transportland

[transportland]

Regal Union Station.

[transportland]

December 2014 report on some of the barriers to low-income people using bikeshare and carshare. These include access to bank accounts, location of stations, and the learning curve.

[transportland]

After a £200K feasibility study on wireless charging concluded this year, Highways England is investing £500MM in the next five years on trials that will fit vehicles and procure equipment. The system will use wireless technology to charge electric vehicles while they are moving, eliminating concerns about using electric vehicles for long-distance transport. Highways England is also committed to installing charging stations along motorways every 20 miles in the “longer term.”

[transportland]

Still perhaps my favorite public transport ride in the world. Manhattan to Staten Island, 10:30am departure. April 18, 2015

[transportland]

“Our goal—unlike Uber and Bridj and Leap Transit and all those—is not to supplant them or nibble around edges and take their overflow but to really fix this fundamental issue of the fixed-route-only model.”

TransLoc Is Helping Mass Transit Stand Up to Uber and Leap (via thisiscitylab)

[transportland]

The chairman of California's costly and controversial infrastructure project explains why (in his view) it actually will get built—and whether its champion, 77-year-old Governor Jerry Brown, is likely to be able to take a ride.

[transportland]

Technology And The Way Forward

My summary of a a “Future of Transportation” session I did at SXSW.

[transportland]

Urbanists like to think that the American mall is a relic. But the truth is that until more suburbs redevelop to become denser and walkable, the mall is the best communal—though not really public, alas—space that we’ve got.

Shopping Malls Aren’t Actually Dying (via thisiscitylab)

[transportland]

One of the biggest attractions was the bike itself. Rather than using inexpensive equipment that proved vulnerable to vandalism and breakdowns, the industrial designer Michel Dallaire came up with a durable, if costly, aluminum bike.

The Uphill Push to Save a Bikeshare Pioneer

Ian Austen, NYT January 11, 2015

[transportland]

The Blaze Light projects a green image of a bike a few feet in front of its wheel, effectively elongating the bike's footprint on the road and warning...

[transportland]

The Politics of the Silver Line, Politico

Dante Chinni, May 29, 2014

"Admittedly, there’s a chicken-and-egg question here. Do densely populated places lure people with a more Democratic sensibility? Or, as places become more densely populated, do people themselves start to lean leftward? The numbers suggest it’s probably a bit of both.

But in the case of Loudoun and the Silver Line, such poli-sci debates are hardly relevant. There are two true facts. Loudoun is growing more densely populated and more Democratic. And the Silver Line seems poised to make both those facts even truer."

[transportland]

Google's functional prototype car: no brakes, steering wheel, pedals.  Introduced at the Code conference.

[transportland]

Helsinki residents can order a mini-bus on their cell phone with Kutsu, Helsinki's on-demand transport system.  Users select their start and end destination and can opt into a private or (presumably less expensive) shared ride.  The application automatically calculates the most efficient routes.  h/t Trendwatching.

[transportland]

The least electronic car I’ve driven in a long time.  Manual shift, manual lock, manual door, manual steering.  Perfectly content.  Some sort of tiny little Hyundai, and all I needed down to Tulum & back.

[transportland]

Emergency responders after the May 2, 2014 derailment of a MTA train in Queens, New York.

F Train Derailment, May 2, 2014, a set by MTAPhotos on Flickr.

Dramatic photos from today’s F train derailment in Queens