Transportation Lessons from Europe

Transcription

1 Transportation Lessons from Europe SPUR Presentation Andrew Nash, P.E. Transportation Planner

2 Outline Initial reactions to being back in the USA. What s different in Europe. Discussion.

3 1. Public Transit here is for second class citizens. Travel time. Cleanliness. Hassle-factor. Safety.

4 2. Streets here are really wide. High speed. High volumes. Poor pedestrian/bicycle environment.

5 3. There are no alternatives. There s really only one way to get where you are going and most of the time it means driving.

6 4. It really is a conspiracy. Everything works together to reduce options and confound improvement. Example: transportation and land-use coordination. Example: political projects.

7 The Promised Land

8 Good land use planning.

9 Public agreement on density. Source: Selle, Klaus (Ed.), Freiraeume fuer Gemeinschaften in der Stadt Hannover, 1993, p. 14

10 Street space for everyone.

11 But, there is hope

12 Paris Beach: Creating a beach out of a freeway.

13 Zurich Lake Promenade: High quality of life permeates all aspects of public works.

14 Zurich: Former parking lot changed by citizen initiative.

15 Zurich Street Parade: Alternatives create options.

16 Zurich Street Parade: Alternatives allow city to close streets = real urbanity.

17 And, returning to the Paris Beach: Cars or people?

18 But Is this really the question?

19 Vienna: Shottengasse: Pedestrian improvements, traffic calming, urban design and parking?

20 Paris Traffic Calming: Narrow streets, pedestrian and bike priority underground parking?

21 Paris Traffic Calming: Creating pedestrian environments.

22 Traffic Calming Lessons 1. Traffic calming has been well integrated into the general transportation planning process. It is no longer a special case and is intended to help meet traffic reduction goals. 2. Adequate funding is unavailable for traffic calming. This has forced cities to implement less ideal techniques and has reduced their ability to implement more effective areawide programs. Therefore, cities are searching for less expensive ways to implement traffic calming and are linking traffic calming with other better funded programs (e.g. street resurfacing).

23 Stadtverträgliche Umgestaltungen im Strassenraum Tiefbauamt der Stadt Zürich, Verkehrsplanung Tempo 30 und seine Folgen Markierung als Gestaltung? (1)

24 Traffic Calming Lessons Cities are working closely with the community on implementation of traffic calming projects. They work proactively using such techniques as partnership programs, citizen involvement, and expert commissions. 4. This process has led to compromise on the policy and project level, but has enabled the programs to progress. An example of compromise is replacing parking taken to implement traffic calming with underground parking, this is controversial and requires careful balancing of interests. 5. Finally, a new generation of projects including arterial street narrowing is challenging some obvious traffic engineering ideas.

25 Neat Ideas

26 Munich & Vienna: Bikes for hire don t just build the paths. (Although that would be a good start!)

27 Munich: Call A Bike simple, easy, convenient, and multiple languages.

28 Krakow: Small trucks for urban deliveries.

29 Bordeaux: Who says a bus terminal needs to be ugly?

30 Public Transit: What s really important? Travel time. Cleanliness. Hassle-factor. Safety. Cost.

31 Public Transit: What s NOT important? Type of vehicle. Number of transfers. Cost. With caveats!!

32 Public Transit Concepts Network = You can get there from here. Land-use = You have alternatives for living, working, shopping. Transit Priority Transit Priority = Customer Benefits & Operational Efficiency.

33 Zurich: Focus on the Network Fare Regions: Simply buy a ticket for the number of regions you want to travel through. Coordination: All transit coordinated based on S-Bahn Takt.

34 Zurich s S-Bahn: Half-hour service throughout the region from 6 AM to after midnight a rare example of poor design: steps at entry.

35 Zurich: Level boarding intercity trains you can get there from here. Note: no steps!

36 Switzerland: Transit connections nationwide.

37 Zurich Stadelhofen S-Bahn Station: Transportation and land-use making the connection new possibilities for passengers.

38 Bahnhofstrasse Zurich: Among the highest commercial rents in world, on a transit mall.

39 Supposed relation between urban density and car use (e. g. total length of car trips per household and per week) density (floor space divided by ground space) leisure purposes everyday purposes total (all purposes) Urban Density and Inhabitant Car Trips (Average Mileage) Source: Johannes Gielge; City of Vienna

40 London Heathrow Express: Airport to Center- City in 20 minutes terminal redevelopment.

41 Transit Priority 1. Transit priority has been integrated into transportation planning process. 2. Important to have strong technical staff, but just as important is commitment of all involved. 3. Funding huge problem, has led to thinking about new ways of doing business transit priority = efficiency e.g. machine collection of fares, competition 4. Quality transit priority = better customer service.

42 Munich: Low floor transit vehicles saves time (money) for agency easier for passengers.

43 Zurich Transit Priority: Intelligent traffic engineering and commitment.

44 Zurich Transit Priority: Combining traffic calming with transit priority = win/win comprehensive planning.

45 Zurich Transit Priority: Streetcar tracks don t have to be ugly win/win comprehensive planning.

46 London Bus Lanes: Camera enforcement anyone can paint lines on the road.

47 Zurich: A typical transit stop: information, fare collection, weather protection, seats = operating efficiency & customer service.

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49 Zurich Tram Stop: Transit priority + passenger safety + traffic calming.

50 Comprehensive Planning Agencies work together on projects. Result is greater than the sum of the parts. Reduce costs. Less disruption to the public. More opportunities for quality design.

51 Stadtverträgliche Umgestaltungen im Strassenraum Tiefbauamt der Stadt Zürich, Verkehrsplanung Schaffhauserplatz Ausgangslage (1) Motorisierter Individualverkehr Zu Fuss Gehende

52 Schaffhauserplatz Projektidee (2) Stadtverträgliche Umgestaltungen im Strassenraum Tiefbauamt der Stadt Zürich, Verkehrsplanung

53 Closing Thoughts Competition Not a dirty word. Privatization of transit services. Toll roads congestion pricing (London). Organization Regional coordination agencies. How service is provided.

54 Closing Thoughts - 2 Not what you do How you do it. We need to think about improved ways to manage the system Zurich Verkehrsverbund. Privatization but what does this mean? System Planning Everyone can t have BART better ideas languish because of poor politics.

55 Questions and Discussion