From DK:
"I saw your blog post about the contentious meeting regarding the San Onofre toll road. I thought you'd enjoy seeing the mailing materials from the opposition (attached). I've been following this for a couple of years, and it is quite a story. Schwarzenegger even fired Clint Eastwood and his own brother in law due to their opposition in this road:"
From LA Times: Eastwood's termination: 'Somebody got a bee under their bonnet'
Somali pirates want $20M ship ransom; crewman dies
As a heavily armed U.S. destroyer patrolled nearby and planes flew overhead Sunday, a Somali pirate spokesman told The Associated Press his group was demanding a $20 million ransom to release a cargo ship loaded with Russian tanks.
Via Marginal Revolution, from the Times of London: Exclusive: I followed jetman Yves Rossy during the historic Channel crossing
Now, this is the transportation of the future: person in jet pack and wing going 100 knots. No word on fuel consumed, but can't be too much given the size of the jet pack.
International Transport Economics Conference
Infrastructure
The International Transport Economics Conference (ITrEC) brings
together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in
questions of transport economics. Topics include economic questions
relating to revenue and finance; congestion, pricing, and investment;
production function and cost estimation; transport demand; energy and
environment; safety; institutions and industrial organization; and
transport and land use. The conference is designed to appeal to
participants from varied backgrounds, including economists and
transport professionals in particular.
The conference has previously been held in Banff, Canada(2006);
Leuven, Belgium (2007); and Paris, France (2008).
Submission of Abstracts
Abstracts will be categorized and ranked by peer reviewers.
Theoretical, empirical, case-study, and policy-oriented contributions
are welcome. Abstracts of up to 1,000 words must be submitted
electronically atwww.transporteconomics.org by November 21, 2008 for
consideration.
Key Dates
Abstracts Due: November 21, 2008
Abstracts Selected and Submitters Notified: January 2009
Final Papers Due (subject to acceptance): April 3, 2009
Early Registration Deadline: May 15, 2009
Conference: June 15-16, 2009
More Information
David Levinson
RP Braun/CTS Chair in Transportation
University of Minnesota
dlevinson@umn.edu
Sara Van Essendelft
Conference Coordinator
University of Minnesota
612-624-3708
cceconf5@umn.edu
The conference is hosted by the Center for Transportation Studies at
the University of Minnesota.
From CNN: High anxiety: Drivers fight fear of tall bridges .
The article is all anecdotal, but it is an important issue.
From the LA Times: Federal officials struggle to maintain order at toll road hearing . The problem is the road crosses a park. This brings back the freeway revolts of the 1960s and 1970s.
Rasmussen Reports tells us: 53% Think Driving Age Should be 18 or Older
It would be nice if the poll (or at least the free part of the poll analysis) had asked about drinking age simultaneously.
From Bruce Sterling: Sarkozy versus the pirates
: "France will not allow crime to pay" President Nicolas Sarkozy
Reason Foundation has completed a study of the proposed California High Speed Rail line. The net: it is an unwise investment. Links below:
* Full Study: The California High Speed Rail Proposal: A Due Diligence Report (.pdf)
* Brief: High-Speed Rail Plan Is A Financial Boondoggle
* Brief: Marginal Impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Famous Bridge has now opened. At 5:10 am there is little NB traffic, but SB seems to be carrying traffic, and the bottleneck from 35W S to 94 W has already reappeared judging from traffic cameras .
(I was interviewed last night for the opening story about traffic effects on KMSP Fox 9 for the 10 am news last night, but it doesn't seem to be online).
The new I-35W Mississippi River Bridge is opening this Thursday at 5 am.
In the Strib on 9/15/08 is an article by Jim Foti: New bridge to change traffic flow , in which I am interviewed extensively (on the phone, from a QuickTrip in Iowa somewhere).
I will be attending and presenting at Transportation Finance and Economics: Policies for the Future tomorrow. The conference is in honor of the late David Forkenbrock, who led the Public Policy Center in Iowa for many years. I will post my presentation after Friday.
An interesting post on "cloudonomics" The 10 Laws of Cloudonomics - GigaOM Many of the ideas are familiar to those who study transportation systems.
As noted previously, I have been thinking about "cloud commuting", we should consider what already is a "cloud" in transportation, and that is the network. The network is provided not by individual travelers, but by agencies that serve many travelers. (This includes both physical infrastructure networks (road, track, port) and carrier (bus, train, plane) networks).
The question is then whether you can drive the economics to the point where the individual no longer needs a vehicle, but that too is provided by the cloud, is available on-demand, ubiquitously, and reliably, at a lower average cost.
As I now let my subscription to zipcar lapse (it seems I cannot just do that, "Please contact us within three business days or your account will be closed and turned over to a collection agency for payment. " ... which seems very rude, I am just not a member this year, no need to get a collection agency involved, I didn't sign up for life, hence why I didn't tell you my new credit card number) I think the economics of this are just not there yet.
Further on the zipcar issue:
"billing problems
Oops! On Aug 18th, we tried to charge the balance of your Aug 18th to Sep 17th invoice ($30.00) to your credit card MasterCard ending XXXX. We were unable to charge the card, possibly because of insufficient funds.
We would like to either try charging your card again or allow you to change your credit card information.
_ I would like to change the credit card number or expiration date on file.
_ The above credit card is working fine. Please try to bill the current invoice balance ($30.00, see your bill) to my credit card right now."
There is no option to cancel. Who do they think they are, the phone company? These are not friendly people despite their moral righteousness.
Nice discussion of the economics and process by which internet traffic is exchanged between carriers:
A new working paper by Nebiyou Tilahun and myself on I-35W Bridge Collapse: Travel Impacts and Adjustment Strategies is out. This study was done with another study that was in the field just after the bridge collapse, and provides new information not in previous studies. The abstract is below:
On August 1st , 2007, the I-35W bridge crossing the Mississippi river collapsed. In addition to the human tragedy that it caused, the bridge failure also impacted how people moved. The bridge on average carried 140,000 vehicles daily and the failure required a signiļ¬?cant amount of traffic ļ¬?nd new routes to reach their destinations. In its aftermath travelers had to adjust their trips, requiring them to possibly adopt changes in route, mode, departure time, or foregoing some trips. Those who had to adapt were not just the ones that previously used the bridge. With the I-35 traļ¬c using alternate routes, those who saw or anticipated higher traļ¬c on their regular routes also found it necessary to make adjustments. In this study we ask a sample of people that were recruited for another study if their travels had been impacted by the failure of the bridge, how they coped, and what impacts it had on their other activities.
