BEIJING VOWS TO GET MORE PEOPLE ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Published at 06.03.2010 in Infrastructure, Mass transit
Beijing will extend its 12 light-rail and subway lines and open more express bus lanes in 2010 in order to get more people out of their cars and on to public transport, said Mayor Guo Jinlong Monday. "Our target is to increase the city's public transport rate to 40 percent this year," he said, while delivering the government's work report to the city's annual legislative session, which opened on Monday.
V2G LETS HYBRID-ELECTRIC VEHICLES SEND STORED POWER BACK TO THE GRID
Published at 22.02.2010 in Infrastructure, Alternatives
In an all-new take on what “smart grid” could mean, University of Michigan researchers are exploring hybrid electrics that could store electricity from the wind or sun — and even send it back to the grid and earn money. “Cars sit most of the time,” Michigan mechanical engineering professor Jeff Stein said in a statement. “What if it could work for you while it sits there? If you could use a car for something more than just getting to work or going on a family vacation, it would be a whole different way to think about a vehicle, and a whole different way to think about the power grid, too.” The National Science Foundation-funded team calls the concept “vehicle-to-grid integration,” or V2G for short.
CHINESE PROVINCES INVESTS HEAVILY IN INFRASTRUCTURE IN 2010
Published at 16.02.2010 in Infrastructure, International developments
China's Shanxi province is planning a huge infrastructure investment worth a total of US$888 billion during 2010. Included are plans to improve and build new roads of 10,000km in rural areas and targets to complete parts or all of the 16 roads before the end of 2010. Work on highways measuring a total length of 1,000km will commence during this year.
AHMEDABAD'S BUS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM WINS SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT AWARD IN WASHINGTON
Published at 26.01.2010 in Infrastructure, Mass transit
The Ahmedabad Janmarg Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) has been hailed as the best mass transit system in the world. Early January 2010, it beat four of the world’s prominent cities in Washington DC to be judged the world’s finest when it bagged the international transport honour - the 2010 Sustainable Transport Award - and proved right the boast made by chief minister Narendra Modi and municipal commissioner IP Gautam that it was a vehicle ‘to move people and not traffic.’
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES MAJOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION POLICY SHIFT
Published at 18.01.2010 in Infrastructure, Public transport
The intention of the change is to Include economic development and environmental benefits as funding criteria for major transit projects. In a significant adaptation of the existing policy, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed that new funding guidelines for major transit projects be based on livability issues such as economic development opportunities and environmental benefits, in addition to cost and time saved, which are currently the primary criteria.
