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Help Spread the Green Word
If you're an avid bicyclist, here's an opportunity to tell others about the health, environmental and financial advantages of pedal-powered transportation. Bike Walk Twin Cities is seeking volunteers to staff its booth at the Living Green Expo at the State Fairgrounds this coming weekend, May 5-6.
For a three-hour shift, you'll get a t-shirt and free admission to the expo, which will feature a bike rodeo, fashion show, entertainment, cooking demonstrations, workshops and exhibits on sustainable measures such as Minnesota-grown food and "zero-waste" recycling.
Bike Walk volunteer shift times are Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. If you're interested, contact Mee Cheng at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 651-789-1408.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Bicycles
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Which Bus to School: Yellow or White?
Three years ago, the Minneapolis public schools and Metro Transit teamed up to provide 1,500 students with free unlimited bus passes over a 3-1/2-week summer school session. Nearly everyone pronounced the experiment a great success, not just in getting kids to the classroom but also in opening up the Twin Cities' rich cultural resources to poor students who otherwise couldn't reach them.
The passes saved the school district money over providing single-ride tokens or putting yellow buses on the street, and it motivated students to stay in school in order to keep the passes. No misbehavior was linked to the enhanced teenage mobility.
Now, according to the Star Tribune, the Minneapolis schools are planning to give 4,900 high schoolers bus passes over the next two years. Officials are touting the program as a way to give students more flexibility in their schedules, and to take away missing the bus as an excuse for skipping school. While riding public transit to school may be unfamiliar to most Minnesotans, it's been done for years in cities like Denver and New York.
As I opined in 2009, wringing more use and efficiency out of the public transit system in the service of public education makes great sense. Some worry, however, about the safety of students on city buses. They shouldn't. Transit security has been beefed up, and transit crime is down 45 percent in four years. For many, the bus will be less dangerous than walking to school. And Metro Transit says high school and college students already take 10 million annual trips by city bus.
School buses running alongside city buses represent just the kind of wasteful government redundancy that real fiscal conservatives should be concerned with. With cost savings, wider travel options for students and increased leverage over would-be truants, this is a winning strategy that should easily overcome the objections of nay-sayers.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: K-12 education Education Funding Public Transportation Busing
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Give ‘em a Brake
I once saw a study purporting that journalists have one of lowest life expectancies among all the occupations. I guess that makes me a survivor, about to collect my first Social Security retirement payment. But despite the stress of daily deadlines—or every minute in the brave new Internet newspaper world—and the all-too-common assassination of reporters in many countries, I never considered my career as an ink-stained wretch particularly dangerous.
And my job doesn't hold a candle for valor compared to that of highway construction and maintenance workers. These stalwarts of our transportation system not only get something less than respect from drivers frustrated by lane closures, they face severe risks when vehicles hurtle into their workplace.
In a new nationwide survey of nearly 400 road contractors, more than two-thirds reported crashes into their work zones in the previous year. Eighteen percent had at least one worker killed, and another 28 percent reported injuries to workers. Federal statistics show 576 highway work zone fatalities and 37,000 injuries in 2010, the most recent year calculated. Workers are more likely to suffer injury or death in these crashes than the occupants of the cars that hit them, and costly project delays often result.
This grisly toll is actually a great improvement over 2002, when a record 1,186 work zone deaths were recorded. But even one senseless death is one too many. That's why the Minnesota Department of Transportation and at least 36 other state highway agencies are observing National Work Zone Awareness Week April 23-27. MnDOT, with more than 300 construction projects around the state this year costing more than $918 million, offers tips for work zone safety that boil down to staying alert, patient and courteous behind the wheel.
"It's critical for drivers to slow down, look for changes in traffic patterns and watch for the men and women who are working to improve our nation's highways and bridges," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. See the the federal side of the campaign, called "Don't Barrel Through Work Zones! Drive Smart to Arrive Alive," for more information.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: MN/DOT Roads & Highways Road Safety
Electric Cars, Pro and Con
Electric vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan LEAF are getting big boosts from many levels of government at this time of public concern over rising prices of gasoline. These state-of-the-art cars need never visit a liquid fuel pump, but their power has to come from somewhere.
So the city of St. Paul and the state of Minnesota are busy tapping federal grants to build nearly 100 charging stations in busy locales. Mayor Chris Coleman opened two that run on solar power last week in St. Paul's Como Park, saying they "not only perform great, but they look great as well."
Meanwhile, the federal government is offering $7,500 tax credits on the purchase of a $39,000 Volt, a $35,000 LEAF or similar Ford, Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota models now entering the market. Drivers can recoup more of those outlays with the lower costs of running on electricity rather than petroleum.
Coleman thinks electric vehicles are the wave of the future, and he may be right. I've suggested the same thing, although at least two caveats apply:
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Drivers of all-electric cars pay no road-user fees through fuel taxes. This is the money that builds and maintains roads and bridges ranging from Interstate highways to a signficant percentage of county roads and city streets. There's no mechanism to collect a fair share of that cost burden from electric drivers now, and little prospect of such in the foreseeable future. Many technical, enforcement and privacy issues stand in the way of plans to levy mileage fees regardless of motive power.
(Interestingly, this isn't a problem with the growth of compressed natural gas trucks for commercial uses. This abundant fuel costs at least one-third less than the same energy from gasoline or diesel, and is subject to an equivalent fuel tax rate.)
- Don't assume that electric vehicles are less polluting than those that run on internal combustion. A new report from the environmentally-minded Union of Concerned Scientists notes that the ability of electric cars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions depends largely on where they get the juice from.
St. Paul's new solar-powered charging stations pass that test with flying colors, but at a cost of $35,000 apiece they are many times more expensive than facilities that take electricity from the grid. And that's the rub in Minnesota and most of the Midwest. Our area is powered more by dirty-burning coal than the rest of the country, reducing the environmental benefit of a Minnesota-based LEAF to the equivalent of a gas-fueled vehicle rated at 31 to 40 miles per gallon, according to the report. That's worse than most gas-electric hybrids and comparable to many gas-only compacts selling for as much as $20,000 less.
This imbalance may recede in the future as coal-fired power plants switch to cleaner-burning natural gas. But the dirtiest electric-grid regions in the United States still generate 2-1/2 to 3 times more global-warming emissions than the cleanest regions. So drivers on the east and west coasts can claim environmental virtue when they buy an electric car. In Minnesota, not so much yet.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Energy Minneapolis / St Paul Automobiles
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Progress on Our Doorstep: A Nicer Way to Ride!
The light rail construction on University Avenue has been seen by many to be a great frustration. There are fewer lanes for cars, more noise and pollution, and limited street side parking for businesses. But all of this construction will have many great benefits for the cities, in fact, we keep seeing more every day.
Take, for example, the newly installed NiceRide MN station at Raymond and Ellis Avenues. This station, just two blocks north of University Ave., and only three from the front door of the MN2020 headquarters, extends the transit options of commuters and recreational cyclists alike. As the old saying goes, “if you build it, they will come.” NiceRide opened for its third season this year in the first week of April and they have already seen widespread usage. In a recent twitter post NiceRide MN reported having almost 3000 rentals their first week.
This is great news for the twin cities. Bicycle sharing programs have many benefits for riders and the community. By making bicycles more accessible, people have more opportunities for exercise, a great way of improving one’s health. Regular exercise can help stop obesity and reduce the risk of heart disease, and these are only two possible health benefits from bicycling. Equally exciting is the possibility of reducing one’s carbon footprint by taking two wheels to work instead of four. Commuting by bicycle reduces the number of cars on the road, easing traffic congestion and parking troubles.
Indeed the reasons for bicycling in the twin cities seem to grow every year. Between 2007 and 2011, according to the Minneapolis Public Works Department, the number of bicyclists counted in their annual report has increased 47 percent. And for good reason: Minneapolis was recently ranked as America’s most bike-friendly city by Bicycling Magazine. The Twin Cities currently have 123 miles of bikeways, 84 of which are off street bicycle paths. This makes getting to work, and going for a fun ride, easier. Not only this, but according to census data, Minneapolis has the second highest number of bicycle commuters in the nation. Truly, the twin cities are becoming bicycle friendly.
So if the construction on University Avenue is getting you down, just remember that it is part of a concerted effort on the part of politicians and private industries alike to make the Twin Cities a nicer, and greener, place to live. This is progress on our doorstep.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Bicycles Central Corridor
Smart Idea: Bicycling Dummies
As bicycle commuting grows market share—up 50 percent in the last decade in the United States—so does its rate of fatalities and serious injuries in crashes. This should surprise no one; anybody using the streets and roads, on foot, two wheels or behind the wheel, faces a significant casualty risk.
Until lately, however, there's been little serious study of how to reduce the harm to bikers when they get knocked to the pavement. Now students at Carleton University and Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada, have developed the world's first crash-test dummy specifically for bicycling. They recently sent it over the handlebars at about 15 miles per hour to measure the impact on its helmeted skull and neck. Here's the video.
Automobile crash dummies—one kind for frontal collisions, another for side impact—don't work for bicycle crash tests, the students say. Next year's class plans to build a different biking dummy for experiments with injuries to the rest of the body.
This is simply a class project for undergraduates in mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering. With any luck, it could lead to more scientific research on safer bicycling.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Bicycles Community Safety Road Safety
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Help Plan Bus Service to Light Rail Links
When the Central Corridor light rail trains begin running between the Minneapolis and St. Paul downtowns in 2014, as many as 40 percent of riders are expected to transfer from buses. But current schedules on as many as 23 different bus routes probably won't maximize efficiency and user-friendliness of the new multimodal transit system.
That's why Metro Transit has launched a formal study of bus service alternatives to meet needs in the Central Corridor area over the short and long terms. The process will consider development plans in the corridor as well as input from district councils in Minneapolis and St. Paul and individual respondents to this short online survey.
If you use transit now in the study area—generally the western two-thirds of St. Paul and the southeastern quarter of Minneapolis—this is your best chance to get bus connections that work for you.
Already, one-third of Metro Transit rides are taken in the study area, the agency says. The comfort and convenience of light rail plus denser residential and job development it will spur are likely to increase that percentage. To learn more about the study, visit Metrotransit.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Public Transportation Busing Central Corridor
High Gas Prices
We recently returned from a cruise in Australia and New Zealand. After returning one of the things that caught our attention was the uproar over high gasoline prices. It is easy to understand the concern over increasing fuel prices. Most of us use gasoline, and the majority of products are transported via truck. At the same time, we just came from two countries where fuel prices were at least 50 percent higher than here.
Australia and New Zealand are not the exception since our fuel prices are among the lowest in the world. Here are gas per gallon prices reported by Kiplinger in March 31, 2011:
| Canada | $5.56 |
| France | $8.29 |
| Saudi Arabia | $0.61 |
| Iran | $1.44 |
| China | $4.54 |
| Japan | $6.62 |
| Australia | $5.41 |
Besides the world crude oil prices there are many factors that impact prices at the pump, but taxes or government subsidies are a major reason for the price differences between countries. In Minnesota about $0.90 goes to State and Federal taxes while in New Zealand and Australia it is more than twice that amount approaching $2.00 per gallon. On the other hand, the Saudi Arabian and Iranian governments provide subsidies to keep prices low. Why do countries impose higher taxes on gasoline and other fuels? There are multiple reasons but the main ones are:
- Provide funds for their transportation infrastructure
- Promote conservation
- Reduce trade imbalances by reducing fuel imports.
None of us want higher fuel taxes and higher fuel prices especially as the country recovers from recession. At the same time, we certainly do need to invest in our transportation infrastructure for roads, highways, and transit so we will have alternatives for trasportation as fuel prices continue to rise. Most of us also realize that reducing use of fossil fuels benefits the environment. Fifty years ago the concern was primarily air quality, today we are beginning to understand that that fossil fuels are also a significant factor in global warming.
The United States is unlikely to ever become self sufficient with regard to crude oil especially if we do not dramatically reduce consumption. Increasing domestic production will have little impact on gas prices simply because crude oil is a commodity on the world market. Canada, a major crude oil producer which provides roughly one quarter of the US demand, has gas prices that are approaching $6.00 a gallon.
If we want to protect our environment, if we want to eliminate our trade deficits, we need to reduce our dependence on crude oil. We can promote conservation, and the most successful way to get people to conserve is increase the price. If we increase the price through taxes then we can use that additional revenue to invest in our country and/or reduce other tax burdens. I would not suggest a sudden dramatic increase in fuel taxes, but rather a planned gradual increase over a ten to twenty year period providing our economy and us a chance to adapt. Other countries have survived with higher fuel prices, and we can as well.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Roads & Highways Fuel Tax Transportation Funding
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JFK and the Gipper: Transportation Bipartisanship
Fifty years ago this month, President John F. Kennedy wrote a special message to Congress calling for a multimodal national transportation plan. As quoted in a recent Fast Lane blog from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Kennedy said: "An efficient and dynamic transportation system is vital to our domestic economic growth. Affecting the cost of every commodity we consume or export, it is equally vital to our ability to compete abroad."
Kennedy also put a special emphasis on public transit, saying his proposal "is aimed at the widely varying transit problems of our nation's cities, ranging from the clogged arteries of our most populous metropolitan areas to those smaller cities which have only recently known the frustrations of congested streets." He called for federal support of "fully balanced transportation systems" in urban areas.
It took 20 years for Kennedy's vision to be realized, and it might surprise some to know it was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan after he persuaded fellow Republicans to end a Senate filibuster.
Hailing the bipartisan creation of a dedicated transit account financed by federal gasoline taxes, Reagan said: "We can now ensure for our children a special part of their heritage—a network of highways and mass transit that has enabled our commerce to thrive, our country to grow and our people to roam freely and easily to every corner of our land ... Common sense tells us that it will cost a lot less to keep the system we have in good repair than to let it disintegrate and have to start over from scratch."
Kennedy has long been conservatives' favorite Democratic president. And Reagan, of course, is their all-time favorite. Buy lately they've branded any attempt to keep transportation revenues from falling behind inflation and population growth as tax banditry. Why won't they heed the wisdom of these visionary leaders when it comes to building and maintaining a balanced transportation system for the 21st century?
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Roads & Highways Infrastructure Transportation Funding
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A Simple Challenge
Twin Cities-area solo car commuters can win cool electronics or cash cards if they try another way to work before June 30 in the 2012 Commuter Challenge sponsored by Metro Transit and local transportation management organizations. The idea is to get drivers on foot, bicycles or transit, in carpools or vanpools or even teleworking from home—just once.
That's all you have to do to be eligible for prizes such as e-book readers, laptops and $25 Visa gift cards. The sponsors are confident that only one day of leaving the car in the garage will convince many daily drivers of the health and economic benefits of getting to work without worries about traffic or $4 gasoline. More goodies— $100 Target gift cards and trip-tracking that measures emissions reduced, money saved and calories burned—will be awarded to challenge-takers who keep up alternative commuting.
Signing up is as easy as meeting your one-day carless pledge. And online resources such as Metro Transit's Trip Planner and Rideshare Planner make finding different ways to work just as simple.
Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Public Transportation Public Health Traffic Congestion