BAF IN THE NEWS:
WNYC Transportation Nation: That Infrastructure Advocacy App Has 10,000 Users Already
A smartphone app that part soap box for complaining about traffic and part infrastructure advocacy has generated 1,700 letters to Congress after two weeks on the market.
New York Times: Bloomberg Signs Bills to Aid Disaster Planning
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/nyregion/bloomberg-signs-bills-to-aid-disaster-planning.html?_r=0
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed nine bills on Monday intended to close large holes in disaster planning that were exposed after Hurricane Sandy, which left vulnerable residents without help or adrift in shelters for days.
NATIONAL NEWS:
New York Times: Hollywood Director Takes On Texting While Driving
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/hollywood-director-takes-on-texting-while-driving/?_r=2
As a toddler, Xzavier Davis-Bilbo loved to scramble around the house and yard. Nicknamed “X,” the boy imitated plays from his hometown Green Bay Packers. Then tragedy struck.
Atlantic Cities: Let's All Stop Obsessing About the 'Next Great Thing' in Urban Transportation
It looks like Tel Aviv is really moving forward with this whole futuristic floating pod idea. Reports have surfaced that the city hired a U.S. consulting firm "to get the ball rolling, or pod sliding," as the Times of Israel put it. The pilot program, being developed by a company called SkyTran, could launch as soon as 2014, according to a Hebrew news article that I'm sure Wikipedia translated accurately.
STATE NEWS:
Washington Post: With the kids gone, aging Baby Boomers opt for city life
Robert Solymossy doesn’t remember when he last gassed up his one remaining car. His other two cars are blissfully consigned to memory, along with his lawn, his driveway and “a lifetime’s worth of furniture” accumulated over the 23 years he lived in a detached single-family house in a wooded part of Oakton.
Washington Post: A Hyperloop might be far more expensive than Elon Musk thinks
Elon Musk, the head of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, has unveiled his wild new idea for public transportation: The Hyperloop.
New York Times: Do New Yorkers Who Ride the Subway Risk Hearing Loss?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/science/do-new-yorkers-who-ride-the-subway-risk-hearing-loss.html
Q. Have any studies assessed the risks of hearing loss faced by New Yorkers who ride the subway? Does it help to cover your ears?
Railway Track and Structures: Wisconsin Oks loans to freight rail projects
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) approved four state awards totaling $7,605,081 to improve freight rail infrastructure and support economic growth. The funds will be administered through its Freight Railroad Infrastructure Improvement Program (FRIIP).
Progressive Railroading: Wisconsin DOT provides $7.6 million in loans for four freight-rail projects
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday announced the state will provide $7.6 million for four freight-rail infrastructure improvement projects.
Environmental Defense Fund Blog: Texas Clean Air Matters: Irving Summit Hosts International Experts To Modernize The Global Transportation System
We at EDF have written a lot about the need to transform the nation’s aging electricity system. Now, more than ever, we have to transition away from fossil fuel electricity to reduce our out-of-control greenhouse gas emissions. With renewables poised to make up a quarter of the world’s electricity mix by 2018, it appears we’re making steady progress toward a modern, clean energy grid.
Orlando Sentinel: Leaders get sneak peek at first SunRail car
SANFORD — Standing next to a new SunRail cab car that cost nearly $3 million, Seminole County Commissioner Carlton Henley said Monday he is convinced the commuter train will be a success.
Greater Greater Washington: "Bus pads" turn freeways into busways
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/19792/bus-pads-turn-freeways-into-busways/
Buses running on city streets can get stuck in traffic, move slow as molasses, and bunch up. New, dedicated infrastructure is hard to fund and build. But could we use freeways to provide express bus service?
KQED: Bay Area Bike Share Announces Launch Date, Station Locations
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/08/12/bay-area-bike-share-set-to-launch-august-29th/
A much anticipated bike-share program will launch on Aug. 29, Bay Area air quality officials announced today, with a fleet of 700 bicycles at 70 kiosks in San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto, Redwood City and Mountain View.
Streetsblog: Might Atlanta Tax Parking to Fund Transit?
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/08/12/might-atlanta-tax-parking-to-fund-transit/
Last summer, voters from a 10-county region in and around Atlanta shot down a large package of transportation projects, including some major urban transit projects.
Politico Morning Transportation
By Kathryn A. Wolfe | 8/13/13 5:48 AM EDT
FOXX'S 'CATHEDRAL TEST': At a speech in Atlanta, Anthony Foxx said transportation investment is a “cathedral test” — a reference to the massive religious edifices built during the Middle Ages that sometimes required many decades to finish. “[Builders] knew they weren’t going to live to see the whole vision completed. But they also knew the vision would never be completed if they didn’t move those stones,” Foxx told the audience at the National Conference of State Legislators, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/16GhgMD). (Hopefully the occasional burning and pillaging weren’t part of his comparison.) He was speaking off the cuff — read his prepared remarks here: http://politico.pro/1bpc4zD
LAHOOD TO DIRKSEN: Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has landed a gig as a senior advisor with the Dirksen Congressional Center, joining Robert H. Michel, for whom the Illinois Republican was once chief of staff. LaHood already has a long association with the Dirksen Center — he and his wife Kathy have endowed a scholarship at Dirksen; his congressional papers are also housed there.
DENHAM ROLLS DEEP: Why make your constituents come to a town hall when you can go to them? Rep. Jeff Denham Thursday will ride a commuter train from San Jose to Stockton, where passengers can “stop by the specially-designated car where he will be meeting with commuters.” A Denham spox emails that it’s a “great way to reach working families who commute to work.” Hopefully they're fast talkers — with 10 stops over a roughly two-hour period, the time at each station is about five minutes a pop, according to this schedule (http://1.usa.gov/13eSUwm). (h/t our old pal Burgess Everett)
TUESDAY’S SO METAL. Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes and automobiles. I’m your conductor — for now! — so send all your tips, news, gossip and theories about why Longhorns are superior to kwolfe@politico.com; follow me on Twitter @kathrynwolfe and at @POLITICOPro. Adam’s back on Wednesday; no word about whether he got you a gift.
"Circling choppers slash the night with roving searchlight beams …” http://bit.ly/1cHqAG1
‘TIS THE SEASON: …for a little recess campaigning. August is good friends with the grassroots campaign, usually associated with asking folks to tell their members of Congress that they want more transportation investment. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association has rolled out their own summer campaign, asking people and groups to meet with politicians while they’re home for recess “and tell them how important a long-term revenue fix for the Highway Trust Fund is.” Take a look: http://bit.ly/17kir4m
HOUSE THUD SCAN — EAS … again: Some were disappointed when Congress decided to boot airports from the Essential Air Service program if they required more than a $1,000-per-passenger subsidy — but House appropriators want to make it even harder for airports to stay in. The House’s THUD bill would slash the subsidy ceiling, above which airports can be removed, in half to $500. According to Senate appropriations data, that would mean eight airports would be on the chopping block. The Senate’s bill maintains the current $1,000 subsidy level, meaning this will be a fight for conference — if Congress ever gets there.
— SIREN. From House appropriators: “The Department may be forced to limit payments to states and localities at the end of fiscal year 2014, if not before, and the programs and spending in [MAP-21] cannot simply be extended.” This is part of what makes dealing with MAP-21’s expiration difficult — gone are the days when the program could be extended with relatively little fuss, and that’s because the HTF’s structural deficit is so bad that even a simple extension will require Congress to come up with additional funding. Tick tock.
— Sequestration — As expected, the House THUD bill included about $140 million for the contract tower program, which should be enough to fund all 251 contract towers through fiscal 2014. Considering that the Senate bill contains a similar figure, congressional intent here is pretty clear so contract tower interests should breathe easy. However, unlike the Senate bill, the House’s bill makes no mention of funding set aside to head off air traffic controller furloughs or to lift the current controller hiring freeze.
STAY TUNED: … More fine print on the House THUD bill is coming in tomorrow’s MT.
** A message from POWERJobs: New jobs on our radar this week: Network Designer at The Boeing Company, Optical Sensor Modeling Engineer at TASC and Business Analyst at Evolver. Interested? Apply to these jobs and more at POWERJobs.com; finally, a career site made for YOU! **
MUSK KNOCKS CALIFORNIA HSR: Elon Musk, who pulled an all-nighter putting together information on his Hyperloop idea released on Monday, intros an explainer by kicking California’s high speed rail plans in the shins. He says he was “quite disappointed” with the plan and questioned why innovative Silicon Valley would “build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world.” Of course, Hyperloop is as DOA as it is transformational — the billionaire entrepreneur has made it clear that he’s too busy with SpaceX and Tesla to do much with Hyperloop. Meanwhile, California plows ahead with its high speed dreams, if at a herky-jerky pace.
TUBULAR: Musk’s Hyperloop outline sketches out a $6 billion system of low-pressure pneumatic tubes that he says would make the most sense transporting people between large city-pairs about 900 miles apart. He claims the system would not only be safer and faster, but cheaper than other transportation modes. The outline pretty quickly devolves into things like the “Kantrowitz limit” and aerodynamic drag requirements that I won't attempt to explain (I earned a journalism degree for a reason), but you can geek out all you want with the details here: http://bit.ly/13flde5
TWEET OF THE DAY: From Bill Nye, @TheScienceGuy: “#Hyperloop transport. Technology tough, but doable. Problems are: buying the rights-of-way & perception of Big Gov't. Someday...”
HIGH-SPEED HICCUP?: California Republicans want the state’s auditor to look into acquisition procedures the California High-Speed Rail Authority is using to buy up land for a planned bullet train. Republicans are concerned about whether landowners are being offered fair prices for their parcels. It’s a stretch, but if the audit were to be approved it could seriously jeopardize the fall deadline to start the first 30-mile Central Valley leg of the route. KTTV LA: http://bit.ly/14EMiFD
BECAUSE SPIRIT’S JUST TOO PRICEY: The equity firm that helped launch Spirit Airlines is reportedly in negotiations to purchase Frontier Airlines, with the hope of turning it into a “super discount” airline that would replicate Spirit’s success. Frontier had no comment. LA Times: http://lat.ms/13eih1m
DIGITAL HAIL MARY: Soon, film will no longer be distributed in old-school 35mm format. That could mean the end for what’s left of the drive-in movie industry because switching to a newfangled digital projection system may be cost prohibitive. Enter Honda, which has pledged to pay for new equipment for five lucky drive-ins, based on a popular vote. Cast a ballot now for your local at www.projectdrivein.com. Voting ends on Sept. 9.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)
- Nevada's governor has ordered up a study of options for funding infrastructure — including VMT. Las Vegas Review-Journal: http://bit.ly/1a0wtNE
- Washington lawmakers are shopping spending reforms as GOP-bait after failing to raise the gas tax. Sounds familiar. Spokesman-Review: http://bit.ly/169zcma
- EV charging station maker ECOtality — a DOE stimulus recipient — is considering bankruptcy. Alex Guillen for Pros: http://politico.pro/18q1Z3J
- Joe Lhota says congestion pricing should be last resort for NYC gridlock: http://bit.ly/19ny3cP
- “At 15, he piloted an E train from 34th Street — his favorite subway station — six stops to the World Trade Center without any passengers noticing.” Meet Darius McCollum, a serial transportation impostor. AP: http://bit.ly/16b6dhM
- A Piper Arrow runs out of gas, lands in a Wawa parking lot near Fredericksburg. http://on.wusa9.com/13SE8tq
- “A visual poem about that moment in New York when you emerge from the subway and find yourself in a new and sometimes unexpected world.” Watch: http://bit.ly/19dNfpx
- This guy REALLY loves his Porsche. Bloomberg TV: http://bloom.bg/14EmsSh
- 1954 flying car for sale — just $954,000 (some assembly required). WSJ: http://on.wsj.com/19oEj47
THE DAY AHEAD: All day — Safe Routes to School conference. Sacramento, Calif.
10 a.m. — Sen. Ben Cardin visits the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission’s Patuxent Water Filtration Plant “to discuss federal options for improving the nation’s water infrastructure.” Laurel, Md.
THE COUNTDOWN: DOT funding and passenger rail policy both run out in 49 days. Surface transportation policy is up in 414 days and FAA policy in 779 days. The mid-term elections are in 458 days.
CABOOSE — What do Super Mario Brothers and Chicago’s “L” have in common? Nothing, except that a life-sized Luigi was riding around on one of its train cars yesterday to promote a new game, New Super Luigi U. Check out pictures posted by @NintendoAmerica, including a snap (http://bit.ly/16GznSD) of Luigi hitting his head getting off the train — he is, after all, the taller brother. (h/t Tal Kopan and Kevin Robillard)
** A message from POWERJobs: Tap into the power of POWERJOBS for the newest job opportunities in the Washington area from the area’s top employers, including TASC, Visa, METRO and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Powered by names you trust — POLITICO, WTOP, WJLA/ABC-TV, NewsChannel 8 and Federal News Radio — POWERJOBS is the ultimate career site with more than 2 million job searches and nearly 17,000 applications submitted this year so far. Connect through Facebook or LinkedIn, search jobs by industry and set up job-specific email alerts using POWERJobs.com, the site for Washington’s top talent. **
Politico Pro: ECOtality’s woes renew debate on stimulus efforts
By Alex Guillén | 8/12/13 2:29 PM EDT
A manufacturer of charging stations for electric vehicles may become the next Energy Department aid recipient to head to bankruptcy court, the company warned in a federal securities filing Monday.
Phoenix- and San Francisco-based ECOtality received a $100.2 million DOE grant under the 2009 stimulus, making it a frequent target for Republican attacks, including a Mitt Romney campaign ad. But despite the aid, ECOtality says in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it hasn’t been able to translate the federal help into private-sector sales.
Now the company says it is contemplating filing for bankruptcy protection after the Energy Department froze any further payouts on the roughly $2.5 million remaining to be doled out for its grant. DOE took that action Aug. 8, citing the company’s shaky finances and difficulties attracting new investors.
The Energy Department says that despite the company’s problems, its primary mission to deploy electric-vehicle charging stations has been a success. But House Science Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) called ECOtality’s announcement “another failing grade on the Department of Energy’s long list of irresponsible decisions to subsidize green energy companies.”
DOE spokesman Bill Gibbons said in a statement that the grant was “meant to establish the seeds of infrastructure needed to support a growing market for advanced vehicles.” He said the grant helped fund the installation of more than 12,500 charging stations in 18 cities, a figure he says meets 97 percent of the project’s goals.
But Smith wasn’t having any of it.
“Taxpayers are tired of hearing about the administration wasting their hard-earned money on pet projects, and DOE must be held more accountable,” Smith said in a statement. He also criticized DOE for letting ECOtality draw down most of the grant money, although the money reimbursed the company for chargers installed.
ECOtality’s stock price on NASDAQ plunged about 80 percent to about 29 cents after the company’s announcement.
The company wrote that the suspension of Energy Department payments “has had a significant impact on receivables that were anticipated to be collected from the DOE, in addition to remaining amounts anticipated to be invoiced and collected under the EV Project.” ECOtality’s revenue was also hurt this year when its sales force didn’t make a smooth transition to commercial sales instead of DOE-subsidized installations, the company said in its SEC filing.
It also pointed to a delay in releasing a new industrial charger amid performance shortfalls, along with costs incurred from a Labor Department investigation that resulted in the company paying $855,000 in back wages and damages to some employees and contractors.
It’s not clear when the company would ultimately enter bankruptcy proceedings, or whether it would be able to find alternative financing instead. ECOtality has retained FTI Consulting as a restructuring adviser to help look for new financing sources and identify cost-cutting opportunities.
ECOtality has received about $97.7 million of the $100.2 million grant, according to DOE. The money came through reimbursements from DOE after the company installed electric vehicle charging stations as part of a deployment program.
A division of ECOtality’s North American subsidiary also got a five-year, $26.4 million contract with the department in October 2011 for advanced vehicle testing. The department says the company has billed about $2.5 million from that contract so far. The terms of the contract mean the department won’t pay any more money if the company does no more testing, a DOE spokesman said.
Republicans have been quick to lump ECOtality in with other troubled recipients of DOE stimulus aid, including Solyndra, A123 Systems and Fisker Automotive. Solyndra and A123 both filed for bankruptcy, while Fisker has been subject to rumors for months that it may follow suit.
DOE noted Monday that a predecessor of ECOtality, the Clarity Group, had dealings with the George W. Bush administration. In 2005, the firm was part of a public-private cost-share program in which it tested advanced technology vehicles. DOE pledged to match industry’s spending of $4.5 million.
ECOtality drew congressional Republicans’ attention last year after becoming the subject of an insider-trading investigation by the SEC. The SEC dropped its investigation late last year, but not before Romney cited the inquiry in an ad attacking green investments by the Obama administration. The company also drew scrutiny last year from Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), who was then the chairman of the House Science Committee’s energy and environment panel.
Just two weeks ago, DOE’s inspector general largely cleared the agency’s management of any serious implications of malpractice regarding ECOtality’s grant. An audit found no problems with DOE’s process for choosing ECOtality for the project, although the inquiry pointed out gaps in oversight and documentation.
DOE has released quarterly summaries of the data collected by the chargers installed by the program. Project backers, which include ECOtality, DOE, Nissan and Chevrolet, say the data will provide valuable information on electric vehicle use and will help plan for future infrastructure needs.
BAF IN THE NEWS:
WNYC Transportation Nation: That Infrastructure Advocacy App Has 10,000 Users Already
A smartphone app that part soap box for complaining about traffic and part infrastructure advocacy has generated 1,700 letters to Congress after two weeks on the market.