House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Holding Public Meetings?

Last week, the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee announced a series of public meetings and "field hearings" on upcoming surface transportation legislation. State and local officials and transportation stakeholders are being invited to the "field hearings".

Originally, the idea of the stakeholder was invented to give a way for someone who did not vote in a particular jurisdiction to have a voice in legislation that impacted them. However, it has come to be a way to do an end-run around democracy. After all, the only non-US citizens who should have a voice in our nation's transportation policy are immigrants, but I do not think that is who Mr. Mica wants to hear from.

The first "field hearing" was in Beckley, West Virginia today in the morning at The Theater at Tamarack, One Tamarack Park. There is no transit to this location, not even Amtrak or Greyhound, both of which serve Beckley. Only men have been invited to testify. Only one is an elected official. Two represent individual highways.

A second metting was later in the morning in Charleston, West Virginia. Fortunately, a member of the Friends of the West Virginia Cardinal was able to attend. He said that it went better than expected

I am still looking for information on the other meetings. They are being held within the next ten days, so hopefully more information will be available soon.

Movie: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

This movie starts by showing someone being trained how to operate a train according to international standards, something that is more rare than it should be in the US. The recent remake leaves this part out, only one of the many ways that the first version is superior to the second.

This movie is more of a character study than an action film although the fact that this how people actually act makes the action more realistic. This movie is not for the overly sensitive, especially in its depiction of racism and sexism. It is all realistic, unlike the remake.

I especially like the part where the subway managers from Tokyo reveal that they understand everything that has been said around them, insults and all.

A DVD of this movie is available through Netflix. It used to be available for streaming through Hulu, but now Hulu only has clips.

Federal Railroad Administration is holding public meetings

The Federal Railroad Administration has issued its Preliminary National Rail Plan. You can download the plan at http://www.fra.dot.gov/Downloads/RailPlanPrelim10-15.pdf. The FRA is accepting comments until June 4, which also happens to be the date of their last public meetings. You can submit comments online at http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#docketDetail?R=FRA-2010-0020.

Here is the schedule of meetings that I have so far:

19 May - Kansas City, MO

20 May - Atlanta, GA

26 May - New York, NY

3 June - Salt Lake City, UT

4 June - Portland, OR - at the Benson Hotel, 309 SW Broadway from 1-5 pm

If anyone has any more specific information, I will publish it here.

I hope that someone from each city monitors the comments and makes sure that Congress and the FRA takes them into account. I may be able to go to the Salt Lake City meeting, if I can find out where it is.

(I am depressed about the state of the world today.)

On Station Design

Lost in Penn Station by Julia Turner starts with "Penn Station is a confusing place." Her opinion is not unique. Most people consider Grand Central the better of New York City's two major stations. Ms. Turner's article also mentions that Penn Station serves four times as many people than Grand Central.

Which leads to the point of this article: People will use a station if the trains from that station take them where they need to go at the times that they want to travel.

A good station will help people find their train, and provide services that travelers need. A good station is safe. Poor station design makes it difficult for people to find ticket windows and the trains themselves. Poor station design makes people walk across unlit areas and encourages people to walk on the tracks. But the trains are always the most important element. A poorly designed station with many trains will always have more passenger than the best station that only serves one or two routes.

Good station design can help ensure that people who are not used to train travel can successfully buy tickets, print out tickets they have bought online, and get to their trains on time. Good signs can make a well-designed station better and make a poorly designed station tolerable.

One problem is apparent in the photos of the signs in Penn Station, but not discussed in the article. The signs are for the companies that run the trains, not the destinations or type of train. If you don't know what "LIRR" stands for or that Amtrak runs inter-state trains, these signs are not helpful. This reflects the tendency in the US to market bus and train companies rather than buses and trains themselves.

As a previous post mentioned, this a problem for stations in Canada as well.