Oliver Cuenca of International Railway Journal reports that the battery-powered trains cost 35% less to buy and operate than hydrogen trains. The batteries don’t have to be replaced as often as fuel cells, either, so maintenance costs will be lower. If the trains operate during the daytime, they can be charged at night with the same cheap electricity, just like people …
Mobility data for fairer transport systems. Also, study shows for bikes and bicycling infrastructure, “build it and they will come” is true
27th July 2020 Sarah Wray https://cities-today.com/mobility-data-foundational-for-fairer-transport-systems/Seleta Reynolds, General Manager, Los Angeles Department of Transportation Cities worldwide have been disrupted like never before by COVID-19 – all citizens have been affected but not necessarily equally. In the US, for instance, evidence suggests that non-white communities have been disproportionately impacted by the virus in terms of deaths, job losses, risk of exposure and more. Mayors have vowed to …
The Portland Urban Data Lake (PUDL) pilot will collect, store integrate, and analyze data from a variety of sources to provide a foundation for data-driven decision making
The Portland Urban Data Lake (PUDL) pilot will collect, store integrate, and analyze data from a variety of sources — including the Traffic Safety Sensor Pilot — to provide a foundation for data-driven decision making for the City of Portland, helping to harness the power of the City’s data. Data does not stop at the City of Portland border. The City has …
Top transit systems in the U.S. have seen 70-90% ridership losses and have dramatically scaled back service. If you cut service by 10%, generally ridership has gone down 3-6%
Plus 2020 was primed to be the sixth consecutive year of what Taylor calls a “disturbing trend”: U.S. transit ridership has been in decline since 2014, even as transit agencies have added service on the whole. Much of that new service has come in light-rail extensions and some bus-rapid transit lines usually designed to attract “discretionary riders,” or people who …
Discussion of banning gas-powered vehicles in California and Washington
BY RACHEL BECKER, CalMatters MAY 24, 2019 Mary Nichols, the powerful head of the California Air Resources Board, didn’t even need to explicitly threaten a ban on gas-powered cars last week to get the attention of carmakers. The warning was only in her prepared statements for a workshop with the state Transportation Commission. But the remarks, obtained by Bloomberg, hit headlines and the industry …
Dis-arming traffic enforcement
Berkeley To Become the First US City To De-Cop Traffic Enforcement: But advocates say it’s important we remain vigilant about what replaces it. StreetsBlog, by Kea Wilson, Jul 16, 2020 The California city of Berkeley will become the first in the United States to take police officers out of traffic enforcement and replace them with unarmed employees of a newly formed …
Half of Americans Want Drivers Who Drive More to Pay More: And people who drive big, fuel inefficient cars should pay even more
By Kea Wilson, StreetsBlog, Jul 20, 2020 Nearly half of Americans think it’s time to rethink how we fund our road infrastructure by switching from a federal gas tax — which theoretically rewards drivers for choosing greener cars, but doesn’t always deter excessive driving itself — and replacing it with a tax based on how many miles drivers actually travel, a …
Tires & Brakes Are Significant Sources of Microplastics
July 19th, 2020 by Carolyn Fortuna in Clean Technica Those minuscule particles of plastics produced by car tires and brakes can’t do much damage, right? They’re so, well, tiny, and nearly imperceptible — yet devastating. Did you know that road microplastics produce more than 200,000 tons of minute plastic particles that blow into the oceans every year? Image retrieved from CalRecycle Research titled “Atmospheric Transport …
The Right to Public Space and Dunkirk as a Laboratory for Free Transit
by Gregory Smithsimon, on 10 March 2015 Tags: public space | suburbs | human rights | right to the city | United States https://www.metropolitiques.eu/The-Right-to-Public-Space.html Comment Many of the commonly defended human rights (freedom of expression, of assembly, of information, of movement, etc.) depend on the availability of physical public space. Their absence, especially in the suburbs, routinely hinders the rights of citizens. For this reason, Gregory Smithsimon argues for a formal right to public space. …
VMT research
From SSTI, Summer 2020 Major roads undercut safety benefits of highly accessible places Posted on June 15th, 2020 in Accessibility, News, Outcomes, TDMTags: accessibility, land use, safety, VMT By Chris McCahill In working with transportation agencies across the U.S., our team often faces questions about the role of safety in accessibility analysis. While we know the safety and comfort of streets clearly impacts access for people on foot …