[{"_1":2,"_40":-5,"_41":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4},"routes/__layout/tag.$name",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"tagName","urban planning","posts",[9,30],{"_10":11,"_12":13,"_14":15,"_16":17,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":23,"_24":-5,"_25":-5,"_26":27,"_28":29},"id",1265,"title","Traffic lights in Port of Spain","excerpt","Trinidad's downtown Port of Spain traffic lights broke and got stuck on flashing yellow. Traffic actually improved. So they kept them that way permanently. That's home.","body","

One of the biggest problems in Trinidad and Tobago right now -- the one that everybody talks about, all the time -- is the traffic. How can an island of 2 million people with an area the size of London have major traffic problems? Because everybody and everything is concentrated on the capital, Port of Spain. So traffic into and out of the capital is a nightmare. But once inside the capital, a little less so. How come?\n\n

Six months ago or so, the traffic light management system in downtown PoS broke down -- the lights all got stuck on flashing yellow. Citizens of PoS, already used to near-permanent gridlock, were at first dismayed. But it turned out that traffic actually sped up. Across the grid, time that was previously wasted waiting for the lights to change started being used by whoever needed it more. After a couple of days, people got used to it, and it was so popular that they decided not to fix the system. So now the traffic lights in downtown Port of Spain are always yellow.\n\n

That's the kind of place I'm from.","updated",["D",1198760813000],"created",["D",1198760813000],"codename","traffic_lights_in_port_of_spain","legacy_id","thumbnailUrl","published",["D",1198760813000],"draft",false,{"_10":31,"_12":32,"_14":33,"_16":34,"_18":35,"_20":36,"_22":37,"_24":38,"_25":-5,"_26":39,"_28":29},927,"Mass Transport Rant","I compare London, Paris, and NYC subways and find each gets some things right that the others get wrong. The fixes are obvious and cheap. Why won't they just do them? Hire me, Ken.","Why can no single metropolitan authority get the formula for mass transport right? My 3 candidates from personal experience:\r\n\r\n

London Underground
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Paris Metro\r\n
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NYC subway\r\n
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With the exception of London's tiny tunnels, all of the cons are fairly easy and inexpensive to overcome. So why don't they? And it's easy to bring in the pros as well: London should eliminate zones and introduce carriageless trains, and do something about the fog'o'crap that makes it impossible to see the other end of the platform if you're at one end. Paris should bring in digital signs and deal with that map of theirs, as well as introducing express trains. NYC should also bring in signs and clean up their stations: the quality of the stations makes NYC's subway *feel* like the worst subway, when it's actually the best of the bunch.\r\n

Okay, now you can hire me as a consultant. Come on, Ken.",["D",1027794887000],["D",1027794887000],"mass_transport_rant","2563",["D",1027794887000],"actionData","errors"]

Posts tagged “urban planning”