KRM - Been there, done that

Before there was a KRM, there was the MRK.

The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company's Interurban railway included the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha line or MRK.

KRM - MRK, get it? Wonderful marketing job by these a-century-too-late hucksters looking to garnish your assets.

The earlier system was vastly more broad in its reach than just the MRK/KRM. Looking at the graphic below, it wasn't just Milwaukee to Kenosha. It went West to Watertown, and Southwest to East Troy and Burlington, and later North all the way to Sheboygan.



This interurban line was one of the finest commuter railways in the nation (This and the following quotes are from Path of a Pioneer by John Gurda.).

"The Midwest was the nation's center of interurban railway development and (...) Milwaukee had one of the finest systems in the Midwest."

At a time when roads were primitive; when automobiles were unreliable, unsafe, and uncomfortable; how could this state-of-the-art interurban rail system not succeed?

The various projects started and completed between 1930 and 1932, from the downtown Rapid Transit line to the Lakeshore Belt Line, required an expenditure of millions of dollars. Rapid Transit, wrote Roy Pinkley in 1930, "represents a huge outlay of money, but it is now established and will undoubtedly be of immense importance in ten years from the present time.

That thinking was wrong in 1930, and is wrong in 2008. This extensive and efficient interurban transit system quickly failed.

The TMER&L, a name once synonymous with the best in urban transit, became a corporate ghost, a failing presence that still lingers above the doors of the old red-brick power plants and substations ...

The interurban lines, long the beleaguered members of the transit system, were the first to go. Service between St. Martins and Burlington ended in 1938. In sharp contrast to the delegation of dignitaries that had made the first run in 1909, arriving to band music and speeches, only one paying customer rode the last car to the end of the line.

I interpret "long the beleaguered members" to mean that for decades the interurban had poorer ridership than either the TMER&L streetcars or buses. We all know how popular riding the bus is in Milwaukee County today. Why should we expect the KRM to do better than that? Or this?

The interurban lines operated at a loss, and no paying customer ever boarded a car on the Lakeside Line.

Whose brilliant idea is the KRM, and what data do they have to show that ridership will be better in 2038 than it was in 1938?

Tom Barrett's Trolley

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has championed the building of a trolley line to encircle the city's downtown area. The proposed trolley is to be run on rail tracks that will need to be newly installed in the city streets at huge expense and a tremendous inconvenience to motor vehicle traffic.

This new idea to install an old mode of transportation has been studied repeatedly with our tax dollars. But a better gage of it's viability can be determined from previous market research. Real life market research.

Although there is a nostalgic feel to running mass transit on rails, the historic reality is something else. The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company (the predecessor to WE Energies) ran Milwaukee area commuter rail lines starting in 1896, expanding their service area by acquiring competing lines. But following World War I (within 25 years of the company's founding), ridership began its decline. That declining ridership continued until the last streetcar line was finally abandoned in 1958 (TM had divested their rail operation in 1952, after many years of trying to unload this money losing enterprise).

But this is more than a taxpayer funded look back in time. The romanticized nostalgia that Barrett envisions does not match the reality of trolley service. With the introduction of rubber tired rail-less streetcars (i.e., electric buses) starting in the 1930's, there was an outcry to get rid of railed trolleys.

As early as 1934, TM's managers were fielding citizens' requests to replace "the present cumbersome and noisy street cars" with trackless trolleys. As the requests piled up, the electric streetcar, long described as "the sturdy backbone of the transit system," became an endangered species , a situation with disastrous financial implications. Rail & Wire published an upper-case lament:

The public, after being carried back and forth by electric railway cars for half a century, is turning its back on the street railway car and is demanding rubber-tired transportation equipment. Owners of property along the street railway lines join the car riders in demanding this replacement by rubber-tired service, LONG BEFORE THE USEFUL LIFE OF RAILS, TROLLEYS AND RAIL CARS HAS BEEN USED UP.

- Path of a Pioneer by John Gurda

And ...

In 1948, when trackless trolley service came to North Third Street, Rail & Wire praised the demise of the "outmoded" streetcars that "caused passengers and motorists delays and annoyance." Roy Pinkley, head of the transit system since 1925 described the steel-wheeled car as an anachronism. "It has long been demonstrated," he wrote in 1952, "that street cars do not belong in modern traffic."

- Gurda

Sixty years later and the light rail crowd ignores this history.


File this under: KRM - Guilt by Association.

KRM - Rail service is unreliable or Madison to Milwaukee in 6 hours 44 minutes

Belling and Wiggy shouldn't get all the fun. My turn to weigh in on the proposed Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter train line.

This paragraph is from Belling's column.

If the transportation nightmare caused by the flood-related closing of Interstate 94 proves anything it is that car and truck transportation is a region’s economic and social lifeline. When "you can’t get there from here" becomes reality, it not only inconveniences hundreds of thousands of people, it can disrupt businesses and put communities in chaos (how would you like to live on the Highway 83 "detour" right now?).

Belling's tipsters failed him this time. He does not address one other aspect of the flood that makes train travel an even bigger loser. As demonstrated by the response to high water along I-94, car and truck travel can be inconveniently diverted to other roads so travel can be completed. Not so with rail.

The Amtrak run through Waukesha County has been shut down for three weeks due to high water undermining rail lines through Brookfield.

No way around it for rail travel. No detours, just close up shop.

Well, not quite. Those enterprising managers at Amtrak did find a way to bypass their unusable train tracks. They are putting their customers from Madison on the bus. To Chicago. So they can ride the train to Milwaukee.

The shortest duration offered for that trip: 6 hours 44 minutes.



I hadn't read about that in the KRMilwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

A painless plan to reduce petroleum demand

In their efforts to avoid finding a short-term solution to the current tight petroleum supply situation, no politician is going after the lowest hanging fruit.

We have the Republicans focused on drilling for more oil, with a 5 to 10 year implementation window, and the Democrats wishing upon a star for a renewable energy miracle cure (not yet defined) with a 20+ year waiting period to begin meaningful production.

But there is an easy option to reduce gasoline demand by up to 5% that neither party has recognized. The solution can be implemented with immediate results, requires no new legislation and no new Federal spending. All it will take is enforcement of current speed limits on the Interstate Highway System.

For drivers in Wisconsin, the limits are already enforced to some extent. Leeway is typically given up to 10 mph over the limit, and anyone going faster is at risk of a ticket. It is not that way elsewhere.

On my recent trip through Virginia and Maryland, I estimated that I was is the slowest 10% of drivers when traveling at 5 mph over the 65 mph limit. The average traffic speed was probably somewhere above 75 mph. I saw only one motorist pulled over in those states for an apparent speeding violation. Slow all these drivers down to the speed limit nationwide and there would be a dramatic savings of fuel.

I was unable to find data on fuel economy versus speed at anything above 75 mph, so I extrapolated the following data from fueleconomy.gov for higher speeds. In general I found that fuel economy drops by about 7% for every 5 mph of increased speed over 60 mph.


I also determined that 32% of the 5 trillion miles driven annually in the U.S. are on Interstate highways. Therefore, reducing average Interstate speeds by 5 mph would reduce U.S. annual fuel consumption by 2.3%. That is about 3 billion gallons of the 150 billion gallons of gasoline used in 2006. A drop of 10 mph would mean 6 billion less gallons of imported gasoline being used.

These fuel savings estimates are obviously gross estimates. But the estimates do provide an idea of the magnitude of fuel savings that can be achieved by slowing highway traffic. This will mean reduced demand with our current supply. Hence, lower gas prices.

Reducing speeds on Interstate highways can be achieved as Wisconsin has demonstrated. But it is a matter of priorities, usually at the discretion of each state's governor to direct their state highway police to enforce the current speed limits. Congress could help lure them in that direction by providing financial incentives for better enforcement.

I call this a painless plan because it will be to me. At least until they enforce speeds closer than 5 mph over the limit.

Roadside epiphanies

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel - I never knew they could do that. It was a pretty scary feeling to see the bridge ending ahead of me, as the road just disappears into the water.

Fast Drivers - As I cruised along through Virginia and Maryland at 70 in a 65 mph speed zone, I eventually noticed that I was a bottleneck driving in the center lane. I was in the slowest decile of drivers on the Interstate. Everything from Prius to Escalade was blowing by me. Most were in the 75 to 80 mph range, but a good number were pushing 90, especially anything designed in Germany.

The End of the Rainbow - I had never seen a rainbow form in the road-spray of vehicles I was following. I thought I was imagining it at first, but Mrs. HB saw it, too. I swerved a lot to avoid the pots of gold.

The iPass Works Everywhere - It was a surprise to see the barrier arm go up in North Carolina as I prepared to hand the toll attendant cash. I checked my Illinois Tollway account and was correctly charged for paying the tolls in NC and VA.

The National Road - The first I had heard of the National Road or Pike were the signs over I-68. What a fascinating history, every bit as interesting as Route 66. I can thank Garmin for getting me off the Interstate and onto Highway 40.

Assorted thoughts after a week away from the keyboard

The U.S. House of Representatives is not a serious institution.

Groucho Marx as Barrack Obama.

The painless (to me) plan to reduce petroleum demand and gas prices.

My lost respect for Washington and Jefferson.

Roadside epiphanies.

Complete the sentence fragments.


I'll post details when I find some time.

30 days from $3,499

All I need is the money and the time off from work.

Ten years ago.

Where were you when Old Blue Eyes died?

In May 1998, I was in Europe on a business trip (thank you Wisconsin Electric customers). I knew about Frank Sinatra's declining health before leaving the U.S., but did not have access to English language news during my first week across the pond.

On May 14, I went to dinner at Munich's Hofbrauhaus, where I inadvertently got drunk with some Chicagoans. Somewhere in the middle of an um-pah set (my BAL was somewhere near .28 after 2 liters of Maibock), the band stopped playing and the leader started to speak in German. It went something like this:

Blah blah blah, blah blah Frankie Boy blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah Old Blue Eyes, blah blah blah blah blah.

Frank Sinatra blah blah blah blah. New York, New York.

The band then played an um-pah version of New York, New York. Even in my condition, I figured out that Francis Albert Sinatra had left us.

Emission check station closing

Interesting timing on Envirotest's announced lay-off of emission testing workers.

Envirotest Wisconsin plans to close its Waukesha plant as of July 1, resulting in as many as 105 permanent layoffs there and at 11 other locations, state officials said Friday.

{...}

Envirotest operates the Wisconsin Vehicle Inspection Program, but its state contract is expiring.

The Envirotest contract with the state expires at the same time. This begs a question.

Is closing this station part of the bid requirements that the DOT issued or is it Envirotest's idea to reduce the cost of their bid to win the new contract?

This closing wasn't noted in the previous articles. Any competitor's bid will be an automatic loser if they propose to keep the Waukesha station open.

Gas prices

For the last month or so, gas prices in Mishicot have been 20 to 30 cents cheaper than prices in Pewaukee (I filled on 89 octane E10 today at $3.559/gallon, it was $3.849 at home). The price used to be much closer.

I think I am seeing the Summer blend conversion premium on prices of reformulated gas (they only use real gas or generic E10 in Manitowoc County). We may get a slight price rollback in Waukesha County when Summer production is fully online.

On a international scale, Belling kept talking about the $15 a day worker in China not being able to afford $10/gallon gas. That is a good thing. Motor fuel demand is inelastic in the U.S., but is elastic in China and India. They will eventually stop buying, which will ease supplies for our own selfish use.

As I said, this is good news. Belling didn't realize the consequences of what he was saying.

More emissions testing questions

Today's JSOnline features an emissions testing follow-up - Emissions to fall despite testing cuts. The article and accompanying graphic begs some questions.



Above is a plot of the data that was provided in the sidebar. The test results for treadmill versus computer checks are remarkably consistent, except for 2004 model cars. This isn't just chance, due the large number of tests being performed, statistics says these numbers mean something. These vehicles should have better emissions than older cars, just as the treadmill results show. There is something wrong with the computer modules on 2004 vehicles or with the software used by the state's contractor to read and analyze the data for these cars. This problem needs to be researched and a solution found.

The article includes this statement.

If the changes had not been made, and more cars had continued to be tested, DNR projections made available this week show emissions of nitrogen oxide would be only 1.7% lower and VOC emissions only 3.6% lower in 2009.

Because testing of 1996 and older cars is being eliminated based on the above cost-benefit comparison, what are the numbers for cars built in 2001 and later? There are certainly more 2001 through 2004 cars in service than those from 1996, but it takes more than 10 times more of these to have as many testing failures as the statistically average 1996 car.

I believe it can be shown that eliminating testing or at least reducing the testing frequency of cars that are 0 to 7 years old will add less pollutants than eliminating the pre-1997 vehicle testing (the limited data provided in the article on percentages of model years in operation definitely supports my theory). Based on the DNR-DOT acceptance criteria, Wisconsin can eliminate testing of all 2001 and newer vehicles with minimal environmental impact.

Another question in my mind is what kind of Environmental Impact Analysis was performed to allow this net increase in pollution? Or can DOT increase pollution without performing a detailed environmental analysis?

Come on Lee Bergquist and unnamed DNR officials, Wisconsin taxpayers and motorists want to know THE REST OF THE STORY.

H/T - Dad29

GPS revisited

I've had a chance to drive with my wife's Garmin c340 GPS and have to amend my previous comments.

The Good

• Estimated Arrival Time - This feature is surprisingly accurate, and is a great feature for calling ahead when meeting people or for making restaurant reservations.
• This unit provides actual speed in the map mode. A good way to check the calibration of your speedometer or for use on a boat.
• The Garmin does find some short cuts I didn't know about.

The Bad

• The Garmin is programmed with a preference for major highways. Interstate, US, and state highways are the preferred routes over local and county roads and highways, so it doesn't always pick the most efficient route.
• It is still a girlie device.
  

Speed Trap Pewaukee

Enhanced enforcement on Capitol Drive and Hwy 74 in Pewaukee today. I witnessed the City's Dodge Charger pull over 2 speeders this afternoon, and the sirens are still wailing tonight.

If you're coming out this way, watch your speed.

Unintended Consequence of Progressive Ideas, No. 64,349

Kevin Fischer links to this report from Madison's Channel 3 on the difficulties of that city's snowplow drivers in negotiating around the numerous traffic islands that have been installed as "traffic calming" measures.

Longtime snowplow operator Todd Endres has been working 16-hour shifts, but he said the job is only getting tougher.

It's already a tight squeeze getting a 12-ton truck with an 11-foot plow through streets made skinny by record snow. But throw a lot of piles of cement right in the middle of the road and Endres said it adds up to a snowplow driver's nightmare.

"The traffic calming devices or pedestrian safety islands or roundabouts or speed bumps -- I, along with just about everybody that plows, hate them," Endres said.

The devices are meant to slow down speeders, but they also slow down snowplows as they carefully find their way around or over the traffic islands.

"It's a rocky road. You got to go slow because you can break the suspension on the truck," Endres said.

The report doesn't do it justice, watch the video.

"First of all, when you [...] don't see them, and you hit them and it jars the whole truck," Endres said.

He said that missing a traffic island can bounce a driver through the roof of his truck. He called that "teeth shattering."But he added that even those traffic calming devices that are plainly marked pose a challenge.

At one roundabout Wednesday, Endres demonstrated how his plow could not go around it correctly -- it wouldn't fit. He had to stop and back up, clogging traffic. He ended up making an illegal left turn in front of the roundabout just to continue his route.

"Traffic calming" is the term coined by Madison's anti-auto fanatics (you know, the ones showing their love for Paul Soglin) for the concrete obstructions they have planted throughout the city. They even have an official policy in this manual. These anti-SUV barriers are actually rather attractive in the summer, but like lite-rail, their proponents have not factored in Wisconsin winters.

Chalk up another one to the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Concrete Nirvana

I came across a link to this map in the comments at Boots & Sabers. At first I was curious about what could have been and how many of the trips that I typically take would be eased by these proposed and canceled freeways.

From Pewaukee east to UWM, south to Chicago, or north towards Manitowoc, I could hop on the freeway right outside my front door and save minutes and miles.

... right outside my front door ...

Upon closer examination, my observation was exactly correct. It appears that the proposed Bay Freeway was planned to run right through my front yard. That minor league ballpark doesn't look so bad after all.

Visit the Wisconsin Highways website for details and history of highways throughout the state. Fascinating stuff.

Paul Soglin is right.

Yes, this Paul Soglin.

I don't mean politically. He is always wrong about that. I mean about bicyclists not belonging on the snow covered streets of Madison. I said so here, see Lesson No. 4.

And unlike the progressive Soglin; this mean and uncaring blogger does not advocate shooting bikers or smacking them with a shovel. I was concerned with their safety.

How COEXIST nearly got my butt kicked

In retrospect, it was not a good idea to have left his pistol at home. Called to the scene of a traffic accident in the Paris suburbs last Sunday, Jean-François Illy, a regional police chief, came face to face with a mob of immigrant youths armed with baseball bats, iron bars and shotguns.

What happened next has sickened the nation. As Illy tried to reassure the gang that there would be an investigation into the deaths of two teenagers whose motorbike had just collided with a police car, he heard a voice shouting: “Somebody must pay for this. Some pigs must die tonight!”

The 43-year-old commissaire realised it was time to leave, but that was not possible: they set his car ablaze. He stood as the mob closed in on him, parrying the first few baseball bat blows with his arms. An iron bar in the face knocked him down.

“I tried to roll myself into a ball on the ground,” said Illy from his hospital bed. He was breathing with difficulty because several of his ribs had been broken and one had punctured his lung.

His bruised and bloodied face signalled a worrying new level of barbarity in the mainly Muslim banlieues, where organised gangs of rioters used guns against police in a two-day rampage of looting and burning last week.

Villiers-le-Bel is home to rioting youths and closer to the Charles De Gaulle airport than anyone flying to Paris would ever want to believe.



In 1998, this cowboy made the mistake of stopping somewhere in or near Villiers-le-Bel to refuel my rental car. Things were uneventful until I tried to pay after fueling. The man behind the counter processed my Mastercard, then looked at the receipt and told me that my card was no good. Mohammad told me in darn good English that I should go up the street and get cash from the ATM to pay for my gas.

As I left the building it dawned on me that the wording on the receipt, although in French, said that the transaction was successful. I also didn't immediately see the ATM and felt uncomfortable going in the direction he sent me. So I decided I was not going to get cash to pay him.

As I returned to the gas station, I told Mrs. Headless to get in the Renault and put on her seatbelt. I went inside and pointed to the receipt, and told Mohammad that it clearly said that my card was accepted. Yet Mohammad denied it and pointed me again to the ATM.

I'd be damned if I was going to pay that terrorist twice for that fuel, so I jumped in the car and gunned it into traffic. I could see that fat son of a bitch in my mirror, he ran out to his car and started to chase me in traffic. I got caught at a couple lights, but so did he. I finally steered onto an expressway and peeled out. It felt like that scene in The French Connection. I soon lost him in traffic and got lost myself. It took a while but I eventually made my way to CDG.

At the time, I believed he was trying to double-charge me for the gas or that he refused to take my card because I am American. Today I know he wouldn't take it because I am a Christian infidel. COEXIST my ass, Mohammad was sending me to be robbed or beaten. Based on current events, I know that my decision to race away was the correct one.

Epilogue - My French must not be too good. The fuel charge never appeared on my credit card statement.

H/T - Dad29

Winter driving lessons

Lesson No. 1. All Season Radial Tire is a misnomer. It should be All Season (except when it snows) Radial Tire.

Lesson No. 2. When it snows, leave the Boxster in your garage. It was a sad sight today at the corner of Gorham & Pinckney Streets.

Lesson No. 3. It is time for SUV and Subaru owners to admit that they did not buy their vehicle for its ability to drive on snow covered roads. The one thing I could consistently predict on today's drive from Madison to Pewaukee, the vehicle holding up traffic in the left lane was going to be an SUV or an AWD Subaru. Otherwise, these vehicles were cowering in the right lane driving 5-10 mph less than prevailing traffic.

I think the caution of these drivers relates to these vehicles' high center of gravity and lousy tires (All Season Radials, of course). Front wheel drive sedans and 4WD pick-ups (with off-road tires) ruled I-94 today.

Admit it now, that SUV or Subaru was all about image. You bought the hype, but were wrong. Now buy a front wheel drive sedan or wagon, and get rid of those ridiculous fuel-wasting vehicles. You will feel safer driving on snow covered roads and have more money for other things after fueling.

Lesson No. 4. Riding a bicycle in the snow - ARE YOU NUTS? I know you're in Madison, and your bike emits no greenhouse gases, and your neighbors think this makes you especially environmentally conscious; but bloody hell - I nearly killed you with my car today. Take the city bus the next time it snows or threatens to snow.



Lesson No. 5. A set of Michelin X-Ice tires is money well spent. These snow tires turned my front wheel drive sedan from white-knuckles in snow; to sure handling and able to start & stop on any hill I encountered. I was fearless on the freeway today, but I kept it in control and did not risk a ride into the median ditch.

Cruise food

I promised some of the people on my cruise that I'd post all of my food photos on this blog. Blogger doesn't give me that much storage, so I put them on my Webshots account. Here are some favorites.

Carpaccio of beef tenderloin.



Proscuito & brie panini.



My wife's favorite meal, baked sole.



Osso Buco.



Good looking dessert.

Wild bear video

The guide for the eagle raft float on the Tsirku River in Alaska urged our group of adventurers to avoid eating farm raised salmon. I have only eaten wild salmon for the last several years because wild salmon is far superior in flavor and texture compared to farm raised salmon.

Our guide stressed the health reasons for favoring wild salmon. Farm raised salmon can contain toxins and carcinogens. It also contains more fat & calories and less Omega-3 fats than the wild salmon varieties. The Pure Salmon Campaign provides additional information on the relative benefits of wild salmon.