Alphaville has long held the suspicion that, despite the hype, the economics of a self-driving fleet of taxis, as an alternative to owning a car, simply won’t work. A new paper out Monday, written by …
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Crossrail & 4 other late rail projects (SmartRailWorld)
Four months after the original planned opening of Crossrail, reports have been released today that could push the Elizabeth Line’s inaugural journey back to 2021. But it is far from the first infrastructure project that …
Continue readingTuesday Transport Tech Terms – April 2019 (Reconnections)
This is a new feature which aims to explain the latest in transport acronyms, abbreviations and concepts quickly, as well as provide some relevance. In covering industry developments, we at LR Towers come across new …
Continue readingWhat are Rail Industry Readiness Levels? (RailEngineer)
Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) were first defined by NASA in 1989 as a method of classifying the maturity of a technology or product during its development and acquisition. Originally seven in number, this was increased …
Continue readingCan solar PV power railways? (RailwayTechnology)
Shining example: will solar PV power the railways of the future? How will our expanding railways be powered in the future? And are electrified networks powered solely by renewable energy the answer? Demand for traction …
Continue readingLA rebooting bus network using cell phone data (Wired)
The Orange Line [BRT] carries more than 20,000 people every weekday. But setting this route aside, bus ridership has gone off a cliff, here and nationwide. Some 2,300 buses run around LA every day — …
Continue readingCapacitors: cheap, ubiquitous & backlogged (Quartz)
The CEO of GoPro, which manufactures small, stout action cameras, literally can’t make enough of them. The culprit, reports Quartz’s Daniel Wolfe, is a worldwide shortage of one of the modern world’s critical cogs: multilayer ceramic capacitors …
Continue readingDe-prioritizing cars in the hierarchy (CityAsAService)
The last century was all about designing cities around the needs of cars. But today, many cities have committed to reducing or entirely removing cars from pedestrian-heavy areas and have set ambitious goals to become …
Continue readingTaxi companies are fighting back (SmartCitiesDive)
All hail: How taxi companies stay competitive in an evolving marketplace. As ride-hailing services grow in consumer popularity, savvy cab companies are using technology and improved sustainability to compete for business. Every innovation brings the …
Continue readingScooters are inducing transit trips (SFChronicle)
San Francisco officials, who rejected electric scooters after an unruly, unlicensed rollout a year ago, are now cottoning to the two-wheel devices under a yearlong trial that limits their numbers. Midway through that trial, the …
Continue readingDo AV companies care about safety? (RadUrbanist)
Or is it just a good way to market their product? A lot of big promises have been made about self-driving cars. If you listen to their boosters, the technology is poised to eliminate traffic, end …
Continue readingOn to the next battery breakthrough (Quartz)
Electric planes could be the future of aviation. In theory, they will be much quieter, cheaper, and cleaner than the planes we have today. Electric planes with a 1,000 km (620 mile) range on a …
Continue readingThe race to code the curb (CityLab)
Everyone—from ride-hailing cars to delivery trucks to bikes and scooters—wants a piece of the curb. How can smart cities map and manage this precious resource? The curb is hot. No longer just a home for …
Continue readingTfL/Grainger JV to build 3000 rentals (ConstructionEnq)
Transport for London has selected residential landlord Grainger as its joint venture development partner for eight sites in London. Together TfL and Grainger will deliver over 3,000 new homes across the seed sites, with a minimum …
Continue readingStockholm traffic tax helps kids breathe easier (JohnsHopkins)
When Stockholm, Sweden introduced a “congestion tax” to discourage driving in the center of town, traffic eased and the pollution level dropped by between 5 and 10 percent. There was one other result that was …
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