One Mile of a Protected Bike Lane is 100x Less Expensive than One Mile of Roadway

自転車の専用レーンの１マイル分コストは普通道路の１００分の一

Here is some food for thought on public transportation financing and options.

According to Treehugger:

One of the most hilarious (or, hilariously illogical) attacks on expanding bicycle infrastructure that I've seen repeatedly pop up over the years is the idea that "bicycle infrastructure costs too much." It only takes a few moments to reflect and put such costs into perspective.

For one, bikes are clearly much smaller and lighter than cars or trucks. So, the space needed to accommodate bicyclists is obviously much smaller, and the repairs needed from deterioration are also smaller. Furthermore, as you attract more people to bicycling, that pulls people out of their cars, reducing the deterioration and eventual repair costs of the car lanes. Naturally, the benefits improve even further when we think about bridges.

Looking at San Francisco, in particular, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition recently published an article on the cost of a mile of bike lane in San Francisco versus a mile of other forms of transportation. The difference was stark, but PeopleForBikes made the starkness much more evident by creating a chart of those numbers.

Read on by clicking here.

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American Cities with Lowest Percentage of Car Ownership

米国車離れの大都会トップ１０

On the transport front in the US, here are the cities where people use public transportation the most.

Most are older cities on the East Coast, with San Francisco and Seattle also scoring well.

1. New York, N.Y.
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 56.5%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 55.9% (the most)
> Transit score: 81.2 (the best)
> Population: 8,336,697 (the largest)

2. Washington, D.C.
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 37.9%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 38.6% (4th most)
> Transit score: 70.4 (4th best)
> Population: 619,020 (24th largest)

3. Boston, MA
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 36.9%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 34.6% (5th most)
> Transit score: 74.8 (3rd best)
> Population: 628,335 (21st largest)

4. Philadelphia, PA
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 32.6%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 26.0% (12th most)
> Transit score: 67.0 (5th best)
> Population: 1,538,567 (5th largest)

5. San Francisco, CA
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 31.4%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 33.1% (6th most)
> Transit score: 80.5 (2nd best)
> Population: 814,233 (14th largest)

6. Baltimore, MD
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 31.2%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 19.2% (23rd most)
> Transit score: 56.9 (10th best)
> Population: 620,216 (26th largest)

7. Chicago, IL
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 27.9%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 26.3% (11th most)
> Transit score: 65.3 (6th best)
> Population: 2,705,248 (3rd largest)

8. Detroit, MI
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 26.2%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 9.4% (69th most)
> Transit score: n/a
> Population: 706,201 (18th largest)

9. Milwaukee , WI
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 19.9%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 8.6% (75th highest)
> Transit score: 48.8 (18th best)
> Population: 598,916 (30th highest)

10. Seattle, WA
> Pct. of households without a vehicle: 16.6%
> Pct. commuting to work via public transportation: 19.7% (21st most)
> Transit score: 57.3 (9th best)
> Population: 621,897 (22nd largest)

Read more.


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Making Public Transportation Sexy

交通を格好よくさせる

The wonderful blog Community Architect recently addressed the theme of sexiness and public transportation.

It begins:

Are There Easy Fixes to Make Transit Cool?

Transit and "cool" would not have been used in the same breath until recently. Lately, though, getting around in "share mode" has, indeed, become cool and many cities boast cool transit innovations. Here a short sampler:

Cool transit exists

Copenhagen's subway glides driverless through the tunnels of the Danish capital and the tracks are separated from the platform with glass doors as we know it from airport shuttles. The Hongkong metro has glass walls on the platforms as well plus 3G coverage in tunnels and an "Octapus" smart card that can be used for transit fare, fast food and parking meters...

To read the entire article, click here.

Our wish list in Kyoto for making public transportation here "sexy" would be light rail. Bring back the old trolley lines that criss-crossed the city from the late 19th century until 1978.

The replacement for the trolleys were buses, which are smelly, slow, and except on routes into the hills not as good an option as light rail.


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Kyoto Transportation 110th Anniversary of Kyoto Buses

京都市公営バス110周年

Kyoto historically has been quick to adapt to and introduce new technologies and ideas.

The stereotype of a city is frozen in time, wed to ancient monuments and customs, is absolutely false.

Today marks the 110th anniversary of service for Kyoto's city buses. Kyoto was the first city in Japan to have bus service. The first city buses rolled out on September 20, 1903.

Almost ten years earlier, Kyoto opened the nation's first trolley service - the Kyoto Shiden - in 1895.  The "chin chin" trains (the sound of the bell) were a beloved feature of the city. Most of the lines, however, were ripped up in 1978 in order to increase space for cars and buses.

One portion of the Keifuku Randen line runs along city streets for a stretch, but otherwise the old street cars are but a fading memory.

For transportation geeks, it is possible to ride one of Kyoto's old trolley cars. At Meiji Mura, outside of Nagoya, the trains are still carrying tourists on a short trip.


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