Category Archives: Development

The Problem with Anchoring

Posted on 2013/04/04 by

A major idea due to Jarrett Walker, adopted with gusto by Vancouver’s Translink, is that transit should be anchored at both ends. That is, transit lines should have busy destinations at both ends, and should strive to reorient development such … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, New York, Transportation, Urban Design, Urban Transit, Urbanism, Vancouver | 35 Comments

Transit and Place

Posted on 2012/10/18 by

There is a large class of transit supporters who think that every right-of-way that can be used for transit should be preserved for this purpose, even if it is not very useful. A few overzealous railfans on the message boards … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, New York, Transportation, Urban Transit, Urbanism | 53 Comments

Pedestrian Observations from New Haven

Posted on 2012/06/26 by

I don’t normally pedestrian-observe cities that I’ve been to so many times, and New Haven is the US city I’ve spent the most time in other than the two I’ve lived in. But my last visit, in which I looked … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Pedestrian Observations, Urban Design, Urbanism | 25 Comments

Destination Centralization

Posted on 2012/05/24 by

It’s by now a commonplace that jobs are more centralized than residences, in terms of CBD concentration. But what I think is worse-known is that destinations in general are incredibly centralized, both across and within metro areas. In other words, … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, High-Speed Rail, Transportation, Urbanism | 47 Comments

Transportation-Development Symbiosis

Posted on 2012/03/31 by

The RPA’s Regional Assembly has included the following idea submission: expand reverse-commuter rail service. The proposal calls for surveying city residents to look for the main available reverse-commuter markets, and for expanding reverse-peak service on the model of Metro-North. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Good Transit, New York, Providence, Regional Rail, Transportation, Urban Design, Urbanism | 36 Comments

Providence: The Quiet Revival

Posted on 2012/03/07 by

Rustwire’s recent article about Providence, and a less recent article on the Urbanophile, have made me think about Providence’s growth. The Urbanophile comes strongly on the side of the power of its coziness; Rustwire takes the opposite track, talking about … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Providence, Urban Design, Urbanism | 8 Comments

Macrodestinations and Microdestinations

Posted on 2012/02/24 by

In her book Dark Age Ahead, Jane Jacobs complains that freeways as built are good at getting people to macrodestinations (downtown) but not microdestinations (particular addresses within city center). In her example from Toronto, this is correct, but in general, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Development, Providence, Regional Rail, Transportation, Urban Design, Urban Transit, Urbanism | 29 Comments

Trip Chaining

Posted on 2012/02/20 by

Gendered Innovations’ charts of trip chaining and gender breakdown of public transit riders got me thinking about how different systems of transportation handle a mixture of short and long trips. Eric Jaffe at The Atlantic Cities reports this and suggests … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Development, Good Transit, Transportation, Urban Design, Urban Transit, Urbanism | 16 Comments

Why Moynihan Station Has Negative Transportation Value

Posted on 2011/12/30 by

Amtrak has been making noises again about the need for Moynihan Station as a replacement concourse for Penn Station for Amtrak travelers, but makes it clear it does not want to pay almost anything for it. While former Amtrak President … Continue reading →

Posted in Amtrak, Development, Incompetence, New York, Transportation, Urbanism | 35 Comments

An HSR Country is a Centralized Country

Posted on 2011/11/30 by

1950s’ Japan was a fairly monocentric country, in which everything was in Tokyo. When it built the Shinkansen, the expectation was that fast travel nationwide would make it easier to do business in the other cities, reducing centralization. Instead, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, High-Speed Rail, Transportation, Urbanism | 19 Comments