http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/news/20101207p2g00m0fe091000c.html
I'll have to comment later
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Public Transit distinctions-questions
For some reason I like to read public transit blogs. It is so interesting to read about what is happening to make public transportation more effective and efficient. Even though I read about it and look at the pictures I am somewhat confused about the various types of public rail transit and don't quite understand the differences. I think I understand buses and even BRT pretty well. When I lived in Seattle (back in the days before they had any light rail) I used to commute by bus and understand that there are different types of systems. BRT seems like super express bus service. Is there a difference between express and BRT?
But I live in Great Falls, Montana now and haven't traveled lately to big cities which have modern rail transit.
I read about modern streetcars, trams, light rail, light rail transit, commuter rail, L-trains, heavy rail, sky trains (are they different than monorails), metro, light metro, subways, high speed rail. I'm not exactly sure what the differences are.
Does light rail mean the rails are lighter because the trains go slower or that the trains themselves are lighter because they are shorter? than freight trains, thus lighter?
Well, I understand subways, underground railways in big cities, right? That make local stops. I've ridden them in Seoul, South Korea where they were very smooth and efficient and clean. And I understand the HSR concept though I've never seen one. (Though why can't we just have nice, clean, smooth, comfortable, modern trains that go more places, more often? Do they have to go hundreds of miles per hour?)
Here is what is seems like the definitions are:
Streetcars and trams are almost the same. They run on tracks which are in streets right along with other vehicles like cars and buses. They can hold a lot more people than buses because there can be several cars attached together. But they are limited because they can only run where the tracks are. Apparently in some cities, economic development occurs along streetcar lines. (Why?) They stay within city limits where the population is most dense. Or maybe they only serve business districts and do not go to where people live.
In the first half of the 20th century, almost every city, big and small had streetcars, the old fashioned kind. After WWII, almost all American cities took out their streetcars and governments spent their money building streets, roads, parking lots, highways and freeways to encourage and accommodate automobile transportation.
Then traffic in cities became a nightmare in the last half of the 20th century, so planners started looking into rail options again. (It has been a few years since we visited southern California but encountering the insane traffic there we always asked why on earth don't they have commuter trains or light rail or something to take the pressure off the roads and get people where they need to go. Now maybe they actually had that but we didn't see or notice it.)
Light rail is small trains which follow tracks which are separated from roads and other traffic. They serve more territory than streetcars, going into city suburbs or outlying communities but not going from one city to another like say, Amtrak.
How many more cars does light rail have than streetcars?
Light rail transit. Is there a difference between light rail and light rail transit? Like the difference between an express bus and Bus Rapid Transit?
Metro, light metro. Are these subways? Trains that are partly underground, partly above ground? How many cars? More cars than light rail? Different kinds of vehicles or same kinds of vehicles but different kinds of tracks or just different location for tracks?
Skytrain, elevated trains, monorail. These run above the streets. I only know the monorail in Seattle which really is more like a fair ride than a transportation option. Elevated trains have been around for decades (school readers all seem to have storeis about the Chicato El) but skytrains are like them only new and different?
Does heavy rail mean big freight trains run on the lines as well as passenger trains?
As long as I am on rail. I recently heard a speaker, Terry Whiteside, speak about captive shipping. Though he was talking about rail freight, he said something which astonished me. He said Amtrak has to pay 90% of the costs for repair and maintenance of the rails along the high line in Montana. Well, there is 1 westbound and 1 eastbound Amtrak train a day on that line but BNSF has about 80 freight trains a day on the same rails. No wonder Amtrak is always broke.
But I live in Great Falls, Montana now and haven't traveled lately to big cities which have modern rail transit.
I read about modern streetcars, trams, light rail, light rail transit, commuter rail, L-trains, heavy rail, sky trains (are they different than monorails), metro, light metro, subways, high speed rail. I'm not exactly sure what the differences are.
Does light rail mean the rails are lighter because the trains go slower or that the trains themselves are lighter because they are shorter? than freight trains, thus lighter?
Well, I understand subways, underground railways in big cities, right? That make local stops. I've ridden them in Seoul, South Korea where they were very smooth and efficient and clean. And I understand the HSR concept though I've never seen one. (Though why can't we just have nice, clean, smooth, comfortable, modern trains that go more places, more often? Do they have to go hundreds of miles per hour?)
Here is what is seems like the definitions are:
Streetcars and trams are almost the same. They run on tracks which are in streets right along with other vehicles like cars and buses. They can hold a lot more people than buses because there can be several cars attached together. But they are limited because they can only run where the tracks are. Apparently in some cities, economic development occurs along streetcar lines. (Why?) They stay within city limits where the population is most dense. Or maybe they only serve business districts and do not go to where people live.
In the first half of the 20th century, almost every city, big and small had streetcars, the old fashioned kind. After WWII, almost all American cities took out their streetcars and governments spent their money building streets, roads, parking lots, highways and freeways to encourage and accommodate automobile transportation.
Then traffic in cities became a nightmare in the last half of the 20th century, so planners started looking into rail options again. (It has been a few years since we visited southern California but encountering the insane traffic there we always asked why on earth don't they have commuter trains or light rail or something to take the pressure off the roads and get people where they need to go. Now maybe they actually had that but we didn't see or notice it.)
Light rail is small trains which follow tracks which are separated from roads and other traffic. They serve more territory than streetcars, going into city suburbs or outlying communities but not going from one city to another like say, Amtrak.
How many more cars does light rail have than streetcars?
Light rail transit. Is there a difference between light rail and light rail transit? Like the difference between an express bus and Bus Rapid Transit?
Metro, light metro. Are these subways? Trains that are partly underground, partly above ground? How many cars? More cars than light rail? Different kinds of vehicles or same kinds of vehicles but different kinds of tracks or just different location for tracks?
Skytrain, elevated trains, monorail. These run above the streets. I only know the monorail in Seattle which really is more like a fair ride than a transportation option. Elevated trains have been around for decades (school readers all seem to have storeis about the Chicato El) but skytrains are like them only new and different?
Does heavy rail mean big freight trains run on the lines as well as passenger trains?
As long as I am on rail. I recently heard a speaker, Terry Whiteside, speak about captive shipping. Though he was talking about rail freight, he said something which astonished me. He said Amtrak has to pay 90% of the costs for repair and maintenance of the rails along the high line in Montana. Well, there is 1 westbound and 1 eastbound Amtrak train a day on that line but BNSF has about 80 freight trains a day on the same rails. No wonder Amtrak is always broke.
The Salvation Army community garden
Oh my, its been 3 months since I last posted. Life has been so busy. My big project, I sometimes think of it as my summer mission "trip" though I did not have to leave home except to drive, walk, or bicycle the 3 miles from our house to the garden, was my Master Gardener community service project of being team leader for the Salvation Army community charity garden. Two neglected city lots just behind the Salvation Army family services building were turned into a lush vegetable garden. Apparently years ago, the houses standing on those lots had burned down and they were just vacant, full of weeds and bushes and rubble.
Between the volunteers from the Red Horse Squadron, the county extension agent, the "booters" who do community service work for charitable organizations, master gardeners and other community volunteers, the rubble filled lots were turned into our beautiful garden.
Harvesting the Salvation Army community charity garden kept me busy through September and October. We had such a beautiful long fall (other than that snowfall in September when I had to call in my volunteers to harvest 700 pounds of green tomatoes in one day from the garden). We got over 4000 pounds of produce to add to the Salvation Army food boxes through the summer and fall-lettuce, spinach, green beans, beets, sweet corn, kohlrabi, summer squash, winter squash, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, peas, broccoli, cabbage. All the seeds and all the plants were donated as was all the labor and all the food went to help those in need.
The Salvation Army here is amazing. Every day they put together food boxes for families in need. They give away from 5 to 40 or more boxes every week day of the year. They put in what they calculate to get a family through one week. In their warehouse they have canned, dried and frozen foods and we added fresh produce to the boxes from the big garden out back. The boxes are designed for "family of 1-2", "family of 3-4", etc. Some things like winter squash were just put out in carts in the front waiting so people could pick them up if they wanted them.
They also help people with prescriptions, rent, utilities and baby supplies. And that is only at family services. Then they have their well known thrift stores, Christmas distributions, community recreation activities and camps to help keep kids out of trouble. And they are actually a church and have services and Bible studies.
God blessed the garden and it produced abundantly. It made me so happy to be able to participate in it, to use my gardening skills to bless my new community. (And not to have to "put up" all that produce-merely the thought of doing that is exhausting).
A community member who specializes in bokashi composting built us a compost bin and got us started on the bokashi method of composting so we were able to compost all the waste vegetative matter which is important when you are dealing with a city lot, to keep it neat and clean.
Between the volunteers from the Red Horse Squadron, the county extension agent, the "booters" who do community service work for charitable organizations, master gardeners and other community volunteers, the rubble filled lots were turned into our beautiful garden.
Harvesting the Salvation Army community charity garden kept me busy through September and October. We had such a beautiful long fall (other than that snowfall in September when I had to call in my volunteers to harvest 700 pounds of green tomatoes in one day from the garden). We got over 4000 pounds of produce to add to the Salvation Army food boxes through the summer and fall-lettuce, spinach, green beans, beets, sweet corn, kohlrabi, summer squash, winter squash, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, peas, broccoli, cabbage. All the seeds and all the plants were donated as was all the labor and all the food went to help those in need.
The Salvation Army here is amazing. Every day they put together food boxes for families in need. They give away from 5 to 40 or more boxes every week day of the year. They put in what they calculate to get a family through one week. In their warehouse they have canned, dried and frozen foods and we added fresh produce to the boxes from the big garden out back. The boxes are designed for "family of 1-2", "family of 3-4", etc. Some things like winter squash were just put out in carts in the front waiting so people could pick them up if they wanted them.
They also help people with prescriptions, rent, utilities and baby supplies. And that is only at family services. Then they have their well known thrift stores, Christmas distributions, community recreation activities and camps to help keep kids out of trouble. And they are actually a church and have services and Bible studies.
God blessed the garden and it produced abundantly. It made me so happy to be able to participate in it, to use my gardening skills to bless my new community. (And not to have to "put up" all that produce-merely the thought of doing that is exhausting).
A community member who specializes in bokashi composting built us a compost bin and got us started on the bokashi method of composting so we were able to compost all the waste vegetative matter which is important when you are dealing with a city lot, to keep it neat and clean.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Biking and busing adventures this week
Today my daughter and I rode our bicycles across town to the local bicycle shop. She needed a new seat and repairs to her bike so we left it there and took the bus home. We got to ride on a brand new bus, a 2010 model. It was the drivers first time to drive it. It was a very nice bus with a bicycle rack in front which I used for my bike. The new bus was a low floor model, no steps. I really need to take my camera on these little trips.
Yesterday my husband actually wanted to ride bikes with me and we rode to McDonalds where he scarfed up some egg mcmuffins and I had an iced coffee.
The day before I had a violin student who arrived by bike. I decided to ride with her back to her house and it was a good thing I did because her pant leg got caught in her chain and pulled her chain off. I helped her get her pant leg out, fixed her chain back on and loaned her a bandanna to tie up her pant leg so it wouldn't get caught again.
Last week I got my new rear lights. Two cateyes. I had a headlight but no taillights and there is a freeway underpass which always scares me that motorists won't notice me so I am happy to have my bright taillights.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Hello world!
Hello! Welcome! Once again I'm going to try to start a blog. I have enjoyed reading bicycling blogs, especially those written by women who enjoy riding in every day clothes for their every day life and I thought I'd like to join the conversation. I have recently moved from a farm 35 miles from town to the small city of Great Falls, Montana. I quit riding for a long time because I lived on a gravel road (8 miles from the nearest pavement) but 19 years ago I began again when I had to lose weight to qualify for our first adoption. I bought a mountain bike at that time, a red Trek Antelope and it helped me lose 35 pounds. I thought mountain bikes were a wonderful invention for those of us who lived on unpaved roads. We were so blessed to be able to adopt our two lovely daughters who are now 17 and 18 and my bike helped.
I'll have to tell an antelope story about my Antelope bicycle. I used to ride on dirt field roads through wheat fields and CRP pastures. The antelopes would hide behind that tall CRP grass and when I came by on my bike, antelope they would jump out at me with a loud "huff" which sounded like they were laughing at me. The first few times it scared me though.
One day I took my husband's lunch out to him as he was driving tractor in the field. I was driving a pickup that particular day and stopped at the corner to wait for him to reach the end of the field. There was a small group of antelope at the corner and after I watched them for a while I opened the window and yelled "Boo!" They got so excited, two of them ran head on into each other and knocked one another over. They got up rather sheepishly I thought and leaped away. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself that I had got them back after all the times they "laughed" at me.
I'll have to tell an antelope story about my Antelope bicycle. I used to ride on dirt field roads through wheat fields and CRP pastures. The antelopes would hide behind that tall CRP grass and when I came by on my bike, antelope they would jump out at me with a loud "huff" which sounded like they were laughing at me. The first few times it scared me though.
One day I took my husband's lunch out to him as he was driving tractor in the field. I was driving a pickup that particular day and stopped at the corner to wait for him to reach the end of the field. There was a small group of antelope at the corner and after I watched them for a while I opened the window and yelled "Boo!" They got so excited, two of them ran head on into each other and knocked one another over. They got up rather sheepishly I thought and leaped away. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself that I had got them back after all the times they "laughed" at me.
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