Posts Tagged ‘accessibility’

Biking and SafeTrack – Highlighting the Need for Bike Infrastructure

September 28th, 2016 Comments off

Transit and bikes go hand in hand. Not only can riders bike to and from stations for that first and last mile, but biking is a great way to get around when Metrorail is under maintenance.  It’s important that our policy makers understand the importance of having good bike infrastructure.

jim-at-howard-theater

Biking to historic Howard Theater (photo courtesy of APA’s Sam Schipani)

On Sunday, September 18th, I rode around DC with a bunch of planners from across the country in town for the American Planning Association’s (APA) annual Policy and Advocacy Conference.  This annual conference gears planners up to advocate for federal, state and local policies that advance good planning principles through the legislative process.   There are two days of training workshops and speaker sessions and an entire day of meetings on Capitol Hill, where planners meet with their representatives to discuss planning issues and their importance to creating strong communities.

One of the training sessions sponsored by the APA Virginia Young Planners Group (YPG) was a mobile workshop on bicycle infrastructure planning and the role of the bicycle as a viable transportation option.  I was there as a speaker to provide some background about bicycling as an alternative for riders trying to get around during our SafeTrack rebuilding program.  Two other speakers very familiar with the biking world here in DC were on the tour as well – Jim Sebastian, who manages DDOT’s Active Transportation Branch and is their chief bike planner responsible for most of the DC bicycling infrastructure that has come on-line in the last decade and helped make DC #4 in the country for bike commuting, and Doug Smith, WABA’s Everyday Bicycling Coordinator. Read more…

Bus Stop Accessibility Improvements – Making Good on the Promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act

August 26th, 2015 8 comments

Metro is taking a data-driven approach to make the region’s bus stops more accessible to all.

The signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990 was a landmark event in our nation’s history. Like other pieces of civil rights legislation, this law works to ensure a more inclusive America, one where every person has the right to participate in all sectors of society and be recognized for his or her accomplishments. Its passage paved the way for millions of Americans with disabilities to positively contribute to their communities in a variety of ways, including employment.

Two decades on, however, much work still remains to be done.

The DC region has over 19,000 bus stops, with approximately 11,100 served by Metrobus, and the remaining 8,900 served exclusively by locally operated transit systems. Of the 19,000 stops, approximately 6,500 are inaccessible to some people with disabilities. Inaccessible bus stops can be a reason for an individual to qualify for MetroAccess paratransit service operated by Metro, and can be a reason for an individual to choose MetroAccess over fixed route bus service for a particular trip. Accessible bus stops reduce demand for paratransit service, and improve safety for all customers. Metro and each jurisdiction in the region are working to improve inaccessible stops. In addition to improving stops Metro also aims to use an array of data as well as policy adjustments to strategically target bus stops for improvements.

Metro’s Bus Stop Standard

Metro maintains a database of the region’s bus stops. As a result of a new bus stop standard, Metro is not only updating the information in the database, but is working to improve the database in two significant ways: 1) provide jurisdictional access to update the database and 2) the addition of a smartphone app.

The standard criteria of an accessible bus stop includes the following: 1) Flat and Firm Surface, 2) 5 feet wide x 8 feet long, and 3) Connects to the Curb. Metro has added a fourth criterion for measuring the accessibility of a bus stop: the presence of an accessible pathway to/from the nearest corner to the bus stop. That accessible pathway must include a curb cut at the corner with an additional curb cut at one adjacent corner.

Fig1 - Accessible but connected

The two photos above illustrate the difference. Both bus stops feature flat and firm surfaces that are at least 5’ x 8’ in size, and both connect to the curb. So under the standard criteria, both are accessible bus stops. The difference is that the stop in the photo on the left is surrounded by grass and dirt. There is no accessible pathway to/from the stop. The stop on the right connects to the accessible sidewalk and pathway to the corner. Read more…