August 16, 2013


Boston's Coffee Trike

(Image Courtesy of BRA News) 

Cutout of cop used to combat crime at subway stop in Cambridge, Mass. Mass Transit Mag, MSN

As part of an effort to cut crime at the Alewife MBTA subway and bus station in Cambridge, transit police placed a cardboard cutout of a police officer in the bicycle cage. Hundreds of people use the racks daily.

Deputy Chief Robert Lenehan says the fake cop, along with video cameras and a new lock, has cut bike thefts by 67 percent.

 

People Go to Insane Lengths to Avoid Boston's Parking Headaches Boston Magazine

Eric Randall-- Boston Globe reporter Sean P. Murphy has a great story about how the businesswoman, a member of the family that owned the Park Plaza Hotel for decades, used her clout to avoid the parking headaches that the rest of us must endure. Saunders hired consultant Gregg Donovan, a South Boston developer with ties to the Mayor’s office, to petition city officials to relocate an unused valet parking space from a nearby closed restaurant to curb outside her office at 20 Park Plaza, Murphy reports. Whereas other valet spaces are located in front of high-turnover businesses, like hotels, Saunders’s was outside an office building adjacent to a hotel. That’s allowed her to park in the otherwise unused space all day without attracting the attention of city parking enforcement officers. She appears to pay no fee, Murphy reports, because the space is in the name of the Park Plaza Hotel.

 

Consumers Are 'Driving Light,' By Choice And By Accident Forbes

Micheliene Maynard-- Americans are definitely driving less, and have been reducing the miles spent on the road for almost a decade, according to a new University of Michigan study. That doesn’t mean the country has turned into a big parking lot. Instead, a number of consumers are reordering their automotive priorities, and taking trips primarily when they most need to.

 

Shoup: SFpark Yields Promising Results, Lessons for Demand-Based Pricing SF StreetsBlog

Aaron Bialick-- Donald Shoup may be known as a guru of smart parking policy, but even he has found a few surprises in the data collected so far from SFpark.

“The biggest surprise I got was that prices went up and down, but overall, they stayed the same. The average price actually declined by 1 percent,” said Shoup, professor of urban planning at UCLA and author of The High Cost of Free Parking, the bible of modern parking policy. “That surprised everybody. People thought it was just a way to jack up prices, but the city specifically said, ‘We are going to set prices according to this principle.’”
SFpark, which uses “smart meters” and ground sensors to measure parking occupancy and adjust prices accordingly, is providing valuable lessons for San Francisco and cities around the world that want to reduce the amount of time drivers spend cruising the streets for a parking space.

 

In Vancouver, Traffic Decreases as Population Rises DC StreetsBlog

Angie Schmitt-- The perennial contender for the title of world’s most livable city has accomplished what Houston or Atlanta never even dream of: It has reduced traffic on its major thoroughfares even as its population has swelled. How did the city pull off this feat? The answer is intentionally, with smart policies.

 

"Streets"

  • The Bowker Overpass and Storrow Drive Walking Bostonian
  • CAMERAS, TERRORISM, AND TRUST: Fears and Memories Across the Generational Divide LivableStreets
  • Greenway to get to hotel, food market Boston.com
  • An Engineer Beats The Physics Of Traffic WGBH
  • Seaport District faces gridlock as development outpaces its transportation plan Boston Globe

Bicycling

  • Biker seriously injured in Newton crash Boston.com
  • Cutout of cop used to combat crime at subway stop in Cambridge, Mass. Mass Transit Mag, MSN
  • ‘Bait bike’ helps police arrest two more Wicked Local
  • Onein3 Spotlight: The Coffee Trike BRA News
  • A Bright Outlook For Westfield And Its Local Advocates Mass Bike
  • The next step on the BU Bridge area for bikes Amateur Planner
  • THE ADVOCATES DILEMMA: When The Need for Action is Immediate But the Pace of Change is Slow Boston Biker
  • Tough, Stylish, Functional: A Bike Helmet Built for Boston BostInno

Transit

  • Cape train breaks pattern of slow, costly transport projects Boston Globe
  • Martha’s Vineyard by bus Boston.com
  • Fast-growing Alewife studied for bridge over tracks and commuter rail connector Cambridge Day
  • Broken clock at Back Bay Station still? Boston.com
  • Plastic strips on Orange Line platform at Back Bay presage new waiting area Universal Hub
  • Next stop for the commuter rail: The Granite State? Boston.com
  • Cape train service extended through Columbus Day weekend Universal Hub
  • "Kayak & ITA For Buses" Startup Lands $2.45M to Lead New Era of Travel Tech BostInno
  • Seniors plan to 'jail' themselves in Boston in protest of fares Wicked Local
  • Mayoral candidate goes car-free on campaign trail Boston.com

Cars/Parking

  • $10, 000 bail for woman charged with causing Leverett Circle truck plunge Universal Hub
  • The Road That Gives Electric Vehicles A Charge WBUR
  • Crash brews bad commute​ Boston Herald
  • People Go to Insane Lengths to Avoid Boston's Parking Headaches Boston Magazine
  • For responsible car drivers, a spot at the bottom of the Boston traffic totem pole Boston.com

Transportation financing/Government

  • State planning repairs to Bowker Overpass Boston.com
  • More Local Transportation Dollars = An Opportunity For Advocates Mass Bike
  • Judge says Medford couple's Green Line lawsuit lacks proof Boston.com
  • T opens pension books Boston Herald
  • MassDOT to hold public meetings on plan for new toll system Wicked Local
  • State: $250m project will let drivers travel at normal highway speeds through Mass. Pike tolls Boston.com

Parks

  • Parking spot ‘parklets’ to debut in Mission Hill and JP Boston.com

Development projects

  • Op-Ed: Petty backroom politics in Rogers-Rush amendment deals a blow to affordable housing Boston Globe
  • Casey
    • Letter: Casey design is looking great—but western end needs work JP Gazette
    • Letter: Casey Arborway will only add to local woes JP Gazette
    • Casey potholes cause flat tires JP Gazette
    • MBTA busway redesigned for Casey project JP Gazette
    • City officials secretly invited people to Casey meeting JP Gazette
  • Developer sees new life for former Roxbury bus yard​ Boston Globe
  • State breaks ground on Longfellow Bridge, more disruptions ahead Boston.com
  • West Roxbury bridge to get $2M renovation Wicked Local
  • Jamaica Plain projects could transform Forest Hills Biz Journals
  • City considers tax break for development at former Filene's site Boston Globe
  • New Hancock Village proposal receives same complaints Wicked Local

Land Use/Planning

Out-of-state

  • PA
    • Rethinking Philadelphia's Boulevard of Broken Dreams -- Benjamin Franklin Parkway​ WSJ
  • CA
    • Yes, We Can Fit Protected Bike Lanes and Two Transit Lanes on Potrero SF StreetsBlog
    • Shoup: SFpark Yields Promising Results, Lessons for Demand-Based Pricing SF StreetsBlog
    • First Polk, Now Geary: Half-Measures Won’t Fix the Problems on SF Streets SF StreetsBlog
    • Making a Case to Phase Out “Beg Buttons” in Santa Monica’s Pedestrian Action Plan LA StreetsBlog
  • NY
    • Eyes on the Street: Who Will Protect the Protected Bike Lane From NYPD? StreetsBlog
    • The NYC That Never Was: Broadway's Moving Sidewalk Untapped Cities
    • Light Show Lets You Walk Through a NYC Tunnel For the First Time Ever Gizmodo
    • The Balancing Act That Bike-Share Riders Just Watch NY Times
    • New Cyclist on NYPD Blitz: “It Makes Me Think Twice” About Using Citi Bike StreetsBlog
  • VA
  • TN
  • IL
    • How Parking Requirements Get in the Way of New Chicago Businesses Chi StreetsBlog
    • Chicagoans Want Better LSD Next City
    • Automated Traffic Enforcement Paying Off for Chicago StreetsBlog
  • NJ
    • Jersey City’s Missing Bike Lanes Will Be Striped This Fall, City Promises StreetsBlog
  • MI
    • Parking vs. Everything Else: An Aerial Map of Downtown Detroit DC StreetsBlog

National Trends

  • What's Better Than Turning an Urban Highway Into a Park?​ Atlantic Cities
  • Are the suburbs dying, or just evolving?​ Washington Post
  • Consumers Are 'Driving Light,' By Choice And By Accident Forbes
  • Green Lane Project Green Lane Project
  • Public Spaces Under Highways and Freeways Sustainable Cities Collective
  • U.S. DOT Rules Ohio Burb Can’t Keep Out Transit, Local Officials Balk DC StreetsBlog
  • Study: Cyclists Gravitate Toward Streets With Protected Bike Lanes DC StreetsBlog
  • With the Hyperloop reveal date approaching, here's the best guess so far TreeHugger
  • U.S. DOT Launches “Everyone Is a Pedestrian” Campaign DC StreetsBlog
  • The Rise of The North American Protected Bike Lane Momentum Mag
  • Further Evidence That Road Diets Don’t Hurt Businesses StreetsBlog
  • Meet Streetmix, the Website Where You Can Design Your Own Street StreetsBlog
  • COMPLETE STREETS: 500 elevation Roads and Bridges
  • Why Baby Boomers Are Moving to Hipster Neighborhoods WSJ
  • Amtrak sets another ridership record Railway Age

International news