Transportation - Haggard Earth

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Transportation; Hits: 177

TRANSPORTATION As New York Congestion Pricing Turns a Corner, Experts Point to Lessons From London. New York City is reviving its plan to charge a fee for driving in congested areas. Experts say policymakers can learn from a similar program in London. Inside Climate News Kiley Price November 15, 2024 On Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the revival of a program that aims to ease New York City’s notoriously high levels of traffic and improve air quality by charging drivers a toll to enter certain areas. Known as congestion pricing, the tolling strategy will channel funding directly into the city’s ailing public transit system. The decision comes five months after Hochul, a Democrat, paused congestion pricing, citing the potential economic impact for working families. She previously stated that stalling the program had nothing to do with backlash the plan had received from political leaders, primarily in the Republican Party.

The newly resuscitated plan comes at a 40 percent lower price tag for drivers than the original proposal, charging passenger cars $9 once a day to enter Midtown and Lower Manhattan during peak hours. Environmentalists still mark the decision as a tentative win that could help reduce New York’s air pollution and carbon footprint by supporting public transit. Meanwhile, a coalition of Republicans has pledged to do whatever it takes to block congestion pricing if President-elect Donald Trump can’t nix it himself after his January inauguration. Though New York’s approach is the first of its kind in the nation, it’s not the first in the world. Across the Atlantic, London has been running a congestion pricing program for more than two decades, which experts say can help other cities like New York understand what these fees can achieve—and what they cannot.

Across the Pond........In 2003, London’s then-mayor, Ken Livingstone, launched England’s first congestion pricing structure. It charged drivers a daily fee of £5 to enter a zone in the city’s center during working hours. A year later, the program was hailed as a smashing success. Traffic congestion within the central zone dropped by a staggering 30 percent, and the government added 300 vehicles to London’s bus fleet, according to Transport for London, the city’s transportation department. “This is the only thing that I have done or been associated with in 33 years of public life that has turned out better than I thought it would,” Livingstone said at the time. However, as the toll expanded to include more zones and higher tolls over the next two decades, an interesting pattern emerged: Congestion returned to roughly the same level it was before the toll was implemented. City leaders said this was because they had converted several car lanes into walkways, bus lanes and biking areas, which squeezed traffic.

But David Metz, an honorary professor in the Center for Transport Studies at University College London, offered a different explanation. Congestion pricing worked so well when it was first implemented that the de-clogged toll roads became more appealing for drivers—at least for those who could afford it, he said. “The net effect is a kind of a redistribution of road space towards those who are willing to pay and away from those who are less willing or unable to pay,” Metz told me. In the 1990s, Metz spent five years as the chief scientist at the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport, and more recently authored the book “Good To Go? Decarbonising Travel After the Pandemic.”“When you introduce any new innovation, you have an immediate impact, and then the system settles down and equilibrates,” he said......read on https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15112024/todays-climate-congestion-pricing-revived-new-york-london/

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Transportation; Hits: 204

RENEWABLES A green model in Africa. Kenya exports renewable energy technology, modernises transport, and drives innovation. Adding power where it doesn’t exist. EIB By Chris Knight 12 March 2024 Standing on a pedestrian bridge above one of Nairobi’s busiest roads, Ann Masiga watches a stream of private minibuses ferry commuters to their homes around the city. Even a few metres above the traffic, the air is thick with gasoline and diesel fumes. Masiga is working hard with the Kenyan government to fix the disorganised transit service and the bad air. “Better transport, water and energy, these are all big deals for this country,” says Masiga, a loan officer in Nairobi for the European Investment Bank. “Poor infrastructure or poor transport systems are an impediment to everything — getting kids to school, getting a job, getting food, getting to the hospital. I don’t get tired of focusing on these issues because my work has a positive impact on many ordinary Kenyans.” One of Masiga’s biggest projects in 2023 is a new rapid-transit bus network for the capital.

Currently without any formal transport system, Nairobi will soon have modern bus terminals, platforms to get on and off buses easily, well-lit bus stops, paths for pedestrians and bicyclists, and dedicated bus lanes on the overcrowded highways. The project includes one of the first all-electric bus lines in East Africa. Masiga was a key part of the European Investment Bank team that prepared a €201 million loan for the electric line. The deal includes a €32 million grant from the European Union.“We're going to really make a difference to the Nairobi public service system,” says Masiga, whose career as a public servant is inspired by her mother, Elizabeth Semo Masiga, a pioneer for women’s education in Kenya and the first female permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education. “It will have a knock-on effect that could change transport systems throughout the country.”

Linking climate and innovation in Kenya......The new electric bus line is a measure of how closely Kenya’s future is linked to climate action and innovative technologies. A leader in renewable energy, the country is increasing its investments in green technology, as well as encouraging businesses to be innovative and more willing to look across the continent for opportunities and growth. The country is developing initiatives to boost food supply, support small farms, improve exports, and be more inclusive towards disadvantaged parts of society. The electric bus is a key artery in the body of this forward-looking Kenya, where maize farmers walk through fields with their eyes trained on mobile apps to improve yields. Where mango producers use state-of-the-art cold-storage technology to preserve crops. And the country’s advanced geothermal plants are the model for renewable energy programmes replicated all over Africa.....read on https://www.eib.org/en/essays/kenya-renewable-energy-transport-innovation

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Transportation; Hits: 216

London saw a surprising benefit to fining high-polluting cars: More active kids. Four in 10 London children stopped driving and started walking to school a year after the city's clean air zone went into effect. Grist Syris ValentineSep 17, 2024 Restricting the volume of high-emitting vehicles roaming city streets carries many benefits, from clearing the air to quieting the urban din and beyond. Recognition of this simple fact has led to the proliferation of clean air zones, designated regions within a city where vehicles must meet strict pollution standards or pay a fee to operate within it. At last count, over 300 such areas had been established across Europe. In London, which boasts the largest ultra-low emissions zone in the world, a study has found a secondary benefit: Kids started walking and biking to school more. Though research focused on understanding how lightening a city’s pollution load shaped the way young lungs develop, participants completed questionnaires alongside their annual health assessments. The responses allowed researchers to glean insights into their subjects’ activity levels, mental health, and other ancillary outcomes.

In the first of many papers expected from the study, the researchers found that, a year after the ultra-low emissions zone took effect, 2 out of every 5 London students in the study had switched from “passive” to “active” ways of getting to school. So instead of being chauffeured to school by their parents, the students started walking, biking, scootering, or taking public transit. On the other hand, in Luton, which acted as a control group, 1 in 5 made the same switch to modes that got them up and active, but an equal proportion switched to passive travel. But in London’s ultra-low emissions zone, shifting to driving was rare.The implications of getting kids active, even if it’s just for their pre-class commute, are intuitive but important. Despite the benefits that stem from emissions-control zones like this, the legal environment in the United States has erected immense obstacles to replicating something like London’s ultra-low emissions zone. The closest anyone’s come was a voluntary and short-lived zero emissions delivery zone pilot in Santa Monica, California. And then there was New York City’s ill-fated congestion pricing zone, which Governor Kathy Hochul axed before it had a chance to woo the opposition......read on https://grist.org/cities/london-fining-polluting-cars-more-active-kids/ And there's more..... Critics of congestion pricing often end up supporting it. Here’s why.

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Transportation; Hits: 426

The Advantages of Rail vs Truck Shipping RMI April 1, 2024 Finding the optimal shipping modes and routes can help you reduce shipping costs substantially and improve the efficiency of your supply chain. Rail and truck are the most common shipping modes across land. However, finding which shipping type is right for your materials and your business can be a challenge. Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of rail vs truck shipping to see which one is best for you. We’ve updated this blog post in 2024 to help you research the advantages of rail shipping vs truck shipping more easily.

The Advantages of Rail vs Truck Shipping
Cost: Advantage for Rail Shipping. When it comes to cost, rail transportation has the advantage. Rail shipping is much more cost-effective than truck shipping for several reasons. Rail is a much more fuel-efficient mode of transportation. Railcars can also carry much more volume than trucks. The below information is gathered from the Association of American Railroads. About 83 million more trucks would be needed to move freight in the United States if railroads did not move freight. Trucks also require about four times more fuel than rail to handle the freight shipping needs that Americans rely on everyday Environmental Impact: Advantage to Rail

Businesses and consumers are both increasingly prioritizing a strong environmental stance. Rail transit, compared to trucking, can significantly reduce the energy costs, carbon emissions, and pollution associated with transit.

Since rail cars can hold three to four truckloads of cargo, a single freight train can haul a load that would otherwise require over 300 trucks.
In the US, freight trains can move one ton of goods approximately 470 miles on a single gallon of fuel, compared to trucking’s approximately 134 miles per gallon of diesel.
Businesses that seek to change their supply chain in favor of sustainability are looking at rail as an eco-friendly transportation mode. On average, rail is four times more fuel efficient than trucks.
Rail emits 75% fewer GHG emissions than truck shipping

This fuel-efficiency can also help to reduce transportation costs significantly, while also reducing environmental impacts. When it comes to environmental impacts of rail vs truck, rail easily wins out.

Speed: Advantage to Trucking

When comparing the speed of rail vs trucking shipping, the advantage goes to trucking. Extensive highways allow trucks to (usually) follow a shorter path between two points and deliver their cargo faster. Trucks are also generally easier to load and unload. However, the speed advantage of trucking over rail starts to fade over longer distances.Railroads utilize a network of track that includes large rail yards, which are a series of tracks for sorting, storing loading, and unloading of railcars. These vast yards are filled with railcars waiting for their next move, and these delays often mean rail is not as fast of a freight delivery mode when compared to trucking.Railcars also experience dwell time on a weekly basis. Dwell time refers to the amount of time a railcar spends waiting at a terminal to move to its next destination. According to the RSI Industry Yard Dwell report for the week of February 28th, 2024, railcars experience an average of 22.8 hours in weekly dwell time.

Flexibility: Advantage to Trucking

Flexibility is the main advantage of trucking. While railcars must travel along fixed rail routes, trucks have access to a much wider range of roads and highways. This means that trucks are capable of accessing many more loading and unloading points across the nation. Trucks can also find a direct path more easily, while railcars may have to divert around some areas where rail infrastructure isn’t available.

Safety: Advantage for Rail.....read on https://www.rsilogistics.com/blog/the-advantages-of-rail-vs-truck-shipping/

Details: Written by: Glenn and Rick; Category: Transportation; Hits: 183

Transportation demand management (TDM), or simply demand management, is defined as a set of strategies aimed at maximizing traveler choices. Traditionally, TDM has been narrowly defined as commuter ridesharing and its planning application restricted to air quality mitigation (conformity analysis), development mitigation (reducing trip generation rates and parking needs), or efforts to increase multi-modalism in transportation plans. A more contemporary definition of TDM consists of maximizing travel choices, as stated in the definition provided in an FHWA report on TDM: Managing demand is about providing travelers, regardless of whether they drive alone, with travel choices, such as work location, route, time of travel and mode. In the broadest sense, demand management is defined as providing travelers with effective choices to improve travel reliability. While transportation systems management and operations is an umbrella term for a set of strategies that includes transportation demand management, it is helpful to focus on specific needs for integrating TDM into existing activities that are carried out under the transportation planning process by States, metropolitan planning organizations, and local agencies. TDM can be effectively integrated into the planning processes at all levels using an objectives-driven, performance-based approach that includes a process for setting specific, measurable objectives for TDM......READ THE COMPREHENSIVE STUDY & REPORT....... https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/plan4ops/trans_demand.htm#:~:text=Traditionally%2C%20TDM%20has%20been%20narrowly,multi%2Dmodalism%20in%20transportation%20plans.

Metro Vancouver Regional Transportation Plans and Projects.......Our vision is to create a better place to live that is built on transportation excellence. Guided by our regional transportation strategy, we work to connect the region and enhance its livability by providing a system network of sustainable transportation......check out all the projects...... https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects?page=1&pageSize=10&sort=Date

New York Congestion Pricing Turns a Corner, Experts Point to Lessons From London.

Kenya Exports Renewable Energy Technology, Modernises Transport, and drives Innovation.

London saw a Surprising Benefit to Fining High-polluting Cars: More Active Kids.

The Advantages of Rail vs Truck Shipping

Transportation demand management (TDM)- Strategies aimed at Maximizing Traveler Choices.

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