Alex Goldmark

(Photo: GM)

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) The hybrid-electric Chevy Volt beat out its all-electric rival, the Nissan Leaf, and the other finalist the Hyundai Sonata to win 2011 North American Car of the Year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The Chevy Volt has been racking up honors—it earned "car of the year" awards from Motor Trend, Automobile Magazine and the Detroit Free Press—despite barely being on the market. Chevrolet has sold just 326 Volts since cars began shipping to dealers last month, though reported demand remains high.

Truck of the year honors went to the Ford Explorer, the third consecutive win for Ford in that category.  To be eligible for the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards a vehicle must be all new, or "substantially changed" from the previous model. A jury of 49 veteran automotive journalists selects the winners.

Interest in electric vehicles even spread to Las Vegas where Ford took center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show to unveil their competitor to the Leaf and Volt: the new all-electric Ford Focus, available later this year, Ford says.

The Electric Focus is more like the Nissan Leaf than the Volt: it would be zero emissions (while driving that is, unless the the charging station is solar powered), all battery powered and charge through 240 volt charging stations in about three to four hours, according the the company. They wouldn't say how many miles it will get per charge, a key statistic in determining its functionality for potential drivers, but the top speed will be a swift 84 mph.

The Nissan Leaf by, comparison, gets an official 73 miles per charge according to the Environmental Protection Agency with a fuel efficiency of 99 miles per gallon equivalency.

Possibly the best news for EVs included in the Ford announcements are

Since we don't have any sweeping best of 2010 posts for you (we're not even one year old yet, cut us some slack) we'll end the year on a whimsical note. In the spirit of New York City's confusing crosswalk signal malfunction, here's a crosswalk sign designed to induce some questioning.

The Total Crisis Panic Button project by artist Jason Eppink is installed at select intersections around the country. Find plenty more pics, a map of the locations around the country and lots more subversive transit oriented art at the Eppink's site.

Total Crisis Panic Button by Jason Eppink

Happy New Year!

- The Transportation Nation Team

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(St. Paul, Minn. -- Dan Olson, MPR) A powerful layer of Twin Cities government that many voters have never heard of has a new chair.

On Wednesday Minn. Governor-elect Mark Dayton appointed Susan Haigh to replace Peter Bell as chair of the Metropolitan Council, the regional planning board that oversees transit in the Twin Cities.

Bell is the Met Council's longest serving chair, and the Republican appointee has overseen the completion of several major transit projects. He says the Met Council experienced a "golden age" on his watch.

Things are looking pretty good for the auto industry right now, especially compared to 2009, which was a disaster. Reporter Alisa Roth talks with Bob Moon about what the industry did to turn things around, how the Big 3 are doing, and whether the bailouts worked.

The interview also reveals some unexpected outcomes in automobiles, like a surge in SUV sales by contractors getting back to work.

Listen to the full interview to find out what led American car makers to bounce back this year at our partner Marketplace.

New tolls and subway fares take effect in New York City today. In case you missed our primer on the changes, you can find it here.

It answers questions like how to calculate the best Metrocard to buy and how to make sure your old cards don't expire unexpectedly on you.

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Susan Haigh, has been picked as the new leader for the board that runs the Twin Cities transit system. has been picked by Gov.-elect Mark Dayton as the new leader for the board that runs the Twin Cities transit system. (MPR Photo / Dan Olson)

(St Paul, Minn--Tim Pugmire, Dan Olson, MPR) Minnesota Governor-elect Mark Dayton filled a key transportation cabinet post Wednesday with his selection of Susan Haigh as Metropolitan Council chair. Metropolitan Council is the board that runs the Twin Cities transit system.

Haigh is currently CEO of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, where she said she plans to continue her work. She also served 10 years as a Ramsey County Commissioner and 12 years as a chief deputy county attorney. In a news release, Dayton called Haigh a "proven leader and consensus-builder."

The governor appoints the 17 member Met Council which oversees the work of 3,700 employees and an annual budget of about $780 million.

As New York City continues to dig out of the big blizzard, many residents are crying foul, saying snow on their streets hasn't been cleared fast enough. This refrain has been especially common in the outer boroughs.

Hard data on cleared streets is hard to come by because the Department of Sanitation—the agency responsible for snow removal— does not keep records of cleared streets. The agency only monitors which roads have been "salted" or "plowed," not which ones may have been covered in snow after plows came through.

Transportation Nation partner, WNYC has put a call out to listeners for reports of still-uncleared streets. To add yours to the map, text PLOW to 30644.

Head over to WNYC to read, and listen to tales of snow woe and see a gallery of local pictures.

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(Image Brian Hughes, Toronto Star)

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) To all the brave cycling souls itching to get back out there on two wheels, Brian Hughes made this great graphic tips list of how to bike in winter. Let us know if you learned anything you didn't know already.

A more detailed list of riding tips is at The Toronto Star where this graphic originally appeared.

(via GOOD)

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The base fare for subways and buses remains $2.25. But a monthly unlimited ride will jump from $89 to $104. Seven-day unlimited rides on subways and buses increase from $27 to $29 -- on express buses, from $45 to $50.

Falling to the axe are 14-Day passes and 1-Day Fun Passes. Moral: there will be no more fun in the transit system, even if you could pay for it. Bonuses and discounts on many kinds of tickets will shrink or disappear. For example, the Pay-per-ride bonus is dropping from 15 to 7 percent.

It takes a lot of words and numbers to explain the MTA fare increases. (Photo by Jim O'Grady)

Get ready for more percentages, all of them upward. On the Long Island Rail Road,

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) The main thing keeping us safe from terrorist attacks on mass transit systems is lack of terrorist effort. That's the conclusion of a sobering review of government data by USA Today.

The newspaper writes:

"The nation's vast network of more than 3,200 stations and more than 20,000 miles of track combined with the impracticality and cost of screening every passenger leave U.S. subways and rails exposed to the type of terrorist attacks 22 other nations have experienced the last five years.

"Having a secure network ultimately is the responsibility of the TSA, which is in the Department of Homeland Security. While the agency has imposed stringent screening of air passengers at the nation's 450 commercial airports, it says it has no similar plans for rail passengers.

For their analysis, USA Today reviewed the National Counterterrorism Center's incident database and interviewed officials from Congress, federal security agencies, transit authorities, rail operators, independent security experts and passengers.

They got this straight talk from Clark Kent Ervin of the Department of Homeland Security's former inspector general. "Mass transit systems are much less secure than the aviation sector or certain key government buildings."

Read more at USA Today.

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Plows and Salt Spreaders in New York City. (Submitted by WNYC listener.)

(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) From the Carolinas up to Maine, severe winter weather shut down airports, slowed roads and stalled transit systems Sunday night and Monday morning.

All New York area airports were closed, as was Philadelphia International. Boston's Logan Airport remained open, but few flights left or landed. Amtrak canceled service from New York to Maine. Intercity bus service wasn't much better.

Local transit systems all along the east coast struggled to keep citizens moving, leaving a smattering of stalled buses and stuck taxis on city streets. There was one notable report of an A train stranded for six hours in New York with over 500 passengers on board after ice prevented the third rail from functioning properly.

To give you an idea of what it takes to keep the roads open after 20+ inches of snow, the New York City Sanitation Department dispatched 1600 plows (most affixed to garbage trucks as pictured above) and 365 salt spreaders with sanitation workers manning the machines on 12 hour split-shifts. Edward Yanis told WNYC from his plow that "it's a job that we have to do, you know, and I'm proud of doing it. We keep the city clean from the snow and that's a priority for us."

WNYC is also reporting the Department of Sanitation asked the public for help clearing snow and ice from New York City streets. The department hired licensed operators of heavy machinery with equipment including front end loaders, bobcats and excavators. The Department also put out a call for licensed operators of dump trucks, tractor trailers, and roll-on roll-off trucks. It takes a village to clear a metropolis in times of blizzard.

WNYC is collecting photos from around New York. Worth a few clicks if you want to see a bustling city coated in quiet white.

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Here's a video from 1949 of the NYC subway. Enjoy the vintage ride.

Happy Holidays from the Transportation Nation crew.

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Holland Tunnel traffic on Varick Street (photo by Alex Goldmark)

We reported yesterday on the coming holiday travel—and traffic—surge. From our window out of WNYC it looks like it's already underway as of 4:45 p.m. EST.   --Transportation Nation

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(Washington, DC -- David Schultz, WAMU) Washington, D.C. area Metro's board of directors is undergoing major changes, with several members resigning or being removed in the past few weeks.

Marcell Solomon, a lawyer from Prince George's County, Md., will no longer serve on Metro's board. The new executive of Prince George's County, Rushern Baker, has reportedly informed Solomon that his services are no longer needed.

An investigation by the Washington Examiner found Solomon had the worst attendance record on the board, despite being paid a nearly $40,000 annual salary. He was appointed by Baker's predecessor, Jack Johnson, who is currently under indictment on federal bribery charges.

Solomon is the fourth Metro board member to leave -- or be asked to leave -- in the past two weeks, and the shake-up is expected to continue in the near future.

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(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) Santa is cleared for take off and he'll be tracked by NORAD, too (see video above).

In the federal government's yearly foray into fantastical Christmas fun, both aviation agencies have issued press releases about the most awaited (at least by children) aircraft of the year. Not only is Santa's sleigh is approved to enter American airspace, but, the agencies say, air traffic control, NextGen technology and other transportation technology will make his flight smoother, facilitating his crucial mission. It's child-focused outreach on behalf of the work of government, and a transportation teaching moment.

“Santa’s cockpit display will help improve his situational awareness by showing him and his reindeer flight crew their precise location in relation to other aircraft, bad weather and terrain,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “NextGen will help make this an extra-safe Christmas Eve.”

Santa, as seen from Air Traffic Control

See a full slideshow of how NextGen air traffic control technology will help Santa improve his aeronautical safety and efficiency over at the FAA website.

"...when air traffic controllers working the North Pole clear Santa One for landing now, Santa will be gliding down onto rooftops. This will be faster, save fuel and guarantee that presents are delivered up to 53 percent faster than in previous years. "

The North American Regional Aerospace Defense command—a serious military agency charged with detecting and responding to a potential missile strike or other airborne attacks—treats this yearly publicity opportunity in an appropriate tongue and cheek teaching style. "NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa – radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets." Followed shortly in their "how we track Santa" section with: "Amazingly, Rudolph’s bright red nose gives off an infrared signature, which allows our satellites to detect Rudolph and Santa." They've also created an interactive website of Santa's village with games like Santa's Bureau of Investigation.

NORAD's "about Santa" section explains what advanced technology has discerned about how he touches down on every house in the world in one night, "the fact that Santa Claus is more than 16 centuries old, yet does not appear to age, is our biggest clue that he does not work within time as we know it."

Links: FAA's Santa page, track Santa, via NORAD, on Google Earth, NORAD's Santa focused site.

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NYC Transit Strike, Second Day. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and supporters walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. (Getty Images)

(Andrea Bernstein, Transportation Nation) It was a colder day than it is today.  I'd hardly slept -- waiting as I was, for word of whether there would be a transit strike. Negotiations went up to midnight, and then beyond.  I was quite sure there wouldn't be a vote to strike. How could there be?  And then there was. The trains and buses -- hundreds and hundreds of miles of them, had stopped. Stations were locked.

My assignment:  cover the Mayor, then, as now, Michael R. Bloomberg.  So sometime before 5 a.m. I was up, and out, pulling on the layers.  I rode my bike on dark streets over to the Brooklyn Bridge, looking to lock it up before crossing the East River into Manhattan. This was pre-PlaNYC, and there were almost no bike paths. No one but messengers and the insanely devoted rode bikes on New York City streets in those days. Especially not when it was 10 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

Before I had to a chance to lock up my bike at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Mayor and his entourage were upon me.  This was no Ed Koch-like stroll, asking New Yorkers how they were doing.   It was a grim, unsmiling forced march.  Between my bike and my recording equipment I could hardly keep up. At one point, my bike toppled over. "Can't you do something about that, miss?" the Mayor snapped.   He was not a happy man. The thermometer as we crossed the bridge hovered in the teens.

NYPD direct traffic at a checkpoint on 96th St. and Lexington Ave. (Getty Images)

As the day wore on, cars, trucks and buses crammed the streets. Passengers negotiated to share cabs, or hitched rides over the bridges, but the traffic hardly moved. Most normal days, we complain about the transit system. On this one, we realized, how, without it, the city would stop. It practically did.

Commuters wait in line to board trains outside Grand Central Terminal during the evening rush of day two. (Getty Images)

The Mayor's fury boiled over at several points during the three-day strike.  He won punishing fines against the Transport Workers Union. The sub-freezing temperatures did not abate. I biked from our offices in Lower Manhattan to downtown Brooklyn, where the court cases were being heard.

By day three I was dreading all the clothing I had to wear, and the 5 a.m. calls from our assignment desk. I was cratering, and so was the city. And then, just when I was sure another day would break me, the strike ended. The transit system -- dirty, crammed with delays, stuffed with people, the source of tsuris every day -- up and running again, seemed like the train from heaven.

After three days, commuters at the Jay Street subway station return to mass transit. (Getty Images)

California's High-Speed Rail Authority approved matching funds to the latest round of federal money the state has received. That means the state will match the $616 million slated for California after Ohio and Wisconsin turned it down. With the new federal money and now matching funds, California has $5.5 billion available to begin construction on the high-speed rail project to connect Los Angeles with San Fransisco.

Here's the full press release from California High-Speed Rail Authority:

HIGH-SPEED RAIL AUTHORITY APPROVES STATE MATCHING FUNDS  TO EXTEND BACKBONE OF STATEWIDE SYSTEM

SACRAMENTO – Moving quickly to take advantage of $616 million in new federal funding, the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board voted unanimously today to approve committing state matching funds to extend construction of the initial Central Valley backbone of the statewide system south to Bakersfield.

The new federal funds – which were redistributed from other states that returned federal high-speed rail support – will now be coupled with state matching dollars, bringing the total available funds to begin construction to $5.5 billion. The new total will allow engineers to significantly extend initial construction, potentially building as many as 120 miles of the project’s 520-mile first phase, and incorporate the Valley’s largest urban centers: Bakersfield and Fresno.

New Yorkers are famous for crossing streets whenever they feel like it, taking a blasé attitude toward crosswalk signals. But the signs tend to capture the attention of pedestrians when the "walk" and "don't walk" icons are lit up at the same time, which is the case at intersections all over the city.

(Houston -- Wendy Siegle, KUHF News) METRO’s board has approved a deal to terminate its controversial contract with a Spanish rail car company. The settlement means METRO is moving closer to negotiating a much-needed federal grant for the construction of two light rail lines.

Earlier this year the Federal Transit Administration ruled that METRO, under the previous leadership, broke "Buy America" rules when it awarded two light rail contracts to Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), a Spanish-owned rail car vendor.

The violation put $900 million dollars in FTA grants for a rail expansion on hold. METRO president and CEO George Greanias says, by canceling the contract with CAF, METRO has a better chance of securing the funds. “This meets a very important requirement the FTA put on us if we were going to move forward on the full funding grant agreement,” Greanias said.

Listen to the story here.

METRO had already sunk $41 million dollars into the construction of the rail cars before the Spanish company was told to stop work. Under the agreement CAF will pay back $14 million dollars of that to METRO. The agreement stipulates that CAF will forfeit any additional payments for unpaid work and lost profits.

Greanias says METRO plans to rebid the light rail contract in January. CAF USA, a subsidiary of the Spanish company, will be able eligible to participate in the re-procurement process. Greanias says CAF USA will be treated like every other bidder. “We’re being very careful in putting together the re-procurement request that we have a very level playing field," Greanias notes.  "And we have the Federal Transit Administration working with us to make sure that what we do creates a level playing field.”

As for the $900 million in federal funding, Greanias says he expects to get a definitive answer from the FTA in June or July. He's confident METRO will receive the funding, but stresses that if it doesn't, the agency has a backup plan to keep the rail expansion moving.

“If for some reason the full funding grant agreements did not come through we’d have more than sufficient local funds to do exactly what the fall back alternative says, which is to complete the East End line, bringing it across Main, and cleaning up the streets—getting everything back in better shape than we found it when we started—and being prepared to extend the other lines as money comes available.”

Greanias says he doesn’t anticipate any problems in qualifying for the grant as long as METRO continues to comply with the FTA.