iron mountainSo Obama can strive all he wants to for increased fuel efficiency, but will the increased mpg reduce consumption?
True, and provable. The stats on miles driven has increased at nearly the same rate as the fleet avg fuel economy. CAFE standards are a lousy way to conserve energy. They are a good way to increase highway usage, though.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_09.html
and total motor vehicle fuel consumption was at the lowest level in 2010 since 2002.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
And that leads to another problem, reduced gas tax revenues. And that leads to increased taxes if the auto/highway complex is going to be adequately funded.
While on this tack I read that AAA estimated the cost of accidents and fatalities at $164.2 B for a year. That includes property damage, medical care, emergency services, and lost productivity.
This information led me to another link discussing the cost of highway congestion. That was broken down into the categories of travel costs, additional business costs, and productivity. The Texas Tansportation Institute pegged this at $67B per year.
Of course the solution to addressing these problems is increased cost in highway construction and better safety engineering in cars.
Well, as I said before, I do not consider myself particularly knowledgable in the area of cost analysis. I think I can say with assurance that coming up with a true cost per passenger mile or whatever is not only a complex task but also a task that is relative to the framework within which it is presented. And that last remark may be the most important aspect of this conversation.
Finally, I must ask if all these above-mentioned costs are taken into consideration when someone states the cost per automobile passenger mile is cited? I am not debating I am asking because I don't know. Anyone feel free to enlighten me.
schlimm http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_09.html and total motor vehicle fuel consumption was at the lowest level in 2010 since 2002.
But, the CAFE stds did not changed from 2002 to 2010. You are looking at the effect of the Great Recession.
If you take the data in you link and plot avg mpg against avg miles per vehicle, you get a really nice linear correlation with an R^2 of 0.86. If you drop everything prior to 1975 and after 2007, the R^2 is still 0.86.
The slope of the line shows that for every 1 mpg improvement, you induce 5-700 more miles of driving
Another way of looking at it: The range of fuel per vehicle per year has been from 830-661 (830 is 25% more than 661). The range of mpg has been from 9.5 to 17.6 (85%)
iron mountainThis information led me to another link discussing the cost of highway congestion. That was broken down into the categories of travel costs, additional business costs, and productivity. The Texas Tansportation Institute pegged this at $67B per year.
There are a couple of things to think about when considering the cost of congestion. Certainly, it is real and time is valuable, but we need to consider the quality of the time saved - that is, how big are the chunks of time saved? - and where is the congestion occurring?
First, the quality. If congestion causes a 2 minute delay for a few thousand drivers, it is not likely that that 2 minute delay is going to stop them from doing something or 2 minutes of additional free time is going to enable them to get something more done in the day. Two minutes is just doesn't have much value. But, 10 or 20 minute periods of time give you time to do things like get a bite to eat or walk the dog. These are more valuable minutes....
Second, the congestion delays in the US are nearly all from commuters. We built all these urban freeways, and we use them! You can make a good case for commuter rail as a partial solution to urban freeway congestion. In fact, in places like LA and Northern VA, that is exactly what has occurred.
Amtrak and intercity rail will never play much of a role in highway congestion mitigation, simply because the number of travelers per hour is just too low. Even the southern half of the NEC doesn't carry a half a lane's worth of Amtrak patrons in each direction during peak periods.
A few more things might be said about Amtrak and congestion.
In the Northeast and Middleatlantic states highways the not the only things that are congested. Our air lanes are congested too . Amtrak intercity trains can relieve air land congesting leaving more of them open for longer flights.
Much of the Northeast corridor is owned by Amtrak. Commuter trains also run over these tracks which do reduce rush hour highway congestion.
Finally, for several months I commuted between Princeton Junction and Newark, NJ on an Amtrak intercity train. Amtrak and New Jersey Transit had an agreement which allowed NJT commuters to use their tickets on Clockers and some Keystone Service trains. The agreement ended when Amtrak stopped running Clockers. The agreement grew out of the years the Pennsylvania Railroad ran commuter trains on their tracks into New York. It worked well; I would get on a train about 6:30 am and arrive in Newark 50 minutes later. While NJT commuter fares are much less than Amtrak fares the agreement did fill Amtrak seats which otherwise would have been empty so for Amtrak the revenue was pure profit.
John WR A few more things might be said about Amtrak and congestion. In the Northeast and Middleatlantic states highways the not the only things that are congested. Our air lanes are congested too . Amtrak intercity trains can relieve air land congesting leaving more of them open for longer flights. Much of the Northeast corridor is owned by Amtrak. Commuter trains also run over these tracks which do reduce rush hour highway congestion.
Exactly. Which is why the places where you can get the most benefit for the buck are NEC extensions and similar short haul, densely populated corridors.
It's also why congested cities like Atlanta and Dallas and Houston need to start with commuter rail before they start thinking too hard about intercity service.
John WRWhile NJT commuter fares are much less than Amtrak fares the agreement did fill Amtrak seats which otherwise would have been empty so for Amtrak the revenue was pure profit.
Those seats were empty only because the train came out of Phila with seats to fill at Trenton and PJ. It's why the clockers were ditched by Amtrak.
oltmannd John WR A few more things might be said about Amtrak and congestion. In the Northeast and Middleatlantic states highways the not the only things that are congested. Our air lanes are congested too . Amtrak intercity trains can relieve air land congesting leaving more of them open for longer flights. Much of the Northeast corridor is owned by Amtrak. Commuter trains also run over these tracks which do reduce rush hour highway congestion. Exactly. Which is why the places where you can get the most benefit for the buck are NEC extensions and similar short haul, densely populated corridors. It's also why congested cities like Atlanta and Dallas and Houston need to start with commuter rail before they start thinking too hard about intercity service.
The Trinity Railway Express that runs between Dallas and Fort Worth has been operational for more than 10 years. It offers approximately 40 trains a day between Big D and Fort Worth, although some of the trains originate and terminate at CentrePort.
The Denton County Transportation Authority operates a commuter rail service between Denton, TX and Carrollton, where it offers across the platform connections with DART's Green light rail line that runs into downtown Dallas. The DTCA commuter line is 21 miles. It offers 47 trips per day between Denton and Carrolton. The one way fare between Denton and Carrollton is $5.00.
In FY11 the average rider subsidy per trip was $$5.44 or 17.5 cents per passenger mile. The fare to travel from Dallas to Fort Worth is $5.00, whilst the Region 1 fare (part of the distance from Dallas and/or Fort Worth to an intermediate station) is $3.50. Interestingly, in December the Region 1 fare will drop to $2.50. There are other fares for day passes and monthly commuter tickets.
In FY11 daily passenger trips averaged 8,500 for weekdays and 4,400 on Saturdays. There is no service on Sunday.
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