Category Archives: Future of Public Transportation

The Future of Public Transportation

Future of Public Transportation

Trains are overcrowded, buses are slow, cyclists and pedestrians are the least safe and last to get shoveled out of the snow.  DeBlasio’s Vision Zero Plan has mixed results so far.  Yesterday he proposed a Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar. Is it the folly we need?  What’s at stake? How can you help? Suggested Community Contacts: Transportation Alternatives, the Queens Public Transportation Committee and UPROSE. (a little sight into their views of the BQX).

  • Adrian, Patrick, Edwin, Mohamed, Sonia, Jeffrey

Related News and Resources:

Project Update: Week of April 27

Updates - Public Transportation

Key Project Activities

In the final week before our white paper is due, we have shifted all of our attention to tying up the loose ends. Over the last two weeks, we have been putting our research onto paper and constantly adding and subtracting from it as we have honed the focus of our project. It’s easy to say you have a lot of useful research, but it isn’t until you actually have to put it on paper that you realize what is relevant and what is not. Our final thesis is that a successful BQX transportation plan should be modeled around previous public transportation projects that have met our set of criteria of a successful transportation alternative. We believe this thesis best represents our two-fold approach to tackling the issue- first developing criteria and analyzing whether they are effective by using them to evaluate other streetcar plans in different cities and then using these evaluations and the criteria again to make recommendations on how to best make the BQX streetcar a success.

Last week, before we left for break, we decided to make an outline and assign roles of each specific part of the white paper to a specific person. We have known the basics as to what each person will be responsible for (e.g. background information, research on the different streetcars systems) but we didn’t assign the smaller roles that usually get caught up in the minutiae, such as who will be writing the conclusion, formatting the appendix or even assembling the white paper completely. By handing out roles, we took some future stress off of ourselves since everything is now accounted for.

Progress

Progress is being made slowly, but surely, this week as everyone is working on translating his or her research and findings into a cohesive section of the white paper. Edwin, who is responsible for the introduction/background and political context, has been consulting our historical narrative, research methods response and our answers to “What’s the problem?” to make sure we don’t leave out anything we have previously discussed. A great background section is necessary since, as we have discovered throughout our research, not many people are too familiar on what the BQX is actually. We can’t start advising people on changes if they don’t know what is changing.

Adrian has been drafting his section of the white paper- his research into the Hoboken-Bergen streetcar line. To best convey his research, Adrian has created two figures, one showing a map of the general area and the other showing a comparison between 2000-2010 census data of the percentage of the population in the area that uses public transportation versus automobiles.

I have been drafting my research on the Baltimore Light rail and have also chosen to use maps to help convey my argument. Instead of making a claim and then trying to find research to back it up, I decided to work backwards. I first found the hard data, such as population densities and the number of no-car households in the area, and then formulated claims based on my findings. At first, when I began researching, I definitely had a bias as to where I wanted to go, but I decided to shift gears to provide a more objective piece. When drafting, I first started by checking each criteria one-by-one. Then, I grouped criteria together and made some changes so my research would flow better and not sound so repetitive and boring.

Mohamed has been formulating his research on “failed” streetcar proposals or projects in different cities across the country. Though not going as in-depth into each project as we have in our “successful” case studies, this portion of research is still fairly important since it serves as a sort of concession statement and helps us see what has lead to these projects failing. A large portion of our policy recommendations will probably draw from this since actions have already been taken. For example, in one city, residents actually voted down a streetcar proposal, something that tells us that democratic participation is probably a good recommendation.

Sonia has still had no luck with reaching out to more community contacts, but we still have Julia Kite at transportation alternatives. Sonia has scheduled a phone meeting with Julia to get more input on our white paper and hopefully help us better develop our policy recommendations. Sonia also has some great ideas for our policy recommendations such as having the government take a more active approach in the BQX project, since it seems like private investors almost have free reign. Another recommendation was having more oversight into projects like this, preferably with a third party acting as an unbiased arbitrator to go over the project plans for the sake of transparency.

Jeffrey has been drafting our section on our research methods and has begun creating citations for our lengthy list of references. Jeffrey also has taken on the role of master editor by connecting the sections in a way such that the white paper has a natural rhythm to it. Since we are all writing different sections and write with different voices, if we don’t actively connect each section, a read through will sound very disjointed.

Challenges

As we began drafting our white paper together, we have come across a few more challenges. First off is that we sort of ignored one of the selling points of the BQX. Many are championing it because it is going to connect Brooklyn and Queens. Most of our research has been looking at the political and economic effects of streetcars, while the BQX is being developed to also serve a unique purpose. We are glad we caught this challenge when we did so we can account for it in our policy recommendations, such as talking about alternative ways to ease transportation between the two boroughs.

Another challenge we see developing is trying to find a way to say everything we want to say. Throughout the course of our research, we almost have become experts on the subject. We even have developed our own personal feelings about what is the best way to go about creating a successful streetcar. We need to make sure to provide all relevant information for an objective, but all encompassing, evaluation and we need to pull from a variety of sources to provide a broad opinion.

Group Dynamics and Process

Even though we haven’t met face-to-face this week, we have still been communicating via email. Everyone knows what is expected of each other and we each have made sure to pitch in and help where it is needed.

Update 5 – 04/20/16

Future of Public Transportation, Updates - Public Transportation

Key Project Activities

Now that we are nearing the deadline for the white paper, our group has been focusing most of our time trying to make sense of all the information that we piled up over the past month. This was not an easy task, but meeting up during class on Monday and Wednesday helped us solidify a solid plan of putting the entire project together. For this update, I wish to provide a comprehensive plan/outline for our project.

As we have mentioned many times before, our main focus is the BQX streetcar line. In order to focus ourselves with what we are going to do with the BQX, we formulated a working thesis to start us off: The BQX will be a successful project if it can meet the criteria we created based on the analysis of other street car projects. The thesis is very vague right now, but it will be refined as we move along with the white paper. It will also make some more sense after I describe the other parts of the outline.

First off, we have the introduction and background. We want to use this part of our project to get our reader up to date with the key information needed to understand our project. This includes the historical context that we worked on earlier this semester. We will be briefly exploring the history of streetcars in NYC and all the reasons of why it went out of use, since the same problems might arise again. Then we will be talking about what the BQX streetcar line is. We will give a detailed overview of what the proposed streetcar line would entail, the people supporting the project, and the predicted impact of the streetcar line as described by the policy makers. Since the streetcar line will go through a number of neighborhoods, we feel that it would be appropriate as well that we briefly mention the demographics of these neighborhoods and other pertinent information.

Before we move on to research methods, as it has been ordered with the model outline, we want to talk about the political context first. There is a large amount of information that we will be going over in the research findings that require the knowledge of the political context. Furthermore, the BQX is a project the city is planning to use as part of their urban planning. As we have seen in class readings, the city is constantly changing and new policies are made in order to provide the maximum economic growth. The BQX is a project that will cause an economic overhaul of the communities along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront. Policies such as rezoning and tax-incentives for development are part of the city’s urban development agenda. The BQX is just another aspect of the agenda. By having the political context come first, we will be able to gain a basis for which our claims and findings can be compared to.

Our research method is mostly based on the study of streetcars in other cities. We will be analyzing census data, demographic information and understanding the factors that made these streetcar systems successful. Based on the successes of these cities, we have created a criteria list or guidelines that the BQX project should, in one way or another, address. Some of the guidelines will already be met by the currently proposed BQX. But for the ones that don’t, we will be focusing our arguments and claims in those categories. We will be visiting the neighborhoods affected by the BQX to gather the qualitative data needed for the comparison to the other cities. Some of the things we’ll be looking out for during the visit would be potential effect on traffic, availability of transportation and the types of uses for these areas. Community input would also be used as well in determining the potential consequences of the proposed streetcar.

The research findings contain the bulk of our argument. We will be presenting all the relevant information from the research mentioned in the research methods section. Preliminary evaluation of our research findings lead to the formulation of some key concepts from which we will be making our claims. We will be looking into the effects on traffic, extent of gentrification, how re-zoning will affect existing businesses/communities, and transit oriented development. Under these key concepts, we will present the reasoning and evidence acquired through the community input and the other cities. Maps and photos will be used to help present our findings.

Based on our findings, we will then make our policy recommendations. We have several types of policy recommendations but our main focus will be with democratic participation and legislative. Our preliminary findings showed that the BQX has the potential to cause gentrification and displacement. It will also likely cause traffic concerns. There are many people who are displeased with what the BQX might bring, and establishing some way for the people to get involved is a must. Next will be legislative action. We’ll recommend some policies that the city can implement to lessen the effects of gentrifications such as rent control or business protection. We will also make recommendations in increasing the budget in order to have enough funds to create a dedicated streetcar lane.

The conclusion will summarize our main points. We’ll also work on the executive summary after the rest of the paper is written. We are off to a good start already so we should have a draft ready by the end of the weekend.

Update on progress

Research regarding the New Jersey and Baltimore streetcar lines has been making great progress. Patrick and Adrian are consolidating their research findings into a form that’s easy to understand and follow. They are using social explorer to create maps that shows the development along the streetcar lines. Mohamed has been gathering data about “failed” street car projects. Something interesting that he found was that some of the streetcar projects were shot down because of funding issues or that people voted against it. Jeffrey has been doing his share of work too by looking for information that can supplement everyone’s findings.

Challenges

We’re still having some trouble with community contact, but Sonia is going to try calling these contacts instead of emailing. Hopefully we can get some input. Some of the criteria we use overlap so we will condense it down into a few, but equally effect set of guidelines. We also realize that it is not realistic for the BQX to completely meet all the criteria. Rather than having to satisfy all, maybe we can say that the BQX will be a successful system if it can satisfy most of the criteria.

Task Remaining

Most of our research is done or almost done. We still need to get some more community input. Our main focus is still the BQX. We have a great deal of information on the other streetcar line but ultimately we need to bring the argument back to the BQX. This still needs more work, but I’m confident that our group can tackle this problem. Finally I will be spending some time during spring break to visit some of these neighborhoods, take photo and notes. This will be used for the qualitative data for the BQX.

Group dynamics

I feel that the group is working really well together. Whenever we have a meeting/discussion, everyone contributes valuable input. There is also communication going on outside of the classroom through email or in person.

Key Sources!

Updates - Public Transportation

Dear Future of Public Transit Group,

Please review the following sources and take them into account as you work on your white papers!

  1. Cuomo’s Capital Budget: $3,400,000,000 for Roads, $0 for MTA
  2. Thinking Big and Bigger about New York (March 25, 2016)
  3. The Streetcar Hustle by Sam Stein
  4. A Streetcar not desired by everyone in Brooklyn (March 27, 2016)
  5. Transit Analyst: an interactive tool for exploring transit accessibility to target resources from focus areas
  6. In Sunset Park, a Call for Innovation leads to fears of Gentrification (March 7, 2016)
  7. A Guide to Community-Driven Transit-Oriented Development Planning by TRUST South LA

Project Update 4/13- Mohamed Mohamed

Updates - Public Transportation

This week we are mainly focusing on the hardcore part of the research paper, which is gathering information and data from our research. We will bring our findings and try to fill our story with the data. We are also still deciding on determining the criteria for what the streetcar must meet in order to be considered ‘successful’. Mainly we hope to find helpful data that will coincide with our criteria which is listed in last week’s update.

Our task for Wednesday is to gather a lot of information, mobilize it, and find a place for it in our project. The data we collect will consist of qualitative and quantitative information. In order to effectively compare New York City with other cities that have running streetcars, we will have to compare some qualitative characteristics of the cities. We think this qualitative data is the most effective way of comparing the cities. One qualitative data is the population of each city. This is helpful because New York City has dense in population and in order to compare it we have to highly consider the density of population in other cities. Population will show whether or not it is appropriate to use a streetcar as a mode of public transportation. Also, another quantitative information that can be compared is the income of the families in the neighborhood around the areas of the streetcar. This data will show whether or not living around public transportation becomes more expensive. If so, does this mean that the neighborhoods around the BQX will face gentrification or zoning due to their low income? or maybe the data might show similar income in the neighborhoods around the streetcars in Hoboken and Baltimore as the income around the neighborhoods around the proposed BQX. Other useful qualitative information may include the amount of adults that use public transportation to work. This information can add on to our conclusions made by the population data gathered. All this qualitative information will be fetched using social explorer.

The quantitative data that will help with our project will be from the analysis of the proposed streetcars around cities like New Orleans, Cincinnati, and San Antonio. These cities are either in the proposal stage, construction stage or even expansion stage. It will be important to find out why these proposals were approved. This can be due to the lack of public transportation in the city, the dense population, or even for economic growth. We want to look at how the residents of the area reacted to the proposal of the streetcar. Was there any opposition? Why or why not? We will also look at what the people think about the streetcar now after it has been constructed. I will be in charge of gathering this qualitative data and will research this information using multiple cites.

Our idea for the Popular Education/Public Engagement Product is a brochure that unfolds into a flyer. The brochure will be regular sized printing paper and then folded into thirds so that the left and right flaps fold into each other. Each flap will contain information regarding the BQX. It will be information that is meant to give awareness about the BQX plan. When the two flaps are unfolded a map of the BQX proposed line would fill the page. The map will also have some information on it and it can be used as a flyer at the same time. Something similar to the attached image:

Sonia has e-mailed several community organizations, including Uprose in Sunset Park, Red hook Community Group, and Queens Community Board for Long Island City/Sunnyside, but no organization responded. We are still on the lookout for community meetings. For this week Sonia has emailed the people developing the BQX and people financing the BQX plan. In the meantime however, we are going to conduct interviews with people in affected communities. Jeffrey has conducted fieldwork by gathering quotes from residents around the neighborhood where the BQX line is proposed. These field notes and field analysis will be used as our primary data for our project. Jeffrey has also shared quotes from the online news outlets, including the New York Times.

After researching the last three weeks, Patrick will take all he has collected and start to put it into a cohesive report. He will have census data, such as public transportation ridership in Baltimore, median household incomes for neighborhoods around the Light Rail routes, and research whether there is any correlation between the data. Another that he will look into is making an objective call as to whether the light rail system was/is a success in Baltimore. It seems like the economics surrounding the light rail say one thing, while people living with the rail would say otherwise. To help him with this, he has begun reading two different reports. One focuses on light rail transportation and Transit Oriented Development and the other is a case study on the economic development impacts of light rail transportation in Baltimore. These two sources will also help get back to our key concepts of the future of public transportation, how it affects neighborhoods and how it is used as a means of urban planning.

Adrian is in charge of comparing the success/failure of the streetcar in Hoboken New Jersey with the proposed line BQX. So far, he has found that the Hoboken line has served a large number of people, encouraged development, increased access to employment and housing and allowed decreased dependence on cars.

As Edwin begins drafting the White paper, we will start contributing to it. Patrick will contribute a mini report of his findings, data and how to relate it to the BQX.  The public education piece is a different story. Its focus will be strictly on the BQX. Adrian will work on drafting Hudson-Bergen line in NJ section for the white paper with a focus on how it addresses the criterion we established for a successful transportation project. I will include why the streetcar proposals in New Orleans, Cincinnati, and San Antonio were approved and whether they faced opposition. Then I will compare that with the proposal of the BQX. Sonia will include the community contact findings while Jeffrey will include the field work analysis into the white paper.

Update on BQX Project mostly focusing on criteria for streetcar/ Community needs/deliverable

Updates - Public Transportation

For this week, our group mainly focused on meeting together and re-evaluating our strategy on how to best inform the public of the government’s intentions with the streetcar and how to inform the government of people’s need from the streetcar. We further developed our assessment of the effectiveness of the BQX streetcar, both economically and humanistically city wise and community wise, using criteria laid out by Baltimore’s light rail system planners and community groups such as TRUST South LA. Members continue to study the progress of other streetcar systems in other American cities, such as Baltimore and Hoboken, as well as researching other cities that planned to build a streetcar but then aborted their plans, San Antonio, TX or Arlington, VA.  We are also in the process of redefining community’s needs from the streetcar, which we need to complete much more field work, collecting data by conducting interviews and doing community planning, in order to accomplish. We also roughed out a clearer picture of our deliverable by creating a brochure with a map of the proposed streetcar line with community input collected from interviews.  

 

Our first task that we set out to accomplish is to determine the criteria the streetcar must meet in order to be ‘successful’. Our criteria were mostly altered and adapted from criteria made by the Baltimore Region Rail System Plan Advisory Committee (since streetcars are rail based) and the criteria listed in the World Transport Policy and Practice book. The criteria mainly focus on economic benefit to the city, as well as personal needs of people. The criteria are as follows:

    • The rail system must serve corridors with high concentrations of population. (The more people use it, the more purpose it has being built and will have a quicker return in investment).
    • Rail system must serve major employment centers, activity centers, universities, shopping centers. (It must lead to places that people want to go or building it is not useful and a waste of money).
    • Rail System must support existing land use and major targeted growth areas. (It must be able to have a return on investment by being in the right place where lots of people would have to use it).
    • Rail system must meet the needs of the transit-dependent population (Otherwises, it fails to meet its essential purpose and will probably fail in being a self-sufficient system).
    • Optimize the use of existing transit system (This would decrease costs and cause less disruption in the community from construction)
    • “Seamless” for transit rider (Must be easy to use, or people will not use it)
    • Provide a trip which is as competitive as possible with the automobile with regard to speed and reliability (Or else, people will use the alternative transport and it does not strengthen public transportation).
    • Attract new riders (This helps to strengthen public transportation and increase revenue)
    • Improve or maintain access to employment; goods and services while shortening trip lengths and/or reducing the need to travel (It will positively affect citizen’s day to day lives, making overall life happier and easier.)

 

The community based, humanistic criteria of the streetcar are based on the principles of the TRUST South LA Community Group. These criteria are mostly aimed at maintaining the culture of the community and strengthening its economic interdependence. The criteria are as follows:

 

    • Since construction of streetcar will most likely accelerate gentrification and increase rents/property values, stabilized or low income housing must also be preserved as to allow current community members to stay in their homes; therefore, retaining some of the culture and social dynamic of the neighborhood, as well as instilling a diverse population.
    • Along with stabilized/ low income housing, businesses that move into these growing areas should be encouraged to hire locally or promote local businesses. This would ensure that community members use the BQX and strengthen community bonds.   
    • It must be environmentally friendly, as to help the environment and not negatively impact public safety. Its construction should also focus on minimizing disturbances in the neighborhood, such as trying to avoid moving as much infrastructure as possible and working at reasonable times as to not annoy community members.

Community criteria will be mentioned in regards to informing government officials about the needs of the people if the streetcar project ever advances. For our project, it is more important to first analyze whether a streetcar is a viable option that can effectively serve its basic function as a transportation system, and then determine further its further impact on the community. These criteria will help us to evaluate the effectiveness of other city’s streetcar systems and the planned BQX. We will discuss our criteria with Julia Kite at Transportation Alternatives to see if we are missing something.

 

As far as comparing other cities’ streetcars to the BQX plan, individual group members are further developing their research. Adrian continues to research on the Hoboken, NJ streetcar line. Patrick continues to research the effectiveness of the Baltimore, MD light rail line, finding the bulk of the rail criteria, as well as finding similarities to the proposed BQX line, such as building the line to foster a growing area and not support an already made area. Muhammad is now focusing on other cities’ abandoned streetcar lines, such as in San Antonio, and why they were abandoned. We do this research in the hopes of finding what works when executing a streetcar plan and what prevents a streetcar car from being built, as guidance or examples of caution in the BQX streetcar’s development. Overall, we focused much more on the general project idea this week, rather than these points.

 

Our group’s main work in progress is establishing community based contacts and conducting fieldwork. I have e-mailed several community organizations, including Uprose in Sunset Park, Red hook Community Group, and Queens Community Board for Long Island City/Sunnyside, but no organization responded. We are still on the lookout for community meetings, but for now we are going to conduct interviews with people in affected communities. These interviews will ask questions such as: do you think you community needs a new form of transportation?; have you heard of the BQX streetcar plan?; what were your first impressions of this plan?; what you would like to see as the result of the BQX?; what are some of the potential drawbacks of the BQX plan?; do you think a streetcar is the best form of transportation for your area? In general, members of the affected communities are mostly going to be concerned with how the streetcar will be built into the infrastructure and if they are able to stay in their homes after it is built. The streetcar will accelerate gentrification and change the makeup of the neighborhood into mostly diverse, poorer blue collar communities into upper class, white white collar communities, which the government benefits from because these richer communities generate more revenue. I am not sure what community organizing is already going on because I have not been able to contact community groups and their social media pages mainly focus on other topics, such as environmentalism. So, learning about community groups’ goals is a priority. Our group can help by clarifying the government’s BQX initiatives and how it can affect their communities.  

 

We were also working on our deliverable. We were debating whether to create a brochure or a poster. We definitely wanted to include a map of the BQX line overlaid with income per neighborhood and possibly population density per neighborhood, in order to show why these particular areas were being updated with new transportation. We also wanted to include community input by people from different affected communities. This needed to be presented as well as introducing the main idea and impact of the BQX. With so much information, the deliverable must naturally segregate subject points. So, we decide on having a brochure/map that opens up into different points but in the back has one comprehensive map. This deliverable is meant to inform the public about the BQX plans and its potential impact.

Everyone in the group functions extremely well together.  Everyone is very hardworking and is always available for help and input. Our members are very receptive to new ideas and finding the best ways to express ideas. We are currently working on finding community contacts, besides Transportation Alternatives, to hone in on community needs. Hopefully, we meet someone to further discuss the BQX’s financial sustainability or an actual developer in the BQX plan, but these are long shot goals. We are adding to our research, while drafting the white paper and a deliverable.
 

Weekly Project Update – 3/30

Future of Public Transportation, Updates - Public Transportation

During the last week, we have mainly been continuing our research into how the BQX will impact public transportation within the city, which included going through the updated news and resources links that Aaron Kendall helpfully put up for us on the course website (Thanks Aaron!). We continued to dig into the light rail systems of Baltimore, Hoboken, and Washington D.C, but some of our group members also went and did some scouting work, including visiting the areas that the proposed BQX line will serve and contacting various community organizations that are connected to the BQX. We have also been discussing our research methodology and what we want our white paper to accomplish. The goal of our white paper is chiefly to inform and educate the media and the public about the BQX, but we also wish to influence those who have power over the project, including Mayor DeBlasio, whose pet project this is, his officials, and the investors.

One of the things that our group accomplished over the weekend was figuring out what our approach to gathering data and research will be. We decided at first that we would definitely need to collect quantitative data for our white paper, which will allow us to compare different metro systems with each other in an unbiased way. Consequently, quantitative data are going to be integral to the bulk of our white paper and for constructing our arguments. However, our white paper also needs qualitative data that tells us what people think about the BQX streetcar plan, especially those who live close to the proposed line and whose everyday lives will be affected by it. If our white paper is supposed to benefit and give a voice to these people, it would be extremely remiss to write it without any input from the people themselves!

We will gather our quantitative data through research on the internet, as it is the most convenient and accessible medium for procuring information about train systems in other states. Qualitative data will require a more interactive approach, though. We are thinking of using public opinion polls to figure out what residents and commuters think about streetcars and their potential effects upon their communities, including increasing land values and looser zoning restrictions. These will probably make real estate developers and landlords happy, but not their tenants. We hope that our community contacts will help us with collecting our qualitative data by administering surveys, answering our inquiries, and sharing their thoughts about the project.

Edwin took the opportunity to visit some of the places that will be served by the BQX line over the weekend, and he made several observations about these areas and neighborhoods while he was there. In Sunset Park, he found that many of the buildings there were being used for industrial and commercial purposes, with few residential buildings. He saw that there were already subway lines running through residential areas, just an avenue away from the planned BQX route, with subway stations being about a ten minute walk away for most residents. Edwin also saw that many businesses had trucks and cars double parked on the street, which would be an issue for the BQX.

Sonia emailed three more community organizations about the BQX, which are the Uprose Organization, the Red Hook Civic Organization, and the Regional Plan Association. We are trying to see if they would be interested in answering some of our questions about the BQX and help us with collecting our qualitative data. In any case, it can’t hurt to expand our community contacts! As of Wednesday, we are still waiting for a reply from these groups.

Adrian has been researching the impact of the Hudson-Bergen line in Hoboken. One interesting discovery that he made was that the Jersey waterfront used to be an industrial manufacturing and shipping hub too before becoming a semi vacant area with little development. Beginning in the early 90’s, New Jersey formed a master plan for the waterfront that included the light-rail line. They packaged the line with sweeping changes in zoning, just like what the BXQ plan intends to do. The area along the rail line has seen much commercial and residential development. The changes in zoning have also had a very small requirement of 1 parking space/1000sqft, which has since been reduced further. This indicates that there is a significantly decreased reliance on cars as a means for transportation.

Patrick has been continuing his research into the Baltimore light rail system. Most of the light rail in use today opened in 1992, coinciding with the opening of the Baltimore Orioles new stadium, Camden Yards. It was built without federal money, though the government paid for some costs in a 2004 expansion. The light rail in Baltimore, unlike the BQX in Brooklyn, was intended to help fans reach the new ballpark, and not to provide public transportation to underserved areas. Patrick was especially interested to learn how many streetcars and light rails were created in cities as a way to move money and stimulate the economy, even though they are now considered an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to other forms of public transportation. There are some notable differences between the Baltimore light rail and the proposed BQX streetcar, though. The Baltimore route is about twice as long as the proposed BQX line, and not all of it runs through the city, while the BQX will only run along the waterfront. Outside of Downtown Baltimore, the light rail runs on private right-of-ways, which are privately owned and maintained access routes specifically made for light rails. Also, many of the Baltimore light rail tracks were already in place from defunct railcar routes.

Over the next week, we plan to use the social explorer tool, as it seems like it will be very helpful with our research into the streetcar systems of different cities and the neighborhoods that the BQX will serve. We definitely could use a clear way to compare population density and the needs of public transportation in certain neighborhoods, which is what we can get from the social explorer tool. We are still thinking about our public engagement product, and though we haven’t decided on whether we want to go with the website or the pamphlet yet, we do have an idea of what we want them to be like. If we go with the pamphlet, we would want it to be clear and easy to comprehend by somebody who picks it up, and it will probably look a bit like one of the MTA’s bus schedules. If we go with the website, we would want it to be clear and user friendly, but it would also be more in-depth and creative because of the lack of physical restrictions. We will continue to think about these choices.

The group has been functioning very smoothly so far, and everybody is going to continue researching the topics that they were assigned, but we are aiming to have a draft of each section by April 4th. We have been contacting each other via email and a shared google drive folder, which has been very productive so far.

Project Brief Update

Future of Public Transportation, Project Brief - Public Transportation

A Streetcar Named BQX

What makes a successful Streetcar and can the BQX be one?

Earlier this year, the city proposed a plan to implement a streetcar line. The proposed streetcar line would run along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront from Sunset Park to Astoria. The streetcar would run parallel to existing traffic on its own lane, and it would provide some much needed transit to these underserved areas. The Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX) is a bold project, and it comes with both advantages and disadvantages. Our research aims to provide a thorough investigation into the proposed streetcar line. Our project will focus on the criteria that the BQX needs to satisfy in order to successfully and efficiently supply transportation to underserved areas. We will also explore the potential consequences, both positive and negative, of the implementation of the BQX. Many people who do not live in the areas where the BQX is proposed to run through are completely unaware of the impact such a large public project will have on surrounding neighborhoods. By analyzing consequences, we will not only determine how this streetcar will affect New York City; we will also be able to provide a template to evaluate future streetcar plans and inform the general public elsewhere on what the implementation of a streetcar project completely entails. We are ultimately interested in finding out what it will take in order for this proposal to be successful and what this will mean for the the future of transportation in New York City.

We will carry out this research in two parts. The first is more of a scholarly approach, where we conduct media reviews, literature reviews and secondary data analysis. We will review current articles and studies written by those more informed on the economic, political and social repercussions of introducing a new streetcar system. We will also create a historical context for our research by studying the history of streetcars in New York City and examining modern, successful streetcars across the United States. The streetcar is currently planned to be completely operational by 2024 – a hopeful estimate given the significant red tape associated with such a project. As a result, most of our analysis will be based on already recorded results since there is no way for us to critically study the BQX line and its aftereffects in person at the present. The second part of our research is where we take a more active role and gather first hand data through surveying community contacts and conducting community mapping. Our current community contact, though we aim to reach out to others, is Julia Kite, Policy and Research Manager at Transportation Alternatives. By meeting with someone who is familiar with alternative forms of transportation and who also has experience analyzing the effects of current transportation methods on the city, in this case, buses and cars, we will have a better background with which to evaluate the successfulness of the BQX streetcar. Community mapping is integral to our research since we will need to understand the areas being affected by the implementation of a streetcar before we can make any judgements as to its effects. This mapping will done through personal exploration of the neighborhoods where the BQX is proposed to run and through analysis of already collected data, perhaps with the aid of the Social Explorer tool.

Our research will begin by analyzing the historical background of streetcars in New York City. Streetcars were once common in the city, but they soon fell out of favor with the rise of automobile ownership and traffic. Also contributing to their downfall was the city’s annexation and subsequent administration of the once-private trolley car systems. Understanding the factors that surrounded the initial uses of the streetcar will help us gain a better understanding of the consequences that may occur if the BQX is eventually implemented. Next, we will look at current streetcar systems in Hoboken, NJ, Baltimore, MD and Washington D.C. as case studies for the possible New York City streetcar. These case studies will help us define what makes a streetcar successful and efficient, definitions that we can then apply to the current propositions for the BQX. In choosing these specific locations, we will study the application of streetcars in cities that are similar to New York City and which have other municipal public transportation options available. Finally, we will shift our attention back to New York as we analyze articles and reports written by professionals who have a better understanding of possible detriments and outcomes of the implementation of a streetcar system in New York City. The economy of the city, and the social and political problems that come along with it, are not black and white issues. Being able to read others’ opinions will help us make an even more informed judgement as to whether the streetcar will be successful. 

After our historical research, we will go out into the field and conduct our own personal research. If a picture is worth a thousand words, seeing something in person must be priceless. By visiting a neighborhood, one can experience and learn much more than simply reading about it. How a neighborhood “feels” and the interactions and attitudes of people who live there are not something that is easily documented in an article. We then will turn to our community contact, Julia Kite. She will help us get a better understanding of the financial repercussions of installing and maintaining the streetcar. For example, she might provide details about which private company is likely to fund this government effort and how the streetcar may improve land value more than other modes of transportation. We may include a second community contact, such as Queens Public Transportation Group, who is more directly associated with the particular communities being affected by the streetcar. 

At the conclusion of our research, we hope to produce a white paper that is able to adequately convey our findings on how the BQX streetcar can be implemented best. Our white paper will take all of our contributed research and cut it down into a succinct report that gives context as to what we are researching, our comparisons to current streetcar systems across the United States, and our summarized findings and judgement. We also hope to produce a popular education/public engagement product that is interesting enough to attract an audience, while also being in-depth enough in describing our findings. We currently have two ideas for our public engagement product- a pamphlet and a website. The pamphlet would be stylized in the way MTA bus schedules and timetables are and would highlight our key findings neatly so any layperson can pick it up and understand what we are saying. A website, which is the direction we are leaning, can be accessed by virtually anyone, anywhere and it also allows us the opportunity to say as much as we want and be as in-depth as we please.

We will work on researching our respective white paper topics and have a short draft of each section by Monday, April 4. We will stay in contact and meet before and after class in order to resolve any questions and concerns that come up. We will then draft and begin revising our white paper by Wednesday April 20th. During class on April 20th, we will discuss final revisions on our paper and complete any changes by the due date on May 2nd. Concurrently we will be drafting our public engagement piece,  having a first draft done by April 20th and completed revisions by the due date, May 18th.

We will divide the project into different sections upon which one group member will focus their research. For the white paper, Edwin will research the history of streetcars in New York City, Adrian will research the streetcar system built in Hoboken, New Jersey, Patrick will research the streetcar system in Baltimore, Maryland, and Mohamed will research the streetcar system in Washington D.C. Sonia will serve as a liaison between the group and Julia Kite at Transportation Alternatives by receiving input and relating our ideas. Jeffrey will compare and contrast the compiled research, organizing our findings. Currently, our public engagement product is going to be a brochure, neatly and succinctly displaying our findings and results.

Research Methods Response

Future of Public Transportation, Research Methods
  1. How can you document or better understand the issue? Do you need “hard” numbers (quantitative data) and/or stories of personal experience (qualitative data) or both?
    – We will need both quantitative and qualitative data for our project. We need to start off by using metrics such as ridership of other rail systems and other data points such as number of stations, fare/tax revenue and the like. We will also need data such as what people think of the BQX plan, how they think it will affect their communities, and how communities with streetcars feel about them. Also, it would be helpful if we can get some hard numbers as to the number of people who live along these lines.
  2. How are you going to give legs to your research? What action strategies could you employ to make the research and report as impactful as possible?
    -We will conduct our quantitative data to start which will give us hard number for our research to stand on, then we will use public opinion polls to give it legs. This way it should provide a logical and emotional rational to our conclusions in order to inform the reader. We will also scout out the areas that the BQX will be going through to understand the types of communities that live there.
  3. Who are the stakeholders in the issue? Who has interest? Who is affected? – The main proposed benefactors will be the people who live and commute along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront. Real Estate owners and developers will benefit from the increased land values along the lines as well as possible easing of zoning restrictions. Finally, Mayor De Blasio has a bit of his political reputation on the line to get the project going although he is likely more interested in providing equitable transportation.
  4. Who needs to have their voice be heard?
     – The people who live and commute in the neighborhoods that will be served by the BQX.
  5. Who are you trying to influence? Who has power over the issue?
    – We are looking to both inform the public and to potentially to influence those who are planning the BQX line. The planners are the power behind the project which includes De Blasio, city officials, and the proposed investors.  
  6. Who is your target audience (community members, elected officials, media)?
     – The general public and city officials.
  7. Who will collect your data?
    – We all will collect the data through research.
  8. Where can you find the people you need to talk to get your data?
    – We have community contacts who are more knowledgeable about these issues, but for quantitative data we may also research online.
  9. Where can you find existing information that is relevant to your research?
    -We will be looking online for reputable sources, both scholarly and editorial, that cover both the BQX plan as well as our comparison projects.
  10. Where can you go for support and assistance (non-profits, universities, government agencies)?
    -We will seek help from our community contact at Transportation Alternatives for more information as we see fit.

Based on your answers to the above, which of the following community-engaged” methods are most appropriate for your group’s project?

-We will likely conduct a combination of interviews and community mapping in our project in order to collect portions of our data. Interviews will provide insight into those who will be affected by the BQX or perhaps those interested in building it. Community mapping will allow readers to understand why these areas are targets for new transportation, since they are a hotbed for gentrification and development.   

Project update – 3/23/2016

Future of Public Transportation, Updates - Public Transportation

            In order to address the topic of the future of public transportation, we are looking at the BQX streetcar line as one such possible future. The BQX line has been proposed by the DeBlasio administration as a convenient public-transportation option along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront which currently is a public-transportation “desert”. We are addressing this topic by first looking into the history of streetcars and public transportation in New York. Next, we will compare the proposed project with contemporary implementations of streetcar/light-rail systems. In order to keep our heads out of the clouds, we are conducting some community outreach to assess the local opinions of the project. Finally, we will collect all of this research into a white-paper and a public engagement piece.

New York has a rich history with both public transportation and streetcars in particular. A current focus of our historical research are the neighborhoods that the proposed line will go through and how their history has been affected by public policy. We see that the neighborhoods were historically heavily industrial and the waterfront largely dealing in cargo and trade.  After a steep decline in the industrial sector and a growing need for residential and commercial space these areas have been the focus of much public and private interest. One of the first public transportation methods in these areas was Fulton’s Ferry opening in 1814. The ferry and many following public-transportation projects often led to rapid development in the surrounding neighborhoods. We are conducting further research into the role of public policy on these areas with a focus on specific zoning policies of the government.

Concurrently, New York City, as a whole, saw many changes in public transportation methods. Horse drawn streetcars were one of the first public modes of transportation. After the development of steam engines, horses were quickly replaced for their more reliable and less temperamental mechanical counterpart. Streetcars continued to rapidly evolve in New York until GM, Firestone, and Standard Oil colluded to eliminate streetcars in favor of cars and busses. Interestingly, this collusion was deemed criminal and the companies had to pay a fine – but the streetcars were never revitalized. This part of our research is mostly complete because we are focusing instead on the particular Brooklyn-Queens neighborhoods.

The next major aspect of our project is a comparison of contemporary streetcar/light-rail system that could analyzed in order to look at lessons learned and what may be most beneficial to the BQX implementation. We have begun researching various aspects of American transportation in the book, World Transport Policy and Practice. The relevant chapter focuses on Portland, Oregon and Vancouver. Which has given us insight how cities have focused their public transportation projects in order to address problems such as improving or maintaining access to employment and “maximizing efficiency in overall resource utilization” while also keeping the environment in mind.

The main part of our contemporary comparison will focus on streetcar systems in Washington DC, Hoboken New Jersey, and Baltimore Maryland. The Washington DC system was recently constructed and has encountered many hurdles that may serve to inform the development of the BQX line. We will be looking into the specifics of the problems encountered and look at how these lessons may apply to the proposed line.

The Hoboken system is a light rail line that goes from Bayonne to North Bergen and has a daily ridership of over fifty-thousand passengers. It has been expanded multiple times due to its popularity and success. Initial research indicates that there has been much growth in areas surrounding the rail line including both residential and commercial development. Further research will be conducted in order to confirm this and look into the motivations that led to the line’s development because it was part of a push to revitalize the surrounding area as well as provide more efficient transportation.

We have collected some preliminary research on the streetcar system in Baltimore in order to form a proper historical context. Baltimore incorporated streetcars into its public transportation well after New York, but it was one of the first cities to experiment with electricity for its public streetcars. Streetcars in Baltimore have a similar history to those in New York (popular until there was a shift of attention to cars/buses) but currently the city seems to be going through an identity crisis when it comes to whether they should have a streetcar or a light rail system. We will proceed with research that looks closer at the current state of streetcars in Baltimore and what funding, incentives, or subsidies that they may have provided for their development.

We have been in connection with our community contact, Julia Kite at Transportation Alternatives, and have been discussing their opinions and concerns relating to the BQX line. We will continue to stay in contact with Julia as we further develop the narrative of our project. We have also begun to survey public opinions about the BQX line in order to gain as much community knowledge as possible.

We are currently still working on researching our assigned topics and gathering community information. Over the next two weeks we will continue this research and complete drafts of what we have found in order to put together a draft on April 4. This will be the bulk portion of the white paper that we will be writing. We also need to begin working on our community engagement piece. We were originally planning on producing a brochure but we may instead opt to make a website that outlines our research in a creative manner.

The group has been functioning very well. We are able to complete various assignments efficiently, with all members contributing. This has all been done without specifically assigning roles and sections of each assignment to be completed. Our main method of communication is email which has been very effective. Email communication has been complemented by the use of google drive in order to coordinate research and collaborate on particular assignments. As of now, there are no current issues with the current group dynamic.