Use of public transportation in the United States rose to its highest level in 50 years last year, with a growth rate of 2.1%.That’s a 32% increase since 1995.
via GreenCarCongress
How was your journey to work this morning?
Several weeks ago, EcoWorldly investigated public transport options around the world in a series of articles which concluded that public transport can be a pleasant, effective and extremely viable form of transportation.
During the week we looked at many positives, from bus travel in South Korea, to Rail Travel in Europe and even Camel Transport in the desert.
But what of the negative aspects of public transport? These aspects are becoming increasingly important, since despite the best efforts of governments and environmental groups, motorists will not give up the car unless viable alternatives exist.
Authors, Anthony Miall and Davil Milsted, wrote in The Xenophobes Guide To The English, “The English take an almost masochistic pride in their public transport system, a system which even a third world country would consider as a disgrace.” With this in mind, and having previously had the opportunity to sample public transport around the world from the Railways of India, Thailand and China, to the Metro of Mexico City, the River Boats of Dubai and the cross country buses of Guatemala - not to mention the super efficient railways where I live in Switzerland - I decided to sample the railways of my native Britain once again to see how they compare against the rest of the world, and more importantly, against the car.
Deepti Kalsi on Indian environmentalism | Well, I would say yes I do consider myself an aspiring environmentalist, but I have many areas in which I think I could stand to improve.
As for India, it has been two years since I went back and whenever I go I tend to visit the same 2 or 3 places. I always go to New Delhi. I think based on Delhi alone I would say I have seen a strange dichotomy. On the one hand, Delhi has planted a lot of trees in recent years in an attempt to counteract the increasing air pollution.
In fact, a few years ago there were boards all over the city promoting “Keep Delhi Green.” They also have created a Metro rail system that runs within Delhi as well as to some outlying areas. From my experience traveling on it as well as accounts of friends and relatives who used it recently, it is fast, efficient, and clean. It’s hard to find anything that actually stays clean in Delhi!
Julie Chow: Environmentalism in Singapore | The first impression most people have when they think of Singapore is cleanliness. Hand-in-hand with the anti-gum-chewing rule, it is not an unfair assumption, given the island-city-state’s patriarchal government and tropical climate (palm trees and greenery cover the island in abundance.)
Here is something that might surprise you though: Singaporeans don’t recycle. Or if they do, it’s not as blatantly apparent as in the United States. Occasionally, you’ll see a receptacle on the street that is divvied up into plastics/metals, paper and waste, but for the most part, everything gets tossed into one big trash can. Trash shoots aren’t sorted into blue recyclables and black everything-else-goes here. I remember once during the summer, I was sorting trash while at work when my boss came up to me and asked what I was doing. Apparently it’s all just trash over there — nothing specific about it.
Lately, however, there has been a growing concern in the country, due to rapid industrialization and urbanization. Over recent months, the government has been giving the country a massive developmental face lift, introducing towering high-rise apartments and chicly designed shopping plazas to rival those of Paris, Tokyo and New York City. There are more plans to introduce casinos (”integrated resorts”) and a Formula One race track — all for the sake of drawing more tourists to Singapore and boosting the country’s economy.
This week, we’ve explored public transportation around the world. To wrap up, we searched the world for the funniest and most unusual public transportation. This is what we found.
Levitating Monorail, Germany. An electric car? Cool. An electric train? Awesome. An upside down electric monorail?? Now that qualifies as unusual public transportation. Believe it or not, this transit system was built over 100 years ago. While Ford was fidgeting with his “quadricycle,” the city of Wuppertal built this transportation marvel that still appears ahead of its time today.
It’s a zero emissions, all electric transit system, and it floats through Wuppertal (the self-styled “German San Francisco”) with over 20 million passengers a year. Photo: Flickr
Mae Klong Train Market, Thailand. Yes, those are train tracks running through that market. One of the shortest train routes in Thailand is also one of the most bizarre. Ambling past windmills and salt flats, the train stops halfway through its route at a river. Right, no bridge. So, people get out and ferry across to a second train, which picks up where the first left off. But wait, it gets better…
In order to arrive at the Mae Klong station, the train must pass right through the middle of a crowded street market. Vendors quickly pull in their stalls several times a day as the train goes by. For an excellent account of the journey, read Steve Van Beek’s article on the Tourism Authority of Thailand website or this article at 2Bangkok.com, or see this video. Photo: Thai-Blogs.
The Sahara desert is a truly vast environment - with sand dunes reaching 180 meters high, scorching temperatures and fierce sand storms it provides a real test for any method of transportation.
So how, does the eco-option for crossing this massive and barren landscape stack up against more modern technologies? This is a question posed regularly at EcoWorldly and I recently had the opportunity to put it to the test during a journey which took me from the ‘Gateway to the Sahara’ in Douz, Southern Tunisia, to Matmata, a desert village of cave dwellings famous for providing the location for Luke Skywalker’s home in the Star Wars movies.
(Note: the author only discovered this fact after arriving - this was not a pilgrimage.)
Our local guides presented us with two options: The camel - trusty ship of the desert, as used for centuries by desert dwellers, and the equally ubiquitous Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 – the motor vehicle of choice for those needing to travel across challenging terrain.
We gave both modes of transport a thorough workout in an attempt to compare our eco camel against it’s more modern counterpart, making assessments on comfort, emissions, speed, reliability, off-road capability and fuel consumption. The testing process consisted of two days of travel across the desert by camel, camping overnight in the dunes, followed by a further day’s journey in the Land Cruiser.
With apologies to John Lennon, bicyclists in Australia may now be able to show the plans for a revolution in environmentally friendly transportation. They call it a bike bus.
In a recent article on public transportation, Miranda Newsom commented that carshare programs are an excellent transportation option for environmentally conscious and money wise urbanites. Here, we follow up on the carshare option. So, the question becomes…
Toyota Prius Tuesdays and Ford Escape Hybrid Fridays?
What if you could drive a different car each day of the week? Carshare programs make this possible and often even beat the price of owning a car. Carshare members can experience both the freedom of living without a car, which increases interest in public transportation, and the freedom of having a car.
The outcome is more public transportation friendly cities, less congestion, and less auto exhaust pollution. But just who would want to participate in such a program? What are the advantages and what are the drawbacks?
The conclusion of our planes, trains and automobiles race across Europe. (Read Part II)
With the Green Team finally on their way towards England, the Blue Team about to miss the boat and the Red team fuming in traffic the competition is heating up.
16:40 – Red Team, M3, South of London
After almost an hour of solid traffic we’re moving again, but its slow going. The frustration of hours of endless queuing and shuffling around is now starting to take its toll. The heavy dose of air fresher that was obviously applied to the interior of my hire-car is starting to succumb to the natural odours of its previous occupant, which does nothing for my mood.
17:10 – Blue Team, Port of Calais, France
Sipping afternoon tea in the Club Lounge on P&O Ferries’ Pride of Dover as we set sail for England. I made the ferry with seconds to spare and I’m some way behind the Reds, but it’s not over yet. Time to enjoy the one hour crossing and have a break from driving.
17:34 – Green Team, Channel Tunnel
Making real progress now as the Eurostar enters the channel tunnel. In under an hour we’ll be in London and we’re catching up with the Red Team. Somewhere on the water above us the Blue team are slowly streaming across the channel whilst we speed through the tunnel – that feels good.
As EcoWorldly continues its theme with transport news and views from across the globe, two items have come to my attention here in the UK.
Air Pollution
Aviation tax proposals have been outlined by the government. Under the new guidelines, due to come into effect in November this year, it will be the planes, not the passengers, that will be taxed.
New Government figures released showed that emissions from air travel are continuing to rise. Between 1990 and 2006, emissions from aviation fuel use more than doubled.
21 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions will be attributable to air traffic by 2050, and the Treasury report insisted the proposed tax system would, “introduce fairer duty, more in line with the environmental impact of flights, including the distance travelled”.
Part II of our planes, trains and automobiles race across Europe. (Read Part I)
With the Red Team grounded in Zürich whilst our eco-racers make their way steadily through France things are looking bleak for air travel.
11.45 - Red Team, Zürich Airport (still)
Finally I am sitting in seat 27B, sandwiched between a large gentleman and a fidgety young boy. To my mounting frustration the captain apologizes for the delay in boarding due to bad weather on the inbound flight from London this morning, and tells us that we won’t be taking off for another 45 minutes due to air traffic congestion – a common problem on this route, which will get worse as passenger numbers increase.
12.00 - Blue Team, Somewhere in Eastern France
The scenery in this part of the country is fantastic with the Autoroute representing a roller coaster, rising and falling through the hills, twisting and turning through meadows and forests with dramatic cliffs in the background. For the driving enthusiast this is a treat.
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