In a car, this trip is supposed to be a mere 13 minutes in good traffic and up to 25 or so in bad. But compare that estimate of 13 or so minutes to predictions for taking Metro. Then the commute time rises dramatically to about 42 to 46 minutes, depending on what Metro lines you take and combined with the walk from house to station and then station to office. What about walking the commute entirely? To travel on foot would take about 57 minutes, Google predicts, covering 2.9 miles. The second-fastest mode after the car appears to be the bike — the Google prediction for bicycling would put the commute at about 18 minutes or so. Not too shabby.

What we have here is a dilemma of mode. Public transportation takes about triple the time driving takes, which is a product of the way WMATA's transit lines sprawl outward from the center of the city. To change lines, you often have to journey unnecessary distances into downtown rather than cutting directly to your destination. Sometimes bus routes can solve that dilemma but often not. To be fair, both driving and transit are fraught with circumstantial problems, traffic and road work in one case and Metro's unplanned and planned delays in the other. Perhaps Rush+ will improve some of the speed on these particular lines once it begins on June 18. WMATA's trip planner, when calculating for Monday morning during rush hour, anticipates getting from Metro station to Metro station in a mere 22 minutes compared to 25 if done this morning. But then there's the walking time factored into that commute, which is double-edged in nature. The walking adds extra minutes but is healthier. You receive the same health benefits with a bike commute and for less time. But for non-bicyclists, the time differential is painful to consider. Perhaps the 37 miles of streetcar anticipated for someday in The Future will help make public transportation a more commuting-friendly option. Mayor Vince Gray has outlined a future in which three out of four trips will be car-free, and the city's current transportation layout stands as a challenge to that convenience. But we're improving, slowly and surely, which is the biggest story I've observed over the last 12 months. As far as cost, driving is likely the most expensive option, given gas and parking, followed by the Metro ($2.35 each way with a SmarTrip), biking (for costs associated with Capital Bikeshare membership or a personal bike and its occasional repair needs), and then the complete freedom of walking.

This commute, I should note, will be my own starting on Monday. The TBD On Foot blog is sadly coming to a close as I've accepted a job covering telecommunications policy for Warren Communications News, located in Dupont Circle, as reported elsewhere earlier this week. The past year here has been fantastic, and I'll still be keeping an eye on transportation topics with an avid interest. In the above commute, I'll likely be traveling to Dupont Circle either on the Metro or on foot, depending on the day, the weather, and so on. Safe travels, D.C.!

Neha Bhatt serves as chair of the D.C. Pedestrian Advisory Council, and I've watched her speak many times before the D.C. Council on how we should be approaching these crucial questions. Bhatt's insight covers how D.C. uses street cameras, our changing population, its pedestrian-friendly design and engineering, and myriad other transportation topics worth watching. Here's her thoughts on where the city is and where it needs to move next. 

(Photo: flickr/foxymoron)

TBD On Foot: People often emphasize the importance of "livable, walkable" cities. To what extent would you say D.C. fits the bill?

Neha Bhatt: D.C. is a jewel. It’s no coincidence one-third of our households do not own cars (D.C. DMV) and 12% of our residents walk to their jobs (U.S. Census). We’ve been recognized in the top-10 list of most walkable U.S. cities (Walkscore.org), and we’ve become national leaders in bicycling infrastructure and car-sharing. This is all possible because D.C. built a diverse transportation network and has been smart about putting jobs, shopping, and schools together in walkable neighborhoods. All of these destinations are part of our neighborhood — not the case in so many other cities. No doubt, we have plenty of work to do and mistakes to correct, especially in our underserved neighborhoods; but the fact remains D.C. is highly attractive even in these difficult economic times to employers, businesses, and new residents.  

On Foot: Tell me a bit about your work with the D.C. Pedestrian Advisory Council. How and when did you get involved and how would you describe your responsibilities?

Bhatt: The Pedestrian Advisory Council (PAC) serves as the advisory body to the mayor and Council of the District of Columbia on pedestrian safety and accessibility issues. I joined in spring of 2010, when the PAC first launched. I live east of the Anacostia River where transportation options are fewer and walking all the more important. Even when amenities are limited, walkability increases access, choices, and the overall neighborhood experience. A walkable street unlocks all sorts of potential — safety, reduced crime, business opportunity, community building. We want more of these things for all D.C. neighborhoods, and especially in our underserved neighborhoods. I saw the PAC as a chance to get involved in a productive way.

Over the past two years, the PAC has focused on building relationships with the police department to tackle the difficult issue of increasing enforcement of our traffic safety laws. We testify regularly at oversight and budget hearings and offer policy recommendations, and we’ve mapped pedestrian crashes and prepared an analysis of the deadliest D.C. intersections (to be released this summer). Monitoring implementation of the city’s Pedestrian Master Plan is another important activity. We have many more ideas; however, we must prioritize as most of the 13 councilmember-appointed PAC members work full time and are civically active otherwise. Anyone is welcome to join us and help move the ball forward. We usually meet monthly at 6:00 p.m. every second Monday at 441 4th Street NW (Judiciary Square Metro).

On Foot: Who are the biggest advocates for pedestrians out there now in the D.C. region?

Bhatt: Many names come to mind. On the D.C. Council, Councilmembers Tommy Wells and Mary Cheh are consistently good on the policy side. They are not only receptive on pedestrian issues, they lead. Within government, there are some very dedicated individuals such as Chris Shaheen in the Office of Planning and George Branyan (D.C. Pedestrian Manager) and the entire DDOT active transportation team. Lisa Sutter and Lt. Breul from MPD continue to be strong partners in the effort to make the city safer for pedestrians. Groups like the Coalition for Smarter Growth and neighborhood and regional blogs such as Greater Greater Washington have played key roles in raising awareness and prioritizing walkability in public decision-making. Civic leaders doggedly fighting to make their neighborhoods safer are the unsung and most critical advocates. People like Carolyn Ward (Ward 8) and Marlene Berlin (Ward 3) inspire me because they are very active locally, and they recognize the role of safe streets in their neighborhoods. They could easily retire from civic activities and be proud of what they’ve already accomplished, yet they continue to stay involved and lead. Both currently serve on the PAC.

(Continue reading the Q&A with Neha Bhatt after the jump)

On Foot: Has walking in the District gotten safer or more dangerous in recent years?

Bhatt: Over the longer term, D.C. is safer for pedestrians for the simplest of reasons. Empty streets are unsafe, vibrant streets are very much safer. In the past decade, many struggling neighborhoods have been revitalized and 100,000 new neighbors have moved to D.C. [Editor's Note: A reader notes that while D.C. outlined a goal of adding 100,000 residents by 2014 back in 2003, the reality is we've only added about 50,000 neighbors at most so far]. The increase of feet and eyes on more city streets is possibly the greatest factor in improved pedestrian safety.

In recent years the city has double-downed on livability investments such as strategic sidewalk expansions, streetscaping projects, and over 1,500 pedestrian countdown signals (the most of any major city). Yet pedestrian crashes have gone up in the past two years. On average, around 650 people are hit by a car each year. It was 753 people in 2010 and an astonishing 942 people last year according to MPD. This is too way high. We can do better. If a safer city is our goal, we have to get these numbers down.

On Foot: Gabe Klein, the former head of the District Department of Transportation, now hopes to reduce Chicago's traffic fatalities to zero within a decade. What actions would D.C. have to do in order to eliminate traffic fatalities?

Bhatt: Ah, Gabe, we certainly do miss him. Places like Chicago and NYC are setting bold targets with the full support of their mayors for whom these are legacy issues. They are not one-agency efforts nor are they unfunded mandates, which is the key. It would be a phenomenal boost for D.C. to go after similarly ambitious safety goals. For it to work, it would require prioritization and redirection of resources. MPD and DDOT would have significant roles to play and their directors would need to be fully on board pushing the effort, setting much higher benchmarks for their staff and the products they produce. The good infrastructure trends in D.C.’s core would need to spread aggressively to the outer neighborhoods. More capital spending would need to be leveraged to fully complete the city’s walking and biking networks. A robust "share the road" media campaign and consistent enforcement of traffic laws would be critical. Other agencies' roles would need to be defined and the mayor's office would have to manage the execution of the full plan, holding everyone accountable. All this requires a visionary leader who will make something like zero traffic fatalities a citywide initiative. I don’t see the right ingredients right now for D.C. to join the ranks of Chicago and NYC, unfortunately. But I’d love to be proven wrong, and when I am, that leader is going to find a lot of support from neighborhood leaders everywhere.

On Foot: In what ways does engineering and design play a part in pedestrian safety? The streetscaping efforts?

Bhatt: There are certain things we know to be true. Narrower lanes make motorists want to drive slower, so does a tighter turning angle at an intersection. Wide sidewalks with covered bus shelters, benches, and stormwater-absorbing bio-swales attract pedestrians (and store customers!). Bike lanes and bike boxes give would-be cyclists an added level of confidence, and they remind motorists the road is designed for all, not only cars. Sidewalk bulbouts at intersections put pedestrians and motorists within each other’s lines of sight. Good engineering effectively guides people in how to coexist on the city’s streets. It’s essential, and D.C. has to keep pushing itself on the design front. Pedestrian safety is not possible without top-notch engineering.

On Foot: D.C. Mayor Vince Gray has remarked that "eventually we hope to be able to cover the entire city" with speed and red light traffic cameras. What's your take on these cameras and would you support that vision? They seem to provoke some strong reactions.

Bhatt: Traffic cameras save lives, prevent injuries, and prevent car damage. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety studied the effect of D.C.’s 2001 photo enforcement program. They found vehicles exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph (the point at which a ticket is usually warranted) dropped by an astonishing 82%. Intended outcome achieved. As for Mayor Gray’s provocative statements about blanketing the city, let’s put that in perspective. I believe the expansion is supposed to yield something like 70-80 more cameras, roughly doubling what’s in place now. D.C. literally has thousands of intersections and thousands of miles of traffic lanes. It’s more a light sprinkling than a blanketing. But it’s strategic, and the expansion is going to regulate things like illegal turns, failure to stop at stop signs or yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, and blocking the box (which is enormously annoying if you’ve ever been the motorist who just got the green light but can’t go anywhere because three impatient drivers got their cars stuck in the middle of the intersection).

If Mayor Gray really is just looking for a revenue stream to plug a budget gap, I say let’s sabotage his plan (though I don’t know how nefarious a goal it is to want to keep the city running). If we all start driving the speed limit his plot will be foiled. After all, they advertise online and on the street where the cameras are. We can have the last laugh.

On Foot: What are the great challenges in advocating for pedestrian safety?

Bhatt: I wish councilmembers would take pedestrian safety more seriously. Wells, Cheh, and [new Council Chair Phil] Mendelson should be commended for working actively on this issue, but others are mostly missing in action. I understand pedestrian safety is not a glamorous topic, but it is important to neighborhood quality. I learned recently the police department gets profoundly more complaints about traffic problems than crime. Even people who walk away with relatively minor injuries from a crash are traumatized, and so are the motorists. Vehicle-pedestrian crashes are violent events. You would think an elected leader whose jurisdiction has many dozen such incidents every year would be more interested in getting those numbers down. Councilmembers have busy schedules and they tend to zip around in their cars to make the numerous events and meeting invitations they get. It becomes easy to lose the pedestrian perspective. Crashes become a cold statistic, and only a fatality garners attention or a site visit. Sadly, most Pedestrian Advisory Council’s members have had trouble getting face time with the councilmember who appointed them, myself included. This is frustrating and a real opportunity missed on the part of councilmembers. How valuable it would be if they left the car at home one workday a week and experienced the city the way so many of their constituents do every day. It could be game-changing if they’d be up for a challenge like that.

On Foot: Yet our local government has issued some strong rhetoric about the virtues of traveling on foot. The city, as part of the mayor's Sustainable D.C. plans, wants three out of every four trips car-free within 20 years. In your work with the D.C. Council, agencies, and offices, is the government committed to this rhetoric?

Bhatt: I do believe D.C. is committed to increasing walkability and the three out of every four trips on foot in 20 years is a great goal. I believe agencies like DDOT and Office of Planning are very invested and have talented staff. The MPD (which has a much larger role than they seem to realize) are expressing interest, but there is little evidence of an action plan. I don’t think most of the City Council fully understands the walkability vision, even if they don’t explicitly disagree with it. They don’t own nor have they adopted the car-free goal, and this can pose a problem. Success will require coordinated policy decisions with budget implications. Last year’s budget didn’t look that different to me than previous years. The pedestrian plan is a good first phase plan, but the city will take 10 years to execute it. The investment levels are not in line with the car-free rhetoric. A city like D.C. has so much latent potential when it comes to walkability. As committed as we are to increasing walkability, I don’t think we have gotten nearly serious enough to reach the mayor’s 20-year goal.

On Foot: We have so many modes of transportation now — bikes, cars, taxis, buses, walkers, and so on. What's the role of responsibility out there on the roads?

Bhatt: Be nice, be courteous. If most people on the street operate this way, we would be good to go. Being courteous requires being alert and often patient. When I’m crossing the street I sometimes wait for the car to go first because the driver had the right of way. I’ll frequently wave a thank you to the driver waiting to let me pass. They almost always wave back. We acknowledge each other, and that reminds us both we’re just on our way somewhere, one is not out to get in the way of the other.

One time or another, we’ve all seen the indignant pedestrian/cyclist/motorist/cab driver get angry for being held accountable for a traffic violation (either by a fellow civilian, an officer, or camera). I believe this is a small subset of people out on the streets and most accept responsibility even if they didn’t enjoy being called out. Pedestrians can’t jut out onto busy roads without looking around. Cyclists need to follow the rules of the road so that everyone else can reasonably predict their movements. Motorists need to be especially careful because they are encased in thousands of pounds of machinery. A mistake could mean curtains for a fellow human being. Collectively as a population, we’ve formed some bad habits. We have the ability to unlearn those, so long as people are wiling to take responsibility of their actions. I think most people are.

On Foot: I live in Petworth and I constantly see people walking across Georgia Avenue illegally and often dangerously. How to solve a problem like that? Should the police be writing tickets for jaywalking? Is it a matter of education?

Bhatt: Bad pedestrian behavior concentrated on a street or intersection has to be corrected. It’s a real hazard for motorists on that street. Jaywalking tickets and warnings are very appropriate, and that kind of enforcement needs to be consistent and recurring until the culture changes. Education should be part of the plan. We have signs reminding drivers about the $250 fine for failing to yield to pedestrians. Why not signs at trouble hot spots reminding pedestrians of the consequences if they do the wrong thing? When lots of pedestrians are violating traffic law at a single location, it may also be an indicator of an engineering problem. Sometimes people actually feel safer crossing illegally because the designated intersection is not optimal. Other times the most natural or shortest distance between two significant destinations (like a major bus stop and a school) may be the illegal one. The street should be evaluated to see if a design fix is needed. We need to get a MPD/DDOT team out to that Petworth spot and figure out a solution.

On Foot: The most vulnerable navigators of our transportation system seem to be the elderly, children, and sometimes those with disabilities. How do you consider those vulnerabilities as an advocate for pedestrian safety?

Bhatt: My own interest in pedestrian safety stems from a deeper interest in seeing the city’s entire transportation system work better, which has huge economic and equity implications. If streets don’t work for seniors and children, I believe all the larger goals are at risk. Seniors and children have to be the standard in pedestrian safety. Given that about 8,000 Americans turn 65 every day (AARP) and a lot of them are looking to settle in places like D.C., we better make sure our definition of pedestrian safety includes this group. Otherwise, we are setting ourselves up for tragedy.

On Foot: Tell me a little about the Pedestrian Advisory Council's new website. How'd that come about and what should concerned residents out there do to get involved with pedestrian safety?

Bhatt: After going two years without any kind of web site, we realized it was high time we fixed that. We used free online software to create www.walkdcwalk.org. People can go here to connect to the sidewalk repair page or contact their councilmember or the mayor. Folks can also get acquainted with the city’s pedestrian plan, brush up on traffic law basics, and learn what the Pedestrian Advisory Council is doing. We will be posting summaries and take-aways from key hearings and meetings. There is also a "Tell Your Story" feature. Anyone is invited to share stories about crashes they experienced or witnessed — from the pedestrian, cyclist, or driver perspective. We’ve gotten a few stories already and we’re looking for more. If there are any web-savvy pedestrian safety advocates out there, we are looking for help managing the site, too.

Read more about Bhatt's work on on the Pedestrian Advisory Council website here and D.C.'s pedestrian safety efforts here.

Georgetown alum Saaret Yoseph recently completed a documentary about Red Line graffiti called The Red Line D.C. Project and has begun scheduling several events to mark the completion. She recently suggested creating a Red Line mix tape as part of her exploration of commuters' public space. "The idea is to collect as many suggestions as possible of songs/tracks that are reminiscent of the Red line experience or that touch on themes of transit, graffiti, and the city," Yoseph told me. "I want commuters, writers, and city-dwellers to consider this — if the Red line had an anthem, what would it be? I'm open to any & all suggestion and will enlist a music-minded friend to make the final selections. Folks can tweet their suggestions to @_Redlinedc_; #redlinedc."

Yoseph's documentary as well as Yospyn's recent photos stand as testaments to a transit line that may look quite different six months or a year from now.

Ward 8                 48% of households car-free

Ward 2                 46%

Ward 1/Ward 7     41%

Ward 6                 35%

Ward 5                 33%

Ward 4                 22%

Ward 3                 21%

No real surprises here but it's good to know the breakdown. Washingtonians love and rely on their automobiles in more outlying neighborhoods like Tenleytown and Petworth but get by without them in downtown and Anacostia. In the greater metro region, about 193,000 households (10% of the region's total) have no access to personal cars, the Brookings Institution noted last year.

The Coalition also presented a map of exactly where the car-free households are located, based off of recent census data.

(Photo: Coalition for Smarter Growth)

The Coalition includes data about how D.C. workers commute to work, although I suspect the changes in these percentages have evolved since 2010. According to the 2010 data, 39% of D.C. workers took public transportation, 35% drove alone, 12% walked, 6% carpooled, 5% worked at home, and 3% biked. The bike commuting numbers have probably risen notably due in part to our city's Capital Bikeshare program, which only debuted in late 2010 but has grown immensely.

As these transportation options grow, the ownership of automobiles is likely to grow less and less important. Will it make sense to own a car, at $8,000 a year or so in costs, when there's a 37-mile streetcar network on top of our WMATA trains and buses, the Circulator, a robust biking network, streetscaped sidewalks, and car-sharing? The car may still be important for some commuters but not necessary for anywhere near as many residents.

The District Department of Transportation has collected data from all pedestrian crashes from 2004 to 2010 and crunched the numbers. About half of these crashes happened when the pedestrian was in the crosswalk (legally or not), which affirms the recent D.C. police remarks on the crosswalk remaining the most dangerous spot for pedestrians.

Here's the breakdown for all the crashes in which a pedestrian was struck for these seven years — we're talking about 4,800 crashes total, with an average number of accidents of about 687 a year and nearly two a day:

(Photo: DDOT)

"We have seen an upward trend in people being struck," said George Branyan, DDOT's pedestrian program coordinator, "but we have more people on the sidewalks [in recent years]."

Branyan is a man who believes in the complexities of these data points, and he's not inclined to place blame on any one group — sometimes drivers act incorrectly, sometimes pedestrians do, but the reality is often far more complicated and what he's interested in is engineering a system that serves both pedestrians and drivers in a fundamentally safer way. He points to the influence driving speed has on pedestrian fatalities, a concern also guiding calming measures in Chicago.

Most troubling about this graph is the fact that the highest number of crashes (23% on average) happen in a crosswalk with an appropriate traffic signal. That was 188 people struck in 2010, to give you a concrete sense of how many we're talking about. These individuals are frequently free of blame and are only at fault if they did something sudden, such as racing out into the crosswalk. These collisions often happen when the driver is turning left or right. Yet Branyan explained that the metrics in the graph above don't always reveal blame upon closer scrutiny. Nearly 22% of collisions happened when the pedestrian was "not in crosswalk" but Branyan explained that these pedestrians aren't necessarily acting illegally. It's perfectly legal to cross in the middle of the block as long it's not between adjacent intersections with traffic signals at their crosswalks. But the pedestrian, in crossing mid-block, does give up their right of way to any automobiles. Some of these "not in crosswalk" pedestrians are jaywalking while others may be observing traffic laws without a problem.

"The first duty of a pedestrian is to not step in front of a vehicle that cannot yield," Branyan remarked.

The various types of crosswalks have their own complexities. Marked crosswalks without a stop sign or light can create their own risks and confusion, for instance, on large roads such as on Georgia Avenue, where there are many places marked for pedestrians but no formal signal that cars should stop. Will vehicles actually slow or stop? Will pedestrians be brave enough to assert their right of way and risk it? Branyan says it's popular to include pedestrian crosswalk paint out of a belief it's better than nothing, but he said this is not always true on major, multilane roads. The speed of the road, number of automobiles, and lack of formal stopping measures can create uncertainty. Unmarked crosswalks, which exist by law even without any pedestrian paint lines in any intersection, feature relatively few accidents, based on the data above. Branyan ultimately refers back to DDOT's various pedestrian measures under his purview, from road speed to subtle traffic calming initiatives to the elusiveness of determining factors in these collisions and in their relationship to traffic fatalities. DDOT outlined the city's 24 most dangerous intersections for pedestrians earlier this year. Traffic fatalities have fallen throughout recent years but as Branyan says, pedestrian crashes remain relatively high. DDOT estimates an average of about 15 pedestrian deaths a year.

Learn more about DDOT's pedestrian safety initiatives at its website here.

But Limos.com plans to launch a competing service in the District's luxury transportation market, and the company's chief product officer Doug Anderson wants to avoid the regulatory debacle that Uber entered in early 2012. He flew into D.C. recently and met with Councilmember Mary Cheh's office last Monday and with D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton last Friday afternoon. Last January, Linton declared Uber's service — one that skirted the definitions of "limo" and "taxicab" and avoided street hails while charging based on mileage — was "illegal" and impounded two Uber vehicles. Uber's status has remained in limbo for six months as Cheh voiced support for Uber and Linton's Commission is, as he told me, "not concentrating on them at the moment."

Anderson told me that he is concerned about "how Uber entered the market," with what appeared to be a minimum of conversations with D.C. officials, and doesn't want the new Limos.com offering to be "regulated out of existence."

Like Uber, Limos.com is already in the business of coordinating with many cities' existing limousine companies to arrange for drivers. But they currently spend much of their time serving the corporate market. The company acts as a third party connecting clients to existing fleets. Five years ago, its focus was specialty vehicles but about two years ago, Limos.com began diving into the corporate market. That business went "famously," according to Anderson, and its funding was significant — $5 million in original funding from Canal Partners and then another $10 million from Austin Ventures early last year, TechCrunch reported. Now, however, Anderson sees potential for launching a bigger service that would let people order towncars to take them to, say, the airport or across town. The virtue of Limos.com, he said, would be upfront payment and clear windows of time that the company can guarantee. No mileage charges come into play, and Anderson "really wants to focus on the customer experience." Pricing that varies wildly (as in Uber's holiday surge pricing) can be "predatory," Anderson said, and "from a regulatory perspective, that's a real problem."

Right now, Anderson hopes, tentatively, to launch this more public service of Limos.com in San Francisco in late summer and in D.C. sometime this fall. And with how many cars? Limos.com works with about 50 companies in the D.C. area now out of about 2,000 worldwide to serve its corporate needs, with about 1,000 vehicles, and plans to enroll some portion of those in the launch of its new public service later in 2012. Developing these relationships with companies and drivers was critical to Limos.com's decision to launch this new service.

"The biggest thing we realized is number one, that we're ready," Anderson said. The infrastructure already exists thanks to their corporate transportation service. D.C. also suffers with a taxicab industry that receives its share of complaints and has a population with its healthy share of disposable income. "The District," Anderson explained, "is rather easy to jump into." What remains is the question of regulation and precisely how and at what cost Limos.com will be entering this new market.

"We had a discussion of [Anderson]'s general approach," D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Linton told me. "We had a very open and very frank conversation."

Linton called Anderson's ideas "intriguing" but said that they'll be subject to further review before he can comment on how feasible the launch will be and whether it will fit within existing regulations. Anderson is expected to send the Taxicab Commission more details in the weeks to come. Linton stressed that he's open to new ways of innovating the taxicab industry and cited the broader modernization efforts underway to bring in GPS and credit card readers. Anderson told me his meeting with Councilmember Cheh's office went well and she supported his general thoughts on how shouldn't be surprised by pricing, although her office did not respond to a request for comment. "They want to make sure this class of service exists," Anderson said about the meeting with Cheh and her staff.

Keep your eyes on Limos.com for now, D.C. The company certainly has eyes on you.

Here's some Rush+ updates worth noting:

• To help raise awareness and get a head start on the work, WMATA has begun installing new Metro maps in the stations and on the railcars (with special markers signifying that Rush+ won't begin until June 18) and installing the Rush+ signage at the stations (Gallery Place has received new station signs, for instance) in recent weeks.

• The Metro Trip Planner on the WMATA website is purportedly outfitted with the new Rush+ schedules if you attempt to plan a trip on June 18 or later, according to WMATA. And sure enough, I tested out a commute slated for tomorrow and one for June 18, and the second one shaved three minutes off the commute. Let's hope reality follows suit.

• The Metro Store embraces both the new and the old maps and now offers you T-shirts featuring either, if you're passionate enough to want your apparel shouting transit. You can also buy copies of the new Metro map.

• Metro workers and staff seem to be making special visits to stations to help alert riders to the changes. Metro General Manager Richard Sarles visited Franconia-Springfield this week, according to WAMU, and he spoke of street teams and stickers and the ways WMATA is trying to let people know of the changes. Metro staffers have special yellow shirts adorned with the Rush+ logo as they pass out the information.

• The Metro Forward team has attempted to engage riders by supplying photos of these changes as they've happened. On May 31, a WMATA Facebook album showed workers installing the new Rush+ signs at Metro Center. A May 16 flickr album detailed the production of the new maps.

See WMATA's details about Rush+ and how your commute may change here. Get ready, rides. June 18 will be here before we know it.

(Photo: John Hendel)

(Photo: John Hendel)

(Photo: John Hendel)

• Phase One: Web portal, email address and launch, which have been created;

 • Phase Two: Public Service Announcements in the Metro System, which will be rolled out in phases throughout 2012;

• Phase Three: Employee training, including brochures, training programs and employee training videos.

Holly Kearl, of Stop Street Harassment as well as a Collective Action for Safe Spaces board member, was one of the people who has pressured Metro for months, and she recently posted a list of the 28 Metro staitons that now feature PSAs. Have you spotted them? One of the PSAs first announced, modeled off a Boston transit PSA, featured a line that a few people found somewhat cringe-worthy: Rub against me and I'll expose you. Other PSAs have begun circulating throughout the system, however, and are now in more than two dozen stations. Another prominent line notes, I'm not the one who should be ashamed. Here's the listing of the full 28, which Kearl recently provided, some stations listed multiple times to underscore multiple PSAs at that station:

1. Addison Road Metro
2. Ballston Metro
3. Benning Road Metro
4. Benning Road Metro – Spanish
5. Capitol Heights Metro
6. Cheverly Metro
7. Cheverly Metro – Spanish
8. Clarendon Metro
9. Cleveland Park Metro
10. DuPont Circle Metro
11. Eisenhower Metro – Spanish
12. Eisenhower Metro
13. Foggy Bottom Metro – Spanish
14. Forest Glenn Metro
15. Forest Glenn Metro
16. Fort Totten Metro – Spanish
17. Fort Totten Metro
18. Franconia-Springfield Metro
19. Franconia-Springfield Metro – Spanish
20. Georgia Avenue Petworth Metro
21. Glenmont Metro
22. Glenmont Metro – Spanish
23. Grosvenor Metro
24. Huntington Metro
25. Judiciary Square Metro – Spanish
26. Landover Metro
27. Landover Metro
28. L’Enfant Plaza Metro – Spanish
29. New Carrollton Metro
30. Potomac Avenue Metro
31. Potomac Avenue Metro – Spanish
32. Prince Georges Plaza Metro
33. Prince Georges Plaza Metro – Spanish
34. Takoma Metro
35. Van Dorn Metro – Spanish
36. Van Ness 006 Metro
37. Van Ness 008 Metro
38. Waterfront 006 Metro – Spanish
39. Waterfront 007 Metro
40. Wheaton 014 Metro

"In our first decade as an independent agency, we have made tremendous strides improving the way we deliver everything from major infrastructure projects to routine services," DDOT Director Terry Bellamy wrote in the agency's 2011 report. "We’ve also launched and expanded the popular DC Circulator bus system and the nation’s largest bikesharing system, and we are poised to restore streetcar service to the District after a 50-year absence. There’s a lot to be proud of at DDOT and I want to thank everyone in the agency for their dedicated service and efforts to make DDOT what it is today. DDOT delivers consistently and as a result I believe we have earned the respect of many of our customers and partners."

This morning Mayor Vince Gray declared June 7 to be "DDOT Day" in D.C. as the officials celebrated the anniversary with a big red and white cake. The agency has developed into a strong voice in D.C.'s transportation world, and it's hard to imagine a time before DDOT. Yet the agency has continued to struggle with some criticism — most regarding the level of discipline it brings to its work.

Councilmember Tommy Wells expressed great misgivings about the pace at which many DDOT projects have moved forward and was a vocal critic at of some of the delays plaguing the first H Street-Benning Road streetcar line. His rhetoric conveyed great disappointment with the ability of the agency to execute its projects. The confusion and frustration surrounding DDOT's red top parking meter program this past spring also created concerns.

Mary Cheh, the head of the D.C. Council's transportation committee for the better part of the past year and now acting chair after Chairman Kwame Brown's resignation yesterday, echoed these concerns in council meetings throughout the past year. She also points to DDOT's contracting practices, and in her 2013 budget recommendations noted the following:

Testimony presented during the course of the Committee’s 2012 oversight and budget hearings highlighted concerns with DDOT’s contracting practices. The department confirmed what the Committee has heard in the past: the contracting process is plagued by a small pool of contractors leading to a lack of real competition. Limited competition not only leads to less capable contractors, but also can substantially inflate EPWT – Draft FY 2013 Budget Report Page 19 prices. The department acknowledged that contractor pricing in the District is often non- competitive when compared with other jurisdictions. Indeed, DDOT suggested that we may be paying a premium of as much as 20%. Such a significant discrepancy in pricing is of great concern. The financial constraints described above make competitive pricing and a competent vendor pool critically important. With hundreds of millions spent annually on transportation construction, an increased focus on expanding vendor opportunities and reducing inefficiencies in the contracting process must be a goal.

A 20% premium on contracts does sound steep and unacceptable, and Cheh's office is correct to issue this recommendation.

But despite these challenges of pace and financial discipline, the department handles much well in the District and has helped craft a 21st-century transportation environment with plenty of different modes and better infrastructure to support them. The city's wheels keep turning. The 11th Street Bridge Project is moving forward, Capital Bikeshare is expanding, and so on. Happy 10th birthday, DDOT. Here's to another 10.

Celebrating @DDOTDC 10th Anniversary! I do hereby proclaim today- June 7, 2012 "DDOT DAY" in the District of Columbia! twitter.com/mayorvincegray…

— Vincent C. Gray (@mayorvincegray) June 7, 2012

But now, at least, District bicyclists will receive a warning about biking on H Street. The District Department of Transportation has installed about 21 signs over the last two to three weeks along the H Street-Benning Road stretch, both on the main road itself and on streets adjacent to it (Note, June 8, 12:47 p.m.: This post initially conveyed the DDOT estimate of 50 signs installed but now includes their updated number of 21. All 21 sign locations are now listed below). The yellow caution signs are clear — Streetcar Tracks: Bikes Use Caution. The signs are no silver bullet eliminating the risk, but they alert bicyclists to pay attention to any potential danger, and that's a substantial and easy improvement compared to the last couple years. This is the first real step toward government awareness and public education that may allow a city of both streetcars (when and if they ever come) and bicyclists.

(Photo: John Hendel)

SIGN LOCATIONS:

1. 15th & Benning Rd. NE
2. 17th & Benning Rd
3. 21st & Benning Road
4. Oklahoma & Benning Road
5. Bladensburg & Benning Rd
6. Maryland & Benning Rd
7. Bladensburg & H St
8. 26th & Benning Road

WESTBOUND BENNING ROAD
1. 14th & H St
2. 12th & H St
3. 1th & H St
4. 8th & H St
5. 6th & H St (1st light pole east of the intersection)
6. 4th & H St

EASTBOUND BENNING ROAD
1. 3rd & H (Remove existing Notice sign)
2. 4th & H St
3. 6th & H St
4. 8th & H St
5. 10th & H St
6. 12th & H St
7. 14th & H St

(Photo: John Hendel)

VRide touts itself as the world's largest vanpooling business with more than 6,000 vans in the U.S. and in the greater D.C. region more than 275 vRide vanpools of 3,000 commuters. The company estimates it will take 73,000 cars off the road in the D.C. area over the next two years and already supports organizations such as the FDA, NIH, and some military units. This June vRide hopes to raise awareness for their mode of transportation by traveling from city to city with a vRide van and promoting their "Don't Be an S.O.V." campaign. What's an S.O.V.? Single-occupant vehicle, of course. Today the vRide team is down at Farragut Square with campaign spokesperson Anjelah Johnson, a comedienne who gained prominence on MADtv. And why vanpool? The mode will save on transportation costs, the company contends, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly. A vanpooler's average costs run about $130 to $140 a month in the D.C. metro area, and that includes service and fuel.

"A part of being an S.O.V. is feeling like you have to have a car," said John Garcia, CFO of vRide. His company says that in today's world, you no longer need one while you're busy at work. Why take up parking space? VRide has an allowance for cabbing you away from the office a couple times a year if you're in dire need to leave early but overall, Garcia says, people don't need a personal automobile at all times, especially in a city like D.C.

The cross-country vanpooling campaign has gone well so far, according to the team in D.C. today. Johnson has reached out to the residents of these different cities, asked about their commuting patterns, and explained how vRide works in a fun, friendly outreach. They hope to repeat the success of a recent visit to Atlanta here in D.C. today.

"For the most part, people were having fun in front of the camera," Johnson told me this morning about the Atlanta visit. "A couple people felt guilty for not knowing [what vRide was]."

Each van typically holds eight to 10 people, and the vanpoolers all usually meet at one spot to join and begin their commute. Garcia stressed the interactivity of vanpooling — "it's kind of a little social network inside the van," he said — while acknowledging the greatest challenge is matching the commuters with similar routes. "The hardest part is finding people around you," he explained, although that difficulty would lessen as more people sign up. He remains confident in the company's matching capabilities and says that in the D.C. market, vanpooling is already a "good alternative," with vanpools coming from as far away as Richmond. Vanpools offer convenience as well as fun, Garcia said. A van can take advantage of the highway's high-occupancy vehicle lanes that solo commuters can't. Our greater region has clearly shown an affinity for the HOV lanes and their speed — the several thousand people who have embraced slugging as part of their Virginia-D.C. commutes are a testament to the power of HOV. The company also helps arrange carpools free of charge. D.C. currently features carpooling resources here and here. VRide's reinvention of vanpooling, however, may be a welcome and sensible addition to our transportation system, especiailly for those living away from public transportation stops and outside the core of the District. 

The vRide campaign's broader goals are ambitious — one million cars off the road by the end of 2013. The June campaign's goal is to create some initial awareness to that end. In addition to the city stops, vRide will run ads in Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. They tout big stats about their benefits, such as freeing the roadways of 6,000 car trips a day a reduction of 360,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year. Not too shabby if they're true. Look for Anjela Johnson and John Garcia out on the D.C. roads today to learn more and visit the company's site here.

"I believe the change up is an obvious result of gentrification and increased interest in that space on the part of developers," filmmaker Saaret Yoseph told me by email when I asked about the graffiti removal observed in the last half year. "The complete removal of graffiti at the Rhode Island rooftop had me particularly floored because I know how popular and recognizable that spot was on the Red Line. Though I try not to qualify or make snap judgments about these changes, I think the lack of color will give us a little less to look at during our daily ride."

It's a full house @ tonight's #SalonContra hosted by the @pinklineproject. All fora sneak peek of the #redlinedc doc twitter.com/_RedLineDC_/st…

— Red Line D. C.(@_RedLineDC_) June 5, 2012

Greater Greater Washington noted the removal twice earlier this year, first in February to remark on the removal of the "Obama Hates Borf" graffiti near Takoma and then in May, the buffing of the warehouses around Rhode Island Avenue. Blogger John Muller calls the graffiti "a shadow of its former self" and cites the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the Department of Public Works spends on graffiti removal as well as a business owner who calls the work "ugly" and "vandalism."

In 10 years, will anyone in D.C. see graffiti along the Red Line? Perhaps the only memorial for the work will come in the form of old photos, articles, and films like Yoseph's. Her interviews have sought to capture the full range of the street art and its implications for commuters, businesses, the city, and the graffiti artists themselves. The Red Line D.C. is planning multiple events this June to screen the documentary and celebrate its completion and fundraising for the $5,000 or so needed for art design, materials, dvds, and so on. The D.C. Humanities Council helped fund the filming with a $1,500 grant. There will be an outdoor sneak peek of the film as part of the NoMa Summer Screen series on June 27 at Loree Field around sundown. Meanwhile, Yoseph herself has certainly begun to notice the changes to her Red Line commute, but these changes include new graffiti as well as the removal of old.

"I have definitely been noticing the more erratic ebb and flow of graffiti over the past few weeks and months," Yoseph said. "My Red Line commute usually stops at Brookland, but the change in aesthetics is unavoidable there as well. [But] I noticed two new pieces, one reading 'My Bad' at Brookland station."

She suspects this is the work of younger graffiti artists but doesn't know.

Yoseph explained the goals of her film work to professors at Georgetown University this spring. She completed the project as part of her graduate studies in the communication, culture, and technology program there. 

Yes, the Tax Pig. This creature has quietly grown into full articulation over recent months and exists primarily to oppose the Silver Line's second phase, which will cost Loudoun County more than a quarter billion dollars in investment. The rail would stretch from Reston past Dulles in phase 2 and would hopefully open in 2016. Hence we have the Tax Pig. Here's a photo of the beast from last night at a gathering that attracted hundreds.

Even more astounding is the fact that this Tax Pig is a member of Facebook and has 263 Facebook friends. Here's what we can glean from the pig's social media presence:

• The Tax Pig is in a relationship ... but it's complicated.

• It lives in Hamilton, Virginia, and says it's from Purcellville. 

• Ronald Reagan is a hero to this pig, who includes the former president's words among his favorite quotations. He has only one interest: the Constitution. One of his activities is politics, linked to the Loudoun County Tea Party. Television choices range from Man vs. Wild to Fox News Channel. And of course Babe is a favorite movie.

• "I've been compared to a super hero, but for me it is just doing what I love most and it is never boaring," the Tax Pig explains. "Pork-Watch 24/7 man, I never sleep. If you see something I should know about you can be a sort of deputy and just let me know, I'll slip into my hero cape and I'm on it. Because I don't like it when Big Govt gives Pork a bad name!"

• The pig has been on Facebook since at least early last fall.

Imagine that ... the anti-Metro Tax Pig. The mascot underscores the absurdities surrounding the Silver Line circus of the past year, with the funding and support for phase two in what seems like constant jeopardy. The line's second phase would have the virtue of connecting D.C. with Dulles airport, but the opposition in Loudoun County has grown fierce among a certain set. There are now "No Metro Tax" bumper stickers and yard signs. Prominent among the opponents are the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance and Loudoun Opt Out. These groups see the introduction of WMATA as an emotional as much as financial issue, one that would encroach on liberty. Their passion doesn't quite position them to edge out supporters of the Dulles Metrorail project, which according to accounts, outnumbered the opponents last night and wore green shirts touting "Loudoun Rail Now," as WAMU reports. As the county's deadline on the project nears, the emotion continues to rise and become all the more ridiculous as supporters and detractors rally with shirts and yard signs and advertising and stunts like the Tax Pig. Loudoun will ultimately have to decide by July 4 whether it's going to invest its millions in expanding the rail to the six phase-two stations.

Friends of the pig worry about costs. Thomas Cranmer of the Taxpayers Alliance as well as Loudoun Opt Out warns of $22 tolls in his testimony on the project:

Locally, the number of Metrorail and Metrobus riders have increased over these same months but, as noted earlier this year, at very different paces. The bus is the real victor here in D.C. Our city ranks among the top-10 cities in which large bus systems grew, with a 7.8% increase in trips.

More people have also chosen to ride WMATA's rails but not as many as the transit agency predicted and at a lower percentage of increase than in many transit agencies across the nation. The jump in the first quarter of 2012 was 2.82%, around half of what the national average heavy rail increase was. Why the slower frequency of growth for Metrorail riders? WMATA predicted more people are choosing the bus for reasons such as the warmer-than-average year we've been experiencing. Another reality of the past year is institutionalized WMATA track work that causes certain transit stations to shut down and headways to rise considerably at certain times. Other vocal complaints focus on the service of the Metro trains as well as the mechanical dysfunction that the Metro Forward campaign seeks to fix. Consider the busted escalators or the occasional faulty display sign. Far more people ride the rail than the bus overall (WMATA trains receive close to 300,000 more riders on average than the buses every day) but notable trends have begun influencing the rate at which people are choosing these different modes of transportation. Other factors, such as the promise of Rush+ service as well as the dread of higher fares, also loom, and prominent influences may include a rising number of commuters choosing to walk, bike, or car-share throughout D.C.

The other potential influence on WMATA rail ridership is safety and the impression of safety, especially due to some prominent incidents in the last few months. Last week the National Transportation Safety board released reports on WMATA incidents from 2009 and 2010 and pointed to negligence and problems. A glance reveals troubling phrases such as the following: "...inadequate communication of vital information concerning the ongoing work on the tacks by the Operations Control Center to the on-track maintenance vehicle." Not good. Yet the NTSB also cites WMATA's "proactive" actions in response since these events occurred years ago: "improvements to procedures to provide better protection to all roadway workers, the issuance of a new Roadway Workers Protection Manual, and upgrades to all hi-rail vehicles." All right, good. But so often this pattern — a problem first, and then a rush of fixes — seems to characterize the business of Metro lately. The impulse to fix is good and correct and worth lauding but the incidents have piled up. A train derails, Metro train doors open while the train is in motion, a defibrillator lacks working batteries, a Metro worker is critically injured at the Shady Grove Yard. The broader mission of Metro Forward is to fix those problems, however, and in half a decade, the work's pace will perhaps ease up. It's unclear how these safety incidents and reports have affected the Metrorail riders but they speak to the critical question of trust a rider must place in the local transit agency.

For now, the bus may continue to break out with new appeal in our local public transportation world, especially as D.C. buses receive new innovations like real-time arrival signs and more investment. WMATA recently announced it would invest $5 million in its bus service over the course of the next year to improve service. "More than 150,000 customers — roughly one third of all bus customers — will benefit from more frequent service, additional capacity, expanded hours of operation on selected MetroExtra routes," the agency says.

Here's the top 10 destinations for the summer of 2012:

Chicago 11.1 Trips (in Millions)

Washington, D.C. 8.3

New York City 6.8

Los Angeles 5.3

Miami 4.9

San Francisco 4 .0

Las Vegas 3.7

Boston 3.4

Atlanta 3.4

St. Louis 3.4

These tourists will, by and large, want to take our public transportation. An APTA survey conducted earlier this month estimates that 62 million people of those 104 (about 57%) want to embrace public transportation amid their travels. The reasoning? "71 percent said using public transportation relieves them from the worry of finding parking for their vehicle, while 68 percent believe that it is less expensive than taxis and rental cars. Sixty-seven percent will use public transportation to save money on parking and 52 percent responded they can save money on gas for their vehicle."

Express Night Out transit columnist Vicky Hallett sees environmental virtues in these numbers as well as relief for our roads. "Considering how many local drivers pull stupid stunts, I don’t even want to think about what would happen if every out-of-towner showed up behind the wheel of a rental car," she writes.

I suspect the number of tourists who take public transportation will be higher in D.C. than in many other destination cities given how established our publication transportation networks are. And besides, no one wants to drive driving and parking in downtown D.C. anyway. Metro tourists are a perennial feature and let's just hope they stick to the right on functional escalators we have left. How do you imagine tourists will respond to all the Metro track work and July 1 fare hikes on the way?

Still laughing at someone yelling "You guys are peasants!" at the tourists ramming into closing train doors at Metro Center.

— Q (@Queengwen) May 31, 2012

The Post Office has a long history of transportation stamps. Consider this web page, devoted entirely to "Trains on U.S. Stamps," with examples from more than a century ago. Cars also receive plenty of attention. Here's a 1999 stamp devoted to the Ford Mustang on its 35th anniversary. We've celebrated the fins and chrome of '50s cars. AAA received its own stamp more than half a century ago when the auto club celebrated its 50th birthday. Even the nonexistent hover car has received its own stamp!

And now, on June 7, our U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp simply called "Bicycling" and show generic images of cyclists out and enjoying their passion. Next up, let's hope for stamps devoted to car-sharing, taxicabs, and the D.C. Metro ... I can't find any examples of those offhand. The closest we have are last year's Go Green stamps, devoted broadly to walking, biking, and public transportation through the lens of environmental concern. But here's the Post Office's description of the new biking stamp and how they created it:

Rendered in graphic retro fashion, these U.S. Postal Service Bicycling (Forever®) stamps celebrate the American love of bicycling, one of the most popular outdoor activities in the country.

Remember the day you learned to ride a bike? That exhilarating sense of freedom is one you never forget and can easily recapture every time you hop on a bike. Perhaps that's why millions of Americans young and old enjoy bicycling so much.

But bicycling isn't just fun. It's also good for the environment and for you. Each ride you take cuts down on traffic congestion, fuel consumption, and vehicle emissions. And riding a bike lowers the risk of obesity, heart disease, and breast cancer, while reducing stress and improving muscle tone and strength.

So climb on! And be the first to help us celebrate this healthy, affordable, and eco-friendly means of transportation with these striking Bicycling stamps.

Art director Phil Jordan designed the stamps using illustrations by San Francisco illustrator John Mattos. Each of the four Bicycling (Forever®) stamps features a different kind of bike and cyclist: a young child learning to ride, a commuter pedaling to work, a road racer intent on the finish line, and an airborne BMX rider.

The Bicycling stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps, which are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.

Buy your bike stamp here (remember, the Post Office is struggling!) and hat tip to our local bike shop BicycleSPACE.

"We have a problem with crosswalks and pedestrian safety," Councilmember Phil Mendelson remarked from the dais yesterday afternoon.

The District Department of Transportation outlined the city's 24 most dangerous intersections for pedestrians earlier this year.

But the editor and publisher of Spokes magazine, a publication devoted to cycling, has outlined a bigger problem with these Capital Bikeshare helmet sales. He sees the new business as potentially destructure to the broader bike equipment industry.

"Selling helmets?!" writes Neil Sandler, Spokes editor and publisher, in the opening to his May issue. "That’s what bike stores and others in the private sector are supposed to be doing. Yes, I have always been concerned that those people who use the bikes rented by Capital Bikeshare don’t have access to helmets. Somehow helmets should be made available with the rentals, raise the rental fee slightly and include a helmet with each rental bike. But selling helmets is quite another thing."

1,200 new helmets arrived today--they're available on our website for just $16 with membership purchase/renewal. twitter.com/bikeshare/stat…

— Capital Bikeshare (@bikeshare) May 24, 2012

 What Sandler opposes is the government operation intruding on what has been private bike industry business. He would "rather Bikeshare didn't compete" in this territory and leave that commerce to local bike shops, which he calls "true treasures of the industry." Nowhere in his editorial is any suggestion that renting out the bikes will hurt these bike stores — perhaps Sandler reasons that bike rentals will encourage bike ownership in the long run. He begins his editorial with high praise for the Capital Bikeshare system, which features more than 150 stations, more than 15,000 paying members, and clocked more than 176,014 rides already in May.

(Photo: Capital Bikeshare)

Capital Bikeshare has made efforts to encourage its members to frequent local bike shops. Members can, at many locations, receive a 10% discount on helmets simply by presenting their bikeshare keys. 

Yet the discounted $16 price of Capital Bikeshare helmets still often beats what you'll find at a bike shop. Consider Capitol Hill Bikes, where the cheapest helmet listed online is $55. At City Bikes, you'll find kids' helmets for as low as $30 but adult helmets seem to run $45 minimum. Revolution Cycles' online catalog is about the same. Even at a large retailer like Target, you can't find an adult bike helmet for less than $19 ... the Capital Bikeshare price beats them all. Why shop elsewhere? On the one hand, the low price is a good thing. We're talking about making safety equipment affordable and convenient for all these bicyclists traveling through our transportation system. It's a vital consideration. On the other hand, we have a government-subsidized operation undercutting a huge swathe of private industry in a way that's entirely new. Sandler worries about a "slippery slope" with these bikeshare systems offerings. "What’s next? Bikes, accessories, repair services?" he writes.

"Every helmet they sell is one a local bike shop doesn’t sell and I don’t agree with that," Sandler declares. "Rent folks bikes all you want, Capital Bikeshare, but leave the business to the private sector. Thanks."

These bike helmet concerns are a far cry from the "broken-down socialism" that the Washington Times absurdly accuses Capital Bikeshare of these days, but they do merit discussion. Is Sandler right to worry?

Update, 3:53 p.m.: The Wash Cycle provides a solid counterargument to Sandler that's well worth reading. "Bike shops might lose a few sales," the blogger writes. "But they've probably gained a few sales from CaBi members wanting a nice nutcase helmet or a stylish riding helmet. And once people have owned a helmet, maybe they'll be encouraged to buy their next one or even upgrade." He suspects most bicyclists will continue to purchase their helmets from stores and points to instances of helmet giveaways from police departments and the Brain Injury Law Center.

This transportation service rarely makes much of a splash in headlines or online but appears to be functioning well enough throughout the last few years. I recently overheard the company's staff members fielding at least a half dozen candidates for new drivers by phone at a D.C. coffee shop, so they're hiring at least. The drivers of Drivers, Incorporated are licensed and insured, according to the McLean, Virginia-based company, and are required to be comfortable driving just about any vehicle they need to and to get along easily with drunk clientele. They must wear dark, professional jackets. These drivers are paid an hourly wage plus tips and must pass a background check from the Cromwell Group.

"We want to work with any place in the Washington Metro that sells alcohol," the company declares on its website. It touts partnerships with around 100 bars and restaurants throughout the D.C. metro region and says it reaches customers through posters, cards, and other forms of outreach.

View Drivers Base Service Area in a larger map

And how do customers seem to be reacting? Online reviewers seem open to the idea of the company. One customer happily reports a ride home on the company's Facebook page and says the trip cost (fairly, in his estimate) about $45, including tip. "I don't have to worry," the man wrote, "about taking a cab in the morning, a ticket on my car, or any of that BS you get when you leave your car overnight! Awesome." One review complains of a form of surge pricing used in years past in high-demand holiday times ($50 extra on one New Year's Eve).. The standard base price is $20 plus $3 a mile (5 miles: $35, 10 miles: $50, 20 miles: $80).

"D.C. is a drinking town. D.C. is a driving town. I work to disconnect those two things," Aries Indenbaum, a Drivers, Incorporated saleswoman, explains in a long Tumblr post from earlier this year about how the company works and the labor involved in spreading the word of the service. They enter bars and restaurants to promote what they offer. "I chat with the bartender, the hosts or whoever stands around. We need the permission of the managers, but we desperately require the buy-in of the staff. The staff are our mouths, they are our radio speakers, our boomboxes. I hand out my business cards, neat in their holders, and maybe my informational packet. If I speak to the manager, and they get excited, I give out complimentary rides, and I am the widest of cheese-smiles. I tell them the facts, the details, and the reasoning. And there is nodding and considering, and after a moment, I am scheduling a time to put my signs up."

The model is simple enough and generally seems to run on few people. The prime hours tend to be 10 p.m. till 3 a.m. on any given day. On Jan. 1, 2011, Drivers Incorporated notes there were 15 drivers out on the streets the previous evening, a modest but not insignificant number. The company also employs interceptors, who transport the sober drivers where they need to be. "They must be able to navigate effectively, communicate efficiently with drivers and dispatch, and support drivers in assisting our customers," the company explains. "The ability to read maps quickly and a good sense of direction are necessary. Interceptors keep track of where drivers are and help dispatch figure out where our next available driver will be."

What the service truly reveals is another gap in our transportation infrastructure based on the culture that dominates the District. Drivers Incorporated primarily is useful for people who own cars and feel compelled to take those vehicles out before drinking, perhaps of necessity at times to reach a given destination or perhaps without thought. Not all drinking is planned, after all. The ability to return your vehicle to its home (and more critically, a spot to park where it's not liable to receive expensive tickets, as D.C. is keen to issue) is a valuable perk. A taxicab is a good way for drunk people to get home but not their personal vehicles. The company compares itself to designated-driver services in South Korea and Europe. It's not a bad idea, and I do see the market for these roving, courteous drivers. The service's rise also speaks to the criticism lodged against our D.C. taxicab industry in recent years. Drivers Incorporated points to its respect of customers' privacy and notes "taxi companies don't train their drivers to respect privacy."

Keep Drivers, Incorporated in mind if you need to get around some night next weekend. The concept is interesting, at least, and represents another tactic in the broader business of keeping drunk drivers off the road.

Update, June 1, 10:05 a.m.: Drivers Incorporated has provided some additional information about the service (and clarifies that the name requires that Incorporated be spelled out, lest you confuse them with Drivers, Inc. — I've corrected the couple instances where I abbreviated the name above). Aries Indenbaum tells me that the company avoids using their interceptors when they can and tends to use fold-up bikes and the Metro to get around the city. "Our office storage space is filled with bicycles, and one of our drivers is also a pedicab driver," she writes. Awesome.

The company has 20 employees overall and anywhere from four to 16 drivers working on any given night. They also provide a chauffeur service when not acting as designated drivers.

Metro communications is far richer than it frequently had been in the past and yes, more open — but the strategy also tends to be messy and not tightly coordinated in any real sense. The Riders' Advisory Council has challenged the effectiveness of this communication in a letter to WMATA, presented to the Metro Board of Directors yesterday, with suggestions that Metro create a periodic CEO Report, WMATA monthly newsletter, and Monthly Chairman's Report, as well as an outlet for riders' questions. But would these experiments really help WMATA communications? The agency's greatest sin appears to be its desire to experiment without necessarily following through. We see that most clearly in the number of different communication channels, in large part inspired by the challenge of how to convey the six-year Metro Forward campaign. Let's review.

BLOGGING

WMATA maintains three blogs on top of its regular series of press releases and media alerts. Yes, three ... and they're updated rather infrequently at best. The reasoning behind the three is fuzzy. First there's the Metro Forward blog on the WMATA website itself, which ceased posting updates in fall of last year. These posts presented a playful tone directed at the regular business of WMATA and the headlines display a marked difference from any press release: "We know single tracking slows your roll," "Metro’s Addressing an Escalating Problem," or a post about how shoes and other items get caught in Metro escalators ("Yes, they’re hungry, but they have highly specific dietary needs and shoes have no nutritional value"). What voice was this now? People following the transit agency saw a change when these posts began appearing last summer.  The last blog post here was Aug. 18, 2011 out of about a dozen total.

Then came the Metro Forward blog on Posterous, which launched on June 14, 2011. WMATA has posted 49 updates on Posterous, mostly in 2011 starting in the fall and sporadically in 2012. The Posterous posts focus on, sensibly enough, the Metro Forward track work, with details on what was happening, promoting the explanatory videos, and so on. Up until Thursday of this week, the Posterous blog had received no updates since March 14. Perhaps the Riders' Advisory Council letter prompted WMATA communications to resume these posts? "The Council encourages the Authority to more fully utilize its already-established blog, which, as of April 14, 2012, had only six posts written since January 1, 2012 and was last updated in mid-March," Kelsi Bracmort, RAC chair, writes in her letter. "Considering the breadth of operational, budgetary, policy, and customer-service issues the Authority faces on a day-to-day basis, the RAC feels that there is no shortage of content of interest to customers." Today, as if by magic, a Posterous post on Red Line track progress appeared. The third blog is PlanItMetro, which belongs to WMATA's Office of Long Range Planning and like the Posterous blog, exists on its own website. It's wonky, fun, sporadically updated, and has a voice distinct from the rest of WMATA as it delivers posts on the agency's biking and pedestrian plans, thoughts on how to expand the rail in decades future, and other studies since it began in October of 2010.

Although PlanItMetro may continue to thrive as its own quirky destination, the other two blogs should receive a little more focus and unification if Metro plans to use them to communicate what's happening on the system. Why bother if not? They feel half-hearted in their current incarnation but have real potential with the right commitment. If WMATA intended to switch its Metro Forward updates from the WMATA site to Posterous, fine. But link to the Posterous blog. Tell riders who come to the WMATA site. If you search for Posterous on the WMATA site, guess how many results you come up with. Spoiler alert — it's zero.

TWITTER

My God, what to say on Twitter? The RAC advises splitting up WMATA's Twitter functions "to differentiate between service advisories and news updates, agency information, and additional staff commentary and information" but I'd suggest the bigger problem involves the way WMATA splits its @WMATA primary account (28,282 followers) with its @MetroForward account (2,349 followers) as it is. Like the Posterous blog, the @MetroForward account has been dead since mid-March (last tweet: March 21) and failed to serve much purpose beyond the more robust @WMATA account that far more people pay attention to. In February of 2012, the @MetroForward account tweeted a total of two times! Why not fold the broader promotional mission of this account into @WMATA? One virtue, speaking of handles, is that the new WMATA communications team did nix the old @MetroOpensDoors handle in favor of @WMATA in the past year.

And does WMATA engage with riders on Twitter? Not always consistently but yes. The agency doesn't treat the account as a 24/7 customer service outreach, which given the staffing, makes sense, but the agency responds on occasion despite prominent failures of use in the past. The rare glorious moment occurs. Staff attempt to stir the crowd, too, as with a Rush+ Twitter photo contest this spring. The biggest challenge of Twitter is that this social media channel drowns, quite frankly, in aggression and bile. Many rider complaints are legitimate — the recent "uncommanded" door opening on the Red Line train was alarming, for instance. But the #WMATA hashtag has, increasingly over the course of the last half year, devolved and made any hope of conversation all the more difficult. That said, WMATA should continue to make every effort to monitor and respond to its riders. These conversations are a key part of accountability, which is sometimes lacking.

@megan_lingo please take a minute and share those details with our Customer Service Department… bit.ly/metrocmnt ^BA

— @wmata (@wmata) May 22, 2012

YOUTUBE and FACEBOOK

Here's where WMATA has truly developed a new and stronger presence and shined in the last year. The Facebook page successfully offers its fair share of track work reminders and videos as well as more playful engagement like providing old Metro photos from years past. Brian Anderson has delivered a variety of useful, fascinating videos that do help illustrate WMATA's projects, such as the recent Bike & Ride facility at College Park. The Riders' Advisory Council rightly lauded the several Rush+ videos the agency released this spring. In the past year, the Metro Forward Facebook page has risen from zero followers to nearly 3,500 and for good reason. It's hard to believe that WMATA only joined Facebook on June 13, 2011.

VERDICT

In the past year, WMATA has successfully raised awareness for its Metro Forward campaign and presented an array of new updates. These updates, however, are inconsistent and what WMATA needs more than new CEO Reports and Chairman's Reports is a commitment to its existing channels in a way that riders can trust. There's always more experimentation possible — why not create Pinterest and Tumblr accounts while the agency's at it, right? But any effort should receive the appropriate level of commitment and not wind up abandoned for months. Overall, WMATA's deeper problems concern how its service flails amid its repairs and a lack of accountability, and the past year has included a complicated mix of events — uncovered corruption and neglected defibrillators come to mind on the one hand, and on the other a new responsiveness, evinced in the quick reception to sexual harassment concerns (and what seems to be an active, engaged response executed in good faith). But the slow, evolving communications revolution is a valid dimension of the D.C. transit agency's past 12 months. Clearly the efforts are still messy and ongoing but they're demonstrably there (if sporadically), with a growing number of followers across all these accounts to show for it, not to mention the half dozen town hall meetings before the fare hikes, meetings on bus lines, fanfare about surveys and rider feedback (recall how Farragut Crossing got its name?), and public events designed to share Metro news. Other little stabs at transparency have followed, too, as WMATA again releases a monthly police blotter of transit crime and daily listing of rail problems as of early 2012. The agency attempted to set up a new alerts system with MetroAlerts. The communications staff have attempted to make the WMATA site more user-friendly. Good steps.

Yet a transit agency's communications is tricky. Sometimes these moves leave people shaking their heads at the impression of marketing and PR, not walking away feeling any more connected or understanding. WMATA now needs to tighten its commitment to specific channels and really develop a human, open, and consistent voice that convinces its riders that the agency is listening and engaged and not entirely a PR flourish. What remains is a deficit of trust.

"Gassama was carrying a red and black backpack when he began running," the Montgomery County Police write on their blog today. "The officer chased Gassama across Georgia Avenue and into the surrounding neighborhoods before Gassama was apprehended by another officer at the intersection of Chesterfield Road and Bel Pre Road."

The bag was missing when police finally reached Gassama but they tracked it to a trash can on Manor Park Court and lo and behold, inside it was a "a loaded Jennings 9mm handgun and a magazine with additional ammunition." Yikes. Police arrested Gassama for the firearms and failing to obey an officer and he is now held on a $5,000 bond.

See, D.C. commuters? Just another sign that life will be easier for you if you just remember to follow the rules of the road. Jaywalking comes with consequences.

Most commuters are probably familiar with the 600 or so white MetroAccess vans that have transported many in the region who experience disabilities for years, a familiar sight for years now. These new manufactured MV1s should be a welcome addition. MetroAccess riders may not have succeeded in fighting fare hikes recently but at least they'll have a snazzier set of rides here, which cost in total around $800,000. These new vehicles do look sleeker than the current models, I'll admit. This sharpness is noted by many VPG customers on the MV1's Facebook page and in the celebratory video of a vlogger known as ProfessirX below. In WMATA's announcement of the MV1s, Assistant General Manager of Access Services Christian Kent calls them "a more versatile option for providing trips, while maintaining a fully accessible paratransit fleet" because they're designed exclusively for passengers with disabilities. Metro promises seating for four and wide doorways. Take a first look at the vehicles in action here:

Both Maryland and Virginia offer versions of the 511 traffic information service, although Virginia's significantly ahead of the game with work beginning as early as 2002. The Federal Communications Commission established the three-digit number back in 1999, and states began deploying their own 511s with varying results in the years since. Virginia's latest 511 launched last Thursday, May 18, 2012 and promises easy tracking of road conditions via the web, a mobile application, video, and even, in a tourism-driven move, the best routes to Virginia Beach, and replaces the Commonwealth's 511 service launched in 2008.

"It's the first time we've been able to offer streaming video on our service," Scott Cowherd, program manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation, told a crowd at the Smart Transportation conference in National Harbor, Maryland, this week. He points to a display showing a map of traffic incidents. "It continues to upload while you're looking at it. That is live information ... There's over 700 cameras throughout the state."

What 511 promises is a new form of service from transportation departments across the country. Maryland has sought to engineer its own dynamic service, focused especially on sharing traffic information and video among many different organizations to maximize efficiency. Maryland kicked off its 511 in the last couple years, first with a procurement package in late 2009, then a notice to proceed in September of 2010, and a formal launch in August 2011. From then through the end of March, the Maryland 511 clocked 344,406 calls, 2.6 million pageviews, and more than 3,000 registered users. The older Virginia 511 has recorded about 200,000 calls a month, 11 million calls overall, and eight million website visits since first launching 10 years ago. Both states pull traffic information from prominent resources like software company INRIX to help travelers understand road conditions.

Maryland's goal, according to Maryland State Highway Administration Deputy Director Glenn McLaughlin, is to make this traffic information "actionable" to someone trying to figure out if they'll be trapped in gridlock for hours.

(Photo: MDOT)

"We want something available where people are, what they want," McLaughlin said in a Tuesday session on 511 innovations. "We need to take a more proactive role in recognizing the travelers as a partner in our roadways."

The development of these 511 services is relatively new in transportation, with a variety of jurisdictions struggling to articulate how they want to convey traffic information and the underlying philosophy. McLaughlin says that had Maryland started back in 2002 like Virginia, the state would be a lot further along. Virginia, to its credit, may have benefited for more time before its recent launch. Cowherd described the rush to launch the latest version last week as especially high pressure ... the government was "under the gun" to release the new 511. Our region is especially complicated by its sprawl and the fact that in the Washington, D.C. metro area, three jurisdictions dominate. The District of Columbia lacks a proper 511 service of its own, although its transportation department has made strides to coordinate video and traffic information in recent years and offer real-time updates. Its Twitter account is an especially critical and well-run resource, although Maryland, for what it's worth, sees Twitter as a poor resource for traffic updates. About 700 followers watch the Maryland 511 Twitter account — "Twitter is not the best way to convey travelers' information," McLaughlin remarked. DDOT has more than 10,000 followers despite no 511.

"We're trying to grow up like Maryland and Virginia and get our 511 running," explained James Cheeks, DDOT chief of traffic signals, safety, and standards, at the Smart Transportation conference. Cheeks acknowledges that D.C. has its own transportation priorities that would drive its version of 511, however, taking into account its myriad modes of transportation — only four in 10 D.C. residents commute by car, after all. What of Capital Bikeshare, streetcar, the rise of walking, the buses and trains? "We have our special things we'll want to do also," Cheeks said to his fellow transportation officials. "In the District we've got a lot of other modes of transportation."

The 511 service coincides with a broader technological revolution in how transportation departments let commuters know what's up on the roads. One key tool is the introduction and expansion of "dynamic message signs," which can feature any number of real-time updates for motorists. D.C. has 43 of these portable signs that can announce anything from road closures to the Cherry Blossom Festival, and Maryland's use of dynamic 511 signs caused the number of callers to increase ninefold. Money, as MDOT's CHART Systems Administrator Richard Dye emphasized, is a mounting challenge, especially as commuters expect more and more information and new information services. In that spirit, Virginia has set up 161 traffic signs promoting its 511 service and has sold premium and corporate sponsorships as a way of raising revenue for a fund intended to offset the program's annual operating costs of about $2.1 million. Virginia hopes to double the number of sponsorable signs to 300-350 within the next year or so and its long-term goal is to, at the least, break even. The state recently debuted six electronic signs around Hampton Roads, similar to travel time signs elsewhere in the Commonwealth, that alert people in real-time how many minutes it will take them to get to Virginia Beach. Virginia's new 511 is part of a five-year $10-million contract with Iteris, Inc. but the state may extend the contract to nine if all goes well. Other developments are on the horizon. Maryland foresees adding text and e-mail alerts this June. VDOT wants to add 200 traffic cameras on top of their current inventory of 750+. Overall, all three jurisdictions acknowledge the importance of sharing data and video and have attempted create robust networks in order to do so more easily.

One fascinating footnote to the emerging 511 services is semantic. Should jurisdictions announce service for "travel" or "traffic"? Virginia opted for the former for years and just switched to the latter, whereas Maryland prefers the former. "Travel" advocates like the word's receptivity to other modes of transportation, its freedom, whereas critics see the word and hear "tourism." That's why Virginia changed its name.

But next time you're stuck in traffic, whether in Virginia or Maryland, try 511. With all the travel of Memorial Day weekend, there's no better time to use it.

"If we seek to ban the phone," said Leo McCloskey, vice president of marketing for telematics company Airbiquity at a Tuesday conference session, "the consumers will ignore us very, very quickly."

How do you change a driver’s behavior? That’s the task facing the transportation world today for the sake of everyone’s safety, whether passenger, bicyclist, or pedestrian. The challenge will call on regulators from federal and state government, auto makers, technology companies, and an emphasis on driver education. Recent history has created an unprecedented level of distraction for today’s travelers on the road but distraction is not entirely new — nor is it likely to be prevented until robots take the wheel.

"There was always the baby in the backseat crying," McCloskey remarked. "These things are never going away."

The history of the automobile is the history of mounting distraction. One decade, it’s windshield wipers. The next, it’s the radio. Now we have screens and games and smartphones and more and more noise. What’s changed is our lifestyles and severity of distractions. "Some of the recent things are what distracts us the most," said Steve Kenner, Ford’s global manager for automotive safety. Ford touts plenty of data points to reinforce the idea. Talking while driving, according to Kenner, will increase the risk but not that much. But if you dial with a handheld mobile device, you’re six times as likely to get into an accident or near-accident. If you have to deal with a big screen while driving, it’s 10 times as likely. If you’re texting, however, you really better watch out. Then the risk rises to 23 times as dangerous. "It seems like you could use the in-vehicle systems to do something safer," Kenner added. "We think some of the things we’re doing [at Ford Motor Company] are part of the solution."

What do industry and government officials believe may help reduce incidents of distracted driving? Ford pushes hand-free devices, operated by voice and less likely to pull a driver’s eyes from the road and traffic. Kenner also mentions the greater opportunities to counteract distraction in the name of traffic safety. The federal government has partnered with eight auto companies, including Ford, in recent years to integrate traffic safety technology that allows cars to communicate with one another and give warnings about potential collisions and whenever a driver veers out of his or her lane. Semi-autonomous driving features will become more common and perhaps curb our distracted impulses. Ford has released a tool called MyKey, which lets parents control the maximum speed at which their childrens' vehicles travel and presets other restrictions to minimize distraction (like, say, the radio volume, even) and encourage safety. Fight technology with technology.

Recent data, according to Kenner, suggests about one in 10 of the 32,788 traffic deaths of 2010 involved distracted driving and little more than one in a hundred involved a handheld device. NHTSA suggests about 3,092 deaths happened that year due to distraction (much lower than the previous year due to refined methodology). Concern over the seat belt, titan of traffic safety that it is, and drunk driving remain larger factors in the annual number of traffic deaths. Distracted driving? It's an issue — and as any of the five speakers at the conference session would emphasize, any traffic death is too many — but not the issue causing vehicles to veer recklessly.

"The practical reality, according to the 2010 data, is that it’s a small contributor," said Matt Howard, CEO and co-founder of ZoomSafer. He remains concerned about how private companies can develop the proper policies and enforcement on distracted driving.

But distraction is one of the watchwords of our Facebook-driven, Twitter-fueled age, and transportation will contend with distraction as much as any other field. None of the panelists felt that any emerging technology could end distraction, at least not until the robots, but the key will be on educating and creating ways for people to not lose sight of the road. Some technological improvements have already helped. Consider maps, for instance. Was looking through a pile of physical maps really better than hearing the voice commands of a GPS system now? Certainly not. Another panelist cited the concern that now, 20% of roads change every year though and, as Damian Woodward, vice president of sales for TomTom noted, "keeping your map fresh is imperative." Changing driver behavior is nothing new, though. We successfully demonized drunk driving starting half a century ago. The Click It or Ticket campaign has helped elevate the seat belt in the last two decades. Perhaps we need, McCloskey suggested, some "cutesy" message to stigmatize distracted driving? LaHood has begun trying. Perhaps, as one questioner asked, our speed cameras can zero in on mobile-phone users as apparently has begun happening in the United Kingdom. The panelists remained skeptical that the U.S. would accept such enforcement though.

"We’re going to have to deal with the fact that we are distracted," said Kenner.

The focus, according to Kenner, will be on "mitigating" and counteracting the problem and creating a world in which these new distracted-driving deaths are, somehow, "manageable."

Take a look at the slow, confusing mess here: