I've just taken a few minutes to skim through the Fattah Transportation Plan, and here's my initial reaction to some of the points of the plan:
Re-Establish the Office of Transportation.
This will only be as effective as the "leading transportation professional" that Fattah will appoint as Director and as the access that this person will have to the mayor. Just having the office won't be enough. Accountability will be key. What happens if SEPTA doesn't improve? Does Fattah fire the Director of the Office of Transportation? Clearly, it would be SEPTA's general manager who would be responsible but what control does the mayor have over that position? There is some answer to that in the part where he talks about the city's representation on the SEPTA board, so more on that later.
Use Upcoming Lease Negotiations with SEPTA as an Opportunity for Change
Pretty short on details here. What exactly does it mean to "redefine and enhance the city’s relationship with SEPTA?" What ideas does he have for what could be improved with SEPTA? Does he have any specifics for what he would ask for during the leasing negotiations so that operators would no longer "lose sight of SEPTA as an integrated and truly regional mass transit system?"
Increase Philadelphia’s Representation on the SEPTA Board.
Absolutely no argument with that one. Does anyone know why the representation was distributed the way it was when SEPTA's board was created?
Make Regional Rail Funding More Fair.
I understand why this needs to be and I realize that the people in the suburbs won't be voting for mayor but this comes awfully close to playing the suburbs against the city - a form of campaigning that emphasizes an "us vs. them" nature of the relationship between the city and its neighbors. This point essentially sticks a big hand out and tells the suburbs, "put money here." Candidates who use this tactic forfeit all credibility for talking about "regionalism." Perhaps if we talked about radically restructuring the region's funding for SEPTA by doing away with the current system and working with the 4 suburban counties to create a regional transportation tax like they have in Denver, then we could make the funding "more fair" and at least give the appearance of working together to solve the problem.
Work to Expand Service and Keep Fares Low
You want guns? You want butter? (a nod to all those who have taken Economics 101) How about both! Yippee! Seriously though, there's no mention in "expanding service" of expanding it so that the trains are still running on weekend nights when the region's nightlife closes down at 2am. Not that this affects me since I'm in bed by 10pm on Saturday night anyway, but I'm sure there are some folks out there who like to enjoy the clubs but don't have access to Allen Iverson's Bentleys.
Grow and Promote PhillyCarShare
He may just win over some Nutter supporters with his shout out to car share. Friedman? Where you at, buddy?
Explore Instituting a Philadelphia Congestion Charge
I like this idea but it only works IF one makes the fixes to SEPTA first so that people are more willing to give up their cars and hop on the train. Otherwise, you might just get a number of employees who band together and bitch to their employers until those businesses move themselves out of the congestion zone. Then again, the fixes to SEPTA may only be possible if ridership increases thereby providing the funds necessary to pay for those fixes. Little bit of a Catch-22 here...
Work With Faith-Based Groups to Resolve Parking Issues.
Do I detect a subtle dig against a certain opponent who used to represent a district that had a faith-based group with some space issues?
Turn Philadelphia into the Most Bicycle-Friendly City on the East Coast
Tell me you'll build one of these and then I'll believe that you want to make Philly the most bicycle-friendly city on the East Coast. How about some financial incentive (in addition to the savings from not paying to park or for a train) for people to ride or walk to work - even if it's just gift cards to restaurants or sporting goods stores?
Promote Walking by Improving Sidewalks and Lighting in Neighborhoods
This is a good one. I'd wager that much of the improvements in safety and the crime rate in Center City is due to the pedestrian-level street lighting that's been made possible by Center City District.
Contract to Ensure All Transit Stops Have Shelters
Boy that sounds awfully familiar. Guess that means he's listening. That's a good thing.
Work with SEPTA to Provide Maps At All SEPTA Stops
Tell me that the maps will be able to show me where all of the buses or trains on the route are at that exact moment, and therefore, how long I have to wait, and I'll vote for ya. With GPS and the web, this shouldn't be too difficult. How many times have you stood on the El platform to go westbound and had 3 or 4 eastbound trains go by while you're waiting? Why does this happen? Where is your train? Such a map can tell you.
Create an Airport-Based Bomb Squad.
Sure, ok, whatever. Politics of fear... blah blah blah...
Investigate the Benefits of Light Rail Lines for Philadelphia
If we're talking about the trolleys that run through Southwest Philly and clog up traffic even worse than the buses, that's ok, I think we can do without. However, if we're talking about something like the River Line between Camden and Trenton, or anything that would have its own right of way, then I'm all for it.
Anyone else?
Comments (39)
how 'bout he stays in washington and gets us some federal dough for the Blvd subway? Or some new light rail lines with private right of way?
Posted by Anonymous | February 12, 2007 5:43 PM
regarding the "philadelphia bike city" issue: as i said in a previous thread, i think we need to work to refine what we already have in place and then develop some newer, more ambitious things. vague declarations like "make philadelphia the best bike city on the east coast" are red herrings; if we had been serious about this, we would have started funding it 25 years ago.
the reality is that the current city infrastructure is such that it would be incredibly difficult and costly to make philadelphia a great bike city. making a city bike-friendly is more than just painting a 5 foot wide stripe on the road and calling it a bike like (as inga saffron reported that the new south street bridge plan proposes); it requires careful city planning over a long period of time.
i like the tenor of ambition behind fattah's press release, but i think he should take a "first things first" approach to fixing the area's mass transit problems.
Posted by jordon | February 12, 2007 6:12 PM
bike like = bike lane. sorry, got ahead of myself there.
Posted by jordon | February 12, 2007 6:13 PM
Dan - with regards to the part on maps at all stations and your comments about the GPS and the internet...
I know San Francisco and BART (their Septa) have a pretty high tech system where the maps and schedules can be downloaded to your telephone or handheld device that give you all the information you are looking for. There's no reason we should be able to at least try something here.
I think our services like SEPTA (and even PGW) are so mismanaged and have so much debt that they are unable to invest in these "futuristic" options that would be beneficial and make more people use their services.
It's an unfortunate cycle.
Posted by Jennifer | February 13, 2007 9:35 AM
Philly already has a "congestion tax," only we call it a "wage tax"
I believe businesses located outside the city also pay (or are supposed to pay) the BPT on any transactions carried out within city limits, so there's another "congestion tax" for you.
All Philly needs is yet another tax.
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