Yule Heibel's Library tagged transit →  View Popular, Search in Google

Interesting. Evidence suggests the opposite of what most people have been conditioned to believe (that public transit allows crime to seep into neighborhoods).
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The fear that crime follows transit - or worse, that transit breeds crime - is a common one. The general public is often quick to assign causality whenever a crime takes place in or around a transit station. Anecdotal theories are many: transit stations attract city criminals to a new population of victims; criminals can linger at public stations freely without suspicion; travelers may not be familiar with their surroundings and therefore susceptible to crimes. But the empirical studies are few, and many of those that do exist have found no transit-crime connection.

A new report in the December issue of the Journal of Urban Affairs goes a step further and suggests that not only do transit stations fail to increase crime - they may even impede it.
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transit crime cities atlantic_cities eric_jaffe

Interesting discussion of streetcars' ability to cement a sense of place (which buses can't do):
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... the old New Orleans streetcar is inextricably linked to the city it navigates. This sense of permanency is a big reason for the St. Charles streetcar's success. It's also something buses lack: because they can go anywhere, they belong nowhere.
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streetcars transit urban_development

Way to go:
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The New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority is not usually held up as an example of a public agency leading the way in the open data and transparency movement. It’s perennially attacked by New Yorkers and the local media as a bloated, inefficient agency that struggles just to keep the trains and buses running, let alone do anything innovative. Yet, the MTA’s recent efforts to open up its data and reach out to developers demonstrate that even the most bureaucratically and financially challenged public agencies can be leaders in embracing new media.
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nyc transit opendata gov2.0

It's obvious that without efforts at TOD (transit-oriented development) there is a danger of HSR (high speed rail) making sprawl more attractive. But if we get the development angle down right, there's no reason things couldn't turn out as they have in Europe, where HSR does *not* equal sprawl. Why should it do so in North America? Are we that stupid - or greedy? (Don't answer that...)
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In theory (and hopefully in practice) the priorities of HSR in the U.S. are a wide mix of economic, environmental, and urban planning, goals. But some urban planners are arguing that an unintended consequence of actually building HSR lines could be a major step backwards in the notion of sustainable living.

(...SNIP...)
Granted, as Yonah Freemark points out, this foretelling of sprawl takeovers could be all speculation — there’s been no link established between existing HSR stations in France and Spain and an epidemic of suburban growth. Also there’s no evidence that the “commute from afar” attitude has been embraced en masse in the parts of the U.S. serviced by fast trains — how many people live in Philadelphia and take the Acela to New York City every day?
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Bingo. Do TOD, plan better, and make living in cities attractive through amenities (including community).

high_speed_rail transportation transit sprawl transit_oriented_development

Tell me again why Victoria is not yet hooked into this? Vancouver transit did it - why not BC Transit in Victoria?

google transit victoria

Excellent article by Jack Diamond arguing the case for LRT and density nodes in development.

globeandmail jack_diamond transit lrt cities

Something to think about "out west," where existing public transit might be spotty, or where the only public transit is buses. Rail definitely makes sense for many people here. "Some cities with long-established public transit systems, like New York and Boston, have seen increases in ridership of 5 percent or more so far this year. But the biggest surges — of 10 to 15 percent or more over last year — are occurring in many metropolitan areas in the South and West where the driving culture is strongest and bus and rail lines are more limited."

transportation transit transit_oriented_development cars

Adam Nossiter reports on the St.Charles line (downtown/ French Quarter / uptown connector), back in action in New Orleans. Many useful references for public space, urban fabric connections, lived history experiences. (via CEOs for Cities blog)

adam_nossiter new_orleans public_space streetcars transit