Transport – Aug 17

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Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future
Bob Driehaus, New York Times
CINCINNATI — From his months-old French bistro, Jean-Robert de Cavel sees restored Italianate row houses against a backdrop of rundown tenements in this city’s long-struggling Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

He also sees a turnaround for the district, thanks to plans to revive a transit system that was dismantled in the 1950s: the humble streetcar line.

“Human beings can be silly because we move away from things too quickly in this country,” Mr. de Cavel said. “Streetcar is definitely going to create a reason for young people to come downtown.”

Cincinnati officials are assembling financing for a $132 million system that would connect the city’s riverfront stadiums, downtown business district and Uptown neighborhoods, which include six hospitals and the University of Cincinnati, in a six- to eight-mile loop.

Depending on the final financing package, fares may be free, 50 cents or $1.

The city plans to pay for the system with existing tax revenue and $30 million in private investment. The plan requires the approval of Mayor Mark Mallory, a proponent, and the City Council.
(14 August 2008)

Think flying stinks? It may get worse
Aaron Smith, CNNMone
Despite recent slide in oil prices, profit-challenged airlines will likely have to keep raising fares, adding fees and cutting service.
—
Jet setters, get ready for more fare hikes and fewer flights.

Industry experts say that embattled airlines, despite a recent downturn in oil prices, are likely to keep raising ticket prices, adding fees and reducing service.
(16 August 2008)

Green fuel for the airline industry?
David Strahan, New Scientist via personal blog
IF YOU have become addicted to the fly-cheap philosophy espoused by budget airlines over the last decade, it could be time to rethink your travel plans. Airlines now find themselves facing a crude oil price that has doubled to more than $140 a barrel in just 12 months, pushing fuel costs to record levels. Around 10 small carriers have already gone under, and the industry as a whole is expected to lose $40 billion this year. Airlines are being forced to slash capacity and merge, and the knock-on effects for passengers are obvious: “Our customers must ultimately compensate us for the costs we incur flying them around,” warned Gerard Arpey, chairman of American Airlines, at an airline industry conference in June. With analysts predicting a further leap to $200 a barrel by 2010, there is no relief in sight.

Yet as bad as things look, the soaring cost of oil is not the biggest problem the industry and its passengers face. More fundamental is the need to replace kerosene with another source of energy altogether, for two pressing reasons.
(13 August 2008)
Original at New Scientist is available to subscribers.

France’s August traffic jam
Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times
Frederic Arnold never met Julio Cortazar, but they would have appreciated each other’s work.

Arnold is a French public servant, a quiet, compact engineer who wears black and an air of patient resignation. He oversees the National Center for Highway Information, which is grappling with an annual vacation exodus of potentially apocalyptic proportions.

As usual, the first weekend in August was the dark vortex of the summer stampede. On Saturday, French highways experienced a total of 434 miles of traffic jams. Government transport analysts designated the day with the worst level in the color-coded hierarchy of congestion: “Black Saturday.”

“That means the traffic jams start at 3 a.m. and keep going,” Arnold said with a wry grin. “Black Saturday is black all day and all night.”

It’s hard to imagine a vacation period worse than last year’s. The troubles started in May, a month filled with long weekends thanks to obscure religious and national holidays. On Sunday the 20th, the drive from Toulouse to Paris took about 10 hours rather than the normal six.

It was Hobbesian. Gas stations were besieged, pumps mobbed, toilets unapproachably foul.
(6 August 2008)