T
he City of London is out of the gates and well on its way to becoming Europe's electric vehicle capital. London Mayor Boris Johnson released in May 2009 his
Electric Vehicle Delivery Plan, which calls for 25,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2015 and 100,000 electric vehicles as soon as possible. His plan envisions that all Londoners will be within one mile of a charging station by mid-decade. To accomplish his goal, 22,500 of these charging stations will be located in offices for employee and company use. The remaining 2,500 will form a publically accessible pan-London network of charging stations at a range of locations such as residential on street spaces, public parking ramps, retail locations, and London Underground stations. Approximately 500 of these will be ‘on-street' charging stations and the remaining 2,000 will be located in supermarkets, parking ramps, London Underground car parks, and at retail locations.
The Pan-London Electric Vehicle Charging Scheme will bring together the publicly accessible charging stations in London into one network and will be developed later this year. Registered customers of the pan-London scheme will be able to use any of the publicly accessible charge points on the scheme, recognisable by a single pan-London scheme brand.
In 1995, only 6.2 percent of trips in the U.S. were made by walking or biking. In 2009, that percentage was 11.9 percent - a 92 percent increase! Over that time, there has also been a decline in the number of pedestrian and bicycle injuries and deaths. In 1993, a staggering 5,638 pedestrians and 814 bicyclists were killed in crashes with cars and trucks. In 2008, those numbers had dropped to a still-much-too-high 4,378 pedestrians and 716 bicyclists-a combined decrease of 21 percent.
Two bills recently passed by the 2010 legislature and signed by Governor Pawlenty include some pretty powerful transportation policies.
Great news for those interested in being able to safely walk and bike in their neighborhood! On May 15, Governor Pawlenty signed the transportation policy bill, which included a state Complete Streets policy. The new Complete Streets policy calls for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) to build roads with all people in mind--regardless of age or ability or whether traveling by car, foot, bus, or bike.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently in the midst of reevaluating its air quality standards for six major air pollutants that have direct impacts of human and environmental health. For most of the pollutants, this means that the EPA is tightening the standards in response to improved information about the health impacts of different types of pollution. The new standards - which started coming out in fall 2008 and will all be out by 2012 - could impact whether parts of Minnesota continue to meet (attain) the standards or fail and move into "nonattainment" status for one or more pollutants.
Have you seen one of the 26
HOURCAR hybrids driving around the metro and wondered what it was all about? It makes not owning a car possible! We all know that our beautiful metro area has many great transportation alternatives to the automobile, but sometimes these options don't fit into the demands of modern life and urban sprawl. For those instances our staff, who almost entirely take the bus or bike to work, can now use HOURCAR to get to where they need to go! HOURCAR is easy to sign up for and easy to use. Here's the gist: you sign up online to become a member (nonprofits get a membership for free!), you complete a short orientation online, pay $25 per driver for a traffic background check, and they send you a key FOB and a great t-shirt! To rent the car you either call or go online to book the HOURCAR nearest you at one of the 21 locations. You can rent the car from 45 minutes up to the whole day. At $6 an hour and $0.25/mile (this includes gas) it's a steal of a deal. Our favorite car to rent is located at Selby and Dale - it's an electric car charged by solar power. You can't get much better than that!
With Target Field now open, how to get to a Twins game? At least for the half dozen regular season games that have been held to-date, the answer for many folk is to take transit. Hiawatha light rail and Northstar commuter rail both come directly to Target Field, and Metro Transit has added a special express bus route (Route 679) from stops along I-394 directly to the field.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology recently released maps and a report of the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index for 337 metropolitan regions around the country. These easy-to-use maps show how much families pay for housing and transportation costs based on where they live.
A new national poll released yesterday by Transportation for America shows that people are ready for a change in our transportation system:
Over the past few months the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has held dozens of listening sessions and has been requesting comments about its upcoming $100 million Sustainable Communities Grant Program.
Fresh Energy Blog