I don’t really enjoy sending compliments Houston’s way, even though I love my family and most close relatives live there, but I do think Houston deserves props for moving full speed ahead on light rail.  Land is Houston is used so haphazardly that it remains to be seen whether transit can ever make a meaningful dent on single-rider car use, but I really applaud Houston for going after it and setting an example for many other cities to consider.

I’m encouraged to see Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist sign a bill into law that encourages more high speed rail in Florida–a state that’s seen some success with commuter rail but could really benefit, I think, from inter-city rail.

I’m particularly pleased that the bill includes some “restoration and enhancement” funds rather than just new lines.  As I’ve said before, it’s a lot cheaper to maintain than to build new, but it’s not always as politically “sexy,” so I’m glad Crist is willing to commit to maintenance, not just new capital.

Good news for riders of “paratransit” services–where transit agencies provide door-to-door services to those unable to get to a bus stop along a fixed route.  Technology now exists to allow agencies to track where those paratransit shuttles/vans are and  get them to clients more quickly.  Let’s hope that innovations like this encourage those debating between taxis or driving themselves to err on the side of transit.

This won’t surprise you that much, I hope, but transit saves you money.  When you compare insurance, fuel, and parking costs, to say NOTHING of repairs and maintenance costs associated with owning/driving a car, this study shows you could save more than $9,000 a year riding transit.  Obviously, that’s going to vary widely from city to city and depending on where you live in relation to transit, and I don’t know that it factors in “productivity” based on how long a ride might take on transit vs. in a private car, but I think the study is worth your attention.

I’ve got a lot on my mind about transit, not the least of which is my excitement over riding an international transit system soon (Santiago’s).

But I wanted to briefly mention one or two thoughts on bus drivers.  I had occasion to be riding buses a good amount the past few days, and on two occasions, I was thrown around the bus because the driver stopped suddenly.  One driver stopped suddenly twice, nearly causing me to crash hard into the floor, while another stopped suddenly once, and I was better able to brace myself.

I mention this not to either a) call for seatbelts on buses (though they might be worthwhile), or b) call out particular drivers, but it  gave me a new appreciation for the skills a driver needs to perform well.  We want buses to run efficiently, on schedule, and comfortably, and those goals can end up opposed to one another, particularly in heavy traffic (as my rides were in).  More than anything, my experience made me realize that bus drivers may earn more than others in jobs considered to be in a similar category (trades, etc.), but they do deserve it given the challenges of driving a bus and the number of lives we place in their hands.

On a more positive note, one of these two drivers actually took the trouble of alerting a sleeping college student that she had fallen asleep and might have needed an earlier stop.  His bus was stopped when he did this, and we weren’t behind schedule.  The student really appreciated it, and I was very moved by it.  It reminded me of the obvious fact that bus drivers aren’t robots but human beings trying to help people, and it also reminded me that we transit riders may take for granted our “right” (or “privilege”) to sleep while we ride.  I admit that I enjoy having that privilege, though I seldom use it if I’m riding by myself because I’m afraid I’ll miss my stop.  But that driver’s courtesy really impressed me and reminded me why I value my rides on transit.

I am intrigued to read of Florida’s special session on high-speed rail and the Republican Governor’s endorsement of it, especially given that he’s in a tight primary race. It’s not that Republicans never support transit, but it appears that Florida Republicans seem to want to frame it on the basis of fiscal responsibility (how expensive it is to build rail) rather than how it stimulates economic growth.

“Debate quickly became polarized on the session’s first day with nearly one-third of legislators absent. Supporters said rail projects would spur hundreds of thousands of new jobs and ease traffic congestion, while opponents disputed job-creation numbers and said the price tag is too high.”

It seems like there is enough support for both SunRail and Tri-Rail from the legislators in Central and South Florida, respectively, for this high-speed rail plan to move forward.  The concept needs support in “swing states” like Florida to catch on elsewhere.  I know plenty of people who work in one part of Florida and have to travel to other parts regularly, and this would help them and enhance the tourism experience for lots of visitors.  Even in a relatively big state, I think it could work if it’s competitive with driving–three hours from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando, say–and with flying on price (maybe $20 for that trip?).

Just heard a great segment during a public radio show based in Seattle called “Weekday” discussing differences in transit between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.  Most interesting to me were the guest’s points about how easy it is to take a train into Portland (from out of town) and then hop on streetcar, light rail, bus, bike, sidewalk, etc., all right there with clear signage.  This photo from lightrailnow.org (taken by Peter Ehrlich) helps illustrate the beauty of bringing services together.

Portland's streetcar and light rail intersect and make it easy to get from one mode to another

The federal government announced new funding for “circulator” projects.  These are less about commuting and more about moving from central city destination to central city destination, but I would argue that the two audiences/aims don’t have to be mutually exclusive.  Particularly if you live near or in a downtown neighborhood, the circulator can prove very helpful and useful moving throughout the central city.  I don’t know whether other Austinites would call our former Dillos “circulators,” but that’s how I imagined them (even though they were rubber-tired buses and not streetcars).  I won’t write more here about Dillos, but suffice it to say, I think circulators add value, and I know Austin is pursuing them for the near future.

I did not expect to buy an iPhone or similar device, but the built-in Google Maps application that allows you to get where you’re going using transit was a big selling point for me.  Wired magazine has helpfully found a few other apps helpful to commuters of all kinds, including bike commuters, drivers, and transit riders.

This is part of my broader message: if “choice” riders (i.e., those who could get to work without transit and make a choice, rather than those compelled to ride it based on funds, disabilities, etc.) knew how easy it was for them to figure out how to get where they are going, transit could become a lot more popular.

With apologies to Abdul Salaam El Razzac, who said a version of my title in the movie “Pretty Woman”, I thought this article was a pretty interesting and, at times, depressing and scary look at transit in Los Angeles.  Check out these passages; the premise is that the guy will get around in LA for a week using only transit and see how it goes.  This is obviously potent material for the argument about how transit succeeds or fails, in large measure, based on how land gets used. 

My grand scheme hit its first speed bump after the first hour. I’d taken the bus from West Hollywood, where I was staying, to a bus stop near the Getty Villa, but as I approached the steep driveway leading up to the museum, two stern-looking security guards stopped me. Walking up the driveway would have taken no more than five minutes, but the guards said I had to wait while they radioed for a shuttle. The result was that in this wealthy, beachfront community of movie stars, I arrived unceremoniously at the Getty in the back seat of a four-door pickup truck.

On a couple of my days, I spent more than four hours sitting on buses and trains, feeling I was doing a lot more newspaper reading than sightseeing.

I did meet one Angeleno who prefers public transit to a car—a movie producer who lives in West Hollywood next door to my friend’s house, where I was staying, and he agreed to talk only on the condition of anonymity. “It’s a preconceived idea that if you take the bus, you’re a failure,” he said. He ticked off things he likes about the bus. “I can read, I can get up to date on my iPhone, I can watch videos on my iPod. There’s a lot that can be done with someone else driving.” He warned me repeatedly not to reveal his name. “In the entertainment business, if they knew I took the bus they’d never talk to me,” he said, explaining that he hires a car and driver when going to a studio.

One of L.A.’s best-known public-transportation enthusiasts is Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor and 1988 presidential candidate, who now teaches public policy three months a year at the University of California, Los Angeles. “When I tell people in L.A. that I take the bus to the airport, they have no idea what I’m talking about,” Mr. Dukakis said in a telephone interview. “Freeways were a choice we made nationally,” he added. “But people are starting to ask, ‘What are we doing?’It’s clear public opinion is changing, but once you have these urban development patterns based on highways, it’s pretty tough.”

Michael Brein, a Honolulu psychologist and writer, has written 14 guides on how to tour U.S. and European cities by public transit; his latest is about Los Angeles, where he visited more than 200 attractions (the guide is available by download at michaelbrein.com). “I did the whole shebang by public transit,” he brags. His advice: “Visit L.A. a section at a time,” spending the whole day in one area before moving to the next.

My five-day L.A. adventure ended up costing less than $30 in public-transportation fares. My final stop was in Pasadena to see the Huntington Library and Gardens, a vast estate with a European painting collection housed in an old mansion and acres of botanical gardens. By this point, I expected to be used to taking public transit. But I hadn’t dreamed of an itinerary like this: a bus to Hollywood to catch the subway, the subway to Union Station, the Yellow Line light rail line to Pasadena, a local Pasadena bus and then a mile-long walk to the Huntington. When I was ready to leave, the sun was baking hot, and the driver of a lone taxicab at the entrance offered to take me to the Gold Line station for the outrageous sum of $10. I hopped in without a second thought.