Author Archives: Ian

Maryland cuts public transit routes

The Baltimore Sun is reporting on MTA’s plans to cut some routes on commuter buses, and MARC trains.

The Maryland Transit Administration is proposing to eliminate six commuter bus routes, reduce the number of rides on others and cut back on its increasingly popular MARC train service as a result of severe revenue shortfalls, the O’Malley administration announced today.

Was it only last year that MARC were talking about introducing weekend services

Its a shame that MTA doesn’t really understand how to build a sustainable public transit system. They have all the right bits, MARC, MTA Buses, Light Rail but they don’t link well together.

I wish that the DC/VA/MD Olympics bid had been come reality as it would have enabled the DC Baltimore area to build a high speed rail link between the cities. I have seen the benefit of linking major cities with frequent high speed rail and there is no reason why DC and Baltimore couldn’t see similar gains from such a service.

DC Metro affected by AIG Collapse

It seems that DC Metro may have been affected by the collapse of AIG. StreetBlog looks at the affect of AIG on transit leasing, they quote the Philly Inquirer

The trouble stems from leasing arrangements made years ago between transit agencies and lenders in which the banks bought transit equipment and facilities, such as railcars and stations, and leased them back to the agencies.

The transit agencies got much-needed cash, and the banks got tax benefits. In 2003, the tax benefits from those kinds of transactions were prohibited by the IRS.

AIG served as the insurer of many of those deals. The collapse of AIG downgraded its credit rating, allowing the lenders to demand full payment from the transit agencies if the agencies did not quickly find other insurers.

The Washington Post says the Washington Metro needs to pay back 43 Million.

In Metro’s case, the regional transit agency could face up to $400 million in payments, the system’s chief financial officer, Carol Kissal, said in an interview yesterday. One bank, KBC Group of Belgium, has told Metro that it needs to pay $43 million by next week. Metro officials confirmed the details but declined to name the bank.

This is a sad time when public transit is at a all time high.

Looking for a new commute

While working in DC I was able to to put my bike on the 980 bus in Herndon and then bike from West Falls Church to DC. While traveling in China last month my contract came to an unexpected screeching halt. So I now find my self looking for a new job and as a byproduct a new commute.

The Strongest contender at the moment is in Tysons Corner, but they don’t have shower facilities which will officially suck in the summer.

So now I am looking for the best way to get there by bike. My first thought was W&OD trail from Herndon to Gallows Road, then up Gallows to International Drive. Another option might be to hit 123 north. On looking at the Fairfax bike map more closely I came up with a third plan but I don’t really know the roads so not sure if there are any gotchas that I am missing.

Also if anyone has any leads on shower facilities near Tyson’s Mall please let me know, I checked with fitness first, but they don’t offer a shower and locker only plan.

DC adding a fine for blocking bike lanes

This is great news

Tommy Wells reintroduced his amendment to add another fine for blocking bike lanes, currently an illegal act but one with no fine. Before the recess, Wells tried to introduce the amendment, but some other Councilmembers wanted to first hear more research on the appropriate size of the fine.

The bill passed with no opposition on voice vote.

Now all we need is for some tickets to start being issued.

Fairfax Connector Union to go on strike

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091500631.html?nav=rss_metro

The union representing employees of the Fairfax Connector bus system voted last night to strike today, meaning that service will be sharply reduced in south Fairfax County, a spokesman for the county said.

Affected bus routes include those serving the Huntington, Franconia-Springfield, Pentagon, Van Dorn Street and Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro stations, Burke Centre VRE, and VRE EZ-Bus. The route numbers of buses that will run hourly are: 101, 151, 152, 171, 310, 321, 322 and 401.
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In addition, the following routes will not run today: 161, 162, 231, 232, 301, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 331, 332, 380 and VRE EzBus North and South.

Fairfax Connector bus service in north Fairfax County (Routes 402-980 and all RIBS) is not affected, the Connector said. More information may be available on the Connector Web site.

Councilman Husch’s poposal to confiscate bikes in Herndon

In response to Councilman Husch’s proposal to confiscate all bicycles that are chained, tied to trees or road sign posts in the public right-of-ways, I decided to take a trip out to Historic Herndon and see who would be affected by his proposal.

I saw a lot of bikers, most of them were using the trail to travel through Herndon. Other were stopping to buy drinks or ice cream. Two bikes were locked outside Jimmy’s Tavern. Another outside the bread shop.

What I didn’t find were any people who would fit the profile of an illegal, instead I found mostly white Americans.

As a biked a little further along the trail I spotted this couple locking up their bikes to a street sign next to an open house.

The couple had biked to Herndon and were looking to buy a town house in Herndon specifically because it was close to the trail. They chose to lock up their bike to the street sign at Branch Drive because it was close to their destination and was a solid secure object.

If Councilman Husch’s proposal becomes law, I wonder what their reaction would have been to coming back to find their bikes had been confiscated?

Councilman Husch said that a Virginia Law already prohibits bicycles from being chained to signposts or left in the public right of way. I searched the Virginia law and didn’t find anything that would appear to give them the authority to confiscate bikes parked in the public right of way. So I would ask Mr Husch to let us know the section of the code he is referring to so we can review it.

More on Herndon wanting to confiscate bikes

The Washington Post has picked up on a memo from Dennis D. Husch on his proposal to confiscate bikes in Herndon.

Town officials want to step up police activity and zoning enforcement where the workers gather, ban carryout alcoholic beverage sales downtown and remove the pay phones that the workers use to call their home countries. They want to institute a permitting process for homeowners to rent out rooms, in hopes of reducing the number of workers living in crowded conditions. They also want to confiscate bicycles — a common mode of transport for the workers — that are parked illegally in public places. Dennis D. Husch

I wrote an email to Mr Husch, which he hasn’t taken the time to reply to yet. I did get an email from Connie Hutchinson the Vice Mayor of Herndon saying the Council, as a whole, has not discussed Councilman Husch’s proposal yet and she is against the proposal of confiscating bikes in the public right of way.

I also had a lengthy emails conversation with Bill Tirrell who is on the Herndon Council. Although he has been supportive of installation of the traffic signal at W&OD and Elden and agrees that we need more bike racks in Herndon, he is siding with Mr Husch and feels that confiscating bikes in the public right of way is an appropriate response to illegal residents in the Town of Herndon even though it will also be targeting legal residents.

Town of Herndon’s Dennis Husch proposes conficating locked bikes

Faab, set out an email alert on a story in the Fairfax Times which talks about Dennis Husch’s proposal to confiscate all bicycles that are chained or tied to trees or sign posts in public rights-of-way. I sent an email to the Mr. Husch and the Town of Herndon Mayor and Council.

Dear Mr. Husch

I am a home owner in the town of Herndon and I bike over 100 miles a week.

I was alerted to an article in fairfaxtimes.com by Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling which talks about your short sighted comments on confiscating bikes locked up in the Town of Herndon.

Bicycling is a critical component to making a livable community. With gas prices hovering around $4, bikes are a truly viable alternative to cars for short trips under two miles for almost everyone. We need to be putting in more bike racks, improving Bike facilities on roads, and encouraging more biking not making a Herndon a biking no go Black Zone that confiscates bikes.

Bikes are not just used by illegals, they are used by low income families, through high incoming families as a vital transportation link. Many people use bikes for commuting to there jobs and are forced to lock their bikes to a tree or sign post because there are no secure alternatives. I challenge you to walk on the W&OD trail and you will see huge diversity of people using bikes, not just illegals.

I regularly bike in Herndon and lock my bike to a bike rack or to any solid secure object if a bike rack is not available. In fact parking meters and parking signs are my favorite if a bike rack is not available.

By proposing

“establishing a town policy to confiscate all bicycles that are chained or tied to trees or sign posts in public rights-of-way; and removing pay phones along a section of Elden Street and other areas.”

You are directly targeting my bike, a legal, tax paying town of Herndon Resident.

The Town of Herndon should be doing everything in it’s power to encourage biking within the town limits. We need to be introducing legislation that mandates good quality reverse U style bike racks at ever business. If they are mandated to put in a certain number of car parking spaces then they should be mandated to put in a certain number of bike racks. Arlington County which is highly rated as a livable community has a website at https://www.bikearlington.com/ and have published some excellent guidelines on which bikes parking that I suggest you review at https://www.bikearlington.com/parking.cfm

If you have any questions about bike related issues in the Town of Herndon area please feel free to contact me. I regularly attend the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling meetings and I am a Washington Area Bicycle Association member, and I have been biking and commuting by bike for over 25 years.

We will see what kind of response I get.

Update:

Here is a link to the FAAB blog post, it has an interesting comment from the user CouncilmanHusch. I think we have a challenge, document every location in Herndon that needs a bike rack and see if he lives up to his promise. My wife’s response is that the Walgreens at 603 Elden St. Herndon, VA 20170 needs a bike rack. She had to lock her bike to the no parking sign at that location.

Bike Rack at Wolf Trap

I posted a couple days ago about my journey to Wolf Trap and the response I got when I asked about bike racks. Turns out that they do have a bike rack.

I got the following response from Wolf

Good afternoon,

Your message was shared with Foundation staff and Wolf Trap National
Park Service representatives and sub-sequentially it has been brought to
our attention that a bike rack has been made available this entire
summer season for events at The Filene Center. The location is just to
the right (south) of the Main Gate before entering the venue.

We sincerely apologize for the oversight regarding this matter. Wolf
Trap is committed to delivering our programs with the best possible
service. We realize that one bad experience is enough to keep you from
returning. We appreciate your patronage and will continue to do all we
can to create the best possible Wolf Trap experience for our patrons.
Thank you again and we hope you will be back for a more enjoyable
evening under the stars at Wolf Trap!

Best regards.

So it looks like they do have a bike rack, so as promised I have changed the title on the original posting. Please let me know if you use it, I didn’t spot it when went to my last concert.