Streetfilms: D.C. DOT Director Talks “Transportation Freedom”

Meet Gabe Klein, who was appointed to direct Washington D.C.’s Department of Transportation (DDOT) in December 2008. With a background including four years working for Zipcar, Klein was brought in to look at the city’s mobility problems from a fresh perspective. As he says:

Cars are a part of our daily life here in D.C., but what we want to do is try to equalize the playing field. Encourage people to walk, to bike, to bike share; or instead of owning a car — car share.

D.C. already has one of the lowest household car-ownership rates of any major U.S. city, so actively promoting these modes is essential — as Klein points out — to helping people move about with freedom.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

STREETFILMS

Gabe Klein Talks About Getting Sh*t Done in His New Book, “Start-Up City”

|
Streets can be tough to change. Between institutional inertia, tight budgets, bureaucratic red tape, and the political risks of upsetting the status quo, even relatively simple improvements for walking, biking, or transit can take years to pull off — if they ever get implemented at all. But a new generation of transportation officials have shown that it doesn’t have […]
STREETFILMS

Streetfilms: Voices From the National Bike Summit

|
Last week, hundreds of bike advocates descended on Washington D.C. for the tenth annual National Bike Summit — the largest one yet. Hosted by the League of American Bicyclists, the summit is always a great opportunity for advocates to share ideas and make the case for cycling on Capitol Hill. This year attendees encouraged their […]
STREETSBLOG USA

Gabe Klein on How DC Built a Smarter Parking System

|
Streetfilms’ Clarence Eckerson is working on a piece about parking policy and was recently in Washington to discuss some of that city’s innovations with former District DOT chief Gabe Klein. The full Streetfilm is still a work-in-progress, but Clarence put together these clips where Klein explains the city’s pay-by-phone parking meter tech, which goes great with dynamic […]