What can moveDC do for you?

As if we haven’t gotten enough information from you, we want more!  We are in the process of finalizing the moveDC plan.  Throughout the document we want to incorporate people-specific questions about moveDC with short answers. This is where we need YOU. We need your questions about what can moveDC do for you. 

For example:

I’ve lived in DC my whole life. I grew up and went to school here, I work here, shop here and my family is here. How does moveDC help me stay here?

I deliver fresh foods to stores and restaurants all over the District every day. I have to double-park and circle looking for parking. I get stuck in traffic constantly. What’s in moveDC for me?

I ride a bike for everyday trips and to stay in shape. The city has made a lot of progress in the last few years to make it easier and safer to bike. How does moveDC retain that momentum?

To be featured in the final plan document, send us your questions via Twitter,  Facebook, Email, or comment on this blog post.  If your question is selected, you’ll be identified by either your twitter handle or first name and initial for your last name.

Thank you for your involvement in the moveDC Transportation Plan. Whether you attended one of our public workshops, served on the Transportation Plan Advisory Committee, participated in online surveys or provided feedback via the website, we appreciate your voice in this process.
moveDC is your plan!

The Conversation Continues

During the past year, the District Department of Transportation and the people who know the most about DC’s transportation challenges – its daily users – have engaged like never before. Through public workshops, webinars, the Idea Exchange, online polls, online surveys, blogs, emails, advisory committee meetings…and telephone surveys, you’ve provided invaluable insight into the future of transportation in the District.

Thank you.

 

Please join us once again for a fun interactive survey for moveDC hosted by our planning partner MetroQuest. MetroQuest is an innovative online engagement tool. This survey is like nothing you’ve done before. It is visual, fun, and interactive. We’re asking you about your priorities for the future and what you think of three different approaches to a future transportation system in DC. We’re showing you how they perform, as compared to one another and individually.

moveDC’s MetroQuest survey is live. Visit http://movedc.metroquest.com/ to launch the survey.

August Roundup of Plan Advisory Committee Meeting Thoughts

We are at the approximate mid-point of the moveDC planning effort. We’d like to extend a special thank you to everyone who has provided input into the planning process to date. Your input has been valuable and insightful. We hope that you’ll continue to participate in-person and online.

We’d also like to take a moment to encourage everyone who has not attended one of our events, taken a survey, or followed us on social media to take the plunge. Join the moveDC movement. Visit www.wemoveDC.org to learn more.

In September we’ll launch two surveys and host another publicly-accessible plan advisory committee (TPAC) meeting on September 30th at the Reeve's Center. In October we’ll host our third round of in-person and online workshops (dates and locations coming soon). In October and through the end of the year, we’ll also host monthly advisory committee meetings. In the coming months, we hope you’ll lend your voice to the conversation on transportation in the District.

In follow-up to our meeting of last week (August 22, 2013) with the plan advisory committee (TPAC) and public, we wanted to share some additional information on several things that were discussed. The following is a brief summary of topics of conversation that were raised along with additional planning team perspective and information on each.

1.      TPAC Comment: Tools to help decide on priorities with respect to mobility and access would be helpful.

Planning Team: Glad that you raised this. The question on prioritization is timely. As a part of our effort, we will be developing a decision framework for weighing potential transportation initiative priorities. This is a topic we had planned to begin discussion on in September. As a part of our effort, we will refer to successful examples of prioritization tools and approaches from other places as well as from the experience of DDOT. In terms of developing a tool, the goal outcome of the effort will be to have a defined and documented approach through which to process, score, and rate transportation initiatives. Bigger picture, our goal is to create reliability in the way that projects and priorities are considered so that we focus our limited resources where they can best help us achieve our long-term city goals. You are welcome to come to the next TPAC meeting with thoughts/ieas on prioritization.

2.      TPAC Comment: Goals are an important consideration in terms of the plan and measuring progress of the transportation system over time. They should help inform decision-making and also communicate how we are doing relevant to other things happening in the region and to how we are serving people.

Planning Team: Understanding the wide reach of transportation, early in the moveDC process the planning team did a lot of research. We looked at what other places (nationally and internationally) are doing in terms of transportation goals. We also identified goals in regional plans, District agency plans not related to transportation, and District agency plans related to transportation. From all of our research, we compiled a set of goals and performance measures for moveDC. Some of the performance measures will be used in helping to make decisions during the planning process, while others could have use in monitoring the performance of our system over time. Hearing your comments related to setting specific targets, we took a second look at the way we had defined our goals in terms of themes and restructured and organized them around more defined targets.  Below is a summary of how we’ve approached the bigger picture transportation goals and targets for the plan:

• Sustainability and health: Achieve 75% of all District trips by non-auto modes – How well do we increase access to parks and green space? How does the plan relate to changing climatological conditions? How well does the plan offer opportunities for people to walk and bicycle?
• Citywide accessibility and mobility: Maximize system reliability and capacity for moving people and goods - How much do we increase our ability to move people? Will the system be efficient and reliable? What will the coverage of different transportation modes be to people? How well do we accommodate the movement of goods and services?
• Neighborhood accessibility and connectivity: Support neighborhood vitality and economic development - How well do we do in terms of offering people more and better transportation choices? Do we increase access to the places people want and need to go? How well does transportation do in terms of supporting planned growth?
• Safety and security: Achieve zero fatalities and serious injuries on District transportation network – Are we making our transportation system redundant where it needs to be? How well are we doing in improving the safety of all modal networks?
• Public space: Reinforce Washington, D.C.’s historic landscapes and quality of neighborhood public space – Are we protecting important corridors and urban landscapes? How well are we doing in making our streets functional, beautiful, and walkable? How much are we increasing the city’s tree canopy?
• Preservation and implementation: Achieve a state of good repair for all District infrastructure – How are we doing in achieving a full state of good repair for roads, bridges, and sidewalks?
• Funding and finance: Invest in transportation to achieve outcomes within the plan horizon – How are we doing in establishing and securing sustainable long-term transportation funding? Are we making our transportation system (from an energy perspective) more efficient? Are we delivering projects on time and budget?

 3.      TPAC Comment: Stable, secure long-term transportation funding is important. Keeping options open to new ways to fund transportation is important. It also will be important to create/identify secure sources of funding.

Planning Team: We couldn’t agree more with your comment on the need to have stable, secure, and sustainable long-term transportation funding. Nationally and internationally, funding is at the forefront of most discussions relating obstacles on meeting long-term transportation needs. In the coming months, we will begin a discussion with you on transportation financing. We’ll talk about where the opportunities and challenges lie and offer our best forecast of what’s ahead. Later in the planning process, we’ll apply what we can know (there is lots that we just can’t predict) and try to narrow the gap between what we need and what we can reasonably expect to finance. We’ll identify innovative approaches to finance as well as those we have relied on in the past that have value for the future.

4.      TPAC Comment: We need to be aware that the District will continue to be a substantial employment destination for the region. We can’t lose sight of the fact that even if we (within the District) have lots of great, useful, and effective transportation choices, we will still be significantly affected by the influx of the region’s commuters and visitors each day.

Planning Team: This is an important issue. We are testing several approaches to reducing the negative impacts of it through the scenarios we are evaluating. We have considered a number of measures to incent and disincent people to make choices that are more sustainable within what the District’s transportation system can provide and better meet the District’s transportation goals. For longer distance trips originating outside the District, we are evaluating the effect of changes to commuter rail—more trains, more times of the day, in more directions (not just peak), and some running from Maryland into Virginia and some from Virginia into Maryland. We also are studying the effect of congestion pricing and vehicle occupancy policies (HOV/HOT)—in a defined geographic area of downtown and along major entry and through corridors. For moderate distance trips, we are looking at where our transit and bicycle investments can connect with neighboring jurisdictions’ services and facilities.

5.      TPAC Comment: We need to have a focus on connecting neighborhoods and offering transportation choices for neighborhoods throughout the city.

Planning Team: We have several performance measures that we’ll be reporting information for that specifically address transportation coverage for neighborhoods. In a nutshell, these are:

• Transportation choices between city neighborhoods
• Transportation availability to population centers, jobs, schools, amenities, and services
• Transportation availability to economically challenged areas
• Coverage of transportation networks to population

6.      TPAC Comment: We need to discuss, do we need to discuss, whether we should be establishing corridor, area, or systemwide modal priorities (i.e. San Francisco’s “Transit First” policy)?

Planning Team: Good question. We’ve been discussing the establishment of modal priorities from the beginning of the planning process. We’ve been discussing this because of the natural tendency to try to put everything in the same place (bike facility, transit facility, wide sidewalk, lots of vehicle lanes, parking, etc.) in the network to very often, an undesirable outcome. As we’ve approached the different plan approaches from a geographic perspective, we have sought to create complementary separation and coexistence among the modal networks. Our goal has been to not have everything need to inhabit the same limited set of streets and to instead create complete and complementary networks that overlap where needed and are separate, but interconnected elsewhere. All of this stated and taking a step back, we also are looking and starting a discussion on systemwide modal priority at a policy level. We have talked about the value and potential pitfalls of making a citywide statement on modal priority and have not yet come to resolution. This could be a very helpful topic at an upcoming meeting and we’d welcome a lively debate on it and its many potential approaches and outcomes.

7.      TPAC Comment: We’d like to view meeting materials ahead of time with some expectation from the planning team as to what you’d like from us at upcoming meetings:

Planning Team: We will share all materials ahead of time and also pose some framing type questions for discussion and consideration at upcoming meetings. For anticipatory purposes, our goal at upcoming meetings is to start talking about prioritization, performance of different aspects of the scenarios we’re studying, finance, and an overall plan policy framework. The comment made previously regarding modal priority would be a very timely and useful discussion to have and come to a better understanding of at the next meeting. Tomorrow (Friday, August 30th), we will have uploaded several materials to the project website for you including the local bus study update presentation, street typology discussion, and performance measures document. (www.wemoveDC.org/resources.html)

8.      TPAC Comment: Will the plan indicate likely implementation horizons for important elements?

Planning Team: Yes. We will lay the plan out in its ultimate form for the planning horizon year, 2040, and then back into short-, mid-, and long-term horizons.

Please let us know if we’ve missed big follow-up topics from our last meeting and we’ll do our best to share other thoughts, provide information, or respond. We hope that this has been helpful and informative and that you’ll comment on the information above and start thinking about attending our upcoming September advisory committee meeting. Advisory committee member or not, we hope that everyone will feel welcome to come attend an advisory committee meeting. We always provide time for public comments and discussion and encourage dialogue.

We need you!

Join our networks and spread the word socially 

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/wemovedc 
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/wemovedc 
• Flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/wemovedc (post photos) 

Spread the Word 

• Post information about moveDC on your website 
• Direct people to our website wemovedc.org 
• Post moveDC event dates on your organization’s calendar 
• Send an email to your listserv/mailing list encouraging participation 
• Include information about moveDC in your publications Include our press releases in your RSS Feed 
• Write a blog post about moveDC 
• Post flyers in your facilities or send through email 
• Distribute materials, handbills, or brochures to clients that promote move
• DC Make tent cards to promote moveDC survey links and provide to constituents 
• Notify your organization's leadership about this this effort personally 

Encourage Participation 

• Bring 10 people to a moveDC community workshop 
• Organize transportation for your group
• Carpool/vanpool/share a cab 
• Ride public transportation as a group 
• Bike 
• Walk 
• Offer community service hours for attending moveDC events (if applicable) 
• Host a “moveDC Webinar Watch Party”.  Register to join our webinars and invite people to watch with you

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 1^st 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.

How do you move? The Votes are in...

Thank you for taking our first poll on the website. More than 600 of you, 622 to be exact, responded to the poll. The results certainly are interesting, even though they were never intended to be statistically significant.

 

How You Move Today

We asked you how you get to work or school today. You could select more than one method of getting between home and school or work.

 

What You Told Us

A lot of you use bicycles, buses, Metrorail, and your own two feet to get from home to work or school. Comparatively fewer of you drive to get to school and work. Nearly half of you get to school or work using two or more modes of transportation.

 

How You Want to Move in the Future

We also asked how you would like to get to work or school in the future. Again, you could choose more than one way you want to get there.

 

What You Told Us

Compared to today, more of you would like to take the bus, Metrorail, or walk to get to work or school. Again, compared today, a whole lot more of you would like to use streetcar (yeah, okay, any increase is a whole lot if you are starting at 0), bicycle, and telework. From our results, more than 70 percent of you would like to do something other than drive. That’s great news for the SustainableDC plan’s 75 percent non-auto trip share goal.

 

Thoughts on Pedestrians

 A few quick observations on people who said they walk for all or a portion of their trip:

• 53% percent of pedestrians also ride Metrorail and 34% also ride the bus
• Today, 15% of people who walk, make their entire trip walking
• In the future, only 5% would like to exclusively walk

Today’s walkers are very interested in other ways to travel to work or school in the future:

• 83% want to bike (higher than poll average)
• 73% want to ride Metrorail (higher than poll average)
• 63% want to take the bus (higher than poll average)
• 59% want to take streetcar (higher than poll average)
• 38% want to telework (higher than poll average)

What Does All of This Mean?

As we said to begin this commentary, this is not a statistically significant survey. We received 622 responses—approximately 0.1% of DC’s population. Setting all of this aside, there's some very interesting food for thought in the responses:

 

Choices appear to be important

• You are travelling to work or school in a lot of ways now
• You want more choices in the future

Driving may be less important. More data would be helpful, but working with what we have…

• Some people drive today and will drive in the future
• Driving was the only travel mode that saw a decreasing share in the future

Come on streetcar!

• Nearly half of you want to take streetcar to work or school in the future

Multimodal connections should be coordinated and convenient

• More of you want to use several modes of transportation to get from home to work or school in the future

What do you think?

Send us comments.

 

Want more?

Are you interested in other statistics? Do you want to see the data? It’s posted at wemoveDC.org/Resources. If you have any interesting takeaways or infographics, please send them our way!

Moving Ideas at moveDC's Idea Exchange

For anyone who missed Saturday’s (February 9, 2013) moveDC (http://www.wemovedc.org/ ) Idea Exchange, it gave the city a lot to think about. 

At the session’s welcome address, Mayor Gray called for the integration of moveDC with SustainableDC (http://sustainable.dc.gov/ ) and WMATA’s Momentum Plan (http://www.wmata.com/momentum/index.cfm ). The Council’s Transportation Committee Chair, Mary Cheh, highlighted that more, and more equitable transportation options are not an age-thing, they are an “everyone thing,” worthy of a great world city. Councilmember Tommy Wells called for a transportation system that provides equitable access to opportunity and the chance for all of our residents to stay and thrive in our growing city. DDOT Director Terry Bellamy credited the city’s advocates as vital advisors.

During the panel discussion, Developer Chris Leinberger (http://chrisleinberger.com/) called streetcar and bike facilities the two most important transportation investments of our time – and that we were taking too long to build them. He and fellow panelist Matthew Yglesias (of Slate, http://www.slate.com/authors.matthew_yglesias.html) called for establishing value capture systems in the city so that the benefits these investments bring will pay for themselves, even while ensuring housing affordability. Leinberger reminded the audience that economic development is the goal and transportation was just a means to that end. “We’ve confused the means with the goal,” he said and have dedicated far too much right of way to cars rather than higher value uses. During another part of the panel discussion, Matthew Yglesias talked about the importance of the consideration of “aging in-place” and accessibility from the “ground-up” when planning for transportation systems of the future. As the panel approached closure, panelist Anita Hairston of Policylink presented a revelation that 6 of 10 jobs take more than an hour to access by bus, which clearly is not good enough.

And that was just the opening panel. The six hours of interactive activities were full of ideas generated by the people who attended. Panelist Anita Hairston of PolicyLink (http://www.policylink.org/site/c.lkIXLbMNJrE/b.5136441/k.BD4A/Home.htm ) called it a “transportation bonanza.” There were strategies for making the system safe and functional for everyone whether 8 years old or 80. Ideas to create the transit “rainbow line” from NoMa and Union Station via the Capital and Riverfront to Anacostia and St. Elizabeths. Thoughts on how informal carshare can make us more mobile, sustainable, efficient AND relieve curbside pressures…..and too much more to relate.

What was evident from the Idea Exchange was that there is incredible opportunity for transportation in the city, today and in the future. We CAN continue to grow, we CAN maintain affordability; we CAN be a SustainableDC; and we CAN accommodate transportation choice.

Don’t worry if you missed the event, there will be lots of other chances to connect with moveDC. Keep coming back to www.wemoveDC.org for updates on coming events.

Conversation about Congestion

On February 5, 2013, Washington Post reported that our area was rated the worst for traffic congestion.   We shared the link on twitter, which sparked a great conversation.  Here's what you had to say. 

I’m not a transportation expert, why should I get involved with moveDC?

If you left your house today, you used some form of transportation. Whether you rode Metro, drove a car, pedaled a bike, took a bus, walked down the sidewalk, or used a wheelchair, you were involved in transportation. It impacts our lives every day. It affects our ability to move around the city, our wallets, the air we breathe, our health, and our overall quality of life.

You may not be an expert in designing a transportation system, but you ARE an expert in commuting to work or school, traveling to the grocery store, community meetings, recreation centers, the doctor, grandma’s house, places of entertainment, and so on. You know the best way to get from home to a friend’s house to avoid traffic. You know how many buses you need to take to get a sick child to the doctor. You know what it is like to be late for work or school because there is traffic, a Metro problem, or a full bus.

moveDC will create a plan for the transportation system to serve you now and in the future.

Why should YOU care? 
Commuters: Can you rely on the transportation system to get to work on time every day? Is it affordable and efficient?

Seniors: What happens if you decide not to drive anymore? Will you be able to get to doctor appointments using public transportation, walking, or by bicycle?

Disabled Community: Do you feel comfortable and confident as you move around the city?

Youth: Do you have to make multiple transfers (bus-to-bus, bus-to-metro, metro-to-bus) to get to school? Can you walk or bicycle to school safely?

Cyclists: Are there enough bike connections, trails, lanes, and parking to get to your destination? 

Pedestrians: Do you feel safe walking down the street? Are there enough trees, lighting, wide sidewalks, and places to rest to make your walk enjoyable?

Shift workers: Do you have enough transportation options to get to and from work during non-rush hour?

Service Providers: Can your clients access your facilities by public transportation?

Employers: Does transportation play a role in how you recruit, employ, and retain the people you need to run your business?

Retailers: Is it easy for people to reach you?

Everyone should care about this plan. moveDC will identify transportation system recommendations district-wide. Some of these will change the physical environment—the way streets work or what's in them—some may change the way that transportation services (i.e. transit, Capital Bikeshare-CaBi, etc.) are delivered, and others may affect policy and future planning (i.e. parking, etc.). The plan will include recommendations for pedestrian, bicycle, transit, rail, and vehicular systems citywide. We need your help to make the “best” plan that will efficiently connect people to the places they want to go.

Your ideas matter, so get involved by:

• Attending the moveDC “Idea Exchange” on February 9, 2013 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library 9:30am-3:00pm 
• Attending a meeting near you (dates and locations coming soon) 
• Joining us on social media: Facebook and Twitter

Defining Multimodal

We have heard some of you asking about the definition of multimodal. This is a good reminder to us not to use too much jargon as we communicate, or at the very least, to define our terms as we use them.

Knowing the planning community and the people in our region, we expect that trying to come to an agreement on what multimodal means could create quite a stir. Rather than add complication to this subject, we offer this simple definition of "multimodal" in terms of moveDC.

Multimodal (adjective): describes a transportation system that accommodates walking, bicycling, transit, railroads, and driving.

Okay...Why multimodal?

Too often transportation planning starts with a focus on one mode or another, rather than first looking at the entire system. For moveDC, we are starting by looking at the entire transportation system. We will steadily work toward the networks for different kinds of users (pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, drivers, etc.) as the planning process moves along in the next year. In the end, we'll be planning a transportation system that layers the many travel options together in a coordinated manner so that people are not forced into only one way of traveling for all of their needs.