Green Shuttle?

As eco-friendly or green cars hit the streets, will there be a need to re-write the laws for taxis? The fight has begun in Houston, Texas with a new company called Rev Houston. It was started in April of 2008 by Erik Ibarra and his brother. They have 3 small electric cars on the streets of downtown and midtown Houston, picking up passenger who TIP instead of paying a metered fare for short trips.

The city believes that they are breaking the law. One of the laws they believe they have broken is the fact that they do not carry a fire extinguisher. The problem there is that the vehicle does not have a single drop of combustible liquid. They also do not have a meter. They do not have a taxi cab license.

So, the city has ticketed this company 15 times so far this year at $150 to $200 per pop. It certainly is costing them to run the streets, legal or not.

The other problem they have to deal with is the taxi companies themselves. As we all know, taxis are regulated by the city, along with the fact that taxis do not take short trips. At least that is true in Houston. I do not know if that is so in cities like Chicago or New York.

The Yellow Cab Company is yelling that it is unfair that Rev Houston is not being regulated. Perhaps if all involved looked at Rev Houston as a trolley car like in San Francisco, this could be a deal maker.

Some have come up with giving them a jitney license. The only problem with that according to Erik is that it requires him to drive a set route within the city. That is not what the company stands for.

So what do you think? Should Rev Houston be required to follow what taxis are required to do? Should Rev Houston continue on its merry way as it does today, running on tips for short trips?

As the green future unfolds……..

BTW, keep your eye open here at Forced Green. We will be announcing something very soon that will be of interest to all.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Leaked Sprint WiMAX roadmap names new cities for 2009 rollout (engadget.com)
• New “most expensive” cities list names Tokyo in top spot (gadling.com)
• LA Gets its First Two Hybrid Taxis (laist.com)

I thought I would do something different for today. As I have been surfing around the internet, I have found It’s a Blu World.

Since the weather has turned hot and energy is being consumed, they even have an energy drink called Blu Frog Healthy Energy. Remember to recycle the cans when done consuming. It is always a good green thing to do!

Are you a contest fan? Well, the folks at BluFrog have a few to select from.

o BluGamer: The Ultimate Gaming Package
o Happy Blu-Year: Win A New Years Trip to NY
o Blullapalooza: Win A Trip to Lolapalloza in Chicago
o BluStreak: Win A Richard Petty Racing Experience
o XtremeBLU: Win A Trip To The Winter X Games in Aspen

All you have to do is select which one you would like to enter, up to 3 times, and wait for the results.

You can enter by either Twittering, a blog post or just a blog comment.

I think I am going to try to win the XtremeBLU trip to Aspen. I have not seen snow in quite a while and would love to just hear the crunch under my feet again! Along with seeing some of the sports that have been super-sized since my days. Not to mention enjoying the feel of temperatures below 100 degrees!

So have some fun, visit BluFrog and be sure to enter to win!
(Contest Rules Here)

Chicago has one of the most extensive infrastructures of any city in the world, with approximately 1,900 miles of public alleys, that’s about 3,500 acres of paved impermeable surface. The city is committed to creating a greener, more sustainable environment by using best management practices in alley improvement and construction. Called ‘Green Alleys’, under the management of Chicago’s Department of Transportation (CDOT), it aims to stop polluted rainwater in the city’s alleyways from ending up in adjacent Lake Michigan. Since the program began as a pilot in 2006, and through 2008, more than 80 Green Alleys have already been installed.

Green Alleys are part of CDOT’s “green infrastructure” — which includes recycled construction materials, permeable pavement, and recycled rubber sidewalks, thereby reducing the amount of construction and industrial waste hauled to landfills. Other green alley techniques include using proper grading and pitch to facilitate drainage and applying the pavement on the full width of an alley, or simply in a center trench. According to CDOT’s Green Alley handbook the following techniques are used when designing green alleys.

Stormwater Management: Up to 80% of the rainwater falling on alley surfaces throughout the year could pass through permeable paving back into the earth, thereby reducing localized flooding and recharging groundwater. Microbes (that thrive on oil) are seeded into the pavement or naturally migrate there, which cleanse the water of pollutants from cars and lawns. The cleaner water makes its way into the groundwater, called an aquifer, and then flows into Lake Michigan.

Heat Reduction: High-albedo pavement, a lighter-colored surface that reflects sunlight energy instead of absorbing it, staying cool on hot days and thereby reducing the “urban heat island effect”, a condition where dense urban areas become several degrees warmer due to the density of buildings and amount of heat absorbing paved areas.

Energy Conservation and Glare Reduction: Sky-compliant light fixtures that provide a safe environment in the alleys are energy efficient and reduce glare and light pollution to the point where you can actually see the stars at night.

Way to go Chicago! Proud of ya’ll !

Here is the chuckle of the day! This is from South Africa and will blow you away!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Michigan gets serious about offshore wind (cleanbreak.ca)
• Cloud Projections by Blake Gordon (neatorama.com)