Category Archives: Transportation

Transportation

America’s First 100% Electric Municipal Bus System

By Roy L Hales

Porterville, California, is about to make transportation history. The little Californian city only receives an average of 13 inches of rain a year, which makes it particularly vulnerable to atmospheric inversion, which holds in the exhausts from vehicles, agriculture, and other sources. Thanks to a determined city hall, the number of Stage 1 smog alerts declined from over 100 per year, in the 1970s, to almost zero. On December 7, the California Air Resources Board awarded $9.5-million to replace its entire bus fleet. By January, 2018, Porterville should have America’s first 100% electric municipal bus system.

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Transportation

$900 Million For BC’s Aging Infrastructure

By Roy L Hales

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Good news for those concerned with the state of our province’s aging transportation system. The Federal, provincial and municipal governments are partnering to provide a total of $900 million for BC’s aging infrastructure.

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Transportation

Bicycles Triumphed Over Cars And Transit

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By Roy L Hales

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Vancouver just held its’ Eighth Annual Share the Road Challenge. There were 13 teams, each composed of someone driving a car, someone with a bike and someone using transit. They started from different locations throughout Vancouver and North Vancouver, anywhere from 2.4 to 10.4 kilometres from the finish line at the downtown London Drugs. The distance did not matter, as long as each team started from the same point, because this was a race to see which form of transportation moved through rush hour traffic faster. This was the first year in which all the bicycles triumphed over cars and transit .

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Transportation

Vancouver Challenging Portland As North America’s #1 Biking City

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By Roy L Hales

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Portland has long been been North America’s #1 bike-friendly city. According to the Portland Bureau of Transportation, 7.2% of “commuters go by bike.” That figure is taken from the 2014 census, which also shows the closest U.S. competitors as Minneapolis (4.6%), San Francisco (4.4%) and Seattle (3.7%). Now a new report shows Vancouver challenging Portland as North America’s #1 biking city.

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Transportation

How is the West Coast Electric Fleets Initiative Doing?

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By Roy L Hales

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It has been nine months since the Governments of California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia embarked upon a shared initiative. In their joint press release, group spokesperson Governor Kate Brown explained “The West Coast Electric Fleets initiative leads the way in helping fleets scale up zero-emission vehicles to reach our goal that, by 2016, 10 percent of all new purchases are electric vehicles.” How is the West Coast Electric Fleets Initiative Doing?

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