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Hawthorne Revolt
Over at Blue Oregon, Frank Dufay is criticizing the service plan for the #14 bus during mall construction. Head over there to read and comment.
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What’s Up with Trolleybuses?
The Trolleybus (AKA: electric bus, trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tram) is an interesting technology, crossing the rubber-tired bus with the fixed guideway element of overhead caternary wires. Folks from AORTA have proposed trolleybuses as a lower-cost alternative to Streetcars. The nearest local examples are in Seattle. We also saw trolleybuses in operation…
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Engineering Safer Drivers
Hat tip to reader Anne McLaughlin who forwards a couple of links about things that make streets safer by influencing driver behavior. We’ve discussed here before the interesting fact that serious bicycle accidents have remained relatively constant here in Portland at the same time that the amount of cycling is increasing sharply. This study suggests…
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Disruptive Technology for Tolling
Disruptive technologies are those that displace an existing technology, usually by offering a lower-cost solution with a different approach. Hat-tip to reader Ross Williams who passed on this reference to GPS-based tolling technologies. There are also potential applications in related areas like pay-as-you-drive insurance, and a VMT tax as an alternative to fuel taxes.
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Help Drive Transportation Policy
It’s time for Metro to select three new Citizen Representatives for TPAC (half of the 6 citizens on the committee). This is a great opportunity both to learn more about how transportation works in our region (I can attest to that personally, having served for 3 years) and a chance to help guide policy in…