Commuter Age

Covering transportation issues

Archive for 2010

NuRide and its CEO Rick Steele named by Bloomberg Businessweek as a top “social entrepreneur.”

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 by:Martin Cassidy

NuRide, the ride-sharing arrangement service which works with the Connecticut Department of Transportation to offer rewards to commuters who carpool, vanpool, bicycle or ride the rails has been recognized by Bloomberg Businessweek for being a socially responsible business.

The service has enrolled approximately 10,642 Connecticut members as of May 2010, who combined contribution represents almost 7 million vehicle miles eliminated from state roads since 2006.

NuRide, which has established programs in six U.S. markets also plays a leading role in the Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie’s Earth Day Challenge, a competition in which companies try to encourage employees to use mass transit and car pool to work.

The article about NuRide’s recognition can be read here.

Those interested in the contest can vote for which company creates to most social value through June 25.

Transportation Strategy Board comes to Norwalk next week

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 by:Martin Cassidy

The Transportation Strategy Board will meet at the Norwalk Transit District Offices at 275 Wilson Avenue at 10 a.m. on Wednesday June 23, according to a draft agenda posted on their Web-site.

The group’s recently adopted new starting time of 10 a.m. is somewhat less punishing than it’s former 8 a.m. starting time at the Hartford Legislative Office Building. Hopefully the later starting time will encourage more public attendance.

The “draft” agenda includes a few bullet points promising two discussions, one on the State’s Infrastructure Needs by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and another on a Revised Report & Recommendations.

Connecticut plans more than $4 billion in transportation projects through 2014 to maintain current highways, roads, and public transit in good working order.

The group was formed by former Gov. John Rowland and the General Assembly in 2001 to try to set the state’s transportation spending agenda.

Most recently of note, last May the group considered the conclusions of a $1 million Electronic Tolling & Congestion Pricing Study that it commissioned from Massachuetts-based Cambridge Systematics, but the board voted not to recommend how or whether to pursue imposing tolls on state roads.

Royal Bank of Scotland adopts low-emission vehicle parking policy

Monday, June 7, 2010 by:Martin Cassidy

In an effort to encourage its workers to drive of low-emission technology vehicles to its downtown headquarters, Royal Bank of Scotland is now offering priority parking spaces within its corporate garage off Washington Boulevard to drivers who do.

Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Amey Marella visited the Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday during the company’s World Environment Day events which included a line-up of low-emission vehicles and the start of the official policy.

Among the cars was a prototype Chevy Equinox sports utility vehicle which runs on a hydrogen fuel cell and has a range of 200 miles, according to Steve Marlin, the driver relationship manager for the Chevy Equinox vehicle for General Motors.

Marlin said Chevy considers the hydrogen fuel cell technology to hold the most potential to propel larger vehicles compared to competing technologies like natural gas and hybrid vehicles.

About 100 of the vehicles have been lent out to drivers around the country as part of the research and development process with all costs being paid by the company.

“The one thing a fuel cell gives you is scaleability and really produces enough energy for a larger vehicle,” Marlin said.

Representatives of dealerships and automobile companies said the biggest hurdle to wider-spread adoption of hybrid and other vehicles was the availability of fueling stations for private vehicles.

During the event, several dozen Royal Bank of Scotland employees also conducted a cleanup of the Mill River shoreline behind their headquarters.

Staff of Royal Bank of Scotland took part in World Environment Day Friday on Washington Boulevard, where employees were given a chance to check out green cars outside their corporate headquarters,

Stamford Police and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police conducted drill at Stamford train station Thursday

Thursday, June 3, 2010 by:Martin Cassidy

Stamford Police and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police conducted a joint patrol drill at the Stamford rail station Thursday morning, Stamford Police Capt. William Mullin said.

The patrol effort was intended to provide a visible deterrent to crime, and is among the occasionally held joint patrols the two agencies conduct at the station as part of homeland security efforts, Mullin said.

Cablevision submits proposal to expand Wi-Fi on Metro-North lines

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 by:Martin Cassidy

Cablevision Systems Corp. is among the companies that have submitted a proposal to outfit Metro-North and Long Island Railroad trains with Wi-Fi networks at no cost to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The proposal promises to have the system built and activated within 12 months of being selected.

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said information on other firms that submitted proposals was not immediately available on Wednesday.

This spring the MTA issued a request for proposal for a company to equip its trains for wireless Web access, assuming the cost of both installing and maintaining the technology.

Since 2008, Cablevision has operated a network providing wireless Web coverage at stations from Greenwich to Milford and north to Redding on the Danbury branch, including parking lots and platforms. That service is only available to Cablevision subscribers.

“Access to Internet on MTA trains will transform the riding experience and we believe Cablevision is uniquely positioned to deliver this enhancement through the extension of Optimum Wi-Fi…” said John Bickham, Cablevision’s president of cable and communications in a statement. “As a New York-based company already providing popular Wi-Fi access at nearly 200 MTA commuter rail stations we propose to deploy wireless Internet access across the entire MTA system within 12 months of selection, at no cost to the Transportation Authority or taxpayers.

DOT working on concession agreement for Cannondale, Branchville, and Wilton stations

Thursday, May 20, 2010 by:Martin Cassidy

The state Department of Transportation will soon award a contract to a concessionaire to manage Wilton, Cannondale, and Branchville stations after years of false starts offering refreshments and other amenities at those stations, Eugene Colonese, rail administrator for the Connecticut Department of Transportation said.

In March, the Cafe Au Lait coffee house closed down at the Cannondale station, requiring the station house to be locked, though rest rooms remain available.

The Wilton station house has been locked for more than four years for the lack of a concessionaire, Colonese said.

“Unfortunately Cafe Au Lait fell victim to the economic recession ,” Colonese said. “We plan to award that contract soon.”

iPhone developers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority:Happily ever after?

Monday, May 10, 2010 by:Martin Cassidy

Until last fall developers of transit-related iPhone applications that provided up-to-date train, bus, and subway schedule and fare information to mobile devices were in a wrangle with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority over having to pay up to tap the agency’s data to design applications for hand-held devices.

Now developers are celebrating what they view as a dream come true after last week’s statements by MTA Chairman Jay Walder disavowing the agency’s former hard-line stance on schedule data ownership, opening the door to let developers use reams of new data for free to give commuters better information.

Chris Schoenfeld, a Greenwich developer of a schedule application called StationStops for iPhone and the author of the blog stationstops.com, wrote a blow by blow piece about Walder’s comments to a group of app developers at a Wednesday night conference last week at Google’s Manhattan headquarters.

Last September, I-Tunes pulled the StationStops for iPhone application designed by Schoenfeld at the request of the MTA.

That dispute was settled in Schoenfeld’s favor within weeks, with the MTA abandoning efforts to collect licensing fees for the MTA data that Schoenfeld used.

Hopefully, all this openness and the public’s interest in nifty and convenience making new applications will converge.

State milling and resurfacing project on Interstate 95 begins Thursday

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 by:Martin Cassidy

The State Department of Transportation will complete an overnight milling and resurfacing project on the northbound side of Interstate 95 from the New York State Line to Exit 8 at Atlantic Street in Stamford between Thursday May 6 through Monday, July 19.
The regular work hours of the project will be from 9:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays, during which traffic control personnel and signing patterns will be used to guide motorists through the work zone, according to the DOT.
Motorists should be aware that modifications and extensions to the schedule may become necessary due to weather delays and unforeseen conditions.

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