22
Aug

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Number of Montrealers using a bicycle as a principal or occasional method of transportation: 241,000

% of total population: 18

Average cycling deaths in Montreal between 2005-2009: 3.6

Average cycling deaths in Toronto between 2005-2009: 2.5

MTA’s (New York’s) primary funding sources for transit investments: 1) Mortgage Recording Tax; 2) “Urban Subsidy Tax”

Amount of money brought in by both taxes in 2007: $1.563 billion

Year of global economic recession: 2008

Amount of money brought in by both taxes by 2009: $393 million

% decrease in funding: 75

Tonnes of plastic garbage floating in middle of Pacific Ocean: 100 million

Size of garbage pile: 1.5x US landmass

Size of New York City: 800x size of ancient Greek city

Amount more jobs a vehicle-owning Los Angeleno has access to when compared to a non-vehicle owning Los Angeleno: 59

Average transit commute time: 2x longer than average automobile commute

Nation with lowest percent of inter-city train riders in the developed world: USA

Nation with highest percent of inter-city train riders in developed world: Japan

Cost – in today’s dollars – of US Transcontinental Railroad in 1863: $7 billion

Length of Transcontinental Railroad: 1776 miles

Cost: $3.9 million per mile

Construction costs for rail projects in Spain: $37-53 million per mile

Construction costs for rail project in Japan’s Takasaki to Nagano rail route: $143 million per mile

Money spent on war in Middle East: $1 trillion

Money spent to bailout AIG and Citibank: $460 billion

Money spent to build Three Gorges Dam: $25 billion

Money to be spent on building High Speed Rail in US: $13 billion

Average time it takes to plan and build a new highway in US: 13.1 years

Best place to lose a $200,000 cheque: Vancouver’s Sky Train

Best site for dating when you’re single and senior: Charlottetown Bus

Cost to watch UFC pay-per-view: $44.95

Cost to watch Pacquaio vs. De La Hoya: $54.95

Cost to watch 70 man brawl on Washington subway: Free



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29
Aug

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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



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05
Sep

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Portugal’s version of Jane Jacob’s “Eyes on the Street”: Senioritas

Traffic fatality rates in Bronx, NY: 4 per 100,000

Traffic fatality rates in Kansas: 40 per 100,000

Traffic fatality rates in smart-growth, transit-oriented centres: 1/4 of sprawling centres

Number of transit riders each day in San Francisco: 500,000

Number of solo automobile drivers: 3.5 million

Transport typology with the least involvement and contribution to traffic accidents in Mumbai: Auto-Rickshaws

Percent less emissions an auto-rickshaw produces compared to a car: 78%

Number of Metropass (Transit Pass) users in Toronto: 250,000

Cost of Metropass: $121

Cost of Washington’s travel pass: $188

Cost of Boston’s subway pass: $59

Ridership on Lodi, California’s public transit system on Sunday: 90

Subsidy per trip: $6.45

Ad-Hoc TTC entertainment: Subway Shakespeare

American households owning a vehicle by 1930: 3/4

% of homes in LA that were detached structures in 1930: 94

% of homes in New York, Chicago and Boston that were detached structures in 1930: 50

Environmental problem in Western Society: Low Density Urban Sprawl

Environmental problem in Chinese Society: Vertical High Density Urban Sprawl

Largest fleet of double-decker trams in the world: Hong Kong

Number of double-decker trams in operation: 163

Cost of tram ride compared to bus: 50% less

Size of cheapest flat in Hong Kong’s Kwun Hei Court, Hong Kong: 200 sq ft

Cost: $450,000 HK ($60,000 CAD)

Number of young HK professionals applying to public housing flats in 2006: 13,400

Number of young HK professionals applying to public housing flats in 2010: 21,300

% of all trips made on public transit in Hong Kong: 90

Weight loss from riding Charlotte’s Lynx LRT: 6.5 pounds

% less likely to be overweight: 81

Kim Jong Ils favourite transportation typology: Bullet proof train

Shanghai Daredevil: I thought it would be interesting, so I wanted to do it.




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12
Sep

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Trips taken on public transportation in US: 10.7 billion

Trips taken each weekday: 35 million

Value of public transit industry: $48.4 billion

Amount of carbon emissions reduced by a person switching to public transit: 4800 pounds/year

Gallons of gasoline saved by public transit users: 4.2 billion gallons

Equivalent to: 3x amount of gasoline imported from Kuwait

New York’s most notorious transit rider: Darius McCollum

Joy rides taken on trains and buses resulting in arrests: 24

Age of first offence: 15

Last heavy rail project completed in US: Washington Metro Blue Line

Year: 2004

Length: 3.2 miles

Cost: $695 million or $217 million/mile

Cost to install air-conditioning on Montreal’s public transit system: $50 million

First streetcar in US: Bowery (New York City)

Year opened: 1832

Power source: Horse-drawn

First cable car in the world: Clay Street, San Francisco

Reason for implementing cable: Reduce labour costs and animal hardship

Year opened: 1873

Average speed: 15km/h

First time bus ridership exceeded street railway ridership: 1940

Largest urban transit system of funiculars: Naples

Number of funiculars: 4

Years built: 1889 – 1931

Capacity of Centrale Line: 3 cars for 450 spaces

$1 billion investment into transit operations: 41,140 jobs created

$1 billion investment into transit capital costs: 23,788 jobs created

Cost to hire a civil engineering grad in India: $255/month

Cost of Detroit’s people mover: $200 million

Length: 3 mile elevated track

Opening: 1987

Initial projections: 50,000 riders/day

Current: 6,000 riders /day – cost per ride at $5 subsidies

International Whaling Commission’s recommended method for euthanizing large whales: Explosives



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19
Sep

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Caracas Metrocable Cost: $262 million

Passengers per day: 36,000

Cabins in operation: 50

Cost to ride: 10 cents

Cost to fill TTC’s Eglinton subway hole in 1995: $40 million

% of Midtown Manhattan residents walking to work: 40

Primary users of city’s aging subway infrastructure: Outer borough residents

New York Central Area Peak Density: 53,000 ppl/km2

Shanghai Central Area Peak Density: 96,200 ppl/km2

Working time required in minutes to buy 1kg of bread in Shanghai: 35

Working time required in New York: 16

Most Smart-growth oriented city in the World: Vancouver

Most unaffordable housing city in English speaking world: Vancouver

City regions with more than 1 million people in US in 2005: 39

Western Europe: 40

India: 40

Africa: 41

Latin America: 57

China: 97

“Floating population” of unregistered migrants in Shanghai: 3-4 million people

Flight time from New York to London: 8 hrs

Length of proposed Transatlantic Tunnel: 3100miles

Speed of theoretical train operating in tunnel: 5000mph

Revised travel time to London: 1hr

Number of deaths in Russia attributed to alcohol abuse: 500,000

Alcohol related traffic deaths in US in 2009: 10,839

% decrease from 2008: 7.4

Number of animals killed yearly from car accidents: 1-2 million

Percent of population owning vehicles in Mexico City: 20

Most polluted city in early 1990s: Mexico City

Government solution: Ban private car use on alternating days of the week

Result: Increase in Car Ownership – Rich men bought more cars



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26
Sep

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Swinging bus stop: London

A/C bus stop: Dubai

Hammock bus stop: Vancouver

Number of traffic jams on Beijing’s Friday Night: 140

You cannot get a snake to swallow an elephant: Chinese Traffic Metaphor

Coolest bike lanes: Portland, OR

Illegal bicycle parking in Copenhagen: Free oil chain and tire inflation

Number of illegally parked bicycles per day in April: 150

Illegal bicycle parking today: 30-50

% of creative class living within 500m of a subway which ride a subway: 45

% of service class living within 500m of a subway which ride a subway: 31

Reading your kindle while driving a bus: bad Idea

Cost to build Springfield’s monorail: $3 million

Cost to build Pinellas County’s theoretical monorail: $1.6 billion

Length: 30 miles

Cost per mile: $53 million

Seattle’s Central Link LRT: $2.4 billion

Length: 15.6 mile

Cost per mile: 154 million

Dubai’s debt: $26 billion

Solution to frequent stopping: Amoeba train

% market share of hybrid vehicles worldwide: 1

Most common place to find America’s “Largest Things”: Roadside

World’s biggest catsup bottle: Collinsville, IL

How to foster transit behaviour in your child: Public Transportation Lego

How to never miss your train in Switzerland: Swisstrains.Ch

Reasons for not taking transit in LA: A lot

How to ensure your child never takes transit: 80’s pictures of New York’s subway

How to make your child hate rap and urban planning at the very same time: Tuomas Toivonen, Urbanist Rapper

3D Modelling + Transit = Win



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Sunday Statshot
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03
Oct

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Estimated number of vehicles on Earth: 1,000,000,000

Estimated number of vehicles on Earth by 2025: 2,000,000,000

Number of pedestrians in Times Square per day: 364,000

% increase from 2008: 15

Number of years that surplus housing will last in Charlotte County, Florida: 100

Homes sitting empty in Florida: 300,000

Number of homes approved for construction: 550,000

Oldest surviving gondola in Japan: Yoshino Ropeway

First double decker aerial tram cabin: Shinhotaka Ropeway

Capacity of cabin: 121

Capacity of Toronto’s streetcars: 130

Year introduced: 1978

New Flexity LRT Cars: 2011

Capacity: 250

Maximum Capacity: 600

Cost: $4.5 million each

Cause of sprawl in 1900: Streetcars

Visualizing Urban Sprawl in Phoenix: Urban Plough

NIMBY: Not in My Backyard

YIMBY: Yes in My Backyard

YIMBY in Ghana: Trash

YIMBY in Netherlands: Prisoners

Kobe’s Vertical: 38 inches

Powerisers Vertical: 72 inches

Stride Lengths: 9 feet

Transit marketing: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Shweeb: Human-Powered Vehicles on Monorail

Funding provided: $1 million

Potential main competitor to Shweeb: Treadmill Bike

Listening to $700 iPhone on Public Transit: Bad Idea



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