Pooling Resources

Honolulu (KHNL)-  As gas prices continue to climb, Hawaii drivers continue to look for more ways to cut commuting costs. Those who drive in from leeward coast are some of the hardest hit at the pump, but an old idea is gaining a new following. VAN POOLING! 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill encouraging energy conservation through the use of public transportation. H.R. 6052, the Saving Energy through Public Transportation Act of 2008, passed the House by a vote of 322 to 98.  Read more here… 

Public transportation, employer-sponsored programs, biking/riding sharing, Vanpooling and Ride-sharing are some of the ideas smart money reported recently…  smartmoney.com 

Hybrid Owners Have New Options For Automotive Service
Select Firestone Complete Auto Care™, Tires Plus™, ExpertTire™ and Wheel
Works™ locations now service hybrid vehicles
BLOOMINGDALE, Ill. (June 23, 2008) — When it comes to finding
automotive service, hybrid vehicle owners no longer have to look very far.
BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC), which owns and operates
the largest number of company-owned automotive retail generalist stores in
the world, has begun servicing hybrid vehicles at select Firestone Complete
Auto Care, Tires Plus, ExpertTire and Wheel Works locations.

“Almost 40 percent of our stores are now approved to service hybrids,”
said Darrell Rowe, Manager of Education & Development for BFRC. “We’re
committed to providing our store teammates with the most current training
and information available to ensure that our customers have a positive
experience every time they visit one of our locations. In order to service
hybrid vehicles, a store must complete a comprehensive training program.”

As part of the hybrid training program, each retail location must complete
several educational requirements. After a retail location meets these
requirements, it receives special safety equipment required to service hybrid
vehicles. Once “hybrid-compliant”, the location can then begin providing
basic repairs and maintenance services for hybrid vehicles.

Firestone Complete Auto Care, Tires Plus, ExpertTire and Wheel Works
locations can provide a variety of hybrid services, including oil change, filter
replacement, tire service, battery service, coolant replacement, brake
service, wheel alignment and transmission service.

Protecting the environment is a top priority at BFRC. BFRC stores were
the first in the automotive repair industry to commit to using steel wheel
weights instead of traditional lead wheel weights. Throughout the country,
BFRC store locations recycle tires, car batteries, oil and oil filters, antifreeze,
air conditioning refrigerant and many other automotive products.
Community members also have the opportunity to bring used oil and
automotive batteries from do-it-yourself (DIY) projects to BFRC store
locations for proper recycling at no cost to the consumer.

About Firestone Complete Auto Care:
Firestone Complete Auto Care™ is owned and operated by BFS Retail & Commercial
Operations, LLC (BFRC). Technicians perform part repairs and replacements, routine
scheduled maintenance services, and a variety of diagnostic services covering major
systems within a vehicle. To learn more about driving tips and maintenance or Firestone
Complete Auto Care locations, visit www.FirestoneCompleteAutoCare.com or call 1-800- LOCATE-US.

About Tires Plus:
Tires Plus™ is a multi-branded tire retailer owned and operated by Morgan Tire &
Auto, Inc., which is part of the BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC) family of automotive retail generalist stores. Technicians perform part repairs and replacements, routine scheduled maintenance services, and a variety of diagnostic services covering major systems within a vehicle. To learn more about driving tips and maintenance or Tires Plus locations, visit www.TiresPlus.com.

About ExpertTire:
ExpertTire™ is a multi-branded tire retailer owned and operated by BFS Retail &
Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC). With 120 store locations nationwide, ExpertTire offers guaranteed low prices on a large selection of brand name tires. Technicians also perform part repairs and replacements, routine scheduled maintenance services, and a variety of diagnostic services covering major systems within a vehicle. To learn more about driving tips and maintenance or ExpertTire locations, visit www.ExpertTire.com or call 1-800- LOCATE-US.

About Wheel Works:
Wheel Works™ is a multi-branded tire retailer owned and operated by BFS Retail &
Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC). With locations throughout California, Wheel Works offers low prices on a large selection of brand name tires. Technicians also perform part repairs and replacements, routine scheduled maintenance services, and a variety of diagnostic services covering major systems within a vehicle.

About BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC:
BFS Retail & Commercial Operations, LLC (BFRC) is headquartered in Bloomingdale, Ill., and operates the largest number of company-owned automotive retail generalist stores in the world — more than 2,000 vehicle service and tire locations across the United States — including Firestone Complete Auto Care™, Tires Plus™, ExpertTire™ and Wheel Works™ store locations. Credit First National Association and Firestone Complete Fleet Care™ operations are also part of BFRC. BFRC is a member of the Bridgestone Americas family of companies.
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When given the opportunity to speak with Robin Chase about her thoughts on sustainable transportation and the idea behind the Zipcar, here is what we asked her!    1. Where did you get the idea for Zip car? What inspired you to start the company?My co-founder is German. While she was sitting in a cafe, on holiday in Berlin, she saw a shared car across the street. When she came back home, she met with me and asked me what I thought about bringing the idea to Cambridge. The light bulb when off in my head. This was exactly what the internet and wireless data transmission was made for — making it simple and easier to rent a car by the hour. I also believed that there was a significant market for these services — I personally wanted access to car part-time, without the hassle and costs of owning one full-time.2. What is the vision in the next 5 years for our environment and the way we commute?The full costs of car ownership are already significant; the average American household spends 18% of its budget on cars. Over the next 5 years, these costs are definitely going to increase: rising fossil fuel prices, increasing use of road tolling to finance our transportation infrastructure, higher parking costs, congestion pricing, and hopefully carbon taxes. What is 18% will increase to 25% if we continue to depend on our cars to meet all our travel needs. Americans can’t support that so they will be making some changes. Among them will be our commuting patterns. A lot more people will turn to transit, biking, and walking — when those are  viable alternatives — but more of them will be turning to ridesharing, carpooling, vanpooling to reduce their costs. Telecommuting, perhaps even once a day, will be increasingly common as well.3. What ways do you think we can encourage younger commuters to turn to alternative methods of transportation?As cars become more expensive, we need make sure that the other alternatives easier, cheaper, faster, safer, and more flexible. Who doesn’t want to be safer, save money, and save time? The road space we allocate to pedestrians, bikes, and transit need to support safe, rapid travel rather than being unsafe and congested. We need to make sure that the connections between modes are easy, accessible, and convenient. We need to make the cost of these many alternatives all add up to being cheaper than driving. As an aside, I think we’ll see more wireless connectivity on transit as well, so that you more interesting things with your commute time than driving.4. What is the concept behind <http://goloco.com>goloco.org? How did you come up with the name?For the economic reasons I’ve outlined above, there is a rising need to share travel costs. We also have great new technical tools to make us: 1) feel safer (social networks let us travel with friends, colleagues, and groups we are comfortable with); 2) know who and when trips are available (through email alerts to your preferred destinations or when your friends or groups post trips) and nice mapping; and 3) online payment mechanisms so you don’t have awkward or inadequate sharing of travel costs.GoLoco, free spirited and independent with your friends.GoLoco from location to location with local locomotion.Go low cost and low CO2, as a way of life. GoLoco!5. How do you think we can change the minds of a society built on status symbols such as expensive cars to find the benefits and convenience of ride sharing and not owning their own vehicle?People do things that are in their own best interests. Commuting alone in your car is neither the smart choice financially, nor the socially acceptable choice environmentally. Your friends, your children, and your community will be making this obvious to you.6. Do you believe that new media is the best way to reach young commuters?It is certainly a good way since people spend a bulk of their leisure time online.7. What concerns do you believe that people have regarding transportation in general?Everyone is worried about the cost, and about the environmental impact. We’re worried about what our future choices are going to look like, and will these be better or worse than what we have today.

Robin Chase at SMART Conference>On Wednesday June 11, 2008 the University of Michigan hosted a panel on emerging markets in sustainable urban transportation. The group included speakers and panelist such as; Bill Ford Jr, Niei Golightly (Shell), Val Stoyanov (Cisco Systems) and Robin Chase (Founder and Former CEO of Zipcar, and CEO of Goloco). The panelists were asked the question: How does New Mobility/sustainable transportation mean business for you, and how do you envision the future of New Mobility industry globally?

Bill Ford Jr. opened the program by announcing that Ford will launch a new initiative called the Ford Urban Mobility Network in the fall, with the pilot city being Hong Kong. Ford has also just announced a new top environmental safety officer, Sue Cischke.

Sue Cischke explained the Ford Urban Mobility Network to be an integrated network that facilitates, “door to door commuting using cars, buses, trains, vans and various other forms of transportation with the backbone being information technology.” For example, you would use your cell phone to pick a Ford network hub and your choice of transportation, then your cell phone will tell you where the next hub would be located, costs, timing and your arrival time to your destination. In the meantime, you may take 3 or 4 different means of transportation.

After much research by Ford Motor Company Sue explained, “Commuters in places such as India are spending 5 hours sitting in traffic and with 6.7 billion people in the world, that is a waste of our valuable resources. There will be 9 billion people by mid-century and if we continue to use all of our resources we will continue to suffer.”

Niei Golightly from Shell International Petroleum Company explained that energy demand is surging and supply is struggling to keep up. I am sure we are all aware of this issue considering our rising gas prices! Shell’s approach is to look into more unconventional fossil fuels and alternative energy. So, what does this mean for Shell? It means that Shell will be in the front of improving local air quality, tacking CO2 emissions and improving efficiency. Yes, this means using less of the Shell product, but it also means that Shell will be “doing less bad.” The main question that was asked by Niei was, Is our culture ready to make sacrifices to shrink our carbon footprint and is there really such thing as a sustainable future?”

Information Technology is clearly the backbone to achieving sustainable transportation. Van Stoyanov with Cisco systems spoke about internet trends in transportation. A few examples and suggestions that he brought up were the Connected Bus that is already running in San Francisco, CA. He believes this type of bus, “ is our future” the Connected Bus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erlWqNnbdRY is a hybrid bus that is 95% emissions free with free internet access that allows travelers to be productive on the ride to work. In addition, the bus also has a touch screen that shows commuters their bus locations, wait times, connection times, and future routes. This bus saves 55 car trips per year and if we start replicating we can offset millions of car trips. The other idea that Van mentioned was Dashexpress, a real time GPS that shows traffic and working smart hubs. If you get stuck in traffic, you can pull over in a comfortable environment and work.

Robin Chase believes that, “We are living in a world of scarcity and abundance at the same time, but we are also living in an aging, infrastructure that is pitiful.” Robin also believes that we need to make a global effort to create our own personal public transportation network. Turning your social networks into travel networks. See her website http://www.goloco.org/greetings;guest . Robin suggested that if we start living in a world where you only pay for what you use and share costs and excess capacity it opens up a shared platform for others to engage and invest in.

Robin is the founder and former CEO for the ZipCar, which allows for users to choose from a wide variety of cars by logging on to the site and picking your car up in different locations and dropping it back off when you are finished, all from your computer and a zipcard. Robin stated that, “ I believe that ridesharing is the only way out of this mess and we need to address the horrifying scarcity by sharing to reduce global warming before we are all toast.” She noted examples such as; Ebay and Dash to showcase how we share our used goods. The next step is to apply these concepts to transportation.

Check out these videos on U-Tube!

Lean mean green

Van-Go For Beginners

State Journal-Register, Williamsville,Il- “I frequently read a book. Right now, I ‘m working on a professional certification in insurance, so I use that time to study rather than driving myself or listening to music. I’m more productive with my time,” said Peter Wells, Williamsville resident who joined a Vanpool.

The fee varies by the number of miles traveled, and costs such as gas, maintenance and other expenses are split between State Farm and the riders…

Read more on how you can make better use of your time by Vanpooling..

Make Good Use of Travel Time

Houston (KTRK)- It seems everyone is looking for ways to save money on transportation costs. Tim Alexander, the van coordinator and driver, wanted to organize a pool for a while, but never had much response until now. This group is up and running for only a month and it is already seeing GREEN!!!! Money that is… To read more and see a clip: Seeing Green

The American Automobile Association estimates that it costs 54.1 cents per mile to drive a car this year, including gasoline, oil, maintenance, tires and depreciation. For a 40-mile round-trip commute, you ‘re paying $21.64 per day! Now think about sharing the costs of driving! Click on Pool Your Resources to learn more statistics and see more videos!

View this link from blogger David A. Kates to learn more..