Did Philly Make A Terrible Mistake Getting Rid Of The Chestnut Street Transitway?

[M II A II R II K]

Did Philadelphia Make A Terrible Mistake Getting Rid Of The Chestnut Street Transitway?


December 13, 2018

By Inga Saffron

Read More: http://www2.philly.com/real-estate/i...-20181213.html

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For many Philadelphians, it is an article of faith that the bus-only Transitway was a major policy fail that nearly killed shopping on Chestnut Street. But from the vantage of 2018 (as well as the back of a traffic-moored 42 bus) that narrative seems as outdated as tie-dye and bell-bottoms.

- Opened in 1975, the Transitway transformed the 12 busiest blocks of Chestnut Street from Sixth to 18th into a corridor that prioritized pedestrians and buses over cars. Because it was a product of the ‘70s, when cities were struggling to compete with suburban shopping, the Transitway was really an urban mall in transit clothing, featuring elaborately paved sidewalks, lots of pedestrian seating, and futuristic traffic lights called “Transitrons.” — Even though the city was mainly interested in simulating a suburban shopping experience, the corridor was still a transit-rider’s dream. In its original incarnation, buses cruised in both directions. Maybe the most futuristic thing about the Transitway was that you could get from one end of Center City to the other in under 15 minutes.

- Yet, within a few years of its creation, merchants turned against the project. The Transitway was blamed for everything from dirty sidewalks to unruly teenage behavior, especially after the Easter Parade got out of hand in 1985 and shop windows were broken. Based on news clips from the time, it’s striking how much the complaints resemble those that would be leveled later against the Gallery, another disgraced ‘70s retail experiment. Part of the problem was that the city began dumbing down the Transitway only six years after it opened. — First cars were allowed back on Chestnut Street in the evenings. When that modification didn’t stop the shops and movie theaters from closing, the city had the Transitway’s street furniture ripped out. By the late ‘90s, policymakers like former Councilmen Frank DiCicco and the Center City’s District’s Paul Levy were arguing that only more cars and curbside parking could save Chestnut Street.

- The Transitway’s life span happened to coincide with what were probably the worst three decades in Philadelphia’s history. Between 1970 and 2000, the city lost 430,000 residents 22 percent of its population. Some 140,000 jobs vanished in the ‘70s alone. As the city emptied out, Chestnut Street’s department stores and movie house lost their customers and shut down. Given that Philadelphia was in demographic free fall, it’s hard to believe that the bus corridor was the main cause of the street’s demise. — Philadelphia didn’t reverse its population slide until 2007. The last decade has been good to Philadelphia, so good that we are now worried more about congestion than the lack of foot traffic in Center City. The sidewalks are thronged with people. As my colleague Jason Laughlin has detailed, congestion is becoming an existential crisis for SEPTA, as more people abandon city buses for more nimble ride-hailing services.

- Like SEPTA, New York’s bus city system has been losing riders. In response, the city’s transit authority created 16 new, bus-only corridors, which it has branded Select Bus Service. They make Chestnut Street’s existing bus lane the surviving remnant of the Transitway look like Windows 1.0. What makes New York’s bus-only lanes work is that buses really do rule. Eric Beaton, New York’s deputy transportation commissioner, told me that the city has installed pole-mounted enforcement cameras to keep motorists from encroaching on the lane, as they do in Philadelphia. — The main goal is to keep the buses moving. On many Select Bus routes, passengers validate their fares at sidewalk kiosks before the bus arrives, reducing the amount of time it takes riders to enter the bus. This has opened the way for all-door boarding, which means the bus spends less time at each stop. New York also has begun synchronizing its traffic lights so buses don’t get stopped at every intersection.

- The model for all this? Brooklyn’s ‘70s-era Fulton Street Mall, New York’s answer to the Chestnut Street Transitway. Today it has some of the highest retail rents in New York, Beaton said. Of course, transit riders are different in Philadelphia. Along with cracking down on motorists who linger in the Chestnut Street bus lane, SEPTA could try to change the habits of its riders, who are used to buses that stop at every corner. It could speed things up significantly if the buses skipped a block. — Dick Voith, a former SEPTA board member, takes the idea a step further: He argues that SEPTA should eliminate stops at right-turn corners, where pedestrian congestion keeps motorists and buses backed up. That would allow buses to whiz through the intersection in the left lane, instead of waiting for cars to turn right. Speeding up the buses is crucial for Philadelphia’s low-wage workers, who form the core of SEPTA’s ridership, said Chris Puchalsky, director of policy and strategic initiatives for the city’s transportation office. “If they can’t get to work because of someone is blocking the lane, they’re in big trouble.”

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[Busy Bee]

This story is no different than other American examples of pedestrian/transitway malls in downtown locations like State St in Chicago, that saw lots of blame fall on the limitation of automobiles for the otherwise concurrent phenomenon of declining downtown shopping corridors. Nine times out of ten, it is correlation, not causation, as the rest of the planet seems to have no problems maintaining the health and liveliness of central city pedestrian malls.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

This story is no different than other American examples of pedestrian/transitway malls in downtown locations like State St in Chicago, that saw lots of blame fall on the limitation of automobiles for the otherwise concurrent phenomenon of declining downtown shopping corridors. Nine times out of ten, it is correlation, not causation, as the rest of the planet seems to have no problems maintaining the health and liveliness of central city pedestrian malls.

On the subject of transit malls, I would love to see Chicago take another stab at making State Street a pedestrian/transit mall, and not just in the Loop - all the way from Harrison south of the Loop to Elm at the north end. That would make two full miles of transit zone. To accommodate cars, make Rush Street and Wabash Street two-direction traffic, with long-term planning redesigning the Loop structure of Wabash to span the entire width of the street to accommodate better traffic flow with the removal of columns in the street itself. That way cars can have their way, but you get a safer, faster bus route along State Street itself. If that worked, then there could be talk of making Madison a pedestrian/transit mall between Michigan and Clinton at some point, providing better connections between the West Loop and it's commuter rail station and Michigan Avenue. The main entrance to Ogilvie Stain is on Madison, as is a secondary entrance to Union Station, letting commuter walk from Madison to their trains out of the weather to either station, and riders could also access Millennium station from the pedway entrance on Michigan just north of Madison - or that entrance could even be moved South a half block to accommodate riders.

[llamaorama]

Denver's 16th street mall is pretty cool. It's also a city whose downtown is lively and vibrant.

I used to buy this theory that pedestrian malls are a bad idea. But then when you think critically and apply a little common sense, these streets never had much more than parallel parking spots before they were converted. Most people already had to park remotely and walk. Making it a mall shouldn't have cost more than a few percent of the total number of vehicle spaces. It also shouldn't make an area harder to patrol or more insecure than a normal street.

That said it depends on if you are in a large city or a small town/suburban historic main street. In that case on street parking is better because the demand and capacity for parking is already low.

[Busy Bee]

Well I don't know about all cases, but the high profile de-pedestrianization of State Street in the mid-90's had more to do with returning the "hustle and bustle" that comes with opening the street back up to all auto traffic and shedding the image of a forlorn transit rider dumping zone whose vitality had been zapped.

[M II A II R II K]

There’s also those streetcar pedestrian malls like in Buffalo. And even if cars are allowed back the cars can at least be physically blocked from driving upon the tracks.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

This story is no different than other American examples of pedestrian/transitway malls in downtown locations like State St in Chicago, that saw lots of blame fall on the limitation of automobiles for the otherwise concurrent phenomenon of declining downtown shopping corridors. Nine times out of ten, it is correlation, not causation, as the rest of the planet seems to have no problems maintaining the health and liveliness of central city pedestrian malls.

This x1000. Perfectly stated.

Pedestrian malls didn't fail, they were in vogue concurrent with the worst period of urban core retail decline.

And their removal was obviously concurrent with an urban upswing.

I live a few blocks from Fulton Street, in downtown Brooklyn. Fulton was converted into a transit mall in the 70's, but for whatever reason, there's never been a push to redesign the mall. Fulton experienced a dramatic upswing anyways, over the last 15 years.

[Sun Belt]

I don't think busses should run down the middle of a pedestrian mall like Denver. That defeats the whole purpose of a pedestrian mall.

3rd St. Promenade is successful because parking is abundant, I've never not found garage parking and there is bus and rail connections around it, not going through it.

[llamaorama]

I'm starting to think cars should be removed from Main in Downtown Houston north of Main Street Square, or approximately between McKinney and Commerce.

As it is, there are only two extremely narrow lanes for cars with curbs separating them from the light rail in the middle thus preventing any left turns and no way to even turn around, no on-street parking spots, and virtually no driveways or garage entrances in that segment(the small lots like by 402 main are now plazas). Traffic is almost nonexistent, sometimes uber drivers just block the whole thing because they can. It's completely pointless to have vehicular lanes there except maybe so police cruisers can patrol the area.

A transit mall could make that area feel more open and safer. Eliminate curbs and put in street trees and signature light fixtures that are a lot brighter.

Preston station could be reconstructed from two separate island platforms into side platforms on one block, and the rails could be reconstructed to be closer together. This would buy a lot of space elsewhere.

The traffic signals could also be reconfigured or re-timed. It takes a long time to walk short distances because of how low a priority lights give peds on Main. This is despite the fact that outside of rush hour there is very little traffic on roads like Prairie.

Buses could drive on the rail tracks and so could emergency vehicles.

[wanderer34]

I don't believe that it was a mistake to remove the Chestnut St Transitway. You have to remember that although it was a well-meaning project, at the same time, a lot of businesses started to go out of business. I don't think a Select Bus Service will really work in Philadelphia. First of all, many streets in Philly aren't wide enough (52nd St, Allegheny Ave, Olney Ave, Gtown Ave, etc.) and the only street where I can see it working is Broad St, and maybe Lehigh and Hunting Park Aves, but that's about it. I believe SEPTA should concentrate on expanding it's anemic subway and commuter rail system and the city of Philadelphia needs to find ways to attract and retain people in this city the way DC and Boston are currently doing right now.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Nine times out of ten, it is correlation, not causation, as the rest of the planet seems to have no problems maintaining the health and liveliness of central city pedestrian malls.

I agree with your main thrust, but the US doesn't have a monopoly on urban decline. There are certainly examples in Latin American cities, and probably some UK cities, of pedestrian malls being associated with closing shops and increased crime.

Healthy cities can maintain healthy pedestrian malls, unhealthy cities often cannot. The US is not alone in having unhealthy cities, or in having cities where the nexus of commercial activity shifts to greener pastures (whether those are suburbs or "new downtowns").

Where America is unique is in the extent to which we defunded transit service (and still do). This means anybody who could afford to, chose to drive over taking a bus or train, even if it meant putting up with traffic jams and expensive parking in places that weren't designed for the automobile. Of course, people only put up with that for so long, so eventually developers shifted the big retail centers to the suburbs where driving was easier. A few big American cities saw downtown retail come back because the near-downtown population was too huge to ignore, but many mid-sized cities are still struggling. With Amazon and the rest of e-commerce, I don't think those downtown will ever see the retail return to what it once was. Bars and restaurants can only take you so far.