MULTI-MODAL Mondays: Examining Traveler Behavior

Delft University of Technology, in The Netherlands, is studying multi-modal travelers' behavior in Dutch cities, and while it's a little hard to read, it provides some insights into travel decision-making. Meanwhile, "EU-funded scientists are piloting a service that will allow people to determine the best way of making journeys in cities. As well as helping individuals find the most efficient route and travel mode, the systems should cut congestion and lower the environmental impacts of road transport, Green Car Congress reports.

The pilot cities are: Brno, Czech Republic; also, Bucharest, Florence, Oslo, Munich, Vienna.

If that's not enough, the city of Albuquerque, N. Mex., offers a Travel Training Program to help riders figure out how their entire transit system--ABQ Ride, Rio Metro and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express--works together.

FLEET-FOOT Fridays: Circumnavigating the San Francisco Bay Area

I'm headed up north to the San Francisco Bay Area. I've always wondered whether one can circumnavigate the Bay via bicycle. I know that you can do pretty well, using transit and bikes. Although I won't have a chance on this trip to do such a trip, there are plenty of resources.

While there is an organization that advocates for a complete, dedicated, bike and pedestrian trail encircling San Francisco and San Pablo Bays (i.e. the Bay Area), that trail--The Bay Trail-- is not finished. It's a mish-mash of dedicated trails, bike lanes, marked streets, and unmarked and unimproved (for bike use) streets and trails. That said, it's fairly extensive and you can view the entire 'trail' here.

If that doesn't work for you, the southern two thirds of the Bay Area are lined with rail lines. From San Francisco south, along the west side of San Francisco Bay, to San Jose, CalTrain offers commuter rail service. Heading up the east side of the Bay, Amtrak runs from San Jose north through Oakland to Martinez, where you can bike across the Carquinez Strait and continue around San Pablo Bay, via Vallejo and on into Marin County, before heading south to San Francisco. As well, BART, the area's rapid-rail network, runs from Fremont, on the east side of the Bay, a few miles north of San Jose, up to Oakland.

WHEELS Wednesdays: Road-Builders Make a Play for Transit Funds?

The American Society of Civil Engineers (road builders, basically) claims in a report that "deteriorating infrastructure" could cost America $3.1 trillion in lost productivity and economic growth. Smells like a play by the construction and road-building lobby to make a play for a shrinking pie of transportation money, in the hopes that they can throw the force of budget cuts on to public transit, Amtrak, bicycle-friendly improvements and the like. Decide for yourself. The Huffington Post published a lengthy piece about the original report here.

Here's an idea: Mandate carbon-emissions reductions for airport ground transportation on pain of losing federal improvement funds, and see how fast cities like L.A., that are light-years behind in linking the airport to the transit system, move to finally get serious about reducing combustion-engine traffic to and from the airport.

MULTI-MODAL Mondays: Lanes, Trains and Automobiles

Everyone is talking about the Los Angeles mayor's directive to build out a 1,680 mile bicycle path and lane network, the Daily News reports. Some folks are still wondering where the rush-hour car-lane projects for major east-west arteries Olympic and Pico Boulevards went, which might reduce congestion and carbon emissions, but that doesn't seem like a priority because the mayor didn't break his elbow driving in rush-hour traffic. He broke it while bicycling. Hey, whatever it takes.

However, it's appropriate that L.A. have a great bike network: much of L.A. is flat, and many arteries are quite wide--and so can support a shrinkage of car lanes to support a bicycle lane.

Metro already lifted a ban on bikes on trains (yes, L.A. has them). Now, if Amtrak would add extra space for bicycles on its weekend Surfliner service between L.A. and San Diego, bicyclists by the scores might not get stuck at intermediate stations. A year ago I spent a very chilly four hours at Oceanside's capacious train station, waiting through three trains to finally find space. Ahem....

FLEET-FOOT Fridays: Meta-Travel Searches--Many Are Clicked; Few Are Useful

The best 'search-of-searches' travel planners--sometimes called meta-travel planners--allow a search across varying modes of travel, from self-propelled to transit, even when offered by unaffiliated agencies or companies. So, for example, a search for schedule and fare information from a point on the one side of a city, such as London, New York or Denver, would bring up all of the information required using any and all modes (rather than just buses or just rail or just bicycles).

A superb example is London's Journey Planner; this is 'best of breed' when it comes to meta-searches. Not only does it search across travel modes (including bicycling routes to and from stops or stations), it also lays out the travel route via visually, via text and with additional clickable PDF maps for vicinity of each change of line or mode of travel. 

By contrast New York City's trip planner (offered by the transit agency, versus an umbrella group) does not include ferries, bicycling information, nor New Jersey Transit, one of the largest transit provides in the nation. HopStop does a little better, allowing searches across the region, but still allows only one combination-mode search (bus and rail), leaving you to run the same search over for each mode, and then do some combining on your own.

Close on London's heels, the San Francisco Bay Area offers Transit511, which better than the Big Apple's, but still doesn't include bicycles in its travel modes, and requires a complicated check-off of the plethora of transit agencies. Still, it's not bad.  The search outcome is well-presented, with maps for each mode or line change (although it's not as intuitive or user-friendly).

WHEELS Wednesdays: Bike-Sharing Gains Ground

Here and there, bike-sharing continues to gain ground. The well-known Paris, France program, called Velib, is popular. In Cambridge, Mass., according to Wicked Local, and in Newcastle, U.K., bike sharing is being initiated with some support. Long Beach, N.Y., a Long Island suburb of New York City, has approved a program, as well, Long Beach Patch reports. If you find a central bike-sharing reference...post it!

MULTI-MODAL Mondays: Aviation Blvd. Green Line Station-Wilshire/Western

This was a much easier ride than I thought -- and it only totals just under 20 miles. Start at the Aviation Blvd. Green Line station. Elevator down; escalator will send you to a bike-unfriendly exit. I'd love to see them repair the bike lane on Imperial Hwy., which is basically shot. But, it's a nice ride along the beach, past Vista Del Mar, and then a quick lunch stop in Marina Del Rey, at the Riverside shopping complex.

The bike path along Ballona Creek is excellent; the bike lane along Venice Blvd. is quite wide. I also took in the Eat Real shindig at the Helm's Bakery in Culver City on my way to the Wilshire/Western Purple Line Station.