tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post6889854651883353505..comments2024-03-27T09:13:58.922-07:00Comments on The Amateur Planner: Longfellow Bike CountArihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06058285362842737187noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-36304655878476411352013-06-28T13:59:23.497-07:002013-06-28T13:59:23.497-07:00@Anon, for the love of Jehovah, please do not get ...@Anon, for the love of Jehovah, please do not get me started on the MPO bike count. Next Friday will be a typical commute day? Anyone want to do a survey of people and see how many are planning to go in to work on Friday? And July 4 may be a typical holiday in some parts, but are we going to get any good data from anywhere near the Esplanade, with the whole of the thing shut down most of the day? These are obviously rhetorical questions, and the answer is, obviously, of course not.<br /><br />They're not doing typical summer traffic counts on July 5. They shouldn't do them for bikes, either.<br /><br />And if you wonder why I went out and did my own count, well, this.Arihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06058285362842737187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-3979288584684102632013-06-28T11:06:26.470-07:002013-06-28T11:06:26.470-07:00The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Office (MP...The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Office (MPO) plans to conduct a bicycle count July 4, 5 & 6 (http://www.ctps.org/Drupal/node/2201). That's a holiday, a weekend day, and a day sandwiched in between (a day I for one am taking July 5th as a vacation day to make a 4 day weekend... no doubt, many others will as well). <br /><br />The MPO cites the choice of dates is based on a recommendation from the "National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project (NBPD)" (http://bikepeddocumentation.org/). <br /><br />The Boston Region MPO's solicitation for volunteers (http://www.ctps.org/drupal/data/pdf/programs/livability/Volunteer_memo_July_2013.pdf) implies that they're looking for a count of commuters and a count of recreational traffic, saying the count should include peak commuting times on two week days (Thursday and Friday). This confuses me, as I'm sure the Boston Regional MPO realizes the 4th is a holiday. <br /><br />Some explanation can be found in the NBPD instructions brochure (http://bikepeddocumentation.org/index.php/download_file/-/view/16): "The 4th of July period was selected because it will afford both a typical summer weekday and what is typically the busiest holiday period and activity period for recreational facilities and activities."<br /><br />Sounds reasonable. <br /><br />Looking at the data from the Boston Region MPO bicycle/pedestrian count database (http://www.ctps.org/apps/bike_ped3/bike_ped_query.html) which has count data from 1976 up through 2012, there has never been a count conducted on July 4th. There has never been a count on July 5th, and counting on July 3rd has only happened once (in 2012).<br /><br />So here's what I'm afraid of. Most of the July data collected from 1976 through 2012 were not influenced by the holiday. Then you have 2012, where the count was taken on a holiday eve, and this year when counts are planned on the holiday itself, the "sandwich" day after, and the weekend day after that. I can imagine seeing a trend line of bicycle counts in July through the years with an upward slope, then it dips in 2012 (holiday eve) and plummets in 2013 (holiday day). <br /><br />I sure hope somebody in the Boston Region MPO takes this into account when they make infrastructure planning decisions based on these counts. <br /><br />***Note*** that since Independence Day can be celebrated on July 3rd or 5th if the 4th falls on a weekend, I have adjusted my discussion to account for these variations. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-39939404901271870462013-06-26T13:35:21.529-07:002013-06-26T13:35:21.529-07:00@Anon, will edit. Market Street is partially close...@Anon, will edit. Market Street is partially closed to private automobiles. @cdptrans, I try. I just went to a presentation from Peter Koonce about how "Level of Service" and other planning mumbojumbo is arcane, and the way traffic counts are done—with paper, pencil and poor choices of time frames—seem to be similar.Arihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06058285362842737187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-34966120982947527552013-06-25T18:52:32.153-07:002013-06-25T18:52:32.153-07:00Nice presentation, far more interesting than the u...Nice presentation, far more interesting than the usual traffic engineers' reports... cdptranshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12827472713452854790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-53707789794682967542013-06-25T15:11:06.380-07:002013-06-25T15:11:06.380-07:00Market Street is not closed to Cars... BTW. It sho...Market Street is not closed to Cars... BTW. It should be, but not yet.<br /><br />GOOD WORK!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-51118635687165613182013-06-23T07:36:28.604-07:002013-06-23T07:36:28.604-07:00The state's report may well have been accurate...The state's report may well have been accurate. However, by not doing a count during inbound morning peak, they missed the highest use time. And don't get me started on how the National Bike/Ped count is doing a bike/ped count on JULY 4 WEEKEND. For serious. http://bikepeddocumentation.org/.Arihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06058285362842737187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-955565834050337542013-06-21T23:31:55.685-07:002013-06-21T23:31:55.685-07:00The Red Line should have an average headway, as sc...The Red Line should have an average headway, as scheduled, of 4 minutes 30 seconds at rush hour each way on the Longfellow bridge.<br />Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02027332620204904993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-37538247307430778792013-06-21T08:30:04.398-07:002013-06-21T08:30:04.398-07:00The state's report may have been accurate at t...The state's report may have been accurate at the time in 2011. But I think the state's report is already out of date. I have been taking the Longfellow bridge to work by bike for about two years so far. There are definitely a lot more bikes this year compared to last year. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com