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Why must I travel, why can't I tele-conference

posted to The Transportationist on Fri 17th May 13

Two times in two days last week I was asked to fly to an east coast city for a half-day meeting. The meeting organizers offered to pay my travel expenses. I asked to save the travel money and tele-conference in via some/any web-based video technology. The organizers
NLX Slides

posted to The Transportationist on Fri 17th May 13

I was at a public forum in Hinckley, Minnesota last night (home of the world-famous Grand Casino), giving a talk on the Northern Lights Express (NLX). The crowd was, in the immortal words of Grampa Simpson "Agin' it". My slides are here, though readers of the
Economists get what they want

posted to The Transportationist on Fri 17th May 13

Over at Price Roads, Lewis Lehe has a great post: Price Roads | economists get what they want: "Economists get what they want Over at Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen says: Voters are getting more or less what they want, which is some spending restraint, mostly

Ethical Ethanol

posted to The Transportationist on Sun 1st Apr 12

The Meetopolitan Council. Saint Paul. April 1, 2012The Meetopolitan Council announced today the conversion of its entire bus and rail fleet to 100 percent pure Ethical Ethanol(). Ethical Ethanol() is a type of ethanol that is carbon negative. All Ethical Ethanol
Perils of Privatization and Pricing as Proposed - Towards a Public Utility Model of Roads

posted to The Transportationist on Wed 21st Mar 12

The 2012 proposal by David Cameron to privatize UK roads, by contracting out management of the roads in exchange for a stipend of taxes (but notably not tolling existing roads, only new construction) (Watt, 2012) is interesting, and promises a short-term revenue
Mischief in Minnesota: Northstar and Strategic Misrepresentation

posted to The Transportationist on Mon 4th Apr 11

When Northstar Commuter Rail line was just a glint in the eyes of exurban Republicans, they distributed this promotional material (on the right (dated March 5, 2003 in my files)). Ridership has not come close to promised. From Finance and Commerce a few months

Anything but water

posted to Aguanomics on Wed 25th Apr 12

Watch this 5 minute video on price gouging, why it should be legal and why it's probably moral.Some thoughts on the transition to a sustainable economy [PDF]. I agree with most.Good April Fools post on Ethical ethanolLong, interesting blog post comparing private
MNs Costly Northstar Commuter Rail Subsidies

posted to Out of Control on Mon 4th Apr 11

This morning David Levinson, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota, posted a detailed criticism (available here) of the Northstar Commuter Rail in Minnesota (via Marc Scribner).He highlights three increasingly
High-Speed Rail and CO2

posted to Freakonomics on Fri 24th Jul 09

One of the less-publicized components of the stimulus package was an $8 billion commitment to develop a high-speed rail (HSR) network in America. This is no more than a down payment, given the very large sums needed to build HSR (University of Minnesota transportation