TransportGooru

(Source: Green Car Congress)

Transport for London (TfL) will begin a six-month trial ofIntelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) technology which aims to reduce road casualties and help drivers avoid speeding penalties.  As part of the trial, which will start this summer, a London bus will be fitted with ISA.   The trial will monitor driver behavior, journey times and the effect that driving within the speed limit has on vehicle emissions. ISA uses the digital speed limit map of London which TfL launched on 29 January 2009. This is the first time all of London’s speed limits have been mapped accurately with regular updates.

This innovative technology could help any driver in London avoid the unnecessary penalties of creeping over the speed limit, and at the same time will save lives. We know the technology works, and now we want to know how drivers in all types of vehicles respond to it. ISA is intended as a road safety device, but if Londoners embrace this technology we may well see additional benefits including reduced congestion as a result of collisions and reduced vehicle emissions as drivers adopt a smoother driving style.

—Chris Lines, Head of TfL’s London Road Safety Unit

The UK government’s Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) and the Motorists’ Forum (MF) recently issued a joint report evaluating the impact of implementing an Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) system across the entire road network on reducing deaths and injuries on the UK roads and on reducing fuel consumption and emissions of CO2 and criteria pollutants.  Of the two proposed benefits of ISA—GHG emissions reduction and increased road safety—the report concluded that the calculated social benefits of the accident savings far outweigh the values of fuel or CO2 saved.

The intelligent technology, which works in conjunction with a GPS, enables drivers to select an option where acceleration is stopped automatically at the speed limit specific to any road in London within the M25 area. The unit can be disabled at the touch of a button, at which point it reverts to an advisory status where the current, legal speed limit is simply displayed as a driver aid. There is also a complete over-ride switch with disables the system entirely.

The practical uses of the technology will be tested in the six month trial after which a report will be submitted to the Mayor of London, and the technology will be made available to external organizations.

(Source: TheTrucker.com & AP)

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood took exception to an Associated Press articlethat reported that counties suffering the most from job losses stand to receive the least help from President Barack Obama’s plan to spend billions of stimulus dollars on roads and bridges, an Associated Press analysis has found.  Although the intent of the money is to put people back to work, AP’s review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide reveals that states are planning to spend the stimulus in communities where jobless rates are already lower.

Image Courtesy: AP - U.S. map shows amount of stimulus funds announced for transportation, by county

Altogether, the government is set to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than it will in communities with the highest.

“At the DOT, we have $48 billion to rebuild roads, bridges, highways, airport runways, ports and transit projects,” LaHood wrote. “And we have already signed off on transportation projects in all 50 states. Just 12 weeks after President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, we have approved 2,800 road projects and another 300 airport projects.”

LaHood said that amounted to over $10 billion “out the door and countless Americans going back to work.”

By this summer, LaHood wrote, Americans won’t be able to drive down the street without seeing people working at good-paying jobs.

He attributed those jobs to the Recovery Act money.

“Unfortunately, the AP’s analysis is misguided,” LaHood said. “Its reporters looked at 5,500 transportation projects from state lists and concluded that the transportation money is going to counties with low unemployment. But until the states make a request and the experts at the DOT certify that a project meets the criteria for Recovery dollars, those lists are not the final word.

 “Basically, their (the Associated Press’) work amounts to nothing more than an academic exercise.”

For people who are out of work and at risk of losing their jobs, this construction work is a godsend, LaHood said he believed.

“Sadly, unemployed workers can be found all over our nation in these difficult economic times — even in counties that don’t have the highest unemployment rates,” the secretary wrote

“Governmental boundaries are often arbitrary, and workers know that,” LaHood noted. “People who work construction jobs often drive to wherever they can find work in a metropolitan area or region. Our idea is to drive down unemployment, period.”

LaHood said he told Brett Blackledge, the Associated Press writer who authored the story, about a recent trip he took to New Hampshire for a groundbreaking on highway 101.

“I shook hands with men and women who are going back to work thanks to the Recovery Act,” LaHood said. ”One man told me that he drives all over New England for construction jobs. Another said he is the father of four children and was unemployed until this project began. Now that he has this job, he will be commuting from Wolfeboro.

“Unfortunately, Brett didn’t think it was worth quoting me when I told him that the point of the program is to put people to work. And that’s something I’m proud of.”

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 – ISSN 1529-1057

Join U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, U.S. Chief Technology Officer-designate Aneesh Chopra, Members of Congress, and other transportation, technology, business and policy leaders at ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting & Exposition – located just 15 minutes away from the nation’s capitol. If you are in the transportation industry, you cannot afford to miss this event.  ITS America has put together an exciting program of nearly 100 educational and Congressional fact-finding sessions, opportunities to interact with members of Congress and senior government officials, 150,000 square feet of exhibits, tours of local ITS facilities and projects, a “City Streets” technology demonstration staged right outside of the convention center, and a closing reception and technology showcase in the new Capitol Hill Visitors Center.  For more information on the program and to register, visit http://www.itsa.org/amregistration.html.  

AVIATION

1) Transcript from Buffalo Crash Reveals Breakdown in Communication

Link to story in The Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124212789938210353.html

2) AirTran to Offer Wi-Fi on All Flights

Link to story in USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2009-05-11-airtran-flights-wifi_N.htm

3) A New Route to Easing Air Traffic Congestion

Link to story in The Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124208754280908923.html

CARTOGRAPHY

4) Greece Bars Google’s Street View Pending Details

Link to AFP story:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.35c2e98a13639c54adb496c3f97d16bf.21&show_article=1

5) Google Puts York, Maine Off the Map

Internet users who search for York via Google find, instead, references to Kennebunk.

Link to story in the York County Coast Star:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090510-NEWS-905100343

GPS / NAVIGATION

6) Debate Heats Up Over Cancellation of GPS Backup System

Link to story on Nextgov:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090511_1364.php

ROADWAYS

7) Massachusetts Politicians Spending Millions of Stimulus $ on Signs

Link to story and video report on WBZ-TV:

http://wbztv.com/local/route.128.signs.2.1007345.html

8) Florida International University Integrated Intelligent Transportation System Laboratory Helps Students Study Traffic Flows and Woes

Link to story in The Miami Herald:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1044048.html

9) There’s an (Electronic) Sign Post Up Ahead

Link to column in the Naples Daily News:

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/may/11/brent-batten-theres-electronic-sign-post-ahead/

SAFETY / SECURITY

10) State: Pennsylvania DOT Endangers Public by Issuing Fake IDs

Link to story in The Philadelphia Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090512_Grand_Jury_finds_PennDOT_laxness_threatens_national_security.html

11) Mobile Computers Allowing Police in Wisconsin to Issue More Tickets

Link to story in the Journal Sentinel:

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/pi/44756612.html

TRANSIT

12) CTA Bus Tracker: E-Mail Alerts Coming for All Bus Routes

Link to story in the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cta-bus-tracker-12-may12,0,5939804.story

13) SUBWAY Monthly Newsletter to Debut

Link to further information and sign-up:

http://subwayblogger.com/2009/05/09/subway-monthly-newsletter/

News Releases

1) Wayne County Airport Authority Online Auction Site Takes Flight

2) Iridium OpenPort Completes Successful Sea Trials

3) New NOAA System Improves Safety and Efficiency of Ships in Lake Charles

4) ‘Eye On Your Metro Commute’ New Service Being Offered by King County Metro Transit

5) Navteq Unveils Content Showcase Beta at NAVTEQ.com

6) Ford Engineers Pit Shopping Carts, Water Cannons and Metal Whips Against New Safety Technologies

Upcoming Events

Preserving Our Highway Infrastructure Assets – August 4-7 – Orlando, Florida

http://www.irfnews.org/news-events/event-detail/preserving-our-highway-infrastructure-assets/

Today in Transportation History

1949 **60^th anniversary** – The Berlin Blockade ended. 

http://www.german-way.com/airlift.html

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

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday. 

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

© 2009 Bernie Wagenblast

(Source: Transportation for America)

With Congress preparing to write the bill that will determine the next six years of transportation spending, Transportation for America yesterday released a detailed plan to restructure the nation’s transportation program in order to build a smart, safe and clean transportation system that provides real choices to all Americans.

Image Courtesy: Transportation for America @Flickr

If our platform, released in February, lays out the vision and goals for America’s transportation system, then the Transportation for AmericaBlueprint contains the detailed directions for getting there.

The Route to Reform: Blueprint for a 21st Century Federal Transportation Program will serve as T4 America’s proposal for the policies and financing structures necessary to achieve real transformational change in America’s transportation system. (We’ll be highlighting and explaining pieces of the Blueprint here over the coming weeks — it’s a lot to digest at once.)

In the blueprint, Transportation for America recommends Congress include four critical reforms in the upcoming transportation authorization bill:

1. Articulate a National Vision, Objectives, and Performance Targets for the national transportation program and hold state and local transportation agencies accountable for demonstrable progress toward goals including safety, efficiency, environment, health and equity.
2. Restructure and consolidate federal programs for greater modal integration, with a focus on completing the second half of the national transportation system, providing more transportation options for all Americans and creating seamless transportation systems that meet the unique needs and connect metropolitan regions, small towns, and rural areas.
3. Empower states, regions, and cities with direct transportation funding and greater flexibility to select projects, using carrots and sticks to incentivize wise transportation investments and in return require demonstrated performance on meeting national objectives.
4. Reform how we pay for the transportation system and create a Unified Transportation Trust Fund that would achieve balanced allocations of federal funds in a portfolio of rail, freight, highway, public transportation, and non-motorized transportation investment

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell — a co-chair of the Build America’s Future campaign and one of the leading voices calling for a renewed transportation system – gave the event’s keynote speech in the same committee where the transportation bill will be written and considered first by Chairman Oberstar’s House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Gov. Rendell was followed by a panel that included James Corless, director of the Transportation for America Campaign; Elaine Clegg, Co-Executive Director of Idaho Smart Growth and and city council member in Boise; Astrid Glynn, former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation; Andrew Cotugno, the director of planning for Metro in Portland, Oregon; andRonald Kilcoyne, the General Manager/CEO of Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority.

“This report couldn’t be more correct when it says this is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Gov. Rendell said.

“If we don’t take advantage of this opportunity…nothing will change, and we’ll just bump along, funding some good projects almost by accident, some mediocre projects and some terrible projects. We won’t have national policy, we won’t move the ball forward, and we won’t do something that will improve our economic competitiveness – we’ll just keep moving along the way we’ve been moving along, and not solving any problems.”

(Source: The Infrastructurist)

Many of you heard through the grapevine (from Congress), particularly, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar — that the new transportation bill would be passed this year. Oberstar even offered September 30 as a target date. Sen Mark Warner (D, Va.) is now saying he’s “not sure” that the estimated $500 billion authorization will happen until next year. According to a story by Terry Kivlan in CongressDaily, Warner thinks that “Congress might have too many big-ticket items on its agenda this year to take on a transportation package.” Speaking at an infrastructure-focused conference hosted by the Departments of Transportation and the Department of Commerce, the senator remarked: “I’m not sure you are going to see a full transportation bill put out this year.”

He’s specifically worried about funding availability in light the fact that revenue from the gas tax, which pays for highway and transit programs, is no longer sufficient to cover outlays.  He called this the “elephant in the room” with respect to infrastructure funding.

Monday, May 11, 2009 – ISSN 1529-1057

1) Buffalo Crash Sparks Debate Over Use of Cockpit Recordings

Link to story in The Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124201244946205809.html

BUSES

2) New Web Site Lets You Compare Bus Tickets

Link to AP story:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iobWfqqU3VtjrCrbWiJMixP6Wu0QD9846SKG0

Link to BusJunction:

http://www.busjunction.com/

3) New York MTA’s Bright Idea

Agency to roll out LED screens on bus exteriors with full-motion ads.

Link to story in the New York Post:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05092009/news/regionalnews/mtas_bright_idea_168407.htm

CAMERAS

4) Red Light Cameras Could Vanish in Texas

Link to story on KVIA-TV:

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=10333861&nav=menu193_2

ELECTRONIC TOLLING

5) Bridge Transponders Pass Test in Rhode Island

Link to story in The Providence Journal:

http://www.projo.com/news/content/Bz_Ezpass_a_hit_05-09-09_3FEALMP_v9.3471bdc.html

GPS / NAVIGATION

6) Blanket GPS Coverage in the Cross Hair

Link to story in PC World:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/164621/blanket_gps_coverage_in_the_cross_hair.html

OTHER

7) Innovation Beats Recession

A profile of New Zealand’s HMI Technologies, a provider of custom-built intelligent traffic systems and products.

Link to story in Business to Business:

http://www.btob.co.nz/cms/features/southern_focus/2009/05/innovation_beats_recession.php

PARKING

8) San Jose and Los Angeles Use Technology to Ease Downtown Parking Congestion

Link to story in PublicCEO:

http://www.publicceo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=226:san-jose-and-la-use-technology-to-aleviate-downtown-parking-congestion&catid=156:information-technologies-publicceo-exclusive&Itemid=39

ROADWAYS

9) Kansas City Scout Signs Don’t Warn About Closed Boulevard

Project manager says they didn’t use signs because it didn’t affect interstate or the entire off-ramp.

Link to column in The Kansas City Star:

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1188257.html

10) May Issue of Florida DOT’s SunGuide Disseminator Online

Link to newsletter:

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/TrafficOperations/Newsletters/2009/2009-005-May.pdf

SAFETY / SECURITY

11) Air Marshals’ Secret Communication Weapon

Link to story in Wired:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/air-marshals-secret-communication-weapon/

Link to further information on FAMSCOM:

http://honeywell.com/sites/aero/technology/avionics3_CA0A2F626-AEE9-48DE-12E5-47CBFC1208EB_H3D4AB53C-7757-A1BA-5C83-F07CF6FEF1AC.htm

12) Boston T to Ban Workers’ Phone Use on the Job

Link to story in The Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/10/t_to_ban_workers_phone_use_on_the_job/

Grim Message: Texting Can Kill

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/10/grim_message_texting_can_kill/

13) US-Canada Border Ready for New Era

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to have full implementation June 1.

Link to AP story:

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20090511/NEWS03/90510013/Border+ready+for+new+era

14) Threat-Spotting Cameras Raise Question: Is Surveillance Better When Big Brother is a Computer?

Link to AP story:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-tec-smarter-cameras,0,7689983.story

TRANSIT

15) Bank Card System Weighed for DC Metro

Link to story in The Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/09/AR2009050902459.html

16) Atheists Sue Bloomington Transit Over Ad Rejection

Link to story in the Indiana Daily Student:

http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=68218 

17) Capitol Corridor Wants Internet-Equipped Trains

Link to story on Wi-Fi Net News:

http://wifinetnews.com/archives/2009/05/capitol_corridor_wants_internet-equipped_trains.html

Link to additional information from the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority:

http://www.capitolcorridor.org/aboard_the_train/wi_fi.php

TRAVELER INFORMATION / TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

18) Web Site Helps Baltimore Drivers Plan Morning Commute

Link to story on WJZ-TV:

http://wjz.com/seenon/traffic.cameras.commute.2.1006225.html

VEHICLES

19) Speed-Restricted Car: A Review

Link to story in the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/5300462/Speed-restricted-car-a-review.html

News Releases

1) European Consumers are Ready to Embrace Low Cost Navigation Systems, Finds Frost & Sullivan

2) UK Highways Agency Receives Industry Award for Keeping Roads and Information Flowing

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Next Generation 911 (NG 911) Summit for Large Cities – May 21

http://www.pcb.its.dot.gov/t3/s090521_nxtgen.asp

Today in Transportation History

1924 **85^th anniversary** – Mercedes-Benz was created through the merger of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschat and Benz & Cie.

http://www.museum-mercedes-benz.com/

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

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 ati95berniew@aol.com.   

© 2009 Bernie Wagenblast

Elon Musk, Tesla Motors’ CEO: Once The Electric Charge Dies, The Chevy Volt Is Like A Lawnmower…

GM Hires Search Firm for New Board GM has hired a search firm to help find replacements for at least half of its 12 directors, reflecting Obama’s increasing influence over the auto maker

 

Transportation Headlines for Monday May 11, 2009…GM Stick to Fuel-Cell Plans as Obama Guts Hydrogen FundsBloombergImagine If People Really Drove the Speed LimitLA StreetsBlogI still believe in public transportationOC MetblogsPort proposed expansion expected to draw a crowd to the Long Beach councilPress TelegramSan Jose and LA Use Technology to Ease Downtown Parking CongestionPublic CEOSan Mar..

Experts call GM bankruptcy ‘almost inevitable’ [w/POLL]…GM, Earnings/FinancialsTo stave off bankruptcy, General Motors must rework its union contracts, drastically cut its capacity, workforce and dealer networks – and convince creditors to take 10 cents on the dollar on $27 billion in unsecured debt. In two months. That’s a herculean task for any company, much less for a monolith the size of The Gene…

Review: 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 goes to Hell and back…just as GM reached the pinnacle of high performance cars, the world economy imploded. The global financial bubble got pierced from multiple sides and sales of cars at every price and performance level vaporized. Fortunately for us, GM is still hanging in there and Chevrolet let us have a few days of quality time with a ZR1 while the opportunity …

GM: Mascoma ethanol process works as promised in laboratory testing…GM: Mascoma ethanol process works as promised in laboratory testing originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 11 May 2009 09:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

2010 Opel Astra Gets “Full Lutz” Skirt-Lift [Spy Photos]…on the GM‘s Delta II architecture, the same as the Chevy Volt. But don’t expect the Astra to come as a plug-in or standard hybrid, at least, not at first. Do expect to see a new 1.4-liter, turbocharged gasoline/petrol engine with various power outputs. Opel will likely be reserving its 2.0-liter engine for an OPC version (or the Astra VRX for Va…

Latest findings says cars more affordable now than they have been since study began in 1979…GMWhile tanking auto sales are bad for automakers, the customers buying cars and trucks are paying less for them than any time in the past 30 years. Comerica Bank’s Auto Affordability Index shows that a vehicle with a $26,000 MSRP takes the average family 21.5 weeks of median income to buy. That’s 1.3 weeks less than in December of 2008, as ince…

 Rumormill: Suzuki to join Marchionne’s Fiat/Chrysler/Opel super-group…forces with Chrysler, Opel, Saab and General Motors Latin America, the Italian auto group is expanding its home base to the United States, Germany, Sweden and South America. So what’s it missing? Japan. The latest rumors out of Automotive News Europe could go a long way towards addressing that omission, as the trade organ is reporting that Fiat …

Fiat’s partnership with Chrysler could bring the Ford Ka to America…partnership with Chrysler could actually allow Ford to bring its small and super efficient Ka city car to the U.S. market. How so?The latest version of Ford’s diminutive Ka shares its basic underpinnings with the Fiat 500, which is one of the first small cars Fiat hopes to sell in the United States through Chrysler‘s under-utilized dealer networ…

Driving the Dodge Circuit, now with video…works for Chrysler‘s ENVI and was project lead on the Dodge Circuit EV, talk about the car. The bumpy roads weren’t quite long and straight enough for our liking, but at least we got to learn a little bit more about Chrysler‘s EV strategy and why the automaker thinks it’s ENVI battery strategy is better than Tesla’s. Having driven both the Circu…

LOOK: The Motorless City…or Chrysler’s; they move instead on Schwinns, BMX’s, and behind some of the 600 horses that pull the town’s quaint Victorian carriages. It’s a place that looks, in some respects, frozen in time. But…

Rumormill: Could the Fiat-Chrysler deal yield a North American Ford Ka?…Chrysler, LLC., Ford, FIAT, Rumormill The 2009 Ford Ka – Click above for a high-res gallery It’s a long shot, but according to The Detroit Free Press, Chrysler‘s deal with Fiat could result in Ford offering the cutesy Ka for sale in North America. As you may recall, Ford co-developed the Ka’s platform with Fiat (it shares its chassis with the 5…

2011 Chrysler 300C Reveals Previously Unseen Clay Rump [Spy Photos]…Chrysler‘s Viability Plan earlier this year revealed the design direction for the 2011 Chrysler 300C. Now, thanks to Chrysler PR, we’ve got a partial view of the new Detroit gangsta-mobile’s rump. Also depicted is a quarter scale clay model just above the head oChrysler‘s Senior VP of Design Ralph Gilles. Seeing as it’s in quarter scale, it doe…

Dodge Pulls Plug On Circuit EV Electric Sports Car? [Over The Back Fence]…month after Chrysler ran a full page ad in our national newspapers and also finalizing a deal with A123 Systems to supply the battery packs, a heavy-handed rumor is coming down the stream that the whole project might be dead in the water causing at least one question to be raised: Was the Dodge Circuit EV ever intended for production or was it j…

Cummins not ready to give up on light duty diesel regardless of Chrysler‘s fate…standing was Chrysler, and even that company pushed back its new Cummins-developed light duty diesel until at least 2011. Mike Levine from PickupTrucks.com spoke with Mark Land, director of public relations at Cummins, about the new light-duty diesel engine. Apparently, the diesel engine maker is very confident that its new engine will get adopt…

Chrysler’s sorry state revealed Bankruptcy court filings reveal the complications the auto business – and just how much trouble Chrysler is in.

GM, Chrysler Polish Dealer Cut List Thousands of GM and Chrysler dealerships could learn their fate within the next few days as auto makers choose which they will cut.

Chrysler Hedges on Dealer Cuts Chrysler has “no active plan” to drop any of its dealers in the U.S., although it is working on “contingencies” to do so as part of its restructuring in bankruptcy court, Vice Chairman Jim Press said.

Nascar Feels Chrysler’s Pain The fall of Chrysler is just the latest setback for Nascar, a once red-hot sports phenomenon.

(Source: TreeHugger)

The mayor of Copenhagen reckons Biking to Work in that city is as commonplace as brushing one’s teeth. But, as was evidenced by Utah’s plan to make cycling fashionable, much of the rest of the western world is well served by awareness-raising events like Bike to Work week. This week! In the US anyway. (In the UK Bike Week is 13 to 21 June and Australia’s Ride to Work Day is 14 October 2009)

But who needs some arbitrary date to get motiviated, huh? Dust off that racer, tourer, MTB or clunker in the garage, dig out the pant’s clips, or just tuck your duds into your socks and get pedalling.

 (Source: Autoblog)

Roger Taillon test drives a new at Vespa at Vespa of Newport Beach in Newport Beach, Calif., Saturday, April 18, 2009. Under the federal stimulus package, taxpayers can deduct sales and excise taxes on the purchase of a new motorcycle or scooter, and get a 10 percent federal tax credit if they buy plug-in bikes. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

“Even before we quote the price, we tell people how much they can get off the bike,” said Jeff Bosco Biafore, a salesman at the San Jose Motorsport Scooter Center in Northern California.

Under the stimulus plan, the same provision that lets taxpayers deduct sales and excise taxes on the purchase of a new car or truck also applies to a motorcycle or scooter. They also can get a 10 percent federal tax credit if they buy plug-in bikes.

Before the federal incentives kicked in Feb. 17, California offered a $1,500 rebate for certain electric scooters, but there were so many applications that funding for the $1.8 million program for alternative fuel vehicles ran out.

Recently, state air quality regulators approved an additional $5 million in grants for plug-in cars and motorcycles.

With a new job that stretched her commute from 10 to 40 miles a day, freelance film and television editor Cindy Parisotto says she is considering an electric scooter to reduce her commuting costs and carbon footprint.

She’s interested in an electric scooter from Vectrix Corp. that has a top speed of 62 mph and a range of at least 35 miles per charge. She would need to charge the bike everyday, but Parisotto says she figures her electricity bill will be lower than what she spends on gas.

The $10,000 bike also comes with a $450 rebate from the company, meaning she could save about $2,000.