Both houses of Congress have passed transportation bills pledging over $10 billion for Amtrak and high speed rail connecting New York City and Washington D.C. The Senate and House are now in conference regarding the details of the final bill. [Summary of the bill here.]
Vermont completed Phase I of a Boston to Montreal high-speed rail study in 2003, which found that there would be enough demand to support such a service. Phase II suffered a setback when New Hampshire decided to withdraw from the project. It is now back underway with Massachusetts as the partner; the current plans have the corridor passing through Springfield, Mass. to get into Vermont. Charlie Miller, Rail Planning Coordinator at VTrans, anticipates that a consultant for the Phase II study will be selected this fall. [View Phase I report here.]
Meanwhile, New Hampshire high-speed rail advocates are gathering public support to continue the Phase II route as originally planned through New Hampshire.
The Springfield School Board is considering changes to its bus routes to save on transportation energy costs, while balancing their statutory responsibility to provide transportation to those who need it. They're not alone. Other schools are balancing transportation and school meal program budgets (Dodge City, KS), school choice programs (Cape Coral, FL), field trip programs (San Jose, CA; Clute, TX), athletic events (Wilkes County, NC).
Some schools have been able to take action, like purchasing propane buses (San Antonio), plug in hybrid electric-diesel buses (Austin Independent School District), and more efficient routing (Northfield, MN) and asking students to walk further to bus stops (Seattle, WA).
Haulers and other fleets around the country are taking action to reduce fuel costs and benefitting the environment at the same time. Choosing smaller or alternatively fueled fleet vehicles, making use of electrified truck stops, using GPS to streamline dispatching, and educating drivers about idling reduction are among the best practices.
Freightliner LLC, Navistar International Corp., Kenowrth Truck Co., and Peterbilt Motors are developing or producing larger hybrid diesel-electric trucks. They are expensive but save 30-60% on fuel costs, depending on how they are used. The technology makes sense for delivery and garbage trucks, buses and other stop-and-go vehicles. Hybrid utility vehicles and others that need auxiliary power also can save on fuel.
Diesel engines are 30-40% more fuel efficient than gas engines. Manchester, VT recently played host to the global launch and test drive of three new diesel SUVs from Mercedes: the 2009 ML 320, GL 320, and R320 BlueTec. All three are clean enough to be sold in Vermont, certified as Bin 5 Ultra Low Emission Vehicles. Volkswagen and Audi are both releasing similar technology diesels: VW's Jetta TDI models are due this August and Audi's Q7 SUV is scheduled for early 2009 launch.
According to a study conducted by Kelley's Blue Book, U.S. consumers are much more likely to think that hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells, and ethanol mix vehicle technologies are more likely to go mainstream than diesels.
The 2008 Telework Exchange awards showcased six best practice employers that support telework, or telecommuting. Award winners had programs that helped mobile workers skip office commutes, regular surveys to test program performance, an in-house telework committee to act as oversight, a web-based application process, a call center telework program, and dedicated program promotion staff.
Welcome to the Vermont Clean Cities Coalition Blog Site - an interactive space dedicated to the coalition's objective of advancing “the economic, environmental and energy security of the U.S.” through cutting back on “petroleum consumption in the transportation sector.”
For more information: U.S Department of Energy's Clean Cities website. http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/
The Vermont Clean Cities Coalition supports, promotes and helps coordinate Vermont-related efforts related to fuel efficient and alternative fueled vehicles, transportation alternatives to the automobile, anti-idling campaigns, and funding opportunities and programs that address the Clean Cities mission.
For more information contact Karen Glitman at (802)656-8868 or karen.glitman@uvm.edu or Tristam Coffin at (802)656-9864 or tcoffin@uvm.edu.
