Ideas from elsewhere: Mass Transit

Just about everywhere but SEPTA: "Smart" fare cards. Transit systems around the nation and world are using credit-card-sized fare cards with embedded computer chips that can be swiftly read as the passenger boards. SEPTA says it is working toward a smart-card system, and offers the consolation that its slowness in moving to the new approach means it can learn from others' mistakes and buy the most promising technology. Local users would like any SEPTA card to work on other area rail systems. In San Francisco, the TransLink card covers 26 regional transit systems; it has been plagued by glitches, though.

Curitiba, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; Atlanta: Bus Rapid Transit. Bus Rapid Transit is a way to provide swifter service in crowded cities where the costs or logistics of light rail or subways are prohibitive. In a BRT system, riders pay fares at a station, not on the bus, speeding pickup. Buses are designed for easy ingress and egress. They often travel in dedicated lanes or, as in the new pilot system in Atlanta, get priority passage through red traffic lights.

Denver: FasTracks. Cooperative planning can lead to voter buy-in and money to make the plan happen. The Denver area's Regional Transportation District got city and suburban leaders to work together on a 12-year comprehensive transportation plan. FasTracks will build high-speed rail lines, improve bus service, and build park-n-rides all over the region. Voters in 2004 approved a sales-tax increase of 0.4 cent that pays for about a third of the plan's $4.7 billion tab.

Transit-oriented development. This buzzword in urban design refers to the goal of creating mixed-use nodes around transit stations. The developments are designed to encourage people to walk or ride bikes to the station, and include plenty of housing within a 10-minute walk. TOD seeks to use transit stations as catalysts to revive struggling neighborhoods, and to create a new generation of transit users. A Philadelphia group called Neighborhoods Now just commissioned a new study of possible TOD nodes in the city. Of course, this region includes some fine examples of TOD done by previous generations. They go by names such as Chestnut Hill, the Main Line and Haddonfield.