D.C. area lacks big ideas in transit

The excellent Housing Complex writer Aaron Wiener is leaving the local reporting scene for a position at Mother Jones. For his valedictory column, he proposes 15 “not-so-modest proposals for how to make DC better.” The first three cover transit. So what’s the big pie-in-the-sky for transit?

First: “Build new Metro lines.”

Second: “At the very least, add some infill stations.”

Third: “Stop building streetcar lines in mixed traffic.”

Unfortunately, building new Metro lines is not going to happen. Beyond that, this list doesn’t give much to be excited about. And that’s not Wiener’s fault; it’s exactly the problem with transit planning and advocacy in the Washington region right now.

It’s absolutely true that, if we’re not “constrained by the limits of reality,” putting more Metro lines everywhere is indeed the key. (If you’re really unconstrained by reality, you just invent teleportation, but if we’re suspending fiscal reality but not the laws of physics, Metro is the way to go).

Despite disinvestment and mismanagement in the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Metro is a fast way to travel. If it’s working, it’s often faster than any other mode — when there’s a station near where you want to go. More lines and more stations would undoubtedly offer better transportation than nearly any other system.

Unfortunately, Metro lines cost billions of dollars. Many cities and nations in other parts of the world are willing and able to keep building more tunnels for more trains, but not the United States.

What’s the next best idea? Surely there is another, somewhat cheaper, somewhat less speedy, but still eminently worthwhile idea ready for an alternative weekly blogger to tout?

Well, not really. And Wiener’s list demonstrates this. Not because he’s not coming up with it — he’s a reporter and blogger, not a transportation planner. Rather, there’s nothing on the shelf.

[Continue reading David Alpert’s post at Greater Greater Washington.]

David Alpert is founder and editor of Greater Greater Washington. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.