Orlando, Florida Makes a Good Thing (Public Transportation) Even Better (With Biodiesel)
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08. 5.08
I’ll be honest. When I think of Orlando, Florida I don’t exactly have pleasant thoughts flooding into my head. Apologies to any Orlando residents reading this, but based on the time I’ve spent there, the city’s charms are entirely lost on me. So, when I heard about this next bit of news, I did a double take. Orlando? Yes, Orlando.
Orlando-Area Public Busses to be Converted to Biodiesel
Announced yesterday, LYNX Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority will become the first transit district in the United States to build its own biodiesel blending facility. All of the LYNX’s 290 busses, serving Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, will be converted to run on B-20 fuel (20% biodiesel, 80% petro diesel). A groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility will be held in October 2008, with construction and bus conversions completed by July 2009.
LYNX says that the project will save the transit district 1.2 million gallons of fuel annually, as well as lowering its carbon emissions by 26 million pounds per year.
No details have been announced on what feedstock will be used to make the biodiesel or who the supplier will be.
via :: ENS and :: LYNX News
Public Transportation, Biofuels
Public Transit Looking More Attractive in the Face of Record Gas Prices
Lowering Energy Consumption Better Than Biofuels for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, OECD Report Finds
Britain’s First Biodiesel Train Takes to the Tracks
Everyday Trash Hosts Carnival of the Green
|
Quote of the Day: Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo on Mountaintop Removal
|
That's wonderful. We need to have more cities adopt this this technology with their public transportation options.
It's just a shame that the LYNX just had a rout cut hearing last week. Three routs were completely removed while 13 were adjusted. This makes for a even worse already bad public transit system. In regular Orlando fashion, one step forward and two steps back. When I lived and worked in O-Town, I was better of cycling for 20 miles on roads with zero bike lanes than riding a bus.
d00d, Vermont's CCTA switched to Biodeisel like, a year ago:
http://www.cctaride.org/about/environmental-commitment.html
Thanks for the cred, guys! :-P
Maybe we don't count so since I don't think we have our own biodeisel facility?
Yet no one discusses the constantly killed light rail proposals that are shot down year after year here due to the $100k limit on lawsuits...
Not to mention Orlando just reduced the Lynx system making the busses less available to those who need it the most.
Somehow I think that this has more to do with economics than environmentalism. Lynx has recently reduced its services, cutting back on routs and frequency. They're probably a lot more interested in saving money than saving the planet.
Orlando has terrible public transportation. Part of the problem is due to the fact that the "Orlando area" is a sprawling conglomeration of various suburbs across a three county area. There isn't much of a true downtown in the sense that other cities know. The downtown has been experiencing a boom in recent years; the skyline is radically different from just a few years ago. But it is still a somewhat backwater town. The existing situation of suburban communities, small towns and tourist attractions that make up what is commonly known as "Orlando" doesn't bode well for efficient public transit in this area.
Another factor working against public transport in Central Florida include summer-time temperatures in the 90's with extremely high humidity that make the necessary trek to a nearby bus stop and the wait a sweaty mess.
Both these factors, the urban sprawl and the high temperatures/humidity also curtail the use of bicycles as transportation. This, combined with the lack of bicycle-friendly streets and drivers creates a very unpleasant bicycling experience. The idea of having to ride 10+ miles in 90+ degree heat on dangerous roads just to get from a neighborhood to some sort of city center isn't very appealing.
A step in the right direction. In Portland Oregon the buses have been slow to move to B99 so bicyclists there are often exposed to diesel exhaust fumes.