Philatransport: Maneuvers/Modes and Volumes/Splits

What Is This?

These are some conceptual transit lines I thought up for Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, located on the Maryland side of the Washington metropolitan region. They're intended to be at least moderately feasible & worth some serious thought; not just some zany pipedream that will never happen.

Everything I post here consists of little more than my own concepts & ideas. While I work in the transportation industry, that doesn't mean I have diddly-squat of power. If you don't like something here: don't fret, this isn't anything official. "Power" comes from those in charge of the agencies I work for; their power comes from elected officials; and their power comes from you. If you like something here, tell your elected officials.

The reason I post stuff here is to encourage feedback: what's right; what's wrong.

For the residents...
Did I just take your entire yard, bulldoze your house, or locate a maintenance yard on your family farm? Will this improve your commute, boost your home values, or help your kids reach leisure destinations without needing you to cart them around?

For the businesses...
Did I run your business to the ground, raze it entirely, or take away its parking spaces? Will your business see a boom from pedestrian traffic, a chance for redevelopment, or a savings from complying with parking requirements?

For the environmentally-oriented...
Did I flatten a cultural landmark, place rails on top of your favorite lazy-day hang-out, ravage a beloved forest, or transform a pristine stream into a major transportation route? Will the line be context-sensitive, discourage car usage, or provide eco-friendly access to outdoor activities?

For the transportation gurus...
Are curves or meandering routes wreaking havoc on travel times? Is there a frivilous station, or perhaps a forgotten generator in need of one? Is it all just too horrendously expensive? Will a junction or interlocking wreak havoc on operations? Is maintenance borderline impossible?

For everyone!
Let me know! But if you have disagreements, at least offer some alternatives. This isn't a "you're wrong" forum; this is a "here's another idea" forum. Of course, if I managed to get something right, I wouldn't mind similar feedback... The more I know what I'm doing right, the more I can hopefully replicate that.

Who Am I?

I'm your typical idealistic 20-something with nothing better to do other than satiate an endless appetite for anything related to transportation. I'm a transportation engineer with a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on transportation as well as water resources, and I have a Masters of Engineering in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on transportation & urban planning.

As far as this site is concerned: that's only relevant in establishing that I at least know a thing or two about the subject. However, by no means do I assert that I know everything... far far from it. Engineering is an endless learning process, and transportation is an ever-evolving field (though the more it changes, the more it stays the same). Many of these alignments really just began as a test to see what sort of constraints I'd discover, with the intent of educating myself... so presenting them publicly only furthers that learning resource.

What Comes Next?

I've been dabbling with several projects:

- A top-down transportation system of the United States starting at the national level, beginning with ports then rail (passenger as well as freight). My next step would be to take it down to a regional level with a focus on rail. Then to a local level such as this, focusing on both bus (BRT) and rail systems.

- I've also been working on a general land use / development plan for Montgomery & Prince George's Counties. This would reflect these transit alignments.

- Continuing this local transit project into Pennsylvania: first southeastern PA; then the rest.

- Any other suggestions... though other local transit projects would take a bit longer if they're not in the northeastern United States or Europe.

The Details...

GENERAL

I'm making approximately 1 post per station or 1 post per line; whichever is more convenient. I will then go back and edit those posts as new info becomes available, providing a changelog at the bottom of each post.

MODE

I generally designed these with LRT in mind. However, various design considerations may render BRT more beneficial -- particularly when consideration is given toward the situating of maintenance facilities for rail vehicles. With rail, maintenance facilities generally have to be in close proximity to the rail line, which can be difficult considering the railway is, inherently, often where all the development is.

Buses can skirt that limitation, as they can easily navigate to a far-removed maintenance/storage facility. Buses also tend to be a better fit when you have a variety of short, unconnected lines, as buses can be easily transferred to other lines (provided their paint scheme isn't line-specific). However, environmental impacts of buses tend to be higher, their passenger capacity is lower, and their speeds (both acceleration and sustained) are lower... so where feasible, rail is generally preferable.

To define acronyms...

LRT = Light Rail Transit. Also often known as trams: these are not large freight trains, nor are these even Amtrak trains. LRT vehicles handle much like a typical bus, albeit on rail instead of being rubber-tired. They are often electric and most frequently use overhead gantries as a power source. If you've been to Europe, you've likely seen the array of wires strung across buildings at around the 2nd floor -- that's what these are for.

BRT = Bus Rapid Transit. These are not your local buses, which stop incessantly, meander about neighborhoods you don't want to go to in the first place, and change routes at the drop of a hat. These are not even express buses, which are often stuck in the traffic that one would have hoped to avoid. These buses are sort of like trains... a fixed route, defined station platforms at larger intervals, and often more political support with regards to maintaining funding. While they can be electrically powered just like LRT, they are more often fueled by diesel engines.

COST & RIDERSHIP

Cost & ridership are each presented on a scale of 1-5... 1 being either low-cost or low ridership; 5 being high-cost or ridership. So ideally you want a cost of 1 and a ridership of 5. Very scientific, I know :) Cost considers environmental impacts (terrain, wetlands, parkland, forest) and facility impacts (right-of-way, maintenance of traffic, utilities, other). Ridership considers densities within a 0.25 and 0.50 mile radius, and also gives consideration of proximity & scale of park & rides, transit centers, special events, and recreational destinations. Ridership also considers transfers, albeit on a rudimentary level.

Ultimately, I think it'd be neat to set up a tool similar to what Portland released in early 2009. That is, the user has a set budget & "draws" the transit lines they want... depleting the budget as they do so. For example, let's say you have $10 and each point costs $1. You can then draw two expensive lines of 5 point each... or 10 cheap lines of 1 point each, and then sum your ridership between alternatives. Not an exact science, but public outreach never is.

OTHER TRANSPORT LINES

These lines DO consider the presence of the officially-proposed Purple Line, but they DO NOT consider the presence of the officially-proposed Corridor Cities Transitway (which I believe to be a prime example of politics meddling way too much with transportation).

These alignments DO NOT consider Councilmember Elrich's BRT proposals, simply because there's too much overlap; and my interpretation is that Elrich's proposal is intended to be relatively temporary (in the timeframe of a couple decades).

DRAFT VERSIONS

My transitways come in several drafts...

- 1st Draft - Solely to plot general alignment & anticipated stations. No consideration of geometrics, terrain, operations, maintenance, or right-of-way.

- 2nd Draft - Gives consideration of geometrics and right-of-way. Does not consider terrain, operations, or maintenance.

- 3rd Draft - Gives consideration of maintenance. Does not consider terrain or operations.

...At this time I don't anticipate necessarily going beyond this stage. My attention span only lasts so long, and I'd rather get more locations up to 3rd draft before going any further into the details.

I threw together a spreadsheet which can plot modes and movements over time. Here's a link to it (capability to read Microsoft Excel 2007 or newer required). I've been using it extensively at work; I've spotted a massive amount of trends which I wouldn't have otherwise taken heed of... it's been spectacularly useful. Here are some screenshots of what it ultimately outputs:

Downtown Silver Spring

Friendship Heights Metro Station

The top graph shows 13-hr traffic volumes over time at a 15-minute resolution. The bottom graph shows 13-hr mode splits (out of 100%) over a 15-minute resolution.

The warm-colored palette is for motorists & the purple palette is for pedestrians, broken up by directionality. Specifically:

Northbound Vehicles - Bright Red
Southbound Vehicles - Dark Red
Eastbound Vehicles - Light Orange
Westbound Vehicles - Dark Orange

North Leg Pedestrians - Darker Pale Purple
South Leg Pedestrians - Lighter Pale Purple
East Leg Pedestrians - Darker Bold Purple
West Leg Pedestrians - Lighter Bold Purple

In the spreadsheet, you can turn on/off specific movements, such as which way motorists are turning. In some cases, data was available on which way a pedestrian was crossing, such as eastward on a northern crosswalk; or westward on a northern crosswalk.

The time span is 13 hours on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, corresponding to a typical traffic count. These only include vehicular & pedestrian data, though I designed the spreadsheets to be capable of including bicycles, trucks, and transit data. It's particularly useful with transit data, where entering in ridership can really help show the difference between measuring users rather than just vehicles. Alas, none of these include any data beyond pedestrians & motorists.

2 comments:

Richard Layman said...: January 11, 2011 9:52 AM; Well, this measures two very different things probably. One is through traffic of cars. The other is intra-community traffic of people. Given that both districts are in car-centric areas, albeit these places are more walkable than comparable places with the same basic spatial and mobility organization.
Bossi said...: January 11, 2011 9:59 AM; The spreadsheet includes some other locations in Maryland, too. There are some locations not included in the spreadsheet where the inclusion of transit ridership causes cars to be dwarfed by non-cars.

I used data along Maryland's State roads simply because (1) I know where to get the data; and (2) it's easy to read from:

http://shagbhisdadt.mdot.state.md.us/ITMS_Public/default.aspx

If there's any good data out there for DC, VA, or other jurisdictions- I'd love to know where to get at it. I can put together a Maryland ped/veh chart in about 2 minutes.

Philatransport

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Maneuvers/Modes and Volumes/Splits

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