Transportation

Transportation revelations: how fast things go

Did you know that a sea horse can move as quickly (or as slowly) as a Galapagos tortoise? (.2 MPH), that a hedgehog and a millipede move at about the same pace (1 MPH) and that a swift and a Hughes MD 500 Helicopter can each travel at 125 MPH?

FullSpeedAhead_swift_Hughes MD500 helicopter

I didn’t.

But thanks to a book of ‘transportation revelations’ called Full Speed Ahead!: How Fast Things Go by Cruschiform (an Abrams Books imprint), I now know.

The brightly-colored, large format book is designed for young readers, but is perfect – and perfectly educational – for transportation fact-fanciers of all ages who might be curious about how fast things go – and how fast things go compared to animals.

A peregrine falcon, for example, can go as fast a Formula 1 Racer (217 MPH) but once we get to the tornado (310 MPH), the passenger jet (620 MPH), a Blackbird spy plane (2,175 MPH), the Apollo 11 spacecraft (25,000 MPH) and a shooting star (more than 60,000 MPH), no animals can keep up.

FullSpeedAhead_passenger jet

Buy it for the kids you know. And get a copy for yourself.

SFO makes deal with Sidecar

Sidecar

In a first for California, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Sidecar have come to an agreement that allows the Transportation Network Company (TNC) to operate legally at the Airport.

The permit, which allows the company to drop off and pick up customers at SFO, represents the first airport TNC agreement in the state of California. Sidecar, which is headquartered in San Francisco, expects to begin operations at SFO within the next 30 days.

“SFO is one of our most in-demand places for ride requests,” Sidecar CEO Sunil Paul wrote in a blog post on the company’s website, “so we’re excited and proud to work with them to offer riders safe and affordable travel to and from the airport.”

SFO officials say permit discussions continue with other transportation network companies, including Lyft and UberX, but that so far neither have signed a permit with SFO and so are not legally allowed to operate at the Airport.

Last November, SFO came to an agreement with Relay Rides – a company that offers free airport parking, a car wash and a cut of the proceeds to travelers who let the company rent out their cars to others. A similar company, Flight Car, does not have legal permission to operate at the airport.

DFW Light Rail stations opens months early

DFW DART

Courtesy DFW

It’s rare that a transportation construction project is completed early.

Rarer still for this sort of project to be completed months early.

Yet that’s the good news from DFW International Airport, where the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) orange line DFW Airport Station opens Monday, August 18, 2014 – instead of December, 2014 – in Terminal A.

Here are a few key details for riders:

A ride on the 14 mile line will cost $2.50 for a two hour pass and $5 for a day pass.

Destinations you’ll be able to reach include, the Mustangs of Las Colinas, Irving Convention Center, Dallas Museum of Art, Perot Museum, Klyde Warren Park, the West End, American Airlines Center, Downtown Plano and more.

To accommodate airport employees and those with early morning flights, the train’s operating hours will be from 4 am to 1 am, 7 days a week.

Cities, airports butt heads over rideshare services

App-powered ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft keep butting heads with regulators in cities around the country, claiming that rules for traditional taxis are outdated and not applicable to new transportation models.

Here’s my story on the latest chapter in the battle that appeared on CNBC Road Warrior.

Glacier National Park visitors 1960

After a few weeks of negotiations with state and city authorities and the threat of a restraining order, Lyft worked out a deal to start service in New York City beginning Friday at 7 p.m.

Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island will, for now, get a limited version of the service that was originally planned, but the deal means Lyft is putting operations in Buffalo and Rochester on hold by Aug. 1 while it works out a variety of insurance and regulatory issues.

In Memphis, Tennessee, Uber and Lyft continue service despite recent cease-and-desist orders from the city.

Uber spokesman Lane Kasselman said via email that while the company was not aware of any actions taken by the city of Memphis, “any attempt to restrict consumer choice and limit economic opportunity does nothing but hurt the thousands of residents and visitors who already rely on Uber for safe, affordable and reliable transportation.”

But Lyft spokeswoman Erin Simpson said the company took the cease-and-desist letter “as an opportunity to start a conversation with local leaders about Lyft’s peer-to-peer model and how we can work together to craft new rules that prioritize safety.”

Consumer alerts and cease-and-desist orders against Uber, Lyft and other transportation network companies are in effect in more than a dozen other cities and states. But while the so-called transportation disruptors have gained regulatory approval in Seattle, Minneapolis and a handful of other jurisdictions around the country, pushback at the national level continues.

Through its “Who’s Driving You?” campaign, the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association is tracking insurance alerts regarding rideshare companies and soliciting and sharing passenger complaints and negative news stories about the services.

“We would like to see ridesharing companies following a single set of rules designed to protect the public in the taxicab space,” said Dave Sutton, spokesperson for TLPA’s ‘Who’s Driving You?’ campaign.

TLPA also recently drew attention to the fact that the Airport Ground Transportation Association, a trade organization for airport ground transportation operators, airports and others, issued a warning to North American airports.

“Transportation Network Companies have moved beyond city regulations to now challenge airport ground transportation regulations as not applying to them. They intend to operate at airports and challenge airport officials to stop them,” said Ray Mundy, AGTA executive director, in the warning.

That plan already seems to be underway.

In 2013, when California became the first state to regulate ridesharing services, the Public Utilities Commission included a provision prohibiting TNCs from operating “on the property of or into any airport unless such operations are authorized by the airport involved.”

But in June 2014, law enforcement officials at five major California airports (LAX, OAK, SAN, SFO and SJC) told the commission that many ridesharing services were flouting those rules by continuing to operate at the airports without permits.

“We’ve invested a lot of work since last fall, trying to find a way to create a lawful way for TNCs to operate at airports,” said Doug Yakel, spokesman for San Francisco International Airport. But he said while SFO is in discussions with several TNC companies regarding permits, “thus far we have not completed this process for any company.”

Airports in Chicago, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, and many other cities have also grappled with the TNC issue.

Now Airports Council International-North America, the trade organization for North American airports, is getting involved.

While “it is unacceptable for TNCs to simply ignore regulations and requirements with which they disagree, as has been the case at some airports … the demand for transportation network companies cannot be overlooked and must be addressed,” said Deborah McElroy, ACI-NA executive vice president.

ACI-NA has put together a task force to help airport officials establish regulations and work out reasonable solutions, although given the circumstances at individual airports, the appropriate solutions may differ greatly, said McElroy.

And while “there’s no handbook yet” for dealing with TNCs in cities and airports, “we’re just seeing the beginning of a new method of transportation that’s vastly superior to what came before,” said Joshua Schank, president and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation. “They will eventually find a way to regulate them and make them safe.”

Planes, Trains & Automobiles at Reno-Tahoe Int’l Airport

RENO COOKIES

An exhibit about the transportation history of Sparks, Nevada is now open at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport – an airport known for having gaming machines, free local calls and an annual exhibit celebrating Burning Man.

Put together by the Sparks Museum & Cultural Center, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles…from Runways to Rockets includes a doctor’s buggy, a model train and a model of a rocket as well as ten wall panels chock full of transportation-related information. Look for the exhibit on Concourse C.

Reno buggy

Photos courtesy of the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. Thanks!