Ott.vagyunk.mar

16/10/2019

Hey guys. Its been a while we posted in UTrasit. Well, now its time to refresh the blog and start to share the cool stuff again.

New (transportation) developments should help to create a more human-centric city and environment. So from now the focus of the blog is wider: besides green transportation, I would also like to introduce developments related to sustainable urban environment and public spaces.

18/07/2018

How is the accessibility of your city? Have you even noticed if all metro stations of your city are wheelchair accessible? Tell us!

"Personal mobility is one of the fundamental human rights and is vital to ensure a productive and dignified life. According to the World Health Organization (2010), 10% of world population has disabilities and a study presented by the Wheelchair Foundation (2016), estimates that 1.85% of the world population, which represents more than 130 million people, has a physical disability that requires the use of wheelchairs. Around the world studies have shown that people with reduced mobility have more difficulties to do simple daily trips due to the lack of adequate infrastructure in the cities. It is common that even in developed countries disabled citizens face challenges to access public spaces and to use public transportation systems and the problem tends to be worse in developing countries."

15/05/2018

Last week there were some questions related to the special bike track in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, in Washington DC.

I have found the video (click on the link and watch), where Gabe Klein, the former Commissioner of Transportation for DC and Chicago talks about the 2-way protected bike track.

The bike track was installed in 2010, at the center of Pennsylvania Avenue, where the streetcar used to run.This kind of center-running design has been never implemented anywhere else before.

After the first year there was a 200-300% increase in a.m and p.m peak hours volumes along the bike track based on the data provided by the DC Department of Transportation.

The number of cyclists increased during the peak hour periods from 15-25 to 150-170 cyclists. (The number of cyclists already increased year by year before the installation, but their number increased more rapidly after the bike lane was completed. **Caution should be used in making direct comparison between the counts, as data collection was made during different seasons.)

At the same time, the number of cars decreased by 14-21%.

The bike lane improved the Level of Service (Danish Bicycle LOS model) experienced by cyclists from level E (poor) to level C (average).

The number of people who were at least "a little satisfied" increased from 20 to 60%.

In 2015 additional wheel stops were installed along the bike tracks to provide further separation from cars and avoid cars to make U-turns through the central bike lanes.

The benefits of the bike lane:
1. Clear point of view of the entire street from the middle of the road
2. Avoid being in the curbside where cars turn right
3. Speed up cycling (no parking cars, no bus stops, no pedestrians in cyclists' way)

The disadvantages of the bike lane:
1. Poor visibility of the signals from further distance
2. The width of the bike lanes: originally designed with 1-1 car-sized lane, later the width of the bike lanes were narrowed down (to maintain car space), which reduced safety for bikers.
3. The problem at the refugee islands between pedestrians, traffic poles and cyclists

For detailed analysis and final report about the Pennsylvania Ave. bike track please visit:

https://ddot.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddot/publication/attachments/ddot_bike_evaluation_summary_final_report_part3.pdf

Gabe Klein, former Commissioner of Transportation for the cities of Washington, D.C. and Chicago, talks a little about how the center-running, two-way protected…

12/05/2018

Smart bus stop in the Washington DC metropolitan area.

Information includes route number, destination, real time arrival/ departure time, status info such as delay time. The position of the buses on each routes is shown on the map in real time.

11/05/2018

Streetcar (tram) in Washington DC:

currently only one line in the eastern part of DC. It was opened in 2016 along H and Benning road. The 3.8km long line is served with 6 low floor vehicles. The route has 8 stops, but later will be expended in both directions. The streetcar and the regular traffic run on the same lane, which blocks the streetcar during the rush hour

Hours of operation:
Monday-Thursday 6am-12am
Friday: 6am-2am
Saturday: 8am-2am
Sunday and Holidays: 8am-10pm

11/05/2018

Transit system in Washington DC and the suburban areas:

1. Suburban buses: connecting the residential areas with the metro stations (buses are equipped with bike racks in the front and many of them run by natural gas)

2. Metro lines

3. City buses (including articulated buses)

4. Intermodal stations (e.g. Union Station: metro, commuter rail, national rail, city buses, intercity buses, streetcar, bike share)

5. Streetcar (tram): currently only one line in the eastern part of DC. It was opened in 2016 along H and Benning road. The 3.8km long line is served with 6 low floor vehicles. The route has 8 stops, but later will be expended in both directions. The streetcar and the regular traffic runn on the same lane, which might block the streetcar during the rush hour

6. Bike share systems (capital bikeshare with docking stations, Ofo, Mobike, Jump, Limebike without docking stations)

10/05/2018

I spent the last 2 weeks in Washington DC, and the following types of bike infrastructure were found inside the city.

1. Bike tracks: Physical separation from motorized traffic along multiple lane roads. Preferred on streets with high vehicle and/or bicycle volume and vehicle speed over 50-60 km/h. Basic bike tracks along the roads allow one-way bike traffic and mostly run in the same direction of traffic.

2. Two way protected bicycle tracks: Allows 2-way bike traffic (same and contra-flow direction of the traffic). Preferred on streets with less conflicts on one side of the street; not enough space for 1-way cycle track on both sides; where most of the destinations are located on one side of the street; or where connection with other bike facilities is easier in this way.

In DC there was a special design along the Pennsylvania Ave., bike tracks were placed in the middle of the road (picture 3 and 4)

3. Bike lanes: Visually separated lanes (by marking, lines, arrows) from the traffic. Bike lanes can be conventional, buffered, contra-flow and left-side bike lanes, depends on the road, traffic and environment characteristics. In DC i have only seen conventional bike lanes (picture 5 and 6).

Bike lanes flow in the same direction as motor vehicle traffic, unless it is a contra-flow bike lane. They are useful on streets with more than 3,000 motor vehicle average daily traffic and where cars can drive with 50 and 70 km/h. (Higher than that physical separation is required).

In general, the actual bike infrastructure design along the roads depends on the traffic volume, speed, heavy vehicles traffic, parking turnover volume. etc:

In case of DC all the bike lanes and tracks along the major roads were separated from the vehicles as well as from the pedestrians. However, some of the bike tracks around the tourists spots were designed on the sidewalk, mixed with pedestrians.

Unfortunately the network is not completed yet, so most of the lanes/tracks ends without continuation, forcing the cyclists to ride on the sidewalk or right next to the car and buses.

25/04/2018

"Clos pointed to perennial pedestrian charmers like his native Barcelona, Vienna, Amsterdam, San Francisco, and Budapest as cities that have their streets enough breathing room and also made sure to design them to support a thriving economy"

"Laying out the streets, however, is only half the battle. Especially in the automobile era, it’s vital to make sure they serve more than just car traffic and provide a dynamic streetscape for all users."!

When we think about public space, we picture parks and greenways, but overlook the largest single public space asset in any city’s rolls: streets.

02/04/2018

As I mentioned in the previous post, there will be several changes and updates in the public transportation of Taipei, starting from this month:

(2) Taipei City continues to extend the main bus line services. The first lines were introduced in July, 2017. This month 11 existing bus lines will be upgraded to "main bus lines or Metro Bus lines". The routes of the buses will not change, but there are some changes:
(A) The bus lines will be named after the main roads they are running on instead of using the current numbers.
(B) the buses will run in every 4 to 6 min during peak hours and 5 to 10 min off-peak.
(C) passengers will get half price discounts when transfer between Metro Bus lines and a regular bus line within one hour (same as MRT-bus transfer).

As it was mentioned in previous posts, there are some considerations according to the new bus network:
(a) Bus lanes are only provided in downtown Taipei, even though these buses have a long route between the city center and the suburban areas. Therefore it is more likely that the rush hour traffic jams will have a high negative impact on their schedules.
(b) Most of the "new lines" are the renamed versions of existing bus lines, and the current routes only provide direct connections inside the city center. Some modification of the routes might be necessary to ensure that these "main bus lines" provide the most direct and fastest connection between the downtown area and the suburbs.
(c) Using names for the bus routes instead of numbers can be very confusing and misleading especially for foreigners living in or visiting Taipei. Even pinyin is not universal, therefore not everyone can easily read it or understand it. Some kind of letter code could be a solution, especially that the Taipei MRT is also using letters. For example "Songjiang Xinsheng" route could be marked as "SX".
(d) These lines are supposed to be more integrated between the MRT (metro) network. More information in the bus and metro stops as well as integrated maps with the metro system would be necessary.

31/03/2018

Eastern is just one day away and this year the Eastern Bunny is about to bring some nice gifts for those who take public transportation in Taipei.🐰 And this is not an April Fools' Day joke!

The following transit related changes are going to be introduced in Taipei during April. (Each day I will introduce one of the changes in more detailed):

(1) Monthly ticket (30 days All Pass Ticket) for 1280NTD,
(2) Additional main bus line (Metro Bus/ 幹線公車) services
(3) Allow bikes on MRT during the weekdays off-peak periods
(4) New articulated buses on a trial basis

(1) Starting on April 16th, a new integrated monthly ticket will be introduced on the TAIPEI METRO, the Taipei and New Taipei BUSES for unlimited times and on YOUBIKE for half an hour within 30 days. The price of the monthly ticket is 1280 NTD ($44USD). Passengers can simply purchase or use their regular "adult" EasyCard. They just need to choose the "All ticket pass" at the top-up machines or ticket booth and add 1280NTD on the card.
However, students' EasyCard will not be accepted to top up as "All ticket pass", students can only use the already existing discounts on the metro and bus lines.

23/03/2018

The "bike to work" activity continues this year in Taipei. Every Friday morning between 7 to 930 am there is free coffee provided for those who cycle to school or work! Look for the coffee spots at 14 different mrt stations and major intersections😉

It was our pleasure to join this event today with our friends from Rotterdam Business School!

19/03/2018

Related to my master thesis, I started to analyze the Bike and Ride (B+R) facilities in Taipei City and New Taipei City.

The concept of B+R is to strengthen the connection between cycling and public transportation by providing user-friendly and safe bike parking at the transit stations and bike lanes around the stations. Studies show that well-designed B+R infrastructure can help to increase the ridership on public transportation, thus reduce the number of private vehicles.

Its strong-point is that it can integrate the benefits of bicycle on the short distance (flexibility between transit station and home/office) and the the transit on long-distance (from suburbs to city center). In addition, it can enlarge the catchment area of the public transportation: while people are willing to walk only 500-800 meters to a metro station, this distance is around 1.5-2KM by bicycle.

I analyzed 12 stations in Taipei and New Taipei City, especially focusing on the residential areas (so not central Taipei). At most of these stations there are 40-50,000 residents within a 1KM circle.

I found that while every station (except Jingan) had certain amount of parking facilities, but almost none of the station had bike lanes that connect the station with the residential areas. The parking facilities were much better in Taipei City than New Taipei City, even though more people are living in the latter one.

Altogether, it is obvious that the government is trying to promote B+R concept in both cities (hundreds of parking space at the station exits, CCTV, bike sharing) however, the overall infrastructure still seems incomplete, especially when compared to some of the successful cities in foreign countries (lack of bike lanes to/from the station, not proper bike racks, lack of protection from weather, etc).