A quick look at some of the things that make walking and riding transit work (or not): Year when humans started walking: 1.5 million years ago Year when walking became a sport: 19th century (1801-1900) Year when most North Americans forgot how to walk: Post WWII Percentage of Americans not meeting 30 minute a...
A quick, fun look at the history of Zeppelin travel and its (im)possibility for future applications: Year which Zeppelin idea first materialized: 1874 Year which Wright Brothers first took flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina: 1903 Speed of initial Zeppelins: 21km/h Zeppelin length: 126m Bus length: 12m First successful Zeppelin: LZ3 Total kilometres travelled:...
With an impending GO Transit strike in the near horizon, let’s take a quick look back at some of the more memorable public transit strikes in recent times: Last transit walkout in nation’s capital (Ottawa): 2009 Days lasted: 51 Payroll savings: $3 million/day Economic losses: $4 million/day Property damage losses due to seriously irate commuters in...
A look at some of the things that make urban transit speeds laudable (or laughable) when compared to speeds achieved by other (in)animate beings on planet earth: Sloth speed: 0.12km/h Goldfish speed: 1.38km/h Average human walking speed: 4.5km/h Michael Phelps’ speed during 100m butterfly: 7.1km/h Average vehicle speed in Jakarta: 10km/h Average Toronto streetcar speed:...
A quick look at some of the things that may make the disturbing realities/perceptions of sexual harassment on public transit a serious roadblock to encouraging more transit ridership (or not): Percentage of women in UK who felt unsafe riding public transit: 12.5% Percentage of women who sometimes or frequently feel threat of sexual assault...
A quick look at some of the things that make hurricanes super deadly in your city: Top wind speeds Roosevelt Island Tram can operate in: 50 miles per hour Hurricane wind speeds: 111 miles per hour Percentage of US population threatened by hurricanes: 12 Most hurricane prone city in Florida: Miami Number of hurricanes...
A quick look at some of the things that makes air pollution in your city tolerable (or not): Percentage Americans living in cities with breathing air that’s dangerous to their health: 50 Number of top 10 most polluted cities in US located in California: 8 Most polluted American city: Bakersfield Number of premature deaths due...
In terms of financial viability, public transportation in North America is a perpetual loser. However, rumours have it that some transit agencies abroad break even or even make a profit. So let us take a closer look into one of these transit agencies – Hong Kong’s MTR (Mass Transit Railway) – and see if its...
A quick look at some of the things that makes auto-rickshaws/tuktuks in your city work (or not): Auto-rickshaws/tuktuks: Half golf-cart, half motorcycle Origin: Daihatsu Midget & Piaggio Ape C Top speed: 40km/h Cost: $6,500 Cost of “green” tuktuks: $10,000 Largest producer of auto-rickshaws in world: India India’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit: “They (auto rickshaws)...
A quick look look at some stats that make urban chicken farming in your city work (or not): Number of chickens raised annual for meat and eggs: 50 billion Percentage of world’s poultry meat raised using intensive farming techniques: 74 Worldwide chicken to human ratio: 16:9 Number of varieties of domestic chickens: 150 Hours of...