Tag / transit

by Adron

Coverage of Transit Sleuth TV Episode 1 & The Precursor, That Launched Transit Sleuth TV

Al M @alyourpalster at his blog “Introducing Transit Sleuth TV“, Dogcaught “Transit Sleuth TV” care of @steveeshom and Portland Transport’s “Open Thread for the Week of 9/15/13“, thanks @ChrisSmithUS. Also I want to give a big shout out and thanks to Paul Peterson of @EmpteFilms for helping me conjure up the idea to start Transit Sleuth TV. Thanks and cheers Paul, we’ll have to have a beer again soon and plot out a new episode!

In other coverage here’s a few of the tweets. Thanks to everybody for getting the word out on the first episode!

Sound Transit’s Link Light Rail opened a number of years ago. Paul and a crew of friends, transit advocates all, joined forces for a tour of the light rail opening. This was, as you can see if you watch the video, the precursor of Transit Sleuth TV. Thanks to Paul for filming and lighting the fire of the idea to start a project around this. Finally, I’ve got myself in gear and put the first episode together here: “Transit Meet & How to Carry Wine and Gelato“. In the near future Paul and I will probably team up to bring you some more Transit Sleuth TV. Stay tuned, for now here’s the original, from the opening of the Link Light Rail in Seattle.

by Adron

Transit… Meet

Sometimes it’s a transit beer, this time it’s a transit meet. Transit riders, rabble rousers and hobbyists, come one and all to the upcoming transit meet. Here’s the plan logistics.

We meet at 6:30pm on this coming Monday (tweet or DM me on twitter @transitsleuth to RSVP so we get a count for who is coming) at the OMSI Streetcar Stop (map) for a ride of the loop as is, with a stop at a destination that is to be determined. We’ll see how well we can make a decision on where to stop. So come with at least a buck or two for the streetcar fare! If you don’t have a buck, be sure to bring the new iPhone App and we’ll see how well it works!  …or breaks.  😦

Either way, here’s some topics that we’ll dive into:

  • Transit Sleuth TV will likely be filming, so bring your game face and tell us what you’d like to see on Transit Sleuth TV.
  • Where’s that new light rail, I mean bus rapid, I mean… where’s that new service going to go?
  • We’re going to take a look at Al’s favorite topic, labor costs and how driverless buses are the future! Super exciting!

by Adron

I Was Asked, “What do you do to fight…?”

What do I do to fight to improve our lives, our communities our city and our society? That was the question, paraphrased. My response,

“I don’t drive, don’t consume any oil products directly and try to minimize air travel and use rail or other means for longer distance trips when possible. Minimizing oil usage is difficult in these times since it has been pushed into the cornerstone of so many daily products: from diapers to the automobile.

I also make a point to support local co-ops that provide freshly grown food within 50-100 miles of where I live. I cook, sometimes eat out and eat foods that aren’t genetically modified. I’m actively involved in groups working to stop lawsuits to eliminate organic foods (Monsanto has tried in numerous states to sue any farmers that don’t use Monsanto’s genetically modified seed). I will work with and help anybody else as I can to stop these types of lawsuits, these absurd notions of “patenting life“, etc.

I stay in reasonable physical condition merely by living healthy, eating well and staying active. I cycle, I walk and generally I live actively. It goes a long way in making a happy life.

I work diligently to promote better lifestyles than the consumption based, debt oriented, auto dependent fiat currency based modes that are currently – for now – prominent in the United States.

I work in community groups to support children being able to ride their bikes to school, to ensure that neighborhoods are built reasonable with walkability – i.e. human beings in mind – so that no matter the limitations at least 99% of the populace can get to a grocery store, to a school, to a nearby park safely without the necessity of a car or other transportation requirement.

I work with economic development groups to align job location (albeit sometimes companies just don’t give a flying hoot) a reasonable distance from where the workforce is. It’s insane to think anybody travels more than 5-10 miles to work. Nobody should have to travel more than 1-3 miles to work. In the coming years, it will become economically, environmentally and emotionally unreasonable to do such things. In addition, if we keep transforming the way we live utilizing what we’ve learned from history – and trying new techniques to live, locate, get to work and other such ideas people in general won’t find it acceptable to travel such egregious distances to work anyway. (Imagine gas at $15 bucks a gallon, reflecting a more realistic unsubsidized cost of exploration, losses, costs, etc, then tack onto that the cost of roadways actually being reflected in tolls and other taxes to maintain them, we leap from a few pennies a mile of direct taxation to about a buck a mile of costs/taxation, etc). Meanwhile transit, biking and walking are all exponentially cheaper, easier to manage and more resilient to these high costs – especially for the general population.

I also produce and attempt to write on a regular basis an effective way to live without all the incredulous waste and servitude of a debt based, auto dependent lifestyle (sometimes here, sometimes elsewhere). In addition to writing I also work with videographers to put together other material that shows how easy it is to live well, without making huge changes. Just by merely thinking through the day better and stepping away from the “regular” lifestyle.

I petition and advocate at Government (because I won’t work for them), I work with companies, especially companies that give a hoot (and there ARE a LOT of them), I work with individuals and I work with my local community neighborhood groups & others to do the above things.

Simply, I try to right the wrongs, educate and improve what we as a society are doing today. All while trying to repair the damage that is already done. I do so through no use of force, only through passion and education. So maybe, if it isn’t my children, somebody’s children can have a better life. Because the immediate next generation (and the millennials) have been handed a lump of coal.

…so that’s what I mean by fighting.”

This all got me thinking. Maybe I should update my manifesto a bit. Thus, an updated Manifesto.

This thinking also got me wondering, what other things could I do? What do you do? How do you squelch the apathy and improve things in your community?

Cheers, Transit Sleuth.

by Adron

Keeping Things in Context, “PBOT, Police stepping up enforcement of traffic laws”

Light Rail MAX

Light Rail MAX

From some city stats that get a call out on Bike Portland in ‘PBOT, Police stepping up enforcement of traffic laws” ‘.

  • To date in 2013 there have been 23 fatal traffic crashes in the City of Portland. There were 31 in all of 2012.
  • At this time last year, there had been 17 fatal traffic crashes.
  • Breakdown of 2013 fatalities: 14-motor vehicle; 3-motorcycle; 6-pedestrian; 0-Bicyclists
  • 12 of the 23 fatalities have involved impaired drivers with BAC’s ranging from .15 – .25%
  • Of the 6 pedestrian fatalities, motor vehicle drivers have been at fault in 4 of them
  • There were 4 traffic fatalities in 6 days from July 5 to 11. Two involved speeding and impaired drivers.
  • Driver/pedestrian distraction or inattention: 4 of the 6 pedestrian fatalities could have been avoided if the pedestrian and/or driver were focused on their actions
Streetcar Plying the Streets at Night

Streetcar Plying the Streets at Night

Just think about those stats for a minute. Draw some connections and think about what you’re doing. Riding a bike, driving a car or walking. Remember you need to keep an eye out as a motorist for everything since you wield an instrument of death. The data shows already that drivers have killed 6 pedestrians, technically 4 of them were involuntary manslaughter! 2 were inattention on behalf of the pedestrian, still however, they were killed by drivers.

There has been 17 fatal motorist on motorist crashes. This is a horrible number considering 2012 only had 31 for the entire year and we’re technically driving less than we have in years in the United States. Of those, 3 of them were motorcycle riders being killed, I’ve checked – it was again the standard situation. Motorcyclists, unfortunately have the same issue as cyclists do, except dramatically higher speed which doesn’t help mitigate issues being how poorly trained most US drivers are.

Cyclists killed nobody. I don’t think a soul has been killed by a bus, MAX, streetcar or train so far this year in Portland. So far we’re doing good in that category. The only killers out there, are again just the drivers.

So keep an eye out everybody. Statistically, watch out for the cars. Drivers, watch out for the cars. Pedestrians watch out for the cars. Cyclists… watch out for the cars. Basically, watch out for the cars and we should see a drop in fatalities.

In other news, it’s beerfest time, so I’m going to just on the Trimet #4 and hit up some beer and fun downtown. Cheers, and watch out!