Newton Streets and Sidewalks

Monday, April 21, 2008

Pay-as-you-drive insurance

The Freakanomics team — Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt — explains one of my favorite topics — externalities — in a discussion of what will soon be one of my favorite topics: pay-as-you-drive insurance.

Because there are all sorts of costs associated with driving that the actual driver doesn’t pay. Such a condition is known to economists as a negative externality: the behavior of Person A (we’ll call him Arthur) damages the welfare of Person Z (Zelda), but Zelda has no control over Arthur’s actions. If Arthur feels like driving an extra 50 miles today, he doesn’t need to ask Zelda; he just hops in the car and goes. And because Arthur doesn’t pay the true costs of his driving, he drives too much.

What are the negative externalities of driving? To name just three: congestion, carbon emissions and traffic accidents. Every time Arthur gets in a car, it becomes more likely that Zelda — and millions of others — will suffer in each of those areas.

Pay-as-you-go insurance promises to reduce the problem of negative externalities of driving by eliminating the subsidy that low-mileage drivers pay to high-mileage drivers. With pay-as-you go insurance, drivers' premiums are tied to the amount they drive. Drive more, pay more. Drive less, pay less.

Reduce the insurance subsidy, people pay closer to the true cost of high-mileage driving, and we can expect substantially less driving, reducing carbon emissions, congestion, and accidents.

We still need more pay-as-you-go, in the form of rational road-pricing and pay-as-you-go gas tax. But, insurance is a good start.

Coming soon to six states, but not Massachusetts, soon.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Bike to Work Week 5/12 - 5/16

Get yourself in shape for the Bike Newton fun ride by biking to work the week preceding. (Just kidding. The Newton ride is just 2.5 miles. No training required.)

Bike to Work week is officially Bay State Bike Week, May 12-18. There's lots going on on Friday, May 16th, including commuting convoys from around the Boston area and a bikers breakfast at City Hall Plaza.

Newly elected Chairman of the Newton Bicycle/Pedestrian Task Force George Kirby has arranged for a Newton convoy. It's not on the schedule yet, but it will be. More information as it becomes available.

Make sure to sign up for the 50,000 mile challenge, an effort to have bicyclists commute 50,000 cumulative miles over the course of the week.

Microsoft is evil

Microsoft has a service in the works called Clearflow, which is going to help drivers use side streets to avoid congestion on arteries.

Microsoft, bringing traffic to a quiet residential street near you!

Bike v. Car

As if we needed one, here's a reminder that when cars and bikes collide, it's rarely a fender bender for the bike.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Molly gets things done!

A few days before it was an item in NS&S, friend of NS&S Molly complained to the city about the sign near Boston College that threatened to decapitate a biker.

A few days later it was gone.

Betcha didn't know ...

That Newton has "Share the Road" signs posted.

Not lots of those big, garish "Share the Road" signs like they have in Brookline and elsewhere. Rather just a couple discreet, tasteful, practically invisible little signs on Winchester Street.

(Picture on left taken looking south, just south of Needham Street. The one on the right taken looking north, just north of Nahanton Street.)

Can't quite make them out?

Before he decamped to the Patrick administration, former Commissioner of Public Works Bob Rooney said that the Winchester micro-signs were a mistake and that more eye-catching signs would be posted.

Memo to new DPW Commissioner Tom Daley: we'd love some of those big, honkin' ugly signs. Thanks.

Mayor Cohen supports it, so should you

He supports the ride before the override, that is: the Bike Newton rally and 2.5 family ride on May 18. It is less well known that the ride is also endorsed by both Bike Newton Forward and Newton for Two-Wheel Mobility.

Come together for a celebration of biking and community two days before that other big event.

Don't forget to register.

Note: Graphical association to override-related organizations is purely intentional and not at all authorized.

As if Beacon Street isn't wide enough ...

This driver decided to use the sidewalk.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Gas Tax Sanity

UPDATED: I got a lot of math wrong. I fixed it.

I missed this very smart call for a higher gas tax from the Globe Magazine a month ago. Writer Phil Primack hits all the high points:

The $0.21 gas tax hasn't been raised since 1991, eroding it's value to $0.14 in 1991 dollars
Those who reap the benefits of our transportation infrastructure should pay for its upkeep.
Even a significant hike would not put us out-of-line with neighboring states, maybe not even making ours the highest.

Yup, yup, and yup.

I'd add another point. While the gas tax has failed to keep up with inflation, it's done an even more woeful job keeping up with the cost of gas. In 1991, the average price for a gallon of gas appears to have been about $1.10. (I can't find a more authoritative reference.) A ~~15-cent~~ 21-cent per gallon levy translates to an effective ~~13.6%~~ 28% state tax: .21 Mass. gas tax/($1.10 - .21 Mass. gas tax - .141 federal gas tax). In February, the price of a gallon of regular was $2.989. If the effective, proportional rate were the same as in 1991, we'd be paying ~~40 cents~~ 73 cents a gallon in tax: .28 x (2.989 - .21 Mass gas tax - .184 federal gas tax).

The current gas tax pulls in $600 million per year. Raising it to ~~40 cents~~ 73 cents would reap an additional ~~$629 million~~ $1.77 billion per year (at $34 million in revenue per cent of gas tax). Think that wouldn't help ease the difficulties we're having paying to maintain our transportation infrastructure?

This isn't just a mathematical game to bolster the argument for a higher gas tax. The cost of maintaining our transportation infrastructure is closely tied to the cost of gas. Revenue from the gas tax ought to rise proportionally with the price of gas.

Instead of a gas tax, we're likely to have a super-regressive cigarette tax.

Monday, March 24, 2008

We can do better than this

This is what ought to be the prime pedestrian crossing along Needham Street.

Marshall Plaza and Fresh City Wraps to the left. Starbucks, two restaurants, and more stores to the left.

Not to repeat what your eyes already tell you, but the crosswalk has been completely rubbed off and the pedestrian crossing sign is down (for the second time in less then a year). Click for the larger picture. The empty signpost is just to the left of the fire hydrant.

I know that DPW is stretched with winter business, but why isn't this a priority?

May 18, it's a date!

The event of the spring season is on May 18: Bike Newton, an afternoon of bike fun capped off by a 2.5 mile ride from Newton City Hall and back, all to encourage a grass-roots effort to make biking safer in Newton.

I'll have more later. In the meantime, Bike Newton's web site is chock-a-block full of information. Check out the list of supporters, which includes hizzoner.

Obstacle Course

Friend of NS&S Molly alerts us to this sign that hangs over the striped shoulder on Beacon Street near Hammond Street waiting to decapitate a rider or, more likely, send her into traffic.

Here's Molly in her own words:

This sign sticks out into Beacon Street and is exactly at the head height of a bicyclist. Last week I was nearly decapitated/hit by a car (not sure which is worse) due to the this sign. Not only does it overhang the roadway, it is also at the point where Beacon Street narrows and the striped shoulder disappears forcing cyclists into the flow of traffic.

Yes, the little things matter.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Time to talk gas tax

The governor's angry response to casino opponents: okay, so what's your big idea?

Governor Patrick, listen up.

Roadway infrastructure in disrepair. (Parker Street bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.) Massively debt-ridden Turnpike Authority. Even more massively debt-ridden MBTA.

Oh, yeah. There's also a little public policy imperative: global warming.

It's high time we raise the gas tax.

According to a two-year-old editorial by the president of the Conservation Law Foundation, every additional penny of a gas tax would raise $34 million. Fifteen cents would bring us $510 million at current demand. One hopes that the increase might decrease demand. Even so, we're talking hundreds of millions.

The total Massachusetts gas tax is now $.21. Add fifteen cents and it would be $.36, not out-of-line with our neighbors Rhode Island ($.31), New York ($.303), or Connecticut ($.297). For reference: Maine ($.23), New Hampshire ($.206), and Vermont ($.20). (Recycled this from a comment I made on the TAB blog.)

Wait, you say, how can I propose raising the price of gas when prices are at an all-time high? Because they really aren't. Inflation-adjusted, prices are not out-of-line with the early 80s. And, cars are more efficient, so we're actually spending less on gas.

One way or the other, we're going to have to foot the bill to keep our roadways in decent condition. Let's charge the users.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Sheldon Brown

As reported in the TAB this week, Sheldon Brown died this week.

Sheldon lived and worked in Newton. But, his cycling web site and his participation on cycling forums made him influential far beyond our city's borders. Here's a post that captures Sheldon nicely.

An excerpt:

There's little danger that cyclists will forget Sheldon Brown. I doubt that there's any cyclist who hasn't consulted his site, or who doesn't still. And as the architect of the cycling canon he's done more for cycling than any pro cyclist, or critical mass, or white bike, or orange bike ever has. No matter what you ride, how you ride, how long you ride, or how long you've been riding, you're a fan of Sheldon Brown.

The cycling community has lost a vital figure.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

What's up at the Mall?

Neighbor Adam makes a great observation about the Mall at Chestnut Hill: in the recent renovations, they took out the staircase. (The children of NS&S lament the related loss of the "penny fountain.")

It's not a good sign that there's no way to self-propel oneself from one floor to the next (unless you go outside). Escalators. Elevators. But, no stairs.

Speaking of the MaCH, on a recent visit, I noticed a bunch of empty store fronts. I only hope that means a change of tenants and not a shortage of tenants. I'm not a big fan of the MaCH, but a healthy mall is better for the city.

But, I'm not sanguine. The economy's going downhill and new stores are opening at the Natick Collection. I'm not sure that a super-regional mall in Newton is going to survive, even if anchored by the apparently wildly successful Bloomingdales store.

What does that mean? Expect that Simon (the MaCH owners) to propose a Planned Multi-Use Development (like what New England Development is proposing right across the street). They wouldn't have to tear down the mall, they could build the housing around it.

It also makes me wonder about the viability of Chestnut Hill Square. Make no mistake, with the right kind of changes, Chestnut Hill Square is a lot better than most of the alternatives. But, will it make sense to build a new mall across from a struggling mall in a recession?

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)