Taking the "wonk" out of transportation ideas

Streetfilms, the livable streets video blog started by Clarence Eckerson Jr., recently released Moving Beyond the Automobile (MBA), a series of ten 3-to-6 minute videos. Each video explains a solution for problems related to auto dependency. The series includes a companion curriculum guide with ideas for engaging students with links to national curriculum standards.

Streetfilms packages “complicated and wonky concepts into easy to understand and accessible videos which are freely available online.” The MBA video series is focused on building a constituency for progressive infrastructure improvements and leaves the actual implementation and technical details for another forum.

Because Streetfilms is a street oriented publication, each of the MBA videos, with the exception of Transit Oriented Development, focuses almost exclusively on infrastructure rather than broader urban form.

The concise sound byte approach Streetfilms brings to livable streets advocacy can be a unique resource for planners and designers. Eckerson and his team packaged the series so that it is exceptionally easy to share: whether the forum is a community meeting, an email list, or a facebook page. Streetfilms uses a Creative Commons License which allows anyone to use, show and share the videos as long as they are not edited, the use is noncommercial and Streetfilms is acknowledged as the video’s creator. 

The videos are available at streetfilms.org, and on youtube.com, high resolution files can be purchased and downloaded or shipped on DVD.

So far, the videos have not been a big hit on You Tube, ranging from 30-300 views each.  On streetfilms.org however, each video has been viewed several thousand times, at press time the most popular video, Bicycling, had 18,330 plays.  In addition, Eckerson says that they have sold DVDs to more than 60 organizations and the series’ webpage (http://www.streetfilms.org/moving-beyond-the-automobile/) has logged over 96,000 hits. The series was sponsored by The Fund for the Environment & Urban Life.

The series covers (videos included below with descriptions):

• Transit Oriented Development
• Bicycling
• Car Sharing
• Bus Rapid Transit
• Congestion pricing
• Highway removal
• Traffic calming
• Road diets
• The Right Price for Parking
• Parking Reform

Transit Oriented Development

This video profiles TOD in Jersey City, NJ, along the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line. Interviews with the local planning and transit officials and regional transportation advocates highlight the key components of fixed rail TOD including higher density development, a mix of uses, low parking ratios and vibrant streetlife. 

Bicycling

Using examples from San Francisco, CA, Portland, OR, and New York, NY, this video makes the case for a network of safe and convenient bicycle infrastructure, linking infrastructure investments to exponential increases in ridership.

Car Sharing

The car sharing video focuses on the Zip Car system, the world’s largest car sharing network with locations in more than fifty cities across the US and UK. Interviews with Zip Car execs, users and government officials tout benefits including reductions in the number of auto trips, reductions in car ownership, reductions in annual VMT, and reduced costs for consumers. The video argues that pricing each auto trip individually rationalizes mode choice for each trip allowing people to make more sensible decisions.

Bus Rapid Transit

This video lays out the basics of BRT: a protected right of way and stations where passengers pay before boarding the bus. The best examples, mostly in Latin America, are claimed to provide fixed rail quality of service at a more affordable price.

Congestion Pricing

Examining the success of London’s congestion pricing system, this video makes the argument that scarce space in urban roads can either be rationed by price or by a queue (traffic). Rationing by price reduces the number of drivers on the road allowing faster travel time and providing funding for transportation alternatives.

Highway Removal

CNU President, John Norquist argues that freeways are unnecessary and damaging in cities.  Based on San Francisco and New York examples, where highway removal resulted civic and traffic improvements, Norquist recommends that grade separated highways may only appropriate in rural areas and that all urban highways should be considered for removal. Cited benefits include improved real-estate values and better traffic distribution.  

Traffic Calming 

Chicago’s 48th Ward Alderman, Mary Ann Smith sums up this video saying, “Signs don’t do the job, even having police officers on the corner won't do the job. Altering the infrastructure … to force traffic to behave in a more civilized manner is the way that it has to go.” The video introduces examples of shrinking travel lanes to induce the desired traffic speed, and to improve safety and utility for pedestrians and cyclists. 

Road Diet

Road diets are all about reducing the number of vehicle travel lanes in order to improve safety, and add bike and pedestrian amenities. One respondent notes that a mile of road diet can cost less than one sidewalk bulb out. This video argues that not only are road diets a fiscally efficient way to improve safety and amenity for non-drivers, but that in many cases vehicular efficiency is also improved by reducing the number of lanes, particularly when dedicated turn lanes are added. 

The Right Price for Parking

This video advocates dynamic parking pricing based on parking demand.  Donald Shoup explains “the right price is the lowest price you can charge and still have one or two spaces available on each block.”  Much of the video focuses on the bells and whistles of San Francisco’s SFPark program which is just getting off the ground but the underlying argument is that urban space is valuable and can be rationed most efficiently through demand based pricing.

Parking Reform

After the Transit Oriented Development video, Parking Reform gets the closest to addressing zoning as a key ingredient in transportation without cars.  This video advocates reducing mandatory parking minimums and viewing parking through the lens of land use planning: the highest and best use may be something other than free parking. Rachel Weinberger sums it up when she says “Historically the parking problem was defined as there not being enough convenient places to put your car, but increasingly cities are starting to understand that the parking problem could be defined differently and it could be the case that there is too much parking."