Transportation Question?

Is the long term cost of transportation going to be lower than it is today?

Will convenience be substituted for efficiency?

Suburbs!

I engaged in Suburb to Suburb bike commuting this summer. I started off small. In the morning, bike from my house to the Braeside Metra Station on Lake Cook RD. (1.5 miles ish). I would wear my work clothes and bike clothes in a back-pack. I would pedal slowly as to not break up a sweat. Next, I would put my bike on the bike rack of the Discover Financial Shuttle Bus, operated by PACE. It was $1.50 fare. This shuttle bus takes Discover, Baxter, and other workers from the Union Pacific North Metra Line to office barks furter west on Lake Cook RD. To get to my final destination, I would get off at the Discover Campus and cross Lake Cook RD on Saunders. This intersection is terrifying as a pedestrian since each direction has a right turn lane, two left turn lanes, and two-three straight lanes. On the bike I would go to the right most straighward lane, cross, and then turn into my office building once traffic would clear. I would work my 8 hours, change into my bike clothes, and bike the 6-7 miles ish home. Contrary to what some might think, biking on multi-lane suburban artials is not that terrifying. Having that 2nd lane allows for Cars to easily pass me. However, these cars are moving fasts, and god help me if a truck passes at 50 mph, while I'm doing 18! On this commute home there was a bike path being contructed over the I-294 tollway. At first I thought that this piece of bike infrastrucutre would be a benefit for my commute. What it ammounted to, was crossing Deerfield RD on Sanders to get to the bike path. The bike path was a glorified concrete sidewalk so it is not that comfortable to those riding road bikes. Worse, the bike path dumps me on to a sidewalk with lots of driveways and faulting slabs. So, I have to cross Deerfield RD again to get back in the Eastbound lane. The next issue is going under the Milwauke North Metra Line, where the RD narrows to the point where a car could not pass me safely. I learned, that at sections of road like this, as a cyclist, I take up the whole lane to prevent autos from passing me until I get out of the overpass. Overall the Northbrook commute home was a great introduction to biking on Suburban Arterials and getting comfortable with idea when there are multiple lanes, cars will naturally pass me on the left w/o much fuss/congestion.

My Job switched from Northbrook to Schaumberg 23 miles from house. Still desparate to keep my sustainable transportation options open I looked online for bus routes that would get me to Schaumberg. The best solution turned out for me to put on the lycra and leave the work clothes in my filling cabinet in Schaumberg. I would bike down the Cook County Forest Preserve Trail to Dempster. (12 miles) and throw my bike on a Pace bus that would take me to Des Plaines in roughly 20 minutes. Then I would throw my bike onto another bus that would take to me Schaumberg in 20 minutes. This would result in about 45 minutes of biking 10-15 minutes of waiting and 40 minutes of biking all before 8am! I would turn on zombie/morning mode on the bus, and just wait for myself to magically be in Schaumberg. I would work my 7-8 hours and then reverse my way home. Problem: Pace busses run much better/on time at 7am then at 5pm, and by 5pm I'm no longer in zone-out-zombie mode, I'm in "I want to get home be off this stupid bus" mode.

The next iteration of the Schaumberg commute was to replace the afternoon busses with more bike riding. I would parallel Golf RD or Dempster to the best I could until I got to the Forest Preserve traill and then bike home on the trail.

Next iteration was that I was tired from waiting for the busses in morning so I started leaving a little bit earlier and biking down Golf RD. I was now putting around 50 miles each time I opted to Bike to work instead of drive.

My final and optial route did away with the Cook County forest preserve and did it all on streets paralleling major arterials. (Sunset Ridge-Glenview RD-Central-Golf RD-Ikea)

Some observations by doing all of this:

1. lights that are tripped by sensors are anoying for bicyclists since they won't change. If you're luckily another car will show up to trip the sensor or there might be a pedestrian crossing button.
2. Bike Paths have a tendancy to end in the middle of nowhere and don't tend connect well with other bike pats. There's a 2-mile bike path that parrallels Golf RD in Schaumberg, and there's a bike path in the IKEA development, however they are only 1/4 mile apart and impossible to get from one to the other without going onto Golf RD. Bike paths that turn into sidewalks are no good either. I'd rather see a bike path turn into a residential street.
3. Again, bikeing needs a solid grid network just like automobiles. Bike routes should be signed on the pavement. Trails should be connected by bike lanes
4. Don't let right turn lanes throw you off. Just stay in the right most lane in your direction of travel.
5. A french shower in a standard public restroom will work. You need the right "equipment" and a change of clothes.

Six Flags and Highway Capacity?

Commuting by car is awful. If only there were more lanes and less interchanges so there wouldn't be this many cars stuck in traffic.

Going to Six Flags on a nice summer afternoon can be quite miserable. The lines and the heat are unbareable. If only Six Flags built more roller coasters so everyone wouldn't have to wait so long to get on one.

Induced Demand exsists!

In other news, Obama and Transportation Secretary LaHood released their high speed rail plan today. My initial reaction is that states that have pro-active on upgrading their reagional rail system, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Washington, and California have much to gain by the intial funding phase of appropriation since those states are furthest along with near ready projects. The next phase is more towards corridors who aren't quite as ready such as the 220 mph line from San Fransico to L.A. Maybe they'll get a test track? The last phase is for future planning which is geared towards to states who don't have their act together right now that may want to jump on the band wagon. (Texas)