Re: Big Protests in Zagreb / other

How about cleaning up all the trucks that bring produce to Farmer's  
Markets?  Or asking some of them to merge resources to purchase  
larger, less polluting trucks that  carry more produce....?  After  
all, the markets are supposedly green, when in fact the large Safeway  
Trucks probably pollute less per pound delivered. There might be some  
leverage with the Farmers Market orgs. Low hanging fruit?


On May 21, 2010, at 9:19 AM, Jason Meggs wrote:

> Right.  More or less.
>
> Genevieve, I agree the first question of course is "Can we get rid  
> of trucks?" as they're large beasts that don't mix well with  
> people.  As a practical matter we can't wave a magic wand and make  
> goods movement disappear without major problems (including  
> starvation), so we have to do something.
>
> It's not that trucks are inherently healthy, it's that I don't  
> believe there's any better option for making major changes *soon* to  
> reduce carbon emissions, and *stop* using oil, along with other  
> health, sustainability and economic benefits.  There are many fine  
> points and distinctions to be made. To be clear: I do not propose  
> removing existing rail and do not oppose adopting new rail!  
> (However, rail should be electrified as well.)
>
> Why electrified trucks?
>
> Trolley trucks (how about "T-Trucks") are much better than diesel  
> trucks.  Quieter, "emission free," more powerful, more efficient,  
> can be run on renewable energy. Etc.
>
> They are much quicker to implement than trains. Can do things trains  
> can't.  Developed countries have large networks for trucking that  
> mix with other traffic.  This idea uses those existing networks, but  
> in a new, better way, retrofitting a new power system onto it.  Over  
> time, alternatives can replace the system.
>
> Because T-Trucks will mostly operate on fixed routes (overhead  
> wires), adopting a T-Truck system means predictability for where  
> trucks will be (presently very difficult to control); thus if only T- 
> Trucks are used, many streets could be spared truck traffic. (True,  
> they would have limited range off the wires.) Trucks could then be  
> treated more thoroughly as a separate transport system (to some  
> extent mimicking trains, much as Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, mimics a  
> rail-based Metro system).
>
> The idea of a large T-Truck system is still very much theoretical as  
> they've never been used en masse in the present day, although  
> they've been used to limited extent and for big site-specific jobs  
> like mining. With a little bit of funding I would put some serious  
> work into this idea.
>
> One last thing on the "one last mile": Small-scale transport,  
> including bicycle trucks/trailers, *ideally* would serve a  
> substantial portion of "last mile" distribution, to further reduce  
> the impacts of trucking; another option is delivery to homes  
> (including rolling shops) to reduce the impacts of shopping trips on  
> the city.
>
> As for garbage trucks...
>
> ...that's another topic...
>
> (Thanks for taking me up on the provocation.)
>
> Jason
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 2:08 AM, Todd Edelman <[email protected]>  
> wrote:
> Railways (electric or with their own power) and ships should/will  
> always represent the main part of long distance freight. The main  
> issue is the last (and first) parts of the journey.
>
> Joel Crawford has an excellent concept for metro-based urban  
> freight, but this will be difficult to implement or even to retrofit  
> (due to political will, perhaps even more so than costs).
>
> So you need to minimize changes of vehicle. Thus, the ideal system  
> uses electric trains which go to location in a city but which does  
> not disturb people, because intermodal freight yards are very noisy.  
> Large ocean going ships can never go past the periphery, and this is  
> moving further from downtowns because waterfront locations are very  
> valuable real estate.
>
> Following that, trucks of various sizes are still the ideal last  
> mile vehicle. There are already many electric-based examples, but  
> gas or Diesel vehicles (the latter with particle filters) are  
> cheaper to buy but more expensive to operate. Overhead wires work  
> for trams and buses, but do not get close enough to enough locations  
> to be a practical route for delivery. To make them get close enough  
> could be extraordinarily expensive, and ugly in the eyes of some,  
> e.g. to get down one road in a city to one destination for cargo.
>
> Dresden and Zurich have cargo trams for very limited purposes (a VW  
> factory in the former and removing old fridges and computers from  
> neighbourhoods in the latter) and Amsterdam might still do something  
> a little more extensive. The limiting factors here are 1 - capacity  
> on the network. Prague has an incredibly dense network of tram  
> lines, but also trams running every few minutes or less about 18  
> hours a day, so there is no space for cargo trams and 2 - The need  
> for a third vehicle, e.g. in the pilot for tram cargo in Amsterdam  
> some little electric vehicles, but this idea is heavily ridiculed.  
> (The website for the Amsterdam project is dead).
>
> Anyway, all cities are at least a little bit different from each  
> other and sometimes solutions need to be custom-tailored. Utrecht in  
> the Netherlands has this system http://www.cargohopper.com/ which  
> apparently is nice and people like. Maybe some people reading this  
> have more info.
>
> So, keeping this all in mind, what Jason suggested -  I guess we can  
> call them "trolley trucks" - could be interesting in a city which  
> has a huge amount of trolley lines which are for one reason or  
> another underutilized in one part of the day, and if they lead to a  
> lot of delivery points... but then again underutilized could mean at  
> night, so than delivery could not happen. Then there would also need  
> to be new vehicles developed.... the boxes but not the chassis could  
> be re-used, it seems. These trucks could be dual-mode for overhead  
> wires and off the grid....
>
> The most important thing is flexibility in design and in vehicles,  
> and of course buying less and (generally) close. If we just bought  
> 20% less stuff there would be - speaking generally - 20% less  
> emissions with no change of vehicles or technology.
>
> - T
>
>
>
> On 05/21/2010 10:16 AM, Genevieve OConnell wrote:
>>
>> how are trucks good for health, even electrically powered, when  
>> they are the cause of so much carnage on the roads?!!! think again.  
>> rail freight is a much better and safer option.
>>
>> --- On Fri, 21/5/10, Jason Meggs <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> From: Jason Meggs <[email protected]>
>> Subject: [carfree_network] Big Protests in Zagreb / other
>> To: [email protected], "carfree_network" <[email protected] 
>> >
>> Received: Friday, 21 May, 2010, 4:02 AM
>>
>> Zagreb, Croatia: In protest of a proposed underground garage with a  
>> ramp on the main pedestrian mall, and claims of corruption, large  
>> groups of people have occupied the area and torn down fences.  This  
>> news thanks to a bicyclist friend from Croatia who walked the  
>> street as a child.
>>
>> Some of the many news items:
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lTvORBc8W0&translated=1
>>
>> http://www.jutarnji.hr/varsavska---tisuce-gradana-u-policijskom-obrucu/777389/?secId=79&foto=1
>>
>> ===
>> As long as I'm writing:
>>
>> In local news here in the San Francisco Bay Area, a new phenomenon  
>> known as "Bike Party" has begun, as an alternative to Critical  
>> Mass. Claiming to be *not* a Critical Mass; stopping at stop lights  
>> and regrouping periodically in parking lots; the ride on the  
>> Peninsula is very successful with thousands of people every month.  
>> The first copycat Bike Party begins this Friday in Oakland  
>> (concurrent with a Bike-In Movie in Berkeley). Critical Mass  
>> continues as well. For official Ciclovía style happenings: San  
>> Francisco now has "Sunday Streets" and Oakland is organizing its  
>> first "Oaklavia" for June 27 (also a good time to be at the Carfree  
>> Cities Conference in York).  The Bike Party phenomenon is valuable  
>> in bringing a taste of a better world without being at all  
>> expressly political. It is interesting in the highly racially  
>> segregated United States that there is a large Latino contingent;  
>> bicycle activists have long grappled with how to bridge the racial  
>> divides here.
>>
>> http://www.sjbikeparty.org/
>> http://eastbaybikeparty.wordpress.com/
>>
>> There's lots more news to be shared. If you aren't yet aware, a  
>> great source for alternative transportation news in the USA is the  
>> (also fairly new) StreetsBlog:
>>
>> http://sf.streetsblog.org/
>>
>> (That's San Francisco, click for other  cities such as New York.)
>>
>> Petroleum provocation: what if there were a network of trucks  
>> powered by electricity (via overhead wires) rather than diesel  
>> trucks? Cheaper, quicker and more versatile than rail; able to  
>> serve decentralized land use found today; taking advantage of  
>> existing road/bridge/distribution center infrastructure, as well as  
>> existing electricity infrasstructure; and able to re-use existing  
>> truck fleets.  Powered by electricity, which can come from  
>> renewable sources, there is no other mass transport solution with a  
>> better sustainability profile. Cost effective, energy efficient,  
>> and a huge improvement for public health (reducing noise and air  
>> pollution). Why is this not more discussed more and actively pursued?
>>
>> ~Jason
>> Berkeley
>> +1 510-725-9991
>> skype jasonmeggs
>
> Todd Edelman
> Green Idea Factory,
> a member of the OPENbike team
>
> Mobile: ++49(0)162 814 4081
> Immobile: ++49(0)30 7554 0001
>
> [email protected]
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> [email protected]
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>
> Skype: toddedelman
>
> Urbanstr. 45
> 10967 Berlin
> Germany
>
> ***
>
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>
>
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