Tag: Public Transit

10 Innovative Ideas That Propelled America Forward in 2016

Posted on by robbie

The most contentious presidential election in modern history offered Americans abundant reasons to shut off the news. But if they looked past the front page’s daily jaw-droppers, our countrymen would see that there’s plenty of inspiring work being done. At NationSwell, we strive to find the nonprofit directors, the social entrepreneurs and the government officials testing new ways to solve America’s most intractable problems. In our reporting this year, we’ve found there’s no shortage of good being done. Here’s a look at our favorite solutions from 2016.

This Woman Has Collected 40,000 Feminine Products to Boost the Self-Esteem of Homeless Women
Already struggling to afford basic necessities, homeless women often forgo bras and menstrual hygiene products. Dana Marlowe, a mother of two in the Washington, D.C., area, restored these ladies’ dignity by distributing over 40,000 feminine products to the homeless before NationSwell met her in February. Since then, her organization Support the Girls has given out 212,000 more.
Why Sleeping in a Former Slave’s Home Will Make You Rethink Race Relations in America
Joseph McGill, a Civil War re-enactor and history consultant for Charleston’s Magnolia Plantation in South Carolina, believes we must not forget the history of slavery and its lasting impact to date. To remind us, he’s slept overnight in 80 dilapidated cabins — sometimes bringing along groups of people interested in the experience — that once held the enslaved.

This Is How You End the Foster Care to Prison Pipeline
Abandoned by an abusive dad and a mentally ill mom, Pamela Bolnick was placed into foster care at 6 years old. For a time, the system worked — that is, until she “aged out” of it. Bolnick sought help from First Place for Youth, an East Bay nonprofit that provides security deposits for emancipated children to transition into stable housing.

Would Your Opinions of Criminals Change if One Cooked and Served You Dinner?
Café Momentum, one of Dallas’s most popular restaurants, is staffed by formerly incarcerated young men without prior culinary experience. Owner Chad Houser says the kitchen jobs have almost entirely eliminated recidivism among his restaurant’s ranks.

This Proven Method Is How You Prevent Sexual Assault on College Campuses
Nearly three decades before Rolling Stone published its incendiary (and factually inaccurate) description of sexual assault at the University of Virginia, a gang rape occurred at the University of New Hampshire in 1987. Choosing the right ways to respond to the crisis, the public college has since become the undisputed leader in ending sex crimes on campus.

This Sustainable ‘Farm of the Future’ Is Changing How Food Is Grown
Once a commercial fisherman, Bren Smith now employs a more sustainable way to draw food from the ocean. Underwater, near Thimble Island, Conn., he’s grown a vertical farm, layered with kelp, mussels, scallops and oysters.

This Former Inmate Fights for Others’ Freedom from Life Sentences
Jason Hernandez was never supposed to leave prison. At age 21, a federal judge sentenced him to life for selling crack cocaine in McKinney, Texas — Hernandez’s first criminal offense. After President Obama granted him clemency in 2013, he’s advocated on behalf of those still behind bars for first-time, nonviolent drug offenses.

Eliminating Food Waste, One Sandwich (and App) at a Time
In 2012, Raj Karmani, a Pakistani immigrant studying computer science at the University of Illinois, built an app to redistribute leftover food to local nonprofits. So far, the nonprofit Zero Percent has delivered 1 million meals from restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets to Chicago’s needy. In recognition of his work, Karmani was awarded a $10,000 grant as part of NationSwell’s and Comcast NBCUniversal’s AllStars program.

Baltimore Explores a Bold Solution to Fight Heroin Addiction
Last year, someone in Baltimore died from an overdose every day: 393 in total, more than the number killed by guns. Dr. Leana Wen, the city’s tireless public health commissioner, issued a blanket prescription for naloxone, which can reverse overdoses, to every citizen — the first step in her ambitious plan to wean 20,000 residents off heroin.

How a Fake Ad Campaign Led to the Real-Life Launch of a Massive Infrastructure Project
Up until 1974, a streetcar made daily trips from El Paso, Texas, across the Mexican border to Ciudad Juárez. Recently, a public art project depicting fake ads for the trolley inspired locals to call for the line’s comeback, and the artist behind the poster campaign now sits on the city council.

Continue reading “10 Innovative Ideas That Propelled America Forward in 2016”

The Strange Bedfellows Working to Save the Honeybee, Why Uber Is Getting in the Business of Public Transit and More

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A Swarm of Controversy, WIRED
Can environmentalists and Big Agriculture come together to save honeybees? It’s a question Jerry Hayes, a former hive inspector turned Monsanto scientist, asks constantly. As conservationists blame Hayes’s company for colony collapse, he asks humans to learn something from the bees: how to cooperate for the hive’s sake.

Welcome to Uberville, The Verge
An experiment in an Orlando suburb could change the face of public transit. As part of a contract between Altamonte Springs, Fla. and Uber, local government subsidizes intra-city rides with the startup and fronts additional funds when connecting with mass transit. Critics argue that the plan isn’t accessible to low-income and disabled riders, but Altamonte officials say the deal was the only affordable way to connect the suburb’s sprawl.

Chicago Tackles Youth Unemployment As It Wrestles with Its Consequences, Chicago Tribune
Applying for a first job in Chicago can feel “like trying to go across Lake Michigan,” insiders say. Rap sheets or typo-laden résumés can ward off employers, and inaccessible transit through high-crime areas can discourage adolescents — disconnecting 41 percent of the Second City’s 18–24 year olds from work or school. Fortunately, a bevy of groups are helping this vulnerable group land work.

The Surprising, Eco-Friendly Place to Store Data Servers, Safer Ways to Care for the Sick and More

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Why Data Farms Are Heading Underwater, CityLab
According to an animated Walt Disney classic, everything’s better, down where it’s wetter. That’s exactly what computer giant Microsoft learned when it submerged a data farm under the sea. Cold ocean temperatures eliminates the need for massive, energy-sucking cooling systems, which land-based servers require.
Hospitals Focus on Doing No Harm, The New York Times
When one hears that an estimated 98,000 and 440,000 people die because of preventable errors at hospitals, it’s easy to think that doctors are breaking their promise to do no harm. In response, healthcare facilities nationwide are implementing new procedures — from the somewhat common sense (practicing consistent hand washing) to the more complex, like immediate monitoring for symptoms of sepsis and changing hospital culture.
Here’s How Houston Boosted Mass Transit Ridership by Improving Service Without Spending a Dime, Vox
Thanks to overcrowding, late arrivals and seemingly constant price hikes, it’s no wonder that subways and buses get a bad rap. In the highway-riddled city of Houston, transit officials found a way to boost ridership: by emphasizing frequency over geographic scope. More importantly, however, was their discovery of a mass transit strategy that can be replicated coast to coast, at no cost.
 

The American City That’s Adopting a Pay-What-You-Can-Afford Model for Public Transit

Posted on by robbie

For Andrea Smith, a Seattle resident who commutes to her job at a nonprofit theater daily by bus, the latest fare hikes for a monthly transit pass were making the trek unaffordable, particularly as business slowed after the Great Recession.
“I was paying cash, ride by ride, since I couldn’t afford a monthly pass,” she says. “I commute to work every day, often six days a week, and I was spending far more…, just because I couldn’t afford to pay all at once.”
A new pilot program launched three months ago by the King County Department of Transportation provided a fix that so many residents who rely on public transit (yet found they couldn’t afford it) desperately needed. The first of its kind in the nation, Seattle’s ORCA Lift offers fares directly tied to a person’s income. For anyone below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $23,340, riders only need to pay $1.50 a trip — reduced from the standard $2.75 fare (though that number changes based on distance traveled and time of day). That means a person who rode the bus to and from work, five days a week at peak travel times could save up to $910 a year.
“The ORCA Lift reduced fare for low-income riders is an important step forward in making public transit affordable for everyone in King County,” says Katie Wilson, the General Secretary of the Transit Riders Union, an organization of working-class individuals who lobby for affordable and reliable public transit.
According to numbers provided by King County officials, nearly 9,000 riders have signed up, accounting for around 54,000 weekly boardings on the bus system.
While the program is a good first step, Wilson says, but there’s much more that could be done. Before the recession in 2008, standard adult fares remained stable around $1.25 — lower than even ORCA Lift’s new total, Wilson points out. “Standard adult fares have doubled since then, and on March 1, the same day as the ORCA Lift program was introduced, fares were also raised again for youth, senior and disabled riders,” she says. “The ORCA Lift program is not enough. We’re still a long way from a public transit system that is affordable for everyone.”
A New Yorker for 16 years, Smith says she loved “how you could get around so easily on public transit” in Manhattan. Even thought transportation in the Emerald City still lags, she’s telling all her friends to sign up. Though it’s tough seeing how many of her colleagues qualify for the reduced fare, at least she knows they’re all still able to get to work. “The ORCA Lift card has been a godsend for me.”

Why This Bridge Has No Vehicles Driving on It

Posted on by robbie

Portland’s landscape is teeming with bridges — connecting the east and west parts of the Oregon city over the expansive Willamette River, which makes it no surprise that the northwestern city would support building another structure that reaches an up-and-coming area in an industrial neighborhood.
But with more transportation options comes more traffic, which is partly why TriMet, Portland’s local transporation agency, decided to design the Tilikum Crossing without room for cars. Instead, the bridge will cater to buses, light rail trains and street cars, with bike and pedestrian paths flanking it, making it the first multi-modal design of its kind, Fast Company reports.
The new 1,700 foot-long construct will be the nation’s longest carless bridge, and TriMet officials contend it’s a model that can serve elsewhere.

“We need to think multi-modal,” says Dave Unsworth, TriMet’s director of project development and permitting. “Streetcars for central city circulation, buses to connect to neighborhoods, and light rail for regional destinations …and bike and pedestrian connections to the nearby trails.”

Unsworth argues including cars would have been more costly, due to the need to expand the bridge in size to accommodate two lanes of traffic for each direction, plus reducing potential redevelopment on land nearby.

Thanks to a comprehensive public transit system, Unsworth also believes adding a car-centric bridge is unnecessary.

“With so much transit service on both sides of the river — light rail, streetcar, buses, and the Aerial Tram on the west side of the bridge — adding through traffic would have been unsafe and wasn’t necessary given the quality transit access,” he says.

The 7.3-mile stretch of light rail will provide access to a new area of housing as well as a new university campus branch, connecting north Clackamas County, Milwaukie and inner South East Portland to the downtown area and regional MAX System, according to TriMet.

The massive structure will feature lights that illuminate the cables and piers, mimicking actual water flow in the Willamette River below.

And while Portland has no plans to eliminate car transport altogether, city officials are encouraging other urban communities to consider alternative modes.

“Not everyone can use transit, but we need to continue to make it more convenient by doing a great job of connecting to where people want and need to go,” Unsworth adds. 

MORE: How Portland, Ore., Is Translating Student Grit Into Success

What Exactly Are JPods and How Can They Improve Commuting?

Posted on by robbie

A New Jersey town is looking to the future to help solve a congestion problem, and they’ve found a solution of which George Jetson would approve.
Seacaucus, N.J., located just outside New York City, is home to one of the busiest train stations in the Garden State. A portion of the New Jersey Turnpike also runs right through town — making it the perfect locale to test out a new hybrid of mass transit called JPods. Billed as a combination of light rail and self-driving cars, JPods hover above roads, akin to a ski lift zipping overhead.
Founded by former West Point Academy graduate and U.S. Army officer Bill James, the private transit system was designed to move small groups of people rather than large masses that descend on public trasportation— such as buses or subways — each day.
“Combining solar and relatively small mass transit modules to get from point A to point B fits in especially well with some of the needs we have here,” Secaucus town administrator David Drumeler tells Fast Company. “With our commercial district relatively close but far enough that you couldn’t walk there, an almost on-demand type of mass transit system is an ideal fit for us.”

Each JPod operates as a personal train and is controlled by an interior touch screen. They travel to more stations and switch points than a commuter train or subway system, personalizing mass transit and helping residents get much closer to their destination.

The idea was not to create futuristic transit akin to the Los Angeles landscape depicted in Spike Jonze’s “Her”, but rather, to create sustainable transportation. The entire system is powered by solar panels positioned above the rails. The goal, according to James, is to make sure the entire system is sustainable regardless of how much it may expand in size. James, who served as a logistics officer in the U.S. Army, wanted to design a system that was self-sustainable and less dependent on foreign oil.

“We’re a bunch of West Point grads that looked at this situation and realized we’ve been fighting oil wars since 1990,” says James. “So we decided to do something about it. Our point of view on this thing as veterans is that we need to be looking ahead at what causes the path to war and act in advance of it.”

James enlisted other West Point alumni to work on JPods, with experts ranging in subject such as energy distribution, power plant design and law.

Each JPod can communicate with one another through an intelligent transport system, meaning that the network doesn’t waste energy with empty pods (like subway cars do) and instead uses an on-demand strategy.
Secaucus will test the “Rescue-Rail” version of JPods before building a more permanent model, according to James. The temporary system will be quick and deployable for large-scale events that generate traffic and congestion such as sporting events or conferences.
But will the concept will crop up elsewhere? As a private transit system, that question remains unanswered. While James hopes to bring the JPod to other urban areas, competition with government-funded public transit may prove to be a bureaucratic challenge.
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MORE: New York City Looks to Stockholm for a Traffic Blueprint

Could Los Angeles Become The Next Pedestrian-Friendly City?

Posted on by robbie

Survival in Los Angeles has long hinged on owning a car and enduring its punishing traffic, but a new report suggests the sprawling city has potential to become America’s next walkable urban area.
As we reported earlier this week, coalition of real estate developers and investors partnered with SmartGrowth America (a non-profit that focuses on developing and sustaining great urban neighborhoods) and the George Washington University School of Business to analyze the number of walkable neighborhoods in the country’s 30 largest urban areas and look at the potential for growth.
Though L.A. came in at 18th (just below Columbus, Ohio and Kansas City), researchers suggest its future could move it toward the top of the list.
How’s that possible, you might be asking?
Currently, the report finds that only about 16 percent of L.A.’s office and retail space is walkable, compared to three times that amount in Washington, D.C. But 35 percent of that pedestrian-friendly space exists in the city’s suburbs, which means L.A. and its surrounding communities are ripe for growth.
These walkable areas are in-demand for office and retail development, which is driving up rent costs, according to Chris Leinberger, a real-estate professor at George Washington who led the study.

“This is a pretty significant change in how we invest, how we build the country,” Leinberger said. “There will be demand for tens of millions of square feet of additional walkable urban development.”

Additionally, the city has invested more than $40 billion in developing public transit over the next decade — more than any other city across the nation — with eight new commuter, light and heavy rail lines already open. The city has also begun construction on five new rail lines while suburban cities like Pasadena and Santa Monica continue to develop plans for a more public transit-friendly community, Fast Company adds.
“That future—of a walkable, transit-friendly Los Angeles—is being built right now,” the report said. “It will allow people to drive everywhere they want, assuming they can put up with the traffic, and provide the option of walkable urbanism for those who want it.”
Despite the investment, L.A. still must clear the hurdles of circumventing zoning and regulatory policies in some of these communities, as well as find tenants who can afford the soaring costs of rent.
Challenges aside, as the report points out, achieving the futuristic transit system depicted in last year’s movie “Her” is not too far from reality.
MORE: How Can Two Cities Develop the Area Between Them?

When His City’s Transit Service Stalled, One Man Built His Own Bus Company

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In 2012, Andy Didorosi bought a few buses on a whim. He owned an asset management company at the time and didn’t know exactly how he was going to use them. But the following year, the Skillman Foundation, a Detroit-based education nonprofit, approached him with funding and a need: help kids get to much-needed after-school programs in neighborhoods with very few public transit options. “I launched the Detroit Bus Company to work on transit gaps in the city of Detroit,” Didorosi says. “It’s like an insurmountable issue that we’re working to hopefully solve.” Today his company picks up hundreds of kids in six underserved neighborhoods across the city and takes them to their activities.

From Trash to Transit: Detroit’s Innovative Uses for Demolished Homes

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Revitalizing Detroit is no small feat, but perhaps it’s some of the smaller efforts that will help inject some dignity and positive attitude back into the city’s fractured community.
That’s what a group of artists, designers and residents are hoping to accomplish through “Door Stops,” a social project focused on filling the stretches of vacant lots and empty bus stops with mobile furniture—namely bus shelters and benches.
Using recycled doors recovered from demolished or salvaged homes, the group installs bus shelters bespeckled with colorful murals at transportation stops lacking seating for commuters to rest. The goal, according to the Detroit Design Center’s Craig Wilkins, is to change the perception of public transportation and, in simplest terms, brighten up an otherwise dreary landscape. As Wilkins told DesignPRWire’s Frank Scott:
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“A stop that looks dirty or neglected, or whose waiting passengers look hot, cold, wet, confused or vulnerable sends a devastating message: you’re lucky you don’t have to ride the bus. The use of public transportation is typically read as being without means; that the people, place and service of public transportation are at best, secondary considerations in the economic and environmental operations of the city. We wanted to change that.”
Since its inception, “Door Stops,” which is a play on the term “bus stops,” has gained recognition from the A’Design Award & Competition, where it received a silver medal in “Social Design.”
But the project is not meant to be permanent. Wilkins explains the mobile aspect means it’s up to commuters and city residents to determine where the furniture is most needed, which can change as the city evolves.
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Sometimes that means not at all where they intended on placing the shelters. Wilkins notes that the biggest challenge so far is some of the first installations have disappeared, possibly by scrappers looking for metal. But he’s not discouraged, and insists the project is a gift to Detroit residents.
“If they find that they’re more useful to take them scrap them and put food on someone’s table, it’s not really our place to say no, that’s supposed to be a bus stop,” Wilkins told Fast Company.
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The group has installed around 12 shelters since last September and intends to place about 25 in total by the year’s end. If funding is made available, “Door Stops” plans to include solar panels and GPS markers in the next round of units. 
And while Wilkins admits it’s a small part of a larger push to get Detroit locals back on their feet, he contends it is an important part of addressing one of the community’s many concerns. 
“It begins small, but has the ability to aggregate into a larger, cumulative impact,” he said. 

The Streetcar Returns! And It’s Rescuing Tucson From the Recession

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Streetcars were once a common feature in American cities. New York once had an expansive network that seamlessly linked its two largest boroughs. They were, however, largely abandoned after World War II as communities were designed around automobiles. However, in the wake of an energy crisis, the streetcar is experiencing a kind of renaissance. According to the Associated Press, Tucson is one of several cities planning to launch streetcar service to promote economic development. The city just finished a four-mile-long streetcar track that will run between the University of Arizona campus and downtown. “Roughly 150 businesses have opened their doors along the route in the last five years, and the once-dormant area is in the middle of a $230 million construction boom, according to the Downtown Tucson Partnership. The group estimates that 2,000 jobs have been created or relocated to the area,” according to Pew States. Michael Keith, CEO of the downtown group, says, “The fact that Tucson could reinvent itself in the middle of the worst recession to hit the state since 1928 is astonishing.”