Today’s poll is about displaying vehicle license plates — the rear-only vs. front & rear debate.
The poll will be open until 8pm, answers are presented in a random order.
— Steve Patterson
I love Fall, the humidity & temperature both drop, leaves begin to change colors. And Halloween decorations go up! We don’t get many trick or treaters in our building, but our neighbor’s young son enjoys our decorations.
Do you decorate for Halloween? Or do you do like I used to — turn off the porch light and pretend you aren’t home?
— Steve Patterson
Earlier this month I posted an image of the micro-park, located at Washington Ave & Tucker Blvd, to Twitter & Facebook. My caption was “Construction fencing up around pocket park Tucker & Washington Ave, plants & retaining walls removed.”
To fresh your memory, let’s go back a few months. My subject was the Arch from the 2009 All-Star game looking very shabby, thankfully it’s now gone.
Some thought the building owner wanted to extend their private parking lot toward Washington Ave. A building resident said the owner wants to build a patio for a future restaurant tenant.
You’ll recall five years ago the ground floor was occupied by a nightclub:
No restaurant has been named, but this could be very good for the area. This land is privately owned, though some may say an easement was created over the years.
— Steve Patterson
Later this week I’ll arrive in Cleveland — my first time in that city — I think. My 2006 bus trip to Toronto may have routed through Cleveland. I do know I’ve never explored the city. My purpose for visiting it to ride their Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines — the HealthLine and 55-A-B-C: Cleveland State Line. We’ll spend just over 48 hours in Cleveland, our hotel is located on the HealthLine.
Cleveland has many similarities to St. Louis — such as losing more than half its peak 1950 population. Pollution was a problem, in 1969 the Cuyahoga River caught on fire! Earlier this year, Cleveland police agreed to train officers to minimize racial bias and the use of excessive force.
A few months ago I started a GoFundMe page to raise money for this 2-day research trip to Cleveland. So far I’ve raised $200 of the $375 needed — a little more than half.
The rest of our vacation will be spent in Chicago. There I’ll check out construction on Chicago’s first BRT line — the Loop Link:
Traffic-clogging construction has been underway for almost six months on Loop Link, the Emanuel administration’s experiment intended to speed CTA buses through downtown, yet the bus rapid transit service will be launched late this year with fewer features than originally promised, officials told the Tribune.
Even before the changes that threaten to reduce the benefits of the whole endeavor to ease congestion in the central Loop, the $32 million project was labeled “BRT Lite” by some transportation experts because its design lacked several elements that are key to helping buses replicate the service reliability of rail rapid transit. Those experts said making a strong first impression was vital to winning public backing for introducing bus rapid transit citywide. (Chicago Tribune – CTA bus rapid transit service to debut with fewer bells and whistles)
Cleveland’s HealthLine was given a 76/100 score by the Institute for Transportation & Policy Development — a Silver rating — the highest score of all BRT lines in the U.S. Other countries have higher ranked BRT systems:
Of the systems scored, 15 are classified as gold, 28 as silver, 41 as bronze, and 6 as “basic” BRT, indicating a minimum of BRT features, but not quite qualifying as best practice. Eight did not qualify as BRT. Furthermore, ITDP has identified 200 additional corridors that preliminarily meet the BRT basics.
The BRT Standard is an evaluation tool for world-class bus rapid transit based on international best practices. It is also the centerpiece of a global effort by leaders in bus rapid transit design to establish a common definition of BRT and ensure that BRT systems more uniformly deliver world-class passenger experiences, significant economic benefits, and positive environmental impacts. (ITDP)
Scores of other BRT lines in the U.S.
Bronze
Basic
So we have no “Gold” BRT lines, and only one “Silver”. See the scoring criteria here, of interest to me is station spacing:
In a consistently built-up area, the distance between station stops optimizes at around 450 meters (1,476 ft.). Beyond this, more time is imposed on customers walking to stations than is saved by higher bus speeds. Below this distance, bus speeds will be reduced by more than the time saved with shorter walking distances. Thus, in keeping reasonably consistent with optimal station spacing, average distance between stations should not be below 0.3 km (0.2 mi.) or exceed 0.8 km (0.5 mi.).
Two-tenths to a half mile spacing sounds like excellent criteria to me, Cleveland’s HealthLine did this. It also got all three points for Pedestrian Access:
A BRT system could be extremely well-designed and functioning but if passengers cannot access it safely, it cannot achieve its goals. Good pedestrian access is imperative in BRT system design. Additionally, as a new BRT system is a good opportunity for street and public-space redesign, existing pedestrian environments along the corridor should be improved.
Regular posts will continue here during my vacation/research trip, plus I’ll be posting images from Cleveland & Chicago to Twitter & Facebook. Would love to raise the remaining $175 before the credit card bill arrives.
— Steve Patterson
Tomorrow is a controversial federal holiday, so it is a good subject for a poll.
Please vote above, the poll will close at 8pm. Answers are presented in a random order, you can also make up your own answer.
No new post tomorrow, see you again on Tuesday.
— Steve Patterson