(Source: Bloomberg & Guardian, UK; Photo: Daily Mail, UK)

• Carrier received more than 700 complaints last year
  
• Two-thirds of Americans are considered overweight
  
• UA may boot obese fliers off full planes and charge them for two tickets on the next departure.

United Airlines, the third-largest U.S. carrier, may force some obese travelers to buy a second seat when flights are full and other passengers complain about being cramped.

The policy brings practices at UAL Corp.’s United in line with those at the other five biggest U.S. carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc. The rule took effect today after being adopted in January, said a United spokeswoman.

United passengers previously “had to share their seat with the oversized guest” on full planes, Urbanski said. Chicago- based United acted after receiving “hundreds” of public complaints each year, she said.

Urbanski said obese passengers on United will be reassigned to a pair of empty seats and won’t be charged for an extra ticket on flights that aren’t full. Travelers must be able to put the arm rest between seats down to its normal position and buckle a seat belt with one extension belt, she said. 

United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said the policy applies to passengers who cannot buckle up with a single seatbelt extender or lower the armrests or who infringe on their neighbours.

Zervios of the Obesity Action Coalition said cramped airline cabins cause many disruptions.

“What if the person in front of me puts back their seat and encroaches into my space, or if the person next to me has a puffy coat or leaves their light on when I want to take a nap?” he said. “We need to keep in mind that it’s just a form of transportation from Point A to Point B.”

U.S. Obesity Rate

About 34 percent of Americans are obese, double the rate from 30 years ago, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only one state, Colorado, has an obesity rate of less than 20 percent.

“I don’t happen to be overly wide but I am tall, and as far as I’m concerned I’d like to charge the guy in front of me every time he reclines his seat into my knees,” he said. ‚”There are a lot of dimensions to this problem.”

Obesity is defined as having a “body mass index,” a measure of body fat based on height and weight, of 30 or more. Using that calculation, a person who is 5 feet 9 inches tall (175 centimeters) and weighs at least 203 pounds (92 kilograms) would be considered obese, according to the CDC.

But aviation industry analyst and consultant Robert Mann said it remains unclear how aggressively flight attendants will implement it.

United spokeswoman Robin Janikowski said the policy applies to passengers who cannot buckle up with a single seatbelt extender or lower the armrests or who infringe on their neighbours.

Note: TransportGooru would like to point the readers to a legal battle in Canada on this issue.  Click here to read all about it.

(Source: Wall Street Journal)

(Source: Good Magazine)

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Ford, Autoblog)

Ford of Europe increased its market share in March in the Euro 19 markets to 10.0 per cent, up 0.2 percentage points versus the same month last year, consolidating its position as Europe’s number two best-selling brand.

This is the first time Ford of Europe’s market share has been in double digits since September 2001 and it continues the company’s upward trend.

In total in March Ford of Europe sold 163,000 vehicles in the Euro 19 markets and 
increased market share in 16 out of its 19 main European markets, with only France, Spain and Switzerland showing declines. 
“It is very encouraging to see Fiesta doing so well and also our market share developing so positively, given the declining market we are continuing to face in Europe,” said Ingvar Sviggum, vice-president marketing, sales and service, Ford of Europe.

“With 56 per cent of our March sales generated by retail customers – up from 43 per cent in March 2008 – we have clear evidence of consumer confidence in our Ford product range,” he added.

(Source: AutoBlogGreen, CNNMoney)

Dodge Circuit, a two-seat roadster, could be Chrysler’s first step into electric cars, provided the company survives.

A battery-powered 268-horsepower two-seat sports car is in line to become Chrysler LLC’s first electric car, provided the carmaker lives to see another day.   

To survive, help is needed from Italy’s Fiat but, as negotiations with the Italian automaker bog down and the two week deadline to hammer out a partnership approaches, the company’s future – as well as its aspirations for an electric hot rod – are increasingly in doubt.

Chrysler’s first electric car, set to be introduced late next year around the same time as General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt, will be a sports car with a zero-to-60 time of under five seconds and a top speed of 120 miles hour.

“To be able to meet a 2010 timeline, you have to be pretty far along in development, and right now we are,” said Lou Rhodes, head of Chrysler’s electric car program, in a recent CNNMoney.com interview.

The Circuit is similar to the Tesla Roadster, a $109,000 sports car produced by a small California company. Pricing for the Circuit has not been announced but will likely undercut the Tesla.

 (Source: USDOT, Infrastructurist; YouTube)

President Barack Obama, along with Vice President Biden and Secretary LaHood, announced a new U.S. push today to transform travel in America, creating high-speed rail lines from city to city, reducing dependence on cars and planes and spurring economic development.

The President released a strategic plan outlining his vision for high speed rail in America. The plan identifies $8 billion provided in the ARRA and $1 billion a year for five years requested in the federal budget as a down payment to jump-start a potential world-class passenger rail system and sets the direction of transportation policy for the future. The strategic plan will be followed by detailed guidance for state and local applicants. By late summer, the Federal Railroad Administration will begin awarding the first round of grants.

The Infrastructurist summaries this nicely: ” In fact, he (President Obama) doesn’t pull any punches in saying that rail is a *better* way to travel than car or plane. It’s “faster, easier, and cheaper than building more freeways.” And he conjures the appeal of travel from city center to city center without having to dash out to far-flung airports — “no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes.” And: “High-speed rail is long-overdue, and this plan lets American travelers know that they are not doomed to a future of long lines at the airports or jammed cars on the highways.”

The report formalizes the identification of ten high-speed rail corridors as potential recipients of federal funding. Those lines are: California, Pacific Northwest, South Central, Gulf Coast, Chicago Hub Network, Florida, Southeast, Keystone, Empire and Northern New England. Also, opportunities exist for the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston to compete for funds to improve the nation’s only existing high-speed rail service.

President Obama’s vision for high-speed rail mirrors that of President Eisenhower, the father of the Interstate highway system, which revolutionized the way Americans traveled. Now, high-speed rail has the potential to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, lower harmful carbon emissions, foster new economic development and give travelers more choices when it comes to moving around the country.

“My high-speed rail proposal will lead to innovations that change the way we travel in America. We must start developing clean, energy-efficient transportation that will define our regions for centuries to come,” said President Obama. “A major new high-speed rail line will generate many thousands of construction jobs over several years, as well as permanent jobs for rail employees and increased economic activity in the destinations these trains serve. High-speed rail is long-overdue, and this plan lets American travelers know that they are not doomed to a future of long lines at the airports or jammed cars on the highways.”

“Today, we see clearly how Recovery Act funds and the Department of Transportation are building the platform for a brighter economic future – they’re creating jobs and making life better for communities everywhere,” said Vice President Biden. “Everyone knows railways are the best way to connect communities to each other, and as a daily rail commuter for over 35 years, this announcement is near and dear to my heart. Investing in a high-speed rail system will lower our dependence on foreign oil and the bill for a tank of gas; loosen the congestion suffocating our highways and skyways; and significantly reduce the damage we do to our planet.”

Ten major corridors are being identified for potential high-speed rail projects:

 (Source: Time)

A Lot Full of Old Clunkers For Sale

It’s no secret that one of the biggest reasons the U.S. auto industry is teetering on collapse is that, quite simply, Americans have stopped buying cars. U.S. auto sales were down 37% in March from 2008, the latest in a nearly unbroken year-and-a-half streak of falling sales. And if the cratered economy is the main culprit behind backed-up inventory at U.S. car dealers, another is that American automakers have failed to produce the more fuel-efficient vehicles that gas-price-conscious car buyers are beginning to demand. As a result, the U.S. still sends hundreds of billions of dollars overseas for oil — and adds ever more greenhouse-gas pollution into the atmosphere. 

Now what if there were a way to tackle both these problems with one policy: to stimulate demand for American cars while making the U.S. auto fleet cleaner, greener and more efficient? It sounds like the kind of slick two-for-one pitch you might hear from a used-car salesman, but that’s exactly what proponents of a “cash for clunkers” program are promising.

But is cash-for-clunkers really two-for-one? That depends. There are currently two main bills in the House and Senate, which, according to greens, are not created equal. One, sponsored by Democratic Ohio Representative Betty Sutton, allows any car from model year 2000 or earlier to be traded in, without any restriction on fuel economy. In return, car buyers will get $4,000 if they buy a new U.S. car that gets a minimum mileage of 27 m.p.g. and $5,000 if they buy a U.S. car with at least 30 m.p.g. Crucially, the new cars have to be made in the U.S. — foreign brands can qualify, but only if they’re manufactured on U.S. soil, which would disqualify super-efficient vehicles like Toyota’s Prius hybrid, made only in Japan.

Whichever bill is chosen — and others are being circulated as well — a successful cash-for-clunkers program wouldn’t be cheap. Germany’s program may end up costing the government some $6 billion, three times the initial price tag. Since Obama has said that money for the cash-for-clunkers program needs to come out of existing stimulus spending, that might take some creative accounting. But a cash-for-clunkers program, whatever its environmental benefits, would provide the government with a way to aid the domestic auto industry without giving Detroit any more direct handouts. “There’s a lot of justifiable taxpayer reluctance to keep helping the auto industry,” says Goldstein of the Center for American Progress. “Politically this is a viable alternative to sending them additional loan money.”

(Source: Reuters) 

Image: Seth Anderson via Apture

The Obama administration is expected to unveil its plans on Thursday for accelerating development of high-speed rail, a concept that in the past has had mixed political support and little public funding.

“It will be broad and strategic,” Karen Rae, acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday about the initiative described by officials as President Barack Obama‘s top transportation priority.

“It’s going to talk about how we begin to create this new vision for high-speed and intercity rail,” Rae said.

White House and transportation officials have spent the past several weeks weighing plans for developing at least six high-speed corridors.

High-speed rail initiatives are in various planning stages in California, Florida, Nevada, the Carolinas and the Northeast. States are already formulating how to use the large appropriation for high-speed rail projects in the economic stimulus act.

“Some of these plans are 20 years old,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in an interview this week with Reuters Financial Television.

In February, Congress included $8 billion for rail development in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Obama has included another $5 billion for the efforts in the White House’s proposed budget.

LaHood said the $8 billion in stimulus money will “jump-start” the process, but rail advocates and transportation officials agree that financing high-speed rail nationally will cost significantly more.

(Source: Washington Post) 

Without higher gas taxes, ‘cash for clunkers’ won’t do the job 

CAR SALES in Germany jumped an astonishing 40 percent in March, thanks in large part to a “cash for clunkers” program in which the government gave those handing over old-model cars roughly $5,000 toward the purchase of newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Lawmakers in the United States have crafted similar proposals, hoping both to provide a boost to the U.S. auto industry and to spur sales of environmentally friendlier cars. But even the best of these proposals is not likely to provide the punch of the German initiative.

Click here to read the entire article (free regn. required).  

Note:  Below is a list of articles on this issue, previously published on TransportGooru.  This compilation of articles offer an insight into state of various “Cash for Clunkers” style programs implemented (or currently being debated) across the globe (Germany, UK, etc,). Stay plugged in to TransportGooru for more on this topic in the days to come.

 Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act revives “Cash for Clunkers” scrapping plan in U.S

Germany plans to extend Abwrackprämie aka “Environmental Bonus”

The bickering starts over the implementation of the Cash for Clunkers legislation

Obama Favors “Cash for Clunkers”

Germany increases subsidy to 5 Billion Euros, tripling incentives for its “Cash for Clunker” (Abwrackprämie) program

Britain mulls implementation of “Cash for Clunkers” scheme to boost ailing auto sales 

Where the US stands in pushing “Cash for Clunkers”- Four bills in Congress; Details Needed

(Source: Jalopnik, Wired, Autoblog, Detroit News)

GM chair fears deal can’t be reached: Kent Kresa, interim chairman of General Motors Corp., is not optimistic money-saving concessions can be reached with bondholders and the United Auto Workers to avoid bankruptcy before a June 1 deadline. “I’m hopeful we can get there,” Kresa told The Detroit News today. “Everybody understands we would be in a much better situation if we can resolve this among all the players without going through bankruptcy.” GM is trying to restructure about $28 billion in unsecured debt held by GM’s bondholders and $20 billion in obligations to the United Auto Workers. The federal government also may agree to swap some of its $13.4 billion in General Motors Corp. debt for new equity in the company in a move to help boost GM’s balance sheet.

GM chairman looking to turn over half of board of trustees by June? According to the Detroit Free Press, General Motors interim chairman, Kent Kresa, has been asked by president Obama’s administration to replenish the automaker’s board with fresh blood. Kresa said that while the board did achieve “historic things” recently, like renegotiating the UAW pay scale, he also said that the board didn’t fully comprehend the magnitude of the downturn. 

 GM Says Volt Won’t ‘Pay the Rent’ : General Motors won’t make money on its electric car for quite awhile. That’s to be expected, and it should be supported. The Obama administration doesn’t understand that.

GM, Task Force preparing for “surgical” bankruptcy: According to a lengthy report by the New York Times, the Treasury Department is directing General Motors to begin work on a bankruptcy filing by June 1. Based on sources close to the talks who were unable to officially discuss the process, the report outlines the “fast ‘surgical’ bankruptcy” of the automaker if GM is unable to reach an agreeme…

GM‘s new offer for bondholders may contain no cash, just equity: …GM, Earnings/FinancialsGM’s most recent offer to its bondholders offered a little bit of cash and a little bit of equity. GM CEO Fritz Henderson’s example was that a holder of $1,000 in bonds would end up with $333 and a some equity. After conferring with the Auto Task Force, however, that offer was deemed excessive in light of GM‘s situation so…