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the scramble or barnes dance is ordered back in nys for school crosswalks in nyc and buffalo:
State Senate passes bill to establish ‘scramble’ crosswalks outside NYC schools By Ben Brachfeld Posted on March 14, 2023 A bill that the state Senate passed on Monday would require New York City to implement “scramble” crosswalks outside all of its schools, allowing little ones to safely cross the street without the specter of auto traffic. The legislation, passed unanimously by Albany’s upper chamber, requires cities with populations of over 250,000 — a threshold met only by New York City and Buffalo — requires intersections outside schools to be converted into scramble crosswalks, where vehicle traffic is stopped on all sides and pedestrians can cross in any direction, including diagonally. more: https://www.amny.com/transit/state-s...s-nyc-schools/ |
No suprise
March 18, 2023
AP Report: ‘Pro-Moscow Voices Tried to Steer Ohio Train Disaster Debate’ Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief “Soon after a [Norfolk Southern] train derailed and spilled toxic chemicals in Ohio last month, anonymous pro-Russian accounts started spreading misleading claims and anti-American propaganda about it on Twitter, using Elon Musk’s new [Twitter Blue] verification system to expand their reach while creating the illusion of credibility,” Associated Press reporter David Klepper wrote on March 18. “The accounts, which parroted Kremlin talking points on myriad topics, claimed without evidence that authorities in Ohio were lying about the true impact of the chemical spill. The accounts spread fear-mongering posts that preyed on legitimate concerns about pollution and health effects and compared the response to the derailment with America’s support for Ukraine following its invasion by Russia.” Klepper reported that some of the claims pushed by the pro-Russian accounts “were verifiably false, such as the suggestion that the news media had covered up the disaster or that environmental scientists traveling to the site had been killed in a plane crash. But most were more speculative, seemingly designed to stoke fear or distrust. Examples include unverified maps showing widespread pollution, posts predicting an increase in fatal cancers and others about unconfirmed mass animal die-offs.” Rest of story |
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While I'm no fan of closing GAP to cars, I do agree on placing bus lanes along Flatbush Ave. Flatbush Ave isn't Broadway in Manhattan, in which Broadway is actually a tourist attraction, while Flatbush Ave is like Broad St in Philadelphia, Woodward Ave in Detroit, Michigan Ave in Chicago, and New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia Aves in DC in that those arteries serve to circulate all traffic into their respective downtowns, whether you like car traffic, or not. You can reduce the amount of lanes, which is fine, but completely removing all car lanes from those streets is a pipe dream. The automobile will change and if there's a wheel-less hovering car, so be it, but automobiles will stay in the conscious of the America mind. Quote:
It's way too much to do all that and the price tag would be in the hundreds of billions and it would be shot down in the NYC Council just because of the expense alone. I'd rather reduce the amount of car lanes than completely close off GAP to auto traffic. Like it or not, the car traffic does give GAP some life and some personality. I say this as a former Brooklynite. I'd rather look into adding bus lanes on Flatbush Ave than a superfluous pipe dream such as closing GAP to auto traffic. |
MARTA moves forward with Atlanta Streetcar extension
A MARTA board committee Thursday approved plans for an Atlanta Streetcar extension to Ponce City Market... selecting the streetcar as the “locally preferred alternative” for the route. "The 2-mile extension would run along Edgewood Avenue to the Atlanta Beltline at Irwin Street, then up to the market at Ponce De Leon Avenue. It would operate in traffic along the streets and in its own right of way on the Beltline. It includes five proposed stations." https://i0.wp.com/roughdraftatlanta....24%2C639&ssl=1 |
wow!
‘World’s longest’ purpose-built cycling tunnel opens in Norway By Maureen O'Hare, CNN Updated 6:44 AM EDT, Tue April 18, 2023 … A three-kilometer-long (1.8-mile) cycling and pedestrian tunnel has been blasted through the base of Løvstakken mountain and its makers say it’s the longest purpose-built tunnel of its kind. Fyllingsdalstunnelen, as it’s known, opened on April 15 with a family day of sporting activities, following four years of construction that began in February 2019. The state-funded mega-project cost close to $29 million, or 300 million Norwegian kroner. “We Norwegians are usually modest people,” Camilla Einarsen Heggernes, a spokesperson for rail company Bybanen Utbygging, tells CNN, “But in this instance we would say that the tunnel is 100% state of the art.” more: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/w...nel/index.html https://www.lifeinnorway.net/wp-cont...nce-tunnel.jpg |
ok — and interesting only 11k known electric cars in the city:
City will build out EV charging hubs at outer borough parking lots By Ben Brachfeld Posted on May 1, 2023 more: https://www.amny.com/transit/city-bu...-parking-lots/ |
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Yeah but just imagine how many birds those will kill and much cancer they will cause...
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmake...night-21d4b815 |
Those rural people do kind of have a point about the blinking lights if I'm being honest.
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Check out this shit! Your commute can be fueled by Chipotle booty.
https://www.mlive.com/news/2023/05/r...outputType=amp |
^ Yet another contribution C.M.G. has made to modern, civilized society.
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Well, this is interesting...
Report of ‘poop rain’ in Burnsville prompts U.S. Rep. Angie Craig to request investigation https://www.twincities.com/2023/05/1...investigation/ |
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New monorail opened in Thailand. I find the first few minutes interesting as he walks into the station etc at just how close the station is to the apartments/housing, I don't think I've seen housing that close to something like a station before.
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American elevated rapid transit in NY, Philadelphia, Chicago have many many areas where the trains and stations are literally just outside the windows of the buildings as it passes through dense neighborhoods. Sometimes its over a major commercial street or an alleyway like in Chicago but in many cases the building is mere feet from the elevated structure.
Here's the Jamaica line in Brooklyn: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...a_Line_012.jpg <><><> |
road use tax instead of gasoline tax —
As fuel taxes plummet, states weigh charging by the mile instead of the tank By JULIE CARR SMYTH COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Evan Burroughs has spent eight years touting the virtues of an Oregon pilot program charging motorists by the distance their vehicle travels rather than the gas it guzzles, yet his own mother still hasn’t bought in. Margaret Burroughs, 85, said she has no intention of inserting a tracking device on her Nissan Murano to record the miles she drives to get groceries or attend needlepoint meetings. She figures it’s far less hassle to just pay at the pump, as Americans have done for more than a century. “It’s probably a good thing, but on top of everybody else’s stress today, it’s just one more thing,” she said of Oregon’s first-in-the-nation initiative, which is run by the state transportation department where her son serves as a survey analyst. Burroughs’ reluctance exemplifies the myriad hurdles U.S. states face as they experiment with road usage charging programs aimed at one day replacing motor fuel taxes, which are generating less each year, in part due to fuel efficiency and the rise of electric cars. more: https://apnews.com/article/gas-tax-h...00e87be95214e1 |
This is great to see. BETA Technologies is based in South Burlington, VT. I was at a University of Vermont happy hour on Tuesday evening and someone from the alumni office mentioned all the good jobs BETA has provided for UVM graduates.
Electric plane chargers being installed at Elmira-Corning Regional Airport By Nicolas Dubina Posted: Jun 28, 2023 WETM https://www.mytwintiers.com/wp-conte...A-AIRCRAFT.jpg Image courtesy of WETM. "ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – Elmira is known as the soaring capital of America. Now, it could also be known for being at the center of the electric aviation revolution. The Chemung County Legislature’s Aviation Committee approved an agreement to plug new charging stations for electric planes into NYSEG’s power grid at the Elmira Corning Regional Airport. The “charging cubes” are being installed by BETA Technologies, an aerospace company based in Vermont that was founded in 2017. The project is a partnership with Atlantic Aviation, a company that specializes in aircraft ground support. The first fully electric planes could start landing later this summer as part of an ongoing test flight program. Pending final certification from the FAA, the first passenger flights are expected to begin in 2025..." https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat...ional-airport/ |
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Gas taxes need to pay for the costs created by all the exhausts in terms of health & environmental damage. A km-tax scaled by weight of vehicle to pay for the construction & maintenance of roads & freeways. |
Air Taxis, Hyped for Years, May Finally Take Off
By Niraj Chokshi 18 July 2023 New York Times "Federal regulators released a plan that would allow a new generation of small aircraft to transport people short distances. For years, flying taxis have represented an exciting but distant dream, fueled in part by industry hype. Now they have a rollout plan and a target arrival date: 2028. In a document published on Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration outlined the steps that it and others need to take to usher in a competitive air taxi market in at least one location by 2028 with limited operations starting as early as 2025. The vehicles look like small airplanes or helicopters and can take off and land vertically, allowing them to operate from the middle of cities, whisking people to airports or vacation destinations like the Hamptons in New York or Cape Cod in Massachusetts..." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/b...-taxi-faa.html |
"Federal regulators released a plan that would allow a new generation of small aircraft to transport very wealthy people short distances."
FIXED. |
I don't know where they will find the pilots to fly these vehicles. We already have a shortage of pilots and I would expect the passengers probably don't want to crash and die, so these companies are going to need to hire experienced pilots.
I also think these companies are significantly underestimating the costs of these flights. |
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The "always pregnant with the future" culture at work.
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very good — especially fulton street —
COMMUNITY & COMMERCE|Jul 21, 2023 PARTS OF DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN TO GET A $40 MILLION MAKEOVER Wider sidewalks, new public art, better bike lanes and more benches are said to be coming soon By Brooklyn Magazine Downtown Brooklyn could be getting a $40 million face-lift that includes redesigned public spaces, new art and improvements for walkers. Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday that the multiagency project is part of his efforts to “reimagine our city, reinvigorate our neighborhoods, and revitalize our business districts: with more room to walk, to bike, and to enjoy retail and restaurants safely,” he said. Roughly $8 million of the project is focused on Fulton Street, which NYC Parks announced will be reinvigorated with new street trees and additional seating that is “contributing to a more attractive streetscape,” the agency said in a release. The remaining $32 million is being spent on a Department of Transportation-led project that adds wider sidewalks for pedestrians and improves traffic safety at five intersections along Flatbush Avenue between Livingston Street and Pacific Street. More protected bike lanes and a dedicated bus-only lane are also being built in that area. more: https://www.bkmag.com/2023/07/21/par...lion-makeover/ |
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hmm —
Hydrogen-powered planes almost ready for takeoff Ars Contributors 08/9/2023 A complete hydrogen fuel cell powertrain assembly occupied the pride of place in the pavilion of Beyond Aero at the recently concluded Paris Air Show. That a fuel cell system was the Toulouse-based startup’s centerpiece at the biennial aero event is an indication of the steps being taken by a range of companies, from startups to multinational corporations, toward realizing the goal of using hydrogen as fuel in the aviation sector. “This 85 kilowatt subscale demonstrator was successfully tested a few months ago. Even though in its current form, it serves only ultralight aviation, the successful test of the powertrain is a crucial step in our technical development path for designing and building a business aircraft,” Beyond Aero co-founder Hugo Tarlé told Ars Technica. Tarlé said that the business aircraft would have a range of 800 nautical miles and will be powered by a 1 MW powertrain. “For generating this power, there won’t be one big megawatt fuel cell. Instead, it will be multiple fuel cells. It will be based on the same technical choices that we made on the subscale demonstrator—i.e. gaseous hydrogen, fuel cell, hybridization of batteries and electric motors." more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2023...r-takeoff/amp/ |
How does U.S. transit support compare to our peers?
https://t4america.org/2023/08/23/how...-to-our-peers/ Quote:
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^ Illuminating
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https://www.theonion.com/al-qaeda-cl...ure-1819572809 |
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Average price for a liter of petrol in Australia is $1.2 USA per litre for July 2023. One litre is equal to 0.2641720524 gal (USA). Therefore, some math follows: $1.2 l / 0.2641720524 l/gal = $4.54 / gal The average price for gasoline in the USA is $3.88 /gal, including excise gas taxes of an average of $0.60/gal, for August 2023. That's an average of 30 cents Federal and 30 cents States. Historically, dating back to the 1950s, gas taxes in the USA was 18 cents per gallon to fund the Interstate Highways at 90%. Before the 1930s, the Feds charged 1 cent per gallon. When Europe and Japan were rebuilding their railroad infrastructure, they had little to no domestic oil. America was not bombed, so the existing railroad infrastructure was intact. Gas was aplenty and cheap, so freeways were built instead. |
Soon, as electric cars become more prevalent, governments will have no choice but to impose per-mile taxes, which I guess might allow us to reset to a more sustainable, higher tax basis. Though I doubt it...
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just another regalur degalur 7am in the bx — :haha:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwLfn...RlODBiNWFlZA== |
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Megalopolis With World’s Worst Traffic Gets Metro After 12-Year Wait
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...r-12-year-wait Quote:
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FTA offers $197M to replace aging public transit rail vehicles
https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news...tation/696238/ Quote:
https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/imgp...czODAuanBn.jpg |
FTA's Love Letter to the Midwest
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Last year, per the project selections and implementation guidance, there were eighteen applications with a combined value of $ 3.5 billion; one would assume that at least the dozen losers from last year will try their luck again. |
This may just be me, but I feel like FTA focuses way too much attention and capital at vehicle replacement instead of system and service expansion. There's exceptions to the rule - and buses obviously don't last as long as rail rolling stock - but there are examples where many zeros are spent replacing vehicles that really could be - and would have historically been - overhauled in-house, thus extending their service life by a decade plus at a fraction of the cost of brand new.
Many metro rolling stock especially have basically endless lifespans as long as they are overhauled. Yes, some replacement programs include technology upgrades that are required when say communications based train control is implemented. But I would like an industry person to tell me whether or not you have to throw the baby out with the bathwater to just mount some sensors, run some new wiring and install new cab controls. Exhibit A is the R-62/R-62A subway cars in NY, honestly some of the finest cars they've ever operated. Most of them were delivered in the mid-1980s and they are scheduled to be replaced in the next five years or so during a multi-billion dollar capital program. In theory I believe the MTA could modernize and upgrade these cars with interior upgrades like new seating, flooring, signage, etc. and overhaul motors, controls, door mechanisms, etc. for much much less than scrapping perfectly usable train cars and starting completely over. You could easily get another 20 years out of them. They are tanks that were built to last. Hell, the R-32 which was finally retired last year could have just kept going and going. One the finest - if not the finest - car they've ever operated. It does make me wonder if agencies are biased towards accepting federal dollars to get shiny new cars for public image sake rather than real necessity. Those scarce dollars could be going into station renovations and other public interface elements. That seems like a much more prudent use of funds to me. |
You can now book an Uber hot-air balloon in Turkey for $159
https://www.businessinsider.com/uber...ourism-2023-10 Quote:
https://i.insider.com/6535daf70487ff...jpeg&auto=webp |
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Seoul’s Solution to ‘Hell Train’ Commutes? Standing Room Only Subway Carriages
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...n?srnd=citylab Quote:
https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/...0/1200x800.jpg |
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