We ought to make it a regular feature: this week's gas price increase.
The Mass price for a gallon of regular unleaded is up $.08 to $2.31. It's the sixth straight week with an increase.
The data is from AAA Southern New England through boston.com.
NS&S says: economic recovery = higher gas prices.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Gas prices up eight cents
The AARP joins the Complete Streets movement
Guess who wants streets with good pedestrian and bicycling accommodations? The older folks among us.
The AARP sent a press release to announce a report of a recent study: "Planning Complete Streets for the Aging of America." The conclusion? Our nation's streets don't meet the needs of our aging population. No surprise there.
From the press release:
Streets, sidewalks and roadways designed to achieve “Complete Streets” can make getting around safer for everyone, the report suggests. Yet in a poll of adults age 50+ also conducted for the report, two in five said their neighborhood sidewalks were inadequate (although, by 2030, 20% of those age 65+ will not be drivers). Nearly half said they could not cross main roads close to their home safely, preventing many from walking, bicycling or taking the bus. But safer, more accessible streets won’t happen until federal, state and local authorities and planners wake up to the need for roads that address the challenges of the coming age wave, the report charges.
I guess it shouldn't be surprising, but it was a bit of a shock to see that the AARP is a member of the Complete Streets Coalition.
The full press release follows. (If the link doesn't work, click on the title, above.)
Road Planners Display Blind Spot for Oncoming Generation of Older Drivers
Update Design Guidelines and Complete Streets Will Accommodate Everyone, AARP Report Challenges
WASHINGTON, DC--Two-thirds of transportation planners and engineers have yet to begin addressing older people in their street planning; yet by 2025, 64 million people will be over age 65 according to census projections and by 2030 a quarter of all U.S. drivers will be 65+. This is the alarm raised by “Planning Complete Streets for the Aging of America” a major new report on roadway safety and the aging of the American population from AARP’s Public Policy Institute. The full report can be found here: http://www.aarp.org/research/housing-mobility/transportation/2009_02_streets.html.
Streets, sidewalks and roadways designed to achieve “Complete Streets” can make getting around safer for everyone, the report suggests. Yet in a poll of adults age 50+ also conducted for the report, two in five said their neighborhood sidewalks were inadequate (although, by 2030, 20% of those age 65+ will not be drivers). Nearly half said they could not cross main roads close to their home safely, preventing many from walking, bicycling or taking the bus. But safer, more accessible streets won’t happen until federal, state and local authorities and planners wake up to the need for roads that address the challenges of the coming age wave, the report charges.
“Improvements can reduce older driver crashes and pedestrian injuries without adversely affecting traffic; in many instances, local travel flow and accessibility are improved,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President for Social Impact. “But while a growing number of states and localities have Complete Streets policies, too few have been built. Furthermore, an outdated bias in engineering practices competes with current local desire for user-friendly “Complete Streets” design.
The report recommends that federal, state, and local highway and street design guidelines serve older people by 1) reducing vehicle travel speeds at intersections where older drivers and pedestrians need more time to make decisions and execute changes, 2) making the physical layout of roads, crosswalks and sidewalks easier to navigate, and 3) making it easier for older drivers and pedestrians to notice, read, understand and respond to visual cues and information.
Because of time required to plan and make these improvements, communities need to begin now in order to be ready for the age wave, the report states. “It takes time to plan, design, fund and build capital projects,” said LeaMond. “Federal officials, planners and traffic engineers need to focus now on adjusting roads to become safer and more user-friendly for everyone.”
Men outlive their driving years on average by 7 years and women by 10, the AARP report reiterates. “’Complete Streets’ make walking more appealing and crossing streets safer for everyone,” said AARP’s LeaMond. Complete Streets legislation was recently introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives. AARP is a member of the Complete Streets Coalition (http://www.completestreets.org).
The research process for “Planning Complete Streets for an Aging America” included an online survey of 1,134 state and local transportation planners and engineers conducted from August 4 to September 3, 2008. A public opinion telephone survey of 1,006people age 50 and older was conducted from July 9-15, 2008 with a margin of error of +/-3.09% at the 95% confidence level. An interdisciplinary team of planners, engineers and policy advocates reviewed safety research and offered policy and design recommendations as part of the development of the report and the report includes an inventory and evaluation of 80 existing “Complete Streets” policies.
Teach your child to ride the easy way
One word: balance bikes.
Balance bikes are the no-stress, guaranteed-success way to teach your child to ride a bike. Actually, your child will teach herself to ride.
A balance bike is a bike without a drive-train. No pedals, cranks, or chain. Without the pedals and with the seat low enough, she can comfortably place her feet on the ground and make the bike go by walking and make it stop by, well, stopping. As she becomes comfortable, she starts running. And, then, she glides. Finally, when she's got the gliding thing down, she'll be ready to jump on a regular bike and work on the relatively easier skills of pedaling and braking.
It's really that simple. Note that training wheels never enter the picture. (They're bad, really bad.)
The picture above is then three-year-old daughter of NS&S gliding on a Like-A-Bike, a fancy wooden balance bike, a gift from an overindulgent grandfather. It worked great for her and her older brother. But, you don't need anything nearly as fancy (or expensive).
Keep an eye out for a cheap or free 12-inch or 16-inch bike. (The numbers refer to the diameter of the wheel.) They show up all the time at tag sales and on the curb ready to be thrown out. Take off the training wheels. Take the bike to a local bike store and ask them to remove the bottom bracket. (It's the part at the bottom of the bike that hosts the pedal and crank assembly.) They'll probably do it for free.
Voila. You own a balance bike.
Lower (or raise) the seat so your child can sit comfortably with both feet flat on the ground, but can still walk along without getting off the seat.
Give the kid the bike. Offer some words of encouragement. And, your work is done.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
General Interest Groups for Rail Trails
On the TAB blog, proponents of the lower falls rail trail were said to include 'muscular special interest groups'. Presumably this refers to the Newton Bike and Pedestrian Task Force, Newton Conservators, Charles River Watershed Association, and Bike Newton. But these aren't special interest groups; they are general interest groups. These are people who value walking, biking, and the environment. They want to help themselves and people other than themselves value things and activities that are good for health and good for the environment. Further, many of these 'outsider' proponents would never make personal use of a potential lower falls rail trail - it is not of special interest to them, it is of general interest in promoting sustainable transportation throughout Newton.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wellesley High bus ridership
What happened when they took away student parking at Wellesley High? The number of applications for buses jumped from 246 (of 1200 students) to 372 (so far). Apparently, the demand for student parking is not all need-driven.
The depressing nugget in this little tale of parking supply driving car use? Seventy-one percent of Wellesley students are driven to school by their parents. That's appalling.
Community Rides
Updated with more accurate times ...
The big event is Sunday's Bike Newton Rally. Newton City Hall. Rally at 12:30, ride at 2:00. Make sure to register.
There are also (at least) two other interesting local rides coming up. On Saturday, Cambridge Bikes leads Literary Cambridge by Bikes, a "leisurely [ten-mile] ride through the streets of Cambridge past homes and sites associated with well-known authors, poets, publishers and printers." Ride leaves at 10:30 from the plaza between the High School main entrance and the Main Library construction site between Broadway and Cambridge Street (map).
On May 31, bike the length of Beacon Street in Brookline (and back) without cars! The Brookline Bikes Beacon parade begins at 12:30 at Armory Street (map).
Mass Bike has a list of other community rides.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Upper Lower Falls divide
One of the opponents of the bridge conversion and rail trail in Upper Lower Falls has been making the argument that the rail trail would divide the neighborhood, just like 128 divided the neighborhood.
Physically, the rail trail already divides the neighborhood. The proposal is to make it more rather than less passable. Presumably the backyard fences to be erected to maintain privacy would be the dividers, but are there current neighbor-to-neighbor connections being made across the path that will be shut off by fences?
It's just hard to imagine how a walking path can be compared to a major highway for its disruptive effect on a neighborhood.
The coming gas-poclypse
A gallon of go-juice in the Commonwealth is up $.15 this week, because crude is going up. While it may go back down (and up), the trend is almost certainly going to be up as the recovery hits and demand goes up.
We need to be making policy decisions based on the inevitable $4.00+ a gallon price, not on the current, recession-caused $2.18.
Bikes on the wireless
A little late on this, but the Internets cure a host of ills ...
Radio Boston on WBUR had a show on biking in Boston with friends of NS&S Peter Furth, Anne Lusk, David Watson, and Nicole Freedman. You can still hear it on the Radio Boston site.
Bike Convoy on Friday
The bike convoys to Boston begin on Friday, as part of Mass Bike Week. The convoy runs from Newton City Hall to Boston City Hall, with stops in Newtonville and near Watertown Square.
Schedule:
- 6:45 -- Gather at all stops for registration
- 7:00 -- Leave from Newton City Hall
- 7:10 -- Leave from Walnut St. and Washington Park
- 7:20 -- Leave from California St. footbridge
Pictures of previous convoys at the Bike/Ped site.
A modest proposal
For the last year or so, when I drive, I have been consciously driving at the speed limit on Newton roads. Not at the assumed safe-from-a-speeding-ticket speed limit plus 10 mph, but right smack dab at the speed limit. So far, it does not seem to have a meaningful effect on trip time within the city. And, when I go the speed limit, everyone else behind me goes the speed limit.
There isn't any epidemic of speeding by Newton city vehicles, that I'm aware of anyway, but I have noticed that most don't seem to abide by the same careful attention to posted limits that I've adopted. It would be a nice statement of support for our neighborhoods and recognition of the impact speeding traffic has if the mayor would institute and mayoral candidates would support a policy that all city-owned vehicles and all city-contracted vehicles (school buses, plows, &c.) are to be driven at the speed limit.
Not within a reasonable margin above, but right at or below.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
On Options
Thursday, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) held a meeting about the three foot bridges in Newton to be restored or created under the Commonwealth's Accelerated Bridge Program. One of the opponents of the conversion of the Upper Falls rail bridge to a pedestrian bridge and the potential rail trail between the bridge and Riverside noted that there were other options for getting to Riverside by bike or by foot and that the path would be "redundant."
Dan Driscoll of the DCR said that the agency was interested in creating as many bike and pedestrian opportunities as it could. He noted that there are plenty of redundant routes to travel by car.
What the opponent (and most opponents) don't acknowledge is that an off-road bike path offers a non-redundant opportunity for children.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
2nd Annual Bike Newton Rally & Ride
Sunday, May 17, 12:30 – 3:00PM, City Hall War Memorial Circle/Steps
This year, Nicole Freedman, Boston's Bike Czarina, will be addressing the crowds, the Nate Aranow Nextet will add jazz to the mix, the Dutch Bikes conference bike will be back, and there will be free drawings for bikes and bike equipment, and vendors, including International Bikes, Farina's, and Harris Cyclery. Trader Joe's, J.P. Licks, Whole Foods, and Clif bars are donating snacks. And a big shout-out to the Bike & Pedestrian Task Force, who came out in force last year to help with set-up & ride logistics, and have pledged help again this year.
The ride itself will be a gentle 3 ½ mile loop down Commonwealth Ave., up Temple (past Pierce Elementary School) and back by Prince and a few side streets to Comm. Ave. The pace will be leisurely, and we'll have a police escort & rolling closings for added safety.
Last year's rally and ride had 350 participants. Let's make this one BIG for the election year: let's show the candidates for Mayor of Newton that making Newton a bicycle safe city has to be part of their agenda and vision for Newton's future.
Go to the Bike Newton website to download registration forms. (There are different forms for Adults and for Minors.) Register early! You can register at the event, but the lines will be long!
Hope to see you there!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Meter Objectives
On Wednesday, the Board of Aldermen is taking up the subject of parking meters. Specifically, they will consider whether to increase the number of meters, increase the hours they are effective, increase the rates, and make meters effective on Saturdays. All good stuff, but the answers require a more fundamental look at what the city can and should accomplish with meters.
Obviously, meters are a revenue source for the city. But, they do more than just provide revenue. They are a mechanism that allows the city to shape traffic patterns and travel behaviors in our commercial centers.
Meters exist -- and the potential for meters to exist -- because the city has an asset -- a 175 sq.ft. or so plot of public land -- that it can charge a fee to occupy. The first thing to recognize is that any publicly available asset that is underpriced is inevitably going to be poorly utilized. In the case of parking, poor utilization because parking is too cheap means a few things:
- People are not discouraged from driving
- Spaces are not used to maximize commercial activity
- Spaces are not exploited for their revenue potential
This site has long argued that transportation, land-use, and other policy should -- where relevant -- seek to impose on drivers the cost of driving. If the city owns and maintains parking spaces and provides them at a below-market rate, it is providing a subsidy to drivers. There is no way, in this day and age, to justify a subsidy for automobile use.
As dedicated Shoupistas, we have argued that below market-rate parking has the perverse (and generally unexpected) effect of discouraging commercial activity. The world is divided into people who are more or less urgent in their need to spend money in our local retail establishments. Low meter rates (or no meter rates) mean that prime parking spaces get taken by those on the low end of the urgency scale, to the inconvenience of the more urgent shoppers.
And, the city can always use more money. More importantly, meter revenue could -- and should -- be used to finance improvements in the very districts where it is collected. (The city currently allocates meter revenue across the city, regardless of where collected.)
So, what would a good meter policy look like? It would have the following five rules as the foundation:
- Meters on any publicly owned parking space used by people to shop or to work/commute.
- A minimum 50-cent rate per half hour
- Market-based rates on any one-block (or equivalent) stretch that has 100% occupancy at any time during the day
- A substantial portion of meter revenue spent on improvements right where the revenue is collected
- Strictly enforced resident parking beyond the scope of metered parking
The first point is an easy one. We should capture a fee that reflects the value of the space provided. There is no public policy reason to give it away. One good example: Braeland Road behind the Newton Centre T station. Why do 20 (?) or so people merit a special, free handout from the city?
The second point seems pretty easy, too. A dollar an hour to park seems perfectly consistent with the other costs to own and operate a car. And, it could be a significant source of revenue.
The third point is the toughest, and the most interesting. There are plenty of previous posts that go into more detail. The summary is this. If meter rates are so low that there are periods of 100% occupancy -- think Langley Road in Newton Centre -- then people drive around hunting for free spaces, creating congestion and pollution. And, it's bad for near-by businesses. Spaces don't turn over, denying the businesses fresh waves of customers. Customers who might be willing to pay a market rate -- likely the businesses best prospects -- don't have spaces readily available. From a shop-owner's perspective, a customer with an itch to spend should always find an open space within a block of the shop door.
A well-set market rate would result in 85% occupancy on the block or blocks it applies to. Eighty-five percent occupancy means that the parking is well-used, but that there is enough turnover to ensure that there is always a space or two available for people who really want the convenience and are willing to pay for it: likely people ready to patronize local businesses.
Market rates should be applied very site-specifically. There may be 100% occupancy on Langley Road, but 50% occupancy on Centre Street just north of Langley. Rates should be higher on Langley. A difference in meter rates block-by-block means that people who would rather not pay for convenience don't bother with the high-demand spaces and don't contribute to congestion. In this example, if you set the same rates on Centre and Langley, you don't give those who want to pay less an alternative, so they might as well park on Langley, and will likely troll the block to find a closer space.
The fourth point reinforces a market-rate scheme. If the city is going to collect higher meter revenue in an area, it ought to dedicate a portion of that revenue to improvements right next to those meters. If peak-time rates went up to $2-4 per hour on Langley Road, then a dollar or so of the haul ought to be used to improve the sidewalk, install more benches, &c. on the very same block.
The last point limits the creep of parkers looking to avoid meters. If you are going to drive to shop or work in or commute from our commercial centers, you're going to pay a modest charge for the right to park.
The last point shouldn't, however, mean that residential areas should necessarily be meter-free. If a street is currently used by shoppers, workers, or commuters, there ought to be either meters or residential parking restrictions. The city should either charge for parking or restrict it. Again, there is no public policy reason to give it away.
For example, a longstanding point of contention has been the parking on Walnut Street north of Forest Street. Bike advocates want a parking ban, which would allow for on-street bike accommodations. The area businesses and residents say the on-street parking is necessary to avoid a parking shortage in the Newton Highlands commercial area. But, they claim that meters would be inconsistent with the residential character of the neighborhood.
Parking not-related to residential use is what dictates the character of the neighborhood. If that parking is acceptable, then it should be acceptable to have meters. More importantly, and this brings us back to the fourth point, some substantial portion of the meter revenue should be used right where it is collected, on improvements to the neighborhood.
We'll hold off for another day the discussion of long-term parking in the village centers to accommodate T commuters, but here's the conclusion: we should not be providing valuable parking spaces to the MBTA and its customers over potential patrons of local businesses.
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