Headline News
Join our mailing list to receive a weekly transportation news round-up, plus Berkeley Transportation Quarterly, our research news publication.
-
...This week, the city will introduce six fully electric taxis into the fleet as part of a pilot program intended primarily to answer a single question: Can yellow-taxi drivers, conditioned to squeeze every fare-generating second out of their shift, find the time to plug in their vehicle while on the job? “It’s to figure out how a taxi driver can integrate 60 to 90 minutes of charging into a day,” David S. Yassky, the city’s taxi commissioner, said in a telephone interview. “Frankly, just as important, it’s to show other taxi drivers that it can be done.”
New York Times -
...Gone are the days when buyers in China, the world’s largest car market since 2009, mostly purchased fuel-sipping compacts and subcompacts. Their shift toward larger and ever-more-numerous vehicles is not only driving up China’s oil import bill and contributing to pollution but is also fattening automakers’ profits — and manufacturers made clear over the weekend that they plan to infuse the market with large vehicles.
New York Times -
It was a tough start to the week for many air travelers as federal budget cuts led to cascading delays along the East Coast Monday morning. Some flights out of New York and Washington were delayed by more than two hours as the Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground. The federal agency has said furloughs of air traffic controllers could lead to delays if there weren't enough people to monitor busy air corridors.
AP/SF Chronicle -
After years of determining in absentia how portable devices connect to cars (it’s called “iPod integration” for a reason), Apple became an official automotive supplier when it announced Siri Eyes Free last June. Ten months down the road, only GM has implemented the feature, which uses the car’s on-board voice-recognition hardware as a pass-through to Apple’s cloud-based iPhone “virtual assistant.”
Wired -
A reader writes that a 2005 model Prius went 530,000 miles and would still be on the road today if it hadn't been rear-ended. The only problem the owner had with the battery was a cooling issue that occurred due to dog hair sucked into and clogging the battery cooling fan located below the rear seat...
Mercury News -
...The two massive machines — which each are more than 300-feet long — will take about four to six weeks to assemble once they arrive from China, according to Sarah Wilson, an engineer on the project. Once built, the machines will be dropped into a launch box below Fourth Street, where they will start drilling at about 40 feet per day, Wilson said...Along with heralding the arrival of its tunnel-boring machines, Muni recently announced the return of bids for a massive construction project. All three bids for the work, which includes the construction of three Central Subway stations, came back significantly higher than the agency’s original estimate.
SF Examiner -
...The extra money would be used to improve and maintain aging roads, freeways and public transit systems and to fight traffic congestion. Alameda County leaders say they are anxious to ask voters again to double the county transportation sales tax from a half-cent to 1 cent -- the highest rate in Northern California. The incrase lost at the polls in November by fewer than 700 votes. Contra Costa leaders ...say they may opt for an increase, as well.
Oakland Tribune -
On Wednesday, Caltrans will update the Metropolitan Transportation Commission on the cause of the failure of 32 anchor rods designed to connect pier columns and the deck of the new Bay Bridge span for earthquake stability...it's time for caltrans to detail and document what it knows so far, what it's doing to find a solution, what the failure might suggest about problems on the bridge, and which outside experts have been brought in to ensure the review is accurate and impartial."
Contra Costa Times -
...Seniors would kill for these vehicles," said Tom Sawyer, 73. "I would be more than happy to trade my slower reflexes and declining peripheral and nighttime vision for an automated chauffer whose mind doesn't wander." ...The Department of Motor Vehicles held a workshop Friday in Sacramento to seek public input on possible regulations, and a number of motorists are warming to the idea of the George Jetson age of automated travel."
Mercury News -
California's high-speed rail authority changed its rules for selecting a company to build the first phase of the bullet train in a way that allowed a California bidder to emerge as the lead candidate despite having the lowest technical rating for safety and design quality, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Mercury News