Lately, the (English-speaking) press has been whining about vandalism and theft of bicycles in the highly successful Velib bike rental program in Paris: But this latest French utopia has met a prosaic reality: Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in Eastern Europe and northern Africa. [...]
Archive for October, 2009
Velib Cost-Effectiveness
Posted in bicycling on October 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Berkeley’s $10 Million Quiet Zone
Posted in transit, tagged FRA, quiet zone on October 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
How much would you pay for a little peace and quiet at night? For residents in the western part of Berkeley (CA), the answer might be 10 million dollars. That is how much it will cost to reconfigure four minor at-grade rail crossings to comply with the FRA’s Quiet Zone rules. Each year, several hundred [...]
Not Very SMART, part 2
Posted in transit, tagged consultant mafia, SMART on October 27, 2009 | 2 Comments »
As reported earlier (Not Very Smart), SMART has decided against purchasing modern off-the-shelf trainsets. Instead, the inexperienced SMART staff will oversee contractors to design a new train from scratch. A San Francisco firm has been selected to write the specifications and design requirements for the trains, tracks and stations for the Sonoma-Marin commute rail system. [...]
Half of all Britains Injured by their Biscuits
Posted in risk, tagged fearmongering on October 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The fearmongers are now going after that very British tradition: biscuits and tea! An estimated 25 million adults have been injured while eating during a tea or coffee break – with at least 500 landing themselves in hospital, the survey revealed. The custard cream biscuit was found to be the worse offender to innocent drinkers. [...]
California’s Cash for Clunkers Program
Posted in automotive on October 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The recently concluded Car Allowable Rebate Program (or Cash for Clunkers) has gotten a lot of press lately. It subsidized, up to $4500, purchase of new car, provided it met rather minimal fuel economy standards. Less well known is California’s variation on this program, called CAP (Consumer Assistance Program). Their website slogan, Drive Healthy for [...]
Moving Bike Lanes out of the Gutter
Posted in bicycling, tagged bike lane, New York on October 23, 2009 | 11 Comments »
The Google Streetview below is Brokaw Rd, in San Jose. It is a fairly typical high-speed arterial in San Jose. It crosses four freeways, and the official speed limit is 45mph (with predominant speeds considerably higher). Though it has Class II bike lanes, there is just a trickle of bike traffic. Silicon Valley has one [...]
Hold Onto Your Seats – FRA Designing New Train Control System
Posted in transit, tagged ATCS on October 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Remember attempts by the FAA to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system? Among engineers and laypeople, failures in that megaproject became a national punchline. Now history may repeat (in a way) as the technologically-backwards FRA struggles to implement a nationwide train control system. Called PTC (Positive Train Control), it was mandated by Congress following [...]
California’s Bike Helmet Fearmongering Campaign
Posted in bicycling, tagged fearmongering, helmets on October 19, 2009 | 10 Comments »
On billboards, buses, and bus stops, Californians have been inundated with fear-mongering advertisements, like the one shown below. They come from the First-Five which collects 50-cent per pack of cigarettes to fund various child welfare programs. Children wearing bike helmets are featured prominently in the billboards. Rather than promote cycling as a healthy activity for [...]
Robert Moses Resurrected
Posted in transit, tagged money pit, tunnel on October 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Who would have thought that 1950′s-style highway planning would be back — only this time in the form of 224 mph high-speed trains? Draw two points on a map, a line in between, and never mind what neighborhoods are in the way of progress: State officials looking to shoot 220-mph bullet trains through densely populated [...]
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Posted in transit, tagged CHSRA, money pit, San Jose on October 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dear San Jose: When critics lampoon your plans for Diridon Station as a giant money pit, it was meant as a joke — not a design requirement. The alternative routes include several ideas submitted by the San Jose transportation department, including an aerial or underground line that would thread the Highway 87 and Interstate 280 [...]
