Transportation : In the News

The trolleys are to make 10 repeated stops, from 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday, in Berkley, Ferndale, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge and Royal Oak. Stops include two city community centers, restaurants and a nightclub.

"We're hoping this will be as big a hit as it was when we did it in October" -- when Pleasant Ridge rented a trolley for a night just to run to Ferndale and Royal Oak, said Pleasant Ridge City Manager Sherry Ball.

"This time, we scheduled it to see Ferndale's ice sculptures," which will be on display after Saturday's daylong Ferndale Holiday Ice Festival.

The group wants Royal Oak to create a non-motorized transportation plan that will set goals to increase safety for bikers and walkers by adding bike lanes and signage to roads that remind everyone streets are meant to be shared by cars, bicyclists and pedestrians.

"The situation is bad here. We have to plan change carefully. Cyclists are riding on the sidewalk; they are getting struck crossing driveways or at corners," said Regan, a Royal Oak resident. "We want that to change. Motorists need to know that they are legally entitled to be there."

At the meeting, commissioners appointed Regan and two other cyclists to a task force to write up some recommendations. A meeting between the task force and City Manager Tom Hoover is being planned, Regan said.

Six miles from the new North Terminal, a planned station on county-owned land at Michigan and Henry Ruff would connect commuters to their flights via an airport shuttle. The station would be one of five along the line that would share track with Amtrak and freight trains and include stops in Ypsilanti and at the New Center in Detroit.

Carmine Palombo, director of transportation for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, said the train line is a key component of the ambitious plans for a mass transit system that could complement and add to the region's economy.

"The site gives us a lot of accessibility and with getting to and from the airport, it gives us good travel time," Palombo said.

“Hitting this landmark just 10 months following sales launch proves that the Smart Fortwo is changing the landscape of America’s highways,” said Dave Schembri, president of Smart USA. “More U.S. consumers are discovering that the Fortwo is the right car at the right time, offering a high level of fuel efficiency, comfort, agility, safety and ecology.”

The Smart Fortwo is the most fuel efficient, non-hybrid vehicle in the United States according to the 2009 EPA Fuel Economy Guide, achieving an average of 41 miles per gallon on the highway.

The Fortwo is also certified by the EPA as a “Smartway” vehicle, which indicates good environmental performance, placing it among the “greenest” vehicles on the market.

Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje also spoke about the city's various green initiatives, which include converting all streetlights to light-emitting diodes (LEDs), green energy targets for city government and the community at large, and increasing use of alternative fuels and electric vehicles for city fleets. He said officials are discussing the possibility of using sensors to dim or completely turn off streetlights to save energy during times when no pedestrians or vehicles are detected on city streets.

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority van and car pooling program now has 3,588 participants, a 15 percent increase over last year, says Mary Stasiak, AATA community relations manager.

Web-based ride-sharing sites have made finding potential matches easier.

A search on Erideshare.com for car pools to a downtown Ann Arbor zip code returned 90 hits. The U-M Greenride Web portal has more than 2,500 users after its launch only a couple of months ago, said David Miller, U-M director for parking and transportation.

More than 2,500 employees have registered with the site so far, he said. Fourteen new van pools and 15 new car pools have registered with U-M to date. Overall, ride-sharing is up 8 percent among cars and 20 percent in the van-sharing program - and those are the just the ride-shares that U-M has registered.

At the Ann Arbor Cyclery on Packard Street, sales are up 27 percent from this time last year, said owner Jon Kieft.

Just recently, the 2009 bicycle models became available. But before that, customers were finding it more difficult than usual to get a bike in both the exact model and color they wanted, Kieft said.

Sales, are "stronger than usual because people are trying to avoid the cost of gas," Kieft said.

Bike shops all over the country tell similar stories. New bikes designed mostly for work commuters have been the hardest to keep in stock. The high cost of gas and a general desire to save money in uncertain economic times have also brought in customers asking mechanics to tune up old cruisers that have gathered dust for years.

Amtrak officials say the number of people riding Pontiac-Detroit-Ann Arbor-Jackson-Chicago lines was up 5.9 percent since last October. The Port Huron-East Lansing-Chicago line has seen a 6.5 percent jump in riders, while the Grand Rapids-St. Joseph-Chicago line was up 7.2 percent, a Detroit newspaper reported.

The increases would have been greater if tickets, especially for weekend trips, were not selling out.

A Michigan Department of Transportation official says the price of gas is the strongest single reason for the increases.

Rocky Twyman, 59, founded the Pray at the Pump movement in Washington, and has held a similar event in San Francisco. He and a small group of supporters are planning to travel to Toledo on Friday and later to Baltimore.

"We are praying that God will touch the hearts of people in power to find a solution quickly," Twyman said.

People participating meet at gas stations, buy gas and pray and sing. The group is unaffiliated with a religion.

"It is a symbolic gesture," Twyman said. "We are united in prayer and want to call the country's attention" to the plight of those who can't afford the rising cost of gas.

Specifically, the Dearborn Democrat, who has served longer in the House than any other current member, joined a bill authorizing an additional $1.7 billion for public transit agencies so that they can reduce fares and expand services and increase the federal match for alternative fuel transit and bus facilities.

If enacted, Dingell says, the bill would provide Michigan with more than $35 million this year and next.