bus lane, hybrid bus.

http://gttavisions.blogspot.com/2007/05/bus-only-lane-pitched-for-dvp-toronto.html

"It could take a few years, but Toronto is looking at making transit-friendly changes to one of Canada's busiest roads, including a bus-only lane to unplug the congested expressway.

There's no room to expand, but officials want to squeeze buses onto the centre median lane to let transit users zip ahead of car drivers in the regular lanes.

The concept, already used in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Ottawa, would help GO Transit buses draw more passengers out of their cars, said managing director Gary McNeil."

D: Toronto had high hopes for hybrid buses. But they are not much more efficient for long steady driving.

http://www.e-traction.com/buses.htm
D: this is a nifty setup. It uses an all-electric at the wheel.
It is powered by a small steady generator that recharges the battery banks.

volt, rx8 are everything wrong with next-gen cars

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/07/22/volt-gm.html
D: This will be full sedan size. But as an electric, it really is only of use for short in-city commutes.
It is also very expensive.

http://media.ford.com/mazda/article_display.cfm?article_id=17134&make_id=227
The Mazda RX8/hydrogen also has a very limited range with hydrogen.
Its Renesis engine is promising. Sadly, they built a large version for sports cars/SUVs.
Placing a miniature version in a compact would have made sense.
The H2 doesn't have the range for anything but city car apps.

The future apparently involves a painless, if expensive, 'biz as usual' model.
Full sized cars that would feel at home in pre-oil crisis 1970s America.

The Renesis is particularly important since it is compact and light - appropriate to mount mid-body, which is useful for a quasi-trike layout (see yesterday).

There IS a proof-of-concept cyro/high-pressure H2 tank.
https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2008/NR-08-06-02.html
D: but keep in mind the Trishield 5000psi costs $5000.
I am curious what the price could be with proper economies of scale.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5325/is_200202/ai_n21308637

D: note that a H2 tank able to handle long road trips necessarily will occupy the entire trunk or back seat. Allowing for cargo and luggage, what I'm saying is it cannot be a 4-5 adult passenger system in any practical fashion. Sorry. I'd like H2 to be a silver bullet as much as the next guy, but the facts just don't add up to that.

I kept running into know-it-alls that read a single book on the subject - "The Hydrogen Economy".
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrogen-Economy-Jeremy-Rifkin/dp/1585422541/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216742979&sr=8-1
They all proved hopelessly naive.
They didn't consider that without onboard O2 (impractical- see the size of that tank!!!), a H2 combustion engine still produces 1/3 the Nox.
The VOLUME required to store H2 was lost on them.
The off-gassing of H2 if cryo was also.
The losses, from feedstock to H2 gas to cryo gas (or even single OR dual stage compressor for gas) are staggering!
Combined with the 'box on wheels' able to hold 5 adults exemplified by the Volt and RX8, this would be disaster. It would simply consume all remaining coal very fast.
Without next-gen clean coal, it is bad on every count.
Aside: since India, China AND the USA are all building relatively old-school coal plants which are not cheap or effectively upgraded to clean coal tech (with 90% co2 retention), the CO2 cap is already lost. I'm just extrapolating a world with 18% o2/ 1000pm CO2 when the dust settles.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/26/MNGKVBHHQ51.DTL
The USA wants to help China clean up its act? Physician, heal thyself!
http://www.saskpower.com/cleancoal/index.html
D: since USA generates 50% of its energy from coal, and H2 and electricity will both likely be derived from coal, where ever coal plants go, so too all the 'clean' energy storage methods.
Then.... we plop it in a big vehicle design.

teardrop shaped cars for lower drag.

D: this is post WWII car that used a 10hp moped motor initially.
The rear axle is recessed. This
1) saves much weight
2) improves drag profile
3) means no differential drive is needed.
I'd like to see this updated. Every now and then, a 3-wheeled car comes out.
See the Trimagnum for example. 3 wheels are not quite as stable.
It also requires carefully designing the car to keep the mass low and between the tires.
We've all seen the Prius drag profile. That is about as good as it gets- if we are trapped with the 'box on wheels' design. It cannot taper horizontally at the rear.
Aside: many cars that look low drag are not. Without a big spoiler, the rear window on most sedans ends laminar flow and has the eddies/vortex of turbulence.
Ideally, the rear cross section before turbulence should be 1/2 the front.
I propose:
1) we switch from box on wheels. i.e. 2 bucket seats front/ 3 on sofa rear.
2) at first, we switch to 2 and 2.
3) then 2 and 1/ or 2 kids.
I would also like to see:
1) electric motors mounted on the front wheels. For regenerative braking.
2) an axle rear mounted engine. BUT place the whole narrow rear axle on a pivot.
The result? The ability to move SIDEWAYS for parallel parking.
As well as very narrow turn radius.
The Isetta-style rear axle allows the wheels to pass under the rear passenger seats.

I thought this would work for highway commutes.
For in the city, a Vive-style profile is adequate. Or SmartCar.

The 3-wheeler died when Buckminster's 3 wheeler crashed and caused a fatality.
People are irrationally afraid of it in the same way the Hindenberg crash scared them of hydrogen.
Perhaps we can use a 'boiled frog' approach to sneak it up on them though...

city plan 2.0

http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/redesigning_urb.php

D: "(PARIS) The first step was to invest in better transit in outlying regions to ensure that everyone in the greater Paris area had access to high-quality public transit. The next step was to create express lanes on main thoroughfares for buses and bicycles, thus reducing the number of lanes for cars. The third step was to establish a city bicycle rental program"
D: it looks like a zero-sum game.
But every person who finds reforms make public transit or cycling viable are off the road.

"The cars-only model is being challenged by the "National Complete Streets Coalition", an assemblage of citizen groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, AARP (an organization of 38 million older Americans), and local and national cycling organizations. This coalition has aggressively lobbied for "complete streets" policies"
D: COMPLETE STREETS. A handy slogan to rally around.

D: the cost of 'free parking' to society is enormous.

http://completestreets.org/

http://www.walkable.org/library.htm
D: this is terrific, for cyclists too.
(pic)

thoughts on plug-in hybrids, electricity source, v.s. alternatives

D: the two maps show:
1) location of coal plants (purple dots) and
2) the potential for wind power.

Notice anything? That's right- we have coal plants where the wind is best. ?!?
Now, many folks suggest hybrids and plug-in cars are always more green. Not really.
If the electricity comes from coal plants, then the co2 and pollution is roughly comparable to just using a standard gasoline vehicle.
Here's where it gets interesting. Plug-in hybrid/electric battery cars, when connected to the power grid, can address a limitation of wind power. Wind power is not reliable. Sometimes there is wind but sometimes not.
So:
1) build wind generators
2) a policy (see below) of incenting use of plug-in hybrids/electrics is implemented
3) 2) offsets a limit of 1)
4) we minimize the use of coal.

Another aside: electric discharge does create ground-level ozone. We don't have any perfect solutions.

There is a problem with automatically handing out rebates for a hybrid car. Just like the tech of the last few decades, hybrid cars can be a performance booster v.s. a way to gain efficiency.
Well, if we used the innovations in car performance since the 1970s to improve efficiency, we'd have vehicles 25% better on gas.
Instead, we now have sedans that rival the performance of many 70s sports cars.
Well, hybrids can be used the same way.
I expect to see drag-racers availing themselves of 'green' rebates in the name of performance.
That's right - your tax dollars at work!

Slapping hybrid (and H2) power trains in full-size sedans and SUVs ignores a fact. Most families choose not to use a scooter, moped, motorbike, subcompact or microcar in lieu of a larger vehicle.
We are attached to the idea of a box-on-wheels that can hold 5 adults for one commuter.
THAT is the problem.
Just using an efficient diesel subcompact matches a hybrid sedan's performance sans all the high-tech wizardry.

A rectangular car chassis precludes adoption of a teardrop shape which would be low drag.
See the Isetta for some ideas about this.

So long as we are trapped in a mindset which requires a full-size sedan that can match an old sports car for acceleration, all the nods to being green are nothing short of laughable!


http://www.hybridcars.com/local-incentives/region-by-region.html

" Ontario...

Residents of these three provinces are eligible for partial sales tax rebate on all hybrid vehicles. In British Columbia, residents can get a rebate of up to $2,000, in Ontario up to $1,000 and in PEI up to $3,000. These rebate are apparently for all hybrids, regardless of make or model. Check with regional tax authorities or a tax professional."

map of parking around uptown waterloo

D: the amount of parking within a coupla blocks of uptown is huge.
Why does the city feel a need to spend 10s of millions to make more?!

Aside: I counted all the bike stands uptown Waterloo. It was less than on-road car parking, on one block, one ONE side of the street!

The placement of signposts does not generally seem to consider car doors and such.

I spoke to a cafe owner uptown. Actually, he didn't like the idea of more greenery. It seems the store name is hard to see through foliage.
He pointed out there were multiple green park areas within a few blocks.

roads at tracks better maintained than sidewalks

D: pic 1 is in the uptown Waterloo mall parking lot. Notice the rubber guide to keep the pavement in place
D: pic 2 is the same place, but with steel guides to prevent the pavement from cracking. Note it is in the best shape of any.

D: pic 2 and 3 are by Kumpf Drive on Northfield. The severe cracks on the sidewalk have not been repaired, unlike the road, which shows recent asphalt patches.
That track on the sidewalks is BRUTAL.
I have a mountain bike.
Now say baby stroller. Or wheelchair. Or decrepit old lady.
A twisted ankle, a broken hip.

I want you to complain. Call the city, or your local politician.
Ask why sidewalks are treated as the 'poor cousin' of roads.
Why have we made the car king?

D: aside - John called back in a timely fashion from Urban Planning.
It seems the bike lane sweeping was behind schedule cuz
1) they were playing catch-up on leaves that were caught by the fall snow and
2) the UW was spilling a lot of gravel.

D: OK... but Father David Bauer Drive still looks like a bomb hit. There are chunks of pavement the side of my fist all over the place. And heaps of gravel.
My advice: go on the sidewalk.

Many say 'build it and they will come'. No, they won't.
Build it WELL and MAINTAIN it and then they will.