Intermodality

Not all bus lines are the same. On a METRO map, the 25 Richmond and the 34 Montrose are represented by the same kind of line. But the 25 comes every 15 minutes on weekdays and 20 on weekends; the 34 comes only every 45 minutes on a weekday and not at all on the […]

2008 started with a new development in an old Houston debate. Former mayor Bob Lanier and several real estate developers have organized a PAC to fight increased building regulations, speaking to city council and bringing in anti-planning speakers. It might seem as if old battle lines have been re-drawn, and we’re in for another zoning […]

It’s not enough to put a rail line in the right street; it has to be done right, too. That involves a lot of “little” decisions that add up to a big deal: station designs, crosswalk locations, left turn lanes, sidewalk widths, street trees. If you do that right, you end up with a street […]

This is the Texas Department of Transportation’s brand new Houston District Headquarters on Washington Avenue. Where’s the sidewalk? There’s a nice paved path from the parking lot to the building, but there’s no path at all along the street. In fact, there’s a bus stop in front of the building, but the only way to […]

The Chronicle reports on plans for an new soccer stadium just east of Downtown.

A soccer field is 300 feet long. That’s bigger than a Downtown block. Add stands, and you have a 3-block-long structure. Unless you elevate the stadium — and that’s an expensive proposition — you have to close streets to fit it. The […]

At the corner of Church and Market (above), you have transit choices. To get to Downtown San Francisco, you can take the J Church light rail line (the silver train), which ducks into a tunnel 2 blocks later and runs in a subway under Market Street. You could also take the F Market and Wharves […]

It’s the beginning of a new year, so it’s a good time to look into the future. But here’s a caution for transit planners: don’t look too hard.

As a society, we like to believe in the power of technology to change things. Transit has not escaped that, and we regularly see new technologies touted as […]