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May 26, 2016
Ridesourcing and transit: frenemies?
Transportation Network Company (TNC) services (such as Uber and Lyft), as a new transportation mode, have been expanding rapidly in recent years. There seems to be no consensus yet on whether these services are a friend that complements or an enemy that marginalizes public transportation. In most cities around the world, Uber is treated with at least some degree of hesitation by…
May 23, 2016
Changes in eligibility for plug-in vehicles in Washington
Last month, Governor Inslee signed the second engrossed substitute house bill 2778 which suggests modifications to the retail sales and use tax exemption criteria for certain clean alternative fuel vehicles. Based on previous version of the bill, only alternative fuel vehicles with MSRP no more than $35,000 were eligible to use tax exemption. For example, if…
May 18, 2016
Austin leaves the fence up
“In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The…
May 16, 2016
Costs of driving and Associated Press article
I received an email this morning in response to an Associated Press article that ran in the New York Times and some other outlets, citing our work on the energy impacts of self-driving cars. The person took issue with my claim about the costs of driving: In today’s piece “Will robot cars drive traffic congestion…
May 13, 2016
Actually, CAFE is working as planned
Riley Kimball In a recent article at Forbes, Sam Ori paints a picture of harm to the environment by way of failed federal policy. Ori makes his case on an increase in the market share of trucks reducing the emissions improvements promised by the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, and on the notion that…
May 2, 2016
Submit abstracts now for Automated Vehicles Symposium 2016
I am part of a team organizing a session on “Effects of Vehicle Automation on Energy Use and Carbon Emissions” for the 2016 Automated Vehicle Symposium (July 19-21, San Francisco). Symposium organizers invite presentations of new research results on the energy and climate implications of automated vehicles. Topics may include (but are not limited to)…
April 28, 2016
Meeting Seattle’s housing and transportation needs equitably
While putting together my last post about the private sector’s emphasis on millennials and tech innovations to solve the present transportation congestion issues faced by the City of Seattle, I started thinking about recent conversations I’ve had with friends. We’re all gainfully-employed, well-educated millennials, and most of us are transplants to the City. Most of…
April 26, 2016
Paper review: “Incentives for promoting Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) adoption in Norway”
Electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for more than 60% of the new cars in Norway last month, which fortifies the country’s position as the global frontrunner of vehicle electrification. This level of enthusiasm among consumers could be enabled by the multiple incentives offered by Norwegian government: (1) vehicle purchase tax exemption, (2) value added tax (VAT) exemption, (3)…
April 11, 2016
Tesla to the rescue!
On March 31st, Tesla unveiled its newest car, the Model 3, and started taking reservations for it. In the first 72 hours 276,000 cars were pre-ordered, a number that rose to 325,000 in the first week. To put these numbers in perspective, there were 665,000 electric vehicles on the road globally at the end of 2014, and 550,000…
April 8, 2016
BMW launches ReachNow carsharing service in Seattle
This morning, BMW launched its free-float carsharing service, called ReachNow, in Seattle. This is exciting to me as both a sustainable transportation researcher and a citizen of Seattle. ReachNow’s service model is free float carsharing, meaning that travelers can use their smartphone to book a car up to 30 minutes ahead, and drop if off…
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