news>>Friday Headlines
Here are newspaper and magazine stories, news releases and other items relevant to San Francisco Bay Area transportation. This list was last revised on November 13, 2009 and covers the period dating back to November 7. Go to previous listing. Every Friday, ITS sends out an email alert with the headlines of the items posted thatweek, along with occasional ITS-related news. Request the Friday Headlines alert. The other online publication from ITS is NewsBITS, the quarterly newsletter of ITS Berkeley. Subscribe to NewsBITS. This week's pick: A Reality Check on High-Speed Rail in California November 20 For the Volt, How’s Life After 40 (Miles)? If I were out on a desolate Interstate in a vehicle powered solely by batteries, I’d be praying to the god of electrons for a place to pull off and plug in a charging cord. But my drive is at General Motors’ proving grounds here, and I’m about to experience what the Volt’s vehicle line director (and my passenger), Tony Posawatz, says is the car’s trump card: a gasoline-powered generator under the hood...With the dashboard icon signaling my final mile of range, I point the Volt toward a hill and wait for the sound and feel of the generator engine’s four pistons to chime in. (New York Times) BART to trim 70 to 80 jobs, but perhaps without layoffs: Without cost cutting, the district will have a $26 million budget deficit by June 30 because of declining sales tax revenues and ridership, transit managers told the board. Housing bust halts growing suburbs: The recession and housing collapse have halted four decades of double-digit growth for nearly half of the nation's biggest rapidly expanding suburbs...The 2010 Census will reveal whether new bedroom communities are emerging at the far edges of metropolitan areas or if growth will occur in older boomburbs that transform into more urbanized centers. (USA Today) November 19 Fantasy tops reality: Schwarzenegger's foolish request to help high-speed rail. (Editorial, MediaNews) It may be too late for buyer's remorse: IF NOTHING ELSE, the angst over the feared impacts of high-speed rail construction along the Peninsula has reinforced a tenet that is frequently ignored: Know what you're voting for. (Opinion, San Mateo County Times) Study finds higher air pollution near Santa Monica Airport: UCLA researchers find ultrafine particle emissions are 10 times higher than normal 300 feet from the runway -- a range that includes many homes. The study calls for larger buffers at urban airports. (LA Times) Placentia to settle Caltrans claim over failed rail project: The tentative agreement calls for the city to pay $5.5 million for allegedly misspending more than $36 million in state funds to finance the now-defunct OnTrac project. (LA Times) Truckers say Bay Area bridge toll hike will jack up consumer costs: Bay Area truckers say a proposal to increase their bridge tolls by anywhere from $5 to $41.50 per trip ultimately would force them to charge more for delivering products, raising prices for consumers. Livermore residents want BART to keep trains near the freeway: About 100 residents converged on the Livermore City Council chambers Wednesday to comment on BART's recently released draft program environmental impact report on the project, which explores a number of routes through Livermore. One after another, concerned residents at the hearing decried the possibility of any route that would "cut through backyards." November 18 Retrofit cuts diesel exhaust of train by 50%: Locomotive No. 2015, built in 2001, was retrofitted with high-tech power assemblies, water pumps and radiators designed to slash emissions by up to 50 percent. The project, unveiled at the Amtrak station in West Oakland on Tuesday morning, cost $826,000 and was paid for by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the Sacramento Metro Air Quality Management District and the EPA. Tiburon council vote on license plate recorders: Safety and privacy concerns are set to collide tonight in Tiburon, where leaders will vote on whether to make their community the first in the Bay Area, and perhaps the country, to record the license plate of every car that enters or leaves town. No more money, no extensions for Port of Oakland haulers: That was grim news for about 1,000 independent drivers who handle about a third of the trucks hauling cargo into and out of the port. They could be out of a job Jan. 1 because they cannot afford to replace their old rigs with expensive new ones or spend as much as $21,000 for a truck filter that is only good for four years. More travelers must choose Oakland, San Jose airports to avoid lengthy delays at San Francisco airport: Delays at SFO gradually will climb and reach an average of 21 minutes by 2035, up from 6 minutes in 2007, if the airport continues its recent dominance in attracting travelers, said aviation consultants hired by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Fantasy tops reality: Schwarzenegger's foolish request to help high-speed rail: GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger has killed an effort to seek $1.1 billion in stimulus money for a number of practical rail projects. Instead he is focusing all his attention of obtaining federal funds for the proposed bullet train from San Francisco to Southern California. Let's hope Washington has the sense to say no to the governor. (Editorial, Oakland Tribune) Fewer vehicles on Market speeds Muni service: Muni service has sped up by about a minute on Market Street along the stretch involved in the trial program that aims to limit vehicle traffic along the busy artery to downtown. 710 Freeway tunnel would be feasible, Caltrans study finds: The preliminary survey examines five proposed underground areas for the final phase of the freeway and presents the challenges of each. Public hearings will be held before the report is finalized. (LA Times) AAA: Thanksgiving travel to go up, air travel down. Setting out NextGen's next steps: In September, after six months of deliberation, more than 300 expert members of the US Next Generation Air Transportation System Mid-Term Implementation Task Force (TF) presented their recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on handling the 2009-18 intermediate transition phase to NextGen, prior to its eventual full operation around 2015. (Jane's) All-electronic tolls coming to Fla.'s Turnpike: Drivers on a 47-mile stretch of Florida's Turnpike won't have to stop or slow down to pay tolls starting in 2011. November 17 A Reality Check on High-Speed Rail in California Commuter rail hits the skids...: The train is leaving the station for federal stimulus funds and, once again, it appears that California commuter rail will be taking up the rear. (Editorial, Sacramento Bee) ...While a visionary of local rail retires: The Capitol Corridor stretches 170 miles through eight counties from Auburn and Sacramento to Oakland and San Jose. Just three round trips a day when it started in 1991, it offers 16 round trips today thanks in large part to Eugene Skoropowski, one of California's modern visionaries. (Editorial, Sacramento Bee) Top execs urge U.S. to invest in electric cars: A group of businessmen on Monday launched a coalition to urge the federal government to make a major investment in electric transportation, pointing to electric cars as the best way to confront the nation's dependence on imported oil. Cyclists' app aids traffic planners: If you see bicyclists wobbling through the city streets with an iPhone in hand, don't assume they're playing Bejeweled or IMing their virtual pals while they pedal. They may be using Cycle Tracks, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority's new - and first - application for the Apple iPhone. Once bike riders install the app, they tap the "start recording" button, which begins tracking their trips and displaying them on a city map. When they're done pedaling, they hit the "save" button, and the details of their journeys are sent to the authority, as well as saved in the user's iPhone. The app uses GPS to track riders' routes. Shuttle services could see new regulations: As private shuttle companies become an increasingly common sight in San Francisco neighborhoods, raising concerns about congestion, safety and noise, The City is raising the possibility of regulating the services. Derailment continues to disrupt Muni service: Muni Metro service has been disrupted as a result of two incidents, including a train derailment inside the Twin Peaks tunnel, officials said. U.S. airlines avoiding role in climate change: As the Congress considers historic climate change legislation and diplomats prepare for December's U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, it is time that the domestic airline industry stops trying to fly above the debate over how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Opinion, Chronicle) An opera about a freeway? Los Angeles Opera said today that it will present two workshop performances of a new commission called "The 110 Project," an opera that tells the stories of the communities along L.A.'s 110 Freeway, which runs from the Pasadena area, past downtown and all the way to San Pedro. (LA Times) Paying More for Flights Eases Guilt, Not Emissions: “The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Justin Francis, the managing director of Responsible Travel, one of the world’s largest green travel companies to embrace environmental sustainability, said in an interview. “It’s seductive to the consumer who says, ‘It’s $4 and I’m carbon-neutral, so I can fly all I want.’” World's carbon emissions continue rise, despite recession: Despite a global economic slump, worldwide carbon dioxide pollution jumped 2% last year, most of the increase coming from China, according to a study published online Tuesday. (USA Today) MIT Robot Rides Shotgun to Make Us Happier Drivers: The Affective Intelligent Driving Agent, Aida, would analyze our driving habits, keeping track of frequent routes and destinations to provide real-time traffic info, and make friendly suggestions along the way. It also could give gentle reminders to buckle up, watch our speed or slow down for that school bus up ahead. The idea is to change how we interact with our vehicles and the ever-increasing amount of information we have to process while driving. (Wired) Copenhagen climate change talks stall as CO2 emissions rise: The Copenhagen summit on climate change is looking less likely to produce a binding CO2 emissions reduction agreement as a new study finds that global carbon dioxide emissions increased 29 percent in the past nine years. (Christian Science Monitor) November 16 N-Judah project hits snag: Completion of the first leg of a rail replacement project for San Francisco's busy N-Judah line was hit by a delay today, forcing riders to rely on replacement shuttle bus service at least through Monday. Obama seeks to tighten public transit standards: Citing an increase in the number of subway and light-rail crashes and resulting passenger injuries, the Obama administration will push for legislation that would allow the federal government to set and enforce safety standards on the nation's transit systems, officials said Sunday. Fremont drops roads rating from 'good' to 'fair': The City Council lowered street pavement condition standards from "good" to "fair" this month because it doesn't have enough money to properly maintain Fremont's 493 miles of roads. Traffic information on city streets is now available: I just found that Google Maps has a great traffic option. The display is in the style of 511.org, with an outline of the major roads color-coded to correspond to real-time traffic flow and icons which display traffic incidents. But the Google site does 511.org one better... After decades of waiting, their trains have arrived: A sense of kinship and progress in East Los Angeles as riders and residents celebrate the opening of the Gold Line extension. The area had long been among the most transit-dependent yet underserved. (LA Times) Which is the best way west for L.A.'s subway? Wilshire or West Hollywood? As a subway extension draws closer to reality, the debate over the route intensifies. (LA Times) Water still divides the state: California's biggest statewide problem is -- and always has been -- how to share water. But it's really a local issue. (LA Times) Jobs lost in transportation: A report released Friday by the Associated General Contractors of America states that 44 percent of contractors anticipate having to layoff additional permanent employees due to overall economic conditions. Eyebar failures call into question bridge construction: We've all seen the problems caused by a critical design flaw on the Bay Bridge -- days of closures because of a cracked eyebar. So what about other bridges of similar design? Federal law mandates inspections just every couple of years, however, based on what has happened on the Bay Bridge, is that sufficient? (ABC7) An Air-Traffic Upgrade to Improve Travel by Plane: Up in the cockpit, Larry Van Hoy, a Federal Aviation Administration pilot, was flying low-tech...Back in the passenger cabin of the same plane, a Bombardier Global 5000, Wilson N. Felder, director of the F.A.A.’s William J. Hughes Technical Center, was flying in the cockpit of the future. All’s fare in travel by bus: Cheaper prices, free access to the Internet, driving local, US ridership higher. (Boston Globe) Autonomous Cars Will Make Us Safer: Automakers have since 1939 been promising us autonomous cars that would take driving out of our hands and make traffic accidents a thing of the past. Seventy years later, we’re still waiting. (Wired) November 15 Public rides free Sunday on Gold Line Eastside rail extension: The $898-million project is lauded at formal dedication ceremonies. The six-mile route goes from downtown L.A. through Boyle Heights and into East Los Angeles. California's port dominance slipping away: Dan Walters column (Sacramento Bee) Federal oversight of subways proposed: Red Line crash spurred safety plan Obama administration to push for Congress to change law. (Washington Post) China Solar Panel Maker Sets First U.S. Plant: "[Suntech's] decision to bring manufacturing here to the U.S. is a great sign of the increasingly important collaboration between Chinese and American leaders in the renewable-energy industry," said Dan Kammen, a professor in the energy and resources group at the University of California at Berkeley, in a statement provided by Suntech. (BusinessWeek) November 14 New bridge bypass throws a curve at drivers: "People tend to go on autopilot when they're driving a road they're accustomed to," said Simon Washington, director of the safety transportation research and education center. "They're used to a straight bridge; now they have a curve. Speed is definitely an issue on curves." Caltrans has called in Washington to advise on whether the agency needs to take other measures. Marin transit likely to reduce service: Concerned about a projected $16 million deficit over the next 10 years, the Marin Transit District board of directors is expected to trim service at a meeting on Monday. Metrolink
board chooses to delay decision on proposed 6% fare hike: Highway 101 bike path in San Rafael delayed: Initially scheduled to be completed toward the end of summer, Caltrans is now aiming for mid-February 2010. El Monte takes over $1 billion transit village in wake of fraud investigation: Standing at the aging El Monte Bus station, looking out at the sea of worn parking spaces, it may be hard to imagine what city officials envision for the area - a village of condominiums, stores, office buildings, and a state-of-the-art bus station...The city is in the process of taking over the project, known as El Monte Transit Village, from the scandal-plagued private developer, Transit Village LLC, a subsidiary of Titan Development. Much of the 60-acre project sits on city land west of Santa Anita Avenue between the 10 Freeway and Valley Boulevard. New Technology Allows Enforcement of Anti-Texting Legislation: Drive Safely Corporation (DSC) is unveiling its unique Anti-Messaging Technology (AMT), which will enable the government to enforce proposed legislation that seeks to eradicate driving while texting. ..AMT, developed by Drive Safely Corp., utilizes Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) data to ascertain whether the user’s mobile phone is in a moving vehicle. Netherlands To Tax Drivers By the Kilometer: The Dutch government wants to abolish ownership and sales taxes on automobiles and instead levy a fee on every kilometer driven. The Transport Ministry says the move will cut congestion in half and curb carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent. (Wired)
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