Tomorrow KBOO will rebroadcast this episode…
Archive | July, 2012
Could Your Smartphone Save Your Life?
Via Slashdot:
GM is working on technology that would allow a car to detect the WiFi in your smartphone and trigger collision avoidance systems. A boon to pedestrians and cyclists? The driver might be distracted, but the car won’t be?
Two TriMet-related editorials in the morning paper
This morning’s Oregonian has two editorials (one a guest submission, one by one of the paper’s regulars) on the subject of TriMet.
The guest editorial, by Craig Boretz, Randy Miller and Angus Duncan, deals with TriMet’s funding crisis. It calls for further “restructuring” of the labor agreements, including withdrawal of mandatory arbitration. But it also calls for improving the agency’s funding model–including increased revenue sources–but the latter is contingent on the former.
The other article, by conservative columnist Elizabeth Hovde, deals with the YouthPass brouhaha. She makes the surprising (but spot-on) observation:
The state, along with TriMet, has been taking a beating for the fact that other school districts have yellow bus service for high school students, but PPS does not. In reality, we should be searching to see if there are ways to make other districts look more like Portland when it comes to transportation, not the other way around.
And concludes with
Since transportation takes such a huge bite out of state and district education budgets, before insisting that transportation be provided, we might consider placing the duty of getting one’s children to school on families — no matter a student’s age. After all, a lot of families get kids to jobs, soccer practices, birthday parties and other activities. Surely we should be able to work out carpools, joint walks or bus passes to get our kids to one of the most important things that children do.
I expect the latter to be met with howls of outrage from suburban and rural constituents–in the countryside, in particular, the journey from home to school may be one of many miles–but money spent on public transportation goes much further if it is spent in places where there is higher density. Rural yellow-bus service is very expensive to provide.
Speaking of Crowdsourcing Apps
Portland Afoot is endeavoring to make the leap from print to digital and just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund app development.
[Full disclosure – I serve on the board of the non-profit parent of Portland Afoot.]
Check out the promo video and you’ll even get a brief glimpse of yours truly…
Chicago Crowdsources its Transit App
Via Planetizen:
Chicago is going to Kickstarter to build the ultimate transit app.
Could Portland do this to get something even better than the much-beloved PDX Bus?
Should we do something like this for the interface on our Transit Appliances?