Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: DOT, energy, extrapolations, government estimates, peak oil, s, transportation, vehicle miles traveled
I have no idea. Just throwing that out there as a question.
I do know that quantifying the total amount of driving that has occurred on “all roads” by an entire population is necessarily a dark art, prone to wild extrapolations.
Currently not falling off a cliff, according to DOT.
via (pdf) http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/travel_monitoring/12maytvt/12maytvt.pdf
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: American oil production, crude oil, crude oil production, Econbrowser, energy, James Hamilton, oil production, peak oil, Texas oil production, Texas Railroad Commission, tight oil, transportation, westtexas
A historical perspective.
via Econbrowser and James Hamilton: http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2012/07/shale_oil_and_t.html
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bici, bicycling, bicycling in the city, bike rental, bike share, Bike sharing, bikes, biking, Chris Holben, Citibike, city biking, District of Columbia, NYC, transportation, urban cycling, Washington, Washington D.C.
Whereas, if you look at the actual facts presented in this USA Today article, the bike share program in question is incredibly safe.
Washington’s Capital Bikeshare program began in September 2010, has grown to include more than 1,500 bicycles and recently recorded its 2 millionth ride. At the same time, bicycle-related accidents have increased on city D.C. roads.
Bicycle-related accidents have increased from 312 in 2009 to 601 in 2011, according to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Pedestrian-related accidents also rose from 657 in 2009 to 935 in 2011.
…
Chris Holben , a bicycle program specialist for the District Department of Transportation, says Washington has actually become safer since the number of people riding their bikes has increased. He said only 24 Bikeshare crashes have been reported to police since the program stated.
So that’s roughly 1 reported crash per 100,000 trips! And even those are likely to be minor crashes. Oooh, danger. Hope they’re all wearing their helmets…
Now check out the headline:
via Bike sharing stokes conflict between drivers, cyclists – USATODAY.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle safety, bicycling, bike, Bike accidents, bike commuting, Bike to Work Day, car versus bike, car-bike collisions, common sense, cycling, denver, energy, Linkhart, looked-but-failed-to-see errors, Mayor Hancock, transportation, urban cycling
He was my favorite mayoral candidate. He has almost no TV charisma, which is a major plus for a public official. He would have made a fine mayor. He liked libraries.
Fortunately, he’s fine, but the incident did prompt a conversation between council members and the mayor about road safety regulations and the interactions between cyclists and vehicles.
…During which, of course, scofflaw bicyclists somehow came out the villains, and education and/or reprogramming of scofflaw bicyclists was re-hurled to the tippy top of the bike safety priority list. This even though Linkhart’s crash (1) did not involve a scofflaw bicyclist and (2) car-bike crashes involving adult bicyclists typically do not. The most likely scenario for an adult bicyclist is to be caught out by another road user’s looked-but-failed-to-see error while riding lawfully. But hey, we’ve all seen bicyclists run lights right? People like Mayor Hancock make no attempt to understand the truth about urban cycling safety. Why bother — everyone knows it’s “common sense.” Common sense is good politics. Let’s not let any facts get in the way of our “common sense” about bicycle safety.
According to Linkhart, he was heading west on 23rd Avenue — on a bike route — approaching Downing Street when a pickup truck went to make a left turn and collided with him.
“I was going straight. He turned left in front of me, and…hit me across the side, and I fell down,” Linkhart recalls.
… Linkhart was scraped up badly, his bike got a bit bent and he had to get several stitches in his leg.
“I kinda went flying,” he said. “I kind of plowed into the sidewalk. I had a helmet, which didn’t help.”
Linkhart, going straight, had the right of way over the pickup truck, which was turning left.
23rd and Downing is classic left cross territory. I’ve been through that intersection a hundred times. Got to ‘keep your head on a swivel’ so to speak.
via Westword Doug Linkhart, ex-councilman, hit while cycling to Bike To Work Day event – Denver News – The Latest Word.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: April 2012, bicycling, cars, DOT, peak oil, transportation, urban cycling, USDOT, vehicle miles traveled, Vmt
The latest govt. numbers. April ’12 down a little over April ’11. 53 months and counting.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cargo, diesel, energy, peak oil, transportation, trucking
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 30 8-K, air travel BP, Anderson, Delta Airlines, energy, jet fuel, peak oil, Trainer refinery, transportation
Yeah, I don’t think so.
“We’re probably the largest private purchaser of jet fuel in the United States but we don’t get to participate in the pricing function,” Anderson told reporters after the Delta’s annual meeting in New York. “It’s our intention to begin to participate in the pricing function and put a lot of downward pressure on the cost of refining a barrel of jet fuel.”
The Trainer refinery will produce 52,000 barrels a day of jet fuel, according to slides published in an April 30 8-K filing by the company. Delta will exchange all other products with BP Plc (BP/) and Phillips 66 (PSX) for an additional 120,000 barrels a day of jet fuel in other locations around the country. The airline consumes about 210,000 barrels a day in the U.S.
via Delta CEO Says Airline to Pressure Prices as Jet Fuel Seller – Bloomberg.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: buses, elevated trains, light rail, public transit, trains, transport, transportation, transportation policy, USA Today, Vmt
And another USA Today story…
He says ridership on what’s called heavy rail — subways and elevated trains — increased in 14 of the 15 systems that have such transit. Use of light rail — streetcars and trolleys — rose in 25 of the 27 cities that have it. And 34 of 37 large cities saw increases in bus ridership.
via Use of public transit is soaring in 2012 – USATODAY.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: driving in the United States, federal gas tax, gas taxes, peak oil, road maintenance, road repair, transportation, urban cycling, Vmt, VMT tax
A tax based on miles driven. This also seems to imply GPS tracking of individual vehicles. Politicians can’t even propose an increase in the gas tax which is unreasonably low. So don’t hold your breath on a VMT tax with privacy issues.
The efforts are being prompted by the fact that gasoline taxes no longer provide enough money to pay for roads and bridges — especially when Congress and many state legislatures are reluctant to increase taxes imposed on each gallon. The federal tax of 18.4 cents a gallon hasn’t been raised in nearly two decades. More than half the states have not raised their gas tax this millennium. Fuel-efficiency also is behind the efforts. Electric-powered vehicles are growing in numbers.
We can hear about gains in ‘efficiency’ because that’s something the politicians want to take credit for.
What the politicians/media studiously ignore, for reasons I’ll leave you to ponder: VMT (vehicle miles traveled) has been below its previous peak for about 4 years, after climbing almost uninterrupted for a half century or more, which is remarkable. People are driving less. Probably this has a great deal to do with the increase in people sitting on their couches instead of going to jobs; the demography of our aging population; and the cultural shift away from teen driving; as well as the price of fuel.
via States explore new ways to tax motorists for road repair – USATODAY.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: BBC, comedy, hurling the child into the bushes, ride a bike, time of year, transportation, travel
It’s that time of year!!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bici, bicycling, Bike sharing, bikeshare, biking, cycling, green transportation, transportation, urban cycling
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/29/hurt-capital-bikeshare-is-making-biking-ugly-smugl/
Unlike Sarah Palin or Tina Fey, or whoever it was, I really can see Russia from my front porch. Or, at least, I can see broken-down socialism.
That is because across the street from my house on Capitol Hill is a loud, clanging “Capital Bikeshare” docking station. It is one of the locking ports for those fat, red communal bicycles you see peddled all over town by commune enthusiasts. (Say that fast, and it sounds like you are saying “commun-ists.”)
For a small membership fee, users can pick up a bike at any of 165 such docking stations and proudly pedal themselves to work, school or to pick up Chinese food.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bicycling, cancer, car commuting, Christine Hoehner, Christine M. Hoehner, commuting times, heart disease, Hoehner, long commutes, Preventive Medicine, transportation
A study published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the longer people drive to work, the more likely they are to have poor cardiovascular health.
“This is the first study to show that people who commute long distances to work were less fit, weighed more, were less physically active and had higher blood pressure,” said Christine M. Hoehner, a public health professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the study’s lead author. “All those are strong predictors of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.”
…those who commuted by car 10 miles or more each way were more likely to have high blood pressure than people who drove shorter distances. And those who traveled 15 or more miles each way were more likely to have bigger waistlines and less likely to be physically active, according to Hoehner’s study.
via Long commute time linked with poor health, new study shows – USATODAY.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: active commuting to school, cars, critical mass, Kenowa Hills, prank bike ride, senior prank, transportation, travel
Right here in Kenowa Hills. That’s Trouble with a capital T which rhymes with B and that stands for Bike.
Biking Kenowa Hills seniors punished: woodtv.com
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: active commuting, biblioteca, bicycle, bicycling, bike, biking, ciclista, ciclistas urbanos, cycling, gob mx, green transportation, Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico City bicycling manual, Mexico D.F., transportation, urban biking, urban cycling
(En Espanol)
http://www.sma.df.gob.mx/sma/links/download/biblioteca/flippingbooks/manual_ciclista_urbano/
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cessna Citation, cessna citation 525, cnn, drone, radio transmission, remote controlled aircraft, surveillance, transportation
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/17/us/colorado-plane-probe/index.html
On Monday, the pilot of a corporate jet, a Cessna Citation 525 CJ1, was flying over Denver on Monday after coming in from Wichita, Kansas, according to CNN affiliate KUSA.
The pilot made a radio transmission to air traffic control about the object, KUSA reported, citing LiveATC.net.
“A remote-controlled aircraft, or what, but something just went by the other way. … About 20 to 30 seconds ago, and it was like a large remote-controlled aircraft,” the pilot said.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bedknobs and broomsticks, bidet on wheels, flying bed, Honda Uni-Cub, personal mobility device, roving paper shredder, Segway, the end of walking, transportation
I’ll wait for the flying bed, thanks. Always wanted a flying bed.
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-segway-honda-uni-cub-personal-mobility.html
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycling, bike share, bikeshare, Citi, Felix Salmon, New York City, NYC bikeshare, The Art of Urban Cycling, transportation, urban cycling
He noticed, it’s kind of expensive.
The first trip you take, on one of the new New York bikes, will cost you at least $10, and possibly as much as $95. Cab rides don’t cost much more than that, and you can fit four people in a cab. Experienced urban cyclists like me will definitely cough up the $95, even if that hurts a little, because we know how convenient it can be to be able to take one-way bike trips in Manhattan, especially if it’s going to rain later, or if you don’t like biking back in the dark, or if you got in to work on the subway but then just need to go a mile or so to your lunch meeting.
But the great promise of the bikeshare scheme is that it will get people onto bikes who have never biked before — people who are generally very nervous about biking at all on busy urban streets. Those people are going to want to try before they buy, and the $10 cost of a trial one-day membership is high enough to give them a good excuse not to bother.
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/05/15/bikeshare-pricing-charts-of-the-day/
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ASPO, crude oil production, EIA, energy, Jeffrey Brown, oil production propaganda, peak oil, production numbers, Railroad Commission of Texas, RRC, Texas, Texas crude oil production, transportation
According to the Railroad Commission of Texas.
http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/data/production/oilwellcounts.php
Some individuals recently noting the difference between RRC and EIA production numbers. From a comment by Jeffrey Brown:
Total US Crude Oil Production (EIA, mbpd):
2002: 5.746
2003: 5.681
2004: 5.419
2005: 5.178
2006: 5.102
2007: 5.064
2008: 4.950
2009: 5.361
2010: 5.476
2011: 5.662Total US Crude Oil Production, using RRC data for Texas, instead of EIA (Gap Between the two data sets):
2002: 5.615 (+131,000 bpd)
2003: 5.548 (+133,000)
2004: 5.303 (+116,000)
2005: 5.059 (+119,000)
2006: 4.948 (+154,000)
2007: 4.898 (+166,000)
2008: 4.813 (+137,000)
2009: 5.199 (+162,000)
2010: 5.285 (+194,000)
2011: 5.324 (+338,000)
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/9191#comment-893345
Filed under: Bike of the Day | Tags: Bridgestone, Bridgestone MB-1, commuter bike, MB-1, shimano deore, The Art of Mountain Biking, transportation, vintage beauty, vintage bicycles
12 hours left on E-Bay.
Keith is in the intro to my new book The Art of Mountain Biking: Singletrack Skills for All Riders. He bought this MB-1 new from Criterium bike shop in 1988, and has been treating it with the utmost respect ever since. Amazingly, this trail-ready vintage beauty could be yours…
Description by Keith:
“Wow” your mountain biking friends by showing up for the next group ride on this vintage, highly coveted classic. This is widely considered the quintessential mountain bike of its day. Revolutionary frame angles, build quality, and components made this perhaps the most advanced racing mountain bike at the time, which is why today this steel bike is coveted by collectors. See Sheldon Brown’s web page on this bike, along with the PDF file of the catalog featuring it.
I am original owner, having bought this from my local Colorado Springs bike shop specified with a Shimano Deore XT group (see parts list below). Selling this is going to break my heart.
Has age-appropriate paint wear and scratches (see photos). Some superficial rust. No dents. Frame, forks, and wheels are straight. Imprecise shifting can be finessed now, but chain, cogs, chainrings, and possibly cables and housing need replacing for smooth, precisely indexed shifting. Everything else works well. One shifter clamp was re-threaded in the early ’90s and has held tight since. One shifter missing the “Shimano Deore XT” face plate (see photo).
1988-1992: used recreationally as a mountain bike in Colorado and California. 1993, 2000-2011: used as a commuter bike in California, Texas, Maryland, and North Carolina almost entirely on pavement. 1994-1999, 2012: stored unused.
Industrialized Cyclist Notepad 