Post by nickchu

A QUICK LOOK AT SOME OF THE STATISTICS THAT MAKE YOUR CITIES WORK (OR NOT):

Average lifespan of an American building: 74 years

Average lifespan of a British building: 132 years

Average lifespan of a Chinese building: 30 years

Kilometers of traffic in Beijing: 100

Days of continuous traffic: 10

Cars stuck: 10,000

% of Chinese men smoking: 66

Cost of cigarettes: 5x premium

Average fuel consumption of a domestic airline plane passenger: 0.0022 gallons per mile

Amount of federal taxes imposed on every gallon of oil Americans consume: 18.4 cents

Initial cost estimate for Toronto’s 6.8km St. Clair West Streetcar line in 2004: $48 million

Revised estimated before construction: $65 million

Final cost 2010: $106 million

Year car ownership peaked in Japan: 1990

% decrease in domestic car sales in Japan from 1990-2007: 30%

% of Japanese men in 20s wanting a car in 2000: 48%

% of Japanese men in 20s wanting a car in 2007: 25%

% of Americans commuting more than 1hr per day: 3

% of employees with commutes more than 90 minutes having back/neck pain : 1 in 3

Palm Tree Shaped City: Dubai, UAE

Eva Peron Shaped City: Ciudad Evita, Argentina

Rhino Shaped City: Juba, Sudan

Funding required to build animal shaped cities: $10 billion

Most smart-growth oriented city in the World: Vancouver

Most unaffordable city for housing in the English speaking world: Vancouver

Largest public transit agency to receive no state funding: MARTA (Atlanta)

Bus lines to be eliminated in Atlanta: 40 of 131

Rail service cut by: 14%

Subway lines eliminated in New York: 2

Bus lines eliminated: 37

Fare increase: 7.5%

Number of illegal private taxis and vans charged thereafter: 35