Walk score for PRT stations might be useful someday?

[Jerry Schneider]

Walk Score Adds Public Transit Information to Its Data Mix

Link to column in the San Francisco Chronicle:

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ontheblock/detail?&entry_id=50972>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ontheblock/detail?&entry_id=50972

Link to Walk Score
<http://www.walkscore.com/>http://www.walkscore.com<http://www.walkscore.com/>/

[Kirston Henderson]

I clicked on the walk score site, typed in my home address in Fort Worth
and got the worst possible walk score. Furthermore, no affordable mass
transit system other than dualmode capability could possible improve on the
situation. I suspect that the result in my own case would probably be
typical of most people in our city.

Kirston Henderson
MegaRail®

[Walter Brewer]

I'm about 1/4 mile from an infrequent, usually empty shuttle to the main
transit lines. My score 35%.
I picked a downtown address, and got 98%. City of about 30,000.

Who sponsors this site? Clever way for self suppoting promotion by smart
growth crowd? Each probe got gaggles of ads for facilities.
The Walkable Communities section lists Los Angeles more walkable than
Portland! It might be for the city rather than LA County which contains most
of the sprawl.

Walt Brewer

[David Maymudes]

So right now what the "walk score" actually measures is "from a given
point, how many interesting places can I get to in 5-15 minutes
without driving?"

The walk score of a PRT station is a little interesting, but really
the more important point is that a PRT network could increase the walk
score of a neighborhood. Right now, most public transit is irrelevant
to what they're trying to calculate, because outside of Manhattan
there aren't many places where you can expect to catch a bus and get
somewhere within 15 minutes, but a PRT system with essentially zero
off-peak wait times would change that and make it possible to "walk"
in 10 minutes to places that are three miles from your home.

Obviously lots of people like Kirston choose to live places where you
have to drive everywhere and are happy with that, but there are
apparently also lots of people who prefer walkable neighborhoods. http://www.good.is/post/how-a-neighborhoods-walkability-can-increase-property-values/

Somebody asked who sponsors the site... it's run by Front Seat (http://frontseat.org/
) a entrepreneurial non-profit run by some ex-Microsoft guys in
Seattle. I know the founder, actually, and this reminds me that I've
been meaning to talk to him about all this...

[Dennis Manning]

My home location rated 66. However, the data is old enough that about 50% of
the walkable destinations have closed or changed hands and some new
destinations aren't recognized. I was a little surprised at the score since
I got a zero for public transit. Still a clever web site, and sort of fun.

Dennis

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Maymudes" <da...@maymudes.net>
To: <transport-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 10:12 AM
Subject: [t-i] Re: Walk score for PRT stations might be useful someday?


>

[Dennis Manning]

They might think of some kind of driveability score. What can you drive to
in 15 minutes.

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Maymudes" <da...@maymudes.net>
To: <transport-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 10:12 AM
Subject: [t-i] Re: Walk score for PRT stations might be useful someday?


>

[Walter Brewer]

Good point, but suspect you would need to find different sponsors.

My mundane 35% score included several services within 1/2 mile walk. I've
only done that a couple times. My wife never. We use some of them often, but
otherwise always drive. BTW: A gas station is one of them, but probably
doesn't count.

Walt Brewer

[Jerry Roane]

Jerry

I got curious since these other guys did this.  My walkable ranking was a 9  ( means I need some really good shoes to walk to anything other than the country club restaurant here on the golf course.  If it weren't for the golf club house there is nothing it says I can walk to except the cheer leading dance studio.  My guess is if I showed up at the cheer leading dance studio that they would send me straight to jail but they may be nicer than that.  The clubhouse food is greasy and expensive so really there is nothing that this index says I can walk to and stay out of jail.  I would rather live here than the places ranked higher for walkability.  It is a very nice neighborhood where everyone takes very good care of their property and no crime, thankfully. 

Jerry Roane