Gas prices have Clevelanders thinking for the first time about the cost of their commute. Scooter sales are up, but what changes need to happen before you feel comfortable commuting by bike? Can cars and bikes coexist on the roads in Northeast Ohio? Would a bike lane on your route to work make you feel safe?- Meanwhile, after a dip in March, RTA is bracing for an upswing in riders. The transit agency ordered more extra-long buses for Euclid corridor and for its most heavily used routes. How do we prepare the region and RTA for rising demand and higher ridership? Can we retrofit our communities to be more transit accessible?
- We hear reports about suburbanites who are now "stuck". Stuck with gas guzzling cars and large homes located far away from the city. Many live in low density areas that are not easily served by transit. What are their options? Can they combine modes of transportation?
- Hybrid cars are disappearing off dealer lots as buyers looking for relief from $4-a-gallon gasoline endure waiting lists, price markups and paltry trade-ins in their quest for better fuel economy, the LA Times reports. I saw a report on WKYC Channel 3 that Motorcars in Cleveland Heights sold 15 hybrid cars over the weekend. I wonder if this trend will drill down very far, though, at a time when people are feeling the pinch of this economic recession, and with gas and food prices expected to rise even more?
- How far are you willing to go to keep your car running? Fox 8 News reports: "People Giving Blood to Pay for Gas".
- If your kids can do it, so can you. An average of 200 Bay High School students rode their bicycles to school every day during May. The students set out to prove that bikes are real transportation. It's estimated they collectively rode 15,566 miles and offset 14,350 pounds of carbon dioxide.
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It’s time we built a high-speed rail system connecting Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati. It’s time we fund our transit systems to be strong competitors to the car. It’s time we invested in Complete Streets (like the Euclid Corridor). It’s time we fixed our potholes. It’s time we stopped building new highways to nowhere. It’s time we had a real conversation about investing in a transportation system that recognizes climate change, peak oil, and sustainable solutions.
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Weighing a costly vs. lighter commute
Submitted by Marc Lefkowitz | Last edited May 28, 2008 - 1:10pm
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Americans Driving At Historic Lows
KJP Says:In the absence of public transportation (rail and bus) alternatives to driving, the following announcement is likely to mean a reduction in economic activity. That's especially true in light of a CNN.com poll today of 86,207 people which showed 78 percent do NOT have public transit available to them. This nation and its economy is not equipped to cope with high fuel prices. Tell your elected officials what YOU think...
______________________________
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fhwa1108.htm
FHWA 11-08
Friday, May 23, 2008
Contact: Doug Hecox
Tel.: (202) 366-0660
Americans Driving At Historic Lows
Eleven Billion Fewer Vehicle Miles Traveled in March 2008 Over Previous March
WASHINGTON -- Americans drove less in March 2008, continuing a trend that began last November, according to estimates released today from the Federal Highway Administration.
“That Americans are driving less underscores the challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund and its reliance on the federal gasoline excise tax,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Jim Ray.
The FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history.
Though February 2008 showed a modest 1 billion mile increase over February 2007, cumulative VMT has fallen by 17.3 billion miles since November 2006. Total VMT in the United States for 2006, the most recent year for which such data are available, topped 3 trillion miles.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimated that greenhouse gas emissions fell by an estimated 9 million metric tons for the first quarter of 2008.
The estimated data show that VMT on all U.S. public roads have dropped since 2006. The FHWA’s Traffic Monitoring Analysis System (TMAS) computes VMT for all types of motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks) on the nation’s public roads. These data are collected through over 4,000 automatic traffic recorders operated round-the-clock by state highway agencies. More comprehensive data are published in the FHWA’s “Highway Statistics” at the end of each year
To review the FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” reports, visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/tvtpage.htm. For “Highway Statistics 2006,” visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs06/index.htm.
RTA ridership projections?
Marc Lefkowitz Says:Interesting info from the CNN poll. I've heard pundits
Most discussions about attracting 'choice' riders—those who choose to leave their car at home—center on improving the quality (design, information, lighting) of transit stops. Back in 2004, RTA did a massive rider survey to prioritize improvements, called the Transit Waiting Environments project. In a report, RTA's Citizen's Advisory Board wrote:
In the intervening four years, the TWE project languished on the shelf. The simplest explanation may be that the collaborations between RTA and both the public and private sectors were not significant. In fact, they've been closer to non-existent. Cleveland Public Art and Ohio City Near West did initiate a design for the TWE at W. 25th and Lorain (at Market Square), but funding stalled for the project. The hope is now that transit is, at least in the rearview mirror for most Clevelanders because of gas prices, that we can start a serious dialogue in the region about how to "properly implement the concepts of this project."