Tag Archives: Oklahoma

”Atlanta Streetcar’s Early Ridership Numbers Disappoint”

Atlanta Streetcar

This is exactly what I fear for the OKC “rail-based” streetcar project:

[T]ransit critics will cite for years to come as evidence against expansions of any kind.

via Atlanta Streetcar’s Early Ridership Numbers Disappoint | Streetsblog USA.

Bad Data: “How Not To Measure Traffic Congestion—Hold the Hyperbole, Please! “

The INRIX report makes several other basic errors. It describes traffic congestion as “gridlock,” a greatly abused term. Gridlock refers to a specific situation in which vehicles in a network are totally stuck due to clogged intersections. It almost never occurs.

Article: How Not To Measure Traffic Congestion—Hold the Hyperbole, Please! | Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network.

I’ve only just started following Litman.  I should have followed him sooner, I think.  I can’t imagine that gridlock has actually ever happened in Oklahoma.

Exclusive lanes, please: “Seattle Wants to Change the Whole Conversation on Streetcars”

“The problem we’ve had in the first generation of North American streetcars is that, with a few exceptions, they’ve been designed with the attitude that the transit function isn’t really the point,” says Walker. “Or, as they often say, this isn’t a transit tool, its a development tool, which is a bizarre kind of insistence on the separation of silos, since in Europe great transit is a development tool because the transit is designed to actually function.” – Jarrett Walker

via Seattle Wants to Change the Whole Conversation on Streetcars – CityLab.

I’ve said it before – I worry about the OKC Streetcar for this very reason.  It’s being sold as transportation (sometimes) when it’s really about economic development.  Plus, it’s a one-way loop, showing, to me at least, that it’s really not intended to move people.