Archive for January, 2007

The Airtrain Solution: Part 2

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on January 10, 2007
in Airport, Metrorail, Miami, Transit, Transit Oriented Development, Urban Growth and Urban Planning
. 0 Comments

The latest plans for the MIC/Earlington Heights Connection/East West corridor, immediately spurred a question back into my mind that I once asked a leading Miami-Dade County transit planner at a meeting last year: What is Miami-Dade Transit’s vision and goal for Metrorail? I went on to suggest that at times I feel that MDT isn’t sure itself of what it hopes to accomplish with regards to the rail transportation needs in the county and certainly isn’t aware of how public transportation is implemented in other progressive cities across the globe. Now, to understand my question fully, you have to understand the east-west corridor images which were being presented. The aerial photos showed the proposed corridor and stations. Superimposed around the stations were depictions of what is traditionally considered the reasonable walking distances passengers would be willing to make to access the system. Here in lies the problem: not only were the stations located alongside low density single family neighborhoods, but, the superimposed circular area was often times more than half composed of highway space, thus rendering at least 50% of the walking distance draw factor to be useless. To further compound the problem, the stations were being designed with commuter parking in mind while the maps alluded all into thinking otherwise. MDT doesn’t seem to realize that metrorail is at best a commuter rail train and does little to promote and enhance the urban concepts they are trying to incorporate. This is why the transit oriented developments around the current stations can generally be seen as complete failures, because they lack the basic integration of transit with the rest of the urban setting. Notice how every TOD sits upon a giant parking structure and integration with metrorail is typically seen as an afterthought covered walkway at most.


It appears that their confusion has gotten worse over the past months. The latest plans call for metrorail to run directly to the airport as either part of the east-west corridor project or the Earlington Heights Connection with the Miami Intermodal Center, which would in a sense render the whole concept of the intermodal center to be pointless. Now, some cities like Atlanta and Chicago use this sort of approach, however, it is typically incorporated at the end of a transit line, rather than an awkward, out of the way, non commuter friendly loop. The MIC was designed to be a hub linking all forms of area ground transit with the airport, similar to the Jamaica and Howard Beach stations cited on the Airtrain map of JFK. Notice the similarity between the keyhole shapes of JFK and MIA, the transfers to MTA subway and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) at Jamaica and Howard Beach Stations, and the rental car facility easily accessed at Federal Circle. Airtrain and JFK is the quintessential working model of what we are trying to accomplish, paralleling our glorified view of the MIC equating a “Grand Central Station” like terminal. The Airtrain solution seems way too obvious to me, perhaps this is why MDT has failed to see it.

About the transfer conundrum. I’d like to detail my most recent trip to NYC for you all so that you can see that transfers don’t have much to do with a desire to use the system, its more about incorporating transit with the urban spaces.

  • Walked 2 blocks to nearest subway station
  • After going down a flight of stairs and clearing the turnstiles, boarded a train bound for Penn Station (Ride time: <4mins)
  • Purchased LIRR ticket to JFK, although there are several LIRR routes all but one travel through the JFK station: hence you don’t have to wait long.
  • Boarded LIRR bound for JFK (Ride time < 15mins)
  • Exited LIRR and rode elevator up to Airtrain platform which left me right outside my terminal (Ride Time < 10mins)

Numerous transfers on trains and stations that weren’t equipped to handle luggage larger than carry-on in 40 degree weather and yet I wasn’t the only non-native using the system. I’d also like to add that the whole trip cost less than what any car or taxi would have cost…

Going back to my original point, I would like to point out a major difference. MTA has created in New York a public transit system which continues to blend in well with the urban fabric of the city. MDT has yet to figure out what they hope to accomplish with rail service in Miami, transporting people to hubs that no longer exist, failing to integrate rail well with our surroundings, and generally creating system that will one day be as confusing as the people who created it…

MIC “Progress”


The Airtrain Solution: Part 1

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on January 8, 2007
in Airport, Airtrain, MTA, Metrorail and Miami
. 0 Comments






Knowing that my day will be pretty complicated tomorrow, I’ve decided to provide you all with a photograph of NYC’s JFK airport’s Airtrain and an interesting recent article on MIA for you all to mull over until I can better analyze the situation catastrophe occurring in our Aviation/Transportation departments…

Other intelligent airport connectors: Newark, San Francisco, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai

The Dark Side of Car Addiction

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on January 5, 2007
in Miami, Traffic and Transit
. 0 Comments

Ryan is back with some firsthand experience on the vehicular addiction we’re trying to break here in Miami. Although I haven’t witnessed a friend go to such great lengths to drive a car, I can attest that his roommate’s mentality appears to be the norm around here.

My roommate has got a new job in Coral Gables. He lives in Coconut Grove. No problem, right? Wrong. My roommate is addicted to cars/driving, which is unfortunate for him because his old SUV crapped the bed recently. In typical Miami form, he’s now found a way to take an asset (close proximity to job) and turn it into a significant liability because of his car addiction.

For some background information, most of his active pursuits are located in his own neighborhood, the Grove. Whether eating, working out, or partying, he does most of it right here a few blocks away. Most of his friends live in the Grove or Downtown, an easy bus or train ride away. However, instead of buying a student Metropass for a meager $37.50, walking 2/10th of a mile to the nearest #42 bus stop, which then will take him directly to downtown Coral Gables for work in less than 20 minutes, he’s living a complicated, stressed out life completely dictated by someone else’s car. Below is an unbelievable description of his daily schedule:

  • Wake up at 8:00 am
  • Drive downtown against rush hour traffic using friend’s borrowed car to pick up his friend
  • Drive his friend from downtown all the way across the county to FIU for his work
  • Drive back home to the Grove against morning rush hour for the second time to “relax” and kill time before work at noon
  • Leave for work @ 11:30 driving friend’s car en route to downtown Coral Gables
  • Departs downtown Coral Gables @ 5:00 pm en route to FIU to pick up friend, battling fierce westbound rush hour traffic in Miami-Dade’s heavily congested central corridor (Flagler, 8th St, Coral Way westbound)
  • Around approximately 6:00 pm (after 45-60 minute drive), he leaves FIU to return downtown with friend to chill/drop off
  • Gets back home around 7:00 or 8:00 pm with friend’s car
  • 8:00 am, at it again

So as you can see, not only is the schedule itself crazy, stressful, and completely unreasonable, but my roommate now feels obliged to return such “favors”, often resulting in him joining his friend for activities that he may have preferred to abstain from in favor of extra “free time” for rest or study. Instead of waking up at 10:30 am for work at noon, he’s up at 8:00 am, facing a stressful series of commutes which he must successfully negotiate or else his kind friend who shares his car will be late for work. If he works four days a week, that’s 10 hours of sleep per week he’s losing to his car addiction. Moreover, while he struggles to pay his collegiate finances and loans, he continues saving most of his money for a new car while at $37.50 a month (for a Metropass) I’m paying off student loans early and getting a whole lot of extra sleep. It’s really sad, and if you think about it dependency on cars can parallel other addictions like smoking.

After I first told him how ridiculous his itinerary was and briefly gave him the low-down about the transit alternative, he agreed, looked me right in the eye and shrugged, “But the problem is I like driving”.


Alternative Transit 07: Week 1

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on January 3, 2007
in Metrorail, Miami and Transit
. 0 Comments

In dire need of some simple groceries, I decided today was a good day to begin my quest to minimize my daily impact on the local environment by biking around to accomplish my errands. Biking through my neighborhood, thankfully, is quite a breeze if you stay on the sidewalk. I ventured out into the street every so often only to be corralled back by a lumbering Escalade or whatnot. Crossing the new roundabouts recently installed by the city of Coral Gables as a pedestrian was interesting. They are fairly well designed, however, I think the signs which warn oncoming cars about the pedestrians should include a sign reading “Yield Here for Pedestrians” rather than just to watch out for us. I’ve realized Miami drivers fail to yield to anything unless specifically told to do so and even then you still see flagrant road sign abuse.


The ride was fairly smooth until I arrived at my local Publix. The bike rack was nowhere to be found. An employee informed me that there wasn’t enough space in the cramped parking lot to fit a bicycle rack.


I figured it was probably a waste of their money to try and accommodate other forms of transportation when visiting the store, even though it is less than half a mile from a transit station and I was likely going to be the only idiot who would bike over 2 miles to get some milk. I nonetheless left my bike attached to a railing, knowing full well that whoever wanted to steal my bike had to be pretty desperate considering the conditions and its’ appearance.


I made my way through the park with the greatest potential for urban greatness in the Coral Gables/South Miami area, which also happens to be across the parking lot from Publix and on my way to my next destination. With plenty of green space, on street parking, benches, and room to run around, Riviera Park is clamoring for some proper attention and better development to neighbor it.


Aside from me, there was one elderly and homeless looking lady enjoying the tranquility of our surroundings. I took a quick break to survey the surroundings which noticeably lack any uniform interaction with the park. The park could sorely benefit from denser residential development and more inviting facades of buildings other than the parking structures which currently front the west side.


I crossed several waterways along the way where I stopped to admire the ultimate private boat parking spaces. As you can see by the photograph below, pedestrian activity along the bridge was clearly an afterthought to the automotive needs, barely leaving me enough room to cross as cars zipped through.


Close encounters with cars: 1

Random pedestrians who said hello: 3

Errands Accomplished: 2

Total Distance: 4+ miles

Time: 45 minutes

Transit Tuesday: Back on Track

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on January 3, 2007
in Miami, SFRTA and Tri-Rail
. 0 Comments


To all the transit naysayers, I present some irrefutable evidence that public transit can and does have a chance to survive in our region. Today the SFRTA released the final ridership figures for the tri-rail system which for the first time surpassed three million annual riders and witnessed a 21% growth. Although I agree that the conclusion of the double tracking project has likely led many to try the system out, I can also attest that some riders have also given up on the ridiculous congestion experienced daily on I-95. The amazing use of transit to witness the Miami Heat Victory parade also demonstrates how through necessity we will seek an alternative form to reach a centralized part of our city; if only we could use this same model to steer business out of the suburbs, we’d have many more reasons to use transit daily…

Image from rross233’s flickr…

Transit Challenge 2007

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on January 2, 2007
in Conservation, Environment, Metrorail, Miami and Transit
. 0 Comments

Alrighty folks, it’s that time of year again: time to create our New Years’ Resolutions…

I have a proposition for my readers to take up my New Years’ Resolution: to minimize my daily impact on the environment by consuming less natural resources and living a healthier lifestyle by walking and using more public transit. Similar to the Summer Transit Challenge I laid down this past summer, I am pleading that all my readers to once again give alternative forms of transportation a try, once a week at a minimum, especially now in the cooler months when being outside is rather pleasant. It’s not just about riding an underutilized transit system; it’s about reducing your oil consumption and carbon dioxide emission, walking and exercising more on a daily basis, and living a lifestyle that I guarantee you will be socially healthier for you. I want to hear from everyone, all experiences: positive or negative, local or abroad…

This year, I plan to not only rely less on my automobile, but, I also plan to work to actively reduce my daily impact on all our natural resources. Recycling is just the beginning; Miami is reaching a critical point in our water consumption, trash generation, and ridiculous demand for oil.