Andrea Bernstein

And the winner is..."Apple Green." Some weeks ago we broke the news that the new taxis would be green, and had you imagine what color you'd like for the new livery cabs that can be hailed on the streets in the outer boros.

The idea being, they have to be distinct from yellow cabs, and black cars, so you know right away they are licensed to pick up street hails.

You picked electric lime.  (Though, in fairness, we didn't offer apple green. Silly us!)

And here's the city's pick:

The city's new outer-boro street hails, inspired by the color of Granny Smith apples (photo: Brigid Bergin/WNYC)

Close-up of the new livery cab color (photo; WNYC/Brigid Bergin)

The Enterprise arrives in New York (photo: Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

Here's our first picture, from the WNYC Newsroom -- now send us yours!

The Space Shuttle Enterprise has been flown into New York, and lots of you took super-cool photos.   You can see tons of great shots here and upload your photos here.

(Washington, DC -- Michael Pope, WAMU) Leaders in Arlington County and the City of Alexandria in the Washington, DC suburbs  are moving in different directions along a high-capacity transit corridor on U.S. Route 1, and it's causing some tension among lawmakers in Alexandria.

Two years ago, Arlington asked Alexandria to join an environmental analysis for the Crystal City-Potomac Yard transit corridor. Arlington would pay $2.4 million, and Alexandria would add $1 million. Together, the neighboring jurisdictions would save money by combining efforts. Now, Arlington County is backing out of the deal, leaving Alexandria holding the bag.

"I think in fairness, Arlington should have had the courtesy of saying, 'Let's have a sit-down talk about where we are, what our dilemmas are, what our challengers are,'" says Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille. "That hasn't happened.”

Euille is now calling for a joint meeting between members of the Arlington County Board and Alexandria City Council to discuss the future of the transit corridor. At issue is $40-120 million worth of federal funds, which city officials say would be jeopardized without the study.

"If we are going to continue on this alternative, I think Arlington definitely needs to be on board because they've kind of gotten us to this point, and they can’t just walk away," says Alexandria Council member Frank Fannon.

Alexandria Council member Alicia Hughes agrees.

"I think that it is a show of bad faith on the part of the Arlington County Board to have come to the city of Alexandria and ask us enter something with them, and now that we've done it and it's time to take the next step, lo and behold it's like if you looked under a rock you could not find them," Hughes says.

Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes did not return phone calls, although she issued a written statement along with Mayor Euille saying the two jurisdictions have different strategies. A spokeswoman for the Arlington County government declined to answer questions.

Sam Schwartz, in a 2011 dramatization of what East River Bridge tolls would have amounted to if they'd been in effect since the bridges were open. (photo Jim O'Grady)

Former New York City Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz doesn't want you to call his fair plan "congestion pricing."  Speaking on the Brian Lehrer show today (end of the segment) -- the last of four segments discussing his fair plan to reorganize tolls and fund transit -- Schwartz said he was disappointed to hear Cuomo's response to his plan, but thinks it's a matter of framing.

Here's the exchange:

Brian Lehrer: "We've had a great caller response all month Sam, you've gotten good press, from media outlets ranging from the New York Times to National Review on line.  But in the real world you would need Albany's support. I'm sure you're aware that Governor Cuomo was asked about your plan in a press conference just Tuesday of this week. He was asked if he had seen "Sam Schwartz's revised congestion pricing plan."

And he said this:

Cuomo: I have not seen it. We've talked about congestion pricing  for many years, we've tried to pass it in the past, it hasn't passed, i don't know that  anything has happened to change that dynamic.  I just don't know that you have the political support to pass it."

BL: Were you disappointed to hear that, Sam -- that he hadn't even heard about it?

Schwartz: The Governor I'm sure has read about it.  It certainly got a lot of coverage but when you frame it as congestion pricing alone and not as correcting the pricing scheme that you have in New York --

BL: That was the problem.  I was annoyed.  Because it was framed as having seen Sam Schwartz's congestion pricing plan, rather than Sam Schwartz's innovative overall, the imaginative plan for the next 50 years of New York City and vicinity maybe he would have responded a little differently if it wasn't just asked as congestion pricing plan.

Schwartz: Exactly Brian, and that's how I felt.  That's why you'll rarely see me using the words congestion pricing.

Walkscore map of all the places you can get to in 30 minutes from Grand Central Terminal

Walkscore, the group that tells you how easy it is to get places from your home on foot, now tells you which cities in the U.S. have the best transit. The score calculates how well each block is served by transit, and then puts that into an algorithm which aggregates the whole city.

Here are the scores:

Ranking:
(1) New York (Transit Score: 81)
(2) San Francisco (Transit Score: 80)
(3) Boston (Transit Score: 74)
(4) Washington, DC (Transit Score: 69)
(5) Philadelphia (Transit Score: 68)
(6) Chicago (Transit Score: 65)
(7) Seattle (Transit Score: 59)
(8) Miami (Transit Score: 57)
(9) Baltimore (Transit Score: 57)
(10) Portland (Transit Score: 50)

A front view of a bike share station (photo by Kate Hinds)

Alta does it again. If the Board of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District votes as recommended, Alta will get a $6 million contract to run San Francisco's regional bike share, adding to its recent acquisitions in New York, Chicago, Boston, and Washington.

The San Francisco program plans for 500 bikes in SF, with another 500 in the Silicon Valley cities of Palo Alto, San Jose, Mountain View, and Redwood city.

Like Chicago and New York, San Francisco is racing to get its system up and running by this summer.

According to a memo circulated by Jack Broadbent, the group's executive officer:

"Alta was the highest ranked bidder in each of the criteria areas with the exception of cost. Alta has extensive experience in the management and deployment of bicycle sharing systems domestically and internationally. Alta has previously deployed and currently operates bicycle sharing systems in several cities including Montréal (Canada), Washington, D.C. and Boston; and has been chosen to deploy and operate additional bicycle sharing systems in New York City and Chicago.

"Their methodology and approach to the Bay Area deployment leverages these past experiences and was determined by the Panel to be best approach to successfully completing the pilot project."

The New York program doesn't pay any money at all to Alta, instead relying on sponsorships to raise the money to pay for the program. New York has yet to announce the sponsorship for its bike share, but that announcement is expected to come soon.

Hat tip: Streetsblog SF.

Senators James Inhofe and Barbara Boxer (photo by EPWChairBoxer viaFlickr)

Now it can be known -- here's who will be hammering out the details of a Transportation Bill with the House -- should any hammering be possible -- with experts from Ray LaHood on down opening doubting there will be a transportation bill this year. The House has yet to name any conferees.

Democrat Conferees:

Barbara Boxer (CA)
Max Baucus (MT)
Jay Rockefeller (WV)
Tim Johnson (IL)
Chuck Schumer (NY)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Bob Menendez (NJ)
Dick Durbin (IL)

Republican conferees:

James Inhofe (OK)
David Vitter (LA)
Richard Shelby (AL)
Orrin Hatch (UT)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
John Hoeven (ND)

Former New York Governor David Paterson has been nominated by his successor, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to serve on the board of New York’s MTA.

By fall, MBTA riders will be able to purchase and display commuter rail tickets on their smart phones. The MBTA says this is the first for  a commuter rail system in the U.S.

Less than half of the MBTA's 140 commuter rail stations have vending machines, forcing customers to buy tickets on board.

The MBTA says 2/3 of riders now have smart phones.

“With this new and innovative approach, we are putting a ticket machine right in the palms of our customers’ hands,” said Acting MBTA General Manager Jonathan Davis, in a statement.

The tickets will work through barcodes that conductors will check -- also using smart phones.

The MBTA will pay the developer,  Masabi US Ltd, 2.8 percent of each ticket price, the same price it pays small retail stores (coffee shops, newsstands), to sell their tickets.

"We're using the 'bring your own infrastructure' model," said the MBTA's Joshua K. Robin. "Instead of our buying vending machines, customers bring their own smart phones."   Robin says a vending machine/smart card ticketing system for the MBTA was projected to cost $50-70 million.

"

The MBTA says it will use focus groups to design the new application, and will run a pilot in late summer. The full system will see the application in the fall.

Boston was one of the first transit systems in the nation to release real-time bus arrival information to software developers, a system now used by as many as a third of bus riders.

Former Governor David Paterson with Governor Andrew Cuomo (right) (Photo: Governor Cuomo's flickr stream)

New York's former Governor, David Paterson, has been nominated by his successor, Andrew Cuomo, to serve on the board of New York's MTA.

As Governor, Paterson presided over some of the deepest cuts the MTA had to sustain in generations -- but he also vociferously stumped for East River bridge tolls to fund transit. Those tolls foundered when they arrived at the state legislature, and a patched-up plan left MTA finances in a continually precarious position.

Paterson also appointed Jay Walder, a respected transportation professional, to run the MTA.

"I applaud Governor Andrew Cuomo's nomination of former Governor David Paterson to the Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority," said Joseph Lhota, the current head of the MTA, in a statement. "I have known the former Governor for 35 years and look forward to the opportunity to work with him again. He has long shared the Governor's commitment to our mission of providing safe, efficient and effective transportation to more than 8.5 million riders every day.

"Once confirmed by the Senate, former Governor Paterson will bring a unique and practical perspective, particularly with respect to issues affecting minority communities and disabled New Yorkers. I look forward to former Governor Paterson bringing to our board deliberations the charm, wit and compassion he has shown throughout his public life.”

Transit activists were also pleased with the appointment. “With another planned fare hike looming in January 2013, Paterson’s experience as a governor and state senator will prove critical to working with Albany lawmakers to find new funding for our transit system, sparing overburdened New Yorkers yet another fare hike,” said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, in a statement.

Paterson, the former Lt. Governor. was elevated to Governor when his predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, resigned after it emerged he had consorted with prostitutes.

Paterson, who is legally blind, had previously been a State Senator from Harlem. As Governor, Paterson became embroiled in his own scandals, involving an accusation of domestic violence against one of his top aides, and a possible cover-up. Paterson chose not to run for re-election, and now hosts his own radio show.

Paterson will replace Nancy Shevell, a GOP fundraiser and trucking executive, who resigned after marrying former Beatle Paul McCarthy.

The city’s Department of Transportation has been quietly shopping around close-to-final maps of locations for bike share stations to community boards in recent weeks.

Sample Bike Share Dock (photo: Kate Hinds)

UPDATED WITH MORE INFORMATION ON COMMUNITY BOARD MEETINGS.

In recent weeks, the New York City Department of Transportation has been quietly presenting close-to-final maps of locations for bike share stations to community boards.  Community Board 4 -- including Times Square and points west,  Community Board 3, in the East Village, and Community Board 2 in Lower Manhattan have seen the maps.

In Community Board 4, the city is looking to put two bike docks near Port Authority, several near Penn Station, at least one on Columbus circle, and a number on the far west side. In Community Board 3, the DOT is looking to site several stations around Astor Place, a popular spot for bar and restaurant patrons, close to NYU and several subway stops.

The city is refusing to release draft maps, saying it will do so in a few weeks time.  (The New York Times wisely snapped a picture of the CB 4 map, you can find it here.)

The DOT has several meetings planned for other community boards, including:

• Manhattan Community Board 1: May 3
• Manhattan Community Board 2: Transportation Committee, May 8, Full Board, May 24 (DOT presentation not yet scheduled)
• Manhattan Community Board 4: May 2 (vote on resolution on tentative map)
• Manhattan Community Board 5: May 31
• Manhattan Community Board 6: May 17
• Manhattan Community Board 7: not yet scheduled
• Brooklyn Community Board 2: information not yet available
• Brooklyn Community Board 3: Full Board, May 7, Transportation Committee  May 8
• Brooklyn Community Board 6: May 17 (tentative)

We'll update with more information as it becomes available.  (And meeting dates and agenda can be confirmed on community board websites:  Manhattan and Brooklyn. )

For the most part, community board leaders have been pleased with the mapping. "I think they did an amazing job," said Susan Stetzer, District Manager of Community Board 3. "I don't understand why they won't share the information."

Wally Rubin, Manager of Community Board 5 in Midtown, which is still finalizing its maps, added "DOT very much wants bike share to succeed, and they're doing their darndest to take input and be careful. People feel good about being asked for input."

Community Board 2's transportation committee saw and approved its maps, but the full board wouldn't approve the locations until a map is available for the full board, and sent the resolution back to committee.  The transportation committee meets next on May 7th.

The city has not put any of the meetings on its bike share website. DOT did not explain why.

The final plan calls for 10,000 bikes at 600 docks around New York City.

Freedman With Boston Mayor Menino at the Bike Share Launch (City of Boston Photo)

Nicole Freedman, who shepherded Boston's bike share from idea to reality, is leaving to run Maine Huts & Trails.  Freedman, a former Olympic cyclist and world champion bicyclist, was once honored by the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.  She coined the memorable term "bike share is Zipcar on steroids."

We'll miss you, Nicole!

Here's the good-bye note she sent around.

An increase in fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 will save New York and New Jersey motorists big money, according to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. New Yorkers will save almost $3 billion a year, while New Jersey residents will save $1.5 billion.

Gas Prices, February 2012

UPDATED: The Natural Resource Defense Council says drivers will save some $70 billion by 2025 from fuel savings and other costs associated with cars that get 54.5 m.p.g. -- the federal standard in that year.

Individual drivers will save about $4,400 over the life of their cars -- accounting for the increased costs of high-mileage cars.

The report says increased fuel efficiency will cut U.S. oil consumption by 1.7 million barrels a day by 2030, the equivalent of the combined U.S. oil imports from Saudi Arabia and Iraq in 2011.

It will also cut carbon pollution by 297 metric tons, equivalent to the CO2 emssions of 76 coal power plants.

Alan Baum, of Baum and Associates, an automotive forecasting firm, said consumer demand for higher mileage vehicles is growing.  "Before 2007 the expectation was that fuel prices would be low, and if they went up, that was the aberration," said Baum on an NRDC-organized conference call. " People in the 2005-6 period said, 'oh, okay, we’ve got a problem with whatever, political issues in the mid-east or supply shortages, etc – that’s a transitory thing and I’m not going to change my interest in fuel economy.’ From 2007 onward, it reversed."

"To the extent we enjoyed fuel prices under $3.00 in recent years, the general expectation from the consumer was that was the aberration. That the norm was going to be higher fuel prices."

NRDC says there were only 5 car models that got more than 30 m.p.g. in 2009, before the White House announced new fuel standards.  In the 2012 model year, there were 15 models.

Here's a list of state saving calculated by the NRDC.

1) Texas               $7.750 billion
2)California          $7.270 billion
3)Florida:             $6.683 billion
4) New York:       $2.959 billion
5)North Carolina: $2.797 billion
6) Georgia:           $2.564 billion
7) Virginia:          $2.179 billion
8)Pennsylvania:    $2.004 billion
9)Tennessee:        $1.958 billion
10)Arizona:          $1.887 billion
11) Illinois           $1.853 billion
12) Ohio:             $1.664 billion
13) Washington:  $1.547 billion
14) Maryland       $1.529 billion
15) Michigan       $1.520 billion
16) New Jersey:   $1.452 billion
17) Alabama       $1.271 billion
18) Kentucky:     $1.207 billion
19) Missouri:      $1.207 billion
20) Minnesota    $1.162 billion

And, in case you've forgotten, a gas price graph from AAA:

It's been a raucous morning at the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission, which is voting on new rules for outer-borough livery drivers, the last major hurdle before the city can start issuing new licenses so livery drivers can pick up street hails outside of Manhattan.

WNYC's Kathleeen Horan @KathleenHoran has been tweeting out all morning. The yellow cab industry is in a tizzy about this -- yesterday it filed a suit to block the plan, and as Kathleen tweets "one of the city's yellow fleet owners calls the plan 'biggest taking of property ever by NYC' and says there's $5 billion in medallion loans on the line."

She also tells us following a shouting outburst "2 are escorted outside for shouting."

We'll have more later as the hearing, and vote develop.

LaHood (file photo)

Politico is reporting that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican Congressman from Illinois, sees no hope of passage of a transportation re-authorization bill before November's election.

 "Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood knows it's unlikely a long-term transportation bill will be passed on his watch, so he says his greatest accomplishment in the Obama administration will be a commitment to safety.

“I wish we could see a transportation bill, but I know we won’t,” LaHood said Wednesday morning at the launch event for POLITICO Pro Transportation.

The American Public Transportation Association issues  monthly reports on how much people can save by taking transit -- using something in the $9500-a-year range. This month, the number is $10,126, with New Yorkers saving almost $15,000 a year, Bostonians $13,675, and San Franciscans $13, 339.

The savings are based on the cost of commuting by transit vs. owning, insuring, parking, maintaining, and keeping gas in a car.   It's based on the idea that households with transit can do with fewer cars.

Here's their savings chart:

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer — a likely 2013 New York mayoral candidate — put transit squarely in the middle of the 2013 debate Tuesday.

LIRR commuters (photo by @MSG via flickr)

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer -- a likely 2013 New York mayoral candidate -- put transit squarely in the middle of the 2013 debate Tuesday by proposing a reinstatement of the commuter tax and an infrastructure bank to fund long term capital projects, including more rapid buses in the outer boroughs and a subway from Brooklyn to the Bronx.

"I believe we need to get back to an era in which public transportation is acknowledged as an essential civil responsibility," Stringer said in a speech to the Association for a Better New York.  "Right alongside public safety and education."

Stringer wants to re-jigger the way capital construction is financed, setting up an infrastructure bank seeded by the NY Mortgage recording tax, which now funds transit operations.

But to do that, he needs a replacement source of funds for transit operations, and he's looking to the restored commuter tax to supply more than $700 million a year to do that.

Still,  the fate of the commuter tax, which would be borne exclusively by suburbanites, is cloudy at best, and it's already being blasted by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who's calling it "penny-wise and pound-foolish."

And in supporting the commuter tax, Stringer is backing away from his previous support of congestion charging. The commuter tax would only affect suburbanites, who won't vote for the next mayor, while a congestion charge would hit some city residents.

The commuter tax -- a 0.45 percent surcharge on income -- died in 1999 when Democratic Assembly member Sheldon Silver brokered a deal to eliminate the tax in order to help a Democrat win a special Senate election in Orange County. The Democrat lost. The tax was detested by suburbanites.

But Stringer says he thinks he can get it passed. "Every Mayor, when they get elected, gets one big ticket from Albany," Stringer said in a question-and-answer session after Tuesday's speech. " Mayor Bloomberg got mayoral control of the school system. Other mayors came up and asked for something from Albany that can change the discourse in this city. I believe the next mayor can go to Albany, rearrange the commuter tax, build a partnership with suburban elected officials, and finally finally finally get this transit system on sound footing because this is not just a New York City issue, it’s a regional issue. And if we flounder, we could take our economy with us, and that’s the argument we have to make."

In 2008, a congestion charging plan backed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg passed the New York City Council, but died in the legislature, where it found little support.

Congestion charging is “our last best chance to reduce the number of cars and trucks on our streets, lessen the business costs associated with congestion, reduce asthma rates, build new mass transit, and prepare New York City for another million residents," Stringer testified in 2008.

But Stringer stopped short of endorsing the latest congestion charging plan -- Sam Schwartz's  "Fair Plan" -- which would charge drivers entering Manhattan while  lowering some other tolls around the city. Stringer said that was an idea that deserves "discussion." His prepared remarks said "serious consideration."

When questioned after the speech, Stringer said "I am supporting my plan...I’m not endorsing the Sam Schwartz plan. I’m not endorsing those ideas today, but I wanted to say to people, elected officials, potential candidates, why don’t we dig in and have a real discussion and not be afraid to talk about new ideas?"

Stringer's press people were also quite clear that Stringer does not favor congestion charging -- although he doesn't not support it either.

The MTA stopped short of supporting Stringer's call for a commuter tax, but spokesman Adam Lisberg said "we're glad that he’s started this conversation about how to get more funding for the MTA, because the MTA needs money."

Neither the congestion charge nor the commuter tax have much support in Albany. Governor Andrew Cuomo, when asked about the congestion charge while campaigning for Governor, called it " moot." He's shown a distinct distaste for taxes -- especially dedicated transit taxes -- this year eliminating a dedicated tax surcharge for the MTA paid by suburbanites.

In supporting a commuter tax over the congestion charge, Stringer is hewing a politically less treacherous route -- he's not pushing for a tax or a toll that some outer borough residents detest. No constituents of Stringers, should he be elected mayor, would be affected by the commuter tax.

Of the other 2013 candidates for Mayor, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn helped steer the congestion charge through the city council -- where Public Advocate Bill Di Blasio, then a council member, voted against it. City Comptroller Bill Thompson, a 2009 mayoral candidate, opposed congestion charging, but supported more expensive registration fees for heavier cars.

Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, before he withdrew from the 2009 Mayor's race, supported congestion charging -- but only for people who didn't live in New York.

In 2005, no Democratic candidates for mayor supported congestion charging.  I know, because I asked them about it during the primary debate.