Chinese Tourism to U.S. Cities Takes a Hit From Trade Wars

author Linda Poon May 31, 2019

Tensions between the United States and China appear to be taking a toll on Chinese tourism to America, according to new data from the National Travel and Tourism Office.

Customs data collected by the American agency show that the U.S. received 2.9 million Chinese visitors in 2018, down 5.7 percent from the year before. It’s too early to predict the impact on individual cities in the long term, says Tori Barnes, vice president of public affairs at the U.S. Travel Association, but that trade organization has been warning that a prolonged trade war could “bleed into the travel arena.”

The economic impact for popular destinations could be significant. The average Chinese visitor spends 18 days and $7,000 per trip to the U.S., according to the U.S. Travel Association.

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Caltrain forecasts 25% ridership boost from Downtown Extension

 

Author :Friends of Caltrain Blog

Caltrain’s modeling of demand for rail service by 2040 predicts that the completion of the Downtown Extension of the tracks from 4th and King to the Salesforce Transbay terminal would increase system ridership by 25%, adding more than 25,000 daily riders when complete.

There were more jobs within walking distance of the Salesforce Transbya terminal than the rest of the line combined, according to analysis of data from the last census, suggesting the potential for a major ridership boost; not to mention the regional transit connections to BART and buses. Caltrain’s modeling supports these logical arguments for lots of ridership.

The major ridership benefit of completing the DTX project hasn’t (yet) gotten much attention, among the wealth of detail revealed by the business plan analysis and in the flow of discussion about ridership, passing tracks, grade separations and schedule options.

For transit supporters and policymakers, this forecast about the potential for DTX ridership sparked by seems worth more attention than it’s been getting.

DTX is common thought of as a “San Francisco project” that provides value mostly to SF. But another 25,000+ transit riders would be beneficial for all the other cities where those riders come from and go to, and would help notably relieve congestion for the corridor as a whole.

As the Caltrain board, local policymakers, and community members think about the big picture of investments in the Caltrain business plan, the regional benefits of DTX are worth considering.

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Hiking or Camping? Take the Bus to the Trail This Summer

 

Allan Kafley spent most of his childhood in a refugee camp in Nepal. His father told him about traveling through jungles, mountains, and forests in the family’s native country of Bhutan. “But those things were a fantasy because I was growing up in a refugee camp,” says Kafley. “I knew nothing about that.”

In 2008, Kafley moved to Seattle, where he now works as the multicultural outreach manager for ECOSS, a Seattle-based urban environmental nonprofit. There, he often leads trips for people who are like he once was—new to this country, new to English, new to outdoor recreation, and without a reliable way to get to a trailhead. This summer, though, the local transit agency, King County Metro, is launching its second year of seasonal service, allowing anyone to get to a trailhead the way Kafley once traveled around Seattle: by bus.

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Road Action Alert Let’s Close the 2nd Street Gap in West San Rafael

Anyone who has biked between San Rafael and points west has likely experienced the horror of riding 2nd Street, a heavily-traveled one-way street.

The quarter-mile stretch between West End Ave. and Miramar St. is the only location between Fairfax and San Rafael where people bicycling do not have a calm side street on which to ride.

The City of San Rafael is set to move forward with plans to redesign this stretch of Second Street, but critical, long-planned bike improvements have been omitted. Read More

Build it and they will walk and bike: youth, government, and developer collaborate for expedited infrastructure changes

Author: Kevin Anderson, Center for Climate Protection

“They already made those changes?” a student excitedly asked during a recent discussion in Mrs. Marika Ramsden’s One Planet Living class at Credo High School in Rohnert Park. There were a number of Credo students surprised to find that some of their very own recommendations for bike and pedestrian-related infrastructure changes, made only last fall, had already been completed.

First, a little background on the project. Over the past couple school years as part of an Active Transportation Planning grant, ECO2school, in partnership with W-Trans Engineering, has been conducting Walk Audits at eleven public high school campuses throughout Sonoma County. Walk Audits involve the systematic gathering of information about environmental conditions around a school that impact students’ ability to bike or walk safely and easily to and from campus. This information is gathered through a community process that encourages various stakeholders to participate.

Credo’s Walk Audit took place last Spring with a handful students and teachers participating in the first inspection. Engineers then compiled a list of their infrastructure recommendations. We organized multiple follow-up meetings last Fall with students, parents, administration, Rohnert Park Public Works and Police, and community members reviewing the first round of initial recommendations and contributing their perspectives.

Students, staff, admin, and engineers conduct the initial Walk Audit

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