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New Statesman - Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis: "Occupy, resist, produce"

Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis report on how Argentina's worker-run factories have nurtured a powerful social movement, while seamstress Matilda Adorno explains how a dispute over pay became a political struggle.

Casino-Bound, Complaints in Their Wake - New York Times

April 15, 2007

Chinatown

Casino-Bound, Complaints in Their Wake

By CASSI FELDMAN

Around 8:30 p.m., a fat gray bus bound for Atlantic City pulls up on Division Street in Chinatown. Its doors wheeze open, and a line of riders shuffle into formation, clutching pink tickets and plastic shopping bags, and sucking a few final drags from their cigarettes before flicking them away.

The ritual takes no more than 15 minutes, but it happens dozens of times a day as buses headed to Trump Plaza, Foxwoods or other casinos load and unload passengers in the V formed by the Bowery and Division Street.

Now, citing pollution and noise, neighbors say they want the buses to find a new home.

“You can feel a toxic film in our yard,” said Justin Yu, vice president of the co-op board at Confucius Plaza, a 44-story complex that overlooks the site. “It’s very unhealthy.”

Robbers Take Thousands From a Bus Company in New York's Chinatown - NYTimes.com

November 10, 2008

Robbers Take Thousands From a Bus Company in New York’s Chinatown

By MICHAEL WILSON

Five masked young men robbed a Chinatown bus company’s office at gunpoint on Sunday afternoon, binding five people with duct tape and fleeing with thousands of dollars in cash, the police and the company’s president said.

The robbery occurred at 15 Division Street, at the offices of Golden Express Company, one of several low-cost bus lines in Chinatown that take passengers to and from Atlantic City.

The president of the company, May Chow, said the five men burst into the third-floor office shortly after 12:30 p.m.

“There were these five guys, five young fellows wearing ski masks,” Mrs. Chow said. “One of them jumped over the counter and said: ‘This is a holdup, I’m not kidding. Where is the safe?’ I told him there is no safe in the office. He said, ‘Where is the money?’ I went back and got money from my bag.”

Mrs. Chow said the robbers spotted envelopes with the weekend’s earnings and took them. “They took our sales,” she said. “Three days’ worth. We haven’t really gotten the total yet, but it’s more than $27,000.”

Testimony of Noah Budnick, Deputy Director, Advocacy, Transportation Alternatives to the New York City Council Transportation | Transportation Alternatives

Testimony of Noah Budnick, Deputy Director, Advocacy, Transportation Alternatives to the New York City Council Transportation Committe Hearing on Introductions 24 and 58, Regarding Businesses Which Employ Commercial Cyclists

Cycling News: T.A. Launches

Cycling News T.A. Launches "Working Cyclists" Program Safety education for food delivery cyclists and couriers

The image of cyclists as sidewalk riding maniacs who bully and threaten pedestrians poisons political support for cycling. Unfortunately, it has become a New York City stereotype, just like demented cab drivers. In neighborhoods like the Upper East and West Sides, persistent problems with pedestrian-unfriendly cyclists, many of them in a rush to deliver food, has created considerable enmity towards all cyclists. It has also contributed to the city council's endless attempt to ratchet up the penalties for cycling offenses, and distracted lawmakers and the public from the far more dangerous problem of reckless motor vehicle drivers. In 2002, the city council once again raised the penalty for cycling on the sidewalk, though it did not increase any penalties for driving or parking on sidewalks, or hitting pedestrians in crosswalks. People's aggravation with sidewalk cycling also fuels opposition to cycling projects and makes city agencies and elected officials more wary of supporting cycling improvements.

In an effort to improve bicyclist and pedestrian safety and improve the image of bicyclists, T.A. has launched the "Working Cyclists: Safety education for couriers and food delivery cyclists" campaign. The goal is to get bicycles off sidewalks and reduce the number of bicycle-pedestrian crashes, injuries and near misses. As part of this campaign, we are working on getting businesses to take responsibility for the actions of their working cyclists.

The Working Cyclists campaign fills an education void. Most working cyclists, many of whom are new immigrants, receive zero safety training from their employers. Few employers are familiar with the New York City laws that pertain to working cyclists.

T.A. is working with city council members, the NYPD and community boards to develop materials and target businesses to increase safety. This summer, T.A. developed trilingual, English-Spanish and English-Chinese safety classes, manuals and posters that teach working cyclists and their employers the laws of bike riding
in New York City. Over the fall, T.A. will teach safety classes to businesses identified by elected officials, the NYPD, community boards and the public.

The project will initially focus on Midtown Manhattan and the Upper East and West Sides, where sidewalks are jammed with pedestrians and the dangerous behavior of many working cyclists is a chronic problem.

Bicycle Blueprint - Food Delivery Bicyclists

As enmity toward bicycle messengers has eased in recent years, many New York pedestrians have discovered a new bicycle bête noire — food delivery cyclists. Although data aren't available, the number of such cyclists appears to be at an all-time high, as prepared foods grow ever more popular. Speed is paramount in food delivery, since customers look for their meals to arrive quickly and oven-hot. Not surprisingly, then, many delivery cyclists surpass even commercial bike messengers in flouting the law; wrong-way cycling and riding on sidewalks are particularly common, especially in neighborhoods like the Upper East Side, where car gridlock is endemic. Many riders elect to use the sidewalks for short-haul deliveries rather than risk riding against traffic on busy avenues.

In this climate, City Council Member Charles Millard has had little trouble obtaining co-sponsors for his bill authorizing police to confiscate commercial bicycles ridden on sidewalks. (Other bills in Millard's package would intensify enforcement against cars parked in bike lanes and red light-running cabbies.) Although cycling traffic on sidewalks is onerous, one notes that, as in other crackdowns on cyclists, simple education hasn't been tried first.

At the start of 1993, Transportation Alternatives and the City DoT were preparing to distribute multi-lingual leaflets targeting Chinese delivery cyclists, who by acculturation often ride against traffic. Signs identifying restaurant ownership of delivery bikes might also bring community pressure to bear against dangerous riding. Over the long haul, cracking down on dangerous motorists and discouraging driving in general would make the streets safer for everyone while making it easier for cyclists to stick to the roads.

Philadelphia program an alternative to check-cashing firms | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/23/2008

Posted on Thu, Oct. 23, 2008

Philadelphia program an alternative to check-cashing firms

By Harold Brubaker

Inquirer Staff Writer

Darnell Deans Sr. spends $21 every other week to cash his paycheck because he does not have a bank account.

The 52-year-old North Philadelphia resident says he thinks banks are a hassle. "When you open up an account, you have to have a certain kind of money to put in there. There's always so many kinds of stipulations," Deans said.

Even so, spending $546 a year to access his paycheck pains him. "I could have used that money," he said, referring to the thousands he has spent over the years.

Deans is among the estimated 81,000 Philadelphians with no bank accounts, known in the financial industry as "unbanked." All Philadelphians spent $12.6 million at check-cashing services on $503 million worth of checks, the Brookings Institution said.

To combat that drain on neighborhood wealth, federal and city officials yesterday launched Bank on Philadelphia, a program modeled on an effort in San Francisco to get low- and moderate-income residents into the mainstream banking system.

Having a bank account not only saves money, but it also acts as a "shield against the financial predators that are out there in the market," said Laurie Magid, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

...

Organizers estimated then that 50,000 households in San Francisco were unbanked, spokeswoman Leigh Phillips said. As of June, 18,558 accounts were open under the program. "We think it's pretty significant," she said.

Valerie Klein, director of program quality at the nonprofit Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Delaware Valley, said her research found that some people without bank accounts were efficient at working mainstream and alternative financial systems. They cashed their paycheck at the issuing bank and took the money to a check casher to pay bills with money orders.

Others preferred the convenience of check cashers, where they can cash their check, get a money order and buy a stamp. "They could do everything at one place and do it after work when the bank wasn't open," Klein said.

There is no clear link between the lack of bank branches in an area and residents' use of check cashers. Of course, no one is limited to their neighborhood for those services.

Bank and credit-union branches outnumber check cashers in Philadelphia 2-1.

Based on a breakdown by zip code, the city's Kingsessing neighborhood has the largest number of unbanked residents, 13,652, according to the U.S. Treasury. There are no bank branches there, but also only one check casher.

16 Arrests Made In Asian Organized Crime Bust - News Story - WNBC | New York

NEW YORK -- Sixteen people linked to Asian organized crime were arrested overnight by a task force of FBI, NYPD, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigators for allegedly extorting bus companies, WNBC.com has learned.

Law enforcement sources told WNBC.com that a federal indictment charges the individuals with various acts of violence and extortion targeting operators of bus companies which do business between New York and east coast cities.

Fifteen of the arrests took place in the New York City metropolitan area and one other person was arrested in Florida, sources said.

Details about the charges are expected to be released later today as the those arrested appear in federal court in Manhattan.

Fifteen of the arrests took place in the New York City metropolitan area and one other person was arrested in Florida, sources said.

Privitzation of Urban Transit: The Los Anegles Jitney Experiences,

Teal, Roger F. and Terry Nemer, "Privitzation of Urban Transit: The Los Anegles Jitney Experiences," Transportation, 13 (1986) 1- 17

Abstract

This paper reports on a recent attempt to provide private transit in the form of jitney service in downtown Los Angeles. It describes the process undertaken to initiate jitney service and the resultant organization's structure and operation. A survey of jitney passengers provided information on the users and their tripmaking characteristics. A group of loyal jitney riders emerged who patronized the service because of its lower travel times and more personalized atmosphere. This group formed the core of frequent users. The Los Angeles experience is analyzed in terms of the economic feasibility of jitney service and the impact on the financial status of public transit. The public transit agency experienced a slight negative financial impact as a result of the jitney service. Ridership during peak hours declined somewhat but the jitney service was not frequent enough to carry sufficient passengers to allow the transit agency to cut costly peak hour service. This analysis shows that the jitney service ultimately was not an economically successful operation. The factors which would have increased the likelihood of success were increased frequency of service and higher fares, which would have been sustainable if not for unexpected developments in public transit financing. A labor pool willing to work for low wages, high transit use in the central city, relatively high transit fares and the availability of inexpensive vehicles appear to be prerequisites to a successful urban jitney operation.

WNYC - News - Chinatown Falls on Hard Times

Chinatown Falls on Hard Times
by Wilma Consul
...

NEW YORK, NY January 23, 2006 —Much of the Jewish Lower East Side has been lost over time replaced by new immigrants from other parts of the world, particularly China. Those seeking their fortunes in Manhattan's Chinatown are in for a surprise -- Chinatown has fallen on hard times. Its economy has not bounced back since the street closures caused by the collapse of the World Trade Towers on 9-11, but other factors have contributed to the downturn, too. Reporter Wilma Consul takes a look, and asks what's ahead for the neighborhood that was once an important immigrant enclave in the City.

...

REPORTER: Kwong says this newest group of immigrants has created a vibrant business sector that serves the needs of Chinese businesses everywhere.

KWONG: People will call all over the country, and say: Hey, you know I need three restaurant help. Could you send them over? It's almost like day laborer situation. They go all the way as south as Georgia, north as Maine and west as Chicago. So this is the heart of cheap labor supply.

REPORTER: This demand prompted the creation of the now very popular low-priced Chinatown buses. They transport Chinese speaking workers to their destinations without getting lost.

NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: SUNSET PARK

July 7, 1996

NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: SUNSET PARK;Illegal Van Express Overtakes Slow Trains to Chinatown

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Shortly after 5 o'clock on a muggy afternoon last week, Connie Lui, spent from a long day poring over ledgers, hopped out of a powder blue Dodge van that rolled along Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park. For more than a year now, Ms. Lui has relied on the army of vans that line Eighth Avenue during rush hour to take her to and from the Chinatown meat market where she works as an accountant.

The ride costs $1.75 each way, sometimes only $1.50. To Ms. Lui, the 45-minute ride in the back of a van packed with fellow Chinese-speaking New Yorkers is far more comfortable than a longer trek on the N or R subway lines -- known among some Brooklynites as the Never and the Rarely. "The subway is dirty and dangerous," she said, shaking her head. "If we can choose, we prefer the van."

But not everybody has kind words for the estimated 100 vans that connect thousands of commuters like Ms. Lui between Chinatown and Sunset Park. Nearly a year after the City Council approved a law allowing the so-called "dollar vans" to obtain licenses to operate legally, the unlicensed, sometimes dangerous, vans that ply the streets of Sunset Park have expanded their service, opting to take passengers straight to Manhattan. In other parts of the city, vans drop riders at subway stations. Transit Authority officials were not available for comment on Friday.

Police in the 72nd Precinct, which has jurisdiction over portions of Sunset Park, say the illegal vans frequently lack insurance, seat belts and fire extinguishers. Other critics, including Councilwoman Joan Griffin McCabe, charge that during rush hour, the vans clog traffic and scoop up scarce parking spots along Eighth Avenue. And legal van operators -- only 3 among an estimated 9 or 10 in Sunset Park -- are infuriated by what they perceive to be unfair competition.

"They would like to rob our business," fumed Peter Wong, the owner of 183 Van Service, which runs six vans. "They try to lower their prices to $1, $1.50."

Paul Mak, president of the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association, defended the illegal operators. He said they cannot keep prices affordable for the neighborhood's low-income immigrants and meet the city's costly and complicated licensing requirements -- insurance alone, according to Mr. Wong, costs about $10,000 a year. "These van operators are just filling the service gap between the M.T.A. and the subway system," Mr. Mak argued.

Police in the 72d precinct have stepped up enforcement in recent months, said Police Officer Chris Dirusso, but the summonses and occasional confiscations of vans do little to clear the dollar vans from Eighth Avenue. "It's pretty much a revolving door," he said. "We do what we can."

One driver of an illegal van on Eighth Avenue who insisted on anonymity shrugged when asked about the stepped-up enforcement. On the day that the police issue tickets, said the driver through an interpreter, he stays off the road. SOMINI SENGUPTA

Please update bus/van services listings [Archive] - Prison Talk

Listing of buses to/from to prisons

Prison Talk > U.S. REGIONAL FORUMS > NEW YORK > NY DOC - What You Need to Know > New York Prison Visitation - General Q&A > Please update bus/van services listings

Zhong Hua Flushing-Chinatown Shuttle Van Service - Queens/Downtown Flushing - New York, NY

Yelp review

Zhong Hua Flushing-Chinatown Shuttle Van Service
2 reviews

Category: Public Transportation
Neighborhood: Queens/Downtown Flushing
Main St & 41st Ave
Division St between Market St & Bowery, New York, NY
New York, NY 10002

18th National Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation Conference

The 18th National Conference on Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation will be held October 19-22, 2008 in Omaha, Nebraska.

COMINGS AND GOINGS; Budget Bus Fares As Low as $1

Now you can travel comfortably between New York City and Toronto without spending your entire budget en route. Neon, a new low-fare bus service from Greyhound Canada and Adirondack Trailways, offers two daily departures from both cities for as little as $1 (there is at least one $1 seat on every bus) -- although a $25-to-$75 price range is more likely -- one way. Buses have video screens, Wi-Fi service and power outlets. Customers board in New York outside Penn Station and in Toronto at the Royal York Hotel. Walk-up tickets cost $85 (one way), and the better deals (the earlier the reservation, the lower the price) are available at www.greyhound.com.

COMMUTER VAN DRIVERS SAY RENEGADES SWIPE BIZ

* COMMUTER VAN DRIVERS SAY RENEGADES SWIPE BIZ

By AUSTIN FENNER

Friday, May 1th 1998, 2:04AM

Competition for van passengers between the Chinatowns in Sunset Park and Manhattan is so fierce that licensed operators say a swarm of speedier illegal minivans has stolen three-fourths of their business.

The licensed 14-passenger commuter van companies say they are being driven out of business by seven-passenger minivan drivers who also ply Eighth Ave.

in the 50s and 60s, the main commercial strip for the Asian community in Sunset Park. Commuter vans are licensed to provide service from Sunset Park to Canal St. in Manhattan.

The minivans usually are licensed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, but only to answer telephone requests, and not to stop for street hails, the head of the commuter van trade association said.

More than half of commuter vans towed after inspections - Hudson County - NJ.com

More than half of commuter vans towed after inspections

by Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal Tuesday September 23, 2008, 3:02 PM

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office towed 15 of 27 jitneys pulled over today in West New York, part of a continuing campaign to enforce safety laws that officials concede is having little impact.

"It still seems that there is a lack of compliance here and as far as our office is concerned, we are going to move forward and protect the citizens of Hudson County by conducting more of these stops to enforce the law," said Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Zevits.

Surprise inspections began at about 7 a.m. at 59th Street off Bergenline Avenue.

About 151 safety violation were cited during the inspections, by the state Motor Vehicle Commission Commercial Bus Unit, West New York police, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office and the Hudson County Sheriff's Office, Zevits said. Police also issued 35 motor vehicle tickets, Zevits said.

Safety violations included bad brakes, cracked frames, fuel leaks and safety equipment violations including bad windows and missing fire extinguishers, Zevits said. Motor vehicle summonses were issued for uninsured vehicles, expired drivers licenses and failure to produce medical cards, Zevits said.

West New York resident Santos Mercedes said he doesn't understand why police pulled him over and inspect his van when he had a good inspection sticker and his paperwork is in order.

"I was just driving on Bergenline around 7:50 a.m. and I was stopped by a policeman and I gave him my license and registration and everything was up to date," Mercedes said. "I had in my bus like 25 passengers and he made me take out all my passengers in the middle of street. They have to go to work. Maybe some of them will lose their jobs."

Mercedes said that in the end, he was allowed to drive away with no citations, adding that last month his van was towed at a cost of $850.

The Prosecutor's Office's Insurance Fraud Unit has conducted more than a dozen surprise inspections of commuter vans in Hudson County over the past two years.

Judge Rejects Most of Law On Commuter Van Licenses - New York Times

By ANTHONY RAMIREZ

Published: March 24, 1999

Backers of the private commuter vans, often called ''dollar vans,'' that serve poor and working-class neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, won a legal victory last week. If it stands, the decision is certain to sharply increase the number of licensed vans in New York City.

In a decision reached Thursday and made public yesterday, Justice Louis B. York of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan intervened in a six-year-old clash between Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who backs licensing more vans, and the City Council, which does not.

Justice York struck down most of a 1993 law passed by the Council giving it the power to reject van licenses already approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which is part of the Mayor's office.

There are 362 licensed vans in the city, carrying about 40,000 passengers daily. Among those vans are fewer than a dozen licensed vans approved by the City Council, which has rejected nearly all of the applications from the taxi commission. But estimates of the number of illegal vans vary from 1,000 to 5,000, with many operating part time and without regular safety inspections.

The dollar vans, which carry 20 or fewer passengers, first emerged in 1980 when a transit workers' strike disrupted bus service. Since then, the vans have continued in neighborhoods with little bus service. But van ridership has been hurt recently by the introduction of bus and subway discounts with the Metrocard. Proponents hail the vans as examples of free enterprise, but opponents -- notably the transit unions -- fear they may hurt mass transit.

Justice York ruled that the Council's law, known as Local Law 115, violated the constitutional separation of powers by allowing the Council to administer rather than write a law. ''This it cannot do,'' the judge wrote in a ruling on an October 1997 suit filed by the Mayor against the Council. The Mayor's suit followed a February 1997 suit filed by van operators against the City of New York. In that suit, Justice York ruled in favor of the van operators.

Midtown - Buses Near Port Authority Terminal Called a Neighborhood Nuisance - NYTimes.com

October 5, 2008

Midtown

A Glut of Buses at the Crossroads of the World

By SAKI KNAFO

AT the Manhattan Plaza Health Club, on West 43rd Street near 10th Avenue, members often discuss the peculiar challenges of living in a neighborhood that also happens to be the crossroads of the world. But lately, the chats on the treadmills have focused on one particular issue: the swelling ranks of private buses and vans that pick up passengers in the area — not from the Port Authority Bus Terminal, on Eighth Avenue, but from the streets nearby.

“They’re everywhere,” said Piper Smith, an illustrators’ agent who is a regular at the club. “They seem to be reproducing as we speak.”

The largely white vehicles shuttle passenger to and from New Jersey at all hours. During peak travel times, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, dozens of vehicles line up along both sides of 42nd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues while customers wait in dense clusters on the sidewalk.

It’s hard to say just how many buses congregate on these blocks, but few doubt that the number is increasing. Norberto Curitomai, the owner of Spanish Transportation Corporation of Paterson, N.J., one of four major busing companies in the area, says that his fleet of 180 vehicles has added 10 to 15 new vehicles each year since 2001.

Like most — though not all — of the companies, Mr. Curitomai’s firm is registered with the city’s Department of Transportation, which allows his vehicles to quickly load and unload passengers by a designated stretch of Eighth Avenue near 41st Street. What particularly vexes local residents, however, is what happens when the buses aren’t picking up passengers.

“These vehicles need to make three left turns to get to the tunnel,” Ms. Smith said of the Lincoln route. “When they’re not being used, they hide all over the neighborhood.”

Pollution is another concern. “When these buses are waiting for their time to pick up and stuff,” she said, “they don’t turn of the motor. It just idles.”

2008 Extra Mile Awards - Budget Travel

Megabus: Taking buses to the next level Call it prescient: In the past year, Megabus has expanded its operations to 25 cities in the United States and Canada as fuel costs have risen, giving travelers a cheap alternative to driving and flying when they need it most. The bus line keeps its fares extremely low—starting from $1 for the first few people who book seats on each bus—by selling tickets online and doing pickups and drop-offs in the centers of cities rather than at terminals. At the same time, Megabus hasn't skimped on quality—its double-decker fleet is equipped with free Wi-Fi, video screens, headsets, and seat belts. Plus, many buses run on biodiesel fuel. "We're conscious of what the traveling public wants," says Dale Moser, president and chief operating officer. "We're saving people money but still giving them a coach outfitted with the latest technology." Now even the 94-year-old grande dame of bus companies, Greyhound, is rethinking its business model. Greyhound joined with competitors this year to launch two bus lines, BoltBus and NeOn, with similar low fares and high-tech amenities. Megabus didn't start a trend, it reinvented bus travel for a new generation. —Jean Tang

The Downside of Low-Cost Buses (Gotham Gazette, September 2008)

The Downside of Low-Cost Buses
by Graham T. Beck
18 Sep 2008

On a recent Wednesday evening, Erin Brown waited for the Fung Wah bus to Boston with a dozen or so other people on a crowded Canal Street sidewalk. "It's such a crush - the people, the vendors, the cars, narrow sidewalks, narrow streets. I don't know why they leave from here, but the price is right," she said.

Brown is not alone in her sentiment. It often feels as though every inch of Chinatown is jam-packed. Cars clogs street from the Manhattan Bridge to the Holland Tunnel. Sidewalks overflow with tourists, workers and neighborhood residents. Stalls spill out from shops, and lately it seems that every few blocks there is a line of 20 or so people queuing up for an interstate bus.

The buses are nothing new. Since 1998, companies like Fung Wah, using spaces reserved for tour buses or agreed upon spots in the neighborhood, have run curbside operations, picking up and dropping off passengers. The recent surge in travel costs, though, has made more outfits see the benefits of such a low-overhead way of doing business. This means more buses jamming city streets and curbsides and more bus queues on already crowded sidewalks.

It has reached the point, according to City Councilmember Alan Gerson, where there now are more interstate bus pick-ups and drop-offs in Chinatown each day than there are at the Port Authority. Although the competition has driven down prices for travelers, it has created some difficult situations for neighborhood residents, passing pedestrians and local businesses.

Jet Set, Meet the Bus Bunch - NYTimes.com

September 26, 2008
Jet Set, Meet the Bus Bunch
By TRACIE ROZHON

KENNY BASCOM stood near the steering wheel of his BoltBus, just about to leave from West 33rd Street in Manhattan, bound for Washington. He called his passengers to attention.

"Can I put a rule in?" he asked. "This bus doesn't move unless you smile. And here's another thing: You got cellphones? Use 'em."

There was a buzz of disbelief.

Use the cellphones? Plug in the laptops! Chat with your fellow passengers and laugh - guilt-free - with a friendly driver at the helm and very comfortable seats all around you.

All for $25 or less, sometimes much less, depending on when you reserve. B.Y.O.F. (bring your own food).

Starting about a dozen years ago with the so-called Chinatown buses, which were the first to offer a minimum of frills (and schedules), Route I-95 between Boston and Washington has become jammed with cheap express buses with jazzy names and the design and Web sites to match: BoltBus (online, tap a key and watch lightning strike!), Megabus (a huge, cherubic driver is emblazoned on the side of the bus), DC2NY, Washington Deluxe and others.

Capitalizing on the success of those first Chinatown buses, the big boys got into the business - BoltBus is owned by Greyhound, and Megabus by a large Scottish transportation company, Stagecoach Group, through its subsidiary Coach USA. As the companies refine their service, the cheap express bus experience just keeps changing, competing to offer amenities: BoltBus now offers plugs for electrical appliances; Washington Deluxe has just added Dupont Circle to its list of Washington stops.

Judging by a recent round trip from New York to Washington - down on BoltBus, back on Megabus - the changes are being seen and, for the most part, appreciated by the passengers, a surprisingly diverse group.

SPLCenter.org: Anti-Immigration Movement

Anti-Immigration Movement

FAIR Front Group Slams Migrants on Traffic Intelligence Report

Fall 2008

Next time you find yourself stuck in traffic miles from work — or school or home or daycare — don't blame poor urban planning, low carpooling rates or inadequate public transportation.

Blame immigrants.

That's right, according to high-profile ads placed this summer in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Nation and other publications by a new front group for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and two other anti-immigrant hate groups. The ads, which are based on dubious statistical analysis, claim that an immigration-fueled population boom will dramatically worsen traffic congestion and destroy pristine lands.

How Many Americans?

By Steven A. Camarota
Tuesday, September 2, 2008; A15

When the Census Bureau released its new population projections last month, most of the media focused on the country's changing racial composition. But this was almost certainly not the most important finding. The projections show that the U.S. population will grow by 135 million in just 42 years -- a 44 percent increase. Such growth would have profound implications for our environment and quality of life. Most of the increase would be a direct result of one federal policy -- immigration. If we reduced the level of immigration, the projections would be much lower. The question we have to ask ourselves is: Do we want to be a much more densely settled country?

Native-born Americans have only about two children on average, which makes for a roughly stable population over time. But with an estimated 1.5 million legal and illegal immigrants settling in the country each year, and about 900,000 births to these immigrants each year, immigration directly and indirectly accounts for at least three-fourths of U.S. population growth.

An increase of 135 million people by 2050 is equivalent to the entire populations of Mexico and Canada moving here. Assuming the same ratio of population to infrastructure that exists today, the United States would need to build and pay for 36,000 schools. We would need to develop enough land to accommodate 52 million new housing units, along with places for the people who lived in them to shop and work. We would also have to construct enough roads to handle 106 million more vehicles.

The Downside of Low-Cost Buses (Gotham Gazette, September 2008)

Gotham Gazette - http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/transportation/20080918/16/2648

The Downside of Low-Cost Buses
by Graham T. Beck
18 Sep 2008

SSRC Books B; Blog Archive B; Researching Migration: Stories from the Field

Researching Migration: Stories from the Field

DeSipio, Louis, Manuel Garcia y Griego, and Sherri Kossoudji, eds.

New York: Social Science Research Council, 2007.

An SSRC Book of essays by Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellows designed to offer general lessons on the selection , combination, and use of various quantitative and qualitative research methods

In this web-publication, fellows of the International Migration Program reflect upon their experience conducting research on international migration to the United States. Although their essays describe the substantive findings of their research, their main focus is on the multiple methods employed in producing those findings. The narratives of methodological practices in this publication have been selected in part because they address central themes and questions of international migration studies and will be substantively relevant to the research findings of other scholars in the field. More significantly, the experiences of these researchers have broader relevance and can be useful to all social scientists who are wondering how to cope with the methodological issues that will ultimately determine the validity of their findings, both within the social sciences and for the public debates that they hope to inform.

An East Coast Latino Lifeline, on the Road for 30 Years - NYTimes.com

September 14, 2008

An East Coast Latino Lifeline, on the Road for 30 Years

By KIRK SEMPLE

ABOARD OMNIBUS LA CUBANA — It was shortly after 1 p.m. when the bus, its garish designs glinting in the late summer sunlight, pulled away from the curb on Broadway in Upper Manhattan and headed toward Miami.

The mood inside was pensive as the passengers tugged sweaters, snacks and travel pillows from their bags and prepared for the long trip. They were all Latino and mostly immigrants, each with a different reason for being there. Taking vacations. Looking for work. Fleeing bad decisions. Chasing dreams.

A Cuban-American widow was returning to Miami after visiting her husband’s grave in Union City, N.J. A Chilean chef was leaving one job in Manhattan and hoping to find another in South Florida. A Dominican musician living in Washington Heights was bound for a three-day recording session that he hoped would provide his big break.

“We carry all sorts of people: good people, bad people, all types,” said Carlos Rodriguez, 40, a Cuban émigré and one of the bus’s two drivers. “It’s life.”

For decades, New York and Miami have been the capitals of Latino life on the East Coast, linked by culture, business, extended families and a superhighway, I-95. People have flowed easily between the two hubs, and for 30 years, this bus line, the Omnibus La Cubana, has been the transportation of choice for many.

Gendering Mobility: Women, Work and Automobility in the United States

Gendering Mobility: Women, Work and
Automobility in the United States
MARGARET WALSH

History
Volume 93 Issue 311, Pages 376 - 395
Published Online: 28 Jun 2008

ABSTRACT

This article examines women's relationship with car driving in the United States. The growth of American 'automobility' increased throughout the twentieth century, but most historians have ignored its relationship with women. They have assumed that the motor car was a masculine vehicle in terms of both its technology and use. Even those who recognized the motor car as a machine for changing lifestyles and interpersonal relationships considered that the male head of household had authority over choosing and driving the family vehicle. Some women, however, always drove. Though their numbers were relatively small in the years before the Second World War, they quickly seized the opportunity to get behind the wheel in succeeding years as more and more cars were produced in the United States and imported vehicles became popular. Women needed to drive to manage their unpaid work in the home efficiently and, when they entered the paid labour force in increasing numbers, they needed to run their households and to travel to their paid work. By the end of the twentieth century American women were as likely to drive as their male counterparts, though their patterns of driving were different. In the process, the automobile had become a sex neutral vehicle.

HASID LUST CAUSE - New York Post

HASID LUST CAUSE CULTURE CLASH

OVER SEXY CYCLISTS

By RICH CALDER
Posted: 3:47 am
September 12, 2008

It's the Hasids vs. the hotties in a Brooklyn bike war.

Leaders of South Wil liamsburg's Hasidic community said yesterday that bike lanes that bring scantily clad cyclists - especially sexy women - peddling through their neighborhood are definitely not kosher.

The red-faced religious sect is calling on city officials to eliminate the car-free lanes on Wythe and Bedford avenues, and to delay construction of a new one planned for Kent Avenue.

...

The existing, one-way lanes are popular with North Williamsburg hipsters - many who ride in shorts or skirts.

The temporary lane planned for Kent Avenue would be a precursor to a 14-mile greenway stretching from Newtown Creek in Greenpoint to Sunset Park.

Hasids are forbidden from looking at members of the opposite sex who aren't fully dressed, said local activist Isaac Abraham.

Weisser and other Hasids said during a Sept. 8 community-board meeting that the lanes on Bedford and Wythe avenues should be eliminated if the neighborhood has to accept being part of the greenway.

The issue of dress - or lack of it - wasn't brought up at the meeting. Weisser and the other Hasids instead complained publicly about bike lanes allegedly causing parking problems and traffic congestion.

UCLA Academic Technology Services - Choosing the Correct Statistical Test in SAS

What statistical analysis should I use?

The following table shows general guidelines for choosing a statistical analysis. We emphasize that these are general guidelines and should not be construed as hard and fast rules. Usually your data could be analyzed in multiple ways, each of which could yield legitimate answers. The table below covers a number of common analyses and helps you choose among them based on the number of dependent variables (sometimes referred to as outcome variables), the nature of your independent variables (sometimes referred to as predictors). You also want to consider the nature of your dependent variable, namely whether it is an interval variable, ordinal or categorical variable, and whether it is normally distributed (see What is the difference between categorical, ordinal and interval variables? for more information on this). The table then shows one or more statistical tests commonly used given these types of variables (but not necessarily the only type of test that could be used) and links showing how to do such tests using SAS, Stata and SPSS.

Hazleton's anti-illegal immigrant law back in court -- themorningcall.com

Hazleton's anti-illegal immigrant law back in court
Panel of judges to hear case four days before Nov. 4 election in which mayor is running for Congress.

By John J. Moser |Of The Morning Call

September 9, 2008

Hazleton will get to argue before a federal appeals court on Oct. 31 that a judge wrongly struck down the city's ordinance making it illegal to hire or rent housing to illegal immigrants, Mayor Lou Barletta announced Monday.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to have the appeal heard by a three-judge panel, and recent rulings by other federal appeals courts have given the city hope it can prevail, said Kris Kobach and Hank Mahoney, attorneys representing the city in defending its Illegal Immigration Relief Act

Fleet Owners Sue City on Hybrid Cab Rules - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog

September 9, 2008, 4:19 pm
Fleet Owners Sue City on Hybrid Cab Rules
By William Neuman

A taxi industry group filed a lawsuit [pdf] in federal court on Monday seeking to block a city requirement that all new taxis meet stringent fuel efficiency standards that would make most cabs hybrid vehicles, a key part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s push to cut pollution and make city policies more sensitive to environmental concerns.

The city’s new taxi rule, which is set to go into effect on October 1, requires that all new taxis have a fuel efficiency rating of at least 25 miles per gallon for city driving, a standard that is currently met mostly by hybrid vehicles.

In the lawsuit, lawyers for the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, which represents large fleet owners, charge that the rule violates federal laws that say only the federal government can set rules on fuel efficiency and vehicle emissions. (The lawsuit was also filed on behalf of a driver and companies that own and lease cabs.)

The lawsuit also claims that hybrid taxis are unsafe, in part because they are smaller and lighter than the Ford Crown Victoria, the standard taxi cab for many years, making passengers and drivers inside the hybrids more susceptible to injury in an accident.

A spokeswoman for the city legal department declined to comment on the suit, saying that city lawyers had not yet received the legal papers. The Taxi and Limousine Commission has previously said that it is confident that the hybrid cabs are safe.

Battlefield Latest Holdup for Rail Line - NYTimes.com

September 7, 2008
Battlefield Latest Holdup for Rail Line
By COLEEN DEE BERRY

MANALAPAN

WHEN prosperous central New Jersey farmers built the Freehold-Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad in the early 1850s, little did they suspect they would be laying the ground for a controversy a century and a half later.

The rail line the farmers created to transport crops ran straight through the heart of one of the largest American Revolution battlefields. On June 28, 1778, George Washington's Continental Army fought the British to what many historians consider a draw in what later became known as the Battle of Monmouth.

When the farmers built their railroad about 75 years later smack through the site of the old battlefield, no one objected.

"In the 1850s the farmers were most concerned about getting their crops to New York City, not with preserving a battlefield," said James T. Raleigh, president of the Friends of Monmouth Battlefield.

Now, that same rail line seems to be an ideal location for a new commuter rail plan to serve parts of central New Jersey, an idea that officials from Monmouth and Ocean Counties have been promoting. The problem is, the old battlefield was granted National Landmark status in 1966, and New Jersey and National Park Service officials object to the line running through the historic site.

...

The battlefield objection is the latest in a long line of roadblocks to the Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex rail line, often called the MOM line. Proponents contend that the passenger line is needed to ease congestion in the Route 9 corridor.

Cartography of Protest and Social Changes | Conflux Festival

Cartography of Protest and Social Changes

This panel discussion will take place at Conflux HQ on Sunday, September 14, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Project Description::

The spread of global positioning systems, interactive geolocating tools and social networks have ensured that mapping is even more fashionable than the new black.

New technologies have not just freed us from the curse of impossibly difficult to fold and unfold paper maps, they have freed geographical data themselves. At least, that’s what it says on the box. Until recently, the representation of territory was coming “from above”. Maps were conceded exclusively by structures of power. Today instead, they are built by individuals who re-frame the urban space according to new coordinates.

The panel will introduce the work of a new breed of cartographers who know that even the most innocent-looking map has its own agenda and that far from being neutral accessories which would merely help you find your way in urban space, maps are often used as instruments for controlling and shaping beliefs. Conversely, maps can be at the service of protest and social change.

Speakers: Lize Mogel, John Emerson and Brooke Singer.
Moderator: Régine Debatty.

ANGER AT MIKE THE ROAD HOG - New York Post

ANGER AT MIKE THE ROAD HOG PEDESTRIAN ISLANDS DRIVE MOTORISTS NUTS
By CHUCK BENNETT and MELISSA JANE KRONFELD
Posted: 3:28 am
September 2, 2008

With his congestion-pricing plan reduced to roadkill, Mayor Bloomberg is making city drivers miserable with a series of pedestrian-friendly projects.

One of the biggest headaches for them has been the Broadway pedestrian islands - plazas that stretch onto the road - a popular summer feature that Midtown denizens expect will be deserted come the cold weather, even as they still tie up traffic.

"In the winter, it won't even be used," griped office worker Jeffrey Gottlieb, 47. "Broadway already is down to 1½ lanes after you take the FedEx trucks making deliveries."

Other road rage-inducing projects include a bus corridor down 34th Street, a bike lane on Ninth Avenue from West 16th to West 23rd streets, and a bike lane on Greenwich and Washington streets.

The most dramatic changes have been on Broadway, which, with the islands, has gone from four lanes to two from Times Square to Herald Square.

"I think it is completely useless . . . It doesn't do anything for Midtown," said New Jersey commuter Jason Silitsky, 24.

Candidate Issue Index: Transportation - Brookings Institution

Candidate Issue Index: Transportation
Transportation, Infrastructure, Traffic, Cities, Regions and States
Robert Puentes, Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program
The Brookings Institution

Opportunity 08, a Brookings project in partnership with ABC News, aims to help presidential candidates and the public focus on critical issues facing the nation, providing ideas, policy forums, and information on a broad range of domestic and foreign policy questions. Brookings is an independent think tank (501c3) that does not support or oppose any candidate for public office. Voters should learn all they can about the candidates on a range of issues and should not rely on any single source of information before making their decision.

Booting Windows XP From An External Drive - Mac Guides

Booting Windows XP From An External Drive

Bus driver is in good condition after Route 80 crash - Breaking News From New Jersey - NJ.com

Bus driver is in good condition after Route 80 crash
by Julie O'Connor and Al Frank/The Star-Ledger
Saturday August 23, 2008, 3:48 PM

The driver of a tour bus that slid down an embankment along Route 80 on Friday remained hospitalized today, in good condition, a spokesperson said.

Everett Phillips, 48, was driving an Atlantic Express charter bus from Manhattan to Niagara Falls when it was clipped by another charter, then fell onto its side and slid down an embankment in Roxbury, Morris County.

About 80 passengers were aboard the two buses, but just two were admitted to Morristown Memorial Hospital, including Phillips, who suffered a back injury. Most other travelers walked away with scrapes and bruises.

No summonses have been issued, state police said.

Today, a representative from Hummingbird Tours of Deltona, Fla., the charter bus traveling behind Phillips, said its driver, Tommy Martin, 57, of Tampa, Fla., has not been involved in past accidents, but declined further comment.

Atlantic Express, which owns the charter bus driven by Phillips, could not be reached for comment.

The accident occurred at about 10:10 a.m. Friday after Phillips' bus braked for traffic and was clipped by as bus behind it, said Sgt. Julian Castellanos, a State Police spokesman.

The second bus, driven by Martin, continued across two lanes of Route 80, hitting a minivan that became wedged between the bus and a guardrail after it clipped the left rear of a tractor trailer.

Neither the minivan driver nor any of the 27 passengers aboard the second bus was hospitalized. They had been bound for the Poconos from New York.

The group on the toppled bus left Chinatown in Manhattan about an hour before the crash, which forced their bus over the concrete abutment of an overpass. It then flopped onto its right side and slid about 50 feet on a gradual slope, coming to a stop near Berkshire Valley Road.

The second bus stopped on the shoulder and was later towed while its 27 passengers were driven away on a replacement.

Of the 55 people on the first bus, 23 declined medical treatment and the rest were taken to area hospitals, Roxbury officials said. Most were discharged after treatment for bumps and bruises.

"It was a scary thing," said Vikram Mehta, 32, of Hartford, Conn, a passenger on the first bus. "We feel that we are lucky."

Curb rights : a foundation for free enterprise in urban transit / Daniel B. Klein, Adrian Moore, Binyam Reja.

Klein, Daniel B. . Curb rights : a foundation for free enterprise in urban transit / Daniel B. Klein, Adrian Moore, Binyam Reja. 0815749406 (alk. paper) series Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, c1997.
Call#: Lippincott Library LIPP HE4461 .K58 1997

Police and a Cyclists' Group, and Four Years of Clashes - NYTimes.com

August 4, 2008

Police and a Cyclists’ Group, and Four Years of Clashes

By JAMES BARRON

The New York City Police Department, with its 35,000 officers, has in recent years been on the front lines of the citywide decline in serious crime. It has protected visiting dignitaries like Pope Benedict XVI at events that drew thousands of people, and it has posted officers in foreign capitals to gather information on terrorism and trends that could threaten New York.

But the Police Department continues to be flummoxed by bicyclists riding together once a month.

Geography of immigrant labor markets : space, networks, and gender / Virginia Parks.

Parks, Virginia, 1970- . Geography of immigrant labor markets : space, networks, and gender / Virginia Parks. 1593320922 (alk. paper) series New York : LFB Scholarly Pub., 2005.
Call#: Van Pelt Library HD8081.A5 P365 2005

Journal of Transport and Land Use

Journal of Transport and Land Use The Journal of Transport and Land Use (JTLU) is a free, open-access, and peer-reviewed publication that welcomes articles on topics at the interdisciplinary intersection of transport and land use, including research from the domains of engineering, planning, modeling, behavior, economics, geography, regional science, sociology, architecture and design, network science, and complex systems.

NYSun - Fung Wah Is Getting Stuck In Low-Cost Bus Traffic Jam

Fung Wah Is Getting Stuck In Low-Cost Bus Traffic Jam

By DAVID PEPOSE, Special to the Sun | July 15, 2008

Ms. Wambaugh added that BoltBus competes with Fung Wah in price because its online ticket purchasing system and its curbside service lowers its maintenance and human resources costs. Furthermore, she said, Greyhound's contracts with fuel companies allow BoltBus to buy diesel fuel at reduced prices.

...

While Fung Wah employees declined to comment, a company consultant who requested anonymity said it was not cutting any staff and hadn't seen any change in demand as a result of the increased competition. The consultant said the company receives 5,000 hits a day on its Web site, and "on July 4th, we filled every single bus." \

...

Some officials said the popularity of buses is only temporary. "There's clearly more players in the industry serving these routes than can be sustained," the president of the Economic Development Research Group in Boston, Glen Weisbrod, said. "They're trying to see which can outlast each other, because no one can make money on the low fares they have now."

A student at Wellesley College, Yael Misrahi, said prices and safety concerns led her to the newer bus companies. She said she's been warned against Fung Wah "by many people and told it was unsafe. I heard the bus drivers are not certified and that the buses are old and uninsured. That's why I would never take it ... on the other hand, I feel very safe on the Megabus."

PhilaGeoHistory Maps

View selected historic maps and aerial photographs, mixed with current data from Google in a Google Maps viewer. The "crown jewel" is a full-city mosaic of the 1942 Philadelphia Land Use Maps.

This Just In: Budget Travel's Blog- The long-haul bus trip from hell - This Just In - Budget Travel

The long-haul bus trip from hell

Posted by: Thomas Berger, Thursday, Jul 10, 2008, 4:15 PM

If you travel up and down the East Coast between Washington, D.C., and Boston, you may have taken one of the many buses that run between the big cities' Chinatowns. Or you may wonder how they are. I’ve been a fan of the buses for some time, but they are not without their flaws.

My wife and I took a New Today bus from New York to D.C. on July 4 without incident, but the trip back (on Sunday, July 6) was rough. We arrived half an hour early, as advised, only to find about six busloads of people already waiting. (Not all of them were waiting for New Today buses; another company picks up passengers at the same place.) Some had been there for several hours. Each time a bus would come, a mob of people would rush to the door. Then the people at the back would start to push forward. It was hard enough to unload the buses, let alone get on one.

This was all very amusing until it started to rain. Hard. I don’t blame the bus company for the fact that I didn’t have an umbrella, but because of the crowds and the pushing even the people with umbrellas were getting soaked.

Eventually, someone called the police, and several officers arrived to provide much-needed crowd control. But of course the police could not conjure more buses.

We got on a bus about two and a half hours after our scheduled time (with some people who said they had been waiting for five hours), but the adventure wasn’t over. When we got to New York, the driver headed north from Midtown. When I asked where we were going, he said that the destination was 88th Street and Broadway. I explained that we needed to go to 88 E. Broadway, in Chinatown—about 95 blocks south from 88th.

A woman named Annie at the New York office said that New Today’s buses was running behind on Sunday because of holiday weekend traffic, which the rain only exacerbated. She also said that New Today had chartered other bus companies for the D.C.-New York route to resolve the problem, and that the driver of my bus must have misunderstood where he was supposed to go.

I don’t think New Today is worse than the other Chinatown bus companies, and they’re all preferable to Greyhound. But this experience did give me pause, and my wife says the lesson is that we shouldn’t travel on a holiday weekend.

City to Test Peak Rates for Parking Meters - NYTimes.com

July 10, 2008
City to Test Peak Rates for Parking Meters
By WILLIAM NEUMAN

Call it congestion parking.

In what amounts to congestion pricing for parking spaces, parking meter rates would double during heavy traffic periods in portions of Manhattan and Brooklyn as part of an experimental city program beginning this fall, officials said Wednesday.

The program's goal is to increase turnover in curbside parking spaces in the test areas - a section of Greenwich Village in Manhattan and a stretch of Kings Highway and adjacent streets in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn - so that drivers will spend less time cruising in search of an open space, according to the transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan.

Cutting down on cruising will in turn decrease pollution and traffic congestion. It is also expected to decrease the number of drivers who double-park or park in bus stops.

"We've picked corridors that have a lot of congestion and a lot of cruising," Ms. Sadik-Khan said. "Dealing with the cruising and congestion problem we think will improve both mobility in the neighborhood and reduce pollution, and improve the quality of life also in those areas."

If successful, the program could be expanded, she said. The pilot programs are expected to begin in October and will last six months.

In the Village, the higher parking rates would be charged in an area that stretches from Houston Street to Charles Street and includes portions of Seventh Avenue South and Avenue of the Americas. Currently, the area has parking meters that charge 25 cents for 15 minutes, or $1 an hour. Ms. Sadik-Khan said the meter rates would likely increase so that 25 cents would buy 6 to 7 1/2 minutes, which would be the equivalent of $2 to $2.50 an hour.

City Will Explore Broad Bike-Sharing Plan - NYTimes.com

July 10, 2008

City Will Explore Broad Bike-Sharing Plan

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

The city took a tentative step this week toward fulfilling the dream of a certain kind of urban idealist, saying that it will explore the possibility of creating a bike-sharing program that could make hundreds or even thousands of bicycles available for public use.

“This is a really big deal,” said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group for cyclists, pedestrians and transit riders. “In the realm of things you can do to boost bicycling in a city, bike-share is at the top of the list.”

The city asked companies and organizations interested in running a bike-sharing program to provide assessments of how it could work.

A similar program was started last year in Paris, using thousands of bicycles. A program with 120 bicycles was started earlier this year in Washington.

Bus, train passengers: Border Patrol racial profiling at times -- amNY.com

Border patrol agents upstate are increasingly arresting New York City undocumented immigrants aboard Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses, raising questions that the government sometimes resorts to racial profiling, immigration advocates and attorneys said.

The arrests have been an authorized practice for decades but seem to have hit a fevered pitch recently, according to advocates.

The patrols have sparked protests in the city as well as upstate, most recently last weekend in Syracuse, where a group said that agents have even targeted U.S. citizens who look "foreign". Immigration attorneys say witnesses have said that agents sometimes question only people of color.

"We are a nation of law, but is their enforcement money better spent going after criminals and youth gangs?" asked the Rev. Brian Jordan, of the Franciscan Immigration Center in Manhattan, who has counseled one Irish and 12 Mexican and Central American undocumented immigrants who were taken off Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains in the past year.

Word of the patrols has broken out in some immigrant communities, and people who have overstayed visas or who never had one are staying off trains.

"Certainly it sent shockwaves through the Irish community," said a Manhattan Irish pub owner, whose bartender was recently deported after Border Patrol agents found him on a bus without identification. "You're not safe anywhere."

Welcome - Reading Capital

Blog, Forum, and Wiki about Capital Volume 1

Drivers Feeling Shunned by D.C. - washingtonpost.com

Drivers Feeling Shunned by D.C.
City Less Welcoming to Suburban Cars

By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 6, 2008; Page A01

The District is escalating what some suburban commuters are calling its war against workers who drive into the city.
View Only Top Items in This Story

The city has changed parts of Constitution Avenue NE from a reversible commuter artery back to a quiet side street and is considering removing the reversible lane on 16th Street NW, a key commuting route from Montgomery County.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration also is studying closing the section of the Interstate 395 tunnel that connects with New York Avenue NW, expanding the use of speed cameras and increasing parking fees and enforcement. Fees for encroaching on a crosswalk would increase from $50 to $500 under a pedestrian safety proposal.

The District is moving toward becoming "the most anti-car city in the country," said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "They see commuters as the enemy."

City officials say that the moves are part of a policy of putting the needs of its residents and businesses before those of suburban commuters and that they are trying to create a walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented metropolis.

Like New York, London, Stockholm and Portland, Ore., District officials said, the city is reclaiming its streets for the people who live there. With billions of dollars invested in the Metro system, there are plenty of ways for commuters to get into the city without bringing exhaust-spewing vehicles with them, officials said.

Latest Plan for Corzine to Consider - Private Lanes on the Turnpike - NYTimes.com

Latest Plan for Corzine to Consider: Private Lanes on the Turnpike

By NATE SCHWEBER
Published: July 9, 2008

First, Gov. Jon S. Corzine all but offered to lease the New Jersey Turnpike to the highest bidder. Then he floated the bizarre bureaucratic notion of creating a public benefit corporation so the taxpaying public could, essentially, become a private entity and operate the turnpike and other highways (which are now run by a different quasi-public agency).

He proposed an 800 percent toll increase to pay for the state's aging roads and draw down half of its more than $30 billion in debt.

Now, after all those ideas have been shot down, Mr. Corzine is considering a new prospect for financing critical infrastructure and reducing congestion on the road: Privatize individual lanes.

"It does make you wonder what's next," said Jon Shure, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a nonprofit research organization.

On Monday, the State Senate president, Richard J. Codey, a Democrat of Essex County, unveiled his proposal for a private company to build an extension on the turnpike from Exit 8A to Exit 6 and on the Garden State Parkway from Exit 82 down to an exit in the 30s for drivers willing to pay extra to avoid traffic.

At the same time, State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, a Democrat from Union County who is chairman of the Economic Growth Committee, offered his own twist, suggesting that the new lanes be reserved for buses and trucks.

Predictably / Irrational B; Blog Archive B; Can it be that we focus too much on gas prices?

16th June 2008, 07:09 am

Can it be that we focus too much on gas prices? Relative to other increases in expenses, I suspect that we do!

Paper Tiger Bloggi-Vision: Tim Robbins NAB Speech

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Tim Robbins NAB Speech
Renowned actor, director and writer Tim Robbins used his keynote address at the National Association of Broadcasters conference on April 14 to speak out about the "dangerous lack of diversity of opinion" that characterizes the state of broadcasting today. Lambasting the media for their failure to treat the Bush administration's lies about Iraqi WMDs with the scrutiny they had shown former President Bill Clinton's sex scandal, he calls on the nation's broadcasters to do a better job of upholding their responsibilities to the public. The NAB initially refused to make Robbins' speech available (in contrast to other speeches from their 08 convention). Then they released an edited version in which many of Robbins' most critical remarks were cut. This is the full version of the speech! (Approximately 22 minutes.)

Posted by papertiger

Theoretical frameworks for personal relationships / edited by Ralph Erber, Robin Gilmour.

Theoretical frameworks for personal relationships / edited by Ralph Erber, Robin Gilmour. 0805805737 (c : acid-free paper) series Hillsdale, N.J. : L. Erlbaum, 1994.
Call#: Van Pelt Library HM132 .T45 1993

Title: Theoretical frameworks for personal relationships / edited by Ralph Erber, Robin Gilmour. Publisher: Hillsdale, N.J. : L. Erlbaum, 1994. Description: Book xi, 271 p. : ill. : 24 cm. LC Subject(s): Interpersonal relations. Man-woman relationships. Intimacy (Psychology) Location: Van Pelt Library Call Number: HM132 .T45 1993 Status: Available, check location

NOTE: see chapter 2 - communal and exchange relationships - for a review of market practices vs social norms

CC)sar CuauhtC)moc GarcC-a HernC!ndez - Malthus Lives in Anti-Immigrant Ads

Malthus Lives in Anti-Immigrant Ads

By César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández . Posted July 4, 2008.

Since the rampant anti-Chinese xenophobia of the late 1800s that led to our modern immigration laws, debate about immigration has been a wellspring of racism. Last month an advertisement in the New York Times (also printed in The Nation magazine) linking high gas prices, population control, and immigration proved that immigration restrictionists have not forgotten the tired arguments of the past.

The ad, paid for by "America's Leadership Team for Long Range Population-Immigration-Resource Planning," shows a traffic-clogged highway above the caption "One of America's Most Popular Pastimes." It argues that traffic jams will only get worse as the nation's population grows and that 82 percent of growth between 2005 and 2050 will result from immigration. "[Q]uality of life for future generations will be gone unless we take action today," the ad urges, leaving the unmistakable impression that the answer to our traffic problems--and to the "stress with our schools, our emergency rooms, our public infrastructure, even our water resources"--is to be found in ending, or at least seriously curtailing, immigration.

...

Second, it is ludicrous to suggest that the country's traffic jammed highways are caused by immigration. The great critic of urban planning Lewis Mumford must be shouting from his grave the same lessons that he taught in the 1950s and 1960s: "The fatal mistake we have been making is to sacrifice every other form of private transportation to the private motorcar . . . . we need a better transportation system, not just more highways."

Even to suggest that immigrants are the cause of transportation congestion is beyond disingenuous; rather, it reveals the lengths to which nativists now — like nativists of generations past — are willing to invent and distort facts for the sake of irrational tirades. Highway traffic is not caused by too many people trying to go about their lives.

...

This is not to say that there is no link between traffic and immigrants. There is. Like poor people and people of color generally, immigrants bear the brunt of traffic-related pollution and highway-related neighborhood displacement. The environmental justice movement has long argued that poor people and people of color are more likely to suffer respiratory and other medical problems because of the poor air quality near highways. And as anyone who has traveled on an interstate highway through a major city knows, highways are more often than not built straight through working class neighborhoods and areas where people of color live.

Though these misrepresentations are troubling, the most disturbing aspect of the ad is the barely concealed racism embedded in its references to population control. Our cherished pastime of jumping into private cars and driving for relaxation is at risk (literally stopped), the ad implies, because immigrants, especially those pesky "Hispanics," just won't stop reproducing

Congress House Hearings - Motorcoach Safety

  MOTORCOACH SAFETY

=======================================================================

                                (110-19)

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                          HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT

                                 OF THE

                              COMMITTEE ON
                   TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                       ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                             MARCH 20, 2007
                               __________

                       Printed for the use of the
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

New York - Washington $5 Is Cheaper Fare Since 1952 - New York Times

August 8, 1992

New York - Washington $5 Is Cheaper Fare Since 1952

By ADAM BRYANT

Move over Delta, United and American. Another savage fare war is under way, driving down the price of a bus ride between Manhattan and Washington to $5.

Five dollars.

That is the lowest price on the route since 1952, when Truman was President and Greyhound charged $5.05 -- a sale price then, too. And it is less than the trip cost in 1939, when LaGuardia was Mayor and the bus ride down to Washington cost $5.50.

In a money-losing battle, the country's two-largest bus companies, Greyhound and Peter Pan Trailways, have knocked the price down three times in the last three weeks from its $25 starting point. Doesn't Cover the Costs

109th Congress House Hearings - CURBSIDE OPERATORS: BUS SAFETY AND ADA REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

[109th Congress House Hearings]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID: f:28267.wais]

 
      CURBSIDE OPERATORS: BUS SAFETY AND ADA REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

=======================================================================

                                (109-52)

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                    HIGHWAYS, TRANSIT AND PIPELINES

                                 OF THE

                              COMMITTEE ON
                   TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                       ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                             MARCH 2, 2006

                               __________

                       Printed for the use of the
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure



                                   ____

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
30-298                      WASHINGTON : 2006

Welcome to the Fast Lane: The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation: FMCSA Administrator Hill Reports on Curbside Bus Carriers

May 29, 2008

FMCSA Administrator Hill Reports on Curbside Bus Carriers

Many of you likely spent at least part of the holiday weekend traveling – whether driving to the beach or perhaps flying somewhere to visit friends and family. Last week, I traveled from Washington, D.C. to New York City for a conference and decided to personally experience a relative newcomer to the transportation industry: “curbside” bus carriers.

Curbside buses transport passengers from predetermined locations after the rider purchases a ticket from a website, a local vendor or the driver. They post their schedules on-line, generally operate without ticket offices and make their stops street side instead of bus terminals. Besides those distinctions, curbside buses are held to the same federal safety requirements as the rest of the industry.

As I learned when purchasing my tickets, low costs are the big draw. Curbside carriers typically offer incentives to buy tickets early. For example, some curbside bus companies offer seats for $1 to the first purchasers. From there, the price increases as fewer seats become available. Buying a seat at the last minute, however, will still only cost about $35 for a one-way trip to NYC. In fact, I paid more for a taxi to take me 33 blocks in Manhattan than I did for the cost of the five-hour trip from Washington.

I tried two different companies – one for the ride up to New York and another for the return trip to Washington. Both were comfortable and affordable. Most importantly, however, they both operated in a safe manner, were familiar with our safety regime and both drivers appeared quite capable. And, for those of you who are wondering, I did not reveal my identity during either trip.

As the administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) – the federal agency that regulates the safety of interstate trucks and buses – I’ve always maintained that interstate passenger carriers have long been and continue to be among the safest mode of transportation in the United States, something that was demonstrated to me yet again last week. Our agency is committed to rigorous oversight of the bus industry.

Banishing buses to L'Enfant

DDOT is planning to force all low-cost bus carriers, like Bolt Bus, DC2NY, and the Chinatown buses to stop loading in Chinatown and at various other spots around the city (a few pick up in Dupont Circle), reports the Examiner (via DCist). Instead, all buses will have to load and unload at a special zone at 10th and D Southwest, right by the L'Enfant Metro.

This seems like a terrible idea. It sounds like it came from the LOS-watchers within DDOT: "Hmm, these buses are causing a lot of pedestrian congestion and taking up some room on our streets which should be used to move commuters in and out of the city as fast as possible. OK, let's put the buses in an empty part of the city, but one that's near Metro."

Intercity trains are much more energy-efficient than buses, but one advantage of buses is their flexibility. It's good that buses can choose to pick up in areas where there are many customers. Also, the service brings more pedestrian activity to those neighborhoods. At L'Enfant, there's nothing, and people will all just hop on the Metro.

If traffic is a problem, take away some curb parking or a traffic lane. Each of those buses carries as many people as a few blocks full of single passenger vehicles. There are some underutilized streets - how about a loading zone on the very wide F Street by Gallery Place?

Our street network is for the use of all, including buses. Buses aren't something we should move out of the way to speed transportation: they are the transportation. Let's move cars out of the way to make room for the buses.

Bus Rules: Let's Call a Time Out! - Greater Greater Washington

Bus Rules: Let's Call a Time OutThe number of cheap buses from DC to New York (like the Chinatown buses, DC2NY, Bolt Bus, Megabus, and others) has exploded recently. That's great for riders who want to get to New York cheaply, and to bring New Yorkers here to see what a great city we have (and spend money here).

It also causes noise in some neighborhoods. That's a problem, and one we should deal with. But after years and years of these buses operating, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has suddenly imposed "emergency" rules to banish all of these buses to the barren sidewalks of L'Enfant Plaza.

With only one month's notice, suddenly all of the bus companies will have to apply for permits, and can't pick up in more convenient areas. Some will go out of business. Visitors to our city will only see bland, depressing L'Enfant Plaza instead of vibrant, exciting Chinatown, Metro Center, Farragut Square, or Dupont Circle. There won't be anything to eat while waiting for a bus. People will feel less safe. Our businesses will lose revenue. And while private cars can still park for free or almost free on most blocks, we're hurting an environmentally friendly mode of transportation.

What's the rush? Can't we take a moment for a public discussion of better alternatives? What about auctioning off a few loading areas around the city? Or creating a bus zone in the huge parking lot that used to be the old convention center, or on one of the wide but mostly empty streets around Gallery Place or Judiciary Square?

Let's find a solution that keeps lively competition among our intercity buses while also fixing the problems. The buses have been operating for years. Let's take a time out on these rules until we can all work out a better solution.

DDOT is accepting comments for a few more days. Please send them a letter below asking them to call a time out on the new bus rules. Feel free to also weigh in with your opinion on what should be done.
Make Your Voice Heard

DDOT: Public Space Management

Issue in Spotlight: Intercity Bus Loading & Unloading in Public Space

In response to various complaints with regard to intercity buses using public space for loading and unloading passengers, DDOT has instituted new regulations* that will now require intercity bus operators to obtain a permit as well as use newly identified, designated area(s) for pickups and drop offs. Existing intercity bus service operators, who utilize public space for loading and unloading passengers, should submit their application* for permits by July 3rd.

Limited space is available. Applications filed by July 3rd will be processed together. Any of these applications that include requests for use of the space at the same time will be resolved by the District Department of Transportation. All applications received after July 3rd will be given space as available on a first come first served basis.

Applications must be submitted in person at 941 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 2300 along with a check made out to the DC Treasurer for the $100 application fee. The hours for submission are from 8:30 am and 4:15 pm, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The new regulations are part of a one-year pilot program to provide safer pedestrian environments in public space for visitors and residents.

Low-cost, regional bus companies forced to load in designated zone - Examiner.com

Low-cost, regional bus companies forced to load in designated zone

Jun 18, 2008 3:00 AM (14 days ago) by Michael Neibauer, The Examiner

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Say goodbye to the Chinatown Bus and hello to L’Enfant Coach.

Responding to the exploding popularity of inexpensive bus rides between Washington, New York and other destinations, the District plans to funnel all buses that load and unload passengers on city streets into a single “intercity bus zone” in Southwest. The myriad bus services, a staple of the downtown for years, will face fines up to $1,500 for loading

outside of that zone, which can accommodate only two buses at a time.

The D.C. Department of Transportation claims that the various Chinatown buses, DC2NY and BoltBus, among others, are congesting streets, disrupting transit and causing a safety hazard for pedestrians. With fares as low as $15 each way and modern amenities such as wireless Internet, the buses have proliferated as gas prices have skyrocketed.

“In some instances, this activity poses safety concerns to the general public and to the bus customers themselves,” Karyn LeBlanc, DDOT spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Under a soon-to-debut one-year pilot program, intercity buses will be routed to a curb lane on northbound 10th Street Southwest, just south of D Street beneath the L’Enfant Promenade. The regulations require that all buses obtain a DDOT permit to load there — the application for which must include a proposed schedule, plan for queuing passengers and a $100 fee.

Migration | A turning tide? | Economist.com

Migration A turning tide? Jun 26th 2008 | NOGALES From The Economist print edition Many of the past decade’s migrants to Europe and America are beginning to go home again

...For years a flow of migrants has waxed when the American economy is in rude health, waning only slightly during recessions; it flows north in the spring when agricultural and construction jobs need filling and goes south for Christmas. Where illicit traffic has been heaviest, the migrants’ many footfalls have worn narrow, winding paths into the rocks. But now a big change is visible: the flow of migrants from Latin America to the United States appears to be slumping.

For the third successive year, America’s Border Patrol reports a sharp drop in arrests on and near the frontier. In 2006 the figure dropped 8% to around 1m. Last year it dropped by a full fifth. The six months to March showed a year-on-year drop of 17%. In short (and by the imperfect measure of border arrests) the migrant flow today is roughly half the torrent seen in 2000, when 1.64m arrests were made.

Such figures miss those who cross successfully and recount those detained several times, but they show a clear trend. So does evidence from remittances. Mexico’s central bank reports that, after years of eye-popping growth, the amount of cash sent home by migrants inside America is falling. Last year such flows were worth $24 billion—more valuable than tourism. But in the first quarter of this year the year-on-year figure was down 2.9%, according to a new report by Goldman Sachs.

...

Two factors, each as ugly as the other, probably explain the double downturn in flows of people and money: hostility to migrants, especially illegal ones, and America’s deepening economic gloom. The impact of the former is plain: state-level laws that make it illegal to employ migrants without documents, ever more aggressive raids on businesses that hire such workers, and better technology to share information that will lead to catching them.

...

Hostility and fences would matter less if the economic draw remained strong. Instead America’s economy appears to be in the dumps, even if it avoids a recession. Jobs figures in May showed unemployment had risen to 5.5%. The slump in housing and construction—where many migrants, especially newer arrivals, work—has been especially painful. The Pew Hispanic Centre published a study in June showing a 7.5% jobless rate among immigrants, rising to 8.4% among Mexicans and to 9.3% for those who came to the country after 2000. Over 220,000 migrants lost construction jobs last year. And those in work are earning less: wages of Latino construction workers tumbled in 2007.

Creating a Great Pedestrian City - City of Sydney

Professor Jan Gehl

Tuesday 11 September 2007

Jan Gehl

For over 40 years internationally renowned Danish architect Jan Gehl's career has focused on improving the quality of urban life, especially for pedestrians.

Jan discusses how his research on public spaces and public life has been applied successfully in cities across Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. He will also share his observations on the ways we can make Sydney a truly great pedestrian city.

Inside Google Book Search: U.S. copyright renewal records available for download

U.S. copyright renewal records available for download

Monday, June 23, 2008 at 9:45 AM

Posted by Jon Orwant, Engineering Manager, Google Book Search

If I handed you a book and asked whether it was in copyright or in the public domain, you'd probably turn to the copyright page first. Unfortunately, a copyright page can't answer that question definitively -- at best, it could tell you when the book in your hands was published, and who owned the rights to it at that time. Ownership can change, though: rights revert back to authors, and after enough time has passed, the book enters into the public domain, letting people copy and adapt it as they wish.

So how much time is "enough"? It varies, often depending on the country, on when the book was published, and whether the author is living. For U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963, the rights holder needed to submit a form to the U.S. Copyright Office renewing the copyright 28 years after publication. In most cases, books that were never renewed are now in the public domain. Estimates of how many books were renewed vary, but everyone agrees that most books weren't renewed. If true, that means that the majority of U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963 are freely usable.

How do you find out whether a book was renewed? You have to check the U.S. Copyright Office records. Records from 1978 onward are online (see http://www.copyright.gov/records) but not downloadable in bulk. The Copyright Office hasn't digitized their earlier records, but Carnegie Mellon scanned them as part of their Universal Library Project, and the tireless folks at Project Gutenberg and the Distributed Proofreaders painstakingly typed in every word.

Thanks to the efforts of Google software engineer Jarkko Hietaniemi, we've gathered the records from both sources, massaged them a bit for easier parsing, and combined them into a single XML file available for download here.

There are undoubtedly errors in these records, but we believe this is the best and most comprehensive set of renewal records available today. These records are free and in the public domain, and we hope you're able to use them to determine the copyright status of books that interest you.

At Google, we're committed to making as many books available online to users as possible while respecting copyright, and this is one example of that commitment. Watch this space for more to come.

UK Dept of Transport - Minority, ethnic and faith communities' transport issues

Public Transport Needs of Minority, Ethnic and Faith Communities Guidance Pack

and

A review of existing research of relevance to Transport Direct

7online.com: Bus collision turns deadly in Chinatown 6/23/08

CHINATOWN (WABC) -- A private bus crashed into a building in Chinatown -- killing one person and injuring three others.

A dump truck appeared to rear-end the Fung Wah Bus, sending it careening into a building at the intersection of Bowery and Canal Street.

Eyewitness News is told as many as three people were on the bus. One person, apparently a female pedestrian, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The victims were taken to NYU Downtown Hospital, Bellevue Medical Center and St. Vincent's Hospital. One person in the dump truck, registered to a New Jersey company, was also injured.

Police say the building the bus crashed into was damaged, but it did not appear to be structurally unsound. The crash occurred at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, a treacherous multi-directional intersection.

Fung Wah, a low-cost carrier that takes passengers between Boston and New York City, has experienced problems in the past with drivers and accidents.

In September 2006, 34 people were injured when a Fung Wah rolled over in Auburn on an off-ramp from Interstate 290 to Route 12.

In August 2005, a Fung Wah bus traveling from Boston to New York caught fire on Interstate 91 in Meriden, Conn. The passengers all got out safely, but within minutes the bus was entirely engulfed in flames. State police said the driver was driving too fast.

After that crash, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration fined Fug Wah more than $31,000, in part, for letting non-English speaking drivers carry its passengers.

WCBS NEWSRADIO 880 - Truck Hits Bus

Truck Hits Bus; Bus Crashes Into Bank

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- One person is dead and four people are injured after an out-of-control dump truck coming off the Manhattan Bridge slammed into a waiting bus that was loading people for a trip to Boston.

The dead was a 57-year-old pedestrian.

Photo Gallery - Chinatown Bus Crash

That Fung Wah bus that is now jammed into the side of the United Commercial Bank at Canal and The Bowery

An entire traffic light has been brought down by this accident. Police are still on the scene investigating.

The impact of the collision caused the bus to go into the plate glass window of the bank, so that's smashed, and so is the bus's front window.

LATImes - California Shuttle Bus- Busman Stops at Nothing

September 10, 2003
COLUMN ONE
Busman Stops at Nothing
* After 9/11, Kazuhiro Nakagawa's business was reduced from $10,000 luxury tours to $40 trips up and down the coast, but he doesn't give up.

By Ronald D. White, Times Staff Writer

It was almost departure time, but Kazuhiro Nakagawa's 55-seat tour bus still had that "Not in Service" look as it sat outside the Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Slowly, a handful of passengers assembled: two teenagers from Altadena, a frugal twentysomething couple just back from Israel and a 19-year-old German woman touring the country.

A few years ago, Japanese tourists paid Nakagawa $10,000 each for whirlwind tours of the Western United States on his luxury bus. With that market ruined by the sour Japanese economy and the lingering effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Nakagawa sought a new niche running a nonstop luxury bus service from Los Angeles to San Francisco, $40 one way.
...

Community Transport in Sydney: A Response to Inequity and Disadvantage in Public Transport - Urban Policy and Research

Community Transport in Sydney: A Response to Inequity and Disadvantage in Public Transport

Author: Carolyn Stone

DOI: 10.1080/08111148708551312

Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year

Published in: Urban Policy and Research, Volume 5, Issue 4 December 1987 , pages 147 - 155

Abstract

This paper considers the development of community transport in Sydney and possible directions for its furture. It outlines the basis on which the community transport movement has developed and argues that the conditions which have given rise to a community transport movement are likely to be exacerbated in the future.

IngentaConnect TRAVEL BEHAVIOR AND MIGRANT CULTURES: THE VIETNAMESE IN AUSTRALIA

TRAVEL BEHAVIOR AND MIGRANT CULTURES: THE VIETNAMESE IN AUSTRALIA

Authors: NGUYEN T-H.; KING B.; TURNER L.

Source: Tourism Culture & Communication, Volume 4, Number 2, 2003 , pp. 95-107(13)

Publisher: Cognizant Communication Corporation

Abstract: This article examines the influence of cultural factors on the travel behavior of Vietnamese migrants (Viet kieu) resident in Australia, with particular reference to return visits to Vietnam. A conceptual framework of cultural influence on migrant travel behavior is proposed to explain the relationships between migrant adapted culture and travel behavior. The findings suggest that the Viet kieu maintain certain traditional Vietnamese cultural values and Confucian ideals, while actively adopting behavioral characteristics from mainstream culture during their gradual integration into the adopted society. Significant differences in cultural and travel behavioral characteristics are evident between the Viet kieu, their relatives in Vietnam, and mainstream Australians. Such differences appear to have some connection with the individualism of the West and the collectivism of the East. Issues of identity, rootlessness, belonging, and the relationship between past and present are associated with the decision to travel and subsequent experience of travel to the homeland. The article concludes by discussing implications for future studies.

Environment and Planning A - Rowley G, Wilson S, 1975, "The analysis of housing and travel preferences: a gaming approach"

Cite as:Rowley G, Wilson S, 1975, "The analysis of housing and travel preferences: a gaming approach" Environment and Planning A 7(2) 171 - 177

The analysis of housing and travel preferences: a gaming approach

G Rowley, Susan Wilson

Received 20 November 1974

Abstract. This paper represents a report on the study of housing and travel preferences both of coloured immigrants and of native British within the city of Sheffield, England. The investigation uses gaming procedures to facilitate the recording of raw data which reflects the preference patterns of the respondents. Certain hypotheses are proposed and the statistical analysis of the gaming procedures is developed. Simple chi2 goodness-of-fit tests are used to assess the allocation of preferences over the various elements for the two populations considered. The general approach can be quite readily extended to more complex situations. With hindsight, improvements to the initial game format are suggested.

Fear and strange arithmetics: when powerful states confront powerless immigrants | openDemocracy

Fear and strange arithmetics: when powerful states confront powerless immigrants

Saskia Sassen

It is surprising to see the high price in terms of ethical and economic costs that powerful ‘liberal democracies' seem willing to pay in order to control extremely powerless people who only want a chance to work. Immigrants and refugees have to be understood as a historical vanguard that signals major ‘unsettlements' in both sending and receiving countries.

19 - 06 - 2008

Migration policy: from control to governance | openDemocracy

Migration policy: from control to governance

Saskia Sassen

In the United States and Europe alike, immigration policy isn't working – and the failure is most evident at the crossing-points of the rich and poor worlds, from the Mexican border to the Canary Islands, says Saskia Sassen.

13 - 07 - 2006

A universal harm: making criminals of migrants | openDemocracy

A universal harm: making criminals of migrants

Saskia Sassen

The policing of global 'people flow' criminalises migrants and thus feeds the business of human trafficking. An extreme version of this trend is the experience of women, mostly from Asia and the former Soviet Union, trapped into sex slavery and prostitution. The safe lives and civil rights of people in the rich countries of the north cannot remain untouched by the enormous damage caused by such inhumane and unsustainable processes. There must be a better way.

21 - 08 - 2003

WNYC - The Brian Lehrer Show: The

The "Highway to Nowhere"

This week, Mayor Bloomberg announced a revitalization program for the Bronx. Deemed the "South Bronx Initiative," the plan does not include the area around the Sheridan Expressway. Miquela Craytor, deputy director of Sustainble South Bronx, talks about the disconnect between city planning and community activism.

Census Atlas of the United States

* Census 2000 Reports

We are pleased to present the complete content, in PDF format, of the recently published Census Atlas of the United States, the first comprehensive atlas of population and housing produced by the Census Bureau since the 1920s. The Census Atlas is a large-format publication about 300 pages long and containing almost 800 maps. Data from decennial censuses prior to 2000 support nearly 150 maps and figures, providing context and an historical perspective for many of the topics presented. A variety of topics are covered in the Census Atlas, ranging from language and ancestry characteristics to housing patterns and the geographic distribution of the population. A majority of the maps in the Census Atlas present data at the county level, but data also are sometimes mapped by state, census tract (for largest cities and metropolitan areas), and for selected American Indian reservations. The book is modern, colorful, and includes a variety of map styles and data symbolization techniques.

WNYC - The Brian Lehrer Show: Seeing The Numbers: NYC (June 19, 2008)

Seeing The Numbers: NYC

We continue our series with Marc Perry, Chief of the Population Distribution Branch at the U.S. Census, on the new Census Atlas of the United States. This week, we look at some of the NYC-specific maps:

Also, Andrew Beveridge, Professor of Sociology for Social Explorer and chair of the Sociology department at Queens College, helps us flesh out what those maps tell us about New York.

WNYC - The Brian Lehrer Show: Seeing The Numbers: Origins and Diversity (June 12, 2008)

Seeing The Numbers: Origins and Diversity

Each Thursday in June, we are taking a look inside the new Census Atlas of the United States, the first of its kind in almost 100 years. Marc Perry, Chief of the Population Distribution Branch at the Census, helps guide us through some of the maps and trends. Today we look at the changing face of America and an interesting definition of "ancestry."

WNYC - The Brian Lehrer Show: Seeing The Numbers (June 05, 2008)

Seeing The Numbers Each Thursday in June, we take a look inside the new Census Atlas of the United States, the first of its kind in almost 100 years. Marc Perry, Chief of the Population Distribution Branch at the Census, helps guide us through some of the maps and trends.

Judge Approves Deal to Settle Suit Over Wage Violations - NYTimes.com

Judge Approves Deal to Settle Suit Over Wage Violations

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Published: June 19, 2008

A federal judge on Wednesday provisionally approved the first part of proposed settlements totaling $3.9 million in two closely watched wage-violation lawsuits brought against one of Manhattan’s leading restaurant owners.

The judge, Paul A. Crotty, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, approved a $588,000 settlement in a lawsuit against the Redeye Grill, a Midtown restaurant, and indicated that he would soon approve a second settlement of more than $3 million against other restaurants owned by the Fireman Hospitality Group, which owns Redeye. Those restaurants are Cafe Fiorello, Bond 45, Brooklyn Diner, Shelly’s and Trattoria Dell’Arte.

Waiters and other workers charged that Fireman’s restaurants often violated wage and hour laws by erasing hours from employees’ time cards, not paying the minimum wage and overtime, giving managers part of the tips and docking employees’ paychecks if their customers walked out without paying. Five workers are also threatening to bring a new lawsuit charging sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

Press Release - Megabus.com Introduces Double-Decker Buses for Northeast City-to-City Travel

Megabus.com Introduces Double-Decker Buses for Northeast City-to-City Travel New York and Washington first cities to receive 79-passenger closed top-buses

Jersey - Turbans Make Targets, Some Sikhs Find - NYTimes.com

New Jersey

Turbans Make Targets, Some Sikhs Find

The Price of Delivery (The Brian Lehrer Show: Friday, 06 June 2008)-- WNYC

The Price of Delivery (The Brian Lehrer Show: Friday, 06 June 2008

Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker , co-directors of Take Out , talk about their film which chronicles a day in the life of an illegal immigrant struggling to pay off his smuggling debt.

WNYC - The Brian Lehrer Show: Seeing The Numbers (June 05, 2008)

Seeing The Numbers

Each Thursday in June, we take a look inside the new Census Atlas of the United States, the first of its kind in almost 100 years. Marc Perry, Chief of the Population Distribution Branch at the Census, helps guide us through some of the maps and trends.

Bicycle Activists Take to the Freeways in L.A. : NPR

Politics & Society

Bicycle Activists Take to the Freeways in L.A.

The Bryant Park Project, June 12, 2008 · People tend to think of Los Angeles as the natural habitat of the automobile, a land where giant on ramps and multilane freeways determine the course of life.

But for three cyclists in Santa Monica, Los Angeles is a bikers' world. Morgan Strauss grew up riding bikes around L.A. Alex Cantarero grew up riding local buses, even celebrating childhood birthdays aboard, before making the move to pedal power. Rich Totheie moved from New York City a few years back, having never much used a bike for transportation.

In November, the three bicycle activists began dreaming up ways to make their point — that two-wheelers deserve a place in the transportation network. They say they'd grown tired of playing cat-and-mouse with Santa Monica police at monthly Critical Mass rides. Instead, their group, the Crimanimalz, began protests like bottling intersections with endless, lawful rounds of Crosswalk Craps.

Immigrants Turn to Farm Work Amid Building Bust - WSJ.com

Immigrants Turn to Farm Work Amid Building Bust

Growers Regain A Source of Labor; Wage Gap Narrows

By MIRIAM JORDAN

June 13, 2008; Page A4

The building bust is turning out to be an unexpected boon for another industry, agriculture, as many Hispanic immigrants who lost construction jobs return to the fields in search of work.

In recent years, the ranks of farm workers had been thinned by a crackdown on illegal immigration coupled with the lure of better-paying construction jobs. That left farmers scrambling to find workers to harvest labor-intensive crops. Now, growers and labor contractors from Florida to California are reporting that former carpenters, dry wallers and painters are returning.

"We had seen the labor supply dwindling year after year," said Richard Quandt, president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. This year, "we are surprised to have a lot of workers." The area grows strawberries, greens, broccoli, grapes and other vegetables and fruits.

ImmigrationProf Blog: The Working Poor in Mexico

June 13, 2008

The Working Poor in Mexico No Rest for the Working Poor

By Laura Carlsen

Globalization continues to break down its own myths, especially in developing countries.

In Mexico, the promise of more jobs withered shortly after NAFTA went into effect, when it became clear that displacement outpaced job generation. Now, its twin promise—that globalization would create better jobs and improve standards of living—has finally committed public suicide as well.

Ford and General Motors change their operations in Mexico. Ford announced a major investment in Mexico of over $2 billion this week. Alongside the self-congratulatory remarks of industry representatives and government officials, was an interesting tidbit of information. According to an AP report, at the Ford plant to be expanded in Cuautitlan—on the outskirts of Mexico City where the cost of living has been going up sharply—workers' wages would be cut in half from their current level of $4.50 an hour. Mexican union leaders stated that this was necessary to compete with China.

The same week, General Motors announced a $1.3 billion investment in its Coahuila, Mexico plant and the creation some 875 jobs (note the low job-to-investment ratio). It also announced the eventual closure of plants in Janesville, Wisconsin and Morraine, Ohio. The Mexican press noted that the company first hinted at the closure of its plant in Toluca, which elicited an immediate promise from the union leadership to accept wage reductions. It soon after announced it will remain open but cut back on operations and lay off some of the workers. Although the new contract terms were unavailable at the time of this writing, the trend is written on the wall.

ni9e blog: Koreans use Laser Tag for FTA protests.

June 12, 2008 Koreans use Laser Tag for FTA protests.

smart use of GRL's laser tag for protest purposes

The Anti-Advertising Agency B; Why You Should Be In New York July 1st

Why You Should Be In New York July 1st

ctivists estimate that half the billboards in New York City are illegal. Between fudged permits, lack of enforcement, and millions in profit, outdoor advertising has become a corporate black market that wont flinch at breaking laws to get your attention. On July 1st, the Anti-Advertising Agency and Rami Tabello of IllegalSigns.ca will give a free workshop teaching you how to identify illegal advertising and get it taken down. You will leave this workshop equipped to have illegal signs removed in your neighborhood.

Philadelphia Migration Project

Working Paper

Immigrants and Suburbs: Growth and Distribution in Greater Philadelphia, 1970-2000: A Tract-Level Analysis

The late twentieth century witnessed a dramatic shift in the historic pattern of immigrant settlement within the United States. Since the nineteenth century, most European immigrants - with the important exception of farmers - had settled first in a small number of gateway cities where many rearticleed while a sizeable number fanned out to smaller cities along the coasts or to cities and large towns in the interior. After World War II, with the opening of suburbs huge numbers of these first generation European immigrants and their children, fresh with new prosperity, moved out of central cities. Following the 1965 lifting of nationality-based quotas, immigrants entered the United States in numbers that matched the great immigrant wave of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries... READ COMPLETE PAPER

In Toronto, cyclists form a first-of-its-kind union | csmonitor.com

In Toronto, cyclists form a first-of-its-kind union

Believed to be the first of its kind, the Toronto Cyclists Union plans to offer insurance, roadside assistance, advocacy, and even an online dating service.
By Susan Bourette | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor / June 6, 2008 edition

From Undocumented Camionetas (Mini-Vans) To Federally Regulated Motor Carriers: Hispanic Transportation In Dallas, Texas, and Beyond

From Undocumented Camionetas (Mini-Vans) To Federally Regulated Motor Carriers: Hispanic Transportation In Dallas, Texas, and Beyond

Robert V. Kemper
Julie Adkins
Marco Flores
and
José Leonardo Santos

URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 36(4), 2007

ABSTRACT: Only recently have anthropologists and other social
scientists begun to study the emerging Hispanic-oriented trans-
portation industry in the United States. During the past 20 years,
camionetas (15-passenger mini-vans) have largely been replaced
by luxurious buses, and family o,