Wednesday, May 1, 2013
About 5,000 potholes get filled each year during month-long event in the District.
Commuters driving to and from Washington, DC, during the work week know they face a double whammy in their daily traffic wars—the volume of cars on the road and the varying quality of the road itself. Each spring since 2009, the DC government has kicked off its month-long “Potholepalooza” on Earth Day. It may not be as festive as it sounds, but it might make getting from here to there a bit less bone-jarring. For 30 days, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will work to fill any identified pothole within 48 hours. Over the previous four Potholepaloozas, more than 21,000 potholes have been filled. Is there a pothole you would like to see fixed? There are a number of ways you can report the pavement problems to DDOT: …
Friday, August 10, 2012
A study confirms that driving home on Fridays takes longer than commutes during the rest of the week.
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Friday, August 10, 2012
A recent study confirms what Washingtonians have long known to be true—Friday afternoon commutes cause more headaches than your average drive home. A study conducted by an outside traffic research firm for Governing.com shows that Friday afternoons are the worst time to drive in nearly three-quarters of metro areas nationally, including Washington, DC. DC ranked as the ninth worst metro area for Friday afternoon delays of the 100 cities included in the data, according to the report. The average Friday afternoon delay in the region clocked in at 7.47 minutes for a 30-minute commute. Monday through Thursday, the data shows the average delay to be about 5.94 minutes for a half-hour trip. Washington ranked just below Portland, OR, at eighth …
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Bike thefts, high ridership contributed to decision to make College Park Metro station the first for Bike & Ride facility.
Metro officially unveiled its first enclosed, card-accessible Bike & Ride storage facility on Tuesday morning at the College Park-University of Maryland station, a win for bicycle and public transit commuters. Shane Farthing, executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, said this isn’t the first effort by Metro to encourage bike commuting—“but it does indicate a shift,” he said at the Tuesday morning press conference. The 2,400-square-foot structure can hold more than 120 bikes. Riders can purchase a card that provides access to the walk-in facility for $20. After the initial $5 first-use registration cost, rental rates range between 2 and 5 cents per hour, depending on the time of day. Kristin Haldeman of the Office of…
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Growing participation in city's Bike to Work Day pit stop could be sign of more cycling commuters in the city, organizer says.
Friday morning, more than 100 cyclists are expected to pedal their way to City Hall to celebrate two-wheel commuting with refreshments, camaraderie, and for some, a group ride into Washington, D.C. Senior Planner Elisa Vitale estimates that participation in the city’s annual Bike to Work Day pit stop has tripled over seven years from about 50 to 150—evidence, she thinks, that bicycling to work is a growing trend. “I think biking is getting more popular, and you see it in the news more, and [with] the cost of gas … I think more and more people are looking at cycling as an option,” she said. She might be right. U.S. Census Bureau statistics show a 40 percent growth between 2000 and 2010 in the percentage of American workers who use a bicycle…
Some say light rail will ease commuting, while others are wary of funding issues.
For more on the Purple Line, check out our series. Speak Out: What do you think about the Purple Line coming to Prince George's County? Will it help or hurt local businesses?
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The system could be implemented within a year.
College Park will receive a $375,000 state grant to cover most of the cost for eight Capital Bikeshare stations in the city, which could be operational in about a year. Commuters will be able to rent a bike from one station and return it to any other station, either in College Park, Washington or Arlington. Planning Director Terry Schum said she expects the program to play a key role in getting commuters to consider alternative transportation options, adding that Bikeshare is well-suited for the home city of the University of Maryland. “It’s sort of a no brainer with the college,” she said. Sophomore Brooke Rosenblatt wasn’t confident she would use the bike-share program, but said that students who live on campus without a car might find …
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Metro officials want to know your opinion about proposed fare increases. So does Patch. Pre-meeting discussion begins in the comment section.
Local commuters will be able to tell Metro officials exactly what they think of proposed fare increases at the last of a series of six public hearings on proposed Metro fare increases. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church at 6201 Belcrest Road in Hyattsville. Previous meetings in the series, such as this one in Falls Church, have brought out crowds of speakers, many of them critical of aspects of Metro's 2013 budget. Metro's 2013 budget unveiled last January proposed hiring more than 1,000 employees in a plan that also raises bus, rail and parking rates across the system. The $1.6 billion budget proposal would increase fares by 5 percent while expanding the system's total number of employees by 9 …
Ian Cooper
2:19 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Let's face it - Bike to Work Day is a sham - it's a day for motorists to pretend they're cyclists for one day a year. As a person who cycles to work every day, I don't want to have anything to do with that. If that many motorists really want to be cyclists, all they have to do is cycle more often than they drive - it's that simple. One day a year not only doesn't cut it - it's a shameful and … more ›