13
Mar

2011

Sunday Statshot with Nick Chu

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

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

River dyed green in Chicago. Image by Hans.

St. Patrick’s Day: March 17

St. Patrick’s original name: Maewyn/Succat

St. Patrick’s Day’s original intent: Religious feast day

First parade celebrations observed in US: 1737 in Boston

In Canada: 1824 in Montreal

In Dublin: 1931

Number of Canadians with Irish ancestry: 4.3 million

In US: 36.2 million

In Ireland: 4.2 million

Only province where St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday: Newfoundland

Province with largest percent of population with Irish ancestry: Newfoundland

One of Ireland’s most famous alcoholic exports: Guinness

Famous slogan: “Guinness is Good for You”

Scientific evidence: Daily pint reduces blood clotting

Number of Guinness pints consumed on average per day: 5.5 million

Number of consumed on St. Patrick’s Day: 13 million

Best selling beer in Ireland: Budweiser

World’s 2nd heaviest drinking country (per capita): Ireland

Drinking beer in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day (historically): Illegal

Year in which ban was finally lifted: 1970

Traditional Irish toast: May your glass ever be full!



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20
Mar

2011

Sunday Statshot with Nick Chu

A quick look at some of the things that make your city’s transit system work (or not)

Transit Safety and Crime:

Businesses unhappy over perceived/real crimes along Portland MAX lines. image by Lester Of Puppets

% of Canadians feel safe walking alone in neighbourhood after dark: 90

% of Canadians not worried using public transit alone after dark: 57

% of women not worried: 42

Land uses attracting crime near transit stations: Schools, bars, liquor stores, pawnshops, abandoned buildings

% of crime incidents occurring on transit vehicles: 22

% in transit stations: 36

% nearby transit station: 42

Number 1 type of crime on transit: Disorderly conduct

Number of transit passenger fatalities in US per year: 230

Pedestrian fatalities: 4100

Passenger car fatalities: 13,100

% of total transportation fatalities related to transit: 0.61

Number of crime incidents on Translink (Vancouver) system: 3500

Number of transit officers in Vancouver: 169

Number of crime incidents on Toronto Transit Commission (TTC): 3800

Number of TTC special constables: 95

Trips per year on Translink: 348 million

Trips per year on TTC: 460 million

Odds of being crime victim/offender on TTC: 1 in 121,000

Odds of being killed in a car crash: 1 in 5000

Extra ridership generated if public transit made safer: 10.5%

Solution?: Classical music

% decrease for police service calls nearby classical music transit stations: 40



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27
Mar

2011

Sunday Statshot with Nick Chu

A quick look at some of the things that make your city’s transit system work (or not)

Transit and Fuel Efficiency:

Train in Indian. Most likely the world's most fuel efficient transport mode on a per passenger mile basis.

Barrels of petroleum used per day by cars in US in 2008: 4,663,900

By bus transit: 45,200

By rail transit: 700

BTU (average energy use) per passenger mile for private automobiles: 3437 *

BTU per passenger mile for Bus Transit: 4348

BTU per passenger mile (weighted average) for Light Rail: 6436

Fuel economy of a Hybrid Bus in New York City: 4 miles per gallon

For a Prius: 48 miles per gallon

Weight of a bus: 40,000 lbs

Of a Prius: 3000lbs

Fuel economy  of a Diesel Bus in New York City: 2.75 miles per gallon

Percentage fuel savings in New York: 30%

Driving conditions: Stop-and-go city traffic

Percentage fuel savings forecasted by TTC hybrid buses: 20%

Actual: 10%

Driving conditions: Suburban streets

Anticipated fuel savings claimed by Hybrid Bus vendor in Seattle: 60%

Actual: 20%

Fuel economy of 1989 Breda buses: 3.8 miles per gallon

New hybrid buses: 3.75 miles per gallon

Driving environment: Hills and tunnels

CO2 emissions of clean diesel bus operating in downtown area: 2000 grams per mile

Hybrid buses: 1400 grams per mile

Streetcars: 0

Number of metric tons of carbon emissions reduced because of transit: 37 million

Percentage carbon emission reduction if 1 in 5 Americans took public transit: 20%

*As quoted from the US Department of Energy: “Great care should be taken when comparing modal energy intensity data among modes. Because of the inherent differences among the transportation modes in the nature of services, routes available, and many additional factors, it is not possible to obtain truly comparable national energy intensities among modes.”


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03
Apr

2011

Sunday Statshot with Nick Chu

A quick look at some of the things that will make future urban mobility work (or not):

Reinventing the Automobile – Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century:

The Ultra Small Vehicle

First self-propelled vehicle:  1769, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot

First gasoline-fuelled vehicle: 1885, Karl Benz

Number of vehicles in US today: 850 million

Number of times vehicles would circle planet if parked side to side: 100

Number of US jobs tied directly and indirectly automobiles: 14 million

Reason for lack of uptake of electric car: “Range Anxiety”

Range of first steam engines invented: 30 miles

Conventional automobile: 300 miles

Electric vehicles: 100-400 miles

Percentage of commuters travelling less than 50 miles a day: 80%

Percentage of travel under congested conditions in 2005: 32%

Percentage of traffic congestion caused by bottlenecks: 40%

Percentage of day a vehicle is parked: 80-90%

Average urban driving speeds: 15-25 miles per hour

Solution: Ultra Small Vehicle (USV)

Length: <100 inches

Number of cars a typical Manhattan block can accommodate: 80

Number of Ultra Small Vehicles: 250

Size of parking lot holding 100 Ultra Small Vehicles compared to 100 conventional vehicles: 4x smaller

Weight of USV: < 1000 pounds

Weight of conventional automobile: 20x more than driver

Cost of driving mid-size sedan in US in 2008: 55 cents per mile

Cost of rechargeable battery-electric vehicles: 2 cents per mile

Average weekday capacity for Toronto’s Yonge Subway: 26,000 pphpd

Potential Ultra Small Vehicle capacity: 45,000 pphpd

*Note: Unlinked stats referenced from book: Reinventing the Automobile



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10
Apr

2011

Sunday Statshot with Nick Chu

A quick look at some of the things that makes suspended urban transit work (or not):

The Aerobus

Aerobus operating directly above street traffic in Mannheim's 1976 BUGA (Garden Festival)

Aerobus: Self-propelled suspended urban transit

Inventor: Gerhard Mueller

First installation: 1970, Schmerikon, Switzerland

Distance between Aerobus tower spans: 0.6km

Distance between Peak2Peak gondola tower span: 3.0km

Only major installation: 1975, BUGA Mannheim, Germany

Months in service: 6

Riders served: 2.5 million

Length: 2.8km

Aerobus vehicle length: 19.5m

Standard bus length: 12m

Capacity: 100 persons

Bus capacity (crush): 70-80 persons

Weight: 11 tons

Bus weight: 20 tons

Number of incidents: 1 (Mannheim mayor evacuated via ladder during 1974 test run)

Year system completely dismantled: 1987

1980 Kuala Lumpur Aerobus proposal: Failed

2000 Chongqing Aerobus proposal: Failed

System under development: Weihai, China

Estimated cost per kilometer: $23 million

Cost per kilometer for LRT: $20-225 million

Year slated for construction completion: 2011

Number of Aerobus systems in operation today: 0

Number of suspended urban transit monorail systems in operation today: 3 (Wuppertal, Chiba, Shonan)




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17
Apr

2011

Sunday Statshot with Nick Chu

A quick look at some of the things that make rising gasoline prices work (or not) for public transit:

Skyrocketing gas prices are steadily increasing levels of transit ridership not seen since 2008. Image by Michael Mistretta

Cost of driving in 2008: 71 cents per mile

Cost of driving in 1950: 9 cents per mile

Percentage decrease in gasoline purchased as correlated to a 10% increase in gasoline prices between 2001-2006: <1%

Percentage decrease in gasoline purchased as correlated to a 10% increase in gasoline prices between 1975-1980: ~3.5%

Average cost of gas in US today: $3.47/gallon ($0.92/litre)

Percentage higher than last year: 28%

Number of fewer gallons of gas pumped in April 2011 compared to April 2010: 2.4 million

Overall public transit ridership increase in 2008 due to gas cost spike: 4%

Percent of transit agencies experiencing capacity constraints in 2007-2008 during gas price spike: 85

San Diego Trolley ridership in February, 2010: 2.2 million

In February, 2011: 2.3 million

Transit ridership increase in Santa Clara, California: 7.4%

Cincinnati, Ohio: 10%

Tampa, Florida: 18%

Durham, North Carolina: 21.8%

Estimated additional transit trips with $4/gallon gas prices: 670 million

With $6/gallon gas prices: 2.7 billion

Number of service hours cut (i.e. due to budget cutbacks) from Orange County’s transit service in 2011: 300,000

Light rail ridership elasticity in response to gas prices: 0.27-0.38

Bus ridership elasticity: 0.04

Total savings on gas and other costs if residents in largest 51 US metropolitan areas reduced driving by just 1 mile per day: $29 billion/year

Percentage of Americans without access to public transit: 46



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24
Apr

2011

Sunday Statshot with Nick Chu

A quick look at some of the things that make urban redevelopment work (or not):

World infamous spike house in Chongqing China. Owners fought off developers for 3 years before finally vacating the site.

Definition of a “Spike”: A holdout threatening a larger development plan

Percent of world’s population now living in urban areas: >50%

Urban growth in Seattle between 2005-2008: 10,600 housing units

Number of urban villages: 38

Ms. Edith Macefield: Seattle’s infamous spike

Age of home: 111 years old

Compensation offered but rejected by Ms. Macefield: $1 million

Ultimate fate: “UP” movie promotion house

Austin Spriggs: Washington D.C.’s spike

Age of home: 116 years

Cost of home purchase in 1980: $135,000

Assessed home value in 2003: $200,000

Compensation offered but rejected by Mr. Spriggs: $3,000,000

Ultimate fate: Future pizza shop

Chinese equivalent to a spike: Nail House

Wu family: Owner of Chongqing’s spike

Number of former residents living nearby Ms. Wu: 280

Compensation given to neighbours: $320,000/household

Compensation seeked by Wu family: $777,000

Ultimate fate: Demolition

Cai Zhuxiang: Owner of Shenzhen’s spike

Compensation offered: $650,000

Compensation received before vacating site: $1,000,000

Ultimate fate: Demolition

Score for US developers: 0

For Chinese developers: 2

 



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