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I was thinking about it, and I've come up with a series of steps the city of DC must take soon if it wants to become a world class business center. Otherwise, it will continue to be like some quaint prehistoric insect trapped in amber in a museum while some edge city in VA or MD overtakes it:
1. At least one real highway going into the city that can handle a large volume of traffic and ease congestion.
2. Metro is better than it used to be, but it's still more of a showpiece than an efficient public transportation system. It needs to make the following changes:
a. hire more elevator repairman so that elevators not constantly broken
b. tear out seats and put just two rows of seats facing each other, to fit more passengers on trains
c. Dump the current pricing system. Raise the price and have just one price for any trip. This will make things so much simpler, and cut down the queues at the machines. The current system is too confusing for tourists.
d. Create a new metro card that's more durable and doesn't get demagnetized as easily.
e. Create more metro stops. There needs to be at least a stop in Georgetown and palisade.
f. Change the card system so that you only need to put the card in once, when you enter the system.
g. Improved safety training so that there are less train crashes and other incidents.
h. connect the suburban metro stops to each other better. You should be able to take the metro from silver spring to nearby bethesda without riding through 30 stops first.
3. Improve customer service. Right now too many employees with a surly attitude at stores, and generally slow service. Customer service in DC needs to be brought up to the level of the rest of the country.
4. Experiment with removing the building height restriction in just one area of the city to see how it goes.
Some good suggestions in there but
1. The urban highway era is past. We're not making that mistake again. Baltimore has a big highway going right through the middle of the city. Not sure I would use that city as a good model.
You really have to keep in mind that to build a highway would be to bring more and more cars into downtown that require more parking and create more traffic on city streets. The sheer cost in infrastructure to force a suburban lifestyle into a city structure, as well as the cost in quality-of-life to residents would be astounding.
2. There's a lot of underdeveloped areas in the city that can and are becoming large office districts. Thousands upon thousands of square feet of office space is being added, but again, Baltimore has no height restrictions so if you like that model I guess there's another reason to choose it's dying / shifting downtown. DC's a long way from being built out to the point of needing to go up.
I like the way things are. It's a beautiful city and to throw a highway in the middle of it? Why? The traffic will get worse, but it's already a nightmare in every place that's desirable.
What needs to change is the idea of depending on cars so much.
Plowing large highways through the middle of cities has been shown time and again to be so incredibly disruptive, I can't believe it's even still being discussed.
One thing I would like to see changed (or at least studied) is the abysmal light timing that you find along many DC streets and avenues. I think you would find that with more sensible light timing throughout the city, it would obviate the need for any large scale highway.
One thing I would like to see changed (or at least studied) is the abysmal light timing that you find along many DC streets and avenues. I think you would find that with more sensible light timing throughout the city, it would obviate the need for any large scale highway.
They'll especially have to figure that out if the streetcars proposed ever become reality.
I was thinking about it, and I've come up with a series of steps the city of DC must take soon if it wants to become a world class business center. Otherwise, it will continue to be like some quaint prehistoric insect trapped in amber in a museum while some edge city in VA or MD overtakes it:
1. At least one real highway going into the city that can handle a large volume of traffic and ease congestion.
2. Metro is better than it used to be, but it's still more of a showpiece than an efficient public transportation system. It needs to make the following changes:
a. hire more elevator repairman so that elevators not constantly broken
b. tear out seats and put just two rows of seats facing each other, to fit more passengers on trains
c. Dump the current pricing system. Raise the price and have just one price for any trip. This will make things so much simpler, and cut down the queues at the machines. The current system is too confusing for tourists.
d. Create a new metro card that's more durable and doesn't get demagnetized as easily.
e. Create more metro stops. There needs to be at least a stop in Georgetown and palisade.
f. Change the card system so that you only need to put the card in once, when you enter the system.
g. Improved safety training so that there are less train crashes and other incidents.
h. connect the suburban metro stops to each other better. You should be able to take the metro from silver spring to nearby bethesda without riding through 30 stops first.
3. Improve customer service. Right now too many employees with a surly attitude at stores, and generally slow service. Customer service in DC needs to be brought up to the level of the rest of the country.
4. Experiment with removing the building height restriction in just one area of the city to see how it goes.
1) OK, there are multiple highways into the city in reality. Rt. 50; I-395; I-66; B/W Parkway (sort of) and I-295 south of DC; Suitland Parkway (sort of). But really, what would one new highway into the city solve? London for example practically bans cars from the city core actually. Why do we need to bring a bunch more cars in to the city? I for one fail to see how that will really do anything for the DC that an improved mass transit structure couldn't do better.
2) Yeah, let's put a stop in Georgetown. Maybe elevated like the King Street Metro over M Street? Oh wait, they wanted to put an underground stop there when they were initially putting in the system but no one in Georgetown wanted it. I'm sure it'll be cost effective to just dig a new tunnel out to Palisades for you.
Obviously there are some improvements to make to the Metro though, and I do agree with some of your suggestions.
3) Sounds like a personal issue. I've been all over the U.S. and don't find the service here much different than any other major city. Probably better here generally, IMO.
4) As long as it's not any where near the central part of DC you can have it some tall buildings for all I care. Just keep them out on the perimeter, like Georgia Ave., Chevy Chase etc.
Well, having no highways leading into a city doesn't work too well either. Between all those circles and the lack of even one highway coming into the city to relieve congestion, DC has the the most dysfunctional road system in our nation. It's time for DC to decide whether it wants to continue stifling development in favor of quaintness.
It's working as designed, not dysfunctional at all. We don't want you driving into our city.
I was thinking about it, and I've come up with a series of steps the city of DC must take soon if it wants to become a world class business center. Otherwise, it will continue to be like some quaint prehistoric insect trapped in amber in a museum while some edge city in VA or MD overtakes it:
1. At least one real highway going into the city that can handle a large volume of traffic and ease congestion.
2. Metro is better than it used to be, but it's still more of a showpiece than an efficient public transportation system. It needs to make the following changes:
a. hire more elevator repairman so that elevators not constantly broken
b. tear out seats and put just two rows of seats facing each other, to fit more passengers on trains c. Dump the current pricing system. Raise the price and have just one price for any trip. This will make things so much simpler, and cut down the queues at the machines. The current system is too confusing for tourists.
d. Create a new metro card that's more durable and doesn't get demagnetized as easily.
e. Create more metro stops. There needs to be at least a stop in Georgetown and palisade.
f. Change the card system so that you only need to put the card in once, when you enter the system.
g. Improved safety training so that there are less train crashes and other incidents.
h. connect the suburban metro stops to each other better. You should be able to take the metro from silver spring to nearby bethesda without riding through 30 stops first.
3. Improve customer service. Right now too many employees with a surly attitude at stores, and generally slow service. Customer service in DC needs to be brought up to the level of the rest of the country.
4. Experiment with removing the building height restriction in just one area of the city to see how it goes.
This, I believe, is the only reason why there isn't a "Beltway" Metrorail Line (or even at least BRT service) as of yet, linking all of the stations parallel to and near I-495. This, along with current pricing, would put metro into a deeper hole that would only be avoided by a one-price for all rides solution.
The reason why I point this is out is because I feel like the main transit problem is the lack of suburb-to-suburb transit where there are a significant amount of jobs and people. I know there's the Purple Line coming up, but 1) I'm really not sure if it will be efficient enough, particularly during the non-commuting hours, 2) it's Maryland who's handling it, so who knows when it'll come into fruition, 3) There's still mass transit needed to link Maryland directly with Northern VA, particularly between Bethesda and Tysons, and through the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The need for the purple line is dire. It's insane to have to go thirty stops to get from Silver Spring to Bethesda.
As for those who say everyone needs to ride a bike to work, how's that going to work when you're commuting from suburb to suburb? What if you want to stop and buy some items, like miniblinds, at the Target on the way home from work--are you going to load those blinds in your handlebasket? I guess it could work if you live in Mt. Pleasant and work at the vegan food co-op in Adams Morgan, but for the average person it's not realistic.
The need for the purple line is dire. It's insane to have to go thirty stops to get from Silver Spring to Bethesda.
As for those who say everyone needs to ride a bike to work, how's that going to work when you're commuting from suburb to suburb? What if you want to stop and buy some items, like miniblinds, at the Target on the way home from work--are you going to load those blinds in your handlebasket? I guess it could work if you live in Mt. Pleasant and work at the vegan food co-op in Adams Morgan, but for the average person it's not realistic.
Well, you're bringing an entirely new topic in: suburb to suburb. Up until now, this has been about DC alone. Obviously, you can't live without a car in the suburbs of DC and the purple line will not change that - it will only mitigate it somewhat. But, for the record, I see a whole lot of people carrying big bags on the Metro away from the Target et. al at Columbia Heights. They're pretty "average" looking people as well.
Bottom line is that people who live in DC don't want it to become, for example, your namesake city (Orlando). Orlando and DC are both tourist towns, but Orlando was built to accommodate the lowest denominator of American traveler, whereas DC asks those tourists to accommodate themselves to what it is. There's a reason why people love DC and give it such high housing values. I think what concerns you is the fact that you live in the suburbs and depend on your car, so you view the city from that "LA" perspective. DC metro area really sucks when experienced that way, imao. I've done it and sympathize with you. Taking what's bad about DC (the suburban commute / expensive lifestyle without the accompanying culture) and cramming it into the city that actually functions pretty well all in all simply isn't the answer.
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