# 9 August 2011

Buy America is a Scam

Blocking parallel imports ensures only a select number of vendors can bid, driving up prices. Usually there’s a small sop to American labor, well-publicized in the media with photo-ops of people in hard hats – e.g. the 250 jobs heralded for the Sprinter order – but the bulk of the extra money goes elsewhere. It creates makework for consultants and lobbyists.

And even if it were more effective. it would have a cost. It is not smart to burden your preferred transportation with extra costs. If you want to advocate for labor, advocate for it universally. Because if railroad operators are burdened with half-baked American liberalism while auto consumers are free to Buy Japan, Buy Korea, and very soon Buy China, you end up with the epic fail that is Amtrak.

Sadly, new generations seem determined to make the same mistakes. California’s HSR advocates wanted a requirement that their trains receive 100% of their power from renewable sources. That sounds great, but it’s really very stupid. It is hard enough to actually get HSR built without decimating its potential profitability in order to make it even greener than it naturally friggin’ is. Go ahead and sign a paper saying that all energy use must be 100% renewable, if it’s as easy as that.

Unless you want your favorite projects to fail and your favorite policies to be discredited along with them, please do not load every possible noble passion into one advocacy basket.

Filed under [Trains] [Autos] [Labor] [Energy] [Advocacy] [Alon Levy]
# 13:26

The future of the Suzy-Q

Frelinghuysen sponsored an amendment to reallocate high-speed rail funds for Midwest flood relief.

Talk about treating the symptoms.

Filed under [Climate Change] [Trains] [Energy] [Politicians] [Dumb] [NJ] [Cap'n Transit]
# 11:19

New York City losing hundreds of thousands because of cops writing fewer tickets

Police brass are now reconsidering changing the penalty to three days for the first offense, five for a second and eight for a third — under a plan devised due to a widening ticket-fixing scandal in the department.

The ticket slowdown has prompted some bosses to threaten to ride along with cops so that they’ll be pressured to issue more tickets, sources said.

Last night on Adams I was stopped at a light next to a crossover SUV, that Nissan or Infiniti trophy model you still see a lot of. After all the pedestrians had crossed, its driver blithely proceeded through red light just as I was planning to do. I shrugged and followed on my bicycle.

Our roads are over-engineered for speed and under-designed for safety. Our traffic laws mostly protect the strong from the weak and the fast from the slow. But police refuse to enforce them anyway, if they must also enforce them against friends.

Something has got to give.

Filed under [Traffic] [Priorities] [Police] [Corruption] [Autos] [Laws] [NYC] [NYP]
# 8 August 2011
In a hilarious development, Governors Cuomo and Christie expect us to believe that they had no idea the Port Authority would propose such a steep hike. They only signed off on its capital plan, they didn’t expect anyone would have to pay for it!
Filed under [Cuomo] [Christie] [Tolls] [NJ] [Port Authority] [Fairness] [Cap'n Transit]
# 11:18
What Barcelona has done for reestablishing the bicycle as transport in just four short years is an inspiration to other cities around the world. In fact many other cities should be rather embarrassed when comparing themselves to this Catalan city. Not just their Bicing bike share programme with over 110,000 full subscribers but their infrastructure and facilities as well. And this is a city with hills AND heat.
Filed under [Barcelona] [Cycling] [Copenhagenize] ['merca] [NYC] [Embarrassment]
# 7 August 2011
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me… (50 jobless and destitute people set up forest community on New York’s doorstep)
Filed under [NJ] [Homelessness] [Autos] [Mercedes-Benz] [Priorities] [Daily Mail]
# 11:19
Like most Americans, at this point, I have no idea what Barack Obama — and by extension the party he leads — believes on virtually any issue.
Filed under [Obama] [Centrism] [Priorities] [Democrats] [NYT]
# 6 August 2011
I’d like to finish by pointing out that this bullshit artist was not actually elected in any meaningful sense of the word.
Filed under [NYS] [Albany] [Democrats] [Astoria] [Cap'n Transit]
# 9:09
“The best part about selling gold teeth is that unlike that heirloom gold necklace or grandma’s old sterling silver flatware, dental gold typically has very little emotional value,” says Arch Enterprises, a buyer of dental gold. (via zunguzungu)

“The best part about selling gold teeth is that unlike that heirloom gold necklace or grandma’s old sterling silver flatware, dental gold typically has very little emotional value,” says Arch Enterprises, a buyer of dental gold. (via zunguzungu)

Filed under ['merca] [Teeth] [Gold] [Economy] [Zunguzungu]
# 5 August 2011
lelands:

PlaneRed is an all-you-can-eat flight subscription launching around September 1st 2011 that will fly just below the TSA’s radar – using 9-person planes to dodge under their screening of any plane carrying over 10 passengers. The subscriptions will work as such – passengers will pay around $150 a month for access to a booking system much like a city bus, able to book on popular routes on the east coast, serving Atlantic City, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C.. They hope to expand quickly to Boston, and then open up new runs in Texas, California, and the Midwest. Eyerly sees it as a ‘win-win’ for customers – 14-passenger planes organized in a luxury set-up to make the journey just a little bit more pleasant. (via PlaneRed To Taunt Airlines, TSA - Ed Zitron - Tea and Technology - Forbes)

Reblogged despite my extreme disapproval for PlaneRed regional air travel generally, because it’s funny how the TSA’s awfulness makes this business model momentarily feasible.

lelands:

PlaneRed is an all-you-can-eat flight subscription launching around September 1st 2011 that will fly just below the TSA’s radar – using 9-person planes to dodge under their screening of any plane carrying over 10 passengers. The subscriptions will work as such – passengers will pay around $150 a month for access to a booking system much like a city bus, able to book on popular routes on the east coast, serving Atlantic City, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C.. They hope to expand quickly to Boston, and then open up new runs in Texas, California, and the Midwest. Eyerly sees it as a ‘win-win’ for customers – 14-passenger planes organized in a luxury set-up to make the journey just a little bit more pleasant. (via PlaneRed To Taunt Airlines, TSA - Ed Zitron - Tea and Technology - Forbes)

Reblogged despite my extreme disapproval for PlaneRed regional air travel generally, because it’s funny how the TSA’s awfulness makes this business model momentarily feasible.

Filed under [Travel] ['merca] [TSA] [Risk] [Airline] [PlaneRed]