10
Oct

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Groundwork for American imperialism: The Guano Islands Act of 1856

Billions of dollars Japan willing to loan California for High Speed Rail: $40

Barrels of oil spilled in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforests: 14,000

Loaning your car for 20 hours a week: $4000/year

Perception of a transit ride compared to a car ride: 2.3 times longer

Number of pigs roaming Hogtown (Toronto) on Sunday night: 60

Number of subway riders in London: 3.5 million

Cost of 1 day tube strike: $76 million

York Region’s (YRT) farebox recovery: 40%

New York’s (MTA) farebox recovery: 62%

Toronto’s (TTC) farebox recovery: 75%

GO Transit’s farebox recovery: 81%

Hong Kong’s (MTR) farebox recovery: 149%

First cable cars with full width transparent floors: Ngong Ping 360

Visitors to Ngong Ping 360: 1.4 million

Ngong Ping 360 profit in 2009: $22.3 million USD

Revenue increase from 2008: 10.3%

Ridership for MTR (HK): 1.2 billion

Maokong gondola length: 4.03km

Number of stations: 4

Number of cabins: 147

Passengers per day: 5000

Peak passengers per day on Vancouver’s Olympic Streetcar Line: 25,000

Trains in operation: 2

Total passengers served: 550,000

New tactic to curb crime in Beijing: Walled Village

Decrease in crime: 73%

Area of proposed Walled Village project: 291 square miles

Area of Toronto: 247 square miles

Citations handed out to homeless in 1996 Atlanta Olympics: 9000

Food vendors expelled in India due to Commonwealth Games: 300,000

Number of condoms clogging toilets in Delhi: 8000




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17
Oct

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Tons of Albertan oil sands to make a barrel of oil: 2

STM’s (Montreal) average railcar age: 36

Bus+Plants: Busroots

Capacity of TTC subways: 30,000/25,500

Number of delays on subway in 2009: >1000

Hours of delay: 119 hours

Cost of subway in Canada: $300 million/km CAD

Cost of subway in China: $300 million/km CNY

Factory City: 1.8 square km

Equivalent: Monaco City

Size: 20 buildings

Equivalent: 4 football fields

Workers: 17,000

Daily production: 60,000 irons

Monthly: 36,000 coffee makers

Yearly: 18,000,000 electric grills

TTC Transit Chime: “Do Do Dooo”

WMATA Transit Chime: “Ding Dun” “Ding Dun”

Taipei MRT Chime: Ambulance Noises

Tokyo Takadanobaba Station Chime: Astro Boy

Most popular magazine for NY subway riders: The New Yorker

Urban Planning Simulation: CityOne

NYC maximum capacity subway line: Lexington Avenue Express and Local

PPHPD: 63,200

Busiest two-track heavy rail line in world: Hong Kong

PPHPD: 84,000

Google streetview Antarctica: Penguins

Google streetview Norway: Pitchforked Divers

Google streetview Brazil: Body Bags



Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.

24
Oct

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

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

Percent of Mumbai to be covered with cars by 2030: 25%

Solution: Tata Tower

Vertical parking spots available: 4050

One day attendance in Shanghai Expo 2010: 1,000,000

Size: 5 square kilometers

Population Density: 200,000 persons per square kilometer

Number of countries worldwide with a population less than Shanghai Expo grounds: 68

Nukes required to wipe out world’s city dwellers: 99,293

Human civilization: 1,241,166

Existing nukes on planet: 10,227

Chance of me dying after blogging this post: 35,000,000:1

Times more likely to die by natural disaster in Philippines than in Japan: 17

Number of cyclones in Philippines per year: 75

Residents living in slums: 3 million

In Dhaka: 4.2 million

In Mumbai: 6.7 million

Impoverished Americans: 43.6 million

Average farebox recovery in US: 35%

Investment triggered by Portland’s LRT: $8 billion

Property price within urban boundary vs. land outside urban boundary – Portland: 10x higher

London: up to 500x higher

“SMART”moms: Suburban moms against rail tax

Cost of London Bike scheme: 140 million pounds

Bicycles stolen in Amsterdam: 54,000 per year

Number fished out of bodies of water: 6000

Bicycle production 1995: 107,000,000 units

Car production 2000: 58,000,000

Dubai’s debt: $26 billion

Smart grid project on Jeju Island, South Korea: $200 billion

Smart grid investment in US: $7.1 billion

Hours Americans spent watching TV: 200 billion

Canada’s first visible minority mayor: Naheed Nenshi

Voter turnout: 54%



Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.

31
Oct

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

A quick look at some of the statistics that make your cities work (or not): Special Toronto Edition

Toronto’s nickname: Hogtown

Hogtown’s new mayor: Rob Ford

Political ambitions: Derail gravy train

Personal vehicle tax: Scrapped

Potential money saved: $60

Municipal land transfer tax: Scrapped

Potential money saved: $1,000’s

Garbage collection: Outsourced

War on cars: Scrapped

Road tolls/congestion fee: Scrapped

Free zoo, golf, and transit passes for councillors: Scrapped

Existing number of city councillors: 44

Proposed number of city councillors: 22

Annual councillor expense budget: Minus $20,000

Councillor hiring budget: Minus $1.4 million

Expected budget savings over 4 years: $1.58 billion

Toronto’s transit plan, net value: $17.5 billion

TTC wildcat strikes: Abolished

Percent of voters supporting a candidate favouring subways: 83%

Ford’s favourite transit mode: subways

Transportation ambitions: Derail light rail train

Existing order placed on light rail/streetcars: $1.2 billion

Streetcars ordered: 204

Cost per streetcar: $5.8 million

Cancelling order: $100 million penalty

Ford’s proposed alternative: Toronto east subway loop

Cost: $3 billion

Length: 12km

Number of Gondolas proposed in the Toronto East Subway Loop: 0

Cost per km: $250 million

New bike trails: 100km

Cost: $55 million

Lastman vs Hall: Suburban victory

Miller vs Tory: Urban victory

Ford vs Smitherman: Suburban victory

Future: Who knows



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07
Nov

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

A quick look at some of the statistics that make your cities work (or not):

Average cost of daily parking in Manhattan: $31

George Costanza: My father never paid for parking, my mother, my brother, nobody

Cont’d: A garage. I can’t even pull in there. It’s like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free?

Subway car wash: NY

One train load equivalent to: 280+ trucks

Equivalent: 1100 cars

Fastest scheduled train: 262mph

Lockheed Blackbird top speed: 2193 mph

US Navy: Green strike force

Number of ships, submarines and planes to be running on biofuels by 2012: 10

Fuels used: Algae oil

True cost for a gallon of petrol: $400

True cost for a gallon of algae oil: $424

Potential source of your traffic jam: 1 idiot

Traffic cure: Jam-busting

Most charitable citizens in world: Americans

Frenchman, Germans and Italians needed to equal donations of one American: 24

#1 country on Prosperity Index: Norway

New Zealand: #5

Zimbabwe: #110

Wikipedia+Toyota Corolla Engine+Mini Wheels: Airplane

First city with bike rental program: Rennes, France

Year: 1998

Number of European cities today with bike-share program: 100

% of people riding public transit in Dubai: 14

Free transit in Dubai: 600,000 riders

Free transit in Chino Valley Transit (Arizona): 2 riders

World Series Championship: Transit overload

Apple investment in renewing Chicago transit station: $4 million

Chance of me dying after this blog: 35,000,000:1



Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.

14
Nov

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

A quick look at some of the statistics that make your cities work (or not):

Cost to ride taxi in Delhi: $0.90

Cost to renew Chicago transit station: $4 million

Year of Chinese tunnel bus: 2010

Year of New York tunnel bus: 1969

Speed: 60mph

Speed of Swiss “Jetman”: 200km/h

Speed of prototype HSR in Japan: 500km/h

Year scheduled for commercial operation: 2027

Number of Texas Ranger championship t-shirts donated to Africa after World Series lost: 300

Percent of 20-24 years with driver’s license in 1994: 87

2008: 82

Transit dating etiquette rules: Lots

Reasons for free transit: Lots

Youth in San Francisco: Free transit

Leading death for American children: Car accidents

Amount safer bus vs car for children: 8x

Amount more likely transit rider will meet daily exercise requirements: 3x

Net deficits for small community transit system: 50-60%

Travel time to Waterloo from Toronto by car: 1hr 15 minutes

By bus: 2hr 30 minutes

Average daily ridership on Guangzhou subway: 3.8 million

Average ridership when subway became free for Asian Games: 8 million

First TTC subway line: Interlined routes

First transit system in Vancouver: 1886

Number of years Vancouver had its streetcars before Toronto and Montreal: 2

First subway in the World: London

Year: 1863

Initial energy source: Steam

First use of automatic train operations: Philadelphia

Year: 1969

1969: First moon landing

Effects of a new transit routes: Reduce ridership + Gentrification

Letters needed to solve 27 letter phrase on Wheel of Fortune: 1



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21
Nov

2010

Sunday Morning Statshot

A quick look at some of the statistics that make your cities work (or not):

Star-gazing transit style: Grand Central Terminal

Earthquake + train tracks: Spaghetti tracks

Beijing cabs attached with GPS device: 33,000

Days to build hotel in Shanghai: 6

Days expected to build Sagrada Familia (ongoing): 52,560

Cost of transit service for transit employees: Free

% of LA Metro’s employees who possess a TAP card (transit pass): 17%

Total employees: 9200

Number of employees using transit service: 155

% usage: 1.6

% of LA Metro employees using transit service: 1

% of Singaporeans living in state-provided Housing Development Board flats: 82

Africa: African Elephants

South Africa: White Elephant

Original cost of 2010 World Cup stadiums in 2004: $300 million

Final cost: $3 billion

First autobahn: 1930s

Entire network length: 13,000km

Maximum speed limit: None

Maximum speed limit US: 75 mph

Transit accessibility news Vancouver: PrioritySeating

World’s only urban planning high school: Esteban Torres High School

World’s oldest suspended monorail: Wuppertal Schwebebahn

Weekday passenger ridership: 82,000

Cost: $110 million (today dollars)

Cost for 1 mile of LRT: $120 million

Controversial Mississauga bus ad: Freeze immigration

Monetary cost to replace Washington’s faulty subway cars: $1 billion

Human cost: Deadliest crash in Metro history



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