Tag: transit

Cleaning out the Links

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

It’s Friday at lunch, and you know what that means–it is time to clear out the accumulated news chum links from the week that haven’t fit into any theme. There’s a bunch of interesting stuff in here, so read on, McDuff:

Music: Cheapo-Cheapo Productions Present John Sebastian Live (John Sebastian): Waiting for a Train

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Moving It Along

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today’s lunchtime news chum (the first in 2012) brings a collection of items all related to transit or transportation:

  • The Cost of Commuting. Alas, this first item directly affects my pocketbook. It appears that Congress didn’t act, and hasn’t extended the transit/commuting benefit. This was the rules that permitted employers to provide pre-tax reimbursement to employees for the cost of parking or the cost of transit/vanpooling up to $230/month. Without the extension (i.e., now), that $230 number (which is moving up to $240) applies only to the reimbursement for the cost of parking. Those who actually rideshare (i.e., those who care about the environment or can’t afford a car) will now only be reimbursed up to $125/month. For many people, this means increased costs and/or increased taxes. [insert whine about Congressional insensitivity here]
  • The Cost of Commuting, Part II. The commuting benefit isn’t the only thing that is impacting the wallet. The cost of fuel is going up. Why? One reason is that the subsidy on Ethanol is ending, and Ethanol makes up an increasing part of the fuel supply. Now, I’m not arguing that ethanol should be used for fuel–I think it is silly to use edible food to fuel anything vehicles (I have no problem with using inedible components/waste). However, it will mean your cost at the pump will be going up.
  • Cyberattacks on Automobiles. I’ve written about this before, but the LA Times has a nice accessible treatment of the subject. The gist of this is that the increased high-tech capabilities in our automobiles is making them increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks, and it is only lately that automobile manufacturers are becoming aware of the threat.
  • Threats to our Streets. Sometimes the threat truly comes from outside: in this case, a 340-ton boulder. If you’re not following the story: The LA County Art Museum is installing an artwork called “Levitated Mass” at its facility near La Brea Pits (or if you’re feeling redundant, the La Brea Tar Pits). The only problem: the 680,000-pound rock is 16 feet wide and 21 feet tall and is in Riverside, and must be moved. This involves a circuitous path, ensuring the roadways can handle the weight, and ensuring bridges are high enough and powerpoles  can be moved. It’s complicated. Here’s an article on what is involved on getting the rock through Diamond Bar.
  • Understanding the Street Grid. I often wonder why streets are laid out as they are. The NY Times has a nice article on the Manhattan street grid: how it was laid out, and how the development of the grid had a significant effect on the city’s development.
  • Under the Streets. Lastly, an article from TransportatioNation that explores the lost NY Subway System. By this I refer to the uncompleted or abandoned subway routes and stations in New York City.

Music: Country Pickin’ (Chet Atkins): Wabash Cannon Ball

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What Were They Thinking: Musings on Automobiles and Carpool Lanes

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

A few news articles related to cars have caught my eye, plus I’d like to share with you some additional musings on carpool lanes, and hear your opinion…

  • Lose That Spare. The LA Times had an interesting article a week or so ago about the increasing tendency of auto manufacturers to sell cars without spare tires. I’m not talking about a temp spare instead of a full-service tire; no, I’m talking about no spare tire at all and no place to put it. You either get a “run flat” tire (which is heavier and wears out sooner) or a can of patch fix. This is a bad idea—these new approaches can leave you stranded if a sidewall blows or a tire shreads.
  • Remote Access. An article in the NY Times over the weekend discussed the increasing use of smartphones and internet devices as door locks. Yes, you too can start your car and the A/C 20 minutes before you get in, or unlock your house from the safety of your office. To me, I think these are bad ideas, for the systems are far too easy to break. There’s nary a mention of security; there’s not even proof that you are you. This is an increasing tendency of society to go for the ease of use and not think about the security consequences. I’d rather have an entry system that really authenticated the individual against a strong access list and provided me an audit log.
  • Spend Like the Government. Saab has announced a number of new models, including new compact and luxury cars. You remember Saab, don’t you. Lost money for Sweden, sold to GM, who sold it (after months of trying to find a buyer) to the Chinese. The company hasn’t built a car since April 6, owes a bunch to suppliers and couldn’t pay its 3,700 workers a couple of weeks ago. So what do you do? As soon as the joint venture ink is dry, announce new models: small Saab called 9-1, and two big ones called 9-6 and 9-7. Somehow, I’m not sure they will be successful.

Lastly, a few thoughts on carpool lanes. These are based on a question I received from Mr. Roadshow, who is working on an article about the decrease in use of carpool lanes, at least in Northern California. He asked me what my thoughts were—did I think that carpool lanes work, and why or why not? He also asked my opinion on HOT (high-occupancy toll lanes, where you can buy your way in). Here’s some of what I wrote him. I’m curious your thoughts on the subject.

Well, perhaps I’m a little biased with my answer, and not because I’m the California Highway Guy. I’m also a vanpooler, and I’ve been commuting from the San Fernando Valley to El Segundo for over 20 years. That’s a distance of 35 miles straight. I’m also part of a company that has one of the oldest vanpooling programs in Southern
California (we’ve won numerous Diamond awards). Before the HOV lanes, I’d guess it took us perhaps 75 minutes in the morning, and the commute home, for those 35 miles, was about 110-120 minutes on average. My commute is directly along I-405 (if you have a map, from roughly Nordhoff to El Segundo S of LAX). We also have 15-20 minutes
of surface street driving on the northern end from the freeway to Northridge, and about 5 minutes on the southern end to my employer. We have an 8 passenger van, and we normally run between 5-8 passengers. Since I’ve been on the van, the HOV lane southbound on I-405 has been completed, it has shaved perhaps 10 minutes off the southbound commute. Northbound we only have lanes as far as I-10 (the rest are under construction), and from US 101 to CA 118. On days when traffic is good, we can now make it home in perhaps 80 minutes; our average is about 90 minutes (we’re a bit slower due to the 405 construction of late), with the worst being about 180 minutes (fire in the pass).

So do I think the lanes work? Depends what you mean by “work”. They work in that they save time for those in van and carpools, and in that aspect they reduce congestion. Do they work in enticing people out of their single-passenger cars? Probably not, because people are unaware of the time savings. There’s also a cost savings that people don’t realize. Do you know what my commuting cost is? $0. I start the van, so the van is parked at my house. Thank’s to IRS rules and contributions from Metro, my company reimburses me for my van bill up to $230. I’ve never had a bill that high. So I pay nothing to commute, plus I have lower milage on my personal vehicle, reducing auto insurance. But most people do not see that aspect.

The unsaid question in all of this, of course, is whether changing those lanes to mixed flow would improve traffic. I think there the answer is mixed. It might in the short term, but people would see the freeway moving better and move back off of surface streets… which would bring the traffic down again. I think there’s an analogy to gas
prices: do lower gas prices make gas cheaper in the long run. In both cases we’re dealing with a fixed commodity, and in both cases, the long term answer is to encourage efficient use of the resource.

Lastly, let’s address whether making HOT lanes works. I’m aware of only a few experiments — I-15 down in San Diego, I-680… and they are talking about I-10 and I-110. I haven’t seen statistics of whether they work. My thoughts are that the answer depends on price. If they are too cheap (defined as perceived to be cheaper than the additional fuel used), they will be overused, and you’ll only temporarily decrease congestion. Price them too high, and they won’t be used. There are examples of that — look at the toll roads in Orange County, which I believe are never congested. So the trick is finding the right price point that will move some traffic over.

Then there’s always the last debate: which improves congestion more: letting people buy their way into the HOV lanes, or letting Prius’ into the lanes. It really is the same thing: people paid a premium for their car to get into the HOV lanes. What was the effect of that experiment on congestion? How much less congested were the lanes today, now that the Prius stickers are no longer effective?

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Remember the Museums

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

According to the LA Times, the LA MTA is retiring its last diesel bus. This is all well and good. However, one thing about the article bothers me.

“The last diesel coach is a 40-foot New Flyer purchased in 1998. It operated out of the MTA’s Venice division, where it logged many of its 383,180 miles on routes along Wilshire Boulevard, Venice Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.

No. 3004 will be ceremoniously retired and towed away during an event at the MTA’s Support Services Center in downtown Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, MTA Chief Executive Art Leahy, other elected officials and members of the authority’s board of directors will be on hand.

Officials plan to auction the vehicle, which is probably worth a few thousand dollars because of its parts. Before the sale, however, mechanics will disable the engine so no one can operate it again.”

C’mon folks. Think about the museums. This is a piece of history, and should be saved in operating condition for a museum that preserves Southern California bus history, as an occasionally operating example of its kind. We don’t disable diesel trains when they are retired. We operate them occasionally to educate the public. Don’t believe a museum would be interested? Well, there is the Pacific Bus Museum in Northern California (which is looking for a home).

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Humpday News Chum: Transportion is the Theme of the Day, Plus Something Bizarre

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Ah, humpday news chum. These are some items collected over the last two days. The first few all have to do with transportation in one way or another:

  • From the “Getting Framed” Department: Fast Company has a nice piece on cleaning up the graphics on license plates. I’m not sure how practical their ideas are, but who cares about practicality. I found this via LA Observed, IIRC, which was commenting on the California version that is loaded with personal information, including a bar code, religious preference, political party, and regional markings.
  • From the “Give ‘Em an Inch” Department: USA Today has an article on I-19, one of the few Interstates that is all metric. Given everything else happening in Arizona, is it a surprise to anyone that they want to change this back to good old English American units? This has merchants upset, because all their advertising material has the metric exit numbers.
  • From the “Living in the Past” Department: You yunguns out there might not remember it, but there were days when you would get full service when you got gas—and I mean real-full, not New Jersey-full, service—checking the oil, tire pressure, etc. Guess what? There’s still such a station in Missouri! At the Chippewa and Giles Service Station (Sinclair), George or Walter Wiesehan will pump the gas, check the oil and tires and wash the windshield. Customers can pay at the pump, but only by handing George or Walter cash or a credit card. The owner doesn’t want to install new pumps, “They’re $9,000 a pump, and I don’t need ’em”. He says the old pumps, installed around 40 years ago, work just fine. He swipes cards in a machine inside the station. The station was opened in 1957, and is one of only two Sinclair stations remaining in the St. Louis area.
  • From the “Riding the Rails” Department: You may not believe it, but there is mass transit in Los Angeles. The LA Times has an interesting article on the street theatre that is the Blue Line. For those of us into history, it is worth noting that much of the old Blue Line route is the old PE Long Beach line.

And now, for the bizarre:

  • From the “Being a Boob” Department: A Saudi cleric is advocating adult breast feeding, so that unrelated men and women become maternally related… and thus not subject to the rules about men and women not mixing. Specifically, Sheikh Al Obeikan, an adviser to the royal Saudi court and consultant to the Saudi Ministry of Justice said on TV that women who come into regular contact with men who aren’t related to them ought to give them their breast milk so they will be considered relatives. There is disagreement about the best (ahem) way to deliver the liquid.

    I should note that I’m not posting this to criticise Islam—I have no problem with the basic religion. However, as with any religion, the ultra-Orthodox sects (cough, Mea Sharim, cough) often have weird rulings like this. Some are true. Some are not (cough, hole in a sheet, cough). Although this is weird, I can see the logic, and it is no more of a stretch than the logic behind an eruv.

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Hidden Effects of Transit Cutbacks/Changes: NYC, Chicago, San Francisco

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Two articles today highlighted some interesting ancillary effects of transit changes:

  • In New York, there are major changes happening to subway routes. The W and V routes are being eliminated and the M has a new route. The side effect of all this: About $600,000 in signage changes. The transit agency must replace some 3,000 signs and 25,000 maps, all to be switched out within the span of about two weeks before the service changes take effect. The replacements range in size and price. A small vinyl M decal, newly orange, may cost the agency about $25 to produce. A giant porcelain sign, like “42 St — Times Square,” costs about $300 to make.
  • In Chicago, the change isn’t routes but cars. CTA has changed from cars that seat two-together with an aisle to a New York configuration with passengers facing each other and lots of standing room. The side effect of this change: according to the article, people are friendlier to each other and talk. But people also stand closer together, decreating the personal bubble. Will this turn Chicago-folk into New York-folk? Time will tell.

Now, a series of service cutbacks are going into effect in the San Francisco area. No lines are disappearing, and the cars aren’t changing, but service frequency is significantly decreasing. I wonder what the side effects of this will be?

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Monday News Chum

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

A few articles that caught my eye today:

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