Moving Beyond the Automobile-Parking Reform

In the tenth and final video in Streetfilms' Moving Beyond the Automobile series, they are talking about parking reform. From doing away with mandatory parking minimums, to charging the right price for curbside parking, to converting on-street parking spots into parklets and bike corrals, cities are latching onto exciting new ideas to make more room for people in our cities and repurpose the valuable public space that lines our streets.

"Historically the parking problem was defined as there not being enough convenient places to put your car," UPenn professor Rachel Weinberger told Streetfilms, "but increasingly cities are starting to understand that the parking problem could be defined differently and it could be the case that there is too much parking."

Moving Beyond the Automobile-Correct Price of Parking

Yet another great installment in the "Moving Beyond the Automobile" series from our friends at Streetfilms. This episode explores the problems caused by under-priced parking spots in cities; how some of the most valuable land in the world is almost given away, meaning that free spots are hard to find and a large fraction of the traffic is cars cruising around, looking for a spot, polluting the air and emitting CO2... But there are ways to fix that, as the video above shows. Via Streetfilms.

Moving Beyond the Automobile-Road Diets

What’s a road diet? Quite simply, traffic-calming expert Dan Burden responds , “A road diet is anytime you take any lane out of a road.”

The first time people hear about a road diet, their initial reaction likely goes something like this: “How can removing lanes improve my neighborhood and not cause traffic backups?” It seems counter-intuitive, but taking away lanes can actually help traffic flow smoother while improving safety for everyone.

Road diets are good for pedestrians: They reduce speeding and make vehicle movements more predictable while shortening crossing distances, usually through curb extensions or center median islands. They’re good for cyclists: Many road diets shift space from car lanes to create bike lanes. They’re good for drivers: Less speeding improves safety for motorists and passengers, and providing left-turn pockets allows through traffic to proceed without shifting lanes or waiting behind turning vehicles.

And here’s something to keep in mind during this era of lean budgets: Road diets are a highly-effective infrastructure improvement that can be implemented quickly and at low cost.

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Traffic Calming

What’s the most effective way to make city streets safer? As Chicago Alderman Mary Ann Smith told Streetfilms, “Signs don’t do the job, even having police officers on the corner does not do the job.” To prevent traffic injuries and deaths, you need to change how the street functions and make it feel slower for drivers. You need traffic calming.

Traffic calming takes many forms and can describe any measure taken to reduce traffic speeds, improve safety, and make using the street a better overall experience. The most effective traffic calming measures are those that influence drivers to “behave in a civilized manner,” as Smith put it.

Changes like curb extensions, neck-downs, and bike lanes are all traffic calmers that save lives by sending the signal for drivers to slow down. This Streetfilm highlights some exemplary traffic calming projects from cities across the country.

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Congestion Pricing

In the fifth chapter of "Moving Beyond the Automobile," they demystify the concept of congestion pricing in just five short minutes. Here you'll learn why putting a price on scarce road space makes economic sense and how it benefits many different modes of surface transportation.

In London, which successfully implemented congestion pricing in 2003, drivers now get to their jobs faster, transit users have improved service, cyclists have better infrastructure, and pedestrians have more public space. More people have access to the central city, and when they get there, the streets are safer and more enjoyable. While the politics of implementing congestion pricing are difficult, cities looking to tame traffic and compete in the 21st century can't afford to ignore a transportation solution that addresses so many problems at once.

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Bus Rapid Transit

Most cities need BRT. It's a lot less expensive to build than a subway or light-rail system, but it brings many of the same benefits by re-purposing space that would otherwise be used by private cars. What do you need for BRT? 1) Exclusive bus lanes, physically separated 2) stations that allow easy and rapid boarding, and 3) giving the buses priority at intersections. South-America is the current leader when it comes to BRT, but the rest of the world needs to catch up quickly!

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Car Sharing

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Car Sharing from Streetfilms on Vimeo.
In the third episode of Moving Beyond the Automobile, StreetFilms take a look at a more efficient way to use a car.  Car sharing allows users to evaluate the full cost of each car trip, which encourages them to decide what the most appropriate mode choice is for a specific trip.

Zipcar, a leading global car sharing organization, reports that members walk and bike 10-15% more than they did before joining Zipcar.  They also report that members save $600 a month when they choose car sharing over owning a private automobile.

So while car sharing isn't exactly "Moving Beyond the Automobile," it is a great way for cities and individuals to help make the transportation network more efficient and become less dependent on owning a private cars.

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Biking

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Biking from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

This is a great video that captures much of what we I been saying for years; that bikes take up less space, use less energy, build healthier citizens and that the key is to give them their space, their place in the City. It's now a national movement, where people are voting with their pedals.

For this video we spent some time with leading thinkers in New York, San Francisco and Portland to discuss the direct relationship between providing safe cycling infrastructure and the number of people biking. The benefits of cycling are simple. Biking helps reduce congestion, air pollution, meet climate action goals and makes for healthier communities.

Streetfilms: Moving Beyond the Automobile-Transit Oriented Development

Streetfilms.org is launching a ten part series called Moving Beyond the Automobile. It's first installment was released today. Great stuff, as always.

"For the first chapter in our Moving Beyond the Automobile series we'll take a look at Transit-Oriented Development, more commonly known by its "TOD" acronym in transportation industry circles. TOD is a high-density, mixed-use residential area with access to ample amounts of transportation. There are usually many transportation nodes within its core and contains a walkable and bike-able environment.

We decided to take a look across the Hudson River at New Jersey's east coast where over the last two decades the amount of development has been booming. Transportation options are as diverse as you can get: the Hudson-Bergen light-rail, multiple ferry lines, PATH station, NJ Transit commuter trains, and buses are all plentiful, while in some areas car ownership is as low as 40% to 45%."