The MT Position

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor

There was a time when “multimodal” meant you had buses and trains in your system, not just one or the other. As the public transit industry advances and continues to expand that is no longer the case. Now multimodal incorporates so much more than it once did — and companies such as Google are taking notice.

Our March issue mails this week and you’ll notice its multimodal cover includes not just a bus and a train, but front and center a bike. Bikes in transit aren’t something new. There is hardly a transit agency out there that doesn’t have bike racks on its buses or accommodations for bikes on its trains. In cities like San Francisco where the biking community is strong, its leaders are brought in to offer their opinions on transit matters just like any other group.

That’s why when I saw this article this week, it caught my attention. If you haven’t used Google’s maps in a while, you can get directions for your trip (in most locations) via car, public transit, walking and now bicycle.

Having used the map features for all of the former above, I am very interested in seeing the biking directions appear on Google Maps, especially if cities like Philadelphia adopt bike sharing programs.

I’m not a devout bicyclist myself, but my publisher is and he has professed to me on more than one occasion how passionate, loyal and large the bicycle community is. Now if we could only convert some (more) of them to transit, think about how ridership would increase!

As transit looks to the future we need to get past outdated ideas of “adding” something new to a system be it a new BRT route, rail line or even bike racks. Instead we should try “incorporating” all of these modes into something that truly offers ridership opportunities to everyone.

I think that multimodal and intermodal are quickly becoming outdated terms that don’t incorporate all of the aspects transit offers. How about “omnimodal” or just “we have everything you need, get out of your darn car already.”

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday. For those interested in instant updates, you can now get your latest Mass Transit fix via Twitter.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor

If you jump on the news this morning and type ‘transit security’ one of the first stories you are likely to come up with is this one (or ones like it) about the shooter who attacked two Pentagon police officers yesterday within steps of a Washington Metro station. And you may be like me and go, oh no, not on the Metro again!

Thankfully, the only person who died in the shootout last night was the perpetrator — a man from California dressed in a business suit who calmly walked up to the two officers and, instead of pulling out a security pass, pulled a pair of guns and began shooting. The two officers involved both have been released from the hospital, one shot in the leg and the other in the shoulder — both superficial wounds.

The gunmen could just have easily started shooting on Metro, but this time the transit authority was spared from another such attack. Of course, that isn’t going to stop a large number of people to question Metro’s (and transit’s) security … again.

I was in Cleveland this week visiting the RTA. I had an early morning flight yesterday and factoring in the prerequisite time I was supposed to arrive at the airport before my flight, the time it would take to get to the airport and the time it would take to get to the train station to get me there, it was a very early morning.

So it was no surprise to me as I walked down Euclid Ave. to Tower City station that I was the only person on the street. A middle-age editor lugging a suitcase down an empty (though well-lit) street in the wee hours of the morning says nothing if not “potential target” for the ne’er-do-wells out there. You can then imagine my happiness as an RTA transit police car rolled past me toward my destination.

I had done what most other people would have in my position — rushed to judgment. It was early. It was dark. I was alone and carrying a heavy suitcase. Every dark alleyway likely teemed with bad guys waiting to jump out and accost me.

The same could be said for those reading this story about Washington Metro this morning. The system isn’t teeming with criminals or psychos or whatever you want to call them perpetrating all sorts of crimes.

It’s teeming with transit and local police looking out for passengers’ safety.

It’s good to see that this time my fears and my rush to judgment were unfounded.

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday. For those interested in instant updates, you can now get your latest Mass Transit fix via Twitter.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor

This week Washington Metro officials had to face the heat as the National Transportation Safety Board held a three-day public hearing discussing last year’s fatal rail accident involving two Metro trains. Unfortunately for Metro, it looks like the heat may have just uncovered the tip of the iceberg.

Last year’s tragedy seems to be the impetus for change at Washington Metro, but unfortunately it may not be enough to satisfy local leaders. Already, two top officers at the agency have been removed and its general manager, John Catoe, has announced his resignation effective this April. However, a complete restructuring of Metro’s management may not be enough. Four U.S. senators have called for “substantial” reforms at the agency, which could even mean a federal takeover. Another group of senators have passed legislation to allow the feds to takeover safety regulation of the nation’s subways and light rail lines.

It sure didn’t help that Alstom testified that Metro’s “use of third-party components . . . presents, not only a customer quality issue, but also constitutes a serious and increasing risk to overall signaling system safety.”

Ouch.

Now everyone working in an agency where the maintenance guys have to use any brand of part they can get their hands on to keep their fleet running raise their hands. How about everyone in an agency where the maintenance guys have to manufacture their own parts because the ones they need aren’t made anymore?

This situation has two parts. The first part is Washington Metro itself. Being in the heart of the nation’s capital has its benefits and its costs. The biggest cost is that if you screw up everyone knows about it. There is a scrutiny at this agency that even the nation’s other largest agencies don’t have.

So the management deck gets swept cleaned (again) and the agency continues on. Hopefully, somebody with some sense won’t put the feds in charge — there’s too much red tape at agencies already.

The other part is this idea of mixing and matching parts increasing the risk of an accident. I’m sorry, but at the very least that’s just covering your behind in front of the government, and at the most that’s an indictment of our industry. Transit agencies are woefully underfunded for the amount of service they provide. Naysayers be damned, it’s true.  And to say that these agencies are all possibly creating a “serious and increasing risk” to system safety is ridiculous.

That’s like buying a new printer and charging $100 a cartridge for ink, but saying the $10 generic cartridge will blow it up in six months. Why would I buy that printer to begin with?

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday. For those interested in instant updates, you can now get your latest Mass Transit fix via Twitter.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit editor

One of the places I worked at before I came to Mass Transit was a trade magazine covering the hobby industry. Often I joke that coming from a magazine that covered model railroading to one that covers real railroads is similar, but sometimes it’s even more so.

Transit has many issues it has to deal with on any given day. Funding. Timeliness. Sustainability. Safety. Security. And along with those comes a host of stereotypes that transit has to overcome to just do what it does best — provide the public a reliable means of transportation. That’s why it doesn’t need to deal with the image of being unsafe.

I saw this article yesterday. It is the latest in a series of high-profile events relating to transit security in the Bay Area. And it’s starting to (if it hasn’t already) give transit there a black eye — no pun intended.

While covering retail hobby stores in my previous position, I had the chance to talk to a lot of store owners about how people shopped and what was right for their businesses. One store owner in Dallas told me that the secret to a successful store was getting the mom’s to shop there.

According to him, Mom controls the money and is the one to spend it when the kids want something. So for him, making his store someplace Mom would shop was key. And that meant making it feel safe. Making the store feel safe meant having wider aisles, lower shelving, brighter lighting, and spending the money to make the store feel safer meant a more successful store.

This is where transit is so similar. For transit to be successful in many cases it has to get the moms on board. That means moms going to work, taking their kids to and from school/daycare, moms shopping and everything else involved in that. And if Mom doesn’t think transit isn’t safe, she isn’t going to let her kids on board.

And don’t forget the power of word of mouth. Moms have a network — I’ve seen it in action with my wife, it’s amazing — and through that network they will determine what is safe and not safe in their communities.

Make sure transit is part of the Mom network.

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday. For those interested in instant updates, you can now get your latest Mass Transit fix via Twitter.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit editor

The cardinal rule in transit likely should be “don’t piss off your riders” or something near to it if the firestorm of controversy the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is currently enduring is any indication. Of course, TTC could be any system that fell victim to the perils of an increasingly mobile Internet.

I like the British TV show Top Gear, an irreverent take on automobile shows. One running gag on the show is the hosts’ inability to understand the Internet. Declaring that something was on “Facetube” that the youngsters find so interesting is funny, but could easily be an indictment of the transit industry. While the transit industry’s ranks are getting younger, it is still top heavy in terms of age.

Does this mean the transit industry isn’t “Net Savvy” or in-touch with modern technology? Far from it. Examples of transit being on the cutting edge of technology are too numerous to list here, but having the technology and being beaten by it are different matters.

It all started with a little nap; a TTC worker caught snoozing on the job when a rider snapped his photo and shot it off to friends online. And — as is the new term for something growing like wildfire on the Internet — it went viral.

Riders upset with TTC performance started looking for transit workers screwing up … and they found them. Riders even swamped a Facebook page for transit workers with complaints.

So now the TTC workers’ union head is calling for riders to “stop harassing” its members and now town hall meetings are being discussed.

This is probably going to get worse before it gets better. In a time when we ask riders to be more vigilant, to commend them for catching operators texting or otherwise using their cell phones, we’re asking them to only do it on some occasions? Frankly, that’s hypocritical.

Transit needs to come around to the fact that public transportation now includes the entire world via the Internet, not just its local ridership. It also needs to be ready to be accountable for slip-ups. No longer is reporting a poor operator a letter writing campaign or taking on city hall, riders can do it while still in the seat via places like MuniFail, which gives instant tweets to the San Francisco mayor about Muni, and Portland’s Citizen Reports app.

Riders are expecting a higher quality of service from transit than ever before. And they are willing to pay for it. But, they are also not going to stand for poor service either. And now with the technology at their fingertips, they can make their rage hit the Net before the transit system can even hear about the problem.

For those interested in instant updates, you can now get your latest Mass Transit fix via Twitter.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit editor

Matthew Broderick once famously said as Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” The same goes for transit. If you don’t stop and take a look around at the transit landscape once in a while, you could miss it — which is what happened with several states in the recent round of federal railroad funding.

It was inevitable when President Obama unveiled the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds for high-speed railroads that somebody would get left out. The administration hit 31 states with funding, but that still left 19 without. Surprisingly one of the biggest states — Texas — received very little funding, which led to much grumbling from the Lone Star residents.

Not having any of that, the Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, replied with the equivalent to a verbal smack in the chops, “If Texas had had its act together, it would have gotten some high-speed rail money.”

In this era of political correctness, pointing fingers across the aisle and apologizing for just about everything, it’s refreshing to have something so plainly stated. LaHood didn’t dance around the issue and talk about infrastructure or political will or any other nonsense. He made his feelings clear — get your act together or you won’t get funding.

I love it.

Wisconsin got a little more than $800 million in the rail stimulus sweepstakes. Of course, its governor put the state’s money where its mouth is last year by spending nearly $50 million to purchase trains for the local Amtrak Hiawatha Line, which he hoped would be extended via the stimulus. And look what happened, his plan paid off.

Now Wisconsin not only sits with the money to put in the Hiawatha extension, but the trains to run on those tracks — built in Milwaukee no less — and an option to add more trains if they need them.

The secretary is correct. States need to get their act together. Not just for federal funds, but to make transit work for them, both locally and regionally. Otherwise the train is going to pass them by — literally.

Just ask Georgia.

Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn page!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit editor

It’s a landmark week for public transportation. The federal government has put its money where its mouth is to the tune of $8 billion for high-speed rail in the United States. Now the hype begins. Transit directors need to be wary, though, as that groundswell of support for rail could quickly turn against you — even if you deliver just what you promised. Just ask Steve Jobs.

You could argue that there hasn’t been a product in recent history that has been so supremely overhyped as the Apple “iPad.” If wishes were horses this thing could replace every electronic device in your home and tuck you in bed at night. Of course, this wasn’t going to be the case. Apple never promised us such a device. Heck, Apple never promised us anything about the device — which is typical for them.

And President Obama and his administration are in the same boat when it comes to high-speed rail. Have they promised us flying trains and near-instantaneous transportation? No. The administration never promised us that.

But we need to be careful now that the funds have been given not to build up high-speed rail into “High-Speed Rail” ala the famous monorail bit from the Simpsons. I had a long discussion about the benefits of the nascent Madison-Milwaukee extension to Amtrak’s Hiawatha line with members of my family. Their general viewpoint was, “What’s the point?” This became especially evident when they learned the train probably wouldn’t be traveling upwards of 200 miles per hour or reduce the time of a trip from Madison to Milwaukee to less than 30 minutes. Simply put, their expectations were a lot higher than reality — which was the case when the iPad was unveiled by Steve Jobs yesterday.

The Internet today is filled to the brim with stories and (lots of) comments about how the iPad is just a bigger iPhone and doesn’t do anything fundamentally different. It really has no place when it doesn’t do what a netbook can do and is already handled by an iPhone. Oh and it doesn’t have a camera or a phone.

Sound familiar?

The high-speed trains really have no place when they don’t do anything an airplane can do and is already handled by a car. Oh and it doesn’t have Wi-Fi or a stop at the end of my block.

A good friend of mine and a devout railfan said to me this morning that he would believe the Madison-Milwaukee Hiawatha Line when, “he saw the tracks.” I just hope that like the iPad, when he does see the tracks the hype surrounding the project doesn’t kill all the excitement of having it for him.

Be sure to check back on Tuesday when we unveil our latest creation, On the Line, a new regular blog by Mark Foss, a 20+-year transit veteran who can weigh-in on issues from the trenches so to speak.

Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn page!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit editor

In many ways the public transportation industry leads the way (or breaks new ground) when it comes to technology. From hybrid vehicles and alternative fuels to vehicle location systems and everything in-between transit is leading the charge to make use of technological advances. Of course, sometimes even transit can get passed.

I’m a self-professed gadget junky (I’ve professed it here before). So I am waiting with bated breath with seemingly the rest of the gadget community for next week’s Apple event where it is purported that the company will unveil its new tablet version of the iTouch/iPhone. While this may seem to only have minor repercussions in the transit industry, its length may be much farther reaching.

On the surface the relationship between transit and technology is usually viewed from a what is new for the system perspective, not taking that step back and seeing what is new for riders and how it affects the system perspective. A perfect example of this is Wi-Fi. Amtrak just announced it was implementing free Wi-Fi on some of its routes last week. That is great for its riders, but it may be too little, too late.

I know of two bus systems that had installed free Wi-Fi on some routes and pulled it not because of the costs (well in part because of the costs), but mainly because people weren’t using it. Sure, it can be argued that local service doesn’t allow people to be on buses long enough to boot up their computer and hook into the Wi-Fi, and this might be the reason Wi-Fi will work for Amtrak — longer travel times. But I think the real reason people weren’t using Wi-Fi on these routes isn’t that they didn’t want it — it’s that they didn’t need it.

 What were people on the bus or train using Wi-Fi for? Likely checking their email and Web surfing. No my cell phone does that, and it’s not a so-called “smart phone” like the iPhone or one of the variety of Blackberries. Before transit could even take advantage of the portability of computers via wireless Internet the technology has passed it by.

Now what affect will the iTablet/iPad/iSlate have on transit? Reportedly Apple is targeting to do with print media with the new tablet what it did to music with the iPod. If it is even close to that level of success that means a paradigm shift in how people view the world. Transit needs to be aware of these technology shifts among its customers so it can take best advantage of them.

There are currently more than a dozen applications (apps) for the iTouch and iPhone related to public transportation. Of course, when you compare that to the more than 100,000 apps in iTunes it becomes an infinitesimal amount. Technology shifts are happening. Except now they are happening to the public at large and not just at transit agencies.

Public transportation needs to not focus on what it’s doing so much that it lets the world pass it on by. Then those old mantras about transit being slow an inefficient will unfortunately prove they are true.

Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn page!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor

What’s a railroad got to do to get a little respect these days? It seems like every time I see an Amtrak story it’s followed by (or includes) a snarky comment about on-time performance. The problem is that most of these comments tend to be uninformed and based on mystique rather than facts.

This week I read this story about Amtrak adding wireless Internet service to some of its routes. Great, right? Not so much. The piece continues to skewer Amtrak for its “frequent delays” and “more delays.” This seems to be the public sentiment these days — Amtrak = delays.

Of course, that’s not always the case. Ask the folks traveling from Kansas City to St. Louis. Not only is the Missouri River Runner service getting higher ridership due to its increased on-time performance, it’s 90 percent on-time performance in the last 12 months is pretty impressive. Of course, the route is only 283 miles long.

Here’s the secret that those making the snarky comments about Amtrak miss out on. Amtrak on-time performance doesn’t suck when you’re looking at routes less than 400 miles long. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) the on-time performance for airlines between 2003 and 2007 is 77 percent for Amtrak during the same period it’s 70 percent, but if you only consider routes 400 miles long or less that increases to 74 percent.

And while airline delays are a constant complaint by travelers, it hasn’t seeped into the fabric of air travel as it seemingly has with rail travel. Of course, the delays are one thing. The causes of those delays are another.

Take a look at those charts one more time. Of the delays the airlines themselves were responsible for 54 percent. For Amtrak, the host railroads were responsible for 68 percent of the delays. Amtrak itself was responsible for 26 percent of delays — less than half what the airlines were directly responsible for.

Now digging into these numbers isn’t something the average person is going to take the time to do. And really, most of your rail opponents won’t do it either. It’s much easier to say Amtrak is slow than to qualify it as Amtrak is slow over its long-distance routes. Interestingly enough, if you pull out your handy high-speed rail map you’ll see that these routes fall into that less than 400 miles sweet spot.

I wonder why that is?

Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn page!

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit magazine editor

I like the four seasons as much as the next guy, but come on, enough with the snow already. It all started innocently enough — we were supposed to get our second big snow storm of the season — but then it went wrong from there.

Ever had one of those days? Where it seems like everything just won’t go right? That’s my day as I write this. First I have to fight with the snowblower to get it started and clear out the driveway, only to have to do it again once the plow goes by.

Then my DSL goes out. So I head to the local public Wi-Fi location (McDonalds) and get a little work done. Finishing that up, I was able to get my service provider to visit and check on why I had no Fi. It seems somebody put the wrong part in the neighborhood routing station (or something).

Anyway, my Wi-Fi is back up. Just in time for me to catch a quick bite to eat. Unfortunately the snow hasn’t stopped and now I can’t get back into my driveway. So back to the snowblower. Except I’m out of gas. Shovel it is.

An hour later and a bucket of salt lighter I can get back into my driveway.

So I can finally sit down to write my blog. And after all that, I sit here and marvel at everyone in transit who does this every day with not one, but a thousand vehicles.

To fight to get your fleet started, your yards plowed, routes run (while dodging plows) and doing it all on time in just about any type of weather is an impressive feat. I don’t think most riders realize just what goes on behind the curtain so to speak. They just expect the bus to be at their spot when it’s supposed to be.

Getting those buses and trains to run on time is a monumental task in itself, but to do it in inclement weather is an even greater achievement. I’ve ridden buses at agencies in subzero temperatures, temperatures in excess of 100 degrees F, snow, rain, wind and even the dead of night.

The one common factor? A driver who didn’t complain about his lot in life. A driver who knew the importance of being at their stops on time.

As we head into 2010, I just wanted to start off the year with a hearty pat on the back and good luck as we look forward to another record-breaking year in transit.

Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
Check out our LinkedIn page!