Alex Goldmark

(Photo (cc) by Flickr user Bisayan Lady)

Timed to coincide with a bus safety summit, federal state and local police officials began conducting thousands of surprise bus inspections across the country today. The action is part of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's two-week long inspection sweep dubbed the Passenger Carrier Strike Force. It will last until October, 7.

“Today, we are sending a clear message that safety must be the driving force within the motorcoach industry,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. The last strike force operation inspected 3,000 buses, found 1 in 10 deficient in some way and removed 289 buses and drivers from operation. An FMCSA spokesperson said the inspections will take place in national parks, casinos, malls, and any other high traffic motorcoach area.

In addition to inspections, the FMCSA also announced it is releasing a new smartphone application that will allow customers to scan a bus company's safety record easily before booking a trip. The application, to be released in November, is part of a wider effort by the FMCSA to get safety data out to the public and use existing inspection ratings as pressure on bus companies to improve safety performance.

This is all part of a in increased focus on bus safety as the public and Congress both focus more closely on the topic in the wake of a string of crashes earlier this year. Ferro  previously called 2011 the "worst period in recent history for motorcoach safety."

Elected officials have called for tighter regulation, while the DOT and FMCSA have requested from congress expanded authority to enforce existing regulations, including the enhanced powers to shut down so-called re-incarnated bus companies that change names to avoid penalties after failing inspections. The DOT also wants Congress to increase the fine for illegally operating a bus company from $2,000 a day to $25,000 per violation.

The FMCSA has dramatically increased inspections in recent years. Since 2006, the FMCSA has roughly doubled the number of bus inspections and safety reviews of the nation's estimated 4,000 passenger bus companies, according to the DOT. The past 5 months however, have drawn a sharper spotlight on the industry and on regulation following a string of deadly crashes this summer.

The FMCSA brought 44 enforcement cases against unsafe passenger bus companies in 2010, up from 36 in 2008, according to DOT figures. Almost 26,000 roadside inspections were performed in 2010, double the number five years earlier.

 

 

New York City is polluting less. The city's newly released 2010 greenhouse gas audit reveals that America's largest city reduced carbon emissions by 1.1 percent in 2010, down to a total of 54.3 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. That's a slightly smaller reduction than previous years.

On a per capita basis, New Yorkers use about one third the national average when it comes to energy consumption. The report attributes that strong environmental showing to several factors including smaller average home size, especially in apartment buildings, and the nation's highest rate of non-automobile commuting. The city says, 76.7 percent of New Yorkers get to work without using a private car.

That's partly why transportation in New York emits just 21 percent of GHGs compared to 29 percent nationally, according to the most U.S. recent greenhouse gas audit from the Environmental Protection Agency. Here's how the transportation energy consumption breaks down in NYC, in the NYC audit:

It is buildings, though, that are the biggest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters in the big apple at 75 percent of the total. Commercial and residential buildings -- including the fuel to heat them and the electricity to power the air conditioners that cools them -- combine to emit almost four times as much CO2 as transportation sources in New York City. That's why much of the gains in environmental efficiency recently have come from more efficient energy use in buildings and in power generation improvements.

As explained in the audit, there are myriad factors at play: "New York City’ s carbon footprint decreased 11.7 percent from 2005 to 2010, due to milder weather, reduced electricity use, reduced heating fuel use, reduced solid waste generation, new power plants and cleaner imported electricity, more efficient steam generation..." Transportation didn't even make the long list.

As this chart shows, how New Yorkers get around hasn't changed all that much, so it just isn't a major factor in the environmental changes from the last year:

Click to enlarge.

For a national point of reference, according to the EPA greenhouse gas audit, transportation emissions dropped four percent from 2008 to 2009, the most recent data available. That's due in large part to the economic slowdown that reduced travel and shipping levels. Before that, America had been on a steady march towards higher and higher transportation emissions, according to the EPA. Transportation emissions have risen 17 percent since 1990, "due, in large part, to increased demand for travel and the stagnation of fuel efficiency across the U.S. vehicle fleet."

New York City is nearly on pace to meet the goals set by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007 to reduce overall emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

Manhattan's last parking meter being removed, September 19, 2011 in Harlem (Photo: DOT)

UPDATED 6:55 p.m. New York City removed the last single-spaced parking meter in Manhattan, 60 years after the first one was installed. The old style coin operated metal meters are being replaced with new Muni-Meters which can manage up to eight spaces at a time, accept credit cards and via a WiFi connection be easily reprogrammed remotely with new rates or schedules.

The New York Times reports that some of the meter mechanics who keep the clunky metal meters running will be reassigned or retrained. The new meters have no mechanical moving parts, are solar-powered, and can shut themselves down on Sundays.

All remaining single-space meters outside of Manhattan will be replaced by the end of 2012, according to the NYC DOT. In all, the DOT plans to install 7,400 new Muni-Meters, manufactured by the company Parkeon. Current DOT staff who work on the old parking meters, including mechanics, are being trained to maintain the new meters which which are more secure and less prone to vandalism, the DOT says.

Just as the checkered cab has come to instantly signify a pre-2000 era of New York City in films and photos, soon, the humble single-space parking meter will be a tell tale sign for Hollywood art directors to signify the aughts and earlier.

(Photo Kate Hinds)

If you are excited to learn more about bike share in New York you have five chances in the next two weeks to meet representatives from Alta, the company behind the plan, and test out a bike share bike.

As we've been reporting, New York City is set to launch the nation's largest bike share program next summer, it's likely to look a lot like Washington, D.C.'s Capital Bike Share program, also managed by Alta.

Possibly a sign of the initial target audience for the plan, three of the five events will be held in Brooklyn. The city's crowdsourced map of suggested bike share station locations is, as would be expected, most densely populated with pleas for spots in Manhattan.

The first is this Saturday from 12:00 -4:00 p.m. in DUMBO's Manhattan Bridge Archway.

Wednesday September 21, 12:00 – 3:00 p.m. at Bowling Green at the foot of Broadway at Battery Place in Manhattan.

Saturday September 24, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at  Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, 176 Lafayette Avenue between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues.

Thursday September 29, 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m in Union Square.

Sunday October 2 12:00 p.m – 6:00 p.m at the Atlantic Antic festival, at the corner of Atlantic and Nevins.

NYC announced Wednesday that Alta bicycle share company will run New York City's bike share program to launch next year. Here's an early peak at what it will look like.

The official announcement is underway right now. We posted a few details already (10,000 bikes, $100/year membership fee, planned launch date in 2012) and we'll have a lot more soon.

Keep checking back for updates all day.

(Photo Kate Hinds)

Alta is affiliated with Bixi bike share which runs Monrteal's bike share program and Barclay's bikes in London.

(Photo Kate Hinds)

The pay station. Membership fees will be $100 per year. The first half hour of a trip will be free.

(Photo Kate Hinds)

Expect this kind of bik share station in 600 locations around Manhattan and Brooklyn. They are slated to stretch from 79th street south as far into Brooklyn as Bed-Stuy, Windsor Terrace and Park Slope. Pilot locations will also be tested in the other three boroughs.

Congressional leaders have reached a tentative agreement to extend current transportation funding levels six months. The plan combines the existing surface transportation funding provisions, known as SAFETEA-LU, with Federal Aviation Administration authorization, which would be extended for four months. If passed this week as expected, the deal averts a repeat of the nasty partisan fight over funding levels and labor rights that partially shuttered the FAA last month. It also avoids deep cuts to transportation and infrastructure spending Republicans have been calling for.

House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-Fla.) had been advocating for a transportation department re-authorization bill that cuts overall spending levels by 30 percent.  By comparison, this "clean" extension agreement, with no amendments or funding changes, means that transportation cuts will be avoided or at least postponed until the Presidential election year. Republican leadership, it seems, has decided to back away from a position that could potentially lead to another shutdown of the FAA or even other agencies within the Department of Transportation. A Mica spokesman tells Transportation Nation he supports this new agreement and expects it to be on the House floor by Tuesday.

The FAA funding fight last month left 4,000 government workers furloughed for two weeks, and cost the federal government $30 million a day in lost taxes. It also seems to have primed politicians for compromise. Even though the core issues of that standoff remain unsettled -- funding levels for rural airports, and a labor provision making it easier for airline and railroad workers to organize -- this extension agreement pushes off any agreement until next year.

Transportation advocates are pleased with that idea. James Coreless, director of Transportation for America said, “The six-month timeline allows the relevant House and Senate Committees an opportunity to continue crafting a long-term authorization that protects and creates jobs, while investing in the travel options Americans want with the accountability they deserve. We look forward to working with Congress to get a new bill done next year.”

Republican leaders had been talking about wanting to remove the Transportation Enhancements provision in SAFTEA-LU, which go primarily to bike and walking provisions. The Transportation Enhancements program requires states to direct money to, among other areas, pedestrian and cycling projects.

By extending both bills at once, Congress is forcing itself to take up the bill this week, before the temporary FAA extension expires again on the 17th.

 

With the entire New York City transit system set to shut down at noon on Saturday, first responders are planning alternate ways to get to work.

Floodwaters covered the subway train storage yard at Coney Island. (Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority / David Knights.)

UPDATED 8:55 p.m. ET Sunday: The MTA says it will restore limited subway service at 6am on Monday morning. Buses are currently running in all five boroughs. No word yet on Metro North and Long Island Rail Road.

UPDATED 5:55 p.m. ET Sunday Buses are back in operation throughout the city.

UPDATED 1:40 p.m. ET Sunday There is still no prediction of when subway service will be restored in New York City. Public officials were unapologetic about the decision to preemptively shut down the nation's largest transit system. "The actions that we took yesterday were right," Jay Walder head of the MTA said at the Mayor's afternoon press conference. He said the first service to return will be buses, some of which will first be used to shuttle evacuees back home he said.

He did not say when subway service would return, calling it a "difficult process" that will "take some time." He said, "we have widespread impacts of the storm. We have flooding, we have downed trees, we have power outages."

The worst fears were not realized however: salt water flooding into the tunnels under the East River. "Metro North has sustained real damage," Walder said. That appears to be the worst affected of New York area transit properties.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended his decision to evacuate coastal areas of the city. When asked what his message is to residents who will likely face a Monday morning commute without public transit, Mayor Bloomberg asked for patience, adding, "there are taxis, and some people can walk."

UPDATED 11:30 a.m. Saturday

All New York City transit remains shutdown 24 hours after the first ever total closure of the nation's largest subway and bus system due to a weather event.

Earlier this morning MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan told Transportation Nation, that there is "no estimate on restoration right now." He said they would soon release information on "the many tasks that must be done before service can resume."

It took approximately eight hours to shut the entire transit system down. LIRR and some Metro-North trains were stored on high ground away from low-lying yards. The MTA explained it takes two hours just to allow trains to complete their runs. Then they had to be positioned in safe locations. After that the crew members out safely need transportation out to safe locations.

Trains also were situated on express tracks some in locations distant from where trains end their runs. Stations were then secured, areas inspected and power shut down, according to the MTA.

There is widespread flooding on Metro North tracks including in two substations.

The USGS Community Intensity Internet Map (image courtesy of USGS)

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake rattled the East Coast Tuesday, with tremors felt from as far south as North Carolina all the way north to Rhode Island. According to the United States Geological Survey, the epicenter was 40 miles outside of Richmond, Va.

We're still gathering information on transportation and infrastructure but for now, here's what we know as of 3:45pm:

• Amtrak service is disrupted between Washington and Baltimore as D.C.'s Union Station was evacuated and trains south of Baltimore are running at slower speeds
• Airports are all back up and running according to the FAA. Planes were grounded and terminals evacuated in Washington, D.C. with closures at New York's JFK lasting 45 minutes. Newark ceased operations for 20-30 minutes. Some delays persist at most airports.
• Travelers reported that some Hudson River closed between New York and New Jersey, but the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says there were no closures, nor reports of any damage.
• Buildings and transit centers were evacuated throughout the region.

 

Top stories on TN:

More than 700,000 households go without access to cars or public transit, most of them low income. That's while transit options are being cut around the country. (Link)

The governors of New York and New Jersey say they will sign off on slightly less steep toll increases than those originally proposed. (Link)

Image from Brookings Institution on Transit Access and zero-vehicle households.

Find your local area's level of transit and vehicle access in this new study from the Brookings Institution. (Link)

California's ambitious high-speed rail plan got a political boost. Governor Jerry Brown gave one of his most public declarations in support of the plan to date. (Sacramento Bee)

Meanwhile, a new study finds that the proposed high-speed rail trains from LA to San Francisco could share track with existing CalTrain lines, a solution that would ease opposition from some residents and lawmakers. (San Jose Mercury News)

The Portland City Council has approved a $2 million bikeshare plan. (KOIN)

It's tough to track down deadbeat toll beaters who abuse EZ Pass lanes. (NYT)

Oregon is expanding the state-funded network of fast EV chargers into smaller cities. (WashPo)

Bruce Weber, biking across America for the NYTimes, checks in with beautiful photos from the wide open road in Montana, a state "so enormous it makes a cyclist feel as though he were standing still."  (NYT)

 

Top stories on TN:

The chair of the House Transportation Committee, John Mica, opens up about his part in the political stalemate that caused the FAA shutdown in an interview with TN partner WMFE. (Link)

Tolls in the NY area may  jump 50 percent, here's a look behind the money. (Link)

London public bike pump. (Photo via Cyclehoop.)

China has transferred the spokesman of its besmirched railway ministry to Poland, following his handling of the deadly high-speed rail crash last month. (WashPo)

US Airways is cleared to move ahead with a lawsuit alleging pilots held an illegal work slowdown. (Bloomberg)

The Boeing 787 has completed certification testing. Despite an extra delay due to the FAA shutdown, the new plane could be flying the passenger skies by the end of the year. (Wired)

Hackers released the names and private information of members of the BART police officer's union, presumably in retaliation for the cell phone service shutdown to thwart protests of a police shooting. (CNet)

The White House suggests transportation investments as a tool for stimulating rural growth. (DOT's Fast Lane)

MIT suggests using car crashing modeling techniques to predict and avoid deep sea oil drilling spills. (Jalopnik)

Cadillac released a few details and photos of the plug-in ELR, which would be the first luxury electric car, based on Chevy Volt technology. (Autobloggreen)

London installs pumps (pictured above) as part of the citywide bikeshare program.  (Tree Hugger via Grist)

And the Washington Post tries to get to the bottom of a transit URL mystery. Nobody knows who owns the domain unsuckdcmetro.com, which points to the official WMATA website site rather than the blog, unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com. (WashPo)

Top stories from TN:

Brooklyn's Prospect Park West lane can stay, according to a ruling in Brooklyn Supreme Court. (Link)

As officials consider raising New York City area tolls by as much as 50 percent, the public is mixed in reactions at public hearings, including construction industry members turning out in favor of the hikes. (Link)

As environmentalists decry a planned 1,660 mile oil pipeline from Canada into the U.S., the energy company behind it says it will be safe. (Link)

Chicago public bus. (Photo: (cc) by Flickr user Dane Brian)

If you think the political fight over the FAA shutdown was bad, look out for the gas tax debate. (The Daily)

Chicago is paving the way for a bus rapid transit plan. (Chicago Tribune)

Here's a look at where the money would go from the Port Authority of NY/NJ toll and fare hikes: construction. (WNYC)

As we reported last week from Montana, the Federal government is backing off the idea of forcing farmers to get commercial drivers licenses. Here's the nationwide view. (AP)

The BART cell phone shut down to prevent a protest is now becoming a first amendment debate. (SF Gate)

The world's fastest electric cars prepare to race across the desert in Australia. Here's a slideshow. (GOOD)

Prospect Park West bike lane (photo by Planetgordon.com via Flickr)

The Prospect Park West bike lane can stay according to a ruling Tuesday by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Bert Bunyan. He said that opponents of the lane had missed the statute of limitations to file suit against the project, which the city reiterated in a statement is a traffic calming measure meant to slow speeding cars and increase safety.

Opponents had said the plan was temporary, and therefore, the statute of limitations had not expired. Bunyan ruled the project is permanent. Opponents say they are considering their options.

For our fuller article on this go here. You can catch yourself up on the arguments and the lengthy legal battle over the most contentious .9 miles of city pavement with our extensive previous coverage here. Or review the original court filings.

In the meantime, here's the judges ruling. The key part about the statute of limitations is on page 5 where he writes: “The threshold issue is whether petitioners’ bikeway claim is timely.”

More soon.

PPW Bike Lane Ruling 8-16-2011

Top stories on TN:

NY Gov says he will sign a complete streets law, making NY the 25th state to do so. (Link)

BART's Board President defends the transit agency's decision to cut cell service on station platforms to disrupt a protest of a police shooting. (Link)

New York and New Jersey's Port Authority is letting the public weigh in on toll hikes. (Link)

Tune in to WMFE at 9:30am ET (or online afterward) for Mark Simpson's interview with House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) who calls the flight attendants union "pawns" and "duped tools." (WMFE)

A second protest shut down four stations last night. (NPR) The Bay Citizen posted a few short videos of the BART protests on You Tube.

Georgia, which ranks 49th in per-capita transportation spending is set to vote on a 1 cent transportation tax that would bring the state its biggest infrastructure investment in decades. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

President Obama kicked off his campaign style bus tour of the Midwest and called on automakers to make more fuel-efficient vehicles, "You can’t just make money on SUVs and trucks." (The Hill)

Chevrolet has sold 3,200 Volts this year, aiming for 16,000 by 2013, but a new study shows demand is dropping. (The Detroit Bureau)

Now that both the Nissan Lead and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV can be used to charge your house, is it time to standardize electric car chargers? (Gas 2.0) And New York City is one of three cities in a pilot to power EVs with personal wind turbines. (Fast Company)

Stanford is building a solar powered car that could break the record for fastest electric vehicle ever. (Inhabitat)

A “complete street” with space marked out not only for vehicles but pedestrians and bikes. (Photo by NYC DOT.)

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that he plans to sign statewide complete streets legislation. The law, crafted in partnership with the state Department of Transportation, would "require state and local transportation agencies to consider "complete streets" designs that factor in non-car uses of streets and sidewalks, according to the Cuomo's announcement.

"New York's roadways should safely accommodate all pedestrians, motorists and cyclists, and this legislation will help communities across the state achieve this objective," Governor Cuomo said in a press release.

According to The National Complete Streets Coalition, 24 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. have already passed some type of complete streets legislation. Each state writes the laws differently, as cataloged here, but broadly speaking each of the laws calls for future road planning to factor in pedestrians, bike and other non-car uses for public roadway construction and design. We've reported on TN about Montana and Florida's varied efforts at enacting complete streets laws to increase safety and stimulate foot traffic in downtown areas. There is also a national law awaiting support in Congress.

According to Governor Cuomo's office, the New York law would "facilitate improved joint use of roadways by all users, including pedestrians, motorists, and bicyclists as well as promote a cleaner, greener transportation system with reduced traffic congestion and the resultant air pollution." Examples of those non-car design elements were listed in the announcement. "Design features may include sidewalks, bicycle lanes, crosswalks, pedestrian control signalization, bus pull outs, curb cuts, raised crosswalks, ramps, and traffic calming measures."

One of the bill's sponsors State Senator Charles Fuschillo said, "Complete streets design principles have been proven to reduce fatalities and injuries, and by taking them into consideration on future projects we will greatly improve the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers of all ages and abilities."

Kate Slevin of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign applauded the announcement. She said the death last year of Brittany Vega, who was struck and killed by a vehicle while walking to school on Sunrise Highway in Long Island, might've been prevented with a countdown clock and pedestrian median at the crosswalk. "This Complete Streets bill will ensure that when engineers and planners are designing and redesigning roads in the future, they will take into account the needs of everyone who uses them," Slevin said in a statement.

Complete Streets, she continued, "are safer and encourage walking and cycling, leading to healthier neighborhoods and better quality of life."

TN Top Stories

Mark Ovendon wrote the book on transit maps, several of them anyway. In a special post to TN, he describes Penn Station's lost grandeur and imagines what a more glorious rail hub would do for NY travelers. (Link)

Also from Penn Station: An ode to railway maps as art, inspiration to travel and a inducement to journey by rail. So why isn't there an Amtrak map posted in Penn Station? (Link)

House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica is being followed by protesting flight attendants for his stance on FAA funding. Mica talks back calling them "pawns," defending his stance to roll back a provision that makes it easier to unionize. (Link)

BART shut down cell service to disrupt protests on train platforms, saying it would be unsafe. (Photo (cc) Flickr user adactio)

Hackers are targeting San Franscisco's BART system with a digital attack of some sort after the agency shut off cell service in four stations last week to thwart a protest over a shooting by a BART police officer. (KALW and SF Gate) The Takeaway speaks with a contrite Lynette Sweet Board Member of BART, who opposed the move, saying, "we kind of invited this kind of critique of BART." (The Takeaway) Protests are called for this weekend on Twitter with the hashtag #muBARTek.

Here's why the trucking industry actually supported President Obama's new regulations for heavy truck fuel efficiency. (National Journal)

Politicians want the National Labor Relations Board to back off Boeing, call it a "rogue agency." (The Hill)

With federal funding become more fleeting and hard to come by, Atlanta and Seattle are turning to referenda. (Transport Politic)

Toronto removes a bike lane to speed up car traffic as Mayor Rob Ford continues to roll back what he calls the "war on cars." (The Guardian)

A new app is piloting in Manhattan that adds market forces to parking in public spots, letting drivers pay each other to coordinate their coming and going so they can share spots. (Fast Company)

In case you missed it, Major League pitcher Jeremy Guthrie is profiled as an urban thinker, largely because he bikes to work, even away games (the last leg anyway). (Spacing Toronto)

And for fun, here are 100 license plates banned by the California DMV. (Jalopnik)

Syria continued its violent crackdown on protesters this week and increased its escalation using navy vessels to go after the port city of Latakia on Sunday. At least 25 people are reportedly killed including three children, according to our partner The New York Times. Joining us is Anthony Shadid, Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times, whose been covering this story. 

When consumers can see how much power they're using minute by minute with in-home "smart meters," they typically cut back on energy consumption -- at least a little. The Dutch are experimenting with in-car meters that tax miles driven on the theory that it will cut down on driving. Would that kind of information affect day-t0-day transportation decisions for transit riders too? Transit riders now have a new source of data on environmental impact: trip planning website HopStop now includes carbon emissions calculations in their travel directions.

HopStop CEO Joe Meyer said the company received thousands of user requests for a feature that quantified the environmental benefits of public transit. Now, right next to the estimated trip time, you'll see your CO2 savings compared to driving. "At the end of the day, we’re a source of information," Meyer said. "This is giving people additional context around the information they are already coming to us for."

HopStop is using a proprietary algorithm based on data from the EPA and the World Resources Institute to estimate the savings for each trip compared to driving solo. While there's no shortage of  carbon calculators out there -- including several specifically about transportation and even public transit including one by New York's MTA -- HopStop is injecting this environmental information right in the moment when people are choosing how to travel.

But some are unsure that this will make a big impact. "I doubt if this one will have a substantial effect [on changing travel behavior]," says Richard Thaler, co-author of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health Wealth and Happiness, which is about how people can be guided into better decisions without restricting choice. "There are lots of factors that go into the choice of a mode of transport -- time, expense, convenience, etc. -- and carbon emissions is just one, even for those who are sensitive to such things. So, [this new feature is] a good thing, but unlikely to shift much behavior, especially in the short run."

HopStop's Meyer says he isn't doing this to shift how people travel, he's providing what his customers want -- more information. “We’re just telling you it’s a more environmentally friendly way to travel… compared to driving, and here’s the saving."

According to New York's MTA, emissions from a single passenger car trip can be five times more than the alternative transit trip, and as much as 8.25 times more if you factor in dynamic effects. MTA research analyst Dana Coyle explains: "There are three components of the carbon savings of transit use as we see it. The first is mode shift... shifting from a vehicle to a different mode [like] transit or walking or biking. The second is congestion relief. By removing cars from the road, the vehicles that are left can drive more efficiently... so you are getting better gas mileage. The third part is a land use factor, this one is a little bit tricky." She explained that if transit allows for denser neighborhoods, then you can avoid carbon emissions by, say, walking to the grocery story on your way home instead of taking a separate car trip.

That's system wide. For each individual decision, the new HopStop feature is more like the Dutch in-car meter, or an in-home smart energy meter. When home electricity usage is presented in real time, it reduced energy consumption by 7 percent on average, according to a review of experimental studies of "smart meters." This kind of awareness matters on the margins: to shut off the A/C when a fan might do, or to remember to turn the lights out, or stop blow drying your hair. It was also tied to paying more for extra electricity used, which isn't the case with transit.

However, HopStop users clamoring for the carbon calculator may use the information in another way: to brag. This information may become the kind of data that lets people advocate for their already firm choices with more conviction. Look out, transit-accessible cocktail parties: straphangers can now boast about another way they're better. And, because the new feature will also compare the carbon emissions of biking/walking (which have zero carbon emissions in this calculator) with transit, it could make the eco-conscious bus rider hoof it a little more frequently.

Even if carbon isn't the top determinant between driving or riding, it can't be a factor at all unless it's measured.

HopStop is making this available on the website immediately, and on all mobile apps within the next two months.

For more than one hundred and forty years the House of Reeves furniture store was a landmark in south London. On Tuesday night the family run business − which had survived two World World Wars, a Great Depression, and a Great Recession — was burnt to the ground by rioters. British Prime Minister David Cameron this morning announced that "the fightback has begun." This includes the painful cleanup at locations such as the House of Reeves store.

As unrest spreads in Syria the government continues to crack down on demonstrators. But President Bashar al-Assad's government seems to be weakening and losing nearly all of its international support. The United States has imposed sanctions on Syria's largest bank and mobile phone operator while calling on Assad to step down from power. Meanwhile within Syria, even members of the political and social elite are starting to back away from the Assad regime.