The moveDC blog. Learn more at www.wemovedc.org

Friday, March 8, 2013

Transportation Plan Advisory Committee (TPAC)

What is the TPAC?
The Transportation Plan Advisory Committee (TPAC) has an important role in supporting the moveDC planning process. The committee's membership speaks for a wide range of viewpoints and provides input into the moveDC process and planning products. The TPAC is made up of District residents from each Ward active in transportation-related issue or other civic endeavors. The TPAC is charged with advising the project team throughout the plan development process. They also will help extend the plan's outreach efforts.
Who is on the TPAC?
TPAC members were selected for their interest in transportation in the District. Members of the TPAC are:
·        District residents from across the city (all wards)
·        Leaders in:
o   Complete streets
o   Transportation and land use coordination
o   Transportation equity
·        Members of:
o   Committee of 100
o   Federal City Council, Transportation Committee
o   WMATA Riders Advisory Council
o   Safe Routes to School Program
o   Pedestrian Advisory Council (PAC)
o   Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC)
o   Business Improvement Districts
o   Destination DC
o   Washington DC Economic Partnership
·        Experienced with the development of Circulator and DC Streetcar
·        Supporters of:
o   Accessibility*
o   Aging-in-place*
o   Bicycling and walking
o   Big changes
o   Businesses
o   Equity
o   Neighborhoods
o   Families
o   Schools
o   Transit
o   Transportation choices
o   Tourism
o   Youth* 
*Additional TPAC members with specific interest in these areas are being confirmed
Current confirmed members of the moveDC TPAC are:
·        David Alpert
·        Anne Marie Bairstow
·        Neha Bhatt
·        James Bunn
·        George Clark
·        Cheryl Cort
·        Anita Hairston
·        Elliot Ferguson
·        Jeff Green
·        Ellen Jones
·        Patricia King-Adams
·        Eric Kugler
·        Jair Lynch
·        Barbara McCann
·        Sandra Moscoso-Mills
·        Keith Sellars
·        Joe Sternlieb
What happened at the 1st TPAC Meeting?

We got right down to business asking the TPAC and public the following questions as conversation starters:
·        What things have been done within the last 10 years that have made travel easier/better for you?

·        What could be done to make your everyday trips easier?

·        What are the most significant challenges that DC will face in the next 30 years?

·        What are our biggest long-term opportunities?

·        What should we be trying to achieve in DC with this plan over the next 30 years?

The discussion spent time answering some of these questions, but also offered opportunities for related comments. Some of the themes of the discussion are below:
·        Many transportation connections are missing in DC
·        People make rational transportation decisions based on time, money, and safety
·        People outside the “core” (downtown DC) want more transportation options to choose from
·        More coordination is needed between transportation modes
·        Times are changing and we need to plan for today and tomorrow
·        Aging in-place, accessibility, and family transportation needs are important
·        DC has good bones to leverage
·        Transportation information is valuable and should be more accessible
A full meeting summary will be posted soon at http://www.wemovedc.org/resources.html. 

What do you think?

Do you have opinions about the TPAC, the questions listed above, or the meeting discussion?
Comment on this post.

4 comments:

  1. With the comments made by the Mayor and others it feels as if transportation decisions have already been made and these public meetings will be a waste of time. Encouraging public transportation and taking away parking so people are forced to use public transportation is not the way to go. Va. and Md. offer free public parking garages so the public can use businesses and restaurants and DC has raised parking at meters to be so expensive they are sending patrons to the suburbs. You cannot do a lot of shopping and carry everything home on a bus or Metro. The huge amount of bike lanes and so few bikers using them are out of proportion. Then after creating the bike lanes stop telling bikers they can use any road and violate the law. Register bikes, give them tickets like cars when they violate red lights and stop signs, or get the bikes off the road. Residential buildings with no parking is ridiculous and as in Babe's you are not counting how many other buildings in that neighborhoood have no parking because they were built before parking was required. Look at the whole neighborhoood and parking not just one building at a time. Stop ignoring all the commuters who come into the city each day and stop planning transportation for just DC residents as if the commuters, tourists, trucks do not exist. As long as you keep doing this your plans are doomed to fail. Improve bus service, Metro on weekends, put sidewalks in where they do not exist.

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  2. We desperately need better East-West public transit connections. I notice their paucity in the Northern part of the city; may be true elsewhere as well.

    Need to keep parking minimums, especially for multifamily residential and especially in mixed-use transit areas. And need more real time info re parking availability downtown. Car-lite has to stay a viable option -- pushing drivers out of the city or to the margins of the transit grid is only going to increase VMT, emissions, etc.

    Goal should be to give people a variety of reliable, affordable, and convenient ways to get where they need to go when they need/want to be there. Back to basics.

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  3. Very well stated!

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  4. I would like to see what the plan is to extend transportation options outside of the city center. Its seems as if the center is becoming over developed with redundant transportation options (i.e. H Street & the X2 bus line) when residents in northern end of the city are excessively limited with their transportation options. If everyone's tax dollars are being used for alternate forms of transportation, then we should all benefit from transportation growth that connect us to the city.

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