WashPost’s Dr. Gridlock: Train Fight Highlights Flaw In Call-Button Setup

May 4, 2009 at 2:12 pm

(Source: Washington Post)

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I was on a packed Red Line train shortly after 6 p.m. [Monday] when a fight broke out between two passengers as the train was moving between Farragut North and Metro Center. As the two passengers fought near the forward end of the car, several passengers tried to find the emergency call button to call the train conductor.

 Apparently, the button was at the rear of the train car, but the train was so crowded it took some time for word to get to the passengers within reach of the call button. In the meantime, passengers in the center of the car, desperate to do something to get the attention of the train operator, opened the emergency box, which only has an emergency brake lever that stops the train, but no call button. A passenger pulled the lever, which stopped the train.A few moments later, the train operator, as if unaware of why the train stopped, asked passengers to stop leaning on the doors. About five tense minutes later — during which time a couple of good Samaritans kept the two combatants separated — two Metro police officers boarded the train and got it moving (after some struggle with the now-extended brake lever) to Metro Center.

No passengers were harmed, but the fact that there were no call buttons at the center of the train — where there was an emergency box — led to some unnecessary anxiety, delays as the train was stopped between stations, and may have further endangered passengers if the fight had continued while the train and passengers were trapped inside the tunnel.

— Isaiah J. Poole, Washington

Passengers can easily get confused about the purpose of the red boxes on either side of the central doors. They don’t control the brakes. Pulling the lever releases the central door so passengers can evacuate the car. Open that box only in an emergency, and on the instructions of the train operator after the train has stopped. Leaping from a moving train into a darkened tunnel is not an option.

The emergency door boxes are not a substitute for the intercoms. But on a crowded train, the intercoms are hard to get to at the ends of the cars, and sometimes — as we saw when train operators were inadvertently stopping with some rear cars still in tunnels — passengers don’t think about using them in time.

There’s a better setup on the newest cars: Call buttons and intercoms are in the middle of the cars as well as at the ends. And the boxes with the emergency door levers are colored beige, rather than red. The lettering says “Emergency Door Release.”

When the Red Line train’s lever was pulled by a rider in the fifth car on Monday, the train operator up front got an indication that there was a door problem. At the same time, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said, the train’s fail-safe system was bringing it to a stop. Transit police responded to the incident, located the fighters and removed them from the train at Metro Center, Taubenkibel said. They declined to press charges against each other.

A Word of Advise from TransportGooru:

1).  Dear Fight Club Members, it is already a painful experience commuting by DC’s Metro rail during the peak hours.  And you people make it worse by getting into such silly fights without knowing that we are all terribly inconvenienced by your immature behavior.  If you really feel like duking it out, wait till you get to your stop and start jumping at each other.  

2). Dear Dr. Gridlock,  for your kind attention the suggestion to dial 9-1-1 or to use a cellphone to call out from a DC metro tunnel is “INVALID”.  The metro system didn’t realize the concept of “security” when it leased out the licenses only to Verizon, which means cellphone users with other carrers like AT&T, Sprint, etc are sitting ducks until they resurface from the tunnel to an above ground station or section of the track.  Talking about Social Equity and DC Metro makes me mad!  All damn tax payers paid for the system and how come Metro decided to lease out the lines only to the previleged Verzion customers?  This is a DUMB policy and only validates eagerness to remain out of touch and incredibly partial & discreminatory!

Scoopful of GM News – May 1, 2009: Fiat’s Opel tango; Rendered speculation; Commodore comback; e-Bay finds; Collectors items; Mullet of the Law; April Sales

May 1, 2009 at 2:05 pm

Auto threesome? Fiat CEO confirms pursuing partnership with OpelGM, Opel, Vauxhall, FIAT, UAW/UnionsAs if Fiat doesn’t have enough on its plate while working on an alliance with Chrysler during its bankruptcy proceedings, the Italian automaker’s CEO has finally confirmed that it’s pursuing an alliance with General Motors’ German arm Opel.In the Fiat-owned newspaper La Stampa, CEO Sergio Marchionne said, “Now…from Autoblog

Rendered speculation: Chevrolet Sky-Volt?…disappointment to GM fans was the transformation of the Chevy Volt from concept to production form. The sporty, aggressive concept was to many eyes made too generic for production. One of our readers came up with a novel solution to both problems. Just graft the Volt concept nose onto the Sky and install an adaptation of the Voltec powertrain an…from AutoblogGreen 

REPORT: RWD Commodore platform could underpin Caddies, G8 GT could make a comebackGM, GMC, Australia Pontiac G8 ST – Click above for a high-res image gallery With Pontiac’s death official, Holden stands to lose around $1 billion annually with the demise of the Pontiac G8. However, Holden doesn’t plan to go quiet into night. The Aussie automaker has drawn up plans to offer the rear-wheel drive Commodore platform to Cadillac an…from Autoblog 

Opel Insignia SportTourer OPC: An Audi S4 Avant-Fighter [Rendered Speculation]…heard that GM is pondering whether or not to bring the Insignia over here as a Buick, but with the current financial situation being faced by the General, we won’t believe anything until we see it. While we’re asking questions — How about an Audi RS4 fighter, or is that asking waaaay too much? [illustration via KORSdesign]from Jalopnik 

eBay Finds of the Day: Pontiac Vibe GT-R and G6 GXP SEMA showcars…world GM division. But for a lucky two, that thrill can be experienced every day on their own driveway as two past Pontiac show cars have popped up on eBay Motors for sale.First up is the Pontiac Vibe GT-R that debuted at the 2002 SEMA show in Las Vegas. Boasting a unique Opera Red Metallic paint job, ram-air induction hood scoop, special body-k…from Autoblog

CNBC’s Dennis Kneale Wouldn’t Know A Car If It Hit Him In The Ass [Auto Tech Wars]…in every GM vehicle. That aux-in jack that can be found in every GM product is the same aux-in jack you’ll find in every Toyota product. But more to the point of supposed technological superiority — find me a Toyota or Honda-branded vehicle with a plug-in-play system that works as effortlessly as Ford’s Sync system. Tell you what — Kneal…from Jalopnik 

Pontiac G8 GXP, Solstice Coupe – Future collectors items? [w/POLL]…lost when GM inexplicably dropped classic names like Bonneville, Grand Prix and Grand Am.We’re not going to disagree with that assessment, but it may not be the whole story. If sales figures alone can predict a future classic, perhaps we should rush out and put a new Solstice Coupe GXP in our driveway. We spoke with Pontiac’s media relations man…from Autoblog

Camaro Police Cruiser: Long Mullet Of The Law [Chevy Camaro]The 2010 Chevy Camaro is likely to attract its fair share of police attention. But what if the new Camaro was the police car? Whoa. Rendered gallery below. The detailed photoshop adds much of the features you’d expect from a police car, including the push-bar and an LED light-strip above the roof. Without many additions the Camaro looks the part of…from Jalopnik 

GM Autosales for April fell 33% – Toyota Falls Behind Ford Ford Motor’s vehicle sales dropped 32% last month, but the healthiest of Detroit’s auto makers outsold Toyota in the U.S. for the first time in at least a year. GM’s sales fell 33%.

California Attorney General Gets Wheels Stolen Off Camry Hybrid

May 1, 2009 at 12:53 pm

Yes, it can happpen to anyone!  Even if you are the Attorney General of California.  The thieves in California are probably the best of the breed in this business – sincere & hardworking; they just go about doing their jobs without any discrimination. A brazen thief swiped two wheels off Attorney General Jerry Brown‘s state-owned Toyota Camry Hybrid. Is this schadenfreude or irony?

The theft occurred while Brown was out of town at the state Democratic convention in Sacramento and the car was parked streetside in front of his Oakland Hills home. The thieves left the car up on cinder blocks, observing proper wheel theft etiquette, boldly choosing to take the two street facing wheels rather than the home-facing wheels. 

Amy Morosini, 40, a neighbor of Brown’s, said she was driving with her family to a college reunion on Saturday when she saw the car on a cinder block.

“I kind of just pointed it out to my husband and said, ‘Oh my God, look! Someone stole Jerry’s tires!’ ” Morosini said Thursday.

 

Th ebest part in this is the sense of humor exhibited by the AG.  Brown said in a message posted on his Facebook page:  

“Even though I am California’s ‘top cop,’ 2 of my tires were stolen. No matter. I got 2 new ones and I’m rolling again!” 

Way to go,  Mr. Brown!  Keep rollin’. BTW, Does the thief know that he stole his own money – the wheels belonged to a tax-payer owned state vehicle.  Looks like California’s  thieves are among the dumbest in business. 

(Source:  SF Gate via Jalopnik)

Shame on you, New Orleans! Heartless NOLA thives rob solar car team that holds world distance record

April 30, 2009 at 11:10 am

(Source: Tree Hugger & NOLA)

It wasn’t so long ago that we wrote about the Power of One (Xof1) Solar Car breaking a world distance record, and that’s the kind of story we like to write about. But via our friends at Autobloggreenwe learn that someone broke into the solar car’s support vehicle and stole an estimated $10,000 of stuff (including passports). What’s even sadder is that in the video below, you can hear Marcelo da Luz explain how he gave up his job, mortgaged his house, maxed his credit card, etc, to get this project off the ground.

Marcelo da Luz gave up his job, girlfriend and nearly a half-million dollars to build a solar-powered car and drive it all over the Americas, a trek that brought him and several international volunteers, following in a van, to New Orleans early Sunday evening.

But an hour after he parked on a busy, well-lighted French Quarter street, someone broke into the van and stole passports, laptops, credit cards, cash, a digital camera and a portable hard drive.

Despite the estimated $10,000 loss, da Luz seemed in high spirits the next morning, describing the break-in as a “dent” in his ecological barnstorming tour. He insisted that he was still enjoying his first visit to the Crescent City. After discovering the theft, da Luz and an assistant from the Netherlands trotted to a nearby tavern to “drown their sorrows.”

Despite his setback in New Orleans, da Luz plans to continue east to the Atlantic coast of Florida.

“I don’t hope anything bad happens to whoever did this or anything, ” he said. “I just hope their lives turn out better so they don’t need to do this to anyone else.”  

Spoke like a true gentleman, Mr. da Luz!

Chrysler to File for Bankruptcy Following Collapse of Negotiations; President Obama to address the nation

April 30, 2009 at 9:45 am

(Source: Washington Post)

Chrysler, one of the three pillars of the American auto industry, will file for bankruptcy today after last-minute negotiations between the government and the automaker’s creditors broke down last night, an Obama administration official said.

 U.S. officials had offered Chrysler’s secured lenders $2.25 billion in cash if they would agree to writedown the $6.9 in secured debt that the company owed. But a small group of hedge funds refused the 11th-hour deal, forcing an imminent bankruptcy.

An administration official this morning expressed disappointment, saying the holdouts had failed to “do the right thing,” but that “their failure to act in either their own economic interest or the national interest does not diminish the accomplishments made by Chrysler, Fiat and its stakeholders, nor will it impede the new opportunity Chrysler now has to restructure and emerge stronger going forward.”

President Obama is scheduled to address the issue at noon today at the White House.

As talks broke down late last night, it became near certainty that the Obama administration would send Chrysler into bankruptcy under a plan that would replace chief executive Robert L. Nardelli and pump billions of dollars more into the effort, all in hopes that the company could emerge from court proceedings as a re-energized competitor in the global economy.

The U.S. government’s attempt to save the automaker amounts to another extraordinary intervention in the economy and a landmark event in the history of the American auto industry.

Under the administration’s detailed plan for a “surgical bankruptcy,” ownership of Chrysler would be dramatically reorganized, the leadership of Italian automaker Fiat would take over company management and the U.S. and Canadian governments would contribute more than $10 billion in additional funding.

Negotiations between the government and the company’s stakeholders — Chrysler’s lenders, the union and proposed merger partner Fiat — went well into the night, as dealmakers rushed to meet President Obama’s April 30 deadline.

Last night, the United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly ratified the administration proposal to give its retiree health fund the 55 percent equity stake in Chrysler. In exchange, the health fund must give up its claim to much of the $10 billion that Chrysler owes it. Eighty-two percent of production workers and 80 percent of skilled-trades workers voted for the agreement.

While four of Chrysler’s major creditors — J.P. Morgan ChaseCitigroupGoldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — have agreed to the Treasury’s plan, other lenders, mainly hedge funds, had held out. The holdouts included Oppenheimer Funds, Perella Weinberg Partners and Stairway Capital, two sources said. The last two have funds that invest in “distressed” companies. It is not known what companies ultimately failed to reach agreement with the government.

The hedge funds likely think they could get a better return in a bankruptcy filing or in a sale of Chrysler’s assets, said Sheldon Stone, a turnaround expert at Amherst Partners. The government offer made yesterday would represent a recovery of about 32 cents on the dollar. A recent Standard & Poor’s analysis said the lenders could recover 30 to 50 cents on the dollar.

US Transportation Secretary LaHood cites stimulus money success

April 29, 2009 at 7:07 pm

The federal government has already committed nearly $11 billion in stimulus money to help get road, bridge and environmental projects off the ground, administration officials told Congress on Wednesday.

“I believe we have already achieved enormous success,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the House Transportation Committee, giving a progress report on infrastructure money allotted under the $787 billion economic stimulus bill passed in February.

Lahood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, told the panel his department had made decisions on $9 billion dollars in projects around the country out of Transportation’s $48 billion share of the stimulus package.  However, he was less specific about the jobs directly resulting from stimulus spending.

It was originally estimated that the $64 billion in the stimulus for infrastructure — for transit, high speed rail, aviation, federal buildings and Army Corps of Engineers projects as well as roads and bridges — would create or sustain 1.8 million jobs.

But so far, reports on new jobs were mostly anecdotal. The Transportation Committee said its survey of state and local transportation officials revealed that work had begun on 263 highway and transit projects in 30 states, putting about 1,250 workers back on the job.

D.J. Stadtler, Jr., chief financial officer for Amtrak, said it expected to produce about 4,600 jobs in the first year of the stimulus with investment of $1.3 billion.

Unemployment in the construction industry soared to nearly 2 million in March, about 21.1 percent compared with 13 percent a year ago.

Rep. John Mica of Florida, top Republican on the committee, questioned the job-creation effectiveness of the program, saying some projects might take three to four years to get off the ground. But he said he would withhold judgment, saying, “We have to give folks a pass at this juncture.”

The Government Accountability Office, in a report prepared for the hearing, also raised questions about the ability of states and Washington to track how the money is being spent. But it gave some states high marks for moving the money quickly.

The Transportation Committee said that, as of April 17, states had received approval for 2,163 projects, about 25 percent of the $27.5 billion.

Also:

_The Federal Transit Administration has awarded five projects totaling $48.6 million and has another 109 grants totaling $1.47 billion pending review.

_The Federal Railroad Administration has approved 52 Amtrak capitol improvement projects worth $938 million.

_The administration is to announce plans by this summer on awarding projects for $8 billion in high speed rail development.

_The Federal Aviation Administration has announced more than $1 billion in tentative spending for runways, aprons and terminal improvements.

_The General Services Administration has a plan for investing $5.55 billion, including $4.3 billion for a green building program.

(Source: AP)

Car thieves live it up on Candid Camera – Houston Police Dept’s rigged fleet catches thives and their happy moments

April 29, 2009 at 12:10 am

The Houston Police Department has assembled a fleet of bait cars in the hope of capturing car thieves. At the very least, they’ve captured some hilarious video of robbers becoming victims of their own hubris.

Everyone seems to be smoking in this videos, which makes believe no one here is capable of making long-term decisions about their well-being. According to the police, they’re a perfect 52-52 in arrests and convictions because it’s hard to mount a defense when they have you on video calling someone to brag about stealing a car from inside a stolen car. Enjoy the video below.

Event Alert: Senate Hearing – The Future of National Surface Transportation Policy (live streaming)

April 27, 2009 at 6:14 pm

Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

02:30 PM

SR – 253

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation announces the following Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security Subcommittee hearing on The Future of National Surface Transportation Policy.

 

Add to My Calendar Add To My Calendar (vCal)

 

 

 Witnesses

Opening Remarks

Panel 1

The Honorable Ray LaHood 

Secretary 

Department of Transportation

Panel 2

Anne P. Canby 

President 

Surface Transportation Policy Partnership

James Corless 

Campaign Director 

Transportation for America

Steve Heminger 

Executive Director 

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Ned S. Holmes 

Texas Transportation Commissioner and Chairman 

Transportation Transformation Group

Extreme Makeover in Norway? Considering a ban on all cars powered by fossil fuels

April 27, 2009 at 5:53 pm

 (Source: Autobloggreen & Reuters)

We first heard about a proposal to ban cars powered solely by fossil fuels way back in 2007. According to Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen, the plan “is much more realistic than people think when they first hear about” it and is still very much in the works. Still, it’s highly unlikely that the proposal would come to fruition due to opposition from current Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Under the proposal, no automaker could sell a new vehicle from 2015 onward in Norway that has no provisions for the use of biofuels, electricity or hydrogen. Hybrid vehicles that share propulsion duties between an electric motor and a gasoline or diesel engine would be allowed, as would flex-fuel vehicles. Older cars and trucks that were sold prior to 2015 wouldn’t be affected by this legislation.

“The financial crisis also means that a lot of those car producers that now have big problems … know that they have to develop their technology because we also have to solve the climate crisis when this financial crisis is over,” she said.

“That is why we would like a ban from 2015,” she said, during an exhibition in Oslo of electric and biofuel-powered cars during which she raced a red and white Mitsubishi electric car around a course against several other politicians.

Halvorsen’s party is a junior member of Norway’s three-party coalition led by the Labor Party. The 2015 proposal is unlikely to be adopted by the cabinet because it is opposed, among others, by Labor Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Still, Halvorsen said she knew of no other finance minister in the world who was even arguing for such a goal.

“I haven’t heard about any ministers. I’m not surprised. We are often a party that puts forward new proposals first,” she said. A 2015 ban had backing from many environmental groups around the world as a way of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

UNDERMINE OIL?

Halvorsen denied that her proposal would undermine the economy — Norway is the world’s number six oil exporter.

“Not at all … we know that the world will be dependent on oil and gas for many decades ahead but we have to introduce new technologies and this is a proposal to support that,” she said.

Asked what she would say if she met the head of a big car producer such as General Motors, she said: “develop new and more environmentally friendly cars. And I know they are working on that question.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Scoopful of GM News – April 27, 2009: European War; Slash and burn; All Things Pontiac; Successful future; Toyota Jitters on Suppliers; Fed Control; Bond Plan

April 27, 2009 at 4:32 pm

Clash of the Titans: Fiat reportedly squaring off with European Union over mergers…interest in GM‘s European subsidiary Opel, Marchionne is now asserting that would consider the possibility, but that no offer had been made to date.[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Andrej Isakovic/AFP/Getty]Clash of the Titans: Fiat reportedly squaring off with European Union over mergers originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:…

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