Monthly Archives: October 2011

Transfer Penalty Followup

Posted on 2011/10/31 by

My previous post‘s invocation of Reinhard Clever’s lit review of transfer penalties was roundly criticized on Skyscraper City Page for failing to take into account special factors of the case study. Some of the criticism is just plain mad (people … Continue reading →

Posted in Good/Interesting Studies, Regional Rail, Studies, Transportation, Urban Transit | 14 Comments

Why the 7 to Secaucus Won’t Work

Posted on 2011/10/28 by

Bloomberg’s expressed support for the now $10-billion proposal to send the subway to Secaucus is generating buzz and speculation about the ability to secure funds. Missing from this discussion is any concern for whether more people would actually transfer at … Continue reading →

Posted in Incompetence, New York, Regional Rail, Transportation, Urban Transit | 42 Comments

Electrification and Carbon Emissions

Posted on 2011/10/25 by

Railvolution reports FTA numbers that say the average CO2 emissions of the New York City Subway are 0.17 pounds per passenger-mile (48 grams per passenger-km). That’s the equivalent of 114.6 passenger-mpg of gas, if you prefer to think in those … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Environmental Issues, Transportation, Urban Transit | 44 Comments

Highways and Cost Control

Posted on 2011/10/24 by

I’ve been reading Earl Swift’s The Big Roads, and the early biography of Thomas MacDonald had passages that jumped at me. Unlike Owen Gutfreund, who focuses on MacDonald’s industry ties and use of astroturf, Swift portrays MacDonald as a Progressive … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Construction Costs, Good Transit, Transportation | 4 Comments

Making Elevated Rail Work

Posted on 2011/10/21 by

Everybody hates els. They’re ugly and noisy and cities will even move their train station away from downtown to tear them down. The hypocritical treatment of els versus much wider and noisier elevated highways is fortunately the subject of another … Continue reading →

Posted in New York, Transportation, Urban Transit | 24 Comments

Managed Diversity

Posted on 2011/10/20 by

Putin’s Russia is described as a managed democracy: a country that holds elections and maintains a democratic facade, but is in reality autocratic and brutal toward dissenters. On the same principle, the trend in gentrified first-world cities can be described … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Society, Urbanism | 2 Comments

Cities and Multiple Equilibria

Posted on 2011/10/19 by

A growing idea among emergent urbanists is that there’s a natural form to the city, one that maximizes activity and that thrives in the absence of regulation. In this view, any sort of urban planning, from postwar suburbia to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Consensus, Politics and Society, Urban Design, Urbanism | 27 Comments

FRA Stonewalling

Posted on 2011/10/17 by

Stephen Smith interviewed the FRA last month asking questions about its regulations and the waiver process. The initial round of responses is included below, unmodified except very minor formatting, followed by my own commentary; there was also followup, which I’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in FRA, Incompetence, Transportation | 27 Comments

The Tappan Zee Replacement’s Outrageous Cost

Posted on 2011/10/13 by

The Tappan Zee Bridge is about to fall down. As a result, the replacement and widening project is in spare-no-expense mode. Ordinarily, widening a bridge from seven lanes to ten would be judged in terms of costs and benefits, after … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Construction Costs, Incompetence, New York, Transportation | 18 Comments

Consensus and Vision

Posted on 2011/10/11 by

The death of Steve Jobs has led to impromptu discussions about the nature of his genius, causing some to call for a Steve Jobs of transit. Human Transit quotes such calls in comments and tries to strike a balance between … Continue reading →

Posted in Consensus, Politics and Society, Transportation, Urbanism | 19 Comments