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November 7-13, 2002 cityspace Happy and Car-Free
Philadelphia is a great transit town. Let's find ways to build on that. It is estimated that more than 30 percent of city residents do not own cars. That is a very high rate compared to almost every American city except New York, and a testament to our extensive transit system and a land development pattern that largely predates the auto. However, the 2000 census already confirms that more people own cars and use them for commuting than ever. It is beneficial to encourage our citizens to remain car-free and not to feel pressure that auto ownership is essential for daily living. Folks are bombarded daily by car ads in the media and suburban shopping sprawl that gives the autoless the sense that they are missing out on something. While our suburban friends are clamoring for less sprawl, we already have the kind of land use that new urbanists and smart growth advocates dream of. The city, in partnership with SEPTA, should take steps to reinforce the transit-friendly aspects of our town and not allow the car to become a requirement. We need to promote the fact that we have transportation choices most suburbanites don't. But in order to carry this out, we have to continue to promote a car-free lifestyle. Those who would say that being car-free is just not practical should note that the areas of the city where real estate values have risen the most are those with the least amount of parking and the most transit. Just because Philly is transit-oriented doesn't mean that we have made good land use decisions. Take a ride down Columbus Boulevard/Delaware Avenue or Roosevelt Boulevard and note the acres of parking lots and strip centers that rival any suburban area. The Wal-Mart/Home Depot Center on the waterfront is a prime example. Yet where is the bus shelter or bus lane? Where are the sidewalks for pedestrians? The same is true for new development in the vicinity of the airport on Bartram Avenue where the PNC Bank Operations Center is located. When the bank relocated from Center City, they did a survey that showed that 50 percent of their employees took transit to work and half of that group did not own cars. The bank had no provision for getting its workers to the new facility that had little transit serving it. PNC had to pay for a shuttle service from the Broad Street Subway and Suburban Station, and offer cash incentives to keep inconvenienced employees from leaving the company. The developer had no provisions for adequate sidewalk or bus stop locations with shelters for employees to get from the Eastwick train station. Transportation accessibility and land use decisions must be made in a more complementary manner so that instead of being forced to provide parking, a developer is allowed to create connections to existing transit services. In the PNC Bank example, the new center has a large parking lot that is never more than half full since so many of their workers still prefer to or have to take transit. Wasted land like that could be put to more productive use or be turned into green space. We have all been made aware of the proliferation of new parking garages in Center City, when instead we should be discouraging them. SEPTA is not being brought to the table when land use and development decisions are being made. And it is not just land use but street use that can help keep the city transit-friendly. For example, many city streets are narrow with parking on both sides, double-parking, illegal parking with no towing and poorly marked bus or trolley stop locations. SEPTA and the city have created a few "transit-first" routes where trolleys have preferential street right-of-way, plus expanded no-parking zones at stop locations and turns. There is also stricter towing enforcement. This needs to be expanded to all major streets with bus or trolley service so that congestion-related delays are minimized. Another strategy in place in other cities is a traffic-light priority for transit. This would result in shorter travel times that can maximize the competitive edge of transit over driving. We are fortunate to have some new incentives for a car-free lifestyle. The first is a Smart Commute mortgage being tested by Fannie Mae and offered locally by Citizens Bank. By calculating your proximity to transit, you are able to afford a higher mortgage because it is assumed that your expenses are lower due to lack of auto-related costs. We are also on the verge of seeing car-sharing come to the area. This is like having a car co-op where you use the car only for the short period you need it and then return it to a neighborhood-based parking space. In order to ensure that transit-friendly design and development continue, there needs to be an institutionalized process that guarantees that SEPTA and those involved in planning and land development (such as Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation) get together before a project is approved to assess transit impacts as they do for zoning and land use. Let's not lose another unique feature of our city. Instead, let's improve upon it. Robert J. Ravelli, AICP, is an urban planner and author of Car-Free in Philadelphia. 
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