Mr. Gerald Kelly, General Counsel of MTA who will answer the important question - what will it cost and how do we pay for it.

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Overall, we can see that some of the age-old issues in Los Angeles transportation evolve very slowly. A perfect example of that from this same report would be rapid transit reaching from downtown to Westwood. Projected completion date: January, 1968.

Resource List:

Bibliography Of Los Angeles Transit And Transportation Studies, 1911-1957 (we provide full-text access to many of these studies)

Rapid Transit: ...A Reality (53p. PDF :Marketing packet, including maps, illustrations, texts of speeches, and other historic information)

Past Visions Of L.A.'s Transportation Future (Online gallery examining major plans and maps from 1925 to 2003)

Metro Transportation Library's LAMTA Flickr Photo Collection

Our Family Tree: Metro Predecessor Transit Agencies

New And Notable: All Roads Lead To Congress, Green Metropolis & Innovating For Sustainability

2010-08-31T15:10:00.000-07:00

We wanted to take a few moments to again discuss some of our more interesting recent acquisitions here at the Metro Transportation Library.

The legislative process can seem mechanical and dry While learning procedures like the markup or cloture. What students of the political process hunger for, and greatly benefit from, is seeing lawmaking from the inside the backroom politics that makes the process so fascinating, so real, so compelling.

All Roads Lead To Congress: The $300 Billion Fight Over Highway Funding drives students through one piece of legislation: The Surface Transportation Bill. The book explains the maneuvering and negotiating that go on amongst members of Congress and their staffers as they haggle over a huge pot of money.

The Bill provides an example of both sides of the domestic legislative coin, as members of Congress formulating the bill fight over both policy issues (mostly along party lines) and money (mostly along regional lines).

While working on the Hill, authors Costas Panagopoulos and Joshua Schank were able to follow the path of this legislation from inception to law, observing firsthand the twists and turns of its journey. While filled with details and dialogue reminiscent of a good novel, All Roads Lead To Congress is sure to explain the various rules that structure legislation, the leadership styles and strategies at play, the tensions among levels of government, and the impact of the executive.

New York City is a model of sustainability: its extreme density and compactness — and horrifically congested traffic — encourage a car-free lifestyle centered on walking and public transit. Its massive apartment buildings use the heat escaping from one dwelling to warm the ones adjoining it. As a result, New Yorkers' per capita greenhouse gas emissions are less than a third of the average American's.

In Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, And Driving Less Are The Keys To Sustainability, author David Owen attacks the powerful anti-urban bias of American environmentalists like Michael Pollan and Amory Lovins, whose rurally situated, auto-dependent Rocky Mountain Institute he paints as an ecological disaster area.

The environmental movement's disdain for cities and fetishization of open space, backyard compost heaps, locavorism and high-tech gadgetry like solar panels and triple-paned windows is, he warns, a formula for wasteful sprawl and green-washed consumerism. Owen's lucid, biting prose crackles with striking facts that yield paradigm-shifting insights. The result is a compelling analysis of the world's environmental predicament that upends orthodox opinion and points the way to practical solutions.

One of the challenges met by green entrepreneurs and product developers who have tried to develop more sustainable products is that efforts to have better products in environmental terms do not always translate into effective business cases.

Innovating For Sustainability: Green Entrepreneurship In Personal Mobility strives for a better understanding of the implications of environmental issues in new product development.

Through an empirical study in the human powered vehicle sector, author Luca Berchicci examines how and to what extent the environmental ambition of product developers and managers influences the way new products and services are developed. The understanding of this phenomenon is particularly important since managers are encouraged and/or motivated to undertake environmental new product development projects.

From the descriptions and analyses of the two cases study Luca Berchicci suggests that a high level of environmental ambition increases the complexity of the product innovation process. Moreover, a high level of environmental ambition may hamper a product innovation process because it may lead the developers away from the market that their product is to serve. Accordingly, this book attempts to explain and predict how environmental ambition influences new product development processes. This claim provides a theoretical contribution to existing research in both product innovation and green product innovation. Moreover, this book (part of the Routledge Studies in Innovation, Organization, and Technology series) provides an original and deep insight on the diverse facets of greening.

Research Roundup: Benefits Of California HSR, The ARC Effect, BRT Studies & Evaluating Rail Criticism

2010-08-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Institute Of Transportation Studies' Center For Urban Infrastructure at UC Irvine released its Thinking Ahead: High-Speed Rail In Southern California (31p. PDF) report last week. It attempts to quantify some of the regional economic and other benefits likely to come about once California's high-speed rail system is in place.

For example, during its construction phase (2012-2020), the California High-Speed Rail project will contribute a regional income benefit of $701 million to Southern California workers who would have otherwise been unemployed. Together with design/engineering work for Phase II of the system, it will provide the equivalent of over 57,000 full-time, one-year jobs (or multi-year employment for approximately 15,200 workers). Construction of the Anaheim Regional Intermodal Transportation Center (ARTIC) will create an additional 3,500 to 5,000 jobs in Orange County based upon estimated project costs of $179 million.

The report goes on to say that by 2035, high-speed rail will attract over 127,000 permanent jobs to Southern California that would not have otherwise been created, thanks to the region’s increased livability and enhanced transportation network. It also claims that the emission of nearly half a billion pounds (220,000 metric tons) of CO2 would be prevented annually by 2035, based on the number of intraregional auto trips diverted to high-speed rail.

We wanted to take a closer look at The ARC Effect: How Better Transit Boosts Home Values & Local Economies (12p. PDF), put out by the Regional Plan Association.

ARC - "Access To The Region's Core," a new commuter rail tunnel to Midtown Manhattan - could add a cumulative $18 billion to home values within two miles of NJ TRANSIT and Metro-North Port Jervis and Pascack Valley train stations. The Report outlines several other benefits, including an overall increase in the region's economy, new jobs on both sides of the Hudson River, higher personal incomes, higher commercial property values, and reductions in driving and air pollution. Home values could go up by an average of $19,000 and up to $29,000 within one-half mile of the stations.

The Mineta Transportation Institute has published From Buses To BRT: Case Studies Of Incremental BRT Projects In North America (110p. PDF).

This study examines five approaches to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems as implemented by public transit agencies in California, Oregon, and Ontario. The resulting lines and network of lines vary widely, ranging from small changes in a local bus route, to a completely new line in a new mode.

On one end of the spectrum, the San José area has frequent arterial bus services with traffic signal priority. On the other end, the report describes the case of a transit-only, grade-separated busway in Los Angeles County with full-featured stations and special buses that look like no others in the agency. The authors also describe three variations more in the middle of the range of BRT possibility.

The case studies as a group show that BRT, as applied in North America, is a discretionary combination of elements that can be assembled in many different combinations over time. Transit agencies have wide latitude to determine which combination of elements best serves their needs, given their specific circumstances. Every element incrementally adds to the quality or attractiveness of the service.

Finally, we wanted to dig deeper into the Victoria Transport Policy Institute's recently published guide to Evaluating Rail Transit Criticism (74p. PDF).

It examines how to evaluate whether building or expanding rail transit systems is wasteful. The report states that high quality rail transit is more than just a type of vehicle; it is an integrated system that includes relatively fast and frequent transit service on major corridors with comfortable and attractive vehicles and stations, transit-oriented development around station areas with good walking and cycling access, efficient bus feeder service, and various support policies such as integrated fares and efficient parking management.

This combination of features tends to attract a large portion of discretionary passengers (people who would otherwise drive, also called choice riders). As a result, people who live or work in areas with high quality rail transit tend to own fewer cars, drive less and rely more on alternative modes than in automobile-dependent areas. If implemented in appropriate situations with supportive policies, rail transit can provide significant benefits to users and society.

However, there has been considerable debate over the merits of rail transit. Critics argue that rail transit is outdated, ineffective at solving transportation problems, and wasteful, but their analysis is based on various omissions, errors and misrepresentations. Many current demographic and economic trends are increasing demand for alternative modes and increasing the benefits tosociety from traffic reductions.

50th Anniversary Of L.A.'s "Metro Rail"...Say Whaaat?!: Celebrating The 1960 Birth Of Our Modern Rail System

2010-08-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

In July, Metro and Los Angeles celebrated 20 years of Metro Rail.

To commemorate the anniversary last month, we took a look back at both the history of service between Los Angeles and Long Beach (1902-1961) as well as the launch of Metro Rail with Blue Line service in 1990 and its ongoing success as Metro's first rail project.

However, this week marks an important milestone in local transit history: it is actually the 50th anniversary of "Metro" "Rail" in Los Angeles County!

On August 26, 1960, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority released its Rapid Transit Program: A Comparative Analysis Of Rapid Transit System And Routes (137p. PDF). On this date, and in this report, was the very first reference to a "Metro System" for Los Angeles.

The "Major Findings And Recommendations" of the report state:

We recommend to the Authority for main line rapid transit service a system of supported transit vehicles running on rubber tires on concrete tracks. For convenience, we have referred to this equipment as the "Metro" system.

This equipment is found to be the most adaptable to the alignments and conditions developed in our engineering investigations. This system would be the first use of rubber-tired rapid transit vehicles in the United States and would be truly unique in its ability to provide large numbers of transit patrons a fast, comfortable, quiet and convenient ride.

The "Major Findings and Recommendations" go on to explain that:

Cars would comfortably seat 54 people with ample room for standees and could be coupled together to make up trains of two to six cars or more...at operational speeds which would reach 80 miles per hour.

The report looked at three different types of rapid transit equipment: two monorail systems (suspended and supported) and the supported "Metro" system. The "Metro" system was assessed to be the least expensive for the recommended alignments, 35% of which allowed for operation at grade. The report noted the greater flexibility of this system as opposed to monorail.

The "Metro" system could not only operate at grade, but underground and above ground, and with its auxiliary steel wheels, it was capable of running on standard gauge steel rail lines. While Los Angeles' monorail history is deserving of a much more in-depth review in the future, we wanted to take a deeper look at the report that first laid out plans for "Metro" in Los Angeles.

Where Should The Rapid Transit System Be Built?

Coverdale & Colpitts (Consulting Engineers for traffic studies) recommended four broad transit corridors to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority.

The report recommended building on rights of way to serve the following four corridors from Los Angeles: eastbound to Covina, southbound to Long Beach, westbound to Santa Monica and northbound to Reseda. A second phase would serve Pasadena, Santa Ana, Inglewood and San Fernando (via Glendale and Burbank).

The initial system would run 74.9 miles, consisting of 51 miles of overhead track, 21.6 miles at-grade along Pacific Electric and other rights-of-way, and 2.3 miles of tunnel under private property. A selling point for this proposal was that the "Metro" would serve passengers during peak hours with average speeds of 35-40 miles per hour as compared to rush hour freeway speeds of 25 miles per hour at that time. This compared even more favorably to the U.S. Mass Transit average speed in 1960 of 18 miles per hour.

Subway construction was noted as costing "from two to three times more than overhead facilities which provide the same service."

How Much Would The Rapid Transit System Cost?

The initial price of the 74.9 mile four-corridor transit system was pegged at $529.7 million. The second phase would bring the total system size to 150 miles of track, and it was projected that the eight-corridor system would be needed "within twenty years" in order to keep pace with the projected growth of Los Angeles County.

So what happened?

Today's Metro system (79.1 miles in service, and counting) has also evolved into a network of corridors linked to downtown Los Angeles. It has taken twenty years to build just about the same number of miles as the 1960 proposal, at a cost of approximately $8 billion (not adjusted for inflation between 1990 and present).

Obviously, it would have been much less expensive to have built a comparable system beginning in 1960. However, we would have been stuck with a system consisting primarily of overhead tracks running throughout Los Angeles County, as depicted below in a rendering of monorail tracks and station at Wilshire Blvd. & Fairfax Avenue taken from the 2009 Westside Extension Transit Corridor Study Final Alternatives Analysis Report (554p. PDF).

A regional transit system comprised of elevated tracks may have seemed modern or even futuristic at the time, but it would no doubt be considered aesthetically unpleasing today. Furthermore, the system would likely have been built with dubious earthquake reinforcements and would end up costing much more post-construction to bring it up to current seismic retrofit specifications.

But above all else, no dedicated state or local revenues were available in 1960 to cover capital costs.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy called for a program of federal capital assistance for mass transportation and President Lyndon Johnson signed the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 two years later.

Monorail tracks and station as they would appear if built today, Wilshire Blvd. at Fairfax Ave.

Federal funding for new mass transit construction didn't get underway until around 1968, and even then required a local match. Los Angeles didn't have any such local funding mechanisms in place until passage of the passage of Proposition A in 1980.

While we celebrate a signifcant 20-year milestone this year, we also mark an important 50th anniversary this week. However, Los Angeles would have to wait another 30 years for Metro Rail to become a reality.

Secondary Passenger Distribution within downtown Central Business District (Click to enlarge)

1960 Long Range Development Plan: Monorail Proposed Routes Map (Click to enlarge)

The entire report is fascinating to read, includes numerous vintage illustrations and maps (several of which have been reproduced here), and helps inform the historical foundation of how we got to where we are today.

SurveyLA: What Is It And Why Does It Matter?

2010-08-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

SurveyLA – the Los Angeles Historic Resources Survey – is Los Angeles’ first-ever comprehensive program to identify significant historic resources throughout our city.

The survey marks a coming-of-age for Los Angeles’ historic preservation movement, and will serve as a centerpiece for the City’s first truly comprehensive preservation program.

Los Angeles is taking a significant step to identify and protect its rich heritage by identifying and documenting historic resources representing significant themes in the city's history.

While Los Angeles has over 900 Historic-Cultural Monuments (local landmarks) and 25 Historic Preservation Overlay Zones (Historic Districts, or HPOZs), to date only 15% of the city has been surveyed. This leaves important resources at risk and developers and property owners frequently surprised or exasperated by eleventh-hour preservation efforts. SurveyLA will provide valuable information to City officials, homeowners, neighborhood associations, and preservation groups, and much greater up-front certainty for developers and property owners.

What does Historic-Cultural Monument Status mean?

It recognizes the building, structure, site, or plant life as important to the history of the city, state, or nation;

It provides eligibility for the Mills Act Program, providing a historical property contract that can result in a property tax reduction

It permits use of the California Historical Building Code

It allows property owners to purchase and display a plaque showing that the property has Historic-Cultural Monument status

It requires Cultural Heritage Commission review for proposed exterior and interior alterations in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, the nationally accepted criteria for evaluating change to historic properties

It fosters civic pride in neighborhoods and business districts, helping develop a sense of place and time, as well as many other benefits as outlined here.

SurveyLA is partially funded by a $2.5 million grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust. Additionally, the Getty Conservation Institute, which has played a crucial leadership role in preparing detailed studies outlining the purpose, benefits, and best practices of a citywide survey, is providing significant technical and advisory support to the project. The project is coordinated by the Department of City Planning’s Office of Historic Resources.

SurveyLA marks a coming-of-age for historic preservation in Los Angeles. In the coming months, as the project progresses, you will be hearing more about the survey and ways to become involved. The Office of Historic Resources looks forward to collaborating with all segments of the Los Angeles community in building creative partnerships that will take full advantage of this exciting opportunity.

How will the survey be conducted?

The survey will cover the period from approximately 1865 to 1980 and include individual resources such as buildings, structures, objects, natural features and cultural landscapes as well as areas and districts (archaeological resources will be included in a future survey phase). Significant resources will reflect important themes in the city's growth and development in various areas including architecture, city planning, social history, ethnic heritage, politics, industry, transportation, commerce, entertainment, and others.

SurveyLA is organized in two phases to be completed over an approximate six-year period -- the two-year Initiation Phase (2006 to 2009) and the three-year Implementation Phase (2010 to 2013). During the Initiation Phase all survey tools and methods were developed and tested. During the Implementation Phase, launching this year, the field survey work will be conducted.

While the survey is proceeding on a very aggressive schedule, the Office of Historic Resources is counseling patience throughout the process. A comprehensive survey in a city the size of Los Angeles cannot be completed overnight. Los Angeles comprises 466 square miles and 880,000 separate legal parcels - an area larger than eight of the nation's largest cities combined.

Resource List:

SurveyLA Website (part of the City of Los Angeles' Department of City Planning's Office of Historic Resources)

Information Regarding Historic-Cultural Monuments and the Cultural Heritage Commission

Historic Cultural Monuments Image Gallery

City of Los Angeles Historic Preservation Overlay Zones and Image Galleries

SurveyLA on Twitter

The Los Angeles Historic Resources Survey Report: A Framework For A Citywide Historic Resource Survey (120p. PDF, Getty Conservation Institute, 2008)

Images, from top:
432 N. Avenue 66 in Garvanza (HCM #107)
Capitol Tower And Rooftop Sign in Hollywood (HCM #857)
Lederer Residence in Canoga Park (HCM #204)
Grand Canal in Venice (HCM #270)
Lady Effie's Tea Parlor in South Los Angeles (HCM #764)
Weatherwolde Castle in Tujunga (HCM #841)

Research Roundup: Transit Benefits & Costs, Highway Funding, Bus & Rail Transit, Security & Procurements

2010-08-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

The Victoria Transport Policy Institute has just published a new guidebook describing how to create a comprehensive framework for evaluating the full impacts (benefits and costs) of a particular transit service or improvement.

Their "Evaluating Public Transit Benefits And Costs: Best Practices Guidebook" (120p. PDF) discusses best practices for transit evaluation and identifies common errors that distort results. It discusses the travel impacts of various types of transit system changes and incentives, and describes ways to optimize transit benefits by increasing system efficiency, increasing ridership and creating more transit-oriented land use patterns. The guidebook also compares automobile and transit costs, and the advantages and disadvantages of bus and rail transit. It includes examples of transit evaluation and provides extensive references, while may of the techniques includes can be used to evaluate other modes, such as ridesharing, cycling and walking. (Image via Flickr)

A new report (34p. PDF) from the U.S. Government Accountability Office shows that nearly all states received more funding than they contributed in highway taxes since 2005. This was possible because more funding was authorized and apportioned than was collected from the states and the needed to be augmented with general revenues.

Federal funding for highways is provided to the states mostly through a series of grant programs collectively known as the Federal-Aid Highway Program. Periodically, Congress enacts multi-year legislation that authorizes the nation's surface transportation programs. in 2005, Congress enacted the Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users (SAFETEA-LU), which authorized $197.5 billion for the Federal-Aid Highway Program from fiscal years 2005 through 2009.

The Highway Trust Fund was instituted by Congress in 1956 to construct the Interstate Highway System, which is currently 47,000 miles in length.

The U.S. Transportation Research Board (TRB) last week published "Bus And rail Transit Preferential Treatments In Mixed Traffic: A Synthesis Of Transit Practice" (212p. PDF).

This synthesis is offered as a primer on the topic area for use by transit agencies, as well as state, local, and metropolitan transportation, traffic, and planning agency staffs. This synthesis is based on the results from a survey of transit and traffic agencies related to transit preferential treatments on urban streets. Survey results were supplemented by a literature review of 23 documents and in-depth case studies of preferential treatments in four cities—San Francisco, Seattle, Portland (Oregon), and Denver. Eighty urban area transit agencies and traffic engineering jurisdictions in the United States and Canada were contacted for survey information and 64 (80%) responded. One hundred and ninety-seven individual preferential treatments were reported on survey forms. In addition, San Francisco Muni identified 400 treatments just in its jurisdiction.

Also last week, TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) released "Reconciling Security, Disclosure, And Record-Retention Requirement In Transit Procurements" (80p. PDF) as part of its Legal Research Digests series. The following statement from the publication's introduction sums up the scope of this document as follows:

Part of public transit agencies’ security efforts must include taking steps to ensure that information that would facilitate such attacks does not become readily available. At the same time, there is also a clear, well-established public interest in ensuring that publicly-funded projects are transparent and that information to provide oversight is publicly available.

This tension plays out in the area of procurement and contract management. Material in bid solicitations, responses, and contracts that contains potentially harmful information not otherwise available must be kept secure, while safeguarding the public interest in open government. Accordingly, public transit agencies must balance the competing legal and public policy interests manifested by requirements for full disclosure of the public’s business on the one hand and security concernson the other.

Demand-Based "Smart Parking": Watch How It Works

2010-08-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

SFpark Overview from SFpark on Vimeo.

You may have heard recent stories about San Francisco's bold experiment with demand-based parking, a two-year pilot project that launched two weeks ago (see links to stories at end of this post).

This new project collects and distributes real-time information about where parking is available so drivers can quickly find open spaces and get off the road. It also introduces "demand-responsive" pricing to encourage drivers to park in underused areas and 15 City-owned garages, thus reducing demand in overused areas. The video link above shows you exactly how it works, and here are some other features:

New parking meters will accept credit cards
You will be able to look for an open parking space via computer or smart phone
Data on parking availability will also be available via 511, text messaging, signs, and new electronic display signs at high-volume spots throughout San Francisco

While parking rates may increase in high-demand areas and at high-demand times, they are expected to decrease where and when demand is low. As for price fluctuation, prices will never change more than 50-cents at a time, and never more than once a month.

According to SFpark, circling for parking accounts for approximately 30% of city driving, and reducing that traffic by helping drivers find parking benefits everyone on the street. While some cities have already implemented some elements of demand-based parking, San Francisco is the first city to deploy comprehensive technologies and policies. (Seattle is rolling out real-time parking information and guidance around Labor Day).

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Urban Partnership Program is funding 80% ($19.8 million) of the pilot project. The other 20% comes from San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SF Muni).

As we often do, we wanted to delve into our Archive to see how age-old issues were treated long ago. We've previously written about Los Angeles' growing pains stemming from more and more people coming into downtown as the outlying areas expanded due to annexation and population growth. Parking problems grew in tandem alongside congestion and frustration: As noted earlier, vehicle registration in Los Angeles County quadrupled between 1914 and 1922 alone.

By the mid-1940s, two in-depth parking studies were conducted for downtown Los Angeles. In 1944, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission issued a report titled Business Districts (36p. PDF). It includes several interesting findings, including the result of a survey of 222,000 industrial workers in 1942 which revealed only 8% of them used "public or mass transportation" in going to and from work.

This document compares the Los Angeles Central Business District with the business districts of Long Beach, Pomona, and Westwood Village in detail to provide a frame of reference when measuring movement of vehicles and pedestrians. Some great maps are included, showing block-by-block the types of businesses in the downtown areas as well as pedestrian traffic in downtown Los Angeles (click to enlarge).

The following year, the Downtown Business Men's Association published the Downtown Los Angeles Parking Study of 1945 (47p. PDF). It delineates "Downtown" as that area bounded by Sunset and Pico Boulevards to the north and south, and by Figueroa and Los Angeles Streets to the west and east. This study shows downtown "types of buildings" (e.g. brick, concrete, wood frame) and the number of gas stations in downtown Los Angeles in 1944 is quite an eye-opener.

The study proposed that 6,750,000 square feet of "properly located ground" should be provide adequate parking to avoid choice parking areas being gradually absorbed for other purposes. For more immediate action, the Executive Committee of the Association recommended that a corporation (which they would control) be formed which would have the authority to rent, lease or otherwise acquire to operate parking facilities for the benefit of the District.

City leaders in 1945 Los Angeles obviously didn't mention anything remotely similar to San Francisco's pilot project. Their focus was on supply meeting demand, not supply priced for demand.

Resource list:

High-Tech Parking Meters Premiere In S.F. (San Francisco Chronicle, July 27, 2010

San Francisco: A Free Market In Parking Begins (Human Transit, August 11, 2010)

San Francisco Rolls Out Supply-And-Demand Pricing For Parking Meters (GOOD, August 6, 2010)

San Francisco Spends $25 Million To Test "Goldilocks" Parking (NPR, July 27, 2010)

Dude, Where's My Flying Car?: Understanding Peak Years And Paradigm Shifts In Transportation Modes

2010-08-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love a great infographic? We were looking through a recent work titled The Geography Of Transport Systems (New York: Routledge, 2009 ed.) by Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Claude Comtois and Brian Slack, and came across this thought-provoking chart (p. 65) depicting the growth of transportation systems in the United States from the 19th to 21st centuries. (Click image to enlarge)

A section discussing past trends and uncertain futures asks "Where are the flying cars? Where are the supersonic passenger jets?" and goes on to demonstrate that transportation modes experience related life-cycles consisting of peak years and paradigm shifts:

The growth of transport systems, as the case of the United States exemplifies, went through a series of waves of introduction, growth, maturity and decline as massive investments in infrastructures and development of the system took place.

Each time there is a substitution from one mode to another, moving to a higher level of speed (and sometimes efficiency). A paradigm shift represents an event that marks the prominence of transport systems, often characterized by the completion of a significant infrastructure project which starts to impact economic and spatial systems. A peak year is when the system is about to reach maturity and experience a slowdown in its growth.

As you examine the chart here, it shows that the U.S. canal system took off around 1825 upon completion of the Erie Canal, and hit its peak in 1836 as the rail system was beginning to be built. The authors have noted that rail was a more flexible and efficient inland transport system, thus contributing to its advent as a preferred transportation mode.

But by the 1850s, rail traffic was already growing at such a fast rate that it surpassed canal traffic as a primary transportation mode with the completion of the transcontinental railway in 1869. By the late 19th century, most of the U.S was serviced by rail, which grew steadily until it peaked in 1891.

Rail was replaced as a preferred or most efficient means of transportation due to the advent of a national road system, especially after the introduction of the Ford Model T, marking another paradigm shift toward roads in 1913. That "tipping point" year is delineated as the paradigm shift. Roads ruled until their peak in 1946, when the advent of air travel continued the pattern, reaching a paradigm shift in 1969 until its own peak in 2001.

So many new technologies may play a part in future transportation modes, it is difficult to predict what will come next (such as Maglev, which the chart puts forth as a mode of future growth).

The authors duly note that:

One of the pitfalls in discussing future trends is looking at the future as an extrapolation of the past. It is assumed that the future will involve a technology that already exists, but simply operating on an extended scale beyond what is currently possible. The parameters of such an extrapolation commonly involve a greater speed, mass availability, a higher capacity and/or better accessibility, all of which imply similar or lower cost.

In other words, it is safe to say that some technological developments outside of transportation could inform the next great paradigm shift, such as automated processes and alternatives fuels.

Although people-movers and monorails may be past their prime, we may one day see those flying cars after all.

New And Notable: Traffic & Gridlock, Becoming An Urban Planner, Sustainable Urban Design, Transportation In A Climate-Constrained World

2010-08-06T13:49:00.000-07:00

Gridlock: Why We're Stuck In Traffic And What To Do About It by Randal O'Toole (Washington, D.C. : Cato Institute, 2009)

"O'Toole's Gridlock is a brilliant ode to mobility, which he argues is the foundation of our freedom and our prosperity. He blasts those groups in our society which have turned from promoting mobility to restricting it. He punctures the pretensions of congressmen, transport agency bureaucrats, urban planners, `smart growth' advocates and their ilk who want to spend billions promoting trains and rail transit systems that few people want to ride. This book will infuriate some and inspire others by its pointed and data-driven conclusions. But its policy arguments are too urgent and too important to ignore. A must-read book for everyone interested in the future of transportation policy." --James A. Dunn, Jr., Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University, and author of Driving Forces: The Automobile, Its Enemies, and the Politics of Mobility

Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do (And What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt (New York: Knopf, 2008)

Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic — engagingly written, meticulously researched, endlessly interesting and informative — is one of those rare books that comes out of the depths of nowhere. Its subjects are the road and the people who drive it, which is to say Traffic gets about as close to the heart of modern existence as any book could get, yet what's truly astonishing is that no one else has done it, at least not on the scale that Vanderbilt has achieved. We've had road novels (On the Road) and road movies ("Two for the Road") and road songs ("On the Road Again"), but nonfiction studies of "why we drive the way we do and what it says about us" — to borrow Vanderbilt's subtitle -- have been almost entirely limited to dry, impenetrable engineering and psychological treatises. Yet think about it, which Vanderbilt obviously has done at great length and to immensely rewarding effect. "Many of us," he writes at the outset, "myself included, seem to take driving a car fairly lightly, perhaps holding on to some simple myths of independence and power, but it is actually an incredibly complex and demanding task." (Washington Post)

Becoming An Urban Planner by Michael Bayer, Nancy Frank and Jason Valerius (New York: Wiley, 2010)

Are you considering a career in urban planning? Through in-depth interviews with more than eighty urban planners across the United States and Canada, this book gives you a valuable insider's look at your future profession as it is lived and practiced.

Becoming An Urban Planner introduces you to the urban planning profession—its history, what you must know to prepare for a career in planning, and the different types of planning jobs. Beyond the basics, though, it shows you the realities of what it's really like to be a planner today. You'll learn about:

The skills you'll need and how to hone them in school and on the job
Potential career paths and what people in these positions do
Using internships, job shadowing, and other opportunities to break into the field
Deciding among planning specialties and moving between public and private sectors
How to search for and get your first position
Emerging areas in planning, including sustainability and climate change

Each topic is explored through in-depth interviews with both generalists and others who have devoted their careers to a particular aspect of planning. These professionals share their insights and describe how they have arrived at where they are and how beginners like you can learn from their experiences. (From the cover)

Sustainable Urban Design: An Environmental Approach (2nd ed.) edited by Adam Ritchie and Randall Thomas (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2009)

Towns and cities form the backdrop to the lives of a rapidly increasing number of people around the planet. At or around the time you read this, we will, for the first time in history, have reached a milestone when more than half of the world's population lives in urban areas. Sustainable Urban Design (2nd ed.) addresses the issues faced by planners and designers in making these areas environmentally sustainable. Design guidance is followed by a number of exemplary case studies which have been designed and developed by leading figures in the U.K. and further afield. Principal topics include: planning, transport, landscape and nature, energy (including renewable energy), water and waste, and materials. (From the cover)

Transportation In A Climate-Constrained World by Andreas Schafer, John B. Heywood, Henry D. Jacoby and Ian A. Waitz (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009)

"This book is full of fascinating insights. It is a brilliant dissection of our transportation energy problems and a careful and sophisticated examination of the solutions. As one would expect from such renowned experts, this book is a must read for anyone interested in transportation energy. I've been waiting for this book for years and will immediately adopt it as a text for my course." — Daniel Sperling, Member, California Air Resources Board and Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, Acting Director, Energy Efficiency Center, and Professor of Transportation Engineering and Environmental Policy, University of California, Davis

"Andreas Schäfer and his colleagues provide a clear and concise overview of the role that transportation plays in creating some of the global environmental challenges confronting us and look at the sort of technology that can help us circumvent the dangers of global climatic change. In doing this it brings within a single set of covers a wealth of information, systematically presented, and, importantly, written in a way that can be followed by a non-specialist. It is a very welcome addition to the literature." — Kenneth J. Button, Director, Aerospace Policy and Management Center, School of Public Policy, George Mason University

"The authors deliver a wealth of data, analysis, and insight on the key challenges to achieve sustainable transportation systems—oil dependency, global climate change, the growing global demand for mobility—and the technological and policy solutions that will be required to overcome these challenges. This book provides a unique reference for policymakers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders that will shape the coming transformation of our global transportation systems." — John Moavenzadeh, Senior Director, Head of Sustainable Mobility and Strategy Officer, World Economic Forum

"This book—not surprisingly, given the authors—provides an excellent technical review of the costs and benefits of alternative efficiency technologies and alternative fuels for light vehicles and commercial aircraft. More surprisingly, it contains an unusually insightful discussion of the evolution of travel and a valuable and dispassionate review of the policy options open to government to pursue further technological advancement of the two fleets. I've been doing this work for twenty years and this book showed me that I still have a lot to learn." — Stephen E. Plotkin, Center for Transportation Research, Argonne National Laboratory

Research Roundup: State Of Repairs, Transit & Demographic Diversity, Flexible Public Transportation Services

2010-08-04T16:16:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of Flickr

The Federal Transit Administration's 2010 National State Of Good Repair Assessment (35p. PDF) is a new study that estimates it would cost $77.7 billion to shore up rail and bus lines in the United States, and another $14.4 billion a year to maintain them. While most of the $77.7 billion would be dedicated to rail, the study notes that 40% of the nation's buses are in poor to marginal condition. The report is a follow-up to the 2009 Rail Modernization Study (60p. PDF) report to Congress.

Following that study, which assessed the level of capital investment required to attain and maintain a state of good repair for the nation’s seven largest public transportation rail systems, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tasked FTA with expanding the scope of the study to assess the level of investment required to bring all of our nation’s public transportation (transit) systems into a state of good repair.

Planning For Demographic Diversity: The Case Of Immigrants And Public Transit (p. 28-50 of 138p. PDF) examines the significant effects of immigration on transit use. Drawing on data from the U.S. Census, the study looks at how the enormous influx of immigrants to California has altered the demographics of transit commuting in the state and contributed importantly to a growth in transit ridership. California immigrants commute by public transit at twice the rate of native-born commuters, comprise nearly 50 percent of all transit commuters in the state, and are responsible for much of the growth in transit commuting in the state.

But over time, immigrants’ reliance on transit declines. Transit managers would be well advised to plan for these inevitable demographic changes by enhancing transit services in neighborhoods that serve as ports to entry for new immigrants, those most likely to rely on public transportation.

Meanwhile, public transportation agencies face increasing demands to serve ever more diverse markets that may require cost-effective, unconventional solutions. Flexible transportation services show great promise in meeting the mobility needs of many individuals nationwide. Flexible transportation service may be especially valuable to those communities that are trying to address ADA requirements and those classified as suburban, small urban, and rural, where mobility markets are often defined by low or irregular demand.

In addition to new flexible services, existing traditional fixed-route and paratransit transit services may be converted into flexible services. In order to answer the questions of whether, and in what circumstances, the introduction of flexible service may be feasible, a broad, comprehensive look at planning and operating flexible transportation services as part of an array of options was needed.

A Guide For Planning And Operating Flexible Public Transportation Services (98p. PDF) describes the types of flexible transportation service strategies appropriate for small,
medium, and large urban and rural transit agencies. This guide includes discussions on
financial and political realities, operational issues, and institutional mechanisms appropriate
for implementing and sustaining flexible transportation services. This guide will be helpful
to public transportation providers, decision-makers, policymakers, planners, and others
interested in considering flexible services.

A.D.A. Turns 20: Transportation And The Americans With Disabilities Act

2010-07-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

Image via Flickr

While everyone was celebrating the 20th anniversary of rail in Los Angeles last week, another important anniversary was approaching without much fanfare: the Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990.

Twenty years ago today, the ADA was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. This legislation prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability, which it defines as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity."

Public transportation is certainly a major life activity. Title II of the ADA covers Public Entities (and public transportation). While the full text of the legislation can be found here, and the preamble addressing Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities is found here, we wanted to mark this occasion by sharing some valuable resources regarding the ADA and transportation.

Our website provides you with An Approach To Transportation Research, a step-by-step guide to finding information on just about any subject related to our interdisciplinary field of study. After reviewing this suggested "roadmap," it is worthwhile to explore additional tools on our Library Research webpage.

Of course, a wealth of information can be found in online databases. The first place to search for the latest resources would be TRIS, the Transportation Research Information Services database. The 340 items currently found in a keyword search of "americans disabilities act" are automatically sorted in reverse chronological order, providing you with the most recent resources first.

Numerous resources in the National Transportation Library catalog have full-text links as do NTL's Digital Repository and other transportation websites providing online access.

The Metro Transportation Library's vast collections hold numerous items related to ADA. Beyond our own library, the database for the WorldCat online catalog of networked institutions shows at least 720 titles addressing the subject of ADA and transportation as of today. Once you enter some brief information about your location, you can find which libraries near you have the titles you want (or you may use this information to initiate an inter-library loan with a participating library).

In addition to these primary resources, several websites offer information on ADA as it relates to transportation.

The United States Access Board is an independent federal agency committed to accessibility for people with disabilities. Created in 1973, it predates the Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990 by many years and is now a leading source of information on accessible design.

The ADA Standards For Transportation Facilities became effective in November, 2006. They apply to the construction and alteration of transportation facilities.

The Easter Seals Project Action project promotes universal access to transportation for people with disabilities under federal law and beyond by partnering with transportation providers, the disability community and others through the provision of training, technical assistance, applied research, outreach and communication.

For practical implementations of the ADA, under the sponsorship of the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP), the Transportation Research Board (TRB) prepares syntheses of current practice in the transit field. Many of these reports, prepared by consultants with expertise and assisted by a technical panel, have dealt with ADA issues. They include:

ADA Paratransit Eligibility Certification Practices
Paratransit Contracting And Service Delivery Methods
Communicating With Person With Disabilities In A Multimodal Transit Environment
Use Of Rear-Facing Position For Common Wheelchairs On Transit Buses
Practices In No-Show And Late Cancellation Policies For ADA Paratransit

If we stop to look around today at all that has been done to increase accessibility (sidewalk curbs that now have ramps, elevators with braille, buses with wheelchair lifts, etc.), we have to pause and think about the impact these actions have had on so many lives.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood wrote:

There was certainly no lack of vision from the policymakers, advocates, and citizens that fought to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. And it's equally important that we don't suffer from a lack of vision now. DOT is committed to doing its part.
The bottom line is this: we recognize that our systems of transportation are about much more than just getting around. They are avenues that connect people with the chance to achieve their dreams.

Our challenge is to make sure that everyone has access to the most fundamental of American rights - to dignity, independence, security, and opportunity. And the Department of Transportation fully intends to meet that challenge head on.

Information Innovation: Metro Transportation Library Leads The Way

2010-07-21T11:16:00.001-07:00

Brigham Young University plugs their library service by capturing potential users' attention through a parody of the popular Old Spice commercials, via YouTube

An old axiom in libraries is that when the economy goes down, library patronage goes up. Therein lies the challenge: responding to the need for information (and keeping the doors open) when resources are stretched thin or disappearing altogether.

A new fiscal year is under way, and libraries in the current economic recession are feeling the pinch like never before. In addition to the expected call for traditional "core" services to continue, other users want libraries, whether they are public, academic or specialized, to embrace new technology, products and services.

The American Library Association reports a "perfect storm" of growing demand for library services and shrinking resources to meet that demand as state and local jurisdictions cut funding, often several times in the same fiscal year.

In the face of cuts in service, hours of access, and budgets, we wanted to highlight and celebrate the efforts of those who are working hard to respond to these challenges. Innovative efforts, both local and large-scale, are not only addressing user needs, but are now more easily shared with and replicated by other institutions.

NPR is quite optimistic, reporting yesterday that libraries are poised to be "the next big pop-culture wave." It's a refreshing take on the current state of providing information, so it's a good time to review some of the enormous challenges facing every type of library as well as our own activities and accomplishments.

Each April during National Library Week, the American Library Association releases their State Of American Libraries report. The 2010 report and other current research detail some ominous findings and trends, including:

71% of public libraries provide their community's only free public access to computers and the Internet, and one-third of Americans over age 14 used a public library computer or wireless network to access the Internet last year. One can't overestimate how many library computer users are searching for a job

96% of Americans feel that school libraries are an essential part of the education experience, yet entire school districts (including many large ones) are choosing to entirely dismantle their school libraries

90% of college students regularly turn to libraries for their online scholarly research databases and course-related research, as these resources provide credible content, in-depth information, and the ability to meet instructors' expectations, but academic libraries find it difficult to maintain their leading role in digitization efforts to provide unprecedented access to millions of volumes in the face of severe budget cutbacks

American Library Association President Jim Rettig notes that "As illustrated in the ALA's State of America's Libraries report, in times of economic hardship, Americans turn to -- and depend on -- their libraries and librarians."

Our public, academic, and specialized libraries are thinking outside the box to meet their growing needs. Libraries are increasingly taking access to their collections and services to where their users are. For some, this means access to their websites and online catalogs via smart-phones and other mobile devices. Libraries have incorporated catalog-search widgets into their Facebook page. We made our online catalog of over 45,000 items in our collection accessible via smart-phone last year.

For others, this means taking the physical collections out of the traditional building to where their users live, work and play. Libraries are starting to fight back against unconventional competition from Amazon and Netflix by putting libraries in the path of the customer, in places such as supermarkets.

Slate recently reported on libraries getting a "mall makeover." In Dallas, one of these "in-your-face" shopping center locations circulates more material than a traditional branch library eight times its size.

In Northern California, Contra Costa County Library promotes "Library-A-Go-Go" service that includes not only a shopping center location, but two automated book-dispensing machines at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations.

As a governmental institution, The Metro Transportation Library's primary user audience is Metro employees. We have been a leader not just in the transportation library community, but in leveraging rapidly evolving technology to continue and improve service in any number of ways.

We were the first MTA department to provide internet access to employees, to launch an MTA intranet site, to start a blog (Los Angeles Transportation Headlines in 2006, and still going strong), to dive into social networking (our Facebook and Myspace pages), to create a YouTube video channel, build a Flickr photo-sharing site and the first MTA tweets came from the Metro Library Twitter account (1,300 followers and growing) . We have been at the forefront of sharing information in innovative ways, launching MTA's only Scribd document-sharing site and virtual representation of Metro in Second Life.

As we move forward in this new fiscal year, we will look at how best to both serve our audience and remain a leader in the transportation library community, while adapting to the rapidly changing technology and other challenges around us.

We will continue to harvest born-digital documents to capture them before they disappear from the Internet. We will scan and store rare and fragile archival resources to preserve them for generations to come. We will continue to provide both access and findability as best we can, so that our users can get what they want, when they want it, in methods and formats most convenient for them.

Most of all, we will continue to collect, preserve and make accessible those resources that will help Metro succeed in its ambitious mobility agenda for the entire region. We do this because we are committed to our profession's incredible ability to not just survive in tough economic times, but to thrive as well.

Resource List:

Opportunity For All: How The American Public Benefits From Internet Access At U.S. Libraries (212p. PDF : University of Washington Information School, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, April 2010)
Opportunity For All: Research Brief

Libraries And The Recession, American Library Association, April, 2010

"Libraries Get A Mall Makeover," Salon, July 6, 2010

"Libraries Focus On Convenience With Mall Locations," Associated Press, July 6, 2010

The State Of America's Libraries Annual Report (66p. PDF), American Library Association, April, 2010

"Toward A New Alexandria: Imagining The Future Of Libraries," The New Republic, March 12, 2010

Why The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might Be Libraries, NPR, July 20, 2010

Research Roundup: High-Speed Rail, Transportation Statistics, Transportation Taxes

2010-07-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

We want to periodically highlight current transportation and transit research that is particularly useful or timely. Several new reports were issued recently that caught our eye and deserve review in addition to inclusion in our daily Transportation Headlines.

Image via California High-Speed Rail Authority

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

Is high-speed rail in California not only viable, but a worthwhile investment? It depends on who you ask. Two recent reports (not to mention numerous newspaper articles and editorials) have vastly different takes on the subject.

The UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies recently released its Review Of "Bay Area/California High-Speed Rail Ridership And Revenue Forecasting Study" (59p. PDF). They conclude that the California High-Speed Rail Authority's forecasts of demand and ridership for a new San Francisco-to-Los Angeles high-speed train are not reliable because they are based on an inconsistent model. They believe that average ridership projections were flawed at key decision-making junctures and that it is impossible to predict whether the proposed system will experience either healthy profits or severe revenue shortfalls.

This study's findings had a strong impact in that it was the first academic review of the rail authority's ridership forecasts, which were part of California's successful application for $2.25 billion in federal stimulus funds. An overview of the key problems highlighted in the report can be found in this UC Berkeley Press Release.

Rendering for Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) via Flickr

Meanwhile, the CalPIRG Education Fund also published a report in the past few weeks with a much different view. Next Stop: California -- The Benefits Of High-Speed Rail Around The World And What's In Store For California (47p. PDF) presumes that the system will be built and proposes that the state will reap great benefits from its investment. CalPIRG finds that dramatically-reduced travel times, lower energy consumption, environmental benefits, high-speed rail's safety record, and the potential for job creation and economic gains are all reasons to forge ahead and enjoy the great successes that so many other countries have had with high-speed rail.

Image via Flickr

RESEARCH STATISTICS

The most recent edition of State Transportation Statistics (2009) was released last week. This is an invaluable research tool if you are looking for information regarding infrastructure, safety, freight transportation, passenger travel, vehicle registration, vehicle-miles traveled, as well as statistics related to economy, finance, energy and the environment.

Whether you need to find out something rather basic such as how many miles of public road there are in the United States (4.04 million) or something more obscure such as the states with the highest and lowest percentage use of safety belts by drivers and front-right passengers (Hawaii 97%, Massachusetts 67%), it's probably in there. The entire report (143p. PDF) contains 112 tables of data for every state and is available only online starting with the 2009 edition this year.

It's an enormous effort - how do they compile such comprehensive statistical data? The Research and Innovation Technology Administration (RITA)'s Bureau of Transporation Statistics (BTS) provides this Information On Data Sources Document that is intriguing in and of itself.

Image via Flickr

TRANSPORTATION TAX

The Mineta Transportation Institute recently issued the results of a national survey titled: What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options?: Results From A National Survey.

The survey, conducted this Spring, tested public support for sales taxes, gas taxes, and mileage taxes that would raise revenue for transportation purposes. Eight different scenarios were proposed, with the half-cent sales tax garnering the most support (43%) and a 10-cent increase in a gas tax (42%) to reduce global warming. Half-cent sales tax most palpable? Worked for Los Angeles County's Measure R in 2008.

Respondents were least receptive to a 1-cent per mile mileage tax (21%) and a 10-cent increase in the gas tax that was not earmarked for a specific purpose (23%). The survey found that linking a transportation tax to environmental benefits increased public support. The Research Brief provides a nice summary of the findings.

History Pin: Google In Partnership To Take On "Augmented Reality" & Map The World's Photos And Stories

2010-07-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Image via Information Aesthetics

We recently highlighted The Museum of London's efforts to create an augmented reality iPhone app from a set of geotagged images in their collection. With the images plotted on a Google Map, history comes alive as the metadata for each image tells a story when old images are superimposed on the user's location.

Now comes word of a much larger project in the same exciting vein: History Pin, a partnership between Google and We Are What We Do, hopes to become the largest user-generated archive of the world's historical images and stories.

The website serves as a digitized, interactive visual time-machine. Users upload their own photos along with the stories behind them. The photos are then plotted to an interactive map and layered onto current street view scenes, providing geo-located portals to the past.

Watch a fascinating overview of the project here:

How does such an ambitious project come into being? With a dream. The History Pin website boils down the story this way:

We Are What We Do's big new campaign aims to get people from different generations to spend more time together. It became obvious that old photos are a great way of gathering people together and getting them chatting.

We wanted people to dig out, scan, upload and pin their photos and stories to a map of the world for everyone to see. So we decided to call Google and ask if they'd help. They had a map all ready for us to use and happened to have photographed most of the world...which was handy.

So, should we regard this as just technology for technology sake, "because they can?" Not if you care about statistics clearly illustrating that inter-generational communication (which We Are What We Do cares so much about) is rapidly on the decline.

People of different age groups spend a lot less time together than they used to. In Britain, only 10% of elderly people live with their children, compared to 40% just 50 years ago. In an age where 90% of teenager communication is digital, the trend may only lead to different age groups living in completely different social worlds. A study from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project regarding Generational Differences In Online Activities highlights stark disparities in how different age groups are interacting with technology today.

A project like History Pin has something for everyone and could serve to bridge those gaps. We believe that the vast visual resources of libraries and archives could contribute greatly to this type of endeavor and serve as a driving factor behind widespread adoption of it as well.

Everyone has old photos, but is there a larger payoff for contribution besides a sense of community and belonging? It remains to be seen - but with Google behind it, History Pin could be the Flickr of 2011.

Regardless, we have to admit that with crowdsourcing, resource sharing, social networking, mobile applications and Learning 2.0 all in one product, it doesn't get any more "New Media" than that!

Going forward, old photographs might stop gathering dust and could begin gathering interaction, conversations and new relationships instead.

An in-depth presentation of how to use History Pin can is presented here:

Blue Line At 20: Welcoming The First Metro Rail Project And Its Continued Success

2010-07-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

"Past The Banner Threshold Into A New Rail Era For Los Angeles" from September 1990 Headways

As we discussed last week during our look back at early rail links between Los Angeles and Long Beach, Wednesday is the 20th anniversary of the Metro Blue Line.

When the light-rail cars began rolling on Saturday, July 14, 1990, nearly 30 years had passed since the last Pacific Electric Railway car went out of service. In that time, the population of Los Angeles County had grown by approximately 50%.

The congestion, reduced travel times, air quality, and other factors contributed to a warm welcome for renewed service between 22 stations on a 22-mile long route between the two largest cities in the County.

Officials from both the SCRTD and Los Angeles County Transportation Commission had predicted daily ridership at about 5,000 during initial stages of operation.

During the first two weeks after the grand opening, more than 600,000 people rode the Blue Line, including 32,000 on the first day of service, and nearly 70,000 on the second day (a Sunday).

Five years after groundbreaking, the Metro Blue Line began moving people along its 22-mile route.

The inaugural run left the tunnel under Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles and pulled into Pico Station a few minutes later. The dignitaries on hand included California Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy; Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley; Los Angeles County Supervisors Ed Edelman and Kenneth Hahn; SCRTD Board President Nick Patsaouras; SCRTD General Manager Alan Pegg; and Los Angeles County Transportation Commission members Christine Reed and Jacki Bacharach.

That first Blue Line train picked up additional dignitaries along the way. At 103rd Street Station in Watts, Los Angeles City councilwoman Joan Milke Flores and County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn were featured speakers. Mayors Walter Tucker of Compton, Robert Henning of Lynwood and Thomas Jackson of Huntington Park boarded the train at Compton Station. Carson's mayor Vera DeWitt joined the festivities at Del Amo Station, while Long Beach mayor Ernie Kell and Long Beach councilman Ray Grabinski joined in at Willow Station.

1991: Good Morning America interview with Neil Peterson, Executive Director of the County Transportation Commission regarding the Blue Line's first anniversary, the long-range transportation plan, and the mythology of General Motors' involvement in dismantling the Pacific Electric streetcar network.

The "Blue Line" was also the name given for a light rail line between Los Angeles and Pasadena. Work began on this line as early as 1994, but was suspended following a County ballot initiative, which banned use of taxpayer money on subway construction. After legislation passed creating a separate construction authority to continue work on this line, it was dubbed the "Gold Line."

For the 10-year anniversary in 2000, Metro Blue Line rail cars were disguised as modern-day Pacific Electric "Red Cars," in a nod to the historic rail service that ran through the region in the early 20th century. After 10 years, the Blue Line had served more than 135 million passengers with sustained average weekday boardings of 63,000.

The Metro Blue Line remains the longest rail line in the Metro system, and the one with the most stations. The Blue Line not only paved the way for the rest of the Metro Rail system, but had its own starring role in at least two movies. In the 1995 film Heat, the opening sequence shows one of the main characters alighting at Firestone Station. In the 2003 film The Italian Job, the main characters drive their BMW Mini Coopers into the 7th/Metro Station and manage to cut all power in order to stop an oncoming train.

The vision, hard work and dedication of countless transportation advocates, employees and elected representatives created the Blue Line and made it a success. Its entire $877 million in funding came from state and local sources.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley at Blue Line Groundbreaking at Carson Shops, October 31, 1985 (Metro Transportation Library Flickr)

Rail Operations Team prepares for Blue Line Opening (Current Metro CEO Art Leahy is standing at far right) from August 1990 Headways

Additional Resources:

Photos
Metro Transportation Library Blue Line Flickr Photo Set

Videos
Metro Transportation Library YouTube Channel

Employee News Magazine Stories
Headways, August 1990
Headways, September 1990

Planning Documents
Concept Design Report: Executive Summary (September, 1983)
Concept Design Report: Volume 1 (September, 1983)
Draft Environmental Impact Report: Summary (May, 1984)
Draft Environmental Impact Report (May, 1984)
Draft Environmental Impact Report: Design Appendix (May, 1984)
Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (December, 1984)
Final Environmental Impact Report (1985)

Blue Line At 20: Looking Back At Early Service Between Los Angeles And Long Beach (1902-1961)

2010-07-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

Pacific Electric Railway On First Day Of Operation to Long Beach, July 4, 1902 (via Metro Library Flickr)

Next week, Los Angeles' first contemporary rail project turns 20 years old. The Metro Blue Line running between Los Angeles and Long Beach opened on July 14, 1990, but rail service linking the two cities stretches back more than 100 years.

We wanted to take a look back at the first complete interurban link built by Henry Huntington, one of the most successful in the entire system, and the last to be abandoned and replaced with bus service.

The line connecting downtown to Long Beach was first proposed at a Los Angeles City Council meeting on June 24, 1901. Henry Huntington had planned to build a resort hotel in Long Beach, and settlers there wanted more connection to Los Angeles than the existing six to eight steam trains per day provided by Southern Pacific, which had replaced horse-drawn cars in 1888.

Long Beach was a burgeoning community at the turn of the last century. In 1890, Long Beach had only 484 residents. The population grew to over 2,000 people in 1900. By 1910, Long Beach's population had grown to 17,000 - making it the fastest growing city in the United States during that decade. This rapid growth was attributed to the convenience of trolley travel to Los Angeles, and by 1920, the population had expanded to over 55,000.

Early photo of Pacific Electric service to Long Beach pier (via Metro Library Flickr)

The City of Long Beach noted the success of interurban lines built to Santa Monica and Pasadena, and the City Fathers agreed to offer a franchise for rail service. The proposal called for tracks to enter the city along American Avenue (later renamed Long Beach Boulevard). This was appealing in that streetcars would be routed just three blocks from the town's small business district. However, strong opposition came from those who did not want more tracks along their seaside property, as plans called for tracks to run along Ocean Park Avenue (later renamed Ocean Boulevard), a street lined with upscale residences.

A representative for Henry Huntington successfully bid $9,600 the franchise. The citizens of Long Beach were generally pleased despite not knowing the final track routing, as the large sum of money would help balance the municipal budget.

The area between Los Angeles and Long Beach was generally flat and uninhabited farm and ranchland, allowing the tracks to be laid quickly. The largest settlement between the two cities was Compton, population 452. Trackwork was indeed completed ahead of schedule and interurban cars borrowed from the Pasadena and Alhambra lines were put into service until new cars could be received for the Los Angeles - Long Beach line.

July 4, 1902: On the first day of service, Long Beach's 2,000 residents saw 30,000 visitors by afternoon. Most came by rail (with new arrivals every 15 minutes), but many joined the holiday festivities by buggy and carriage. Some visitors who arrived by steam train were so enamored of the new Pacific Electric line that they sacrificed their return tickets so they could ride the festive Red Cars back to Los Angeles.

By the 1920s, the Automobile Era was well underway in Southern California. Expanded development, car ownership and new roads translated into more grade crossings and hazards for streetcars, increasing their travel time. Buses held appeal for transit operators as a cheaper transportation mode: employee overhead was lower and the high expense of railcar maintenance plants could be avoided.

With the arrival of the Arroyo Seco Parkway, the nation's first "super highway," in 1939, the writing was on the wall for cars and buses to challenge streetcars as the preferred method of travel.

Pacific Electric Cars on Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, March 1936 (via Metro Library Flickr)

By the 1940s, Los Angeles had grown greatly in both size and population. The suburbs were expanding farther from downtown, and a comprehensive network of freeways, as we've discussed here, was being planned for the entire County. As automobile ownership soared, public transportation ridership slumped.

In the early 1950s, Pacific Electric was undergoing big changes. Several rail lines were slowly being converted to bus service. According to Jim Walker's Pacific Electric Red Cars, "resistance from the California Department of Highways to include rail transit in freeway medians helped seal the early doom of passenger rail travel." Ironically, rapid growth had fueled both the birth of streetcar lines as well as their demise.

By 1953, Pacific Electric decided to forego any remaining passenger rail service, and by the end of the year, operations were turned over to Metropolitan Coach Lines.

The Long Beach route was the very last one to be put out of service, on April 9, 1961.

Just two decades later, planning was already underway for reconstituting rail service between Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Main Street Station on the last day of Long Beach Line service, April 9, 1961 (via Metro Library Flickr)

Metro Transportation Library's Flickr Collections Of Interest:

Metro Blue Line
Pacific Electric Railway (1899-1953)
Downtown Los Angeles And Freeways
Long Beach
Metropolitan Coach Lines (1953-1958)

What CicLAvia Might Look Like: Scenes From "Oaklavia" And Other Car-Free Street Events

2010-07-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Image via Sunday Streets SF

In just a couple of months, Los Angeles will begin an experiment with temporary street closure of streets for CicLAvia (promotional video can be found here).

Inspired by Ciclovia, a weekly event in Bogota, Colombia, CicLAvia (note the distinctive "LA" spelling) will take place on Sunday, September 12 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Ciclovia began in 1976 in Bogota as a response to street congestion and pollution. Today, up to 1.5 million people participate every Sunday -- that's 30% of the population. Bogota is well-known for advancing sustainable transport. A recent article from the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation notes that the city spent more than twice as much on bikeways between 1990 and 2002 than the entire United States did!

The CicLAvia route will extend through some of Los Angeles' most diverse and dense neighborhoods: Boyle Heights, Little Tokyo, Downtown, MacArthur Park, Koreatown and East Hollywood. The route parallels many Metro subway and light rail stations, making it that much easier for Angelenos to participate.

More than 30 years since Colombia led the way, several communities in the United States have adopted their own version of Ciclovia, including Portland Sunday Parkways, El Paso Ciclovia, Sunday Streets San Francisco, Tucson Ciclovia, Spokane Summer Parkways, New York Summer Streets and Chicago Sunday Parkways).

Scenes from many of these events can be found at StreetFilms Ciclovia Channel.

Oakland, California launched their "Oaklavia" event on June 28, and it looks like a tremendous success. While some visualizations of how LA's CicLAvia might look can be found here, the following video from the Oakland event shows not just bicyclists taking over the streets, but an engaged community of thousands walking, dancing, performing music and circus art and having the time of their lives.

One participant poignantly notes, "It almost feels illegal to be this free."

The coordinator of San Francisco's event stated that "A city street becomes an entirely different landscape when you take the cars away. It creates opportunities for people to come out and exercise, meet their neighbors, and learn to appreciate their city in a whole new way."

Blog Downtown writes that "while the City has pledged to cover traffic and public safety expenses for the event, fundraising is underway for expenses related to coordination, marketing and outreach."

Even before CicLAvia is launched, The City of Los Angeles is already anticipating success. Its 2010 Draft Bicycle Plan released last month includes Encouragement Objective 1.41A: Monthly Car-Free Days: Coordinate a Car-Free Day on a regular basis each month.

It will be interesting to see whether car-centric Los Angeles will consider this event as a closing of streets, or instead, opening them up.

Resource list:

CicLAvia website
CicLAvia on Facebook
CicLAvia on Twitter

"Ciclovias All Over The World" (videos : StreetFilms)

"Public Space = Public Health" (Huffington Post, February 23, 2010)

"Nobody Walks In L.A.? Not If CicLAvia Has Its Way" (Los Angeles Times, November 26, 2009)

"Car-Free Streets, A Colombian Export, Inspire Debate" (New York Times, June 24, 2008)

"Traffic Stoppers: An Increasing Number Of Cities Are Temporarily Closing Streets To Cars And Opening Them To Pedestrians And Cyclists. It Fosters A Greater Sense Of Community" (Christian Science Monitor, August 18, 2008)

1922 Los Angeles: Unprecedented Growth, Congestion And A Plan For Relief

2010-07-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

We recently discovered a fascinating 1922 PhD. dissertation from University of California, Berkeley that is a treasure-trove of various maps and charts. J.M. Terrass wrote his Study and Plan of Relief of the Street Traffic Congestion in the City of Los Angeles, Calif. to complete his doctoral degree in Civil Engineering.

The dissertation (105p. PDF) is a snapshot of transit and transportation issues in Los Angeles during a period of unprecedented growth. But what made this particular period so critical in Los Angeles history vis-a-vis the need for relieving traffic congestion?

Consider the intense growth in vehicle registration in Los Angeles County in the preceding years:

According to the State Department of Motor Vehicles, Los Angeles County had 43,099 vehicles registered in 1914.

By 1922, that number had exploded to 172,313.

In just 8 years, the number of cars on the streets of Los Angeles had quadrupled.

The author also analyzes pedestrian traffic, regulation of traffic, the Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric Railway systems, and downtown parking.

He concludes that the downtown street area is insufficient for present traffic, street area is inefficiently used, outlets for traffic are insufficient, and that increasing efficiency is practically impossible due to the railway systems in operation at the time. He goes on to discuss the 2nd Street Tunnel project, the opening of 5th Street, the Pacific Electric tunnel, and plans for a Union Passenger Station.

The Union Station blueprints and plans are an interesting collection of various proposed terminals and locations, including this three-dimensional Grade Crossing Elimination And Union Depot Plan, as adopted by Southern Pacific Company, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad and Pacific Electric Railway.

Mr. Terrass proposes several recommendations in his conclusion. These include rerouting nearly all Pacific Electric tracks and elevating them, a Spring Street subway, new tunnels, street widening, and amendment to the City Charter allowing private capital to be used in building subways or elevated railways on public property.

Among the many maps and charts in the document is the "Official Transportation and City Map of Los Angeles California and Suburbs." The original is quite a large fold-out page, so the file size has been compressed in order to be rendered readable and presented here in two parts.

If you've ever visited the Metro Transportation Library on the 15th Floor of the Gateway Plaza Headquarters, you may have noticed a similar map mounted on the wall near the entrance. That map, circa 1928, also features the Pacific Electric Railway (Red Car) and Los Angeles Railway (Yellow Car) lines. as Olympic Boulevard had not yet been renamed (from Country Club Drive) and re-aligned through the Mid-City area in time for the 1932 Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles.

A noticeable difference between the two maps is that the 1922 rendering shows large swaths of undeveloped property west of La Brea and Highland. By 1928, the area had been entirely developed - a testament to the explosive growth of Los Angeles in the 1920s, during which the city's population more than doubled.

Subway Wraps: Innovative Transit Revenue Streams (Not Sandwiches)...

2010-06-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

Image via NYC The Blog

We've written before about the financial crunch facing most transit operators in the current economy, but many agencies are countering difficult decisions with new ways to supplement revenue beyond the usual raising of fares and cutting staff and service.

Last year, the Transit Cooperative Research Program issued a report titled Practical Measures To Increase Transit Advertising Revenues (107p. PDF). It states that

The overarching conclusion is that transit advertising is well positioned to grow, assuming that the overall economy cooperates and the advertising business as a whole keeps growing. The outlook from organizations that track media trends is that the shifting of dollars out of traditional media and into non-traditional formats will continue.

The research team also recommended that the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) form or endorse formation of an independent transit advertising trade association and that transit agencies "introduce digital and interactive (experiential) technologies to transit advertising."

An article this month in Metro Magazine discusses transit business development efforts through creative advertising, and highlights success stories in Oceanside (CA) and Purcellville (VA), as well as the Florida Legislature's interest in allowing school buses in the state to sell ads on the sides of buses.

This week, a much larger agency made a huge splash: The New York MTA broke new ground by unveiling the first-ever subway wrapped in advertising. The ads for Target (opening in East Harlem in July) will run for six weeks and are expected to bring in $250,000 in additional revenue for the cash-strapped agency.

A photo collection of the campaign can be viewed here, and here's some video footage of the rolling advertisement in action:

As you can see, the wrapping is just on the outside, as opposed to the Holland Times Square Shuttle which saw several visually arresting interiors during its installation, in addition to external wrapping.

Images via NYC The Blog

We've seen buses wrapped in advertising for a long time now, and light rail as well. However, this is believed to be the first time an entire subway train has been covered with revenue-generating advertising.

This Toronto Transit Commission streetcar is decked out with a full-body wrap of advertising for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2008.

Given the challenges of providing great service in the current economic climate as well as the embrace of new advertising and revenue models, expect to see more outside-the-box partnerships in the future. Whether people support public transportation through economic necessity, "greening" their lives, or personal preference, the TCRP Report states that transit advertising must find a way to counter the lack of credibility, relevance and distinctiveness in today's advertising marketplace.

Meanwhile, sooner rather than later, we may not be far off from seeing even more unusual ventures coming our way, such as this IKEA installation in a Paris Metro Station earlier this year.

Images via Freshome

Sustainability In Transportation: A New International Exhibit And Metro Library's Up-To-The-Minute Resources

2010-06-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

An international exhibit on sustainable transportation opens today in New York titled "Our Cities Ourselves," a joint program of the Institute for Transportation and Development policy and the AIA Center for Architecture.

Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term inclusive of many concepts related to the ability to endure, whether pertaining to ecosystems, consumption of natural resources and energy, urban planning, and other topics and disciplines.

This new exhibit is noteworthy because it pertains to the planning for economic, environmental, and social sustainability of transportation in ten of the most fascinating cities around the world which have already proven to be leaders in innovation in sustainable transport.

The exhibit includes images and 3-D models of urban neighborhoods as they are envisioned in 2030 alongside photos of how they look today.

Even more exciting, ten of the world's leading architects have been working for the past year to demonstrate how each city is "fertile ground" for further transformation in large-scale sustainability.

The proposed projects are as different from each other as the cities are themselves. By 2030, 60% of the global population (5 billion people) will be living in urban areas, mostly in developing nations. It is fascinating to see how various architects have envisioned sustainable transport in Ahmedabad, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Dar es Salaam, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Mexico City, New York, and Rio de Janeiro.

Want to learn more?

The Metro Library provides appropriate resources on timely topics such as sustainability. Our website features up-to-the-minute dynamic bibliographies of selected transportation topics, including sustainability in transportation, from a variety of sources, including:

The U.S. National Transportation Library: The NTL maintains and facilitates access to statistical and other information needed for transportation decision-making at the Federal, State and local levels. In 2008, the NTL was re-launched through a merger with the U.S. Department of Transportation Library, serving both government agencies and the general public

The WorldCat database: The world's largest network of library content and services, allowing you to search the collections of libraries in your area and thousands more around the world for relevant information in every imaginable format, including books, audiovisual materials, scholarly articles, and digital resources

Metro's Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library Catalog: Our own online catalog containing records for our extensive holdings which include over 45,000 books, reports, studies, conference proceedings, plans, maps, drawings, and other items

We are committed to providing the most appropriate resources within the scope of our collection areas, as well as improving both access and "findability." We will continue to develop our current bibliographies for selected transportation topics resources as the field of transportation research evolves and as we move forward with our own related Measure R projects.

Responding appropriately to the needs of our staff and public users is a measure of sustainability in and of itself.

Back in New York, architect Michael Sorkin says that the streets were laid out by the Dutch in a fundamentally "Medieval" pattern...not made for cars." His vision is for many more pedestrians and bicycles, and very few cars. He proposes tearing down the lower part of FDR Drive, which runs along the east side of Manhattan. Sound implausible? He states "A year ago, nobody thought you could close Broadway, but suddenly it's closed, and everyone loves it."

An all-day symposium titled "Architects, Developers, and Transport Planners on the Future of the City" will be held Saturday, June 26 to continue to discussion of this important and timely topic. The exhibit is on display through September 11, 2010 at the Center for Architecture Gallery before moving on to other cities around the world.

Lost Parkways Of Los Angeles: The 1946 Proposed Interregional, Regional And Metropolitan Plan

2010-06-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

In the long history of transit planning in Los Angeles, early documents focused on relieving congestion with new street plans. Shortly after phenomenal growth in both area and population before World War II, various studies and reports outlined ambitious plans for moving people greater distances in a shorter amount of time.

In 1946, the Interregional, Regional, Metropolitan Parkways report proposed an extensive system of highways and parkways criss-crossing the entire county. It explained that

While parkway construction is often more expensive per mile than a substantial widening of a business thoroughfare, it is much cheaper in results. A single lane of parkway roadway will carry 1,500 cars per hour at average speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour, compared with 500 to 700 cars per hour at average speeds of 15 to 20 miles per hour for the surface street traffic lane.

The report went on to propose that

The parkways of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area are proposed to provide the major elements of a rapid transit bus system. The use of the parkways by express buses will more than double the passenger carrying capacity of the parkways, thus doubling their economic value to the area. They will provide rapid transit service for the area at a small fraction of the cost of any type of separate rapid transit system.

The report implies that bus transit would logically replace fixed-rail streetcars as the most practical method of moving people farther distances in shorter amounts of time as the population continued to embrace the automobile.

The report recommends construction of no fewer than 43 highways and parkways for Los Angeles County! Several of these were constructed as the same-named familiar freeways of today, while others were eventually constructed under new names.

However, many more never came to pass, and the bucolic-sounding parkways concept was eventually abandoned. Here are just a few eye-opening proposals for parkways, many of which would have replaced major street-traffic arteries:

Allesandro Parkway: an original proposal for the Glendale Freeway
Normandie Parkway: a Midtown north-south connector along Normandie
La Brea (Crenshaw) Parkway: to replace La Brea Boulevard between Hollywood and Inglewood
Appian Parkway: from Long Beach to the Orange County line
Manhattan Parkway: connecting Manhattan Beach to the Sepulveda Parkway (now I-405)
Whitnall Parkway: across the San Fernando Valley from Burbank to Chatsworth

The report contains several maps as well as the complete list of highways and parkways, their length in miles, and their estimated cost of construction. The entire project for Los Angeles County was estimated at 289.9 miles at a cost of $463,302,000.

We mentioned Los Angeles County's phenomenal growth in population and area before World War II. Now consider post-War growth: Today, Los Angeles County's freeway and highway system has mushroomed to over three times the size of the 1946 proposal (915 freeway and highway miles), while the population has exploded to such an extent that the County still ranks only 32st in lane-miles per capita amongst metropolitan areas in the United States (0.419 lane-miles per 1,000 people).

It's a much different world now than in 1946 - clearly illustrated by this photo from the parkways report, captioned "Heavy Traffic Flowing Smoothly On Parkway":

Who Let The Data Out?: Comparing Transit Systems' Open Data Elements

2010-06-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Washington D.C. is the latest transit agency of note to open its data to the public - and they are going all out to take the lead in this area in order to improve service. The agency is creating a comprehensive system for web, mobile, and other software applications to access a wide variety of transit information.

This week, the WMATA Customer Services, Operations, And Safety Committee released a report on Transparent Metro Data Sets which included a handy chart with side-by-side comparisons of data types for several transit agencies (including L.A. Metro) relating to both bus and rail.

The chart shows some categories of information that WMATA will make publicly accessible that many other transit agencies do not, including bus positions, bus route shapes, rail elevator and escalator incidents, rail station prediction, and rail system incidents.

Last year, Metro launched a developer site for individuals and entities to access transportation and multi-modal data such as routes, stops, schedules, and geographical information. To date, at least 14 new transit applications have been developed, and there are surely many more to come.

We wanted to take a closer look at open data and how this fast-growing trend lends transparency and public participation to the collection, consumption and dissemination of information.

Numerous governmental institutions, including transit agencies, have jumped on the bandwagon to open up their data collections to the public so that information can be repurposed for the greater good.

City-Go-Round helps you find useful transit applications around the country, and encourages public transit agencies to open their data to software developers. While many agencies now provide open data, many others do not. City-Go-Round lists 690 agencies that are not providing open data, including several large ones such as MARTA (Atlanta), Miami-Dade Transit, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (Calif.) and AC Transit (Alameda & Contra Costa Counties, Calif.).

Software developers using open data take advantage of citizens' specialized or expert skills, local knowledge, community-based needs, and other "professional amateurs." Applications such as FixMyStreet and SeeClickFix have broad appeal and been embraced by more than one locale.

Even something as mundane as the bus stop can be redesigned with data-friendly enhancements that support interactive maps and trip planning.

According to a Fleet Beat White Paper on open transit data:

The only negative some agencies see in providing their data to the public is the elimination of potential revenue from selling the data to developers. However, because the data is generated by taxpayer-funded agencies, the general consensus is that agencies should not profit from this data. Agencies that kept their data closed in hopes of selling it, such as New York City's MTA - who recently released their data - have experienced extensive backlash from both the developer community and transit passengers.

Furthermore, The Washington Post featured a story this week reporting that Freedom Of Information Act requests dropped substantially in 2009. It should be noted that proactively pushing data into the public sphere for applications development saves government agencies (and in turn, taxpayers) the cost of responding to public records requests.

Image via Flickr

Transit Agency Cooperation In Mid-Century L.A. (Or Lack Thereof)...

2010-06-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

How do we increase the appeal of public transit ridership in Los Angeles? Recent Los Angeles Times columns (here, here, and here) suggest that streamlining transfers and passes within and across agencies could go a long way to make transit more accommodating, flexible and desirable.

Last week, LACMTA's Board of Directors met to discuss related topics: having Metro develop a daily and weekly EZ Pass, develop a regional trip planner, and look into distance and time-based fares.

This issue is not new despite the long history of myriad agencies that have operated in the Los Angeles area over the last many years. We wanted to take a look back at the Transportation In The Los Angeles Area final report from 1957.

This unique document was the result of a citizens advisory panel. The Citizens Traffic And Transportation Committee For The Extended Los Angeles Area authored the report, and its Executive Committee roster lists no fewer than 54 names.

The Committee made several recommendations regarding surface streets, freeways, parking and terminal facilities, and mass transit service.

They found that:

Within a 20 mile radius of downtown Los Angeles, 31 separate carriers provide mass transit service through 178 carrier connections and 1400 points of interchange.

Ten basic rate structures apply, ranging from 10 to 20 cents; and 21 carriers provide for zone increments ranging from 3 to 10 cents per zone.

Joint fares with transfer privileges are in limited effect, involving only 11 of the transit companies. Except for one carrier which maintains joint fare agreements with three other carriers each of the agreements is between two or three of these eleven companies.

Only 11 of 31 transit carriers within a 20-mile radius of downtown cooperated on fares and transfers. No wonder the freeways looked so appealing for traveling long distances! They were new, moved quickly, and as people moved farther from work, public transit looked more complicated if one needed to use more than one transit provider.

Meanwhile, the report touted the benefits of freeways, even explaining that "Smaller communities, especially, have not recognized the need for or desirability of a freeway passing through their jurisdictions and have not planned their streets accordingly."

Because the master plan was not completed all at once (and in fact, never completed as outlined in this report), the report attributed congestion to people traveling out of their way to use the completed sections. It concludes that "it is essential that adequate financing be found to permit the expeditious completion of the freeway system."

Our freeway system as built is sometimes not a faster route than traveling via surface streets. We will never know if the network of freeways as envisioned in 1957 would necessarily move people more quickly today, but we will take a closer look at that proposal in our next post.

The covers of the report have been reproduced here. Note the inclusion of just about every type of transportation in these photo montages (click each image twice to enlarge).

Emphasis is placed on cars, freeways and buses, with freeway interchanges featured prominently. While Los Angeles' streetcars were still operating in 1957, they are noticeably omitted.

Hand-Held Museums: Is The Future Of History On Your Phone?

2010-05-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

Contemporary street scene with 1953 image of soldier in Piccadilly Circus

In addition to transit and transportation news and research, we are also periodically highlighting innovations in libraries and archives which will shape the way we search for and find information in the future. New technologies are disseminated, adopted and embraced more quickly than ever, so we may see projects and ideas like this coming our way soon.

The Museum Of London has launched an iPhone application which brings its extensive art and photographic collections alive in advance of the opening of spectacular new galleries next week.

The free app, called "StreetMuseum," takes users to various sites in London where, via their iPhone screen, historical images of the city appear. Over 200 sites have been selected where users can look through their iPhones and see the past emerge.

While the historic images can be enjoyed by themselves, the real magic combines information from the image along with the location of the user. Geotagging metadata in the images and GPS technology in the phone are mashed up to overlay the user's location with historic information about the same place.

Here's how it works. The iPhone user opens the app and it determines the phone's location. A map then opens showing the users position and locations of the various sites where they can view historic images of London:

London 3-D view locations

When you touch one of the tags, a small window opens which describes the location, date, and creator of the image. One click of the blue arrow on the right of that window allows the image appear and be enlarged.

English suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst restrained by police outside Buckingham Palace, ca. 1908

If the user is in the location pictured, they can click on a "3D view" button which allows the app to recognize the location and overlay the historic image onto the current view, augmenting the reality that the built-in iPhone camera perceives.

Bomb destroys Bank Tube station, 1941

One can imagine that the appeal of this technology would not be limited to either this particular museum or London.

The veritable explosion of applications for iPhones and other smartphones means that we can expect to see historic images coming alive "in situ."

It is also worth noting that by the year 2020, mobile devices will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most Americans.

Painting of skaters on the frozen Thames River, 1677

Forward-thinking museums, libraries, archives, and universities will embrace placing interactive tools in the hands (literally) of everyone from history buffs to tourists walking through an unfamiliar city. Imagine what this would look like for Los Angeles. Our city is large, diverse and decentralized with a compelling history. It isn't the easiest place to learn about or navigate if one is not familiar with its layout or terrain.

Salvation Army Headquarters, Queen Victoria Street, May 10, 1941

Now imagine if a network of institutions such as L.A. As Subject (of which we are a member institution) pooled their visual resources to make a project such as this a reality.

Students, researchers, historians, tourists and others would be guided to and through our unique historic and cultural heritage, allowing everyone access to the stories and events that have made Los Angeles the subject of study for people throughout the region and around the world.

Until then, or at least until you bring your iPhone to London for real-time interactivity, you might enjoy Flickr's "Looking Into The Past" photo set (example below).

Easter Egg Roll at US Capitol, 1924, via Flickr

The "Original Downtown Regional Connector?": The 1954 Underground Bus Network Maps

2010-05-21T18:14:00.001-07:00

Click on the map to open it, and again to enlarge it.

We wanted to follow up on yesterday's post about the proposed underground express bus network from the 1954 Supplemental Study Of Mass Transportation: Express Busses In Subways.

The study is accompanied by maps for the proposed subterranean bus network, which we have reproduced here with a few provisos.

First, they are not oriented in the way we are normally used to viewing maps. Rather than having north at the top of the page, the view is toward the southwest. Due north is at the lower right where one can locate the Four-Level Interchange and Chinatown below (north) of it.

Also, in order to provide the "big picture," the maps are reproduced here by piecing together three different pages from the original report. The original maps were published at slightly different scales, so the streets do not quite line up properly in the unified map.

The plan called for entrance to Downtown from the north, south, east and west.

From the north, buses would enter and exit the "Hollywood Parkway" at Hill Street and Spring Streets and travel underground starting at Temple into the Central Business District.

From the south, buses would approach and depart the planned "Olympic Parkway" at Hill Street and Main Street and travel underground starting at Pico Boulevard into the city's core.

From the west, express buses would connect to the "Harbor Parkway" at Olympic Boulevard and 7th Street and travel underground starting at Figueroa Street into the business district.

From the east, buses would enter and exit the center of downtown via 7th Street and an elevated roadway near 6th and San Pedro Streets.

Other features can be seen in these maps. The proposed "Riverside Parkway" was proposed for Elysian Park where Dodger Stadium now stands, and the "Industrial Parkway" was suggested for the eastside of downtown. It would balance out the Harbor Freeway on the west, and was supposed to run through the current-day Warehouse District and Arts District into the area just east of Union Station where Metro's Gateway Headquarters now stands.

While many transit plans from the past were never realized, it is worth noting that this study proposed integration of existing and new transit projects. The Hollywood Freeway and Harbor Freeway were already in existence, and planners anticipated freeways to the east and south of downtown with a futuristic underground bus network tying it all together to make it function as one system.

The "Riverside Parkway" and "Industrial Parkway" were never constructed. The "Olympic Parkway" is now known as the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) running south of downtown to the ocean, and the Four-Level Interchange, the first "stack interchange" in the world, had just fully opened the year before in 1953.

It gives one pause to consider that plans for the current Downtown Regional Connector Transit Corridor also incorporate a new transit project to make existing ones function in a more integrated fashion. It "will enable all Los Angeles County rail and bus transit, as well as all intercity transit service, to operate more efficiently and attract higher ridership, thus reducing roadway congestion, improving regional air quality and reducing the region's carbon footprint."

While no one in 1954 was concerned with carbon footprints, the vexing problem of moving people in and out of central Los Angeles as smoothly as possible and connecting existing regional transit to new downtown projects was a primary concern more than half a century ago.

The 1954 Plan For Los Angeles' Underground Bus Network (Yes, Underground!)

2010-05-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

As we proposed in our inaugural welcome post, our goal is to provide context for current transportation issues as well as to share the rich resources in our collections. Our ability to digitize items and share them online provides access to rarely-seen documents and other assets of both historical and current value.

Los Angeles transportation history is full of wonderful projects, proposals, people and other stories. Many of them are familiar (as is the mythology surrounding them) while others are not well-known at all.

A few weeks ago, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Freeway Flyer service and recounted the inauguration of bus service bringing suburban workers downtown, which continues to this day.

Prior to the 1960 Freeway Flyer rollout, The Los Angeles Metropolitan Traffic Association released the 1953 Express Busses On Freeways Transit Study.

The following year, the Association issued a supplemental study to address how buses on freeways would get downtown workers into the Central Business District since the freeways did not penetrate the area and riders would have to transfer to other transit options. The 1954 Supplemental Study Of Mass Transportation: Express Busses In Subways submitted on January 24, 1955 must go down as one of the more eye-opening proposals in Los Angeles' colorful transportation history.

Several interesting and prescient (as well as some downright stunning) recommendations came out of this suppplemental study. They include:

Street Arcades which contemplate set-back space to be taken out of frontage of buildings to make room for extra lanes on the street

Special Street Lane For Buses would set aside curb lane for use of buses and restrict certain streets exclusively to mass transportation

Intersection Separations provide for excavation and installation of escalators or ramps for pedestrians to cross below street surface, as well as escalators or ramps for crossing intersections above street surface

One-Way Street Proposals

Elevated Roadways in existing alleys for buses

Staggered Business Hours reinstating war-time requirements that not all businesses be open and closed at the same time, presumably mitigating traffic

Night Loading And Unloading of merchandise at street curbs during night hours

Fringe Parking lots serviced by shuttle buses or express buses on freeways operating downtown

Bus Subways providing "the most practical means of extending the freeway system through the Central Business District"

Yes, a "bus subway" was a serious proposal for carrying express buses from outlying freeways into downtown to avoid further contributing to congestion in the business district (recognized as the area bound by Figueroa Street, Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles Street and Pico Boulevard). In fact, the proposal as submitted was regarded as "realizably cheap."

It recommended the "cut and cover" construction procedure as the most practical in the Central Business District, with work proceeding in "somewhat leisurely fashion with finish scheduled coincidentally with the Olympic Freeway south" of downtown.

Each of the proposals in this study are worthy of discussion, but it is the underground express bus network that really stands out, not only for its unique characteristics, but because it was featured on the front and back covers of the study. Those illustrations are featured here at the beginning and end of this post.

In the study's cover letter to the Board of Directors, the authors noted that "we herewith submit further studies -- limited, of course, because of lack of funds, staff, and time -- of the mass transportation problem in the Central Business District developed along such phases as seem essential now."

Their lack of funds, staff, and time should certainly not be regarded as any hindrance to their creativity.

Tomorrow, a thought-provoking look at the maps depicting where exactly this underground bus network would be located.

How We Commute: Moving Into The "State Of Metropolitan America"

2010-05-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, The Brookings Institution disseminated State Of Metropolitan America: On The Front Lines Of Demographic Transformation. This landmark 172-page report details the demographic and social trends shaping the nation’s essential economic and societal units—its large metropolitan areas—and discusses what they imply for public policies to secure prosperity for these places and their populations. (The 4-page Executive Summary provides an excellent overview).

The report's chapters discuss population and migration, race and ethnicity, immigration, age, households and families, educational attainment, work, income and poverty, and commuting.

The Commuting chapter holds some findings of particular interest. Commuting flows are the “blood” of regional economies, showing the connections among businesses and the labor market, and tying together the places that define our metropolitan areas. This subject area details how we get to work, how long it takes us, and how patterns in these indicators have changed over time, pointing to significant differences across communities in how workers undertake these daily trips.

Reversing a pair of 40-year trends, the share of Americans that commute by transit increased from 2000 to 2008, while the share of those that drive alone to work fell slightly. However, driving alone remains the method by which fully three-quarters of Americans get to work. Transit usage increased among whites and Asians, while carpooling dropped significantly among blacks and Hispanics.

Regional differences distinguish metropolitan commuting modes. Commuters drive alone to work in high proportions in mid-sized Midwestern and Southern metro areas like Youngstown and Baton Rouge. Carpooling is most popular in Southern and Western metro areas, including many with large Hispanic populations like Bakersfield and McAllen. Public transit commuting is concentrated in the nine large metro areas that have rates above the metropolitan average (7 percent), including New York, San Francisco, Washington, and Boston.

Metropolitan areas with large transit systems were not alone in seeing increased transit usage during the 2000s. While metropolitan areas such as New York and Washington with extensive rail networks saw the largest increases in the share of commuters using transit, metro areas that opened light rail lines this decade such as Charlotte and Phoenix saw upticks as well. Others that rely almost exclusively on buses for transit commuting (Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, and Seattle) also experienced notable increases.

In only 19 of the 100 largest metro areas did more than a quarter of the workforce in 2008 commute by a mode other than driving alone. In only two of those metropolitan areas (New York and San Francisco) did more than a quarter of workers commute other than by car. Carpooling is an important alternative to driving alone in both mid-sized (Honolulu, Stockton) and large (Los Angeles, Seattle) metro areas.

Residents of cities and older, high-density suburbs are more likely to use transit than commuters elsewhere in metro areas. Suburban transit users have higher incomes than both city transit users and suburbanites overall. Rates of working at home are roughly the same across cities and all types of suburbs, though more common among higher educated workers.

For some great infographics, check out this online interactive map section that accompanies the report.

Here, you can click on "commuting" in the subject drop down menu to view visual renderings of "workers commuting by driving alone," "travel time to work," "commuting mode by household income," etc. This section mashes up the data collected from the chapter subject areas outlined above to provide a wealth of visual information.

In addition to all the great information found in this report regarding commuting and how we can better plan for transit and transportation, it is also worth taking note of the seven new classifications of metropolitan areas that have emerged. Based on this demographic research, researchers and planners may be debating and studying the following new archetypes for years to come:

Next Frontier: metro areas that exceed national averages on population growth, diversity and educational attainment
New Heartland: metro areas that are also fast growing, highly educated locales, but have lower shares of Hispanic and Asian populations than the national average
Diverse Giant: metro areas that feature some of the largest in the country and post above-average educational attainment and diversity, but below-average population growth
Border Growth: metro areas that are mostly located in southern border states, and as such are marked by a significant and growing presence of Mexican and other Latin American immigrants
Mid-Sized Magnet: metro areas that have experienced high growth, but exhibit lower shares of Hispanic and Asian minorities, and lower levels of educational attainment
Skilled Anchors: slow-growing, less diverse metro areas that boast higher-than-average levels of educational attainment
Industrial Cores: slower-growing, less diverse, and less educated than national averages, and significantly older than the large metropolitan average

The primary policy message is that all levels of government need to understand these changes in order to more accurately prepare for the future. Given the broadening diversity of metropolitan areas, it is critical that communities within each region understand their unique challenges and opportunities and structure collaborative policy responses to meet these needs.

Image via Flickr.