[kanon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SolarDave', 'I')'m thinking the future looks more like "Self-driving car meets Uber" ...

[yellowcanoe]

In Ottawa a section of the future westward expansion of our LRT system could be cheaply built along the ROW of a former tram line. The community is upset about losing their linear park and perceive that the LRT trains will be noisy. Our gutless politicians would rather add hundreds of millions of dollars of extra costs to satisfy this small group of people by putting this section underground. I wish my community had the same vision as Calgary which has managed to built a significant LRT system, very little of which is underground.

[kanon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yellowcanoe', 'O')ur gutless politicians would rather add hundreds of millions of dollars of extra costs to satisfy this small group of people by putting this section underground.

[kanon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '
')Here is a guy who know something about math, he got it mostly right, and was a pretty good explainer.

http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html

[kanon]

The CT Fastrac Bus Rapid Transit system has opened in Hartford Connecticut. The promotional video can be seen at ctfastrak.com. Reports indicate the initial ridership is above expectations ctfastrak-surpasses-ridership-expectations. The project was in a planning stage for as long as 18 years and cost $567 million. A favorable opinion article with interesting comments is at ctnewsjunkie. And another at this link.

It appears this BRT is oriented more towards pedestrian and bicycle access that towards cars, since there is emphasis on pedestrians and cyclists, and one complaint is a lack of nearby parking. I have not found much published criticism, but it is certain it was controversial as mentioned in Once-a-talk-show-punchline-busway-almost-ready-to-roll.

I think this project is rather important in the world of U.S. public transit, so more information is welcome.

[kanon]

This is for background information on transportation system funding. A new report by the US PIRG Education Fund Who Pays For Roads argued that "Today, general taxes paid by all taxpayers cover nearly as much of the cost of building and maintaining highways as the gas tax and other fees paid by drivers." The annual per household costs of driving over and above "user taxes" is estimated to range between $1,105 to $1,848. Here are some illustrative quotes (emphasis supplied):
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')etween 1947 and 2012, the nation spent roughly $1 trillion (2009$) more on roads than drivers paid in “user” taxes and fees, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration.

Road users see the impact of gas taxes every time they fill up at the pump. But the tax
subsidies they receive by virtue of driving are often unseen. In many cases, the tax-
man giveth back in subsidies a substantial share of what he taketh away in gas taxes,
reducing the net contribution made by motorists toward the construction and maintenance of the highway network. Among these tax subsidies are sales tax exemptions for motor gasoline (see below), the income tax exclusion for commuter parking expenses, corporate income tax subsidies to the oil industry, and forgone property tax collections on land used for roads.

Road users in states that exempt gasoline from the sales tax received, on average, a sales tax exemption of nearly 11 cents per gallon (based on gasoline prices in March 2015). The sales tax exemption in these states represents an implicit $9.2 billion annual subsidy to road users.

And, with more and more Americans pursuing multimodal lifestyles in which more people are no longer only “drivers,” “bicyclists,” or “transit riders,” but rather “all of the above,” the task of determining who is subsidizing whom is becoming increasingly complicated.

While it is impossible to develop a perfectly apples-to-apples comparison of the degree to which general tax revenues support various modes of travel, it is likely that general tax expenditures to support driving well exceed those flowing to bicycling, walking, transit and intercity rail travel put together. On a net basis, therefore, the greatest subsidies go not to the modes of transportation with the smallest societal costs or the greatest societal benefits—transit, bicycling and walking—but rather serve to encourage more Americans to take to the roads.

It is unclear, however, whether highway bonds being issued today will be paid off with user revenues to the same extent as those of the past. Several states have now reached the point where the cost of servicing debt for past projects now soaks up nearly all current revenues from gasoline taxes.

Across the country, state highway officials continue to pursue big-ticket highway megaprojects, many of which cannot be justified by likely future demand and come with large societal costs. America already raises roughly enough money in gasoline taxes and other user fees to bring our highway system back to a state of good repair. . . the amount of money needed to return the current system to a state of good repair—the maintenance “backlog”—was $83 billion. In 2012, $105 billion of highway tax and user fee revenue was used for highways.

A 2014 analysis by Advocacy Advance of statewide transportation improvement
programs (STIPs)—short-term, fiscally constrained plans of transportation projects required of states under federal law—found that less than 1.5 percent of all funds were programmed for bicycle, pedestrian or shared-use projects. [Report.pdf]

[KaiserJeep]

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority runs Buses and Light Rail trains. I already talked about my years of commuting via electric-powered Light Rail, CALTRAIN conventional diesel train, and an employer-provided diesel shuttle in this thread:
http://peakoil.com/forums/commuter-rail-infrastructure-t70017.html

The Santa Clara VTA also runs buses, which tie to the Light Rail system and for which you can use a transfer chit to ride both Light Rail and bus for a single fare. I seldom needed the bus but I know the recent history of the system and the technology being tested.

First of all, the 450+ buses in the system were originally all conventional diesel, of the older soot-spewing design. These existed in several sizes including the 60-foot-long articulated bus down to the 25-foot-long small size.

The alternatives tested included Hydrogen fuel-cell buses (zero emission tech), compressed natural gas (CNG) and modern diesel-electric hybrid buses. Flywheel energy storage (another zero emission tech) was considered but did not make it as far as the purchasing phase, as the recharging stations would have been extremely expensive to implement, because of the necessity to run high-capacity electric feeds.

The Hydrogen Fuel Cell buses held great hope for all the Greenies, because they were the only zero emission technology to make it through purchasing and into the evaluation phase. Unfortunately they were spectacular failures that soaked up about $56 million for only three buses. The short version is that the first three cost $3.5 million each to purchase, and a liquid hydrogen facility to fuel them, suitable for a residential area, soaked up a major portion of the rest. The buses were unreliable, costly to repair, and extremely difficult to get parts for. The final cost per mile for a 40-foot hydrogen fuel cell bus was $51.66, versus $1.61 for the existing conventional diesel bus of the same size.

In spite of this failure, the VTA has no choice in the matter, a state organization called the California Air Resources Board is mandating hydrogen fuel cell technology. The second generation hydrogen buses have declined in price from $3.5M each to $2.5M each, and there will be twelve of them:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8365544

Compressed Natural Gas is looking good and there will eventually be 40 of the largest 60-foot articulated buses under evaluation. These CNG buses are being purchased from New Flyer corp. of Winnepeg, Canada. There are currently 14 buses active in the fleet and several refueling stations. (The bus picture in this article is of a shorter 40-foot non-articulated bus.)
http://www.newflyer.com/index/2013_07_10_santa_clara_award

So far the most successful technology evaluated by VTA is a modern diesel-electric hybrid, which saves about 25% of the fuel used by the standard diesel bus, while using urea injection and catalytic tech to eliminate 90% of all the exhaust pollution and 100% of the soot particulates. The buses are made by BAE systems in the large 60-foot articulated size:
http://www.hybridrive.com/hybrid-transit-bus.php
...and a second vender of the large 60-foot articulated buses is Gillig LLC in nearby Hayward CA:
http://www.vta.org/News-and-Media/Newsroom/VTA-Board-Approves-Purchase-of-38-New-Buses#.VVBsNflVhBc

The diesel-electric hybrid buses comprise 20% of the VTA fleet and are steadily replacing the older diesel soot-spewers.

Of course, this is Silicon Valley - all buses, Light Rail, and Trains have WiFi connectivity so that you can work during your commute, or watch video-on-demand if that is your preference. They are also catering to older mobility-impaired people with low floor bus designs and wheelchair ramps for every bus and every bus stop. Finally they have bicycle racks on every bus and rail car, and bicycle lockers at the Park-and-Rides.

[kanon]

KJ -- you point out in a comment:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')gain I would stress that the major technological advance that saved fuel was the Microsoft Lync virtual meeting software, which has steadily gained features and stability. None of the various vehicle related advances have saved near as much energy.

[KaiserJeep]

Hydrogen is a storage medium for energy generated some other way. If it is a solar array that has been in place for a few years and thus has paid back it's fabrication energy debt, then the power source is Green. If you use dirty coal to generate hydrogen, the hydrogen bus is a terrible polluter. Flywheel storage buses, plug-in hybrid buses, and BEVs, likewise.

As for your remarks about MS Lync, absolutely correct - and there is no reason not to have effective videoconferencing today in almost all white collar jobs which should be telecommuting jobs.

I also agree: buses are for transporting people.

[Newfie]

We have open access to WebEx which works fairly well.

Yet there is still a strong push for people to physically move around.

I heard last week that OHare is planning to increase usage by 300,000 more take off/landings per year over the next 10 years. That is about 700 more per day.

That's just insane. But it also makes me ask what the hell are people thinking? Where will the fuel come from? How will the environment tolerate it?

Very depressing.

[kanon]

This article lists the light rail systems that do not cover operating costs with rider fares. The 10 U.S. metro rail systems that lose the most money per passenger We do not seem to be able to escape the user-fee based "profit" calculation, but at least the article recognizes that $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')ike roads, mass transit is not self-sustaining: it requires a combination of user fees and other government funding to pay for operations, maintenance, and expansion. . . . Development of transit stations has been linked to higher land values, higher office rents, and lower office vacancy rates. Mass transit also alleviates congestion for drivers.

[kanon]

There is not much discussion of automobile parking issues in this thread. I recently learned more about the costs of parking, especially the cost of "free parking." free-parking.

From p. 16 of THE HIGH COST OF MINIMUM PARKING REQUIREMENTS:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n their analysis of parking requirements for retail services, Cutter and Franco (2012) found that the last parking space adds $14,700 more to a building’s cost than it adds to the building’s value. Requiring one more parking space at a proposed restaurant thus reduces the residual land value of the site by $14,700. Where parking requirements reduce residual land values, they will reduce infill redevelopment. This reduction in the supply of real estate drives up the price of everything except parking and shifts the cost of parking from drivers onto all economic activity in the city.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kanon', 'T')here is not much discussion of automobile parking issues in this thread. I recently learned more about the costs of parking, especially the cost of "free parking." free-parking.
...
From p. 9 of ITDP-Parking-Report:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')ransportation planners seeking to learn from the United States should take note of how traditional U.S. parking policies have had significant unintended consequences. By and large, these policies have produced excess parking supply. The excess has served to keep the price of parking down -- 99 percent of driving trips end in free parking -- and consequently reduced the cost of car use. By reducing the cost of driving and by consuming large amounts of space, traditional policies have promoted automobile use and dispersed land uses thus undermining public transit, walking and bicycling.

[kanon]

I'm not sure what this means. Fed pushes back as Congress eyes its billions.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')ongress is aiming to take billions out of the Fed's accounts to help pay for a new highway and transit bill, but the Fed is balking, registering “strong concerns about using the resources of the Federal Reserve to finance fiscal spending.”

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', '
')As for your remarks about MS Lync, absolutely correct - and there is no reason not to have effective videoconferencing today in almost all white collar jobs which should be telecommuting jobs.

[kanon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '
')But I digress. (Reading "Moneyball" now, where I am frequently reminded of the stupid lack of intelligent process in business affairs).

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', '
')As for your remarks about MS Lync, absolutely correct - and there is no reason not to have effective videoconferencing today in almost all white collar jobs which should be telecommuting jobs.

[ennui2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Keith_McClary', '2')/3 of LA land is streets, highway and parking.

[kanon]

This article discusses the staggering costs of transportation infrastructure: The most underrated problem with American infrastructure. I have taken to referring to highway interchanges as "monuments," i.e. the Egyptians had their pyramids, the Mayans had their temples, and the Americans have their highway interchanges.

In my past research I was not able to find specifics on how the expenses have grown, but I suppose the real cause is the consolidated position of the highway industrial complex.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')onsider NEC Future, the Federal Railroad Administration's recent blue-sky proposal for Amtrak upgrades in the Northeast Corridor. Their plan for true high-speed rail stretching from DC to Boston comes in at an incomprehensible $290 billion. Transportation expert Alon Levy examined the plan, and concluded the following:

[I]f NEC Future cuts a zero from its budget, I will still consider it too expensive — perhaps worth it because of the benefits of HSR, but certainly too high to be built without further inquiry. $29 billion for 720 km is justified for a line with a fair amount of tunneling and entirely greenfield construction, whereas the NEC has long segments that are already nearly ready for HSR and requires very little tunneling. [Pedestrian Observations]