Anything related to transportation, including cars, traffic, other modes of transport, and so on.
Links to a flow map of the entire Capital Bikeshare system added 3/14/2019.
The links below take you to maps showing the average daily flow of trips, for the Reston and Tysons Bikeshare network, for 2018. I only show the 20 most-frequently-used origin-destination pairs, separately for Reston and Tysons, separately for each map. Continue reading Capital Bikeshare, trip flow visualizations 3/11/2019
After analyzing the data and writing extensively on Capital Bikeshare — a bike sharing system using dedicated bike “docks” — I decided to take a quick look at dockless bike rental alternatives.
In a nutshell, dockless systems — where the bikes can be parked anywhere, and you can rent them using an app on your smart phone — have some huge advantages over docked systems like Capital Bikeshare. I summarize those advantages below. But they can cause a mess if people park them willy-nilly. Most of the cities that have allowed dockless bike rental have ended up passing significant laws to regulate them — particularly, to regulate where you can leave them parked.
Detail follows. Drop down to the paragraph in red to see my summary. Continue reading Dockless Bikes as an alternative to Capital Bikeshare, 3/10/2019
On this page, I describe the issue facing Vienna, and then profile the typical Capital Bikeshare user and analyze data on Capital Bikeshare use in Tyson’s Corner and Reston. See a separate page for a quick summary of dockless bike alternatives.
Gray pins in the map below flag the low level of use of Capital Bikeshare bike racks (“docks”) installed around the Tysons and Reston Metros, in 2018
Continue reading Capital Bikeshare rack location, data analysis, 3/8/2019.
I attended last night’s meeting of the Traffic Transportation Safety Commission (TSC). You can find a (rather poor-quality) audio recording, and an Excel file that serves as an index to the recording, here on Google Drive. Basically, use the Excel spreadsheet to find the times for items you would care to listen to, then move to that spot in the recording to hear what was said.
I attended because TSC was considering an on-demand flashing sign at the crosswalk where Glen Avenue hits Courthouse Road. The sign is called a rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RRFB). It would allow pedestrians to stop traffic in order to get across Courthouse. We already have a few of these in Vienna. Here’s a view of an RRFB pair on Beulah.
Continue reading 2019-02-26 Transportation Safety Commission, audio recording and notes
My wife and I attended the 1/7/2019 Town Council meeting. This is my report and view of what occurred. Clicking on the numbered items below should let you jump to the discussion of the individual topics. Continue reading 1/7/2019 Town Council Meeting, edited 1/10/2019 regarding the traffic study
The 8 PM Vienna Town Council meeting on Monday 1/7/2019 will have at least three items relevant to MAC zoning and the future of Maple Avenue. Continue reading January 7 2019 Town Council Meeting — Three MAC-relevant items, updated 1/7/2019 for a better discussion of Capital Bikeshare
Few people other than avid bicyclists know this, but to some degree, the awful traffic on Maple is a legacy of the W&OD railroad. That railroad cut Vienna in half about a century ago. And today, Vienna is still very nearly cut in half. For a roughly 4.5 mile stretch, the W&OD road bed prevented roads from crossing Fairfax County in an East/West direction. And now, for that entire 4.5 mile stretch, the only roads that cross the W&OD are a handful of streets in downtown Vienna. And of those, the only one that can handle any traffic is Maple. Continue reading The traffic legacy of the W&OD railroad, 10/2/2018
Thoroughly updated 8/5/2018: As it turns out, there’s an app for that. And a modern slug is a well-organized slug.
On this page, I argue that maybe the best commuter use of the Mill Street garage is to make it the base for the first successful I-66 slug line from Vienna. And that the Town should work to make that happen. The question I address here is, could that work? Continue reading Slug line