To consolidate, disseminate, and gather information concerning the 710 expansion into our San Rafael neighborhood and into our surrounding neighborhoods. If you have an item that you would like posted on this blog, please e-mail the item to Peggy Drouet at pdrouet@earthlink.net
"Continental" crosswalks, aka zebra crosswalks that
have extra-prominent markings, have been springing up across the city at
major pedestrian-heavy intersections, from Hollywood to MacArthur Park
to the Old Bank District. The city installed 50 of these crosswalks,
featuring two-foot wide stripes, as part of a pilot program begun last year. Now officials are rolling out many, many more with the hopes of adding 19,770 continentals across the city, CBS2 reports.
Studies find the more-prominent markings reduce pedestrian accidents by
25 percent compared to regular crosswalks. They cost $10,000 a pop and
are being paid for through Measure R, the 2008 voter-approved
transportation tax that's covering everything from new bikeways to the
Purple Line subway extension.
Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel boring machine (TBM) has broken
through the 4.6m wall of her launch pit as she begins digging a 2.8km
route under Seattle.
The US$2bn SR 99 project will build a tunnel featuring a two-level
roadway to replace the ageing Alaskan Way Viaduct along Seattle’s
downtown waterfront un the US state of Washington. The SR99 tunnel's
17.5m excavated diameter will make it the world's largest TBM-bored
tunnel.
The project is being carried out by Seattle Tunnel Partners, a joint
venture of Dragados USA and Tutor Perini Corporation. HNTB Corporation
is lead designer for the Washington State Department of Transportation
scheme.
The nearly 7,000t TBM was assembled and launched in an 24m-deep
launch pit west of Seattle’s sports stadiums.It will take approximately
14 months to complete the 2.8km route under Seattle, emerging about four
blocks east of the Seattle Space Needle. Bertha will pass under 154
buildings, as well as utilities and other infrastructure. Washington
State Department of Transportation is providing extensive information
about progress of the 99.4m-long, 17.5m-diameter machine, including maps and diagrams of her route.
Bertha told her Twitter followers about the breakthrough, which
followed the start of digging two weeks ago. She has explained that she
is taking things slowly and travelled just 3.4m in her first week, so
"the below-land speed record (if such a thing exists) is likely safe for
now". Bertha's profile describes her likes as 'dirt, boulders,
perfectly formed concrete rings' and her dislikes as 'sunlight'. Her
role models include Thames Tunnel engineer Marc Isambard Brunel and
'whoever invented the shovel'.
The tunnel will be open to traffic in December 2015.
On Wednesday, August 1, 2013, Metro Chair Diane DuBois appointed
Glendale City Council Member Ara Najarian to serve on Metrolink’s Board
of Directors for the Southern California Regional Rail Authority
(SCRRA). Mr. Najarian has been a Metro Board Member for seven years and
has previously served five years on the Metrolink Board.
Councilmember Ara Najarian stated he is, “Excited to be back on the
Metrolink Board to continue to improve mobility throughout Glendale and
Southern California.” Local officials like Councilmember Najarian
provide specialized insight into issues facing the immediate region to
help better improve Southern California’s overall transportation and
rail goals.
In September of 2012, when Governor Jerry Brown signed the Public Employees Pension Reform Act of 2012,
labor unions weren’t happy. The law, which applies to government
workers across the state, allows government agencies more flexibility in
extending the retirement age, increase employee contribution, and halt
the practice of “pension spiking” for new employees. A full summary of the legislation is at the bottom of Brown’s press release from last September.
Perez is threatening to withhold federal funds for state transit
agencies that follow the state guidelines if and when transit unions
object.
The Wall Street Journal argues
that Perez is mis-interpreting the act and that Brown and state
agencies are operating within the law. California Labor Secretary Marty
Morgenstern agrees.
So either the state changes labor law for transit employees, the
federal government backs down and sends the $2 billion in grants that
were promised, or transit agencies throughout the state lose out on
roughly $2 billion in expected, and budgeted, federal funds.
Potentially withheld funds include both capital and operating funds.
Los Angeles Metro is first in-line to lose out on funding. The federal
government will decide on a $268 million request on Friday. Next in line
is the Orange County Transit Agency. Smaller agencies will be hit hard
as well. Sacramento’s regional agency could lost $70 million, including
funds needed for a new light rail line. Santa Barbara’s Metropolitan
Transit District would have to reduce services by 30% and lay off 50 bus
drivers without its federal grant.
Thus far, transit unions in the bay area have not formally protested
to the Department of Labor over the pension plans despite their ongoing
strike. While Streetsblog is certainly not privy to the internal
negotiations, it’s hard to imagine that the unions aren’t threatening to
do so at the bargaining table.
To make the issue more pressing, Moody’s Investor Services is considering downgrading the credit ratings
of Metro and other state transit agencies because of the confusion over
whether or not they will receive federal funding. A change in credit
rating could cost agencies even more, as Moody’s ratings help determine
the interest rate agencies will receive on loans that finance most major
expansion projects.
Brown is desperate to avoid a lawsuit over Perez’s interpretation
unless funding for state agencies is secured. The Governor’s office is
floating a plan to quickly pass legislation temporarily restoring the
former pension plans for future employees while California and the
Federal Department of Labor duke it out. Whether or not that plan will
pass muster with Perez, even if it is executed, remains to be seen.
The Teamsters and ATU argue for a different resolution. The unions
support legislation by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, that
basically excludes local and regional mass transit workers from last
year’s pension law. That would impact 20,000 workers, and could open the
door for every union in the state to carve out its own exemption. After
all, why should one set of state workers get benefits not offered to
others?
While the Sacramento Bee
has loudly denounced the Alejo plan, it seems their is little reason to
get excited. The bill has been bottled up in committee since its
introduction this Spring. It seems unlikely to gain momentum now. Even
if it did suddenly move and pass both houses, it’s hard to see the proud
Governor Brown signing it into law to avoid a showdown.
Meanwhile, there is little that transit passengers and advocates can
do at the moment other than wait and write letters (to Brown and your
state legislators if you believe the state needs to act or President
Obama and your federal legislators if you think the Labor Department
needs to back off.)
Earlier this morning, the California Public Utilities Commission gave
Phase II of the Expo Line the green light to finish construction. With
the California Supreme Court also ruling in Expo’s favor on August 5, both the legal and procedural roadblocks to Expo have been resolved in less than two weeks.
Expo Phase II is an eight mile extension of the Expo Line from its
current terminus in Culver City to near the 3rd Street Promenade in
Santa Monica. The above video shows CPUC President Michael Peevey
praising the Expo Construction Authority and the Expo Line after CPUC
approved the line. h/t Gökhan Esirgen.
CPUC originally gave Expo the green light in November of last year.
Neighbors for Smart Rail, a coalition of Westside home owner and
community groups. asked for a second review arguing that CPUC didn’t
follow its own rules set out by policy and the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) and that the Expo Construction Authority failed to
study every intersection of the rail line.
Streetsblog has reached out to NFSR and the Expo Construction
Authority for comment. We will update the story as the day progresses.
MonkeyLectric is a company that makes lights for bike wheels.
But not just any lights for bike wheels. These are the best lights for
bike wheels ever created. MonkeyLectric
It’s a fairly simple product, actually. You get a unit that fits onto
your wheel. The unit has four bars of LED lights. Then you upload
graphics or animations. And then you just pedal — pretty fast — and the
lights turn on and the motion of the bike wheel turns them into
animations and you’ve got the coolest thing going on the road. Cars will
definitely, definitely see you.
But it’s, uh, pricey, at $660 for one unit (i.e., if you want both
your wheels tricked out like this, you’re out more than $1,300). Still,
you could have bike wheels with an animation of you riding a bike on them. Think about it. MonkeyLectric
Acting Director of the California
Department of Transportation District 7 (Los Angeles and Ventura
counties), is responsible for planning, construction, operation and
maintenance of the State freeway and highway system and oversees 2,500
employees.
Bowen began her current assignment in August 2013 when the previous
director retired. She provides oversight to all divisions including
administration, construction, design, environmental, external affairs,
maintenance, operations, planning, project management and right-of-way.
Most recently, Bowen was the District 10 Director (Stockton), appointed
in January 2011, and has worked for Caltrans for approximately 30 years.
She began her career with Caltrans as an Associate Environmental
Planner preparing complex environmental documents. Bowen rose to the
position of Deputy District Director for the Central Region
Environmental Division overseeing Caltrans' environmental work in 20
counties and staff in four districts. During this time Caltrans prepared
for the implementation of NEPA delegation and Bowen was instrumental in
its success.
In June 2009 Bowen was on loan to the California High Speed Rail
Authority as Central California Regional Director, advising and
assisting the CEO. As the focal point for regional high-speed rail
project issues she met with state, regional and local elected officials,
planning organizations and the general public to resolve problems and
efficiently implement project objectives and build strategies for
communicating with local advocates to foster their continued involvement
and support.
In addition to working at Caltrans, Bowen also served on the staff of
then-Assemblyman Jim Costa from 1985 until 1991, advising the
assemblyman on a variety of key Central Valley issues including
transportation projects and high-speed rail.
Her vision for the future of transportation is to build strong
relationships with local partners; utilize the skills and knowledge
acquired through 30 years of diverse experience, including skills to
creatively resolve issues, motivate employees, manage tasks and deliver a
successful program; and continue to strive to improve the quality of
California’s transportation systems, improve and enhance the environment
and support smart growth and sustainable approaches to resolve our
infrastructure needs.
On a personal note, Bowen has been actively involved in improving
education. She served as School Site Council Chairman from 1995-2000 and
was appointed to the State Center Community College District-Bond
Oversight Committee in 2005-2009. She was appointed to the California
Oil Spill Technical Advisory Committee and served from 1997-2000.
After about six months, Alhambra City Council unanimously voted Monday
to change Mary Swink's job title from interim city manager to city
manager. Her appointment is expected to be finalized at the next City
Council meeting on Aug. 26. (
Alhambra’s City Council unanimously voted Monday to make Mary Swink its first female city manager.
Alhambra
has not missed a beat since Swink, previously the director of
development services, replaced 20-year veteran Julio Fuentes, said Mayor
Steven Placido.
City Council always intended for the interim
position to last only six months before it conducted a work evaluation.
The review was positive, Placido said.
“Most everything will stay
the same,” Placido said. “She’s been through our budget cycle. We have a
balanced budget. She’s a wonderful city manager. We have no reason to
look out further.”
Swink will go through contract negotiations at a future closed
session meeting, but both she and Placido said the change will be in
title only. She will continue to earn what Fuentes earned, $199,740.
With
32 years of city employment - 25 of which were in Alhambra - Swink came
to the job well-equipped, Placido said. This is especially true because
she was an assistant to Fuentes for about 18 years.
Swink is
happy with what she has accomplished as interim city manager, she said.
Going in, she wanted to work on the Alhambra Place development and
increase the city’s community events.
Fuentes left on Feb. 1 to become Santa Clara’s city manager.
Swink
helped organize “710 Day” to promote the building of a tunnel that
would connect the 710 Freeway between Alhambra and Pasadena. Swink also
brought back “Summer Serenade,” three free concerts in Alhambra Park,
and expanded Independence Day celebrations to include a concert, picnic and games.
“It’s been a good six months,” Swink said. “I
love the job. The department heads, city and staff have been wonderful
to work with.”
Although the public hasn’t seen any material
changes in the Alhambra Place development, Swink said her staff is
“still plugging away” at it. So behind-the-scene progress has been made.
Councilman Gary Yamauchi said, “I can’t think of anything she’s
fallen short of,” adding that he’s talked to a few department heads who
all agree Swink has “covered all the bases.”
Alhambra’s city
manager position is an “evergreen contract,” meaning Swink and City
Council could work together as long as both parties are happy.
The City Council could evaluate Swink’s performance at least once a year.
In places where cities accommodate multiple modes of travel, such as
the Netherlands, cyclists and their bikes have their own space, just
like pedestrians and motorists. This is not nearly as common the U.S.,
where dedicated infrastructure is scarce and the rules on where cyclists
“belong” — whether they should behave like pedestrians or drivers —
differ from state to state, city to city, or even block to block.
Bikes and cars are different, says Shaun Jacobsen at Transitized, and should be treated accordingly.
Shaun Jacobsen at Network blog Transitized
has given it some thought, and he thinks cyclists are a lot more like
pedestrians in some important ways, though planners in the U.S. more
often tend to lump them in with cars.
Bikes are now normally given the same green cycle as cars
and are expected to comply. Sometimes, pedestrians are given a “leading
interval,” giving pedestrians a head start. People on bikes have
heightened senses of their surroundings since they are standing upright
and have full, unobstructed view of their surroundings — like
pedestrians — and should be permitted to use the leading pedestrian
interval as their “go,” or deserve their own traffic signal at
intersections.
Bikes are also expected to comply with stop signs (except in Idaho)
by coming to a full stop. However, pedestrians don’t have to stop
completely at a stop sign when they want to cross the road. They can see
all around them and hear oncoming cars, and are better-suited to make
the decision whether it is safe to cross. A runner that can see along
the street they are trying to cross should not be legally forced to stop
if it is safe to proceed without crossing. Similarly, a person on a
bike should not be forced to stop themselves to proceed through a
completely safe intersection, since people on bikes have situational
awareness at a level closer to a pedestrian.
Too often, bikes are placed in the “car” infrastructure category and
given the treatments engineers designed for cars — leading to unsafe
conditions reserved only for the most confident bike riders. It is time
that engineers and planners stop planning bike infrastructure and routes
as if cars were using it.
In related posts on the Network today, Reno Rambler reviews an article aimed at educating law enforcement officers on bike laws, and the Green Lane Project wonders if there should be more emphasis on making cyclists feel comfortable, rather than just safe. Also: Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space comments on a trend among public service providers, like libraries, that are conducting outreach on bikes.
Most transit agencies have been through some version of
this scenario: In one part of the city, buses drive around stuffed like
sardine tins, while elsewhere they can be all but empty. Car drivers
mock the empty buses in low-density parts of the city. Some elected
official picks up the banner, demanding that the transit agency stop
flagrantly wasting taxpayer money by running these money-losing routes.
Transit
consultant and author/blogger Jarrett Walker says transit agencies need
to search their own souls to determine the best mix of ridership and
coverage.
If you hear echoes of the federal fight over Amtrak, you’re not going crazy — it’s the exact same conversation.
And it merits the exact same answer.
Ridership versus coverage
As transit consultant Jarrett Walker, the mind behind the Human
Transit book and blog, sees it, every transit agency needs to make a
trade-off between ridership and coverage. The agency can focus on routes
with high ridership — which makes the most sense environmentally and
financially — but then large swaths of the area will have no service at
all. It simply doesn’t make fiscal sense to serve low-density areas, or
areas without a complementary pedestrian network, with transit. Not
enough people will ride it.
But if you cut that service, you’ve cut off a lifeline to people with
disabilities, seniors with no other transportation options, people with
low incomes, and others. “Social benefits of public transport, such as
accessibility for persons who cannot drive, tend to be based on the
severity of need among certain population groups, rather than the level
of patronage to be gained by meeting this need,” Walker wrote in a 2008 paper
in the Journal of Transport Geography. The people served by a
low-ridership route might not be populous enough to make a route through
a low-density area particularly profitable, but the service is still
valuable. It serves a goal of coverage, not ridership.
Walker encourages transit agencies to have the
ridership-versus-coverage conversation publicly and without shame. They
should decide upfront, with community input, what percentage of their
resources will be spent on routes with high ridership and what
percentage will be devoted to broadening the geographical reach of
coverage outside those high-ridership zones.
These conversations are becoming more and more essential as tight
budgets and limited federal funding are bringing more scrutiny to
transportation spending. Although transit agencies are generally serving
more riders with less money, they are constantly asked to prove that
they’re not wasting taxpayer funds. “One of the ways you can answer that
kind of public demand is to have the ridership/coverage conversation,”
Walker told Streetsblog, “because to the ordinary suburban voter’s mind,
an empty bus driving around their subdivision looks like government
waste. They don’t understand that it’s actually the result of conscious
policy, namely a coverage policy, and that their own city leaders may
have been fighting hard for that policy.”
“There’s a lot of confusion out there, and unfortunately there a lot
of economic intellectuals out there who are writing articles that make
it sound like because transit systems run empty buses that means they’re
failing — just not understanding what transit agencies are actually
expected to do,” Walker said. “Those buses are valued for the lifeline
access they provide for the isolated senior.”
Coverage service isn’t just about
social equity and serving the poor and down-trodden, either. It can also
seek to include suburban routes in affluent areas where most people
have cars but their taxes help fund the transit service. Sometimes
“equity” just means making sure everyone who pays in at least has the
option of using the system, whether they do or not.
“Its benefits arise from its sheer existence.”
This bus may be a lifeline to people without transportation options, even when there's nobody on it.
The goals of the two kinds of service are distinct, Walker explains. A
ridership goal is one that is met when more people use transit. “VMT
reduction is one of several goals that arise from transit being used
rather than from transit just existing,” he said. “And that’s
fundamentally the difference. Coverage service: its benefits arise from
its sheer existence.”
High-ridership routes, which are the emissions-reducing powerhouses
of transit, can support frequent service all day long or at least at
peak times. “Coverage” routes don’t solve any environmental problems but
do address social and geographic equity, and the service tends to be of
poorer quality: infrequent and circuitous. Success in coverage is
measured by determining what percentage of residents and jobs are within
a certain distance of transit service. Those numbers need to be filled
in by the transit agency setting the goal.
Once that goal is set — ideally in consultation with the public —
transit agencies have a transparent and easy reply to constituents angry
about cuts to low-ridership service. Rather than debate the benefits of
that particular transit service, those people would need to lobby for a
change in the ratio of ridership-to-coverage.
Setting clear priorities around coverage and ridership service was
helpful for the transit agency in Reno, Nevada, where Walker served as a
consultant. “There’s always been a difficult conversation about bus
routes that go out into [semi-rural] territory, because the ridership is
always dreadful, because you have to drive such a long distance to get
to a relatively few people,” Walker said. “And yet you have people who
have fairly limited options that end up aging in place in a mobile home
out in the desert.”
Value judgments
Reno decided to go with an 80 percent ridership to 20 percent
coverage split. It’s the most lopsided Walker said he’s seen, but he
never makes recommendations on numbers. “I’m very suspicious whenever
something that is presented as technical analysis contains value
judgments,” he said. “You don’t want me as a consultant to fly in to
your community and tell you who you are and what you want your transit
system to be. Ridership versus coverage is one of those questions that’s
designed to bring out the community’s own values. It has no technical
answer.”
The distinction between ridership lines and coverage lines may fall
into a gray area, too. “It may very well be that an existing route is
50/50,” Walker said. “It might be that geographically half the route is
coverage and half of the route is ridership. In some cases, there might
be a route that has good land use patterns, good indicators of high
ridership, but that has lousy ridership because it doesn’t have enough
service.” He said he considers Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles to be a
ridership line, even though it has low ridership, because well located
to be a booming route — if only it ran more than every hour.
Another reason that a sparsely-used line could be a “ridership” route
is that it may be leading development. “You may be in an area that is
growing rapidly,” Walker said. “And you may be intentionally running a
low-ridership service in anticipation that if certain things get built
it’s going to be a high-ridership service.”
“Urban developers are always hassling us to run service in advance of
development, to get service out there right away to form transit
habits,” he said. “And that’s one of the reasons we run empty buses
around in suburban areas, waiting for things to get built.”
One of the best ways to experience the travel style of yesteryear's
rich and famous is to spend some time on a luxury train. Typically,
these trains provide private two-person overnight compartments, some
with built-in showers, along with lavish service, onboard guides, and
elaborate meals. Many also include a variety of day tours at stops along
the way. Most carry passengers in vintage cars from the 1920s to 1950s
that have been refurbished to modern standards or in newer cars designed
to look like the classics.
Luxury
trains are extremely expensive, so if you're more interested in the
scenery and stops along the way than the extravagance, you can replicate
many luxury rail journeys using ordinary modern trains at a fraction of
the cost. I've included tips for this as well.
Simplon-Orient-Express
The Orient-Express has to be the all-time winner for name recognition among iconic trains. The Simplon-Orient-Express
excursion train still makes the traditional run from Paris to Istanbul
via Budapest and Bucharest once a year (local rail conditions
permitting)—lacking only the original's onboard murder and intrigue. But
most trips are shorter two- to four-day links on varying routes
connecting London, Venice, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Bucharest. The
train uses original vintage coaches upgraded to operate on modern
railroads and is hauled by modern and usually electric locomotives.
Prices run between $1,000 and $1,400 per person, per day, and are
all-inclusive.
The Simplon-Orient-Express folks operate vintage trains over several other European routes at comparable rates.
Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express
The Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express
serves the world's longest continuous railway line. This luxury train
operates 15-day itineraries in modern cars, linking Moscow with
Vladivostok. The train provides three classes of service; all three
include in-cabin showers, meal service, drinks, excursions, services of
onboard tour guides, porterage, and even services of an onboard doctor
in the base prices. Prices are stiff, starting at more than $15,000 per
person for double occupancy in Silver Class. Golden Eagle also operates a
Silk Road train linking Moscow with Beijing via Bukhara, Samarkand, and
Almaty.
If that's too stiff, you can do the regular straight-through seven-day Trans-Siberian Express over the same route through Real Russia. A first-class berth costs about $2,000 per person for single or double occupancy, including meals.
South Africa's Blue Train
is yet another storied luxury train. All accommodations are in private
two-person compartments with built-in showers and toilet facilities. The
trip cost includes meals and drinks and a high level of personal
service. The Blue Train runs between Cape Town and Pretoria; in either
direction, you leave early in the morning and arrive at around noon the
next day. Trips run four to five times a month. Costs for a deluxe suite
start at 15,155 rand (about $1,500, according to xe.com)
per person for double occupancy in the high season (September
1–November 15) or 12,380 rand (about $1,260) during low season. A few
luxury suites include bathtubs rather than showers; these are more
expensive. The Blue Train operates on other South African routes as
well.
If you just want the Cape Town-Johannesburg train trip, you
can ride a sleeper on the bare-bones Shosholoza Meyl tourist train, with
prices starting at around 600 rand (about $60), or take the Premier
Classe deluxe train, with prices starting at around 2,500 rand (about
$250), including meals. Arrange both through African Sun Travel.
Eastern & Oriental Express
The Simplon-Orient-Express operators also run the Eastern & Oriental Express
between Bangkok and Singapore. All accommodations are in two-person
cabins, including a toilet and a shower, with upper/lower beds in
Pullman Class and twin beds in State Class. As is standard with luxury
trains, fares include meals, lots of personal attention, and sightseeing
stops, including a side trip to the River Kwai bridge. The complete
trip takes two to three nights, depending on the itinerary; prices for
travel this summer start at $2,560 per person.
If you just want
the train trip, you can do it for less than $100: Ride overnight in a
sleeper from Bangkok to Butterworth, stay overnight in a Butterworth
hotel, then continue from Butterworth to Singapore by day train (or vice
versa). The best way to buy tickets in advance is through a travel
agency, such as Thailand Train Ticket for the train between Bangkok and Butterworth and Malaysian Railway for the train between Butterworth and Singapore.
Rocky Mountaineer
Rocky Mountaineer
runs excursion trains over several Canadian routes, but the most
important is the classic run between Calgary and Vancouver. Operating on
Canadian Pacific tracks, this train passes through Canada's top
mountain scenery, including Banff and Lake Louise—a better route than
the alternate, between Vancouver and Jasper. This is the route once
traveled by Canadian Pacific's famed transcontinental train, the
Dominion, which was discontinued when Via Rail Canada took over Canadian
train travel. Unlike other luxury trains, the Rocky Mountaineer travels
only during daylight hours, stopping for overnight hotel stays in
Kamloops. Seasonal rates in August range from $2,827 for two people
traveling in Redleaf service, with regular coach seats, to $5,552 for
double occupancy in the full-length-window dome car. Rates include meals
and overnight accommodations in Kamloops.
VIA Rail Canada
does not run trains on the old Canadian Pacific line. Its
transcontinental, the Canadian, runs over the less-scenic Canadian
National route via Jasper rather than Calgary. A peak summer-season
sleeping compartment for two people for the four-night trip from Toronto
to Vancouver costs $3,487 CAD (about $3,350) per person at list price,
including meals, but is often discounted to half price. Another scenic
option in Canada is the Skeena
between Jasper and Prince Rupert. Like the Rocky Mountaineer, this
two-day train trip runs during daylight hours only. It also stops
overnight at Prince George. Summer fares start at about $100 CAD (about
$96), not including the overnight accommodations that you'll need to
book. Winter fares are much lower on both routes.
Those busy folks at Orient-Express also run luxury train The Royal Scotsman
on a variety of two- to seven-night excursions around Scotland and
England. As with the others, The Royal Scotsman features deluxe
accommodations in single, double, or twin cabins; fancy meals; onboard
service; and the rest. Starting rates are in the $1,700–$2,000 range per
person, per day, and are all-inclusive.
The Royal Scotsman's name
is a neologism of the former top two British intercity trains: the
Royal Scot from London to Glasgow and the Flying Scotsman from London to
Edinburgh. In the glory days of steam, both trips took a bit longer
than seven hours. Trains on both routes now make the trip in about four
and a half hours. You can also trace all of The Royal Scotsman's routes
on ordinary trains.
Great Southern Rail
Although it's
the only through train on the route, Australia's weekly
transcontinental Indian Pacific, linking Sydney (Pacific Ocean) with
Perth (Indian Ocean) now runs primarily as an excursion train. It's run
by private operator Great Southern Rail.
The three-night trip features varied scenery, from the Snowy Mountains
near Sydney to the desolate Nullarbor Plain near Perth, and includes the
world's longest stretch of perfectly straight rail track (297 miles).
Advance-purchase fares in a Gold Service sleeper start at $1,634 AUD
(about $1,509) for one person in a single compartment or $1,815 AUD
(about $1,680) for two people in a twin, including meals. Standard fares
are about 50% higher. Tickets are available for intermediate stages,
such as Adelaide-Perth.
Great Southern Rail also operates
Australia's other iconic long-haul trains: the Ghan, from Adelaide to
Darwin through the Outback via Alice Springs, and the Overland between
Adelaide and Melbourne. These private-excursion trains are the only ones
operating over these routes.
Tren Crucero
Ecuador's
historic 280-mile narrow-gauge rail link between Guayaquil on the
Pacific Ocean and Quito, 9,350 feet high in the Andes, just reopened
after years of neglect. Tren Crucero
runs all-daylight four-day excursions with three overnight hotel stays
along the way. Trips run from June through August and from December
through February, and some are hauled at least partially by vintage
steam locomotives. The feature here is spectacular scenery and legendary
railroading—not onboard luxury, although the coaches are designed for
sightseeing tourists. The current introductory price, including hotel
accommodations, is $991 per person for double occupancy with a single
supplement of $97.
So far, no other train operates over the entire
line. But given the cost of rehabilitation, don't be surprised to see
the Ecuadorian railway start providing conventional through trains. Palace On Wheels
India's Palace on Wheels
operates weekly tours on a Delhi-Jaipur-Sawai
Madhopur-Udaipur-Jodhpur-Agra-Delhi route. The focus is on hitting
northwest India's destination spots rather than highlighting scenery
along the way. Modern period-decorated cars include individual
compartments with private bathrooms. The tour includes local sightseeing
at most stops, meals, and lots of personal service. Off-season
(September through April) prices range from $390 per person, per night,
for a shared cabin to $575 for single-cabin occupancy; high-season
prices range from $520 to $770.
Other luxury tourist trains in
India include the Maharaja's Express, running in the same general area
as the Palace on Wheels, and the Deccan Odyssey and Golden Chariot,
running in southern India. All are available through Luxe Train Journeys and other specialists in Indian travel.
All of the luxury train routes are also served by conventional trains, which you can arrange through Indian Railways, which accepts American Express, or Cleartrip, which accepts MasterCard and Visa (according to The Man in Seat Sixty-One, a great resource for rail travel worldwide).
California Zephyr
The closest Amtrak comes to a luxury/historical train trip is the California Zephyr
between Chicago and Emeryville, near Berkeley. It covers much of the
route of the original California Zephyr on the Burlington, Rio Grande,
and Western Pacific railroads, although it now uses the Southern Pacific
Donner Pass route rather than the original Western Pacific Feather
River route. The three-day, two-night trip is scheduled for mostly
daylight viewing on the two most scenic segments: through the Rockies
from Denver to Salt Lake City and through the Sierras from Reno to
Emeryville. The westbound schedule is slightly superior. This train
carries bi-level sleepers plus dome cars for optimal sightseeing. Rates
vary by date, but I tested dates for travel this August and found prices
starting at $204 per person plus $775 for a sleeper roomette (for
either one person or two), including all meals. In October, those prices
drop to $163 for a ticket and $626 for a roomette.
Two
other Amtrak runs replicate America's two most iconic trains: The
Southwest Chief travels the same route as Santa Fe's famed Super Chief
(except for the short stretch from San Bernardino to Los Angeles), and
the Lake Shore Limited retraces the route of New York Central's
legendary 20th Century Limited. Old-time rail buffs will tell you it's
not even close to the same experience. But you take what you can get.
State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) has
proposed a bill to streamline environmental review for infill projects.
A proposal to streamline the environmental review process for
development was approved by a key committee Wednesday after its author,
state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said he is unwilling to include more dramatic changes demanded by business groups.
The measure that would speed up approval of infill
construction projects in heavily developed neighborhoods was approved
5-0 by the Assembly Local Government Committee despite opposition from a
business coalition.
Steinberg complained that the group of businesses has demanded a
long, changing list of amendments to the California Environmental
Quality Act that goes too far to win the votes needed for approval.
“There isn’t the political
desire to do that,” Steinberg said of the proposals by the CEQA Working
Group, which includes the California Chamber of Commerce, Silicon Valley
Leadership Group and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
“You want to move a mile, we will move a mile,” Steinberg told the
Assembly Local Government Committee. “You want to move one hundred miles
in ways that may not be good, that’s not going to happen with this
bill.”
Steinberg’s SB 731 focuses on allowing infill construction projects
in heavily developed neighborhoods to be approved more quickly by using
environmental reviews done previously when regional plans are adopted by
counties and cities.
The business group sent a letter of opposition saying the bill “would
not advance true CEQA reform and, in fact, could make approval of
worthy and responsible projects even more difficult.” Bill Dombrowski,
head of the California Retailers Assn., told the committee, “We would
like to see some further reforms.”
Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian
(R-San Luis Obispo) supported the bill but said the governor’s office
has said the bill does not include all of the changes wanted by Gov. Jerry Brown. Steinberg said he is talking to the governor’s office and plan to incorporate “many” of the ideas sought by Brown.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval exits a driverless car after a test drive in Carson City, Nev.
A growing number of states are taking up legislation that addresses
self-driving vehicles in an effort to make it easier for researchers to
explore the technology.
But most of the legislation deals with how states can facilitate
testing -- as opposed to consumer use of the vehicles -- largely because
truly automated vehicles aren't yet available on the market. When that
day comes, states will face a host of thorny questions. Historically,
states have regulated drivers, and the feds have regulated vehicles. But
what happens when the vehicle is the driver?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said issues
such as licensing, driver training, and how the vehicles will be
operated are best handled by the states. "Some states are going to act
much faster than the feds can or will," says Bryant Walker Smith, a
fellow at Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society, who
has written extensively about the legal implications of automated
vehicles.
Nevada became the first state to authorize the operation of
autonomous vehicles on its roadways in 2011; since then California,
Florida and the District of Columbia have all passed laws that open the
door for self-driving vehicle testing on public roads as well. Those
places -- and other states considering bills -- have largely deferred
many of the questions of how to regulate autonomous vehicles to their
motor vehicle departments.
"Legislatures usually break things when they create rules
themselves," says New Jersey state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr., who introduced a
bill this summer that calls on the Motor Vehicle Commission to develop
regulations for self-driving vehicles. "Five years from now, or 25
years from now, we won't know what technology exists."
But not even those departments have all the answers yet. Florida's
new automated vehicle law, for example, requires that the state's
highway patrol submit a report to the legislature next year, but it's
unclear whether they'll have learned much since the law was enacted in
2012; nobody has actually registered an autonomous vehicle in the
Sunshine State yet. "At this point, we're not certain what we're going
to report," says Julie Baker, chief of the Bureau of Issuance
Oversight within the Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles.
NHTSA expects its first stage of self-driving vehicle research to be
completed within the next four years. Meanwhile, some industry
officials say by 2025, fully autonomous vehicles could be mainstream,
according to the Wall Street Journal. That
gives states some time -- but not tons -- to start sorting out the
legal questions that come with the technology. Here are six they should
consider.
1. Will drivers need any sort of training?
Driver's education classes have been a staple of American teenage life,
as have the nerve-wracking driver's tests that follow. Thankfully,
drivers aren't required get a new license and go through the rigmarole
of driver's ed every time they buy a new vehicle. But would drivers need
new training before getting behind the wheel of a self-driving vehicle?
If training became a requirement, would it be the responsibility of the
the government, the manufacturer, the dealer, or some other entity?
The answer to this question probably won't be clear until the
technology is further along and officials have an understanding of just
how intuitive fully-automated vehicles will or won't be. "If you asked
five years ago, should there be special training required for people who
use adaptive cruise control... you really could have gone either way on
that," says Smith, of Stanford. Today, training of that sort wold seem
preposterous.
NHTSA, for its part, recommends states develop a special license or
endorsement based on some sort of prerequisite like a test or
certification from a manufacturer of autonomous vehicle systems. Smith
says states will also have to decide whether people with disabilities
that preclude them from driving traditional vehicles would be eligible
for an autonomous vehicle instead.
2. Is it possible to speed?
Just about every driver has, at some point, inched at least a few
notches past the speed limit either to save time on a trip or to
overtake a slower vehicle. But speeding is illegal. One key question
that both policymakers and manufacturers will need to answer is whether
it should be technically possible for a self-driven car to go above the
speed limit.
The big promise of autonomous vehicles is the assumption that they'd
be much safer than typical cars. On one hand, if they have the
capability of speeding, that would seem at odds with the goal of safety.
On the other hand, if breaking the speed limit isn't possible in
autonomous vehicles, they could be unpopular with some drivers.
Smith says that so far, automated vehicles in the testing phase allow
the human tester to set the speed. Assuming that continues to be the
case with consumer vehicles, violations of the speed limit, from a legal
perspective, would clearly fall on the driver's shoulders. "You could
make creative arguments that if there's no driver, the law doesn't
apply," Smith says. "But that won't fly."
3. Is distracted driving allowed?
Self-driving cars have been touted as enormously safe -- even safer than
a human driver -- but during the testing phase, they are still required
to have an alert driver at the helm just in case of malfunctions.
If self-driving cars become available to consumers, lawmakers will
need to decide just how alert drivers need to be. One big selling point
to consumers would likely be freedom they'd enjoy during their commutes
to work on other activities instead of paying attention to the road. Or,
hypothetically, someone who's had a few too many drinks might find an
autonomous vehicle to be a safe way to get home. But is the technology
reliable enough to handle drivers who are completely disengaged from the
experience, or even impaired?
Without clear legal language saying otherwise, the person using the
autonomous vehicle is still considered the driver and would have the
same legal obligations as any other driver in the state: no texting (if
it's prohibited) and certainly no drinking.
But Nevada's law has a twist and specifically says autonomous vehicle
drivers can text (though drunk driving is still prohibited). That
would seemingly suggest states have the ability to create
narrowly-tailored laws addressing specific types of distractions.
NHTSA recommends that states require properly-licensed drivers to be
in the driver's seat and ready to take control, even when the vehicle is
in self-driving mode. But in order to make the vehicles appealing,
states may need to relieve motorists of some of the current duties they
have when driving today.
4. Who's liable for accidents?
Perhaps the biggest question facing self-driving cars is who's
ultimately responsible when things go wrong. If a self-driving car
causes a collision, who's really to blame: the driver or the
manufacturer? And can someone get a ticket while behind the wheel of a
self-driving car? It wouldn't be hard to imagine a motorist arguing,
"I wasn't driving; the car was."
Indeed, some skeptics have suggested the liability question is the
biggest threat to the future of the technology, though Smith disagrees.
"I think when the technology is ready and society considers it to be
safe, then the law will find a way," he argues.
Human drivers will likely remain legally liable for parking and
speeding violations, he says. But "the tragic stuff," like vehicular
manslaughter, could be a different story. In that case, "to be guilty
legally, a human has to have acted with some level of culpability,"
Smith says. "If you're sitting in an autonomous vehicle, and you're not
behaving recklessly, and the vehicle swerves over and hits somebody, you
are not guilty of manslaughter. You didn't even act."
But in the same situation, depending on state law, both the operator
of the vehicle as well as the manufacturer -- and perhaps others
involved in its design -- could be held liable if a defect caused or
even contributed to the collision. And if computer programmers
eventually play a bigger role in the way vehicles move than drivers do,
it's likely manufacturers will build the cost of litigation and
insurance into their vehicles.
5. What kind of registration would the vehicle have?
Generally, consumer vehicles have the same type of registration, but
should a self-driving car be subject to a special category? And should
autonomous vehicles have easily-identifiable license plates so other
motorists as well as police are aware they're dealing with something
different? States are still sorting out those questions. Nevada, for
example, has a special tag for autonomous vehicles, but California has
yet to make a decision.
Smith raises another question. Very soon low-speed, low-mass vehicles
-- think glorified golf carts -- will have the ability to operate on a
closed-loop to help shuttle people through places like airports and
college campuses. Those vehicles might not need any sort of human driver
at all, which could further complicate questions about registration.
6. How to transition from manual to auto-pilot?
Self-driving cars can be driven in a traditional fashion as well as an
automated mode, but lawmakers and manufacturers will need to figure out
how drivers should switch between those two functions. Would a motorist
need to choose one or the other at the moment he starts his car? Or
could he switch freely back-and-forth while in motion?
If the latter is possible, how would police know whether the car or
the driver was responsible during an accident? At one time Nevada,
considered an external light that indicating when a car was in
autonomous mode, but that idea was killed. The question about
transitioning modes is an early one, and the answer will largely depend
on how the technology evolves.
While some American politicians may take issue with the government’s
investment in green automobiles, it pales in comparison to the debates
taking place in England. There, the Liberal Democrats have proposed a
bill that would outlaw all non-hybrid cars from English roads by 2040.
It sounds insane, but stranger things have happened.
The Liberal Democrats are the third largest of the three
ruling parties in the English parliament, though they hold just 55 out
of 650 seats in the House of Commons. They’ve never run the country,
though not for a lack of trying, and they are really, really big into
the “green” economy. Unfortunately, their ideas usually seem to lack
important details, including their recent white paper, “Green Growth and
Green Jobs – Transition To A Zero Carbon Britain.”
Ambitious but left with a lot of blanks to fill, one of the
key components of the Liberal Dems Britain of the future is eliminating
all but ultra-low emissions non-freight vehicles from British roads.
That would mean only hybrids, electric cars, or super-efficient diesels
would be allowed to drive British streets.
While 2040 is a long way away, this is not the law an
industry can adapt to without serious government support. Such a plan
would also all but eliminate high-end automobile sales, which would
struggle to deliver Prius-like emissions from a Ferrari-esque car. And
what of all the classic cars, or older models still on the road? Will
these people be banned from driving?
The world needs decisive action and creative solutions to
combat climate change, don’t get me wrong. But such a policy seems
exclusive and poorly considered, and would probably do more to hinder
Britain’s economy growth than to aid it. Some automakers could pull out
of the English market altogether, and the market for new cars would
probably tank.
The Liberal Dems will have to do better than that.
VAN NUYS (CBSLA.com) —Los Angeles police Wednesday held a back-to-school safety and crossing guard awareness event.
The School
Zone Crosswalk Awareness Detail began at 7:30 a.m. at the intersection
of Columbus Avenue and Vanowen Street near Columbus Avenue Elementary
School.
“We’re hoping to avoid the tickets, and make sure everybody’s aware
of the increased vehicular traffic, but also the little kids that are
walking to school and riding their bikes,” LAPD Valley Traffic Division
Captain Maureen Ryan told KNX1070.
The LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division reminded motorists of the
importance of driving safely at and near schools. In less than one hour,
36 citations were handed out to those violating the crosswalk law.
“We want to put the word out that we don’t want a child’s life to be
affected in a moment’s notice because of a distracted driver,” LAPSD
Chief Steve Zipperman said.
The Los Angeles Unified School District
has more than 1,100 schools and 655,000 children in attendance. Police
say more than 17 percent of pedestrian-related traffic collisions in the
city of Los Angeles involve children ages five to 17.
“Currently we have 410 crossing guards that are out there to help
assist cross our children safely,” Dept. of Transportation Capt. Latonia
Allen said.
Officials enforced the importance of the following tips for parents:
Allow Extra Time: Do not arrive late or at the last minute. Prepare
the night before and leave your house early so you do not need to rush.
Reduce Speed: The maximum speed near a school is 25 miles per hour.
However, slower speeds are recommended when children are present. Speed
is the number one cause of collisions around schools.
Obey Stop Signs: Make a complete stop. Be vigilant. Look for children stepping off the sidewalk.
No Double Parking: Double parking impedes traffic flow. Never let a child exit a double parked vehicle.
Avoid U-Turns: U-turns near the school cause congestion. Do so only at an intersection if permitted.
Do Not Park in a Red Zone: The curb is red due to safety reasons.
Parking in the red often obstructs the view of other drivers which could
result in a collision with a child or other vehicle.
I recently spent a week with my daughter, who lives in a big-city suburb
with tree-lined streets. I found it was a delight to get out and walk,
and loved
how convenient it was to find bus stops located what seemed like a few
blocks from almost any place.
When I was in Chicago at our Ragan corporate offices last month, I found
I enjoyed the boost walking gave to my heart rate and my mood.
Take a look at this infographic from Active Living Research, which shows how the
presence of public transportation promotes physical activity.
(View larger image.)
Yesterday someone lost their life by being hit by a subway train on
the Metro Purple/Red line at the Pershing Square Station. Looking at
the local news including Metro’s own The Source, one would think there
was much ado about nothing. Even Streetsblog decided to run a story on
the failure of TAP locking program with no mention of last nights
incident.
The source posted a cryptic message
about a medical emergency and informed it’s readers of the closing in
this post, but it begs the question why hide the fact someone died.
Early on with little information, I am sure Metro wanted to be cautious
of releasing information, but we have seen in the past where metro has
very little to offer when it comes to incident involving their buses or
trains. Everything to Metro and The Source seems to be a “medical
emergency”.
I have no additional information at this time, a quick internet
search pulled very little about this incident that one would thing would
draw major news headlines. As of this posting we have KPCC and a local newspaper from Indiana covering this story.
Peggy Drouet: The L.A. Times also covered the story:
Man struck and killed by Red Line train near Pershing Square station
Metro has received a lot of attention lately because of the
implementation of their TAP – Transit Access Pass fare collection
system. CityWatch published a pretty accurate list of TAP issues that frustrate transit users on a daily basis. Metro’s in-house news team The Source published a rebuttal with a memo from David Sutton, Deputy Executive Officer, TAP.
Metro did provide some explanation and solutions to some of the
issues, but certainly did not give anyone the impression TAP is going to
get any better soon. Those major issues aside, I think Metro has a
bigger problem on hand that they don’t talk about. Bus driver
implementation of the TAP program.
I recently wrote about my
experience trying to purchase a Day pass from a bus operator using the
stored value on my TAP card, after all one of the reasons to go to a
smart card system is to store money on it for ease of purchasing 1 trip
fares or day/monthly passes. 2 drivers didn’t know how to add a day
pass using the stored value on the TAP card or they said it couldn’t be
done. I understand 2 is a small sample size to judge a system with over
4,400 bus/rail operators but as a customer it only takes 1 bad
experience to get frustrated with the failing system.
Most of the time my journey starts at a metro rail station where
there are plenty of vending machines to quickly add a day pass to my TAP
card using the stored value. However when I do start a journey using
the bus I expect the same level of service to add my day pass to the TAP
card. Yesterday I tried to do this one more time. I boarded the 158
bus toward Chatsworth station and asked the driver if I could purchase a
day pass using the stored value on my card. He gave me a questioned
look and said it was $5.00. I said yes a day pass is $5.00 and I want
to deduct it from my card. He said if I had stored value just tap the
card and the reader will deduct the fare. I insisted I wanted a day
pass and it required him to do something before I Tapped my card. Again
he was confused, so I surrendered yet again to the ignorance of the bus
driver and tapped my card to pay a one way fare.
This was not only frustrating by embarrassing as I was showing a new
bus rider how to use the system. Certainly your first experience on the
bus should not be met with confusion by the operator. I sent a
complaint to Metro customer service for a second time on this issue. I
am afraid each time I try to purchase a day pass from a bus operator I
will be wasting my time and money complaining.
I did tweet a message to @metrolosangeles stating my issue (I
errantly put the wrong bus number 165 instead of 158, but does it really
matter) and they replied back with a message that they are working on a
TAP sales training program for bus drivers for which I asked if TAP has
been in use for over 3 years why are they now just implementing a
training program? Metro has spent a lot of money on the TAP system and
still have not met the customer needs when it comes to executing it on a
daily basis. Lets hope Metro follows through and I won’t have to
battle bus drivers and tell them how to do their job.
Could car ownership go the way of the landline telephone?
http://blog.rmi.org/the_future_of_mobility
A 1928 Republican slogan claimed Presidential candidate Herbert
Hoover would put "a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage."
Americans’ love affair with the car was just beginning. For years
Americans purchased more cars and moved further out to the suburbs. Yet
that trend seems to be shifting. As the cost of owning a car and
environmental concerns continue to rise, and transportation options
continue to grow, people are realizing we don’t necessarily need to own
cars, we just need to get where we want to go efficiently. As RMI has
shown in its roadmap for getting the U.S. off oil and coal by 2050, Reinventing Fire,
smart IT-enabled traffic and transport systems, alternative commuting,
and smart growth development strategies can halve or more the 13,000 miles a typical American drives each year. We are moving in that direction as new business models emerge to help us with our mobility needs.
Learning to Share
In a lifetime of car ownership, an American family will likely
“invest” almost one million dollars in its vehicles. Transportation now
comes in a close second to rent or mortgage as the largest budget item
for the average household. However, the two-car family model is slowly
changing. A study by management consulting firm Oliver Wyman
showed that if fuel prices rose significantly by 2030, approximately 77
percent of people in Western Europe and Asia would change their primary
mode of transport, with 30 percent willing to give up car ownership
completely. With the growth of car-sharing programs around the world,
that option is getting easier.
Car sharing is a service that provides 24/7 self-serve access to a
network of vehicles stationed around your city (and increasingly, cities
world-wide), which can be reserved by the hour or day via smart phones,
the Internet, and call centers. People can save money, lose the hassles
of car ownership, yet still have the benefits of access to a car when
they need one. As of last year commercial car-sharing programs had almost 1.8 million members sharing over 43,550 vehicles in 27 countries and five continents.
Car-share
programs come in many varieties. Most major car rental chains now offer
a version, and the informal economy offers interpersonal versions whose
safety and legality are in hot debate. Sticking to just the commercial
offers, the models vary. When you become a member of Zipcar, you have
access to Zipcars all over the world with a wave of your Zipcard. You
can find and reserve a Zipcar with your smartphone, reserve it by the
hour or the day, and drive 180 miles on a reservation (up to 24 hours
long) without paying any extra per-mile costs. One of the only rules is
to return it on time to the same place you picked it up. car2go members
can drive any car they find distributed throughout the handful of cities
it operates in as long as the car is not reserved, or they can reserve a
car online thirty minutes before it’s needed. Then the car can be left
in any available parking spot in the city that meets the program’s
guidelines.
Car sharing not only decreases car ownership, a Federal Transit Administration study
showed it also increases more sustainable modes of transportation by
changing the economics of driving. For most folks driving has a big
fixed cost (buying the car and the parking space) but a relatively small
cost for each individual trip—as long as you have gas in the tank, you
don't have to feel the pain of paying anything each time you drive. Car
sharing flips that equation on its head. Car-sharing membership is
inexpensive, but you pay for each individual trip. Car-sharing members
have to consider the cost every time they drive and are therefore more
likely to forego the trip in favor of walking, biking, or public
transit. They generally end up way ahead economically, especially in
cities, where the fixed cost of buying a car and the much more expensive
cost of purchasing a parking space far outweigh the comparatively small
per-trip costs of their relatively few vehicle trips.
Car-sharing’s impact on the environment is immense. For example, the
World Resources Institute wrote that each shared vehicle in North
America can replace 9–13 personal cars. City CarShare reported its program in the San Francisco Bay Area avoided 85 million pounds of CO2 emissions
in 2012 alone. Another benefit of car sharing is since the cars drive
far more miles in far less time than the individually owned vehicles
they replace—individually owned cars can sit idle up to 95 percent
of the time—they will turn over more frequently. As new cars get better
mileage than older cars, this will help with fleet mileage, reducing
even more the impact of our driving on the environment.
IT—Streamlining Public Transport
The use of public transportation is rising around the world. In 2012, people in the U.S. took 10.5 billion trips
on public transportation, a billion more than they took in 2000. And
the rise of handy smartphone apps is making mobility through public
transport even easier. There are now hundreds of applications which can
tell you which bus or subway to take, when it comes, where to get on,
where to get off, the traffic data, and anything else you need to make
your trip effortless. Some apps even tell you exactly where to stand on
the subway platform so that you arrive directly in front of the exit,
shaving minutes off your trip.
Car manufacturers are also realizing the concept of mobility based on
vehicle ownership may soon be a relic of the past. BMW—in a shift away
from its identity solely as an automaker—has launched a series of mobility services
to improve personal mobility in urban areas, automotive or otherwise,
including an app that has real-time information on twelve major public
transit systems in the U.S. and the U.K.
Daimler has launched an app in Germany called “moovel” which shows
the various options for bus and rail connections, ridesharing
opportunities, and a taxicab call function.
Reinventing the Filling Station
In its report Green Solutions to the Auto Crisis,
think tank Heinrich Boll Foundation showed that as important as
electric and alternative fuel cars may be, “concentrating on drive
technology alone will not be enough to achieve a true paradigm shift.”
We need to transform the automobile into one part of an integrated
system providing a wide range of mobility options. That thinking caused
one fuel company to rethink the traditional gas station approach. Propel
Fuel’s Clean Mobility Centers throughout
Washington and California provide a variety of renewable fuels,
including ethanol and biodiesel. But they also offer rideshare and
community transportation resources such as bike maps, bus and train
routes, and carpooling information, as well as free bicycle tuning
stations.
It seems Herbert Hoover’s dream of 1928 was realized for a few years.
The average number of cars per household in the U.S. peaked in 2006 at
2.1, but has been slowly decreasing since. Young Americans are waiting longer to get licensed (roughly 1 in 5 say they plan to never even get a license, according to an August 2013 report from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute),
driving less, increasingly turning to alternatives such as mass transit
or car-sharing programs, and choosing living locations and lifestyles
to match. As RMI has shown in Reinventing Fire, using autos
more productively can save money, deliver the same or better access to
where we want to be, and improve the quality of our lives. It does so
because we get the equivalent services with less cost, risk, and hassle.
The switch from car ownership to mobility services, a key piece of this
new mobility model, is really a game changer.
Car-share
programs come in many varieties. Most major car rental chains now offer
a version, and the informal economy offers interpersonal versions whose
safety and legality are in hot debate. Sticking to just the commercial
offers, the models vary. When you become a member of Zipcar, you have
access to Zipcars all over the world with a wave of your Zipcard. You
can find and reserve a Zipcar with your smartphone, reserve it by the
hour or the day, and drive 180 miles on a reservation (up to 24 hours
long) without paying any extra per-mile costs. One of the only rules is
to return it on time to the same place you picked it up. car2go members
can drive any car they find distributed throughout the handful of cities
it operates in as long as the car is not reserved, or they can reserve a
car online thirty minutes before it’s needed. Then the car can be left
in any available parking spot in the city that meets the program’s
guidelines.
The use of public transportation is rising around the world. In 2012, people in the U.S. took 10.5 billion trips
on public transportation, a billion more than they took in 2000. And
the rise of handy smartphone apps is making mobility through public
transport even easier. There are now hundreds of applications which can
tell you which bus or subway to take, when it comes, where to get on,
where to get off, the traffic data, and anything else you need to make
your trip effortless. Some apps even tell you exactly where to stand on
the subway platform so that you arrive directly in front of the exit,
shaving minutes off your trip.