Rio de Janeiro’s Transit Solution: Cable Cars Over the Favelas
Source: Wired
The slums of Rio de Janeiro—the infamous favelas—pile onto and up and over the city’s iconic steep hillsides. Simply getting from point A to point B requires a sub-alphabet of zigzaggery up stairs, over…
Trends & Transportation: Younger Generation Prefer Electronics Over Cars - CNBC
Kal Gyimesi IBM Institute for Business Value
Today, a confluence of events is starting to change all that. Industry research indicates that younger people don’t value vehicle ownership like their older (over thirty) brothers and sisters or their parents do. It’s no accident that many of these younger folks are leading an urbanization movement, the exact opposite of the stampede to the suburbs that characterized their parents’ and grandparents’ generations. In the city, younger drivers today see cars as an underutilized, expensive and hard to keep asset. Even in suburban and rural areas, young people often have a desire to live environmentally sustainable lives, and increasingly take a dim view of owning gas- or diesel-powered cars.
Advancing Mobility | the next frontier in smarter transportation
Read the new study on the evolving nature of vehicle manufacturing, sales, ownership and new models for business and society around transportation
IBM To Give $50 Million In Tech And Consulting Services To 100 Cities
IBM today announced a plan to give away $50 million of its services and technology over the next three years to 100 municipalities through a program the company is calling the Smarter Cities Challenge. Funded via IBM’s philanthropic division, according to an IBM press statement, the Smarter Cities program aims to help municipalities around the world— with populations of 100,000 to 700,000 ideally— solve local problems in any of the following areas: healthcare, education, safety, social services, transportation, communications, sustainability, budget management, energy, and utilities.
“For a city to offer smart services and save money, its departments have to work closely together, share their data and use a common IT infrastructure. London, for instance, has different payment systems for public transport, bicycle hire and toll roads. Such fragmentation is costly and makes it more difficult to come up with new offers (say, reducing the congestion charge for those who often hire a bicycle). But getting a city’s islands of bureaucracy to work together tends to be difficult, says Mark Cleverley of IBM, who helps governments and cities develop plans for smart systems. The problem is not just that departments often jealously protect their data, something experts call TEP, as in “turf, ego and power”. Officials also lack a common language or generally agreed criteria for a smart city—which is a big issue, too, for the many companies that are usually involved in a project. “It’s hard to build a business case if people don’t understand each other,” says Simon Giles, in charge of strategy for smart technologies at Accenture. Things are easier in Singapore. Ministries and agencies compete for reputation and resources, but they also co-operate closely on implementing master plans such as “A Lively and Liveable Singapore: Strategies for Sustainable Growth”, the city-state’s roadmap to becoming smart. That helps to explain why Singapore will probably be the first city to combine its various smart systems into a single one.”
Samuel J. Palmisano, Intelligent Transportation Society of America, 2010 Annual Meeting & Conference, Houston, Texas, May 5, 2010
(via ibmsocialbiz)
Sometime this year the populations of 59 metropolitan areas in the world will exceed five million people — a 50 % increase from 2001. What does that mean for transportation?
As readers…
Adaptive Reuse of Transportation Systems to Combat Food Deserts – The Loop
the grocery loop proposal for a better world by design 2010 challenge
A collaborative project by RISD Graduate Students
Erika Tarte etarte@g.risd.edu
Beth Weaver bethweaverdesign@gmail.com
Lindsay Kinkade lkinkade@g.risd.edu
The Grocery Loop is an innovative design solution to the pressing social problem of limited access to healthy food. Built on the cost-effective and environmentally friendly model of adaptive reuse, The Grocery Loop is a public transportation system that provides access to nutrition, encourages community engagement, and promotes environmental sustainability.
Providence and many other cities are what Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign calls a “food desert” — a place in which access to affordable, quality, and nutritious foods is limited. Over 30,000 households in the city of Providence live without easy access to healthy food (living over one mile from a grocery store) and although this presents an opportunity to encourage non-vehicular transportation, such a solution neglects the physical and financial limitations of many Ocean State residents.
In a 2010 survey our group conducted of a cross-section of the current RIPTA ridership, interviews revealed widespread frustration with linear routes, the impracticality of riding multiple routes to visit multiple grocery stores, and the lack of proper amenities for transporting food on buses and at bus shelters. Riders favored looping routes, such as the existing Trolley, and expressed a desire for accurate schedules and comprehensive route maps.
The Grocery Loop integrates amenity-based bus lines into the existing Rhode Island public transportation system (RIPTA). These low-emission, hybrid diesel buses run in a continuous loop stopping at a diverse selection of stores — from farmers markets, to specialty shops, to large grocery stores. Both buses and bus shelters provide seating and storage that is optimized for transporting food. Real-time GPS tracking information is displayed to keep riders informed of arrivals and departures. Once riders are on The Grocery Loop, they know exactly where they’re going: to the grocery store.
kennedy plaza el rancho grande gr een loop red loop Whole foods
Attentive to the evolving needs of the ridership, The Grocery Loop’s routes are informed by rider feedback. The Grocery Loop buses and website give riders the opportunity to suggest routes and schedules that fit into their busy lifestyle. Additionally, The Grocery Loop website allows riders to share recipes, generate grocery lists, suggest and review grocery stores, and connect to their fellow riders through social networking services. To further accommodate rider needs, the website will be optimized for personal computer and mobile use.
The web and mobile component of The Grocery Loop is an incredible opportunity to connect Rhode Islanders to resources about health and nutrition. By creating an engaging online presence, The Grocery Loop aims to keep riders “in the loop” of healthful resources throughout Rhode Island.
This project has received the generous support of RISD with the award of a prestigious Graduate Studies Grant. The grant period has allowed for further design and development of The Grocery Loop’s website so that it will son include functional social networking components. Lindsay and Erika will also begin a public outreach campaign to generate community interest and to organize community support.
This ambitious project will require research, prototyping, and a pilot program. We are currently in the first stages; throughout the 2010–2011 academic year, we will focus of research, networking, and moving our project forward with political and commercial stakeholders. We will discuss the particular needs of store owners will be and we’ll find out how they will support the system through sponsorship and shared marketing.
This project started in a weekend workshop with Jake Barton, one of the creators of StoryCorps, and principal of Local Projects.
“The key turning point for when any transportation system becomes ‘smart’ is when digital infrastructure is overlaid to interconnect and ‘fill in’ the downfalls that the physical infrastructure cannot avoid. Today, we are at a point where advancements in physical and digital infrastructure can work hand in hand, placing us in a prime position to develop smart, intelligent, and forward thinking transportation solutions.”
(via horizonwatching)
The Foundation’s Promoting Equitable, Sustainable Transportation initiative advocates for investment in affordable, environmentally-responsible transit. Read more here.
