Transportation

 

Introduction Area Issues Consumer Issues Multimodal Transportation Regulations Consumer Operated Transportation COS Bike Shop Consumer Transportation Finances Programs using Taxis Health Benefits Existing Systems Public Transit Issues Example Trip South Fairfax County to Fairfax Government Center Public Bus System Paratransit Paratransit Process Guidance MetroAccess Transit Links Metro LogistiCare.com MetroAccess Logisticare Reduced Fares Trains TaxiCabs Trails/ Paths Human Powered Vehicles Bikes Bike Parking / Storage Metro Bike Lockers and/or Racks Employer Bike Lockers Mopeds Motorcycles Walking Hybrid Vehicles CNG Buses Van Pools Page History

 

Introduction

 

Area Issues

Transportation in the metro Washington area rivals Los Angeles for congestion.

Two large road construction projects in Northern Virginia are the Mixing Bowl and the Wilson Bridge (multimodal with the inside span due in 2008 or 2009?).

Public contraversy over urban sprawl is particularly heated in Loudoun County.

MetroRail expansion along the Dulles access road to the airport are in transportation plans.

 

Consumer Issues

Virginia state governement is arguing over the funding for transportation, while a majority of consumers cannot afford a vehicle...

 

Medical transportation and paratransit for a subclass of disabled (mostly physical disabilities) provide some relief, but disabled are largely isolated, financially and geographically from employment, appropriate services, consumer to consumer support, networking, advocacy, political action, social opportunities and even families. Many are required to beg for rides to even to the RRWG and Steering Committee meetings...

 

Many provider run programs such as clubhouses, government run programs like Crisis Centers, residential programs, etc, Non Profits such as PathwayHomes.org. PRSInc.org, ServiceSource.org and faith based service programs have vans and/or volunteers for transporting consumers to and from their day, evening and weekend activities.

 

Reston Drop In Center has purchased a van...

 

Multimodal Transportation Regulations

 

Federally funded programs require multimodal access. MetroBuses have bike racks due to such regulations. Local County Buses (exception of Maryland's RideOn buses, & Arlington?) DO NOT HAVE BIKE ON BUS RACKS...

 

 

Consumer Operated Transportation

 

Enter the need and possibilities of COS Transportation...

Just like other Consumer Operated Services, a transportation service would employ and provide opportunities for consumers to start and manage a business service without requiring begging of rides, providers violating the privacy and other rights of individuals just for a basic need to get around largely obstructed by financial and organizational limitations...

 

 

COS Bike Shop

A subproject of a Consumer Operated Transportation network might be consumer operating maintenance functions.

 

Many people including consumers CANNOT maintain their own bikes.

Some consumers are likely qualified to teach bicycle maintenance and repair, though local bike warehouse stores (such as [http://PerformanceBikes.com]) generally do not offer it due to insurance reasons.

Enter the opportunity for a rolling COS Bike Shop...

Several regional Drop In Centers could share this as an activity and/or human powered motor pool...

 

 

Consumer Transportation Finances

 

Many consumers cannot afford a car (average cost is $7500/ year, more than SSI), and/or prefer human powered vehicles.

 

The rare individual who owns a car, perhaps donated from family, is constantly asked to provide rides for others, even to publicly funded programs, and likely has problems paying for Gas, Insurance, Maintenance, etc...

 

Programs using Taxis

 

LMEC pays for cabs from it's local rail station to LMEC activities...

 

 

Health Benefits

Obesity among consumer and the general public is reaching epidemic proportions at a time when the Nation is fighting for foreign oil...

To give an idea of how much human energy converts to transportation:

• a pound of fat provides the motive energy of a pound of gasoline; about a pint of olive oil or gasoline.
• a pound of fat takes a bicylist about 150 miles; a pint of gasoline takes a car and passengers about 2.5 miles.
• during such trips, the bicyclist gets stronger and more fit, while the car just wears out and rusts.
• the word on the street is that the really cool guys and gals dig cars and bicyclists, but not drivers or bicycles.

 

 

Existing Systems

Public Transit Issues

Reduced public transit fares doesn't get one from say Alexandria to Loudoun and/or Prince William county in a reasonable amount of time, or in many cases at all.

Even from Fairfax County's South County Center to the Government Center aka the Taj in Western/Central Fairfax so the term Fairfax Connector may be a misnomer when it mainly connects to the DC Downtown mostly for working non disabled adults... Other county bus systems are similar, as the majority of transportation planning is for flow into and out of the City, not around, as the MetroRail system demonstrates...

 

Example Trip South Fairfax County to Fairfax Government Center

 

1. takes 3+ hours EACH WAY at best,
2. unreliable
3. very difficult with transfers,
4. determining exact bus stops,
5. no bathroom use
6. no eating aboard public transit
7. and/or dangerous due to gangs and traffic
8. and/or unavailable at worst...

 

 

Public Bus System

 

Public buses in the region include Metrobus, and county bus systems.

 

Paratransit

 

Not all consumers qualify for Paratransit services and it involves a lengthy application process with many restrictive qualifications and a medical doctor's signature...

 

Paratransit Process Guidance

 

Note: The NVMHCA yahoogroup.com archives have an article on paratransit eligibility and supporting process of documentation/advocacy for mental health services consumers.  How to apply successfully

 

MetroAccess

 

MetroAccess is reported to be highly unreliable and has even been in the News recently...

 

Transit Links

Metro

LogistiCare.com

MetroAccess

Note: -http://www.metroaccess.com- is long distance phone service, not the wmata run paratransit service...

 

Logisticare

 

Logisticare provides transportation to and from Medicaid (Va. DMAS) paid doctor's appointnments, including individual and group therapy and medication management. They will take you where you need to go after your appointment; an older restriction requiring return to your point of origin has been lifted, and a CSR meeting held to distribute this change. Scheduling your doctor's appointment before a consumer meeting or conference so that you can get to the event is called "skipping", as in skipping a stone on a pond, and is supported by Logisticare, within reason. You can't go to New York after your therapy session on their ticket. :( Just call 866-386-8331 with your Va. Medicaid number or card in hand, 48 hours in advance.

 

 

Reduced Fares

Anyone with a MediCare card or a WMATA disabled ID can pay reduced fares on public transit by showing their red, white, and blue ID. Anyone with MetroAccess rides Metrobus, Fairfax Connector, Metrorail, and some other systems for free when they show their ID. A disabled Smart Trip card prevents other riders from knowing you are paying a reduced fare. The card is $5 and is indistinguishible from the regular card. The orange disabled Metro Rail farecards are available from Safeway and other outlets.

 

 

Trains

 

VRE, MARC & AMTRAK are not bike friendly at all. One must pack and ship bikes in cases, plus huge fees as luggages. Other countries are more bike friendly with multilevel parking garages of bikes only...

 

Longer distance travel, such as to trainings in the state of Virginia and other places, are cost and/or time prohibitive.

 

TaxiCabs

Fares for even half way across the region or even one county are $50+ EACH WAY, well beyond what most consumers can afford...Some taxi companies offer a discount subscription for the elderly and disabled. An $18 book of twenty $1 tickets buys $20 of fare. Logisticare has a rule against tipping cab or other transportation drivers when riding under their service agreement.

 

 

Trails/ Paths

Washington DC area is considered one of the better cities / metro areas with a network of paths for walking, biking, rollerblading, etc... This is largely unhelpful for business appointments, interviewing, frequent meetings

and daily commuting to see clients/ peers.

 

 

Human Powered Vehicles

 

Bikes

Many countries, bicycles are the major forms of transportation...

Students and young people frequently use bicycles to supplement public transportation.

 

Bike Parking / Storage

 

Metro Bike Lockers and/or Racks

MetroRail stations rent bike storage lockers for about $70/year plus key deposit. Metrobus accepts 2 bicycles on racks in front per bus. Fairfax Connector does not. Metrorail welcomes bicycles (not in the center section) during non-rush hours.

 

Employer Bike Lockers

Some employers use bike lockers and showers to enable employees to commute by bike to work...a benefit to the employer of increased employee health and alertness is recognized in the WMAT pamphlet for commuters and employers. Studies show reduced employee sick leave for such commuters.

 

Mopeds

In Virginia, a moped has less than 2 horsepower and goes no faster than 30 mph on level roads. Moped riders must wear helmets. There are Yellow Pages listings for moped shops. Burning a gas/oil mixture, mopeds, with their small engines, produce a highly visible exhaust which is less polluting than a car due to the low volume. Mopeds travel around 100 miles per gallon of mixture. http://leg1.state.va.us for more laws on mopeds.

 

Motorcycles

Doug's Aprilia RS50 with the DITech Direct Injection Technology gets 96 mpg and produces much less smoke than a conventional 2-stroke. It tops out at about 55 mph.

 

Walking

SafeStreets may give some statistics of people hit by cars/buses/trucks/etc on the local roadways.

Pedestrians, especially poor and/or disabled pedestrians involved in an accident and/or killed by motorists are blamed for being intoxicated, crossing outside a crosswalk, etc even when no appropriate crossing area is available and the time to travel requires some shortcuts, given that public transit operates about 2x slower than private vehicles WITHOUT WAITING TIME between buses, rail, etc...

 

Hybrid Vehicles

 

Arlington has hybrid vehicles in it's county fleet, mostly Toyota brands.

Fairfax County has claimed to start doing hybrids (reference County Exec Cable speech), possibly due to the recent bad environmental report.

Fairfax County school buses are said to have been converted to a lower emission system (find ref)...

Montogomery County uses diesel-electric hybrids in their Metrobus fleet. NVCC will offer hybrid fleet maintenance certification in 2007, an employment opportunity.

Hybrid vans do not seem to exist, possibly due to the weight tradeoff...

Ford Escape has a hybrid model in the SUV class.

Honda Civic has a hybrid model rented locally by FlexCar for CarSharing.

 

CNG Buses

Some MetroBuses are compressed natural gas (CNG) which reduces deisel exhaust in downtown areas...Northern Virginia jursdictions chose the LNG busses for a recent purchase from Metrobus.

 

Van Pools

State and federally sponsored van pools for getting commuters to work by sharing transportation is public funded and encouraged, but what about for consumers?

 

Page History

 

20061219 Doug See Changes for minor edits

 

20061219 Jerry

1. Adding and editing some of the document...
2. See Changes for specifics...

 

20060914 Jerry

1. Adding structure and content to the page in the direction of a previously mentioned COS

 

2006-09-14 Doug

1. Added information about mopeds, Logisticare, hybrid busses, bus fares.

 

20060830 Doug

1. Created the page with links to local websites for Public & Paratransit services.

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