Honkin' Mad

Bike-sharing: Changing Fort Worth's car culture two wheels at a time

@gdickson

Fort Worth's new bike-sharing program kicked off Monday, and cyclists are hoping it will gradually change the city's car culture - two wheels at a time.

"All of you resonate the message that there is an acceptance of bicycles as an alternative," Mike Brennan, Fort Worth Bike Sharing board chair, told about 300 volunteers who gathered Monday morning at Burnett Park in downtown Fort Worth.

After a few remarks by Brennan and other leaders, the cyclists from various riding clubs then hopped on the 300 shiny, red Trek touring bikes and rode them to the city's 28 new bike-sharing stations. Brennan noted the eclectic mix in the crowd - whose clubs include colorful names such as Bicycle Betties, Night Riders and Manly Bulge Bike Club.

"There's a group for every type of rider out there," Brennan said.

 Bicycles are available for rent at 28 stations mostly in downtown, the Near South Side, the cultural district and at Texas Christian University. More stations will be added during the summer, officials said.

Riders typically use a credit card to rent the bikes. Regular users can pay an $80 annual fee for unlimited use. Others can pay various rates that start at $8 per day, with additional fees for rides lasting more than 30 minutes.

The idea is to rent the bike at one location, and return it to a bike-sharing rack at the end of your trip.

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority - also known as the T - created a non-profit organization to run the program and accept donations.

The effort was boosted by a $1 million Federal Transit Administration grant awarded in July to set up the stations.

Among the volunteers who rode the bikes to their new stations was Don Koski, director of planning and project delivery for the Federal Transit Administration's Region 6 office in Fort Worth.

"We see bike-sharing as an extension of the transit system," Koski said. "There are people who ride the bus or the TRE (Trinity Railway Express) and use a bike for the final leg of their destination."

Fort Worth Councilman Joel Burns predicted that the ready availability of bicycles will motivate people who work in the central part of the city to get out of their "dim, flourescent-lit rooms" and go for a ride.

"There's an incredible community spirit," Burns said, "and a focal point for us to get together."

Top photo: Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and about 300 helpers kick off Fort Worth's new bike-sharing program by riding bicycles to their racks.

 

What's your experience on Germany's trains?

@gdickson

During the Cold War, West Berlin residents who wanted to go from one end of their city to another could take subway trains that briefly cut through portions of East Berlin. The trains were allowed by the East German government to pass without stopping, although armed guards kept a close watch to ensure nobody got off the trains (or, perhaps more importantly, to ensure no East Germans got on). As the trains made their way through East Berlin, they would pass through trains stations that had been closed since the Berlin Wall was built. These train platforms - ratty, creepy and abandoned except for the presence of the guards - became known as "ghost stations." If you ever saw one of these stations up close, I would very much like to talk with you for a news story.

Please call 817 390 7796 or send an email to gdickson@star-telegram.com Whether you lived in East Berlin or West Berlin, or just visited, I would like to talk with you about your experiences. Please include a phone number or email address so I can get in touch with you.

Also, if you have experience riding the modern trains of reunified Germany, including the InterCity Express trains that today go 200 mph-plus, I would like to speak with you.

Again, please call 817 390 7796 or send an email to

gdickson@star-telegram.com ...

Last year, I was fortunate to attend the International Transport Forum, an annual event held in Leipzig, Germany featuring renowned goverment officials and transportation experts from around the world.

That trip introduced me to Germany's passenger rail system. (Some of those Cold War "ghost stations," by the way, have been dramatically rebuilt and are now hubs of modernity in Berlin.) Today, I'd like to do a story comparing the German experience to the United States' effort to develop a more effective rail system. I am planning a return trip to this year's International Transport Forum May 22-24 in Leipzig, and I hope to explore the issue of passenger rail more in depth while I'm there.

But before I go, I need your help ...

Please spread the word to anyone you know who spent time in East Berlin, West Berlin or more recently in reunified Berlin. I would very much like to talk.

- Gordon Dickson.

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Photo: Berlin Wall Memorial

Meadows roasted in final Texas Transportation Commission meeting

Fort Worth's Bill Meadows has been replaced on the Texas Transportation Commission, but his legacy of bringin' home the bacon to North Texas - and doin' it with a wide grin - lives on.

Don Davis vintage cars could net $14 million at auction - Check out that '67 Ferrari!

A 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS. A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 335 SL Gullwing. Don Davis has 64 immaculately preserved cars that he plans to sell at a one-day auction April 27. Each one tells its own slice of automotive history.

Self-driving Google car a huge hit at Texas Transportation Forum

@gdickson

AUSTIN – Some of the best transportation thinkers in Texas and across the United States are being upstaged this week by a car that drives itself.

About 1,400 people are attending the eighth annual Texas Transportation Forum through Tuesday in Austin. But while those experts meet in Hilton conference rooms and grapple with tough issues such as how to handle an increase in freight-hauling trucks on the roads, or how to pay for highways under a tightened state budget, it’s the Google “self-driving car” parked outside the downtown Austin hotel’s entrance that’s getting the most hubbub.

“It would probably do a better job driving than we do,” quipped Linda Thomas of Longview (pictured above), who on Monday afternoon took turns shooting snapshots of the Google car with her husband, Charles.

The car is among a fleet of about 10 vehicles developed during the past eight years by researchers at Google and Stanford University. Google representatives said that on Tuesday they plan to take the car, a Lexus hybrid, for a spin on Austin-area roads, including infamously congested Interstate 35.

Lawmakers and selected other state officials will be offered demonstration rides in the car, as part of Google’s effort to get the public sector more comfortable with an automobile that needs no driver. Although Texas and most other states don’t have laws specifically banning self-driving cars, only three states – Nevada, California and Florida – have passed laws specifically allowing them.

Officials said it’s too early to say whether Texas lawmakers would be asked to consider such as law during the ongoing legislative session.

Typically, a person sits in the driver’s seat, but the car does its own acceleration, braking and steering and can even change lanes. It “sees” the road using laser technology, and has a maximum speed of about 85 mph, although Google officials assured onlookers Monday that the vehicle wouldn’t be pushed to its limits during the Texas demos.

A member of the Google team will sit in the driver’s seat during demonstrations, although that person won’t operate the car controls unless there’s an emergency, one company official said.

On Tuesday, Google product manager Anthony Levandowski is scheduled to take part in a panel discusssion about how transportation is reshaping transportation options.

Glen Hiemstra, a futurist and author of several books on long-term trends, told forum attendees on Monday that the self-driving car technology is advancing quickly. Just three or four years ago, he said, Google’s small fleet of test cars could only travel a few city blocks, but now they can traverse California highways and even San Francisco’s famously curvy and steep Lombard Street. “I think it’s going to be one of the more significant developments in the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.

The forum is hosted by the Texas Department of Transportation. Guest speakers include elected officials, industry leaders and cutting-edge scientists and researchers.

On Monday, the impact of increased shipments through the Panama Canal, which is undergoing a $5.2 billion expansion, was a featured topic. Experts disagree whether the expansion will increase container shipments to Texas, with many predicting that Los Angeles ports will still be preferred.

But Silvia Marucci, a senior specialist with the Panama Canal Authority, said the expansion will make it much easier for natural gas companies in Fort Worth’s Barnett Shale and many other shale plays to export their products through Texas gulf ports.

“The development of the shale plays in the United States has taken us all by surprise,” she said during a panel discussion. “We expect to see the major trade routes develo from the U.S. Gulf to Asia, The Panama Canal is becoming part of the energy supply chain.”

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Google self-driving car makes Texas debut

Google's famous self-driving car is making its Texas debut. I'm covering the eighth annual Texas Transportation Forum, a two-day affair at the Austin Hilton. The Google car, a Lexus hybrid, is parked at the hotel entrance. Word is that some VIPs may get a demonstration of the car. I don't know if that means the self-driving car will maneuver its way around the downtown Austin streets, but we'll see ;-)

Take the train to New Year's Eve Dallas celebration - Trinity Railway Express preps for revelers

@gdickson

Dallas has become a hoppin' place for New Year's Eve celebrations - and, for those who want to drink, there are ways to get there without climbing behind the wheel.

The Trinity Railway Express will operate on a regular schedule this evening, and will supplement those usual trains with additional trains running westbound. Those additional trains will begin leaving Dallas 20 minutes after the fireworks end in Big D.

All transit services offered by the TRE and Fort Worth Transportation Authority (the T) will be closed Tuesday in observance of New Year's Day.

For more information, visit the TRE website.

White Christmas forecast in Fort Worth - TxDot ready to cope with wet roads

@gdickson

It looks like North Texans are going to wake up to thunderstorms early Christmas morning, following by blowing snow in the afternoon, accoreding to the National Weather Service.

It doesn't look like this wintry precipatition is going to stick to area roads. But even so, the Texas Department of Transportation is prepared for icy conditions.

Kirkpatrick student takes the gavel at T board meeting

Federico Vasquez, an eighth grader at Kirkpatrick Middle School in Fort Worth, was honored Thursday as the student of the month. The Fort Worth Transportation Authority each month honors a student from its adopted school. T chairman Gary Cumbie shook hands and posed for a photo with Federico and asked if the young man would like to say a few words to the crowd of roughly 30 people in the T board room. Cumbie was a bit surprised, delightedly so, when the eighth grader took Cumbie's seat. But he wasn't there long. Federico said a quick thank-you, and Cumbie was back at the helm '-)

 

 

'Caution: Loose Gorilla!' Prankster messing with road signs

An unidentified prankster in California has hacked into an electronic roadside sign three nights in a row and replaced serious road condition messages with words such as "Caution Loose Gorilla!" and "Smoke Weed Everyday," according to a Sacramento Bee story.