Revisiting Donald Appleyard’s Livable Streets

Revisiting Donald Appleyard's Livable Streets from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

You may have wondered, while watching a Streetfilm or reading a post on Streetsblog, where we got the term "livable streets."

by Elizabeth Press on November 1, 2010 |

"The answer can be found in the work of Donald Appleyard, a scholar who studied the neighborhood environment and the ways planning and design can make life better for city residents. In 1981, Appleyard published "Livable Streets" based on his research into how people experience streets with different traffic volumes.  The Second Edition of Livable Streets will be published by Routledge Press in 2011.

Today we're revisiting Appleyard's work in the second installment of our series, "Fixing the Great Mistake." This video explores three studies in "Livable Streets" that measured, for the first time, the effect of traffic on our social interactions and how we perceive our own homes and neighborhoods.

"Fixing the Great Mistake" is a new Streetfilms series that examines what went wrong in the early part of the 20th Century, when our cities began catering to the automobile, and how those decisions continue to affect our lives today."

Fonte e vídeo:

http://www.streetfilms.org/revisiting-donald-appleyards-livable-streets/

Roads Need to be Shared, Not Monopolized by Cars

Traffic Calming: Postcards from London from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

"We often hear the excuse that there's simply not enough space to accomodate drivers and cyclists & pedestrians. But is that true? When it comes to lack of space, many areas of London, UK, are hard to beat, yet as the video above demonstrates, it is more than possible to share the road. Many traffic-calming measures are necessary to make them safe for non-drivers, but that brings many other side benefits (it's an incentive for more people to take public transit inside the city)."

Fonte:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/tips-from-london-on-how-to-share-roads-calm-traffic-video.php

Fixing the Great Mistake: Autocentric Development

by Elizabeth Press on February 25, 2010

""Fixing the Great Mistake" is a new Streetfilms series that examines what went wrong in the early part of the 20th Century, when our cities began catering to the automobile, and how those decisions continue to affect our lives today.
In this episode, Transportation Alternatives director Paul Steely White shows how planning for cars drastically altered Park Avenue. Watch and see what Park Avenue used to look like, how we ceded it to the automobile, and what we need to do to reclaim the street as a space where people take precedence over traffic."

Fonte:

http://www.streetfilms.org/fixing-the-great-mistake-autocentric-development/#more-27221

Curitiba’s BRT: Inspired Bus Rapid Transit Around the World

by Elizabeth Press on March 31, 2009

"Curitiba, Brazil first adopted its Master Plan in 1968. Since then, it has become a city well known for inventive urban planning and affordable (to the user and the city) public transportation.

Curitiba's Bus Rapid Transit system is the source of inspiration for many other cities including the TransMilenio in Bogotá, Colombia; Metrovia in Guayaquil, Ecuador; as well as the Orange Line of Los Angeles.

This video illustrates how Curitiba's public transportation system operates and the urban planning and land use principles on which it is based, including an interview with the former Mayor and architect Jaime Lerner. Current city employees also discuss the improvements that are being made to the system to keep it up to date and functioning at the capacity of a typical subway system. Curitiba is currently experimenting with adding bypassing lanes on the dedicated BRT routes and smart traffic lights to prioritize buses. They are even constructing a new line which will have a linear park and 18km of bike lane that parallels the bus transit route."

Fonte:
http://www.streetfilms.org/curitibas-brt/

Bike-Bus Lanes

"Overview

Bike-bus lanes are travel lanes restricted to buses, bicycles, and (usually) vehicles turning right. The lane is separated from general purpose lanes by a solid white line, and designated by signs and painted legends. This configuration requires bicyclists and buses to pass one another in "leapfrog" fashion. Cities employing shared bike-bus lanes include Tucson, AZ; Madison, WI; Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, BC; and Philadelphia, PA.

Shared vs. Separate Lanes

On a busy arterial street with conventional bike lanes, buses frequently block the bike lane at bus stops. Bicyclists may also be squeezed between the door zone of parked cars on the right and adjacent traffic on the left. A shared lane eliminates these issues, but may introduce new hazards. However, many bicyclists feel the shared bike-bus lane functions better than a conventional bike lane [1] because bus traffic tends to be relatively light, bus drivers are professionally trained to coexist with bicyclists, and buses can merge partway into the adjacent lane to overtake a bicyclist. Nevertheless, many local traffic departments are reluctant to allow bicyclists access to bus-only lanes. This effectively disenfranchises bicyclists on streets where dedicated bus lanes have been deployed, but denying bicyclists access to them.
In some cities, bicycle lanes are provided to the left of dedicated bus lanes (see photo). This introduces turning conflicts where buses turn left across the bike lane, and bicyclists turn right across the bus lane, and motorists turn right across both.

Safety Studies

A reportedly suppressed study by Transport for London leaked to the London Telegraph [2] indicates that on two corridors where bicycles and motorized cycles were allowed in bus lanes, bicyclist crashes were reduced 44%.
Bike-bus lanes have been used in French and German cities. Paris and Bordeaux have shared lane networks of 118 and 40km, respectively. According to the German Cycling Federation [3], the Federal Ministry of Transportation reports bicycles are safer using bus lanes, and bus operations are not negatively affected by this arrangement. The Ministry states that, where traffic speeds exceed 30 mph, the width of the lane should be at least 4 meters (13 feet) to allow bicyclists to overtake a bus without entering an adjacent lane. Narrower widths, typically 3.0 meters (10.5 - 11.5 feet) are acceptable in lower speed environments (20mph or less). By contrast, the City of Madison, Wisconsin, prefers a width of 16 feet, but may allow widths of 14 feet or even less when necessary.

Bike-Bus Lanes in Streetfilms

Mobilien: Paris' Version of BRT 

Curitiba's BRT

Rush Hour on S.F.'s Market St.

For safe sharing of bike-bus lanes, education of bus drivers is considered important. In early 2008, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley proposed opening that city's dedicated bus lanes to bicycles, with an intent to provide training to all bus drivers prior to launching the program [4].

ALSO ON THE LIVABLE STREETS NETWORK

• Streetsblog: Whoa: NYPD Ticketing Bus Lane Violators Includes discussion of legality and safety of riding bicycles in bus lanes.
  

REFERENCES

Each source is referred to by the same number every time it is cited. Please keep citation style consistent.
[1] John S. Allen's Bicycle Facilities, Laws, and Program Pages.
[2] Telegraph.co.uk. The truth about bikes and bus lanes, 1/25/08

[3] German Cycling Federation page, translated into English here.
[4] CBS2.com, Daley proposes bike riders use bus lanes, 6/14/08.

PICTURE REFERENCES

Pictures are cited in the order they appear above. Please keep citation style consistent.
[1] Milwaukee Avenue Bike-Bus Lane, Chicago, IL, courtesy Steve Vance, Flickr 2008.
[2] Marquette Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, courtesy John S. Allen"


 Fonte:
http://www.livablestreets.com/streetswiki/bike-bus-lanes

Phoenix’s METRO Light Rail Takes Flight

by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. on June 17, 2009

"Everyone knows that Phoenix has a huge sprawl problem. But now transit-oriented development is on the upswing in this Sun Belt metropolis. In December, the Phoenix region opened one of the most ambitious transit projects in recent U.S. history: a 20-mile light rail line with 28 stops serving three cities (Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa). Future plans include an extension within three years, with several new corridors being studied.

The Valley Metro vehicles are handsome and comfortable, and thus far ridership has far exceeded initial projections -- with as many as 40,000 riders per day, compared to the expected 25,000. Each station features amenities and art installations. In addition, with many folks using the light rail as an intermodal step in their commutes, bicycles are welcome aboard."

Fonte:
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/phoenixs-metro-light-rail-takes-flight/

Entrevista com Enrique Peñalosa

"As mayor of Bogota, Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa accomplished remarkable changes of monumental proportions for the people of his country in just three years.

Peñalosa changed the way Bogota treated its non-driving citizens by restricting automobile use and instituting a bus rapid transit system which now carries a 1/2 million residents daily. Among other improvements: he widened and rebuilt sidewalks, created grand public spaces, and implemented over one hundred miles of bicycle paths.

TOPP Executive Director Mark Gorton discusses with Penalosa some of these transportation achievements and asks what the future could hold for NYC if similar improvements were made here."

Fonte:
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/interview-with-enrique-penalosa-long/