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News clippings related to transit, mobility and quality of life
MoveNews #97 for the week of April 18, 2010
Regional
San Diego region 'dropping the ball' on SB 375
Endangered Habitats League, April 8, 2010
Hopes were running high when, in 2008, the Legislature passed SB 375 to require the preparation of local land use plans that reduce greenhouse gases. But the first such effort in the state - from the San Diego Association of Governments - is off course. ...
Despite SB 375's purpose to incentivize more efficient land use, SANDAG has already approved the future land use patterns for any SCS it prepares out to the year 2050 - simply by asking local jurisdictions what they want to do and even though SANDAG's share of GHG reductions will not be known until later this year. And despite the States goal of reducing GHG emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by that year, per capita vehicle miles traveled a key measure of transportation-based GHG emissions - from these land use assumptions will remain static.
To make matters worse, SANDAG staff has recommended that alternative SCS scenarios ignore the benefit of different land use patterns and consider only transportation strategies in its SCS planning. The SANDAG Board is slated to act on these recommendations in April, again without even knowing what the GHG targets will be, much less whether transportation strategies alone will meet them.
2050 Regional Transportation Plan Workshops
Co-hosted by SANDAG and Move San Diego
Get involved. Attend a 2050 RTP workshop near where you live or work. Learn about what the
new Sustainable Communities Strategy element means to your community, and what SANDAGs Urban Area Transit Strategy means to your commute. Provide your input!
April 26 - 4-7 pm - Escondido City Hall Mitchell Room
201 N. Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025
April 27 - 4-7 pm - Loma Verde Recreation Center
1420 Loma Lane, Chula Vista, CA 91911
April 28 - 4-7 pm - Tri-City Medical Center Wellness Center
6250 El Camino Real, Carlsbad, CA 92009
May 3 - 4-7 pm - Bayside Community Center
2202 Comstock Street, San Diego, CA 92111
May 6 - 4-7 pm - Ronald Reagan Community Center
195 East Douglas Avenue, El Cajon, CA 92020
National
The $750 billion savings idea businesses aren't willing to use
Finance Tech News, February 15, 2010
Businesses on the East Coast got a taste of what a small natural disaster can do to productivity and communication when back-to-back blizzards struck. The heroes of the week - besides road crews and power company employees? Companies with telecommuting programs. Even federal agencies with these arrangements were bragging last week about their uninterrupted service and workflow. The Defense Information Systems Agency barely noticed the storms because its four-year-old telecommuting program allowed workers to stay connected despite the yards of snow that accumulated in the region. ...
Workers at the agency are allowed to telecommute three days a week - even when the weather is good and the roads are clear. But not many U.S. companies have ventured as close as DISA has to the cutting edge of telecommuting. Currently less than 3% of the U.S. workforce telecommutes most of the time (this doesnt include the self-employed). But 40% of workers have jobs that could be done from home.
The folks at the Telework Research Network (TRN) have found that if those employees who could telecommute did so just half of the time (roughly the national average for those who already do):
- The nation would save 453 million barrels of oil (57% of Gulf oil imports) - a national savings of $31 billion per year (at $70/barrel)
- The environment would be saved from 84 million tons of greenhouse gases a year - that's over 40% of President Obama's goal for GHG reduction by 2020.
- The energy potential from the gas savings alone would total more than twice what the U.S. produces from all renewable energy source combined.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released its statistical projections of traffic fatalities for 2009. The NHTSA estimates that 33,973 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2009. This represents a decline of about 8.9 percent as compared to the 37,261 fatalities that occurred in 2008. ...
Traffic fatalities have been steadily declining since reaching a near-term peak in 2005, decreasing by about 22 percent from 2005 to 2009. Preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) shows that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in 2009 increased by about 6.6 billion miles, or about a 0.2-percent increase. On a quarterly basis, the VMT dropped by 1.6 percent during the first quarter and increased by 0.6 percent in the second quarter, increased by 1.7 percent in the third quarter, and increased by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Innovation
Mixed Income Transit Oriented Development Action Guide (MITOD)
The MITOD Action Guide is an online tool designed to help local jurisdictions and planners develop strategies to create mixed income transit oriented development around planned transit stations. This interactive site, developed by the Center for Transit Oriented Development (CTOD) in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is available at http://www.fta.dot.gov/livability/mitod
Are motorcycles environmentally friendly?
Coalition for Clean Air, March 18, 2010
Q: In recent years, I have noticed an increase in the number of motorcycles on the freeways. Are these more fuel efficient and good for the environment?
A: Many people believe that motorcycles are good for the environment because of their engine size and fuel economy; but this perceived notion is not necessarily true. The emissions per mile of the primary smog-forming compounds (nitrogen oxides + reactive organics) from a typical motorcycle is 190 times more than a clean car (5.21 g/mi vs. 0.03 g/mi) sold in the state in 2005. Similarly, the emissions from one gallon of gasoline used in a motorcycle is 320 times more than those coming from a 2005 model year clean passenger car (199.8 g/gallon vs. 0.62 g/gallon).
In addition, while emissions from other mobile sources (cars, trucks and even off-road vehicles or equipment) are closely monitored and regulated, motorcycles' emissions have never been equally well regulated or monitored. Many efforts to remedy the situation through legislation continue to fail because of the intense lobbying efforts and lack of support in the legislature.
Fast Facts
During the early '90s, around 300,000 motorcycles were sold each year in California. This number increased steadily and then stayed between 800,000 and 1.1 million from 2001 through 2008.
Source: California Air Resources Board
MoveNews #97 was edited by Carolyn Chase and published by Move San Diego, Inc. as a service to our members. You may subscribe, unsubscribe, or send article suggestions by sending an email request to: info@movesandiego.org
NOTE: if there is no link provided to an item, then there is no additional content on that item. All links were current as of the date of publication.
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