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Public Transport Lecture Tomorrow: In Pursuit of Zero Emissions

Wed, 02/18/2009 - 21:58 — Chris Rall

From the Schatz Energy Lecture Series:

February 19, HSU Campus, BSS 166
"The Future of Public Transport - In Pursuit of Zero Emissions"
Jaimie Levin is the Director of Alternative Fuels Policy and Marketing for the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), which carries 227,000 people each weekday (67 million people annually) on 105 transit lines in the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit primarily serves 13 cities in the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley, and operates commuter bus service across three transbay bridges to San Francisco and Peninsula cities.

Mr. Levin has been with AC Transit since 1998, and began developing alternative fuels policy for the District in 1999. He directs a department of over 40 people, responsible for a range of activities, including marketing, community relations, and customer services. He is directly responsible for the development of the District’s hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid bus programs and the District’s corporate identity and branding programs. The hydrogen fuel cell program is now valued at $66 million, and is one of the largest demonstration projects of its type in the world.

Mr. Levin holds a Masters of City Planning degree from the University of California at Berkeley, with a focus on land use, transportation, and energy. He has been a member of the National Hydrogen Association’s Board of Directors since 2001, and presently sits on the Board’s Policy Committee. He is also AC Transit’s representative to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, of which the District is an associate member.

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Sun, 03/01/2009 - 19:41 — Karen Shepherd (not verified)

bus transportation needed to Alder Grove area, Arcata

Is anyone aware of how many people are forced to drive to this one little section of Arcata? the Alder Grove Industrial Park area (for those who don't know the area, it is off of West End Road near the on-ramp to 299) contains 1) a preschool/daycare run by NorthCoast Children's Services in which nearly all the slots available are taken by low-income families, 2) a branch campus of CR where more classes are offerred each year, and at least half-a-dozen businesses that employ low-income workers. So why doesn't AMRTS or RTS provide bus service to this section of town? I submit that such a high concentration of low-income and young people all traveling to the same, small area is an ideal situation for replacing car trips with some form of public transit. Plus it is so inconvenient for families to NOT have a bus option. I have known families who could not enroll their children at the Children of the Redwoods Preschool because they had no way to get the children there. I have worked at the preschool myself (I got there by bicycle, but without a child to deal with), and an occasional parent does brave the 15-minute walk with a stroller over the freeway from the nearest busstop on the west side of 299 by the Town and Country Trailer Park. This walk must be made in all kinds of cold, wet and rainy weather, with no sidewalks, and avoiding large truck traffic as you go. And if you make this unsafe walk, pick up your child, and go back to the bus stop, you should have about 30 minutes to wait now for the next bus you can catch. I have tried out this transportation alternative myself, again without anyone else to be responsible for, and it sucks! 10 years ago when I worked in that same area at North Coast Laboratories, one of the many employers there I mentioned before, RTS had a regular stop right in the Industrial Park area. So when my bike was in the shop I had another option for getting to work. I did not own a car and would not have been able to KEEP the job with no other transportation choices. Surely this is true for people who work there now. In those days it seems that HCAR had a facility there; at least that's what I remember about where the stop was located and who the other people getting off seemed to be. Maybe service provided to the handicapped gave the bus company another source of funding or something. Anyway, I would sure like to see SOMEONE advocate for a return of bus service to the east side of 299 in the Alder Grove area. I was hoping Green Wheels might want to pick up this issue. I really feel like the working mothers and fathers and the students who I see as having the transportation needs in this part of town are too overwhelmed with day-to-day survival to organize themselves. Is there something we can do? Karen Shepherd, Arcata

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