Archive for February, 2009

Cities Scramble as Business Travel Declines

February 27, 2009 at 12:17 am

(Source: CNN)

Gone are the days, it seems, when executives can comfortably lounge poolside, expensing meetings and meals along with margaritas and massages.

Especially for those employed by companies that benefited from the billions of federal bailout dollars, those kinds of luxuries are going downhill faster than a CEO on a triple black diamond ski slope.

As President Barack Obama, Congress and the financially anxious public continue to cry out for corporate responsibility, what does this crackdown mean to American cities and to industries that are fueled by business travelers, conventions and meetings?

“January was a disaster,” said Don Singh, a Las Vegas, Nevada, taxi driver, who added that he brought home about half of what he did the previous year.

Click here to read the entire article.

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GM = Got Milk? Or Got Moolah?

February 27, 2009 at 12:11 am

(Source: Jalopnik.com).

TransportGooru adores the creative thinkers at Jalopnik and Gizmodo.  And here is what our lovely friends at Jalopnik have to say about GM’s state of affairs, with a funny twist.

Jalopnik would like to hear your thoughts.  So, if you got a minute to spare, register your comments here.  Also, you are seriously encouraged to drop your comments under this post as well. 

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Italian Traffic Lights Rigged to Trap Motorists in the Red

February 27, 2009 at 12:01 am

(Source: Ars Technica via Gizmodo.com) 

An Italian programmer and over 100 other individuals, including public figures, policemen, and government officials, are currently being investigated for what seems to be a traffic-light-rigging conspiracy.

Stefano Arrighetti, 45, the engineer in charge for programming the T-Redspeed system which is used throughout Italy, is being accused of rigging traffic lights to have shorter yellow lights, causing more motorists to inadvertently speed through red lights. Because the system uses three strategically placed cameras around the intersection, the T-Redspeed system was able to capture exact 3D placement of where the motorists’ cars were the moment it illegally crosses through the intersection, instantly fining them with a €150 ticket.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Toyota Planning to Build a Car out of Seaweed; Tofu Cushions Not Included

February 26, 2009 at 11:56 pm

 

(Source: Wired via Gizmodo.com)
As if the Prius weren’t green enough, Toyota plans to go even greener for the future by creating a car—the 1/X plug-in hybrid—using a bioplastic body made out of seaweed.

Named the 1/X (pronounced 1-x’th) after the fraction of its carbon footprint compared to other vehicles, the hybrid is greener than others not only because of it gas mileage: Compared to standard petroleum-based plastic, bioplastic allegedly produces up to 60 percent less carbon dioxide and uses about 30 percent less energy as well.

Click here to read the entire article. 

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Twitter Updates for TransportGooru 2009-02-26

February 26, 2009 at 8:00 pm

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Bernie’s Transportation Communications Newsletter (TCN) – Feb 26, 2009

February 26, 2009 at 6:18 pm

Thursday, February 26, 2009 — ISSN 1529-1057

Register Today for IBTTA’s Toll Road Summit of Australia, New Zealand & the Asia Pacific Rim, March 15-18, 2009 in Sydney, Australia 

If you are interested in public-private partnerships, innovations in customer service and next generation technologies, you need to attend this meeting! Join IBTTA and ITS Australia in Sydney, Australia and learn about the explosive growth of tolling in Australia, New Zealand and the countries in the Asia Pacific Rim. Learn about toll concessions and operations, including the political, regulatory, public affairs and customer service aspects of startup and mature facilities, and lessons learned from successive implementation of all electronic toll collection. Visit IBTTA’s website to view the preliminary agenda, make your travel arrangements and register today

AVIATION

1) Transportation Budget Proposes NextGen Air Traffic Control Funding

Link to story in Business First of Louisville:

http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2009/02/23/daily40.html

2) Technology in the Sky

A photo essay in Time:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1666378_1454387,00.html

CAMERAS

3) Mississippi May Blind ‘Eyes’ on Traffic

Bill to ban devices that photograph traffic scofflaws advances.

Link to story in The Clarion-Ledger:

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090226/NEWS010504/902260345/1001/news

 ELECTRONIC TOLLING

4) FastLane Slips in Stealth Fees

Up to one million customers hit with faulty charges.

Link to story in the Boston Herald:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_02_26_Fastlane_slips_in_stealth_fees:_Up_to_1_million_customers_hit_with_faulty_charges/srvc=home&position=0

GPS / NAVIGATION

5) Federal Commission Backs Mileage Fees Over Gas Taxes, Champions GPS Technology

Link to story in Inside GNSS:

http://www.insidegnss.com/node/1366

OTHER

6) New Weather Monitoring System Reaches to the Heavens

Microwave technology used for the first time in US.

Link to story and video report on KING-TV:

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_022509WAB-weather-testing-KS.2f300ba.html

PARKING

7) Parking Meters Out to Destroy the Human Race

Washington, DC meters pretend to be broken then ‘self-correct’ to give you tickets.

Link to story on WRC-TV:

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Local-Parking-Meters-Develop-Artificial-Intelligence-Will-Destroy-Humans.html

SAFETY / SECURITY

8) US Department of Homeland Security Secretary: Agency Likely to Miss Cargo Scanning Deadline

Link to story from CongressDaily:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090225_7302.php

Link to further information from the House Committee on Homeland Security:

http://homeland.house.gov/Hearings/index.asp?ID=171

9) TSA: Mule Skinners Need Background Checks, Too

Employees who accompany historic canal boats required to get security credentials.

Link to CNN story:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/25/mule.skinner.blues/

TELEMATICS

10) Leverage Telematics and On-Board Diagnostics for Warranty Management

Link to story in Automotive DesignLine:

http://www.automotivedesignline.com/howto/214600030;jsessionid=3QLTBFFM2ABFAQSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN

TRAVELER INFORMATION / TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

11) Traffic Nerd Looks Through Numbers with CEO

Seattle traffic reporter meets with the president of Inrix to discuss new traffic data.

Link to story on KIRO-TV:

http://www.kirotv.com/traffic/18792881/detail.html

VEHICLES

12) ‘Talking’ Cars Could Hit the Road by 2012

Link to story in Wired:

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/02/talking-cars-co.html  

News Releases

1) SITA and WestJet Go Live with New Standard for Checking In and Boarding Passengers

2) US Department of Transportation Unveils 2010 Budget Framework

3) Toyota Adds to Pre-Crash Safety Technologies

4) Gresham, Smith and Partners Wins City of Memphis, City Engineer’s Award of Excellence for SmartWay Project

5) Raleigh-Wake Emergency Communications Center Offering Online Traffic Information

6) GeoSpot Deep Local Search Launches Nationwide on Web and Mobile

Upcoming Events

Carbon-Free Mobility Conference – March 6 – Oakland, California

http://www.advancedtransit.org/doc.aspx?id=2109

Today in Transportation History

1914 **95th anniversary** – The HMS Britannic was launched in Belfast.

http://www.atlanticliners.com/britannic_home.htm

=============================================================================================

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday. 

To subscribe send an e-mail to:  TCNL-subscribe@googlegroups.com

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to:  TCNL-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

TCN archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

Questions, comments about the TCN?  Please write the editor, Bernie Wagenblast at i95berniew@aol.com.   

© 2009 Bernie Wagenblast

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The Dig ~ Infrastructure of the stimulus plan: $8.4 billion in Mass Transit | Blueprint America

February 26, 2009 at 4:59 pm

A breakdown of provisions and funding requirements for mass transit in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Dig ~ Infrastructure of the stimulus plan: $8.4 billion in Mass Transit | Blueprint America.

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The Stimulus Package and its impact on transportation – from PBS’s Blue Print for America

February 26, 2009 at 4:28 pm

(Source – The Number Thirteen Line blog, hosted by PBS’ Blue Print for America)

Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Number Thirteen Line, a monthly blog about transportation in New York and around the world. This month’s topic: The Stimulus Package and its impact on transportation.

Seven hundred and ninety billion dollars, as designated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is a lot of money. Frankly, we had hoped that most of it would go toward public works projects; after all, good infrastructure projects have been shown to produce five times the GDP impact of broad-based tax cuts. Nonetheless, we understand reality doesn’t always play out the way we’d like. So we are reasonably pleased to see that $130-billion, of the $790-billion bill (16%), is intended for construction projects.

The really good news from a transport perspective is that high-speed and existing long-haul rail will receive more than $9 billion. Urban transit gets a nice sized boost as well. So what can we, as New Yorkers, expect and what should we demand?

Approximately $1.3-billion of the funds are being directed to on-going capital transit programs in the New York City metropolitan area. This means that projects such as the Fulton Street Transit Center and the No. 7 Subway Extension will finally be built. There’s little left for much else, so we must be thrifty in advancing other new projects. We are also limited in our imagination by the requirement that projects be “shovel-ready.” In an upcoming blog we will let our imaginations go wild.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has been lauded worldwide as the one of the cheapest, most easily-implementable forms of mass transit (read “shovel-ready”), widely popular among riders and similar to light rail transit in its ability to carry people. And it fits perfectly into the objectives of the stimulus package as it can be planned, designed, and constructed in just one year. We recently planned and designed a BRT line on Fordham Road in the Bronx (disclosure: we are consultants to the New York City Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Transportation Authority on BRT) which was quickly implemented and has been enjoying wide success. We should demand a network of BRT solutions city-wide

Click here to read the entire article. 
NOTE: Are you interested in having an in-depth coverage of the infrastructure crisis the US is facing?  If your answer is yes, then TransportGooru recommends you to bookmark PBS’ Blue Print for America.
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Blue-ribbon panel endorses road pricing, shift from gas tax

February 26, 2009 at 4:01 pm

(Source: Greenwire via New York Times)

A blue-ribbon federal transportation panel called today for a temporary gas-tax hike followed by a move toward charging drivers directly for every mile they travel — two ideas that have been soundly rejected by the White House in the past week.

The controversial road-pricing scheme would become the dominant funding mechanism for road construction and maintenance by 2020, with drivers being charged an average of 2 cents per mile, according to the report released by the 15-member panel created by Congress in the last highway bill authorization.

The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission says the shift is necessary because the current funding mechanism — federal fuel taxes — has failed to raise the necessary revenue for needed roadwork and runs counterintuitive to national environmental and energy goals.

“The more successful U.S. transportation policy is at increasing fuel efficiency and reducing both foreign oil dependency and carbon emissions, the faster its primary funding source, the gas tax, becomes obsolete,” said Texas state Rep. Mike Krusee, a commission member.

Increases in fuel economy, coupled with the fact that the current federal tax on gasoline has remained stagnant at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, have already taken their toll on federal revenues to fund road construction and maintenance. The Highway Trust Fund, which receives the bulk of its money from federal fuel taxes, would have run empty late last year if it were not for an eleventh-hour transfer of $8 billion by Congress to keep it solvent.

“With the expected shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, it will be increasingly difficult to rely on the gas tax to raise the funds needed to improve, let alone maintain, our nation’s surface transportation infrastructure,” said commission Chairman Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Untangling Transportation Funding – Brookings Institution’s paper on Vehicle Mileage Taxation

February 26, 2009 at 3:24 pm

(Source :  Thanks to Robert Puentes @ The Brookings Institution for sharing this article)

FEBRUARY 26, 2009 —  As the recent kerfuffle between the Transportation secretary, the White House, and a key congressional leader demonstrate, issues around funding and finance dominate the discussion about surface transportation in the U.S. today.

Already, we have had not one—but two—national commissions on the topic, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently added transportation financing to its annual list of high-risk areas suggested for oversight by the current Congress.

Why the high anxiety? 

Put simply: the money flowing out of the federal transportation trust fund (often referred to as the “highway” trust fund) is greater than the money flowing into it. This past September Washington was forced to shift $8 billion from the general fund to cover a shortfall in the transportation account. Estimates for how short the fund will be this summer hover around $9 billion.

Despite the sharp, and perhaps simplistic, rhetoric of late, the origins of the shortfall are the result of multiple trends converging.

For one, the federal gas tax—generating nearly 90 percent of the federal transportation revenue—has not been raised in nearly 20 years, not even to keep pace with inflation. So, as the rate effectively declines, so does the purchasing power of the trust fund. The current 18.4 cent per gallon tax in the U.S. is far less than in European competitor nations.

Click here to read the antire article.

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