http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/09/proterra-ecoride-foothill-transit/
small quote...from above article...
"According to Proterra, despite its high purchase price the $1 million BE35 can save transit authorities $300,000 in total lifetime operating expenses, not to mention a 400 percent improvement in fuel economy."
interesting...
This looks like a smart way to save money on the long term for local transit systems while at the same time becoming more efficient at every level.
This would leave a long run budget surplus in transportation that would help our local situation currently being examined.
Our local system always had budgeting issues, which now are making for recommended changes to our local fares and routes, which will effect the ridership if imposed, and can always also threaten job security in the future.
The cabs are often cheaper and quicker for a local city trip.
The routes some of our buses follow are often such a huge loop that the overall ride is not worth the time needed to make the trip, and often the route is only run by a single bus and in a single direction over many miles = not just some smart "city" loops hitting the highlighted most visited spots.
The fares are not congruent to the service offered from my perspective, and if the routes were better and reasonably priced, a bus would often make sense even when I have a car at my disposal.
If you ever ski in Colorado, most towns have free shuttles, as well as great tourism. For example, Avon, Co.
We are locally no Avon, but I can see where certain attributes of that city could be examined and useful on a local level here.
Can we offer them (electric buses) with our bus service if we were to qualify for stimulus monies now and use those funds to upgrade our transportation?
Gas (natural) is rapidly declining in price so quick there have had to be a few moratoriums placed on new drilling.
This abundant supply of natural gas can easily be utilized for clean inexpensive electricity generation, and these buses can utilize that advancement.
I would certainly prefer cleaner transportation that saves money and becomes the norm over our accepted overly dependent pricey buses we use today.
Perhaps these options are or have been explored on a local level, however I never see it reported.
The stimulus funds offered by the Federal Government are here to help us upgrade infrastructure and see the gains of long term savings complimented with cleaner more efficient use of our resources.
Once again, as it appears to me, some of our local leaders are too often NOT looking for solutions that really have long term and long lasting effects.
Better buses, a way to obtain them, a way to save budget money (money that can be repaid to the feds and should be over the long term), and the start of a better foothold in the marketplace thus driving the bus prices down overall when production is cranked up.
Which will also add a few jobs to industry.
I am simply just examining some long term solutions to some financial/eco friendly issues that effect all of us in every community across the country.
I am seeking answers and suggestions that are much more efficient then the proverbial band-aid solutions we all to often accept as the only solutions, that in turn eventually continue to perplex some folks with the same issues often being re-examined, where instead, a proper move in the right direction that is a long term solution provides that time can and may be better utilized elsewhere, solving other issues.
If we as a small city embrace some of these newer technologies, we upgrade the city, it becomes even more attractive, and above all it says that we are being responsible and thinking far ahead.
That to me is the type of city we can and are becoming, however I only hope more quickly as opposed to less quickly, of course.
Education is another key I see that must be addressed for the long term as well.
We are hoping to draw a large college (perhaps the University of Maryland, for example) into our area.
I have suggested an Engineering Campus for Cumberland, Maryland, and have offered my help and my esteemed friend(s) help.
One such man is a 38 year tenured professor from Howard University (this was his suggestion to me months ago when I posed a question to him at MathCounts). He got his Phd. from M.I.T.
Another friend from childhood is with N.A.S.A., and offered to critically review any proposition, for free!
I have other friends I have spoken to as well, that have given sound advice from decades of work in their respective professions and resumes that are quite astonishing.
I hope to be of assistance on a local level and be of service to a community that has been so very good to me.
To see suffering, and to live through it personally, I do not give up. I want to see change and I study quite a bit, read way too much, and just want to see positive changes that make sense for all and leave no one out.
I have several years of management experience, marketing experience, some political experience in small organizations, and I have been published here and there.
I have asked to be appointed to the local Cumberland, Maryland, Economic Development Commission and requested this in writing.
No matter that particular outcome, I will continue to look for and share with the few that care to listen, ways I can help this city save money for the short and long term as well as promote the area, build a better business tax base, and have less long term budgeting issues that are ultimately and currently stressful to our citizens and local economy.
The changes we make today pave the highway for the future generations so that this may never be repeated, as we become more technologically advance, employed better, and become more efficient?
Has anyone in our city looked into these available funds and ran logistics for short and long term operational costs?
Just another thought I hope to share to stimulate promotion for the city I love and hope we can all come closer together to be a powerful catalyst for advancement.
...any thoughts?
July 5, 2012
http://times-news.com/local/x1501702341/County-bus-fare-routes-reviewed
June 20, 2012
Expiring terms, vacancies leave openings on boards, commissions
http://times-news.com/local/x1767474207/Expiring-terms-vacancies-leave-openings-on-boards-commissions/print
June 16, 2012
Citizens stress importance of bus transportation
http://times-news.com/latest_news/x1901564872/Changes-concern-Allegany-County-Transit-riders
