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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)
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Put a fork in it? Obama planning to announce Chrysler bankruptcy tomorrow

April 29, 2009 at 6:35 pm
According to a report by Bloomberg citing the usual unnamed sources, President Obama will announce tomorrow that Chrysler will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while continuing to work on its alliance with Fiat.

Bloomberg‘s source made it clear that the there are still several loose ends and the plan “is not finished yet,” but it will likely involve Chrysler’s strongest assets being bundled and sold to a new entity. In that scenario, Fiat would become a 20% owner of the Auburn Hills-based automaker, the UAW retiree health-care trust would take a 55% percent stake and the government would gobble up the rest. Essentially, it’s the same out-of-court deal initially proposed, but now, with all the benefits (and hurdles) of bankruptcy protection. 

As part of ongoing negotiations, the U.S. Treasury raised its offer to Chrysler’s lenders, offering them $2.25 billion in cash to forgive $6.9 billion in secured debt, two other people familiar with the matter said. The previous offer had been for $2 billion in cash.

One issue remaining is the U.S. government’s effort to combine Chrysler Financial and GMAC LLC, the lending units affiliated with Chrysler and General Motors Corp.

The idea is to ensure that Chrysler has a well-capitalized credit arm, as required by Obama’s automotive task force, said people familiar with the situation.

Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has expressed concern that such a combination would involve her agency guaranteeing its debt, according to two people familiar with her views.

(Source: Bloomberg & Autoblog)

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Averaging 81.5mpg, Ford Fusion Hybrid hypermiles to a record 1445 miles on a single tank of gas

April 29, 2009 at 6:26 pm

(Source:  Autoblog)

You read it right! It is one thousand four hundred and forty five miles from a single tank of gas!   Analyzed from any angle, these numbers are amazing, especially from a Ford vehicle, a brand that is not well associated with thrift fuel consumption in the past.   Though the goal was to clear 1000 miles, the hyper-milers knocked that number and added 445 miles more , beating their own estimates to set a new world record.

 For the high-mileage odyssey, the Fusion hybrid was pushed to an average of 81.5 mpg. Even considering that hypermiling techniques were employed to reach these numbers, we’re quite impressed, as the event took place on city streets and public freeways, not on a closed course. Better still, the entire 69-hour event raised $8,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. You can read the details of how the driving teams managed the 80 mpg in the official press release – and no, they didn’t find a thousand-mile downhill road.

PRESS RELEASE:

FUSION HYBRID AVERAGES 81.5 MPG, SETS WORLD RECORD WITH 1,445 MILES ON SINGLE TANK OF GAS

The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid 1,000 Mile Challenge Car

* Drivers trained in mileage-maximizing techniques achieve 1,445 miles on a single tank of gas in a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid – averaging 81.5 mpg in Washington, D.C. – and set world record for gasoline-powered, midsize sedan
* The Fusion Hybrid 1,000-Mile Challenge proves that fuel-efficient driving techniques can nearly double a vehicle’s EPA-rated fuel economy
* The demonstration of the Fusion Hybrid’s ultra high-mileage potential also raised more than $8,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2009 – Drivers trained in mileage-maximizing techniques such as smooth acceleration and coasting to red lights were able to get an extraordinary 1,445.7 miles out of a single tank of gas during a fund-raising effort in Washington, D.C. that concluded today. They did it by averaging 81.5 miles per gallon in an off-the-showroom floor, non-modified 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, the most fuel-efficient midsize car in North America – nearly doubling its U.S. certified mileage.

The Fusion Hybrid 1,000-Mile Challenge started at 8:15 a.m. EDT on Saturday, April 25, from Mount Vernon, Va., and ended this morning at 5:37 a.m. on George Washington Parkway in Washington, D.C. After more than 69 continuous hours of driving, the Fusion Hybrid finally depleted its tank and came to a stop with an odometer reading of 1,445.7 miles – setting a world record for gasoline-powered, midsize sedan.

The challenge team, which included NASCAR star Carl Edwards, high mileage trailblazer Wayne Gerdes and several Ford Motor Company engineers, raised more than $8,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) by exceeding the goal of 1,000 miles on a single tank of gas. The Fusion Hybrid’s official estimated range is approximately 700 miles per tank.

“Not only does this demonstrate the Fusion Hybrid’s fuel efficiency, it also shows that driving technique is one of the keys to maximizing its potential,” said Nancy Gioia, director, Ford Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Vehicle Programs. “The fact that we were able raise much needed funds for JDRF while raising the bar on fuel efficient driving performance made the effort doubly worthwhile.”

Maximizing mileage
A team of seven drivers prepared for the challenge by learning a few mileage-maximizing techniques, most of which can be used in any vehicle to improve fuel economy, but are especially useful in the Fusion Hybrid where the driver can take advantage of pure electric energy at speeds below 47 mph.

CleanMPG.com founder Wayne Gerdes, an engineer from Illinois who coined the term “hypermiling” to describe the mileage-maximizing techniques, provided the pointers. They include:

* Slowing down and maintaining even throttle pressure;
* Gradually accelerating and smoothly braking;
* Maintaining a safe distance between vehicles and anticipating traffic conditions;
* Coasting up to red lights and stop signs to avoid fuel waste and brake wear;
* Minimize use of heater and air conditioning to reduce the load on the engine;
* Close windows at high speeds to reduce aerodynamic drag;
* Applying the “Pulse and Glide” technique while maintaining the flow of traffic;
* Minimize excessive engine workload by using the vehicle’s kinetic forward motion to climb hills, and use downhill momentum to build speed; and
* Avoiding bumps and potholes that can reduce momentum

“You become very aware of your driving because you’re constantly looking for opportunities to maximize mileage, and a more aware driver is a safer driver, too,” said Gil Portalatin, Ford hybrid applications manager.

In addition, it is important for Fusion Hybrid drivers to manage the battery system’s state of charge through the use of regenerative braking and coasting, and balancing the use of the electric motor and gas engine in city driving to avoid wasting fuel.

Fusion Hybrid drivers also can stay more connected to the hybrid driving experience with Ford’s SmartGaugeTM with EcoGuide, a unique instrument cluster that helps coach drivers on how to optimize performance of their hybrid.

The Challenge
The Fusion Hybrid 1,000-Mile Challenge team took turns driving several routes in and around the national capital over the course of approximately three days and nights. The route involved elevation changes, and ranged from the relatively open George Washington Parkway to a 3-mile stretch in the heart of the city that is clogged with roughly 30 traffic signals.

“The Fusion Hybrid works brilliantly,” Gerdes said. “When you don’t need acceleration power while driving around town, the gas engine shuts down seamlessly. There’s not another hybrid drivetrain in the world that does that as effectively. The Fusion engineering team really knocked it out of the park.”

Ford NASCAR star Carl Edwards took time away from the high speed world of professional car racing to contribute to the Fusion Hybrid team’s success in D.C.

“It was exciting to be an active part in this challenge. The fact that it will help spread the word about the Fusion Hybrid’s great mileage, and help out a great charity, makes it even more special,” said Edwards, whose ’99’ team has used fuel-saving techniques to win races. “There’s no question that the Fusion Hybrid will help consumers save fuel when they drive it. Having driven the car, I feel strongly about how great it is – so strong that I’ve purchased one myself.“

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Scoopful of GM News – April 29, 2009: Idling in US & thriving in Mexico; Danger to nation; Le Miserable; Dealer deals; Ethanol love; Camaro Crap-out; 150mpg?; Volt; Saturn stories; Pontiac killer?; Looming pay cuts

April 29, 2009 at 5:50 pm

REPORT: Largest American Axle plant to idle as work shifts to Mexico…choking GM‘s demand for American Axle components (accounting for 74% of the floundering supplier’s sales). Founded in 1994, American Axle will start moving the facility’s production to Guanajuato, Mexico over the summer. More than 500 of the 700 workers at the Detroit complex will be laid off indefinitely, and only 232 of the company’s most seni…

DetNews columnist warns of the dangers of nationalizing GM…GM, UAW/UnionsDetroit News columnist Daniel Howes has penned a commentary on what he believes the “mind-numbing” future could be if the White House and the United Auto Workers end up with majority control of General Motors.Howes fears that a government-and-UAW-controlled boardroom would end up an echo chamber, with both parties worried mainly ab…

Michigan Screws Up Laid-Off GM Factory Worker Unemployment, Forces Payback [Carpocalypse]…Unemployed former GM factory worker Greg Eddy has his share of problems, but thanks to Michigan’s inability to calculate unemployment benefits, he’s now also getting less money and a whopping $2,400 bill. After Eddy lost his job with GM — twice — he decided to go on unemployment while heading back to school at ITT for a degree in communications….

REPORT: GM won’t pay dealers for franchises, will buy back parts, vehicles…GMIn a special broadcast to dealers yesterday, General Motors’ sales chief, Mark LaNeve, explained that the automaker would buy back unsold new vehicles and parts from dealerships slated to be phased out by the end of 2010, but GM wouldn’t pay off dealers for their franchises.As reported earlier this week, GM plans to cut it U.S. dealerships by …

GM makes the case for testing E15 ethanol blend…GM has long been a proponent of using high-level ethanol blend, E85, in motor vehicles. But, with all of the talk of putting E15 or E20 (gasoline with 15 or 20 percent ethanol blended in) into the national supply – see these earlier posts about the EPA, the Minnesota Ag Department, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Underwriters Laboratories…

First Camaro Crap-Out Comes 40 Miles From Dealership [Chevy Camaro]Maybe worse than the first Camaro wreck is the first Chevy Camaro breakdown. This “p**sy magnet” Bumblebee-yellow Camaro lost all electrical power and coasted to a stop with a scant 40 miles on the odometer. The ecstatic new owner, a forum fan-girl by the name of BUMLB, was crushed when the car conked-out cruising through a parking lot at a leisure…

AFS Trinity brings “150 mpg” plug-in hybrids to Capitol Hill for some sweet stimulus cash…an old GM plant and build “hundreds of thousands of plug-in hybrids” that could be sold for just $8,000 more than the non-hybrid versions. Gallery: AFS Trinity Cross Country Trip with XH-150[Source: NYT]Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Legislation and PolicyAFS Trinity brings “150 mpg” plug-in hybrids to Capitol Hill for s…

Chevy Volt: First Drive? [Vaporware]We’d love to drive the Chevy Volt test mule like Wired and others, but we’re pretty sure the Volt PR team is afraid of us. As well they should be. We actually have readers. [Wired]

Saturn’s death could hurt GM CAFE numbers…part of GM. One of the primary reasons that Saturn is being disposed of is poor sales. There is, however, one exception to that sales record: hybrids. So far, Saturn has accounted for about a quarter of GM‘s sales of hybrids. Saturn also had the best CAFE numbers of any GM division, thanks to the absence of any full-size body-on-frame vehicles o…

Killing Saturn Kills 25% Of GM Hybrids [Carpocalypse]…of GM hybrids. Damned if they do… [AutoNews via AutomobileMag]

The Cause of Pontiac’s Demise for $5,000! [Nice Price Or Crack Pipe]…of the GM H-body cars began with the justifiably maligned Chevrolet Vega which begat the Monza, which begat the Pontiac Astre, which begat the Pontiac Sunbird. Several body styles were offered on the 97.5 inch wheelbase, including the Ferrari 365 GTC/4- homage hatchback, a two-door wagon, and a notchback coupe. Today’s candidate hails from the n…

GM Salaried Workers to See Pay CutGeneral Motors confirmed Wednesday it will force some salaried workers to take up to three months off with partial pay as part of an effort to reduce costs during its expected summer shutdown of its car-making plants.
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Hollywood-esque presentation of Los Angeles traffic – Awesome image gallery captures infamous rush-hour traffic buzz

April 29, 2009 at 10:59 am

(Source: Good Magazine)

The French writer and philosopher Jean Baudrillard once wrote of the freeways of Los Angeles as being “ideally suited to the only truly profound pleasure, that of keeping on the move.” Indeed, nowhere is the pleasure of keeping on the move more profound than in a city whose freeways rarely offer it.

Fortunately, there is the architecture photographer Benny Chan, whose Traffic! series depicts the scale of overcrowded lanes of rush hour traffic from high overhead. Shot over a few years during various helicopter trips, the photographs now stand eight feet high and six feet wide, and convey, quite effectively, the enormity of the problem—as well as the need to get things moving.

Traffic! will show at the Pasadena Museum of California from May 31 through September 20.   Visit the “Good” magazine article to see other such awesome images. 

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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.

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Mileage Tax Is Alive and Well and Living in Congress

April 28, 2009 at 11:50 pm

(Source: The Infrastructurist)

Just two months ago, the idea of taxing motorists on the basis of how many miles they drive seemed to be dead as a doornail. After being floated by the new transportation secretary as a way to fund our highways, his boss–the guy everyone calls “Mr President”–shot it down remorselessly.

Usually, when a Mr President shoots something down, it stays dead. [Insert own Dick Cheney hunting joke here.] But not in this case. Today, James Oberstar, the head of the House transportation committee, said he wants a mileage tax. And not only does he want one, he wants it to happen in as little as two years — not the decade or more that many advocates have been talking about.

The Associated Press reports:

Oberstar said he believes the technology exists to implement a mileage tax. He said he sees no point in waiting years for the results of pilot programs since such a tax system is inevitable as federal gasoline tax revenues decline.

“Why do we need a pilot program? Why don’t we just phase it in?” said Oberstar, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. Oberstar is drafting a six-year transportation bill to fund highway and transit programs that is expected to total around a half trillion dollars.

Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., […] said public acceptance, not technology, is the main obstacle to a mileage-based tax. […]

Oberstar shrugged off that concern.

“I’m at a point of impatience with more studies,” Oberstar said. He suggested that Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the highways and transit subcommittee, set up a meeting of transportation experts and members of Congress to figure out how it could be done.

The tax would entail equipping vehicles with GPS technology to determine how many miles a car has been driven and whether on interstate highways or secondary roads. The devices would also calculate the amount of tax owed.

Gas tax revenues — the primary source of federal funding for highway programs — have dropped dramatically in the last two years, first because gas prices were high and later because of the economic downturn. They are forecast to continue going down as drivers switch to fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicles.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Scoopful of GM News – April 28, 2009: European suitors; Billion-dollar baby; Cadillac CTS; 7 Pontiac Killers; Saab still alive?; Pontiac Fiero in top 10 questioned; Keep Opel & Sell Vauxhall?; Police for GM?; Effect on Marketing efforts; Toyota’s Supplier Jitters; Pontiac models morph into..?

April 28, 2009 at 7:13 pm

Fiat and Magna emerge as serious bidders for Opel…GM is said to favor a single bidder, which may improve Fiat’s chances somewhat. Union officials and policymakers in Germany, on the other hand, have voiced concerns over the Italian automaker’s plans, saying they welcome the alternative plan from Magna. It should be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming weeks.[Source: Automotiv…

Deal Would Combine Financing Arms Auto lenders Chrysler Financial and GMAC would be combined under a proposed Chrysler restructuring plan.

GM Offers U.S. a Majority Stake  GM outlined a new turnaround plan that would leave the U.S. government controlling the auto maker, as it set up a showdown with bondholders that could determine whether the troubled American icon lands in bankruptcy court.

Statement from GM Bondholder Committee’s Advisers Here is the statement from advisers to ad hoc committee of GM bondholders:

Billion-Dollar Baby: We Drive the Chevrolet Volt…wheel of GM‘s last best hope: the electric Chevy Volt.

REPORT: Cadillac to base new sub-CTS on front-drive Epsilon II platform…gma-based predecessor, the Escalade would get a Lambda-based replacement and the Converj would come to market. Cadillac was also tipped to launch a new small sedan to slot in below the CTS using the new rear-drive Alpha platform, plus a new larger sedan to replace the aging DTS and STS models. However while the CTS derivatives, the new SRX, Esca…
Seven Cars That Killed Pontiac [Carpocalypse]
…gment. It’s headline feature — the trick-sliding sky-view sunroof was pretty neat, but way too expensive and it made the car something of a one-trick pony. In base, four-cylinder form, it clogs the lots of airport rental companies and never really had the stuff to go head-to-head with competitors. And don’t even get us started on the int…
2010 Saab 9-5 Spotted Tuning, Testing On The ‘Ring [Spy Photos]
…being on GM‘s auction block. [WCF]
NPR Questions Jalopnik‘s Inclusion Of Pontiac Fiero In Top Ten List [Carpocalypse]
Our Pontiac top ten list made it into Kai Ryssdal’s final note on yesterday’s NPR Marketplace. Ryssdal expressed shock at the Fiero’s inclusion. A lesson: never underestimate the staggering awesomeness of a mid-engined two-door. [NPR]
Part and Parcel: GM could sell all of Opel, keep Vauxhall?
…GM, Opel, VauxhallEmerging reports concerning the future of General Motors’ European assets casts some new light on the role which the American automaker could take with Opel and Vauxhall. The ownership and investment in Adam Opel GmbH has been a topic of much discussion recently, with General Motors seeking local government support, considering…
LAPD To Buy Chevy-Badged Holden Commodore Police Cars? [Police Cars]
…lost by GM killing Pontiac. A re-badged Commodore police car? Sweet. This after the folks at Melbourne’s National Safety Agency put together the above LAPD-liveried Chevy-badged Commodore for the 2009 APCO Australasia Conference & Exhibition last month in Sydney. The expectation is the LAPD would be the first police force to buy the new …
AdAge provides a glimpse at how GM’s financial crisis is affecting its marketing efforts
…GM, Earnings/FinancialsThe “television upfront” is the term used when networks sell advertising time for the coming season’s shows. An advertiser will commit to buying a particular amount of commercial time and then pay much closer to the show’s airing in the fall. With everyone still unsure of whether GM and Chrysler will end up in bankruptcy, …
Carnival Sinks 14% as Glaxo, GM Jump – Wall Street Journal
…GM JumpWall Street JournalBy ROB CURRAN NEW YORK — Stocks fell as a swine-flu scare weighed on transportation and hospitality shares and as the technology sector snapped its winning streak. Still, the resilience of the market in the face of health and bank-solvency-test fears …
REPORT: Toyota “war room” keeps tabs on possible supplier interruptions, stockpiled parts
…GM, Toyota, Earnings/FinancialsFearing that a couple dozen of its U.S. suppliers could shut down production, Toyota has established a “war room” to monitor suppliers and has begun to warehouse assembly components. While the move marks a departure from the automaker’s “just in time” production philosophy, a mantra that associates stockpiling with…
Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 4.27.09
…GM kills Pontiac Rumors from late last week have come home to roost, and as part of its restructuring efforts, General Motors has just announced that Pontiac will be “phased out by the end of 2010.” Top 10 Greatest Pontiacs Of All TimeWith Pontiac’s death official, we decided it was only appropriate to take a look back …
GM ends Saturn brand in restructuring; PHEV Vue, we hardly knew ye
…Plan that GM released today, GM has moved up the “resolution” of three brands – Saturn, Saab and Hummer – to the end of 2009. That means that some of the hybrids that we were promised – including the 2010 Saturn Vue 2-mode hybrid and the plug-in Vue hybrid – aren’t headed for your local dealership any time soon. GM once hinted that the PHEV Vue …
Should The Pontiac G8 GXP Become The Chevy Camaro SS Sedan? [Carpocalypse]
…important of GM‘s list of stakeholders at the moment and there’s little desire on the part of the administration, the biggest of the new stakeholders, for building a high-horsepower super-sedan. Which is a shame. So although it’ll never happen, even with Pontiac now dead, that won’t stop us from dreaming high-horsepower Corvette-engined dreams f…
Pontiac Vibe to be replaced with another shared Toyota model?
…happen to GM‘s joint venture agreement with Toyota to produce models at the New United Motor Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) facility in California. The Pontiac Vibe is currently produced there along with the Toyota Matrix, its platform mate. GM has stated that it’s already negotiating with Toyota to produce a new model at NUMMI that would be s…

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Bernie’s Transportation Communications Newsletter – April 28, 2009

April 28, 2009 at 6:08 pm

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 – ISSN 1529-1057

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Nominee Aneesh Chopra to Moderate CTO Roundtable at ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting & Exposition 

President Obama’s nominee for U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Virginia’s Secretary of Technology, Aneesh Chopra, will moderate the CTO Roundtable at ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting & Exposition from 3:30 p.m.-5 p.m. on Monday, June 1 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.  Offered for the first time at an ITS America Annual Meeting, the CTO Roundtable will bring together the technology experts of several organizations to present their vision for a technology-savvy organization and offer insights that will help shape and implement ITS solutions in the transportation arena. Discounted registration rates are available through April 30.  For more information and to register, go to http://www.itsa.org/annualmeeting.html.

ELECTRONIC TOLLING

1) All-Electronic North Texas Tollway Authority Toll Booth System Delayed

Link to AP story:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6395867.html

GPS / NAVIGATION

2) Obama Lifts Up GPS in Speech to US Scientists

Link to story in Inside GNSS:

http://www.insidegnss.com/node/1475

OTHER

3) New Google Search Tool Aimed at Making Sense of Public Data

Link to story in The Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/28/AR2009042802280.html

ROADWAYS

4) Road Safety Interview: Sweden’s Vision Zero

Link to interview on Allianz Knowledge:

http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/safety_health/road_safety/road_safety_vision_zero/article629.html

SAFETY / SECURITY

5) New York MTA a Tech Wreck

Lawsuit says high-tech security project can’t be completed.

Link to story in the New York Post:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04282009/news/regionalnews/mta_a_tech_wreck_166543.htm

6) Microsoft Launches Social Media Tool

Emergency managers could use Vine to communicate with citizens.

Link to story in Government Technology:

http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/648644

TELEMATICS

7) Mercedes’ OnStar Clone Tries Out Ads

Link to story in PC Magazine:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346045,00.asp

TRANSIT

8) TransLink Fare Cards Pass BART Tests

Link to story in the San Francisco Chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/27/BAPV17A4OD.DTL

9) Contactless Fare Collection Systems Moving Forward

Link to story in ContactlessNews:

http://www.contactlessnews.com/2009/04/27/contactless-fare-collection-systems-moving-forward

Link to news release from the Smart Card Alliance:

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/The-Smart-Card-Alliance-980102.html

10) Transit Alerts that Work

Link to story and video on WNYW-TV:

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/good_day_ny/090427_transit_alerts_best_of

News Releases

1) OnStar Shines for GM, as Auto Telematics Becomes Mainstream

2) Celebrate National Train Day Online with Streaming Video Programming Featuring the History of American Passenger Rail Service and the California Zephyr

3) Navteq Unveils a New Look and Enhancements for Navteq Traffic.com

4) New Kentucky Traffic Safety Web Site Launched

Upcoming Events

The Great West Truck Show – June 25-27 – Las Vegas

http://www.greatwesttruckshow.com/

Today in Transportation History

1789 **220th anniversary** – The mutiny on the HMAV Bounty took place.

http://www.fatefulvoyage.com/

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

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday. 

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TCN archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

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

© 2009 Bernie Wagenblast

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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is Not Alone in its Financial Struggles

April 28, 2009 at 5:02 pm

(Source:  The Brookings Institute)

Transit agencies across the US are facing service cutbacks and fare increases in order to close their budget gaps. The largest, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is no exception. In its 2009 budget, the agency proposes painful service cutbacks and fare increases to help cover a projected deficit of around $1.5 billion. Meanwhile, the state senate failed to unite around a rescue plan last week. And while Washington did provide $8.4 billion in stimulus funds for transit this year (with over $1 billion allocated to the MTA), this money can be spent only on capital improvement projects and not to finance gaps in day-to-day operations.

An op-ed by the Brookings Institution’s Robert Puentes and Emilia Istrate offers recommendations for closing the MTA’s budget gap. They recommend raising state support to national levels and urge the federal government to step aside and empower metropolitan agencies to spend their federal money in ways that best meet their own needs, such as operating expenses. Over the long term, some form of federal competitive funding for operating assistance also might provide the right incentive – or reward – to states and localities to commit to funding transit.

Extract from the op-ed:

Why the disconnect?

The response in Washington is predictably stubborn: Recovery money cannot be used for operating expenses because operating is not a federal role.

You would think that the pressure of this policy would lead to transit agencies that are self-sufficient – where passenger fares pay the full costs of operating the system. 

But large metropolitan transit agencies generally “recover” only about one-third of their costs from subway riders and about one-quarter from bus passengers. The MTA has the highest cost-recovery ratio among all subway operators – its fares pay for two-thirds of operating costs. 

For large bus systems, the MTA’s New York City Transit ranks second only to New Jersey‘s in terms of the share of operating costs paid for by riders. The Long Island Rail Road is the seventh among the 21 commuter rail systems in the country, recovering from fares close to half of its operating costs.

So what should be done to close the MTA’s budget gap?

For one thing, lawmakers in Albany need to recognize that the state contributes a lower proportion of the MTA’s budget from its general revenue than other states provide to their transit agencies from general revenue. In New York, about 4 percent of all the MTA operating costs are covered by the state budget; in other states, transit agencies are getting closer to 6 percent.

Raising state general fund support to national levels would be a good place to start helping the MTA. 

Another idea is to get Washington to help. Not in doling out more money, but in stepping aside and empowering metropolitan agencies to spend their federal money in ways that best meet their own needs.

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