TWO SIDES OF THE TRANSPORTATION COIN

THE FIRST SIDE OF THE COIN

Mode of travel

According to ULI facts the highest fraction of consumer spending on household transportation was 22.8 percent. (Houston – more motor vehicle driven) The lowest was 15.3 percent. (New York City – more transit driven) Houston households spent only 30.6 percent on housing, whereas New York households spent 36.9 per cent. Combined, both types of spending were about the same in the two cities.

THE SECOND SIDE OF THE COIN

Land-use

Prediction by Anthony Downs of ULI is that “Sprawl provides lower-cost housing. Land-use decisions and housing location remains totally in the hands of local governments, their continued support of exclusionary local zoning rules will dominate future urban policy.”

SOLUTIONS

Citizen’s view of density

The alternative of substantially raising housing choices and or mixed-use density in existing neighborhoods is most important to capitalize on existing underutilized public services. Increased density should not be rejected by NIMBY-oriented residents and should reflect economic tolerance for all income groups.

Land-use policies and the future

The biggest factor influencing a policy decision is the LOCAL need to accommodate projected population growth.

Infrastructure costs

The costs and benefits of supplying infrastructure by local government should be better evaluated to fiscally serve the overall public good. This means alternative design choices to capitalize on existing public ownership of land and utilities serving the built environment.

BY Graham Kaye-Eddie – Master Urban Designer.

Makabusi Inc. – Bakersfield – California

Email – makabusi@pacbell.net

German firm wants to build high-speed Maglev rail link

Bullet-train idea floated

NICOLAS VAN PRAET Montreal Gazette

Tuesday, December 18, 2001

Transrapid International, designers of the world's first commercial levitation train, are reviving an abandoned plan for a bullet rail link between downtown Montreal and Mirabel airport.

The magnetic-levitation train, known as Maglev, has no wheels. It uses powerful magnets to float just centimetres above the track. It would take off at Windsor Station, make stops at Dorval airport and Laval, and wind up at Mirabel. Total travel time: 20 minutes at a blistering 400 km/h.

Company president John Schubert landed in Montreal yesterday to pitch the idea to local North Shore politicians and provincial finance officials. Schubert wants a feasibility study to get the project going.

Sources said Quebec Transport Department representatives have met with Transrapid on at least one previous occasion to discuss the plan.

Yesterday, no one from Aéroports de Montréal, the agency whose approval he needs the most, attended the meeting.

And whether or not this idea will remain anything more than a passing fancy remains to be seen.

Local officials love the proposal, as they always have. Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt said increased air traffic in years to come means passengers will need a faster way to connect with both airports. Rosemère Mayor Yvan Deschenes, who fought hard for Mirabel to retain its status as the city's main airport before losing it to Dorval, called it an "extraordinary" opportunity.

Many are convinced Dorval airport will hit its maximum capacity within 15 years and that a shift to Mirabel is inevitable. Mirabel now handles only cargo and charter flights.

However, both Montreal-based Air Canada, the country's largest airline, and the Montreal airport authority are firmly focused on Dorval airport's $716-million expansion - a plan that will increase its passenger capacity by 40 per cent, from 10 million this year to 14 million by 2009.

Transrapid is owned by German engineering giants Siemens and ThyssenKrupp. The firm came to Quebec with its plan unsolicited. It's convinced the $3-billion train will pay for itself through passenger ticket sales and will require no government financing.

Company officials are giddy from its first major contract and who can blame them? They developed the technology for a 30-kilometre rail connection between Pudong Shanghai International Airport and the financial district Lujiazui in China. It is set to begin operation in 2003.

Now, they're searching for more clients. Feasibility studies are under way in several U.S. markets.

Here in Montreal, former mayor Pierre Bourque floated as recently as October his fantasy of establishing a high-speed magnetic train line linking Montreal and New York City.

His is only the most recent in a long string of high-speed rail dreams.

The idea of a Mirabel high-speed link is as old as the airport itself. And its failure is spectacular lesson in bureaucratic incompetence.

As far back as 1971, Quebec's Liberal government bragged it had mobilized all its resources to plan fast ground transportation to the airport.

In 1974, airport bosses called for a $438-million investment in electric trains, capable of speeds in excess of 160 km/h.

In 1986, the federal government-appointed Montreal airports advisory board considered a high-speed train link between Dorval and Mirabel.

Four years later, Bombardier Inc. announced a $5.3-billion plan to join Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, with a stop at Mirabel. The train would have used French TGV technology.

In 1992, Pierre Jeanniot, then incoming director of the International Air Transport Association, said a high-speed train between Dorval and Mirabel would give passengers the illusion that they had one airport.

Today, deep inside the guts of Mirabel airport, a well-lit cave a quarter-mile long waits for its rails and ticket booths. The TRRAMM, as it is known, was dug to serve as a train station.

Security cost transfer to air travel passengers

The cost of a round-trip ticket will rise as much as $10 next month as airline passengers begin paying for security improvements. The Transportation Department said the new security fee of $2.50 per flight, or $5 for passengers who change planes, will take effect Feb. 1. The fee is expected to raise around $900 million this year, which will be spent on new technology, passenger screeners, law enforcement officers, and other security measures.

Environmental groups versus 1992 government law

Three environmental groups have sued the government to force compliance with a 1992 law requiring federal agencies to buy vehicles that run on alternative fuels. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in San Francisco, accuses 18 agencies of failing to follow the Energy Policy Act. Among the alleged violators are the departments of Energy, Justice, and Transportation. The plaintiffs are the Center for Biological Diversity, Bluewater Network, and the Sierra Club.

Farm subsidies prop up Midwest land values

From Nebraska to Ohio, federal farm subsidies have pushed land prices up by nearly a quarter. By Laurent Belsie

Buzkashi - an Afghan tradition thrives

A favorite Afghan pastime reflects the values of the country: strength, courage, and horsemanship. A "Letter From" article." By Lucian Kim

Railing Against Reform

The little engine that couldn't--and the senators who don't want it to.

The politics of the present does not give us a better future.

It's All Aboard, if They'll Fit, as Sept. 11 Jolts Mass Transit

The precariously balanced network of highways and rails, long overstrained before Sept. 11, is still suffering terribly.