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  #2701  
Old Posted Jul 31, 2012, 5:19 PM
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Originally Posted by austintilIdie View Post
Per desired 290 designation and upgrades, would there be a separating median implemented between Elgin and Giddings? Currently, skill not much separates you from oncoming traffic on that stretch.
Almost certainly. It's always uneasy feeling for me on any high speed undivided highway. There might be a center-turn lane in short stretches through/near a town, but otherwise divided (as with 71).
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  #2702  
Old Posted Aug 1, 2012, 7:51 AM
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There is a video in the link showing the bus.

http://austin.ynn.com/content/living...ew--green--bus
Quote:
07/28/2012 06:42 PM
Going Green: Austin's new 'green' bus
By: Adam Krueger

Austinites are now seeing a new, somewhat futuristic-looking bus driving around the city’s streets.
Capital Metro recently acquired an electric and hydrogen powered bus as part of a one-year-demonstration program.

The state-of-the-art “green” bus is completely free, according to Andrew Murphy with Capital Metro. The bus charges overnight, then can run for about two hours before using hydrogen to recharge the batteries while driving.

The only emission to come from the bus is a small amount of water vapor.
http://hydrogenhybridbus.com/
Quote:
Hydrogen Hybrid Bus

The Hydrogen Hybrid Bus demonstration project is a part of the National Fuel Cell Bus Program (NFCBP), which is administered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) is the overall program manager for this NFCBP project. The purpose of the National Fuel Cell Bus Program is to facilitate the development and demonstration of fuel cell technologies. The success of this project is due to the collaboration of many different organizations from across the country. To find out more about who is working on the project, click here

The bus arrived in Austin, Texas in March 2012 to begin Phase II operations and is planned to be in daily operation starting early summer. Capital Metro Transit will operate the bus as part of its regular fleet service for one year. During Phase I, the bus was demonstrated in Columbia, South Carolina in 2010. After Phase I the bus was upgraded at Proterra's Greenville facilities based on lessons learned in Columbia's operations.

Capital Metro will operate the bus on a number of shuttle routes on the University of Texas campus including the Intramural Fields and Forty Acres routes. The University of Texas Center for Electromechanics (UT-CEM) is overseeing the upgrade and retrofitting of a permanent hydrogen production and fueling station at their facility to support the bus. This state-of-the-art station is the first of its kind in Texas and includes hydrogen generation, compression, storage, and dispensing.

Signature Transportation Parts and Service will assist with project management, data collection, and operator training. Gas Technology Institute is responsible for upgrading the fueling station in Austin, and the University of Texas - Center for Electromechanics is responsible for data collection and analysis. When the Austin demonstration is complete, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will analyze all of the final performance data and prepare an overall performance evaluation.

Keep an eye out for exciting public events during the next few months to learn more about this state of the art zero emission bus!
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  #2703  
Old Posted Aug 1, 2012, 5:07 PM
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If they can get a bus to run like this with are the streets not filled with cars like this yet???? This technology has been a long time coming.
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  #2704  
Old Posted Aug 5, 2012, 11:08 AM
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If they can get a bus to run like this with are the streets not filled with cars like this yet???? This technology has been a long time coming.
Where do you think the hydrogen is coming from? The same place hydrogen gas comes from today; natural gas and oil refineries....It's not as clean as you think.

Chevrolet is finding it difficult to find drivers for its new Volt, same goes for Nissan and its new all electric car, both costing less than $10,000 more than traditional car with gas engines. Imagine the difficult they will have when the price differential is over $100,000. I believe it's 10 times more than that today. One experimental hydrogen powered bus doesn't make a fleet of mass produced buses or cars powered by hydrogen that consumers can afford to buy.
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  #2705  
Old Posted Aug 5, 2012, 4:32 PM
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Originally Posted by electricron View Post
Where do you think the hydrogen is coming from? The same place hydrogen gas comes from today; natural gas and oil refineries....It's not as clean as you think.

Chevrolet is finding it difficult to find drivers for its new Volt, same goes for Nissan and its new all electric car, both costing less than $10,000 more than traditional car with gas engines. Imagine the difficult they will have when the price differential is over $100,000. I believe it's 10 times more than that today. One experimental hydrogen powered bus doesn't make a fleet of mass produced buses or cars powered by hydrogen that consumers can afford to buy.
-=-=-=-=-=-
I found this interesting..I was in Houston last week and there was a report on CNN about the Chevy Volt. Seems that Austin has the highest concentration of Volts in the U.S. That'll tell you something...not sure what it is but it tells...
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  #2706  
Old Posted Aug 5, 2012, 10:05 PM
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Originally Posted by electricron View Post
Where do you think the hydrogen is coming from? The same place hydrogen gas comes from today; natural gas and oil refineries....It's not as clean as you think.

Chevrolet is finding it difficult to find drivers for its new Volt, same goes for Nissan and its new all electric car, both costing less than $10,000 more than traditional car with gas engines. Imagine the difficult they will have when the price differential is over $100,000. I believe it's 10 times more than that today. One experimental hydrogen powered bus doesn't make a fleet of mass produced buses or cars powered by hydrogen that consumers can afford to buy.
What makes hydrogen fuel cleaner and impressive isn't so much the source, but the exhaust it creates which is only water. That's what makes it a cleaner fuel. And in an urban environment it's a good thing to not have as much air polluting exhaust since cities are much more densely populated with people out walking around. It becomes a health issue of trying to make the air quality better within that densely populated area which will decrease instances of health problems like asthma and lung cancer over a greater segment of the population. It's less of a problem in rural areas that aren't as densely populated, but combine air pollution with a greater number of people within that area, and public health can decline.
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  #2707  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2012, 12:44 AM
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I like the idea of electric vehicles powered by solar energy myself. Otherwise I'm a proponent of urban/light rail. Unfortunately I have very little faith that most governments want to go that route because of the initial cost. It's probably much cheaper and cleaner in the long run, but the next election is always around the corner and nobody seems brave enough to take a home run swing. <sigh>
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  #2708  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2012, 6:47 AM
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What makes hydrogen fuel cleaner and impressive isn't so much the source, but the exhaust it creates which is only water. That's what makes it a cleaner fuel. And in an urban environment it's a good thing to not have as much air polluting exhaust since cities are much more densely populated with people out walking around. It becomes a health issue of trying to make the air quality better within that densely populated area which will decrease instances of health problems like asthma and lung cancer over a greater segment of the population. It's less of a problem in rural areas that aren't as densely populated, but combine air pollution with a greater number of people within that area, and public health can decline.
A much cheaper electric car, like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt, have the same no emissions, and they're not selling well because they're significantly more expensive than regular polluting cars.
When you consider Leafs and Volts are recharged mostly at night, mainly because the rates are cheaper, because base load generating plants power the grid. In Texas, base load generating plants mean lignite or coal plants, along with the two nuclear plants. I believe the ratio is around 20% nuclear and 80% coal or lignite at base load.
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  #2709  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2012, 7:21 AM
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Originally Posted by texastarkus View Post
-=-=-=-=-=-
I found this interesting..I was in Houston last week and there was a report on CNN about the Chevy Volt. Seems that Austin has the highest concentration of Volts in the U.S. That'll tell you something...not sure what it is but it tells...
That's due in part to the Pecan Street Project. GM is giving big discounts to residents of the Mueller Development to buy Volts.

http://www.pecanstreet.org/2012/07/2...art-community/
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  #2710  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2012, 3:19 PM
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Where do you think the hydrogen is coming from? The same place hydrogen gas comes from today; natural gas and oil refineries....It's not as clean as you think.

Chevrolet is finding it difficult to find drivers for its new Volt, same goes for Nissan and its new all electric car, both costing less than $10,000 more than traditional car with gas engines. Imagine the difficult they will have when the price differential is over $100,000. I believe it's 10 times more than that today. One experimental hydrogen powered bus doesn't make a fleet of mass produced buses or cars powered by hydrogen that consumers can afford to buy.
My point was mainly to state that had more funding been committed to this technology it SHOULD have been ready for the mass market at least 5 years ago. And prices would come down with time. Overall natural gas is far better than oil in all aspects of creating energy although it does take many natural resources to get to it and then a dirty process in refining it but just as with hydrogen it is worth it due to the difference in emissions. However, once again, if money would have been put into this technology instead of starting 2 wars maybe not only would the prices have made it to "affordable" levels by now but we would also have better ways of producing the hydrogen. Check link.

http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_pr..._delivery.html
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  #2711  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2012, 3:32 PM
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This is an interesting old article on how to get fuel cell cars into the mass market written ten years ago. Honda leased 5 fuel cell cars to Los Angeles in 2002!!!!!
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...drogen_pr.html

Yet all the funding we have been able to muster for this recently is a measly 114.3 million dollars as seen in this link.
http://www.electricityforum.com/news...ntfunding.html

And here is a link showing the cost of the 2 wars.....wtf is wrong with this country....how could I forget,,,,its....GREED!!!!
http://costofwar.com/
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  #2712  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2012, 6:34 PM
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I actually have seen some charging stations here and there. I've seen a few at some grocery stores and at a few libraries. It seems too sparse to be convenient, but at least those are there.
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  #2713  
Old Posted Aug 10, 2012, 9:42 PM
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http://www.statesman.com/business/gm...h-2432181.html
Quote:
GM may have electric car breakthrough

By Tom Krisher

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: 8:52 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012

DETROIT — A small battery company backed by General Motors is working on breakthrough technology that could power an electric car 100 or even 200 miles on a single charge in the next two-to-four years, GM's CEO said Thursday.

Speaking at an employee meeting, CEO Dan Akerson said the company, Newark, Calif.-based Envia Systems, has made a huge breakthrough in the amount of energy a lithium-ion battery can hold. GM is sure that the battery will be able to take a car 100 miles within a couple of years, he said. It could be double that with some luck, he said.
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  #2714  
Old Posted Aug 14, 2012, 3:09 AM
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Won't these batteries have a recharge memory issue that all rechargebles seem to have? Regular topping off at one of those recharge stations might actually shorten the max distance in a short amount of time.
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  #2715  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2012, 7:56 PM
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You can always get a folding bicycle. There are people on this forum who wouldn't leave home without them.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/cap...s-2439526.html
Quote:
Capital Metro's rail service welcomes cyclists

Editorial Board


The last thing most Capital Metro rail commuters want to see during morning or evening rush hours is a passenger boarding with a bicycle in tow. A single commuter who brings along a bicycle on the MetroRail takes the space of four people. When it's standing-room only, as most trains are during peak hours, bicycles have had to yield.

The lack of space on MetroRail trains for commuters with bicycles is a problem, particularly in a city as serious about cycling as Austin. And any fix for that problem requires money, which is as scarce at Capital Metro as space on rush-hour trains. Despite those challenges, Capital Metro found a way to make things better by tapping federal dollars and partnering with the City of Austin. The transit agency opened the first of seven bicycle shelters, for storing and parking bikes, at its Kramer Lane station in North Austin. It opened officially on Aug. 6 but will get a ribbon-cutting on Friday.

Opening bike shelters is one response to a lack of parking that hinders many Austin residents from using rail. Just three stations — Leander, Lakeline and Howard Lane offer dedicated parking facilities for passengers boarding Capital Metro's Red Line, which runs from Leander to downtown. People traveling to MetroRail's six other stations aren't so lucky. Those stations don't offer passenger parking. Options are limited on a return trip that ends at one of those stations at Kramer Lane, Crestview, Highland, Martin Luther King Jr., Plaza Saltillo and Downtown Station. Certainly, people can and do get dropped off or use Car2Go, and some travel the first and last mile by bus or foot.
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  #2716  
Old Posted Sep 1, 2012, 3:46 AM
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http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...o-2448096.html
Quote:
Budget pressures easing at Capital Metro

By Ben Wear

Published: 9:13 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, 2012

Capital Metro, historically flush but more lately financially feeble, will see a sharp increase in both its revenue and spending in the coming fiscal year, according to a summary of the transit agency's draft budget released this week.

But that proposed budget, which will be made public today and voted on by the Capital Metro board Sept. 24, will decrease the agency's still-recovering savings account and includes essentially no increase in service despite a projected 17 percent increase in spending.

Much of the $38 million revenue increase in the combined $257.5 million capital and operating budget comes from one-time federal grants for the agency's new "rapid bus" program and other federal money. Growth of revenue from the agency's 1 percent sales tax and fares remains modest.
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  #2717  
Old Posted Sep 1, 2012, 8:34 PM
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Did capmetro buy train sections to go between the two engines?? It sounds like its about time to try and expand some.
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  #2718  
Old Posted Sep 1, 2012, 8:44 PM
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Did capmetro buy train sections to go between the two engines?? It sounds like its about time to try and expand some.
Do they keep track of like what % of capacity they are at during peak times? I'd be interested to know. I haven't been on the Metro Rail for a while now, but from what I am told it is often over crowded.
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  #2719  
Old Posted Sep 3, 2012, 6:46 AM
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Did capmetro buy train sections to go between the two engines?? It sounds like its about time to try and expand some.
I'll admit I don't know how busy or crowded the trains get every day. But I am familiar with Stadler GTWs that they use.
Basically, there are two options they could do to make the trains longer.
(1) Couple two trains together to make a longer train. (2 top lines below)
(2) Add a third passenger section to an existing train. (Second line below)
Option 2 would be cheaper to accomplish, it wouldn't be necessary to add a second engine compartment, but would only increase each train's capacity by 50%. Option 1 would increase capacity by 100%, but would require having two engine compartments per train.

Image by Stadler Rail
Of course, how crowded the trains are should determine how much additional capacity is needed, and what they should do to reduce crowding.
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  #2720  
Old Posted Sep 3, 2012, 12:11 PM
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We should be serious when discussing rail lines and commuters. How many living in the West campus area actually commute to downtown Austin or the Capital Complex? Don't most living in the West campus commute across the street to the UT campus?
I have no doubt that many commute to downtown Austin, the Capital Complex, and UT Campus. But where do most of them commuter from? Are they along one specific corridor or spread out all over Austin's metro neighborhoods? How many of them actually live in Austin, or in its suburbs? How far a distance should the public transit system reach to be usable by most of the commuters in Austin?
I'm going to suggest that a short rail line isn't going to attract that many commuters.
Good points. If the traffic issues were based on commuter patterns. But traffic in Austin works sort of backwards. During the 5pm rush hour the traffic coming in Barton Springs, 6th, Enfiield, Windsor and such is usually far worse than the traffic leaving central Austin. During the mornings both directions in and out of downtown are heavy but not bad. It is the afternoon rush hour where everyone is either returning home in central Austin from the suburban offices, or they are flocking to downtown hang out since it is really the only such destination in Austin. So if the goal was to reduce highway traffic then the need to get people to/from central Austin to the SW Parkway in the south or Research BLVD/Prmer LN in the north would be the priority.

But I'm not sure that it is being planned as purely a commuter rail. That is more the job for like the Redline heavy rail. Downtown Austin really isn't like the other cities in Texas. It isn't just a employment center. Offices downtown are discouraged and have been for decades. On weekdays the number of people downtown increases sharply after 5pm. And there are far more people in downtown on weekends than weekdays.

What downtown needs is a better mode of transportation to get around downtown provided in a manor that doesn't just make the congestion in the area worse. From UT to the CBD to Barton Springs. Trying to figure out a light rail that will work as a commuter rail is a mistake IMO. The employment bases in the suburbs are just spread out over far to great an area up north. It would be way to expensive, and some major areas like Round Rock won't allow Austin or Capitol Metro to do anything and operate within their ETJ.
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Last edited by BevoLJ; Sep 3, 2012 at 12:28 PM.
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