The Distance Project

Riding the Bus - DC to NYC

Posted on July 16th, 2008 by Zach.
Categories: General, Sustainability, Urban Planning.

For anyone not living in the northeast corridor of the US, you may not have been watching the incredible rise in bus travel options. In the past 6-8 months - new low-cost bus services have been springing up between Washington DC, New York, and Boston.

When I was in college (and spent too much time on buses) you had essentially two options - you got your Peter Pan and your Greyhound. Peter Pan was always the better option because they were newer buses, and typically had a terrible movie playing to distract you. (Note: Clearly this dates my college experience - no portable DVD player or iPod…what!?!). Then there was the rise of the Chinatown buses, which early on, you were just as likely to sit next to a box of Chicken cutlets as anything else. These buses were cheap, dropped you off on the sidewalk in funky areas of the city, and were fun for the risk of when the last safety check was, and the amazing Kung-Fu movies onboard.

Clearly the Fung Wah/Lucky Star services ate into the old guard bus routes, and as a result you have seen a mainstreaming attempt of this biz model. Enter new services like BoltBus and Mega Bus - who are still picking you up on the random corner, but have new buses with claims of Wifi and other services.

As it happens, I find myself currently sitting on a BoltBus headed to NYC from Washington. I have to say, not a bad experience at the moment, as I blog this over their WiFi system, with a 30 Rock episode playing in the background. Not bad at all.

Getting on was easy - it is right at Metro Center in DC, so the Metro access from anywhere in the city is cake. They leave every hour on the hour and it costs about $20 when you reserve on the internet. If you register early enough, there are even some $1 tickets on each bus. Twenty bucks is cheap for this ride, the train would cost me a minimum to $100. Planes would be a little bit more, plus you have to pay for the taxi on both ends. Even driving, between tolls and gas I would bet I can’t make this trip for under $30.

As I have posted before, I am huge proponent of trains. There is no mode of land based travel that I would rather be on than the train. Not only that but the serious downside to the bus has always been that you are still beholden to bad traffic as you are in the car. Trains don’t have that problem, and I am always appreciative of that.

Yet as I sit here posting this, checking my email, and watching David Schwimmer play Greenzo, I have to say that this ain’t that bad - especially when I can take 5 trips for the price of one train ticket.

Oh yeah, and it reduces your carbon load, as well as reduces the amount of oil consumption per person in this country too –gotta get the enviro and national security hits in there!

Check out BoltBus if you are trying to get back and forth from New York to DC.

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Why I Love ZipCar, by Zach L.

Posted on November 16th, 2007 by Zach.
Categories: Sustainability, Systems of the World, Urban Planning.

This title sounds like a 4th grade paper I wrote once. I was a good writer in 4th grade, my paper on the Tyrannosaurus Rex was Pulitzer worthy. Perhaps the highlight of my writing career - sadly it was all downhill from there.  4th grade talent notwithstanding, the ZipCar model really is cool.

If you haven’t yet, check out the concept of CarSharing. It is a fascinating model of managing the last mile (always the hardest piece) of public transportation systems. What is always frustrating about Public Transportation in this country is that often you are too far away for the train or bus stop. Getting to your final destination is expensive and difficult.

Parking Zipcars at subway, train, and bus stations solves this problem.  You still have the flexibility to go exactly where you need to, but you didn’t have to battle highway traffic to do it.  Plus CarShare programs  cover insurance and  the fuel for the time you use the car. Love this concept and I hope it spreads all over the country.  Recently the two biggies in this space; ZipCar and FlexCar announced that they will merge in the coming year.  This has to be the biggest no-brainer since XM and Sirius.  Oh right, those two still haven’t managed to figure out the merging process.

We support CarShare as a a key piece of the puzzle and this summer we signed a partnership deal with Zipcar to give all their members a discount on Reware products.  For us there is an interesting cross marketing concept here.  ZipCar and Reware both have been started with the hope that they will make changes to the system, while providing their customers a new service that they use.  Making change and making money. What could be better from a work standpoint?

It seems like there are more and more companies trying to figure out this model, and I envision us partnering more and more often. It makes sense because the customer base is so similar. For the most part the target audience is very mainstream. They live normal lives, they are not out on a commune weaving their own shoes .  But they see the world changing, they see their lives as impactful and if they can spend money with companies that make them feel like their actions are part of the solution, they are pleased.

Call it the Whole Foods model.  I have to go to the grocery store anyway,  why not go to the one that is espousing the values that I want in my life?

There is a growing lifestyle concept that I feel like more and more people are trying to figure out. ZipCar and the other car sharing services fit right into this niche.

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Train travel is fun.

Posted on November 2nd, 2007 by Zach.
Categories: Sustainability, Systems of the World, Urban Planning.

I love trains. I love sitting here watching the world go by. I find myself more productive, more creative, more relaxed. I think it is the best way to travel.

For the most part trains could be better in this country. But Amtrak also gets a bad rap. They are working under impossible conditions politically for trains - basically no mandate whatsoever, and trying to service and impossibly vast country. I read recently that the Eastern corrdior trains (Boston to Washington DC) pay for much of the rest of the Amtrak system.

This is about to change - Amtrak recently received a large influx of cash from the federal government, effectively doubling its budget I believe. And it comes at just in time. The roadways of this country exist on a knife’s edge every morning and evening, especially around major metropolitan areas. Anyone who has been on Interstate 95 in the past couple of years will tell you that all it takes is a slight problem to create vast delays.

What if it transitioned to a for profit system? Free market folks claim that prices would go down as services went to compete for your business. I am not entirely convinced of this, but it would be an interesting concept.

First and formost for this to happen though, the US would have to realize the value and potential of rail systems to move people and product around the country. They would have to value it the way we value our roads.

Imagine what the price of a car would be if the Automobile industry had to pay to the upkeep of all the roads. Or maybe it would be on the Oil compaines to keep it up. Imagine the price of gas! Instead road work comes straight out of federal, state, and local taxes. We have essentially deemed upkeep of the roadways critical to our economic well being. And they are, you will get no argument from me on that front. Yet, highways around the country have hit critical mass. Train systems can move massive amounts of people and product on relativley reliable schedules for a 10th of the energy consumption.

SO we should be investing in track maintenance. As a society we should deem track infrastructure critical to urban development. It should at least return to the same level of importance as our highway system.

Just for a little G-Whiz, check out some of the new MagLev train systems and how they work. SO cool.

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Inspiration like no other - The Solar Decathlon 2007

Posted on October 21st, 2007 by Zach.
Categories: Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Urban Planning.

Every two years a group of university students descend upon the Mall in Washington DC for the Solar Decathlon. For anyone who has not seen the event, it is worth a trip to DC in my opinion. I have never been so inspired by the possibilities for the future as when touring the event.

Picture this: 25 University teams made up of students from Architecture, Engineering, and Design programs spend 2 years of there college lives planning, designing and constructing 800 squre foot homes. Each with their own cool approaches to a combination of livability and sustainability.

Every other October, the house roll into town on flatbed trucks and plop themselves down a stones throw from the capital building. But this is not for show, the kids all battle it out in 10 event competition to see whose house will be America’s next top model! Sorry no, I am watching too much reality TV as I write these days. But they do compete and the it is fierce. All the houses have to power a maximum of 800 square feet completely by solar, no exceptions. They must also heat a certain amount of hot water per hour, as well provide good aesthetics for a home, and good communication of their theories through tours and websites.

All of this proved especially challenging in the 2005 when it proceeded to rain for 6 days of the competition.

While the rain was rightly disappointing to many of the teams and a pain for all of the vistors to the houses (For most of the week you get to tour any house you’d like), I actually like seeing whose houses were built tightly and whose leaked like a sieve!

No such problems this year as we had unbelievably beautiful weather for the week and watched a University in Germany take home top honors followed by the University of Maryland.

I spent most of the week on the Mall for the event as we showed off our newest product the PowerCube. There are a couple of observations that I came away with:

- Our good friends Richard King and Wendy Burt at the Department of Energy who run the event, continue to put on an amazing show. The show from the outside was a huge success. Huge crowds, great houses, just a truly fun time. Big up to both of them for pulling it all off yet again.

- The National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden Colorado, is one of the coolest assets the US Government has. In to make sure the show was a success, everyone from the Lab was so knowledgeable, excited about the event, so genuinely passionate about renewable energy. Just a great group.

- The passion and creativity of the students is straight up inspiring. I can’t say this enough, it is just fun to be around that kind of passion for something that will revolutionize our country. They are changing the world.

This decathlon was such a success that there is rumblings of a European version next year as well.

Check out all of the websites for the teams from the SolarDecathlon07 website. So many green products and approach to green building, these websites are a must see if you are thinking about a building project in the near future.

Keep track of this thing as they gear up for 2009 because it is something not to be missed.

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