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Open Thread for week of Dec 15, 2013
Only ten more shopping days ’til you-know-what. Alon Levy with an excellent primer on Positive Train Control (as it is known in the US). Joseph Rose reminisces about a bus mounted on a ski lift. Bike Portland reports that the State of Oregon denies unemployment compensation to a man whose job relocates to a place…
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Class Presentations 2013
Each year I look forward to the opportunity to serve on the ‘commenters panel’ for the Traffic and Transportation class, reviewing the best of the final student presentations. This class produces a great crop of citizen activists each year and this year is no exception. Here are this year’s excellent presentations: Bryan Burch is trying…
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Lost? Get Directions from a Cyclist or Driver
Via Slashdot: … or maybe a pedestrian (if you’re not going too far). But not an auto passenger or transit rider. An article posted in “Urban Planning” (PDF) suggests that the accuracy of your mental map of an area is related to how actively you engage in wayfinding. So if you’re a passenger and not…
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Oregonian Looks at the Small Picture
An editorial in today’s O the editorial board calls Earl Blumenauer’s proposed gax tax increase ‘too steep’ and quotes the “non-partisan Tax Foundation” citing Oregon’s gas tax as among the nation’s 20 highest. Looking at the big picture, it’s worth remembering that Oregon’s motor vehicle fees and taxes when added together are among the nation’s…