March 9, 2008

Transportation - Summary

New Ways to Drive
These are all pretty well established recommendations. We may want to provide info about why changing your own behavior is important and then give these examples as a single board.
  • Fuel Efficient Techniques

  • UPS - No Left Turns

  • Carsharing


  • New Fuels
    If we look to new fuels, fuel cells are too far off in the future, and the costs of e85 are pretty well established. The interesting thing about plug-in hybrids is how they can be used to support investment in renewables.
  • Plug-in Hybrids

  • And the grease car example is brilliant if its shown with food producers who can use their own vegetable oils.
  • Grease Car (not biodiesal)


  • New Vehicles
    The small car is an interesting option, especially if we compare it to the tata car which is an environmental nightmare. Examining the ultra narrow car's impacts on urban design would also be interesting.
  • Ultra Narrow Commuter Car


  • City Policies / Tools
    At the urban level, congestion pricing is a very powerful device as demonstrated by London's experience. It would be interesting to show the design example of how parts of the city are being or could be opened up to pedestrian use again.
  • Congestion Pricing - London

  • Given Denver's demonstration project of the bike share, we should certainly show a bike sharing example. It would also be great to show how the investment in the velibe program became an investment in urban furniture etc.
  • Bike Sharing

  • I think this is a great example of how to use inexpensive and affordable mass transit to define urban growth boundaries,and how thinking about the "service experience" elevates the idea of riding the bus to something else.
  • Curitiba Rapid Bus System


  • New National Policies
  • Promote True Highspeed Rail

  • NRDC - fuel efficiency standards

  • Environmental Defense - emissions standards

  • Gas Tax
  • No comments: