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Cyclists pulling huge cargo loads (YouTube)
CSX Rail (via Cyclelicious)
Yokota Fritz writes: The new advertisement from CSX rail shows cyclists pulling huge cargo loads on their bikes.
(17 November 2008)
6,000 bikes in 400 locations: Boris Johnson’s bike-hire scheme
Hélène Mulholland, Guardian
Londoners will be able to pick up and drop off one of 6,000 bikes at 400 locations across the capital, Boris Johnson announced today, as he invited companies to register their interest in setting up his cycle-hire scheme.
But the mayor’s plan will require the “political buy-in” of all London boroughs, according to a Transport for London study released today.
The mayor has yet to receive the green light from all nine London boroughs and several royal parks in London’s central “zone one” area that would host the bikes’ so-called docking stations, guardian.co.uk has learned.
The scheme was one of Johnson’s manifesto promises and is inspired by the successful Vélib’ programme in Paris.
(18 November 2008)
Related from WorldChanging: Paradise On Wheels.
The car club that’s joined the fast lane as drivers go without their own set of wheels
Sarah Butler, The Independent
Brett Akker is trying not to look too pleased. But there is no skirting round the point that the economic downturn is proving rather good for business.
Akker, 33, is the co-founder of Streetcar, the car-club business where members pay an annual fee for a smart card that gives them access to cars parked in their neighbourhoods. These can be hired on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis with a minimum of 30 minutes’ notice. It is a business model whose time has come. Carplus, the charity that promotes car-club use in the UK, claims that anyone who drives fewer than 6,000 miles a year could save up to £3,500 annually by giving up their vehicle and joining a club. As the economic downturn bites so people are re-examining their monthly outgoings, and the message is hitting home that hiring rather than owning a vehicle can bring big savings, as well as offering the “green” credentials of only driving when it’s really necessary.
Streetcar is certainly benefiting. Its membership has surged this year against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, rising petrol prices and increased car taxes.
Akker says: “If you asked people a couple of years ago about the cost of their car they, probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you. But the economic climate and petrol price increases have meant that people are thinking about the full cost of car ownership, including fuel, parking, finance and insurance…
(16 November 2008)
Does Amtrak want the good news or the bad news first?
Gulliver (blog), Economist.com
AMTRAK, America’s government-owned passenger railroad, is having an up-and-down month. On Nov. 12, the government-owned corporation reported that ridership on the trains between Washington and Boston was down 5 percent in October from a year ealier. (Trips between Washington, New York, and Boston are an important profit center for the railroad.) The culprit was the same group the airlines often blame for tough numbers: business travellers, who are even cutting back on train use as the US economy worsens. Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black told Bloomberg that layoffs are probably to blame:
Business travel is down because of the economic situation, business commerce in the Northeast and on Wall Street. I don’t know how many thousands of people have lost their jobs, but a lot of the people who ride those trains in the Northeast are business travelers.
The future doesn’t look all bad for Amtrak. Last month the railroad reported another annual ridership record (the sixth in a row) as high gas prices forced more Americans off the highways. And despite the grim news in the Northeast, ridership on most other routes rose.
Rising ridership is all well and good, but the best news for Amtrak may be political. Vice President-elect Joe Biden, a Delaware resident and regular Amtrak rider, has promised a “first-class passenger rail system in this country.” Speaking to Bloomberg, a spokeswoman for House transportation commitee chair James Oberstar described both Mr Biden and President-elect Barack Obama as “staunch” Amtrak supporters. And Mr Biden’s son, Hunter, is vice-chairman of Amtrak’s board. Even the departing Bush administration seems to be on board. Last month the president signed a bill that will increase Amtrak’s annual subsidy from the current $1.3 billion to nearly $2 billion. (The bill did pass with a veto-proof majority, but the president could still have vetoed it to force an override.) What’s the best news a government-owned railroad can get? That it still has friends in government. Amtrak definitely does.
(17 November 2008)
