The Joy Of No Car

For a couple of days at the end of last week we rented a car.  We had to take the cat to the vets in Burnaby and we had an evening appointment across the city in Kitsilano; so it was a useful time to have the car.

It was the first time I had driven for more than a year, and it was an interesting novelty once again at the beginning.  But I was happy to turn the car in on the Friday. By Saturday morning we were both feeling bushed!  Having the car seemed to oblige us to use it over (get soil from Home Depot) and over (dim sum) until we were exhausted with the constant doing.

Over the last twenty years without a car, we have developed a slower — and, I like to think, a more considered — life.  Without a car we are obliged to think carefully before we go out; we have to think about getting from place to place and what we can carry with us, more concretely than does a driver; but at the same time, we have none of the stresses caused by parking, for example.  As we walk the sidewalks we actually meet people and chat, something that is impossible when you are driving.  We are weather-prone and sometimes even weather-limited; but our car never breaks down and is never damaged. In a pinch, we are happy to call for a cab or a rental car.  Otherwise, we are happy to keep to Shank’s pony.

From Ridiculous To Sublime

The Hummer was the poster child for vehicular excess when Arnold Schwarzenegger put the first civilian version on the roads.  It has since been exceeded by far too many ultra-luxury SUVs to count.   More barrels of oil have been wasted than be counted.  Now, it seems, Hummer wants to take first place once again; this time by proposing the first flying SUV.

As Luxist reports:

The AVX Aircraft Company’s new airborne SUV, a sort of Hummer with retractable wings, or a helicopter with wheels if you prefer, was originally designed for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The AVX (above) does everything a Hummer can do with the addition of Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) capability. The four-person all-terrain vehicle converts from road to flight mode in a mere 60 seconds, has a cruising speed equivalent to a light aircraft and features automated takeoff / landing flight control. With a payload of 1,040 lbs., it has a range of 250 nautical miles on one tank of fuel and can cruise at an altitude of 10,000 ft. fully laden. The AVX can do an impressive 80 mph on the ground and hits 140 mph in the air.

This is America’s response to the acknowledged truth that they use too much gasoline already?  How bloody ridiculous!

Luckily, there are US companies that are using their heads to meet the challenge. FedEx is trialing the use of electric delivery bikes in Paris (see the story and video here.)

The tricycles require manual pedaling to start the motor. Although slightly bulky, there’s a tall, removable storage container that sits between the back two wheels.  The vehicles can travel at a speed of around 20 kilometers per hour and are welcome traffic in Paris’ pedestrian-only areas and many bike lanes … They avoid the traffic that clogs the streets of central Paris while moving at a decent speed.  During a trial period, the bikes delivered on average 15 packages per hour.  FedEx’s managing director of operations for France, Dirk Van Impe, says the tricycles have improved efficiency, are financially viable, and good for the company’s visibility.

FedEx is a progressive company in these matters, with solar power offices and a fleet of hybrid vehicles.  It would be great to see these bikes in all major cities.

The Rich Get Richer

The major UN Report on Global Economic Activity released in December 2009 stated that:

the continued weakness of the world economy is manifest in the continued increase in unemployment. Through the end of 2009, the recovery will have been “jobless”. Unemployment  rates are expected to continue to rise well into 2010.  The number of unemployed has more than doubled in the United States since the beginning of the recession in December 2007 [to] the highest in 26 years. … The unemployment rates in the euro area are also estimated to have increased by more than 2 percentage points in 2009 … Unemployment rates in transition economies and developing countries have also moved higher, in particular in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Central and South-eastern Europe, where the number of unemployed increased by as much as 35 per cent in 2009 … In East and South Asia, vulnerable employment affects about 70 per cent of the workforce … In sub-Saharan Africa … the share of working poor (that is to say, those earning less than $1.25 per day in purchasing power parity (PPP)) is expected to increase to about 64 per cent in 2009, up from 59 per cent in 2007.

Another report notes that

at the end of 2009, there were 81 million “economically active” youth aged between 15 and 24 who were unemployed, or 13% of all such youth around the world — an increase from the 11.9% in 2007.  In other words, the situation for that group is getting worse.

But luckily we have Luxist to remind us that it is not all doom and gloom around the world.  A couple of articles in particular caught my eye today. First there was the story of the three-bedroomed apartment in Monaco that someone just bought for $308million.  Let me repeat that: a three-bedroom apartment in Monaco that someone just bought for $308million.

One of its main features is the fully developed rooftop, which looks like it belongs on a cruise ship:

Personally, I wouldn’t buy it because it is not even private! Look at the picture above and you can see a tower overlooking the grotto.

The other story was about a 21-year old kid with a $5million car collection that will become a $10million collection when he has his next birthday.  He doesn’t have to work for it, or get a certain grade level; his daddy will simply give him another $5million worth of cars for his birthday.

All his vehicles have personalized license plates featuring the figures 070, which cost an additional $150,000 a pop. The international playboy spent the summer flying his cars to London, Montreal, Las Vegas and New York to go on high-octane driving tours with friends.

I read that just after learning about the 81 million unemployed youth, youth that need to work to help feed their families. I’ve since looked up that average student debt in the UK is $40,000, with similar figures in North America.

Will the rich never understand the problem with such conspicuous consumption? To broadcast the spending of $308 million on an apartment while millions are homeless and hundreds of thousands of ordinary houses are in foreclosure, to give a work-shy kid four “Ferraris, five Porsches, three Lamborghinis, two Rolls-Royces and a Mercedes SLR McLaren” while his contemporaries are buried under huge debt loads and unable to find gainful employment; this almost screams for a revolution. I guess they think their private armies will save them.  Well so did Louis XVI.

Kudos To The BC Government (For A Change)

I am not generally a fan of the Liberal Party government that currently runs British Columbia (even though the only potentially viable alternative is even worse.)  However, I have happily supported their move to a Harmonized Sales Tax and now I have to praise two serious transportation safety initiatives.

Earlier this year they announced the toughest drunk driving legislation in Canada, laws which came into effect on September 1st.  A breathalyzer reading of .05 used to be just a warning. Now, a first offense at that level brings a $200 fine and a three-day driving ban. Getting caught at 0.8 or above brings an immediate $500 fine, a 90-day ban and a 30-day impounding of the car — plus any additional criminal charges that can be brought against the driver.

I happen to believe that there should be a zero tolerance for ANY alcohol in the system of a driver, but these new rules are a good start in that direction.

Just as interesting are new regulations coming in at the end of this month which will hit speeding drivers hard.  According to the Province newspaper:

Beginning Sept. 20, drivers caught exceeding the posted speed limit by 40 kilometres or more will see the vehicles they are driving impounded.  “A charge of excessive speeding will trigger a mandatory seven-day impoundment for a first offence, a 30-day impoundment for a second, and 60 days for subsequent excessive speeding offences within two years,” a ministry press release stated.  Those sanctions are on top of existing penalties, which include: a fine of up to $483, three penalty points on a driver’s licence and an ICBC driver-risk premium of $320 per year for three years.

Good stuff and bravo to the BC Government for pushing these through!  No doubt some libertarian fools will challenge both of these new rules on “constitutional” grounds; I hope we don’t have to waste too many taxpayers dollars defending public safety.

What Recession?

This baby is the 2011 Bentley Mulsanne, with a list price of $285,000 (not including taxes and delivery).  I would be happy to pick one up when I’m next out shopping but there are so many choices to make — 114 paint colors to choose from, 21 carpet colors, nine wood veneers and 24 leather hides — that it hurts my head.  I’ll just stick to that red and white 96-seater bus I’m used to.

Ridding Ourselves Of Cars

Low-Tech magazine looks at bicycles this week, and concludes that cars have to go.  Boy, I couldn’t agree more.

The problem is not that there is a lack of good roads – enough of these exist to bike from here to Mars and beyond. The main problem is that these are occupied by automobiles that are not only dangerous but also very inefficient both in terms of energy use and floor space.We don’t need any new infrastructure, what we need is to clear the existing infrastructure of inefficient vehicles and replace them with efficient ones. In other words: give all streets, highways, cloverleaves and motorways exclusively to bicycles and all other human powered wheeled vehicles. Get rid of cars. Why make things so complicated if the solution is so simple?

How could we live without cars, I hear those trapped in skepticism say.  The answer is clear:

Picture this for a second. If cars are gone, we are left with pedestrians (on the sidewalk), pedal powered vehicles (one part of the streets and the highways) and public transportation (another part of the streets and the highways, separated from pedal powered traffic, or underground) … For long distance passenger transport, we have trains. For long distance cargo transport, trains again. Short distance cargo transport could see the revival of cargo trams (streetcars). Electric vehicles could be a part of the solution, too, both for cargo transport and for the disabled, provided they keep the same speed as bicycle traffic.

The whole article is well worth the read, and the possibilities should be lightly discarded.

 

What Detroit Needs

Stop the presses!  Hold the front page!   I have found the solution to Big Auto’s problems.

I present to you — the renewable, recyclable, no-gasoline motor:

With a $25billion loan from the American taxpayer, Ford, GM and Chrysler could probably corner the global market in suitable cows.

[Thanks to Peter Greenberg for the image]

Art Is OK, A Ferrari Is Bizarre

I have written a lot about the high price of art these days — $33 million here, $50 million there, another $86 million some place else. And I can just about understand it all. But $11 million for a car? That is very strange to me.

It is true that I have a negative relationship with cars, and haven’t owned one for more than 16 years. But even so. Doesn’t it seem truly bizarre to you that someone would put down $10,894,900 for a 1961 Ferrari California Spyder. Other than having been owned previously by actor James Coburn, the car isn’t even unique; fifty-five others were also built.

A $50 million painting can do exactly what it was designed to do — hang on a wall and give aesthetic enjoyment. But an $11 million car cannot be driven the way it was engineered to perform; it can just sit in a multi-car garage and look pretty (if you like that sort of thing).

OK, OK, I accept that some folks would consider the Spyder a form of art. Fair enough. I still think it is damned odd, though.