What Recession? Amtrak’s NE Corridor Boosts Revenue, Confirms Growing Interest and Ridership for Rail

October 19, 2010 at 11:41 am

After years of sluggishnesses, there is a growing momentum for rail travel in this country and the Government is starting to realize the need for more investment in the rail sector. If there is any solid proof for demand, this had to be it: “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston.” Now, can we get really serious and get real HSR along the NE corridor? If people get a taste of what it is like to travel at 220mph downtown to downtown at a reasonable price, without having to wait in security lines, and paying for extra baggage and stuff like that, then rail will become a truly viable option compared to aviation.

Amplify’d from www.economist.com

AMTRAK, America’s government-owned passenger rail company, has had a good recession. Ridership and ticket sales have steadily increased—presumably as people realise that comfortable seats, city-center-to-city-center travel, and less security theatre are all good things. Amtrak’s fiscal year 2010 continued the trend. The company carried 28.7 million riders, up 5.7% from FY 2009, and revenues from ticket sales were $1.74 billion, up 9% from last year. Almost 40% more people rode Amtrak this year than did in 2000. 

Ridership along the corridor was up 4.3%, while ridership on the corridor’s “high speed” Acela trains was up 6.5%. (Since business travellers favor the Acela, the good numbers there are a sign that business travel is fuelling Amtrak’s growth.) “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston,” the company said in a press release [PDF].

Read more at www.economist.com

 

What Recession? Amtrak’s NE Corridor Boosts Revenue, Confirms Growing Interest and Ridership for Rail

October 19, 2010 at 11:33 am

After years of sluggishnesses, there is a growing momentum for rail travel in this country and the Government is starting to realize the need for more investment in the rail sector. If there is any solid proof for demand, this had to be it: “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston.” Now, can we get really serious and get real HSR along the NE corridor? If people get a taste of what it is like to travel at 220mph downtown to downtown at a reasonable price, without having to wait in security lines, and paying for extra baggage and stuff like that, then rail will become a truly viable option compared to aviation.

Amplify’d from www.economist.com

AMTRAK, America’s government-owned passenger rail company, has had a good recession. Ridership and ticket sales have steadily increased—presumably as people realise that comfortable seats, city-center-to-city-center travel, and less security theatre are all good things. Amtrak’s fiscal year 2010 continued the trend. The company carried 28.7 million riders, up 5.7% from FY 2009, and revenues from ticket sales were $1.74 billion, up 9% from last year. Almost 40% more people rode Amtrak this year than did in 2000. 

Ridership along the corridor was up 4.3%, while ridership on the corridor’s “high speed” Acela trains was up 6.5%. (Since business travellers favor the Acela, the good numbers there are a sign that business travel is fuelling Amtrak’s growth.) “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston,” the company said in a press release [PDF].

Read more at www.economist.com

 

What Recession? Amtrak’s NE Corridor Boosts Revenue, Confirms Growing Interest and Ridership for Rail

October 19, 2010 at 11:28 am

After years of sluggishnesses, there is a growing momentum for rail travel in this country and the Government is starting to realize the need for more investment in the rail sector. If there is any solid proof for demand, this had to be it: “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston.” Now, can we get really serious and get real HSR along the NE corridor? If people get a taste of what it is like to travel at 220mph downtown to downtown at a reasonable price, without having to wait in security lines, and paying for extra baggage and stuff like that, then rail will become a truly viable option compared to aviation.

Amplify’d from www.economist.com

AMTRAK, America’s government-owned passenger rail company, has had a good recession. Ridership and ticket sales have steadily increased—presumably as people realise that comfortable seats, city-center-to-city-center travel, and less security theatre are all good things. Amtrak’s fiscal year 2010 continued the trend. The company carried 28.7 million riders, up 5.7% from FY 2009, and revenues from ticket sales were $1.74 billion, up 9% from last year. Almost 40% more people rode Amtrak this year than did in 2000. 

Ridership along the corridor was up 4.3%, while ridership on the corridor’s “high speed” Acela trains was up 6.5%. (Since business travellers favor the Acela, the good numbers there are a sign that business travel is fuelling Amtrak’s growth.) “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston,” the company said in a press release [PDF].

Read more at www.economist.com

 

What Recession? Amtrak’s NE Corridor Boosts Revenue, Confirms Growing Interest and Ridership for Rail

October 19, 2010 at 11:23 am

After years of sluggishnesses, there is a growing momentum for rail travel in this country and the Government is starting to realize the need for more investment in the rail sector. If there is any solid proof for demand, this had to be it: “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston.” Now, can we get really serious and get real HSR along the NE corridor? If people get a taste of what it is like to travel at 220mph downtown to downtown at a reasonable price, without having to wait in security lines, and paying for extra baggage and stuff like that, then rail will become a truly viable option compared to aviation.

Amplify’d from www.economist.com

AMTRAK, America’s government-owned passenger rail company, has had a good recession. Ridership and ticket sales have steadily increased—presumably as people realise that comfortable seats, city-center-to-city-center travel, and less security theatre are all good things. Amtrak’s fiscal year 2010 continued the trend. The company carried 28.7 million riders, up 5.7% from FY 2009, and revenues from ticket sales were $1.74 billion, up 9% from last year. Almost 40% more people rode Amtrak this year than did in 2000. 

Ridership along the corridor was up 4.3%, while ridership on the corridor’s “high speed” Acela trains was up 6.5%. (Since business travellers favor the Acela, the good numbers there are a sign that business travel is fuelling Amtrak’s growth.) “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston,” the company said in a press release [PDF].

Read more at www.economist.com

 

What Recession? Amtrak’s NE Corridor Boosts Revenue, Confirms Growing Interest and Ridership for Rail

October 19, 2010 at 11:20 am

After years of sluggishnesses, there is a growing momentum for rail travel in this country and the Government is starting to realize the need for more investment in the rail sector. If there is any solid proof for demand, this had to be it: “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston.” Now, can we get really serious and get real HSR along the NE corridor? If people get a taste of what it is like to travel at 220mph downtown to downtown at a reasonable price, without having to wait in security lines, and paying for extra baggage and stuff like that, then rail will become a truly viable option compared to aviation.

Amplify’d from www.economist.com

AMTRAK, America’s government-owned passenger rail company, has had a good recession. Ridership and ticket sales have steadily increased—presumably as people realise that comfortable seats, city-center-to-city-center travel, and less security theatre are all good things. Amtrak’s fiscal year 2010 continued the trend. The company carried 28.7 million riders, up 5.7% from FY 2009, and revenues from ticket sales were $1.74 billion, up 9% from last year. Almost 40% more people rode Amtrak this year than did in 2000. 

Ridership along the corridor was up 4.3%, while ridership on the corridor’s “high speed” Acela trains was up 6.5%. (Since business travellers favor the Acela, the good numbers there are a sign that business travel is fuelling Amtrak’s growth.) “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston,” the company said in a press release [PDF].

Read more at www.economist.com

 

What Recession? Amtrak’s NE Corridor Boosts Revenue, Confirms Growing Interest and Ridership for Rail

October 19, 2010 at 11:18 am

After years of sluggishnesses, there is a growing momentum for rail travel in this country and the Government is starting to realize the need for more investment in the rail sector. If there is any solid proof for demand, this had to be it: “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston.” Now, can we get really serious and get real HSR along the NE corridor? If people get a taste of what it is like to travel at 220mph downtown to downtown at a reasonable price, without having to wait in security lines, and paying for extra baggage and stuff like that, then rail will become a truly viable option compared to aviation.

Amplify’d from www.economist.com

AMTRAK, America’s government-owned passenger rail company, has had a good recession. Ridership and ticket sales have steadily increased—presumably as people realise that comfortable seats, city-center-to-city-center travel, and less security theatre are all good things. Amtrak’s fiscal year 2010 continued the trend. The company carried 28.7 million riders, up 5.7% from FY 2009, and revenues from ticket sales were $1.74 billion, up 9% from last year. Almost 40% more people rode Amtrak this year than did in 2000. 

Ridership along the corridor was up 4.3%, while ridership on the corridor’s “high speed” Acela trains was up 6.5%. (Since business travellers favor the Acela, the good numbers there are a sign that business travel is fuelling Amtrak’s growth.) “Amtrak now enjoys a 65 percent share of the air-rail market between Washington and New York and a 52 percent share of the air-rail market between New York and Boston,” the company said in a press release [PDF].

Read more at www.economist.com

 

Clever! Volkswagen Promotes New Car with Car-shaped Recycling Bins

October 14, 2010 at 10:51 am

Clever idea! To promote its new Polo, which is apparently made of 95 percent recyclable materials, Volkswagen created these “Car Recycling Bins.”

Amplify’d from www.good.is
 

Qatar Airways pilot dies in flight; Co-pilot takes over the controls and lands safely

October 13, 2010 at 11:29 am

Must be one heck of a scary experience for the flyers when the copilot came on the mic and the announcement.

Amplify’d from english.aljazeera.net

The captain of a Qatar Airways plane has died while flying the aircraft from the Philippines to the Qatari capital, Doha.

The assistant pilot took control of the plane and the flight was then diverted to Kuala Lumpur where it landed at around 11.30am local time, Qatar Airways said on Wednesday.

Read more at english.aljazeera.net

 

Human in the Loop? or NOT? – Slate Magazine Says Google’s Self-Driving Car Makes Sense

October 12, 2010 at 6:52 pm

Slate’s Farhad Manjoo says Google’s approach to dealing with distracted driving is a sensible one. We all know texting while driving is dangerous. The solution: self-driving cars.

Amplify’d from www.slate.com

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that Google is building a car that can drive itself. The search company’s small fleet of self-driving cars—guided by roof-mounted sensors and a battalion of cloud-connected servers—has driven more than 140,000 miles with minimal human intervention. The cars can obey traffic signs, merge on to the freeway, and avoid pedestrians and bicyclists. I was stunned by the news; two years ago, I interviewed several auto-safety engineers about the potential for self-driving cars, and they all told me that the technology was decades away. Google told the Times that its cars are still an experiment, and the company hasn’t decided to turn the tech into a commercial product. The tech still has kinks—Google’s cars don’t know how to obey traffic cops’ hand signals, for instance. Still, self-driving automobiles appear to be on the way to revolutionizing modern transportation. Google’s technology could make cars safer, more efficient, and a lot more pleasant.

Indeed, it’s fascinating to think about how automated driving will change how we spend our time in the car. Americans squander nearly an hour each workday commuting. That’s exactly why legislating concentration seems like a futile approach. Working from the road has become a hallmark of the American economy—we’re all being pressed to be more productive, and the many hours each week we’re trapped in our cars seem like the perfect time to get something done. Many industries (like freight companies and plumbing outfits) require workers to be tied in to the central office using onboard computers, and even office workers feel the push to stay connected while on the road. What’s more, research suggests that while both teenagers and adults (PDF) know the dangers of texting while driving, we’re all overconfident about our own abilities to multitask on the road—you think it’s dangerous for me to look at my phone while I’m driving, but you’re pretty sure you can handle it. (And texting laws are so spottily enforced that you’re pretty sure that you can get away with it, too.)

Read more at www.slate.com

 

The perks keep coming! Buy an electric car to become a magnet for attention –

October 7, 2010 at 5:30 pm

Going electric has its own benefits which include – Tax credits, rebate checks, personalized home visits, government giveaways — even customer service calls from top corporate executives.
Mr. McNaughton, a lawyer in Nashville, paid his $99 deposit, he has been bombarded with government incentives — promises of a $7,500 federal tax credit, a $2,500 cash rebate from the state of Tennessee, and a $3,000 home-charging unit courtesy of the Energy Department.

Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com

Precisely. It is all part of an unprecedented effort by federal, state and local governments to stimulate demand for cars that have zero tailpipe emissions — and Nissan’s pre-emptive bid to corner the all-electric market much the way that Toyota dominated the early hybrid market with the Prius.

The government subsidies are shaving thousands of dollars off the Leaf’s $32,780 sticker price, while other benefits are piling up, like free parking in some cities and the use of express lanes on highways usually reserved for cars with multiple passengers. In Tennessee, where a Leaf assembly plant is being built, Leaf drivers will be able to charge their vehicles free at public charging stations on 425 miles of freeways that connect Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.

“It’s almost shocking how many subsidies are available on the Leaf,” said Jeremy P. Anwyl, chief executive of the auto research Web site Edmunds.com. “We are putting a lot of money behind this technology.”

Read more at www.nytimes.com