The sweet sound of silence

Ah the weekend.  The chirping of birds, the sounds of leaves rustling in the wind and the gradual revving of engines up and down as bikes race around the track over at Clearwater. 

Continuing my quest to find solutions to the issues of living in St. David's brings me to those beloved racing bikes that disturb the tranquil peacefulness of the East End each weekend and the oft evening. 

Could such issues be solved in a similar way to how foreign cities have addressed the issues of highway noise through the installation of sound barriers? 

St. David's evening express

On Tuesday I wrote about a few of the issues St. David's has had to deal with.  Among them I voiced frustration with how St. David's has been handled both in recent years as well as the more distant past.  Even the Premier agrees that St. David's won't be an easy win which is primarily due to the fact that our needs haven't been satisfied.  As I don't wish to be someone who only complains and offer's no solutions, I've decided to elaborate on what could be done to make things better.

One of the things I mentioned is that bus service is inadequate.  While we have morning express runs, we're short on reasonable evening options.  Could the #3 route be extended later in the evening to match it's morning service so that St. David's gets better evening service?

Over the last couple days I've had the opportunity to catch the bus into town in the morning and get more familiar with St. David's bus service.  

From the two experiences I had,  St. David's has respectable morning service.  At 6:40am and 7:40am, the morning two routes terminate in Hamilton as they inherit the service along the number 3 line and run out to Bermudiana road.   My two experiences were on the 6:40am run which was full enough to fill the seats but not so full as anyone was left without one.  It is a quiet and somewhat pleasant ride where I've had the opportunity to get in some reading on the ride to work and still managed to turn up for an early morning meeting with time to spare.

While the I enjoyed the morning service, I was unable to find an evening service that meets my needs.  The only evening service that I found was on Route 11, Hamilton - St. Georges which offered a 5:25pm to St. David's.  Seeing as I usually work until at least 5:30pm, this proved inadequate.

What makes this especially inadequate is that the last run into  St. David's is at about 6:30pm or thereabouts for all routes.  This means that if you don't catch a 5:30pm bus, it is likely you'll be stuck at the number 1 gate.  So if you're like me and you regularly work till about 5:30pm, you're pretty much stuck without service to St. David's, as it's near impossible to leave work and get to a bus on time.

It doesn't make a great deal of sense to offer a morning express via the #3 route while not offering it in the evening.  Could the #3 route be extended to run leaving Hamilton at 5:45pm and 6:45pm to run direct to St. David's?  This would result in better evening service to St. David's and a better option for those who arrive at number one gate too late to catch the last route #6 service to St. David's.

"Oh, we don't serve St. David's"

For us St. David's folk, we're not important enough to deserve decent service when it comes to transportation.  Try taking a bus outside daytime hours and you'll quickly find that they stop at about 6pm.  Try taking a taxi, and they'll tell you they'll send one.  Two to three calls later and they tell you that they called a taxi in St. Georges who refuses to go to St. David's.

I have lost all respect for taxi drivers.  While some are friendly and nice, those who refuse a fare based upon discrimination against those who live in St. David's is ridiculous.  It happens far too often.

Electric scooters alone won't solve the problem

The Royal Gazette has an interesting article on the island's oil reliance due to the heavy rise in inflation, something I touched on only weeks ago.

The article focuses on things we can do to reduce our reliance on oil with one mention being acquiring an electric scooter.  Unfortunately while purchasing an electric scooter seems like a great idea, it really accomplishes little as long as the electricity to power it still needs to come from Belco which burns diesel fuel to generate it.  It does however identify the need for other means to reduce our consumtion through the encouragement of and elimination of duty for solar water heaters and solar panels, as suggested by local environmental group Greenrock.

There are many other things that could be undertaken to reduce our overall carbon impact along with our oil consumption.  As one example, government could be banning the importation of incandescent light bulbs.  According to a lab test conducted by Popular Mechanics, Compact Florescent Light bulbs "use about 70 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs."  Imagine what kind of impact such a ban would have on our overall electricity consumption.  Such bans have already taken place in Australia and California and is something I covered briefly back in February.

Individuals and even storeowners could be doing their part as well.  Each could also consider the acquisition of an eCube to reduce refrigerator consumption.  In a traditional refrigerator, whenever you open and close the fridge, the cool air in the fridge is released as warm air from the room rushes in.  This despite the fact that your items still such as your milk or beer still remain cold.  This is due to the temperature sensor in most fridges which measure air temperature as a means to decide when the fridge should be cooling or not.  When the door opens, the fridge thinks it needs to turn on and thus kicks in the condenser unit, often far more often than it truly should and especially in the case of stores.  The eCube acts to simulate the temperature of the stored products rather than the air around them and thus ensures that the fridge does not run unnecessarily and could serve as a great means to reduce refridgerator consumption.

Belco could be doing more of it's part as well.  The proposed underwater turbine is a good first step, but it's largely untested and unproven.  It also will only supply a small portion of the islands overall needs.  Another consideration would be to offer the ability for people with solar panels and other home oriented power sources to contribute excess electricity into the grid in times that their home consumption is low.

Belco could also be looking into other technologies besides the underwater turbine.  One thing that I'm keen on are algae bioreactors.  A company called GreenFuel technologies produces a bioreactor that works to extract carbon dioxide, a key contributor to global warming, from smokestacks and subsequently uses it to grow algae.  Algae can then be used to create biofuels such as biodiesel or hydrogen to power hydrogen fuel cells.  Rather than releasing carbon dioxide in the air from the Belco and Tynes bay smokestacks, we could be working with companies like GreenFuel to not only reduce our carbon impact but also produce fuel which can be used locally.  Further, we could be trying to invest in the development of algae (or seaweed) farming locally in order to boost our abilities to produce fuels locally and become more foreign oil independent. 

Another key step is that we could be looking to better utilize the ash created by the Tynes bay smokestacks.  Rather than sinking it into cement blocks, we could instead be using it as a fertilizer to improve our ability to create produce locally.  Ash when mixed with soil actually works as a great fertilizer and the ash produced from the incinerator could be investigated as a source.

There are a great many activities we could be undertaking to reduce our reliance on foreign oil and reduce our carbon footprint.  We simply need to start thinking out of the box and ensure that we have a government who is willing to put more emphasis on our future rather than only focusing on the past.

Never count on Bermuda taxis

The lesson of the day:  never count on Bermuda taxis.  While drivers are typically friendly and nice but when you need one they're usually not there. 

Today my sister ordered a taxi for a flight she needed to catch.  Surprise, it never showed up.  Due to this inconvenience, I had to manage trying to fit her stuff on a bike so I could give her a ride in which is quite ridiculous.  What ever happened to the grand GPS scheme that was supposed to fix all our problems?  Years on and here we are, same problems, same unreliable service and hundreds of thousands spent on a system that did not work.

Traffic solution: RFID based parking

Just over a year ago, back in March of 2006 I was asked by then Telecommunications Minister Michael Scott to develop a few ideas of how the Telecommunications Ministry could promote collaboration between Ministries to achieve larger solutions to some of the issues we face.  The following is an exerpt from the report I compiled and presented to him and the directors of his department.

Finding a parking space in town has become a horrendous nightmare. Trying to simply find a traffic spot is very difficult and even though we use scratch based systems, it does not solve our problems. It is commonplace where people will come early to get the best parking spots and spend a good deal of time during the day running back to their car to scratch new tickets to keep their spot.

The sheer cost lost in time for individuals willing to do this as well as the dedication of traffic officers to assign tickets costs our industry a great deal. On top of this we have difficulties chasing offenders to pay their parking fines and dedicate court time to forcing them to do so.

Perhaps a good solution would be to introduce an RFID (wireless identification transmitter) based system throughout town and migrate to designating certain specialized parking zones dedicated to supporting it. Such a solution may likely take the strain off of marking in town and allow us to change from our present scratch book and parking ticket based scheme to one that is more flexible. 

Through such a system we could digitally track how long people park in certain zones, we could create a scheme that encourages people to park for short durations but is flexible to still allow them to park for long duration as well. 

For example, key parking spots could start off at a rate of $1 per half hour and for every half hour you stay in the spot the price increases by say 25 cents (or some other reasonable number). I have given an example fee structure shown below.

 

Such a system would allow those who wish to pay more for great spots to pay a premium bringing in better direct revenue for government while encouraging others to park for short duration. It would remove the limitations of having to hand out parking tickets and those who sign up could be billed electronically with invoices being provided online as well as through mail to make collection easier.  It would eliminate the wasteful nature of hiring traffic officers and subsequently chasing parking offenders to pay their fines and appear in court.

Traffic Solutions: The Stockholm Trial Solution

The "Stockholm Trial" was a congestion tax introduced in Stockholm with a special stipulation, that being that the tax would only be a trial that would last for 6 months, at which point it would be revoked.  Following the completion of the trial, reports would be produced on it's impact and eventually a public vote (similar to a referendum) would be held to determine whether the tax should be permanently put in place or not.   Is this something we should try here?  Perhaps only being charged during specific hours, especially considering that RFID has already been suggested as an alternative to having Police Officers doing license plate spot checks.

A summary of facts released about the trial solution noted:

Public Transport and Park-and-Ride Sites

More people used public transport

• on weekdays between 06.30 hours and 18.30 hours traffic fell by approximately 22%
• over a 24-hour period vehicle passages into and out of the inner-city dropped by 19%
• approximately a 4% increase in the use of public transport

Park-and-ride sites

• approximately 23% more cars parked on park-and-ride sites every weekday

New Travel Habits

• a reduction in car use by 25%
• As many as 69% of the inner-city journeys were made by public transport, 26% were made by car.

The Environment and Urban Life

• a fall in emissions from road traffic by 8% to 14% in the inner-city.

Other environmental effects

• The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide has fallen by 40% in the inner-city and by 2-3% in Stockholm County.
• resulted in a reduction in the number of accidents involving personal injuries by 5–10% in the inner-city.

Retail, Business and the Economy

Retail little affected

• Analyses of turnover within the retail trade in the Stockholm region show that the Stockholm Trial only had a minor impact

More efficient transport

• Studies of companies within transport intensive trades such as taxis, courier services, and tradespeople show that in many cases they have been able to streamline their business as a result of improved accessibility.

Cost-benefit analysis

• If regarded only as a brief experiment, not to be resumed, the Stockholm Trial was a financial loss due to associated setup, investment and the operation of the congestion tax system over the 7 month trial.
• Social cost-benefits such as shorter journey times, improved traffic safety, and health and environmental effects
• The congestion tax levied is estimated to be SEK 763 million per annum, and running costs around SEK 200 million per annum. 
• The extended bus traffic is estimated to be unprofitable from a cost-benefit viewpoint, both during the Stockholm Trial and in any permanent charging scheme.

Traffic solutions: car-sharing

The Problem

We've got too much traffic on our roads and too many cars. 

Do I need a car?  Not always, but there are occasions when I do.   Having recently cut my car in half, I'm considering my options in terms of replacing it before the used-car law kicks in.  Considering that I can afford either a used or a new car and I find not having one quite a hassle for the times when you need it, I shall ultimately end up getting another one.   One more car off the road, and one more on.  Net change to the number of cars on the island?  Zero. 

It isn't right to force people to give up their cars when alternatives could be created that make people want to give up their cars.  Even still, is there a way that companies will best be able to satisfy the needs of their employees without discriminating against certain individuals such as single ex-pats, the commodity that international business most wants to attract.

What are the alternatives?  Are there better solutions?  How could we implement them and what difference would it make?

 

Current Alternatives

What are my alternatives?  Well, it is highly unlikely for me to take the bus.   They wouldn't like all my kitesurfing gear and the service doesn't run after 6:30 to St. David's anyway, which makes public transport pointless if you actually have a life. 

What about a taxi?  When it costs $20-30 to ride from Hamilton to St. David's, what would a trip out to Somerset cost?  $60?  Then back?  So we're looking at $120 a trip for something I try to do every weekend, some evenings and really any time there is wind.  That's a fair bit of cash to drop any time I want to go kitesurfing and when compared to the added luxury of having your own car is not an incentive to give up having a car.

 

A New Solution?

According to FlexCar, a for-profit car-sharing company based out of Portland, they have been able to succeed in getting 1400 people to share 40 cars.  That's 35 people for every car.  Compare that to Bermuda, which according to Bermuda-Online.org there are some 29,230 cars for our population of 65,773.  That means there are 2.25 people for every car. 

If we could achieve half of the success that FlexCar has had and get 700 people to share 20 cars.  Today, those 700 people with their own cars at 2.25 people per car equal some 311 cars.  Take out the 20 original cars and that's some 291 cars that have been eliminated off of the roads.  Compare this to ZipCar, whose 100,000 members share 3,000 cars.  35,000 more people than the number who reside on this island sharing 1/10th the number of cars.

Imagine, a variety of different styles of cars and trucks parked in various places around the island including grocery stores, bus stops and in and around town.  All you'd have to do is be a member, walk up to the car, wave a card and drive off.  Gas, reserved parking and insurance are all included and all you have to do is return the car to it's spot when you're done. 

Imagine if we could get 10,000 people to use such a program and get more than 4000 cars off our roads?  What would that do to traffic?

 

How to implement it?

1.  Conduct a survey

Put Research Innovations to work in polling the people to see how many people would consider a car-sharing scheme.  Do they have cars today?  How often would they use it?  Do they use public transport?  Would this increase interest in public transport? 

2.  Introduce legislation/licensing incentives

Make car-sharing legal and encourage insurance companies to back the scheme with adequate coverage. 

3.  Introduce personal incentives and disincentives.

 

Would you give up your car?

If today a car-sharing scheme existed in Bermuda, would you be willing to give up your car?  What would it take to convince you?  Do you think car-sharing would be a good solution to help address our traffic woes and encourage more people to consider public transport alternatives?

Archive Entry: Docking on familiar territory

Just looking through some old archives of ideas for articles that I had that I didn't end up following through with.  One that caught my attention was in respect to the docks in Hamilton.  Since it's winter, we've quickly forgotten about how each summer the docks become overwhelmed and it becomes horrendous to be able to get anything through.  I had taken a couple screenshots on google maps of Sir John's proposed move of the docks to the north side of town.  While I havn't gone anywhere with the concept in terms of a full piece, I thought I'd post the screenshots anyway and perhaps revisit it again later.

Our current docks:

Compared to... 

The wide open space above government house (sorry Mr. Governor, Bda might have to come first)

I really can't help but look at that and see it as a perfect spot to relocate our docks to.  I have little doubt that the issue will resurface and when it does, perhaps I'll retouch on this thought again

Hamilton Parking Suggestion

Is it possible to get RFID based payment for parking?  On one hand we've got scratch tickets, on the other we've got mounds of coins and neither are overly convienent if you find yourself short of either.  Take bulls head car park for example, $5 in dollars and quarters is alot of change.  It'd be easier if you could sign up for an "easypass" of some sort that tracks when you enter and exit and sends you a bill each month rather then constantly fumble for change.

Traffic solutions continued

Last week I wrote about the potential to create a toll for entry into Hamilton that would be charged via the planned wireless devices being placed into license plates.  If you're going to create negative incentives for entry by car into town, you should alternatively create positive incentives to make it easier for people to choose alternatives.  In order to do so, would it be possible to expand further on the idea to better enable and encourage people to use the bus system as a means of getting into town.

Right now there are at least a few of reasons why many don't use the bus system to get into work.  The proposal of making public transport free in the coming year is good, but it won't encourage everyone.  For example, public transportation is already free for me as I am a conscript of the Bermuda Regiment, yet I still don't take the bus.  Why?

Why don't you take the bus?  Is it accessible enough for you?  If you live in St. Davids you know for one that buses don't run after 6:30 and likely you may also have to walk a ways to get to a busstop as busses don't travel on anything but main routes.  A walk which, when you have things to carry, can be a real pain.  Do you even have a good understanding of where and when the busses run?  Is such information readily available and posted at every bus stop to help keep you informed on alternatives?

There is encouragement from government for entrepreneurs to run minibus services, yet where are they?  How do I find them and how much do they cost?   Are they running consistantly in areas where I can call to be picked up and shuttled to a depot where I can catch a bus or ferry?

Are there any express busses?  Those that run without stops from depot points that allow for a faster trip into town?  With shuttles acting as feeders to bring the people from their homes to the depots so they can take express rides into work?

If a better combination were used would it encourage more to take public transport?  If there indeed was a toll for entry into Hamilton would it encourage more people to consider use of an improved public transportation system?  Would this work in conjunction with other solutions to solve our traffic woes?

Solving our traffic woes

 

The problem

Premier Brown has suggested that next week he will be announcing a new plan to cut traffic.  This plan could involve one of three scenarios which have already been discussed; such as putting restrictions on the sale of second hand cars, restrictions on car ownership for ex-patriots or a license plate scheme to restrict certain individuals on certain days from using their cars.  None of these solutions are particulary ideal but given Premier Brown's mention of an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Chip or, in layman's terms, a wireless tracking chip) based solution could we be expecting the announcement of an even better solution?

 

Previously proposed solutions

Lets consider the scenario of an older Bermudian for a moment, a grandmother perhaps.  Despite her age, she is still independent and likes the ability to still take care of herself.  She rides around the island in her small car running errands, getting groceries, perhaps still working and visiting family and friends.  What if, with her age, her knees arn't what they used to be and what may seem like a short walk to the busstop for you and I seems like a marathon to her.  What if she isn't fortunate enough to be able to afford a brand new car?  Should she be discriminated against by not being able to purchase a used one?

Restrictions on car ownership for ex-patriots may seem like a good idea but in reality it would act as a heavy deterrent to businesses investing here and chosing to remain invested here.  Discriminating against ex-patriots will only another log to the fire and make it even less enjoyable to live here as a foreigner.  If we hope to keep our economy afloat, we need to avoid adding fuel to the fire.  Restricting car ownership for ex-pats simply isn't a good idea for the survival of our economy.

Putting forth a licence plate scheme that includes restrictions for who can drive on which days is also a solution that would not bode very well for the people.  There are simply some days when you need to use the car and some days when you do not.  For example, as a conscripted member of the regiment, I have training every Thursday evening in Warwick and typically drive to work on those days.  There are many reasons why I drive including; I give people rides home, I have to take all of my gear in to work with me which is difficult on a bike and St. David's isn't serviced by bus or ferry after 6:30 pm (which means free public transport for Regiment soldiers absolutely pointless for us St. David's byes).  A restriction based upon which days people could drive in would discriminate against all of those who may not use their cars often, but do have a need at times.

Unfortunately none of these previously proposed solutions are very ideal.  In every instance a major group are discriminated against the use of their car when they very well may have legitimate reasons for needing it.  The first group is discriminated against car ownership entirely based upon financial ability, the second based upon country of origin and the third based upon accessibility, which is the entire reason to have a car in the first place.  Is there a scenario that would not discriminate so heavily against one specific group while still acomplishing moderation of traffic and accessibility to transport for those who need it?

 

A better solution?

Would you agree that the very crux of the traffic issue isn't that there are too many cars, instead it is that there are too many people trying to enter and exit town at specific times of the day?  Outside of these rush hours, traffic on Bermuda's roads is relatively manageable.   This brings us to Premier Brown's mention of an RFID based solution embedded into license plates to track unregistered cars.  Will Premier Brown's announcement this week leverage this technology to create a much better solution to our traffic problems that works to deter people entering town at specific times of day?

Rather then restricting license plates by number, with RFID technology you can track when and where people enter and exit town.  This means that a small fee, or toll, could be instated for entering or exiting town during specific hours, say entering between 7:30am and 9am and exiting between 5:00pm and 6:30pm.  What this would do is encourage people to consider making arrangements to enter or leave town at less busy times.  Would this mean people would do so every day?  Not particularly, however it would encourage people to decrease the amount of times they do enter during rush hour and overall, the cumulative result of each individual decreasing the number of times they enter town during rush hour will decrease congestion.

 

How would this be implemented?

There is no guarantee that this would be the perfect solution, just as there is no guarantee any proposed solution will be the perfect one.  The only way to find out would be to try it.  If I were Premier Brown, this week my announcement would be that we would implement what I suggest above for a 6 month trial.  After 6 months, the public would have had enough time to determine whether it works or whether another solution should be tried.  Thus, I would hold a plebicite (also known as a public vote) on whether or not the solution should be put in place perminantly or whether it should be revoked and another solution proposed.

Hopefully this is just the plan that Premier Brown will announce this coming week.  Time shall tell.

Discount Airline to the UK

I applaud the notice on the government website of a request for representations or objections to be made with regards to the introduction of UK Airline Zoom and the offering of an email address to submit representations or objections.  This is exactly the kind of direction I like to see government taking and hope that they shall continue to promote new initatives in a similar way. 

What would be a great addition to this would be if the notice were posted in a blog format so that people could publically discuss the merits of the proposal.  Perhaps this shall be something to be posted on the PLP youth blog in the meantime?

I hope future major proposals will also be put to the public not only for private comment to government, but also opened up to public discussion via electronic form.  In the meantime, feel free to publically express your views on the proposed discount airline by commenting on this site.

Wireless internet access on the ferries?

T-Mobile in the UK have recently launched a new service on trains to provide wireless internet access for mobile commuters.  The system utilizes long range wi-max based internet connections combined with short ranged based wi-fi connections to allow mobile commuters to connect via wi-fi enabled devices.

Similar launches in Bermuda could be helpful in convincing business commuters to make the switch from driving their cars to taking the ferries as they would enable the commuter to make use of the time to get an early start or a late finish on their daily workload as opposed to throwing away the time on the commute.

Does such a system exist presently on the ferries?

Another sustainable development comment - Taxi-buses

I've decided to make another suggestion to the Sustainable Development Blog.

What we have is a bus system that doesn't travel the entire island, and at times can be inconvient. Most people avoid it because it is too rigid and inflexible

Then we have a taxi system that continues to be unreliable. There are often times that you cannot get one for an hour or so, or worse, they don't show up at all. Even if you get a taxi, they can be very expensive.

What we need is to look towards the future and realise that public transport should combine the best of the two to create taxi-buses.

Take the best benefits of a bus - shared rides, and the best benefits of a taxi - door to door service without specific stops and combine each with computer technology, cellphones and GPS.

Worldchanging.org (the ultimate sustainable development website) wrote a great article on the concept: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004398.html

Imagine a taxi-bus that you called a service, and told them where you are, and where you are going. The operator then enters your departure and destination points into a computer. That computer's software then compares your route with all the other travellers routes. Then, depending on where you're going and where you're coming from, the computer updates taxi-bus drivers via GPS to give them directions on their overall route for picking up multiple passengers going to similar destinations.

This allows people to share taxi-buses efficiently with the driver's on-board systems being updated every 30 seconds or so with new optimized route information.

It's not as rigid as the present bus system with set schedules and stops, and it's not as expensive as riding in a taxi yourself. Essentially you split the costs amongst multiple riders by slightly increasing the distance that everyone has to travel rather then the direct route you'd have in a taxi.

Using technology, you could optimally recieve text messages to your cell phone on when the taxi-bus will arrive (via GPS calculations) and potentially even order it without the requirement of calling anyone, just enter the request into your phone.

Bermuda needs to start thinking outside the box to solve our problems.

We need dedicated school buses

Did you know there are already a great many Bermudians and non-Bermudians who already car pool? They call it "dropping their kids off at school".

If something is really to be done about our traffic issues, the first step should be to provide dedicated school buses. Why? Well, very simply, what parent truly feels safe putting their 5 year old on a public bus?

If there were dedicated school buses, there would be less need for people to drop their kids off at school.

Allow me to explain why this would impact traffic density on our island.

Have you ever driven on a highway abroad? Well congestion often is created by the simple action of one person tapping their breaks on a busy highway. When one person taps their brakes, they cause the person behind them to do so as well. This causes a chain reaction that cascades to the point where, eventually, a couple miles back, cars stop entirely.

A different, yet similar, kind of congestion occurs on our roads. When a parent drives out of their way to drop their kids off, they are deviating from the most direct route they could take. This means they add extra congestion in other routes on their way to schools. When they add extra congestion, it is kind of like tapping brakes on a highway. This extra congestion causes a slowdown in those areas. These areas then create a spot where all the routes feeding into them also begin to have congestion. Before you know it, you've got cars far away from the actual school zones that have stopped to a standstill.

The moral of this story: we need dedicated school buses.