(Source: Credit Donkey)

Key messages in this infograph:

• When you take public transportation, you are more likely to run other errands on your route, saving you time and money from additional trips with the car.
•     Public transportation creates less congestion, saving money and the environment with shorter, less expensive trips for everyone.
•     When used regularly, public transportation can reduce the need for some to have a second car (or a car at all). Imagine less debt, fewer car payments, less emissions, and less money spend on repairs and gas.
•     Many transit agencies are now replacing old buses with hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell buses. This making public transit even greener, especially when connected to renewable sources such as solar.

Image Courtesy: Credit Donkey

via Guardian UK

This awesome interactive data visualization by Guardian, UK show how much the emissions profile has changed and shifted over the past few decades.. One shocking statistic I learned from this graph below is that the total CO2 emissions of Equitorial Guinea, small country in Western Africa, have increased by a whopping 3,390% Yep. !!!! Check out:

(via autobloggreen)

It is always an awesome sight to see how machines build another machine.  As it happens, I can’t help but think if this venture succeeds, that would mark the first time Detroit really faced a serious challenge from Silicon Valley.. June 22nd, the announced delivery date for first batch of customers (other than the ones who got the Founder series) is just few days away and let’s see what is going to happen.. Hit or miss, you gotta love the boldness of Elon Musk to enter into this venture and fight the carmarking heavyweights of Detroit and other global auto industry powerhouses.

I have had the privilege of listening to Bryan in person at many industry-related events over the years but never heard some of the things he has shared in this awesome interview with Channel Next Cast. He goes into details about his entry into the business and how his company is innovating the transportation data to solve the congestion, in addition to offering excellent advice for wanna-be innovators & entrepreneurs. It is truly refreshing to see a dynamic youngster like him bring the much needed innovation and fresh, outside the box thinking towards solving the age old transportation problems – primarily congestion.

One interesting fact that I liked from Bryan’s interview: He is not a fan of red light cameras (like most of us) and he thinks traffic congestion problems can be solved for the large part in the next 10 years. Hmmm!

For those interested, here is a graphic from today’s Wall Street Journal article that covers INRIX and other start-ups working on transportation-related “big data“.

Image Courtesy: Wall Street Journal

Summary of the interview (made available by ChannelNextCast on YouTube.com):

Bryan Mistele wants to eliminate one of society’s biggest issues — traffic. How’s he going to do it? Find out in this episode of nextcast.

Growing up, Bryan knew he wanted to run his own tech company. After spending time in high school working with electrical engineers, he wrote down a life goal: start and be CEO of a two hundred person tech company. Now with 300 employees, he and his team at INRIX are tackling the ever-present problem of traffic. Bryan tells Jeff how they’re making this worldwide problem completely personal, by optimizing technology and getting people where they want to go. He also shares his secrets of success with Jeff — the perfect combination of persistence and naivete. * When Brian left Microsoft, he thought INRIX would be completely funded within a month. Twelve months and 70 rejections later, his company finally came to life. He credits this with a healthy balance of persistence and naivete. “Venture capitalists all told us we would be crushed…now we are the leader.”
* He also says he owes much of his success to wisdom gained in his early years, working at an electrical engineering firm. Following their advice of finding a partner who shares your career goals led him to the wife who encouraged him to persevere in the face of VC rejection. “If I hadn’t had that person in my life I never would have gotten off the ground,” he says. * It’s always been Bryan’s dream to run his own tech company, from the time he wrote it down as a life goal at age 16. He noted that in a big company, your future is tied to someone bringing you along up with them. Now, as a CEO, “whether it succeeds or fails, it’s up to me…and I like that.”
* Is this a trend? Our second nextcast guest who says he’d eliminate traffic cameras, Bryan explains that they actually cause more accidents than they prevent. What other improvements to the world of traffic does Bryan have to offer? We’re less than a decade away from seeing them all come to life.

(Source: NTOC)

The latest national traffic signal assessment conducted by the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC), a group of transportation associations, shows that gradual but steady progress is being made on the management and operation of traffic signals despite continued funding challenges. NTOC today released the 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card with a grade of 69, equivalent to a D+ letter grade, based upon the assessment. The 2012 score is a modest four point improvement over the 2007 result of a D letter grade (65). The effort to improve the Nation’s traffic signal systems is driven by benefits such as reduced fuel consumption and congestion mitigation. Grading themselves in five areas, 241 respondents, representing approximately 39 percent of all traffic signals in the United States, completed the self assessment. The complete grades are as follows:

The 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card shows that while there is still much work to be done, many jurisdictions have used objectives-based approaches that result in improvements to their management and operations of traffic signals. The 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card Technical Report and Executive Summary can be found at www.ite.org/reportcard.

(Source: AASHTO)

Recently found this nice 62-page report on vehicle electrification via an AASHTO e-mail and felt compelled to share.  Here are some excerpts from the AASHTO Journal:

Plug-in electric vehicles can lessen U.S. dependence on imported oil, address rising gas prices, enhance air quality, and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, but their full potential will only be realized through a broad-based group of stakeholders working together, concludes a report released Tuesday by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and co-sponsored by AASHTO’s Center for Environmental Excellence.

The report presents several recommendations from a coalition that includes automakers, electrical utilities, environmental groups, and state officials. Coordinated public and private actions at the state and local levels can help ensure that plug-in owners are able to more readily charge their vehicles without overburdening the electric grid, the report states.

Recommendations include encouraging state public utility commissions and other policymakers to set up a consistent regulatory framework across the nation to better synchronize technical standards; streamlining the establishment of changing stations in both home and commercial settings; leveraging electricity rate structures to promote charging at off-peak times; helping local policymakers and other stakeholders in the appraisal of needs in their jurisidictions; strategically targeting public and private investments in related infrastructure; and providing credible information on the costs, benefits, and choices involving plug-ins.

[scribd id=85636602 key=key-2n0xv981yvwrrne389q8 mode=list]

Image Courtesy: AAA via Grist.com

Found this interesting graphic on Grist in an article titled “How high do gas prices have to get to trigger behavior change? “.  So, do Americans really change their driving habits when the gas prices rise? According to the graph, the answer is an emphatic yes.  The article quotes AAA saying, ” A AAA survey conducted at the beginning of the month found 84 percent of respondents saying they have changed their driving habits or lifestyle in some way in response to recent gas-price increases, and 87 percent would change driving habits further if prices remain this high for long. The most common change adopted so far is combining trips and errands, which 60 percent of respondents say they’ve done. And 16 percent say they’ve purchased or leased a more fuel-efficient vehicle.” Read the entire article here.

Note:  If the gas prices continue to rise with the drum beats of war getting louder and louder by the day, we can expect to see many drivers ditching their cars and opt to taking transit to work and to other places.  I hope the transit agencies do everything in their power to demonstrate the conveniences of riding a bus/train and entice these flocking masses to continue using transit as a primary option for getting around.  Oh, the big question I have in mind – Are the American transit agencies equipped to handle this sudden spike in ridership? Many transit agencies are hobbled by poor funding patterns over the years and it will be hard to meet this new segment of ridership arrives to what is an already exploding demand.  Let’s see what happens.  (Oh, no matter what the scenario is, one can expect to see a decline in VMT numbers again).

(Source: TSAoutofourPants.wordpress.com via Reddit)

Blogger Jonathan Corbett is upping the ante in his protracted fight against the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) much criticized Transportation Security Administration (TSA). In the video below, he demonstrates the flaws in the nude body scanners widely deployed at US airports.  Amazing to see how simple yet effective his strategy is  as he clears the security check points at multiple airports with hidden materials completely undetected.  TSA is going to have some serious explaining to do soon as this video is starting to go viral. It is already generating a brick ton of comments on Reddit.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEoc_1ZkfA’]

Click here to read more.

(Source: Reddit.com)

The brilliance of this image lies in exposing the hypocracy surrounding the escalation in gas prices. Too bad such political ploys have become the norm at Capitol Hill.  Can we let the President focus on solving the nation’s problems and spare him these silly distractions?  Compelling enough for a web post.

Image Courtesy: via Reddit