Transportation

New app will help San Francisco drivers find parking

04/22/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

As part of SFpark – San Francisco’s ambitious attempt to reduce city traffic through real-time parking data – a new application is available for smartphones that will help drivers find available parking spots. To address the obvious conflict around drivers using cell phones, which is illegal in California, the app launches a warning if...
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Tags: real-time parking data, SFpark, smartphone app
Posted in Green Business, Living, The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

Safety records wouldn’t prevent San Bruno explosion says PG&E

04/19/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

PG&E argued to state regulators yesterday that the September gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno would have occurred regardless of the utility’s sloppy record keeping. The company said that because the faulty weld responsible for the blast has no past record of problems, inspectors would never have checked the seam and instead looked for...
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Tags: , safety records, san bruno
Posted in Climate Change & Energy, Policy, The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

Powerful Peninsula politicians envision a “blended” high-speed rail

04/19/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

Powerful lawmakers on the Peninsula presented their ideas for remedying California’s troubled high-speed rail project, suggesting the train should share the right of way with CalTrain in order to avoid the controversial elevated tracks. The ideas are hardly new, but come from state Senator Joe Simitian and state Assemblyman Rich Gordon, who control local...
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Tags: caltrain, elevated tracks, gordon, high speed rail, peninsula,
Posted in Policy, The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

Stanford bike friendliest university in nation

04/15/2011
By Alison Hawkes

The League of American Bicyclists has named Stanford University as the most bike friendly university in the country. Of the 32 schools that applied to the first-ever list of Bike Friendly Universities program, Stanford was the only to receive a platinum rating because its extensive cycling network, education programs, and incentive programs. Nearly 22...
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Tags: bicycling, Stanford
Posted in The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

BART’s chief offered $1 million to quit

04/14/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

Of all the things $1 million of BART’s budget could help buy – clean seats, quieter trains, etc. – that amount will instead go to peaceably pushing out BART’s General Manager Dorothy Dugger, who officially resigned on Wednesday after months of negotiations. BART’s board of directors must still approve the resignation and its terms....
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Tags: $1 million severence, bart, dorothy dugger, resignation
Posted in Living, Policy, The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

The lowdown on San Francisco’s T2 (for the last time, we promise)

04/13/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

San Francisco International Airport’s sparkling new and green T2, which serves Virgin America and American Airlines, has a message for Bay Area travelers: “It can be green and fun…You don’t have to choose one or the other.” Read all about it (again) in great descriptive detail in today’s New York Times Bay Area section....
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Tags: american airlines, green terminal, san francisco international airport, t2, terminal two, virgin america
Posted in Green Business, The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

Feds eliminate funds for California high speed rail

04/13/2011
By Alison Hawkes

As Congress took an ax to many federal programs this past week, high-speed rail made the list. Federal officials stripped all funding — $2.5 billion — for California’s bullet train project. California needs at least $14 billion from Uncle Sam to complete the more than 500 mile line and can’t even lay the first...
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Tags: bullet train, , high speed rail
Posted in The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

Highest gas prices in the nation don’t stop Bay Area drivers

04/12/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

Bay Area drivers are paying an average of $4.22 per gallon of gas, the most expensive in the country, but that has not reduced traffic, say bridge toll officials.
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Tags: bay area gas prices, driving, most expensive in us, traffic
Posted in The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

Caltrain sees light at end of its very dark budget tunnel

04/08/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

Caltrain has decided to give itself another two weeks to come up with the funds to maintain its full service schedule with 86 trains, after it successfully diverted a drastic reduction due to budget problems. The transit agencies that fund Caltrain rallied under pressure from riders and developers who are building transit-centered properties near...
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Tags: caltrain buget, cut train service, reduced schedule
Posted in Climate Change & Energy, Policy, The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

Traffic pollution may cause brain damage in humans

04/08/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

If there weren’t already enough reasons to switch to public transportation or electric cars, here’s another: brain damage. California researchers found that exposure to modest amounts of traffic pollution caused memory loss and signs of Alzheimer’s disease in mice. They have yet to study the impact on people, but those driving in open-air vehicles...
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Posted in Living, The Daily Catch, Transportation | No Comments »

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Field Notes Blog

French radiation organization says exposure risks are no longer negligible

Just as farmers markets are swinging into full bloom, there’s very disturbing news about radiation from Japan reaching new levels in Europe. And if...
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Super graph on normal and abnormal radiation exposures

Did you know that sleeping next to someone blitzes you with 0.05 millionth of a sievert of radiation per night? That eating a banana...
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UC Berkeley study: Using fear backfires on climate change

It’s been a point of maddening frustration for scientists and environmentalists that as the predictions on global warming grow more dire, the public seems...
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