(Source: Wired; Photo: Associated Press)

(Source: TRB E-Newsletter)

Seen below are the hyperlikned titles of articles from the TRB E-Newsletter dated:  March 24, 2009.  The TRB Transportation Research E-Newsletter regularly covers transportation research developments in the United States and abroad. This document is not a report of the National Research Council or of the National Academies. The opinions expressed in reports highlighted in TRB’s Transportation Research E-Newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Transportation Research Board or the National Academies

March 26 TRB Webinar: Inspecting and Managing Highway Bridges
Workshop on Identifying Traveler Information Research Needs to Achieve All Roads-All Modes-All the Time: Early Bird Registration Closes March 27th
2009 Transportation Planning, Land Use, and Air Quality Conference
North American Freight Flows Conference: Understanding Changes and Improving Data Sources – Abstracts Due April 6, 2009
Developing a Research Agenda for Transportation Infrastructure Preservation Summit on America’s Climate Choices Webcast
Questions on the RFP for SHRP 2 Project C10: Partnership to Develop an Integrated, Advanced Travel Demand Model and a Fine-Grained, Time-Sensitive Network RFP: Price Indexing in Transportation Construction Contracts – Proposals Due April 24, 2009
RFP: Improving Safety-Related Rule Compliance in the Public Transportation Industry – Proposals Due June 9, 2009

Recently Released TRB Publications

Federal Research News

State Research News

University Research News

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In the Know

(Source: BBC Earth Watch)

So far, just about everyone seems to love the self-styled “world’s cheapest car”, the Tata Nano.

Writing on these pages, Indian motoring journalist Hormazd Sorabjee writes that “It thrilled me with its ‘proper car’ feel”; while for Adil Jal Darukhanawala of zigwheels.com, “The Nano has the makings of a mega winner.”

And what’s not to love? A five-seater car that does about 20 km per litre (that’s 56 MPG in old money) and costs $2,000 – come on! – and it’s not the end of the line, with Bajaj, the company that principally populates South and Southeast Asia’s roads with auto-rickshaws, planning to launch its own tiny car (the Pico?) within two years.

Just about the only people sounding a cautionary note on the tiny Nano’s giant appeal are environmental groups, notably the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

They judge it inappropriate for Indian cities, choked by traffic, where jams mean a journey across town can already be measured in hours.

“Cars may drive growth and aspirations, but they can never meet the commuting needs of urban India. Cars choke cities, harm public health and guzzle more oil.”

CSE’s simple prescription is more investment in mass transit schemes.

Although one can see the logic of their argument, it’s hard to imagine it prevailing.

Many Indian cities already have swarming bus networks and suburban rail networks. They’re slowly being supplemented by true mass transit rail systems – up and running inCalcutta and Delhi, under construction in Mumbai and Bangalore.

 (Source: CNN)

There’s probably no way to describe the feeling.  Joe Pirrone’s pride and joy, his F350 Super Duty turbo diesel truck, turned out to be a stolen “clone.”

One moment, Guiseppe “Joe” Pirrone was on a long weekend at the beach.

The next moment, he found out the pickup that he bought a year ago is stolen, and he is still on the hook for the $27,000 loan.

Stories like Pirrone’s are scattered across the country, and Tuesday the FBI announced that it has broken up one of the largest auto theft cases in the U.S.  Capping “Operation Dual Identity,” arrest warrants for 17 people were executed in Tampa and Miami, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; and in Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico. The suspects were accused of “cloning” vehicles, which is making stolen cars look like legal ones.

The FBI says that the ring was operating in the U.S. for more than 20 years. More than 1,000 vehicles were stolen in Florida, with more than $25 million in losses to consumers and banks.

“Individuals have been victimized at every level, from the average Joe, to the banks, to big companies,” said Dave Couvertier, of the FBI’s Tampa field office. Car theft rings clone vehicles by taking license plates, vehicle identification numbers (VIN), and other tags and stickers from a legal car and put them on a stolen vehicle of similar make and model.

“This does not just affect big business. Anyone could become an unwitting victim of this particular scam. It could happen to anyone,” said Couvertier.

Pirrone knows how it was done because it happened to him.

Last year, he bought a used 2005 F350 Super Duty turbo diesel pickup to use for his landscape business in Fort Myers, Florida. He bought it off a small used car lot and took out a $27,000 loan from a credit union.

“I had it for about nine months. It was a great truck,” he told CNN.

TransportGooru is proud to team up with David Rizzo, better known as Dr. Roadmap,  a Commute Management expert who writes about issues such as improving gas mileage (mpg), alternate routes, traffic congestion, ridesharing, commuting behavior and intelligent transportation systems on California’s Orange Country Register.  He is well known for his comprehensive guide ever written on off-freeway commuting in Southern California, published in 1990.  Two years later he became the first traffic reporter to offer daily alternate routes in real time over the air on one of the most popular morning radio shows in Los Angeles.  Starting today, he will be contributing bi-weekly columns exclusively for TransportGooru.   Here is his first column on tax breaks, just in time for the tax season as we sharpen our pencils and start crunching the numbers before the arrival of April 15:

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Perhaps October 31, Halloween, is the scariest day of the year, or even Friday the Thirteenth and its specter of 24 hours of bad luck? Maybe. But the one day most working Americans dread most is April 15, the deadline for filling our income tax returns. However, a silver lining surrounds this annual dark cloud for those who share the ride on their way to their job.

On February 17, President Obama single-handedly doubled the tax-free benefit for ridesharers with the signing of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. Now people who take a train, bus or a vanpool to work can receive up to $230 per month from their employer, TAX FREE. That works out to $2760 annually. Anyone treated to a W-2 form at the end of the year qualifies.

Photo Courtesy: Paul Keleher@Flickr

Previously, this amount was limited to just $120 per month, or $1440 per year, as outlined in the Internal Revenue Code, Section 9010.

This fringe benefit encourages commuters to abandon their cars in favor of transit and vanpools, which feature a lower carbon footprint per passenger mile.

Referred to as the Commuter Choice program, it even benefits employers who provide these transportation fringe benefit funds in addition to, or in lieu of, existing compensation paid to their workers. What this means for those of us who haven’t earned a CPA credential lately, is employers realize a savings of at least 7.65% on the amount set aside, since payroll taxes do not apply.

Of course, you know there has to be a “gotcha” or two, but they’re not too bad.

The main catch is that your employer must pay for your commuting expenses by way of a bus pass, rail pass or Transit Check — which is a universal voucher produced by Commuter Check Services Corporation that acts like a gift certificate to purchase transit passes. Most transit agencies honor these.

An employer can also pay money to a vanpool provider, be it a company-sponsored vanpool or otherwise, just as long as the van seats seven adults (including the driver), and at least 80 percent of the mileage is for transporting employees from home to work and back again.

However, an employee cannot receive any cash directly. Otherwise, the IRS will seek a piece of the action.

Additionally, these benefits do not accrue to commuters who carpool. A possible reason behind this exclusion includes the fact that a van, bus, or train can remove far more vehicles off the road than a normal passenger car. Additionally, keeping track of what qualifies as a bona fide carpooling arrangement for commuting purposes only, could prove contentious and time consuming for any employer.

For the first time, though, anyone who pedals to work gets a break. Called the Qualified Bicycle Commuting Reimbursement, a biker can receive up to $20 per month from his or her employer, tax free, for reasonable expenses which include the purchase of a bike, bike improvements, repairs or storage.

President Obama also raised the tax-free parking allowance to $230 per month. And, yes, an employee can take advantage of BOTH benefits. Such would be the case for an employee who drives to a transit station that lacks free parking, then hops on a train for the rest of the trip to work. The potential tax-free income here adds up to a significant $5,520 per year.

While each state clings to its own interpretation of how employers can reimburse their employees for ridesharing, at least the feds have taken some of the sting out of tax time.

We need no longer lie panic stricken when April 15 rolls around.

©2009, Dr. Roadmap®

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Note: This is copyright-protected content.  Please contact Transportgooru if you like to use this article or portions of this article.  Thank you.

(Source: National Journal; Photo: Cliff @ Flickr)

Is High-Speed Rail Worth It?

Lisa Caruso @ the National Journal has kicked off an interesting dialogue on America’s proposed investment in Highspeed rail.  She asks:  “What do you think of President Obama’s decision to make high-speed passenger rail service a centerpiece of his transportation agenda? Is it a wise use of taxpayer dollars to spend $33 billion in the next five years (according to the stimulus and his FY10 budget outline) to make a down payment on constructing a rail network that could take decades to create? Or are there better ways to spend this money on transportation?

 So far the following folks, including Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood, have recorded their opinions on this interesting dialogue.  7 responses: Steve Heminger, Phineas Baxandall, Greg Cohen, Gov. Tim Kaine, Peter Gertler, Ray LaHood, Bob Poole  

So, continue to watch the thread as more folks step up to share their take  on why HSR is very important for this nation.

Click here to read and follow the entire discussion.

(Source:  Wall Street Journal Blog  – The Juggle)

I just had the fourth day in a row where I stood much of the way on my 40-minute subway ride. I’m 6.5 months pregnant–and it’s obvious–and not a single person offered me a seat. What’s more, sometimes I have had people literally push past me (I’m not as speedy as I used to be) to get the last seat on the train.

It’s not just me. Recently, a woman with a cast from foot-to-knee got on about 15 minutes into my ride. Nobody offered the casted woman a seat. So I did–it was a rare day that I’d snagged an empty seat. She refused because I am pregnant. I took the opportunity to shame my fellow passengers by saying, “It’s pretty bad when the pregnant lady is the only one offering someone with a cast a seat.” Nobody budged.

As a courtesy, I have always offered a seat to pregnant women, older people and anyone who was disabled, on crutches, or the like. It just seems like the human thing to do. (On some Japanese trains, a uniformed “manners squad” patrols cars to make sure that the elderly, disabled and pregnant have seats.)

Click here to read the entire blog. (Subscription Reqd.  Free Registration available). Also, if you have an extra minute, answer a quick poll @ Sodahead on this issue.

(Source: Wall Street Journal)

Last summer, when gas cost $4 a gallon, buyers snapped up small cars so fast that dealers couldn’t keep them in stock. Now, with gas prices half that level, almost 500,000 fuel-thrifty models are piled up unsold around the country.

The turnabout comes at a bad time for the struggling U.S. car industry, which has revamped factories and shifted product plans to produce more small cars in coming years. The moves are prompted by coming stricter federal fuel-economy standards and the Obama administration’s car-bailout plan, which encourages auto makers to boost their vehicles’ mileage.

 Practically every small car in the market is stacked up at dealerships. At the end of February,Honda Motor Co. had 22,191 Fits on dealer lots — enough to last 125 days at the current sales rate, according to Autodata Corp. In July, it had a nine-day supply, while the industry generally considers a 55- to 60-day supply healthy.For other models the supply situation is even worse. Toyota Motor Corp. has enough Yaris subcompacts to last 175 days. Chrysler LLC has a 205-day supply of the Dodge Caliber. And Chevrolet dealers have 427 days’ worth of Aveo subcompacts. At the current sales rate, General Motors Corp. could stop making the Aveo and it wouldn’t run out until May 24, 2010.

“I don’t think Americans really like small cars,” said Beau Boeckmann, whose family’s Galpin Ford in southern California is the country’s largest Ford dealer. “They drive them when they think they have to, when gas prices are high. But we’re big people and we like big cars.”

The logjam of small cars is caused in part by the recession, which has sapped sales of all types of vehicles. But it also underscores how badly gasoline prices have whipsawed the industry. A year ago, car companies rushed to react when Americans practically stopped buying large vehicles and flocked to hybrids and small cars.

Click here to read the entire article (Subscription Reqd.  Free Registration available).

Government’s Auto Task Force is hiring, looking for Wall Street experience

Curious what it takes to be a member of the recently-created Auto Task Force? Thanks to an email sent out by Harry J. Wilson, a newly-hired Task Force worker, there’s no need to wonder. Some knowledge of the auto industry would reportedly be helpful, though prospective applicants and their family members cannot currently own any stock in the Detroit automakers or serve on any of the D-3’s boards of directors. Would-be applicants would also need to be “sufficiently intellectually and professionally nimble,” whatever that means, and have 8-12 years of experience on Wall Street.

According the Detroit News, the source of the Autoblog article,   “Harry J. Wilson, a new member of the task force, recently sent an e-mail that circulated on Wall Street, seeking applicants for up to four jobs on the autos team. The task force’s findings will help chart the government’s role in the future of the U.S. auto industry.  That message said the team was looking for up to two hires in each of two job categories: principal/vice president level and associate/analyst level. Candidates should have eight to 12 years experience and be “sufficiently intellectually and professionally nimble.” The analyst would have “the same skills,” with less experience.

“Our team is quite small,” said Wilson, formerly of Silver Point Capital and the Blackstone Group, in the March 13 e-mail obtained by The Detroit News. “The work is incredibly intense. The amount of work is massive, the timelines are tight and the level of focus is also very high.”

Click here to read the entire article. 

(Source: Examiner via Tree Hugger); Logo courtesy:  SmartBikeDc.com