Wednesday, October 4, 2023

transit

EnergyTransit infrastructure

Is Bus Electrification Economical or Environmental? Possibly Both.

City buses have historically been powered by dirty diesel engines. Upgrading to CNG improves emissions and reduces smog, but doesn’t improve efficiency. Electrification, on the other hand, could drastically improve efficiency, drastically reduce emissions, and reduce operating costs to boot. There is a higher capital cost up front, which can potentially be amortized over a longer lifespan.

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Public transit

Consolidating Inefficient Private Transit Systems

Large employers like hospitals, universities, and big corporations often contract with private transit operators to ferry their employees around, usually between parking lots and office buildings or other facilities. Would there be a resulting economy of scale if these services were consolidated into, say, the transit operations of a public agency?

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Culture & LanguageGermanyTransit infrastructureUrban Planning

Germans Have At Least 7 Words For Train Stations. Because Of Course They Do.

Fahrkarte, bitte! We’re going on a lingusitic-infrastructural journey to learn about how infrastructure thinking is baked into the very language we use to describe it.

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Urban Planning

Handbuilt Votes 2022: Urbanism At The Ballot Box

Three counties in Southeast Michigan will vote on transit funding next week. There are also a number of other transit and infrastructure-related votes around the country.

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Urban Planning

The Oakland County GOP Is Courting Literal Nazis To Fight Infrastructure Funding

For reasons that don’t seem to make any sense but were probably completely predictable, a nonprofit advocacy group in the northern suburbs of Detroit has enlisted a prominent Nazi sympathizer to fight against the real scourge of America: modern transportation infrastructure!

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Urban Planning

Oakland County Approves Universal SMART Millage For Fall Ballot

It’s official: Oakland County will have an opportunity to vote on transit investment in the fall! Such was the determination

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MichiganMidwestMobilityUrban Planning

Infrastructure: Think Outside The Smartphone-Driven Profit Motive

One of Michigan’s most visible mobility spokespeople recently said in a webinar that smartphone ownership and profitable markets were the two hindrances to developing sustainable mobility solutions in the state. It’s a politically horrific, functionally dubious, but baffling thing to say.

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Transit infrastructureUrban Planning

Into Exurban Oblivion: Auburn Hills Mulls Ditching Transit Service

In one of the farthest-north suburbs of Detroit, a municipality’s elected representatives are discussing the possibility of eliminating fixed-route transit, which has the support of an overwhelming percentage of the electorate, to save around $800,000 per year. In this guest co-editorial, Calley Wang and Nat Zorach argue that this is a really, really terrible idea.

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DetroitLaborPublic transit

Recharging the Aquifer Underneath Detroit’s Transit Desert

Martha Connell looks at some hard questions about the future of Detroit’s transit.

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Culture & LanguagePublic transit

“You’re Entitled For Suggesting People Take Public Transportation Instead Of Stranding Themselves On I-95” – Midatlantic Liberals

A rare, intense blizzard in the Midatlantic US snarled traffic on I-95, leading us to wonder: how is the car obsession even so engrained on the East Coast that people can’t imagine not driving cars?

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