The week in transportation, Oct. 25th edition

A few transportation-related stories that caught my eye this last week...

The above video won first place in a recent contest to produce a short that would inspire the next president (although President Bush is certainly welcome to watch!) to do something about climate change. As regular readers know, the transportation sector contributes about one-third of the United States' greenhouse gases. Source for the video:  Climate Matters-1st Place from Brighter Planet on Vimeo. You can see other videos at http://vimeo.com/climatematters.

Will the financial mess that embroiled American International Group result in service cuts for Metro? Maybe. My colleague Martin Zimmerman and I wrote a story last week explaining how AIG was the middleman in a complicated deal in which Metro (a.k.a. the MTA) sold off much of its equipment to investors and then leased it back. Problem is, AIG's bond rating has slipped and Metro needs a new middleman, a dilemma that could potentially cost it millions of dollars. In a follow-up to The Times story, the Washington Post reported that the the Washington Metro system could lose $400 million because of similar deals. The Post notes, as did we, that the Federal Transit Administration approved the deals -- deals, it should be stressed, that were designed to give the investors who bought the buses and rail cars a big federal tax break.

What's one way to improve traffic? Close a street, according to a new study by researchers in Korea and the United States. If motorists have too many choices, they'll be selfish. Shutter a street and mathematics says traffic could actually flow more efficiently. Don't believe it? Check out the story in the Christian Science Monitor.

Yes, someone out there is trying to make shoes that produce electricity -- so you can power your iPod or whatever else you see fit. Japan Probe blog

Officials in Seoul said they're going to build 129 miles of bike paths reaching all corners of the city -- and they're going to do it by putting some roads on a diet and narrowing them. AFP reports via Google News. I proposed a road diet for Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock this week. The result: One reader e-mailed to let me know I made him retch.

Dream of visiting a national park to breathe in that nice, fresh air? Think again. Two environmental groups have sued the federal EPA for failing to force states to clean up the air over parks. The source of the haze is vehicles and power plants, to name two. Associated Press via the AZcentral website.

Funding for transportation is thin and getting thinner. Even those who say people should get out of their cars do a lot of driving themselves. Where will money come from for transportation? What may inspire people to actually get out of their cars? Well, what if every single mile you drove was tolled, something that will be increasingly possible because of developing technology. Matt Rosenberg takes a look at NewWest, in a post originally published by Crosscut. Great read.

— Steve Hymon

Comments

[Valley Observer]

Whether it's done cents per gallon or as a percentage of the price, the way to reduce road demand equitably and provide money for more transportation is through a higher price for gas through taxation. As we have seen in the past few months, a high price leads to some drivers to choose other options -- carpooling, public transportation, tele-commuting, combining trips -- and also to drive in a way that uses less gas. Some of using less while driving is obvious like slowing down, but taking a roundabout route on which steady sustained travel is possible vs stop-and-go on a shorter route can also lead to reduced consumption, and avoiding the stop-and-route go also helps all the other drivers there by reducing their congestion. I recommend a higher gas price as an immediate approach, given that it takes years to create public transport and for the locations of housing, shopping centers and employment centers to adapt. The money can be used to reduce other taxes, and/or to create transportation alternatives and improvements -- but that's a political decision I don't want to get into. I've certainly seen improved traffic flow, which means improved mobility (and in a sense more liberty) for all of us, over the past few months.

This is a conclusion from both the CSM article, and the Nat West story.

[Morgan Wick]

"Well, what if every single mile you drove was tolled, something that will be increasingly possible because of developing technology."

Every single mile we drive is tolled. It's called gas prices.