By Alex Block

With Rail~Volution 2011 reaching a successful conclusion following yesterday's local program sessions, it's time to sit back and assess.  The following is a list of links to various re-caps and discussions sparked by sessions at this year's edition of the conference.  The list is surely incomplete, so if you know of another summary/recap/story from the conference online, please let us know and post a link in the comments. 

The conversation continues on Twitter, as well.  Check out #RV11 for the minute-by-minute action from those live-tweeting the event. 

• The good folks from BicycleSPACE were kind enough to host Saturday's Monuments by Moonlight ride - Jordan Mittelman offers a recap of the ride, including the song playlist from the bike boombox. 
  
  When everyone had had their fill of Stoned Wheat Thins and Gruyere and had each made a t-shirt, we prepared to embark on an evening ride around the Monuments.  It had been arranged for Capital Bikeshare to deliver 75 of their red cruisers to the store, and after unloading the truck, Operations Manager Euan Fisk (an old friend), began to assist all the participants with picking out a bike.  Once everyone was outfitted, we shouted out a few safety announcements and were ready to go.
  
  
• Local news outlet TBD.com offers a recap of several sessions: 
  
  Don't wait for the future to see how D.C. transportation will evolve — an active vision for its shape is developing right now in the minds and discussion of these very people, their audience, and others like them. Rail~Volution provided an encouraging glimpse into the process.
  
  
• Greater Greater Washington chipped in with this all-encompassing recap: 
  
  Bill Millar reminded the audience that transit activism isn't just about those big federal-level initiatives that get caught in big federal-level partisan gridlock. Eight cities and towns will vote on transit-related ballot initiatives in November. Millar noted that on the very same day last November when the American people voted in a new class of self-styled fiscal hawks, they also voted nearly three-to-one in favor of pro-transit measures—even when they involved taxation.
  
  "You can't rest when you get home!" Millar exhorted Rail~Volution attendees.
  
  They gave him a standing ovation.
  
  
• Streetsblog took an informational tidbit from one of the sessions and poised it as a hypothetical:  What if Washington had never built Metro?  
  
  Commuters would have to put up with commutes that take 25 percent longer. This would effectively curtail people’s access to jobs and employers’ access to the workforce.
  
  The region would see more than a million additional auto trips per day.
  
  This traffic would require 1,000 additional lane miles to accommodate, the equivalent of two Capital Beltways’ worth of asphalt.
  
  Four to six more traffic lanes across the Potomac would be necessary.
  
  The downtown core would be eviscerated by parking. To store all the extra cars would take 200,000 parking spots, the equivalent of 170 blocks filled with five-story parking structures.
  
  All that car infrastructure would cost nearly $11 billion to build, and impose huge maintenance costs every year.
  
  
• The Atlantic Cities looks at parking, paraphrasing Jeff Tumlin of Nelson/Nygaard: 
  
  “Somebody who’s screaming about ‘parking needs to be free!’ I can sit down with them for 20 minutes and get them to understand,” he says. “But it takes a full 20 minutes. And in a world where everything has to be distilled into 15-second sound bites, it’s really hard to convince people on a large scale.”
  
  The Atlantic Cities had 20 minutes to spare this week at the Rail~Volution conference in Washington, where Tumlin was preaching some of his painful parking innovation. And so we asked for the full story.
  

Let me know if I've missed any great recaps.  

If you're coming to Rail~Volution, we'll be seeing you soon. Getting to the conference will be a piece of cake. So is getting into the city from the region's airports and train stations.The conference hotel, the Marriott Wardman Park, is located in the Woodley Park neighborhood. It's only steps from Metro's Woodley Park station on the Red Line.

Via Metro, From Woodley Park station:
If you take the escalator to the surface, you'll be facing south at the top. Turn left to face Connecticut Avenue, and turn left to walk north. After about a half-block, turn left onto Woodley Road. The hotel will be on the left. The elevator puts you out at the corner of Woodley and Connecticut. Exit so that you're facing Woodley Road. Turn left and the hotel will be on your left.

Via Amtrak, From Union Station 
If you're arriving by train, you'll probably come into Union Station, one of DC's most visited spaces. Within the station, there is signage directing you to the Metro station. The Metro station is at the far western end of Union Station, with an entrance near Gate A (MARC trains), and another at the front of the station, near the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and First Street NE. 

After you head downstairs into the station, you can buy a paper farecard at any of the machines. A trip from Union Station to Woodley Park will cost $1.85 off-peak, $2.35 peak, and $2.55 during peak-of-the-peak. Once you've gone through the faregates, keep your farecard handy; you'll need it to exit.

Union Station is served by the Red Line. You'll want to board a Red train in the direction of Shady Grove. Some trains only go as far as Grosvenor, and you can board one of those, too. Woodley Park is six stops away. Exit the train at Woodley Park.

From Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA):
Reagan National Airport is located close to the city center. The Metro has a stop connected to the airport, with entrances near Terminal B and Terminal C.

You'll have to buy a farecard before you enter. Remember to keep it with you, since you'll need it to exit. Fares to Woodley Park are $1.85 off-peak and $3.20 during rush hour ($3.40 during peak-of-the-peak).

Make sure to go to the platform for Downtown Washington (Largo or Mount Vernon Square). You'll want to board a Yellow Line train going to Mount Vernon Square or Fort Totten. Exit at Gallery Place/Chinatown, the 6th stop. Go upstairs to the Shady Grove platform and board a train headed to Grosvenor or Shady Grove. Woodley Park is the 4th stop.

From Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI):
There are two ways to get from BWI to DC. Metrobus offers an express bus from the airport to the end of the Green Line. You can also take a shuttle to the BWI Airport Rail Station to catch a MARC commuter train (weekdays only) or Amtrak train to Union Station.

Express Bus B30
Metrobus operates route B30 between Greenbelt station and BWI Airport. Buses run every day of the week every 40 minutes (schedule). It takes about 30 minutes to get from the airport to Greenbelt station. The fare on the B30 is $6. You'll need exact change, payable with bills or coins. If you have a WMATA SmarTrip card, you can use that to pay your fare, as well.

The B30 stops on the lower-level (baggage claim) of the airport roadway. It stops on the outer curb near doorway 2 (Terminals A, B, & C) and doorway 17 (Terminals C, D, & E). Just look for the red, white, & blue Metrobus stop sign.

Once the bus leaves the airport, it doesn't stop until it gets to the Greenbelt Metro station. Get off there and walk to the station. If you don't already have a farecard, you'll need to buy one. The cost of a trip from Greenbelt to Woodley Park is $3.00 during middays, evenings, and weekends. During rush hours, the cost will be $4.85 ($5.05 during the peak-of-the-peak). Remember to keep your farecard, because you'll need it to exit as well as to enter.

Go upstairs and board a Green Line train toward Branch Avenue. Exit at the 5th stop, Fort Totten. Go up two levels to the Red Line. Board a Red train going to Shady Grove or Grosvenor. Woodley Park will be the 9th stop.

Amtrak or MARC
If you decide to take the train, you'll need to board an airport shuttle signed as "Amtrak/MARC." Those buses board on the inner curb in front of every terminal. They run every 10-15 minutes on a short trip to the BWI Airport Rail Station.

At the Amtrak/MARC station, you can purchase MARC and Amtrak tickets from a QuickTrak machine inside the station. Southbound trains board on the far platform. MARC trains only operate on weekdays. During rush hours, MARC trains come about every 20 minutes. MARC headway drops to roughly hourly off-peak. The MARC fare is $6 to Union Station. Amtrak trains come less frequently, and cost around $14.

Once you get to Union Station, you can follow the directions "Union Station / Amtrak" directions outlined above to get to Woodley Park. The fare will vary by time of day. Off-peak, it will cost $1.85. During peak periods, it can cost up to $2.55.

From Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD):
To get into DC from Dulles, you have two options. Metrobus operates a limited stop service to the urban core. A private company also operates bus service to connect to the Metro system.

Metrobus 5A
The limited-stop Metrobus 5A runs between Dulles Airport and Downtown Washington (L'Enfant Plaza). Weekdays, service is every 40 minutes (schedule). On weekends, buses come every hour (schedule). It takes about 35 minutes to get to Rosslyn. The fare on the 5A is $6. You'll need exact change, payable in bills or coins. If you have a WMATA SmarTrip card, you can use that to pay, as well.

The 5A stop is on the Ground Transportation level (down the ramp from the arrivals level). The bus stops at position 2E (on the outer curb). Look for the red, white, and blue Metrobus stop sign.

The bus makes a few stops on its way downtown. To get to the conference hotel, exit at the Rosslyn stop. Head into the Metro station and buy a farecard. Fares to Woodley Park range from $1.85 off-peak to $2.60 during peak-of-the-peak. Remember to keep your farecard, since you'll need it to exit the system.

Go down the escalator bank to the upper platform. All trains on the upper platform go inbound. Board an inbound Orange train (to New Carrollton) or Blue train (to Largo). Exit at Metro Center, the 4th stop. Go upstairs to the Shady Grove platform and board a Red Line train bound for Shady Grove or Grosvenor. Exit at the 3rd stop, Woodley Park.

Washington Flyer
You can also take the privately-owned Washington Flyer bus to connect to Metro. Buses depart every 30 minutes every day (schedule). The trip to West Falls Church station is about 30 minutes long. The fare is $10 one-way or $18 round-trip. Tickets can be purchased with cash or credit card at the Washington Flyer kiosk near door 4 on the Arrivals Level.

Buses pick up near door 4 on the Arrivals Level of the airport.

The Flyer buses run straight to West Falls Church station on the Orange Line. When you get there, go inside and purchase a farecard. Fares to Woodley Park range from $2.40 during off-peak periods to $4.35 during the peak-of-the-peak. Remember to keep your farecard, since you'll need it to exit.

Go downstairs to the platform for New Carrollton. Board an Orange Line train to New Carrollton and exit at Metro Center, the 10th stop. Transfer to the Red Line upstairs on the Shady Grove platform. Board a train bound for Shady Grove or Grosvenor. Exit at the 3rd stop, Woodley Park.

Interested in checking out some of DC's historic neighborhoods while visiting Washington?  Consider the vast resources of Cultural Tourism DC and their extensive network of self-guided walking heritage trails.

If you're in town on Saturday in advance of Rail~Volution, consider joining a group to check out the unveiling of the most recent addition to the DC heritage trail network, the Georgia Ave/Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail. 

Cultural Tourism DC, the Georgia Ave./ Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail Working Group, and Howard University Hospital will host the trail’s official unveiling and neighborhood celebration on Saturday, October 15 at 11 am on the front lawn of the Howard University Hospital, at 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW. Howard University Hospital will host a Health and Wellness Fair with blood pressure screenings and information about hospital services and other free screenings offered by appointment, and the opening of a Griffith Stadium Exhibit.

What: Unveiling Ceremony for DC's newest Heritage Trail: Georgia Ave/Pleasant Plains

When: Saturday, October 15 at 11 AM

Where: The front lawn of the Howard University Hospital, at 2041 Georgia Avenue (a few blocks north of the Shaw Howard Metro on the Green/Yellow Line)

What You'll See: Countless dreams and memories reside in this short stretch of Georgia Avenue. Follow Lift Every Voice: Georgia Ave./Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail to relive the heyday of Seventh and T and the Howard Theatre. Make the acquaintance of the musicians and impresarios, shop-keepers and barbers, intellectuals and activists, and all who built a thriving community along one of Washington’s oldest thoroughfares. As you walk Lift Every Voice: Georgia Ave./Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail you’ll find 19 poster-sized street signs combining storytelling with historic photographs and maps. The first sign is at Seventh and S Streets, NW, just outside the Shaw/Howard University station on Metro’s Green Line. The two-hour, self-guided tour follows Seventh Street/Georgia Avenue, with a couple of detours, to the Georgia Ave-Petworth Green Line Metro station at the intersection of Georgia and New Hampshire Avenues. As always, you may start your tour at any point along the trail. If you prefer to walk downhill, start at the top, at Sign 19.

More Info: http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/things-do-see/trails-tours/neighborhood-heritage-trails/lift-every-voice-georgia-avepleasant-plains-  

Next week, Rail~Volution conference attendees will be visiting many of DC’s thriving neighborhoods – communities lively with offices, new restaurants, bars, coffee shops, farmers markets, new rental housing, and quite often, and very importantly, a public transit station. Many of these neighborhoods look drastically different than 5, 10, or 15 years ago before such investment spurred development around Metro rail stations. The change in these neighborhoods – and most notably their access to transit – has continued to motivate housing and community development organizations in DC to think… what does this mean for housing options for existing and new residents to these communities? What does this mean for other neighborhoods across the City? Across the metropolitan region? How should we respond?

Our Response.

Enterprise Community Partners and NHT Enterprise have responded by spearheading a local initiative, GreenPATH – the Green Preservation of Affordable Transit-Oriented Housing initiative. Enterprise and NHT have been collaborating on GreenPATH as a response to the neighborhood change we were seeing across the region – knowing the affordable housing options near transit for low-income families were shrinking. We also knew that certain neighborhoods, such as those east of the Anacostia River in DC, are ripe for similar investments and potential neighborhood change. East of the Anacostia river is what many refer to as the “last frontier” of a critical mass of affordable housing stock for low-income families. Much of this stock is within walking distance to Metrorail stations.

Enterprise and NHT have been actively working to raise $54 million of capital to preserve over 1,000 units within a half-mile of rail station – at rates and terms flexible for developers to acquire and hold smaller, unsubsidized properties for later rehabilitation. Other key partners have joined in to support the initiative – Metropolitian Washington Council of Governments and Reconnecting America – working together to be proactive in preserving affordable housing near existing or proposed rail station across the region.

The Time is Now.

Last week, the District Department of Transportation opened a new DC Circulator route to extend the network east of the Anacostia River. Redevelopment of the St. Elizabeth’s campus is underway, expected to bring over 14,000 new jobs to the area. As investments in transit and jobs are growing, preserving housing opportunities for a broad range of households is vital.

Learn More and dialogue on the topic.

Interested in learning more and dialoguing on this topic? Come learn about local programs at Rail~Volution on October 19th at 2pm.

Rail~Volution is right around the corner!  Special Conference Opportunity [And it’s Free!] – In conjunction with the national Railvolution three different livable communities sessions aimed at government, private sector and neighborhood stakeholders in the National Capital Region are being offered FOR FREE!

Managing Change and Being Good Neighbors with Federal Properties in the DC Region


This session will address the coordination of policies and creation of partnerships between local and federal agencies. Lessons learned from recent BRAC experiences in the DC region can help manage the impacts of policy changes and direct resources to appropriately for future federal actions. Hear about both challenges and successes from various federal properties around the region. Join us in identifying new ways to integrate large secure campuses into existing communities in a way that helps revitalize neighborhoods and promote economic development.

Check out the Good Neighbors w/ the Feds page for more information.

Complete Communities – Creating and Achieving Livable DC Area Communities

How do you create affordable communities at the neighborhood level? The elements of an affordable community include a range of housing and local business opportunities and necessary services (transit, grocery, healthcare, banking, etc.). Examine several DC area locations with excellent potential for affordable neighborhoods due to existing or planned rail transit stations: Tysons Corner, VA (Metrorail); Purple Line communities; Manassas, VA (new commuter rail station); and East of the River, DC (existing Metrorail stations and planned DC Streetcar stops).

Check out the Complete Communities page for more information.

The Jobs-Housing Balance in Metro DC: A Region Undivided

What if the Washington, DC region’s growth patterns were redirected to reduce lengthy commutes and driving time, increase access to jobs, and offer more mixed-income housing opportunities and great walkable neighborhoods? How can the DC region capitalize on its potential for transit-oriented development on its east side? How will the next generation of transit link jobs and housing throughout the region? Examine these questions -- and possible answers – with local and national experts.

Check out the Jobs/Housing Balance page for more information. 

When:  Wednesday, October 19, 2011 – 2:00-5:00 pm
Where:  Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
Who:  Anyone involved in planning or developing affordable housing;  anyone involved in planning or development of transit station areas; like:

• Urban planners
  
• Economic development professionals
  
• Housing advocates
  
• Commercial developers
  
• Civic activists
  

RSVP for the Local Program online at www.railvolutiondc.com/local-program.html  -- And, did we mention, It’s Free.

By Alex Block

Keep an eye out around DC for these bus back ads on DC Circulator buses: 

When visiting DC for Rail~Volution, check out the Circulator bus.  The Woodley Park-Adams Morgan-McPherson Sq Metro line will take you from the conference hotel to some of DC's most interesting neighborhoods.  

From Metro Forward's facebook page (previously discussed on this blog), check out this great shot of a retro Metrobus: 

By Rich Sampson

The role of all modes of passenger rail in building and strengthening communities and neighborhoods in urban and metropolitan areas is well-established. However, as new priorities are placed on connecting urban, suburban and rural communities together, passenger rail services are finding a new and dynamic role in meeting the mobility needs of areas that were previously considered outside rail’s natural habitat. 

This inclusion of non-traditional rail communities is being made possible by new ways of organizing and delivering passenger rail options. New regional rail routes – such as the River LINE in Southern New Jersey, Austin’s Capital MetroRail, the SPRINTER in Southern California and the recently-opened A-Train in Denton County, Texas – are innovatively bridging the gap between the more established light-rail and commuter rail modes. Often utilizing abandoned or under-utilized rights-of-way along with off-the-shelf diesel multiple unit (DMU) vehicles, these operations are both cost-effective and easy to implement, and offer new opportunities to introduce passenger rail options in areas where lower densities would previously been prohibitive.

At the same time, intermodal facilities find just as much importance in rural and suburban communities as massive terminal stations in large cities. Increasingly, these modern union stations are integrated into regional airports, where connections between a wide range of travel modes are facilitated, including local bus and rail transit service, intercity passenger rail and bus routes, air service and more.

Meanwhile, as new high-speed and intercity passenger rail projects are planned and deployed in coming years and decades, many of them will stretch through smaller urban and rural communities en route to larger metropolitan areas. How these new rail applications impact and serve in-line communities is a vital aspect of their ultimate success, and offer significant opportunities to expand the reach of passenger rail.   

Useful Links

RAIL Magazine’s 23rd Edition, covering regional rail routes: http://web1.ctaa.org/webmodules/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=1983&z=41

RAIL Magazine’s 21st Edition, covering modern union stations:

http://web1.ctaa.org/webmodules/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=1496&z=41

RAIL Magazine’s 24th Edition, covering the nexus between rail and air:

http://web1.ctaa.org/webmodules/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=1984&z=41

New Jersey Transit’s River Line: www.riverline.com

Austin’s Capital MetroRail: http://www.capmetro.org/metrorail/

NCTD Sprinter: http://www.gonctd.com/sprinter

Denton A-Train: http://www.mya-train.com/index.php

Rich Sampson is the Editor of both RAIL Magazine and Community Transportation Magazine, published by the Community Transportation Association of America. In addition to producing both publications, Rich oversees the Association’s Fast Mail and Fast Mail for RAIL e-newsletters, RAIL’s Potomac Express blog and the @RAILMag1

Twitter feed. For more information, visit www.railmagazine.org

By Michael Spotts

As Congress continues to debate the appropriate size and scope of the federal government, one thing is for sure – an era of fiscal austerity is beginning that will have a significant impact on regions and organizations that utilize federal funds. Tighter budgets will surely create a more competitive appropriations environment. Therefore, it is crucial that practitioners are able to justify continued funding for their work through quantifiable and robust metrics. Equitable transit-oriented development (TOD) has the benefit of advancing multiple policy objectives simultaneously: for instance, making efficient use of infrastructure, reducing the combined housing and transportation costs of low-income households, connecting people at all income levels to economic opportunity and services, reducing energy usage and environmental impacts, and increasing/stabilizing transit ridership.

Hypothesizing that these benefits are true is simply not enough. Practitioners have to provide data that explicitly demonstrate the benefits of equitable transit-oriented development to ensure that programs survive among various policy priorities. In order to meet this goal, several organizations have taken the lead in sustainability and TOD research. The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing + Transportation (H + T) Affordability Index , which takes a more comprehensive look at the costs associated with housing location, is perhaps the most prominent of these efforts. Reconnecting America, Strategic Economics and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development have released a number of thorough reports and analyses of TOD-related issues. The Enterprise Green Communities initiative (which supports location-efficient, green and healthy housing) has gathered data and published reports on the utility cost savings and health benefits of green affordable housing. The National Housing Trust has examined how states are prioritizing their Low Income Housing Tax Credit allocations to promote the preservation of affordable units near transit. Finally, the Center for Housing Policy has released reports and blog posts connecting TOD data and principles to policy solutions.

The next step is for policymakers and advocates to fully utilize this information. Jurisdictions should embrace the use of new metrics such as the H + T Index in prioritizing and evaluating community development projects. Government and private funders should work together to synthesize this wealth of information and create common criteria to make reporting requirements more efficient and less confusing. Finally, advocates should use this research and analysis to craft a compelling narrative that affordable, healthy housing with access to transit services is an integral part of the social safety net (along with entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare) for low- and moderate-income households.