Blog
March 2009

Welcome to our blog. Through it, we hope to offer insight into or products and technology, as well as some general news that we hope may affect your transportation habits.

Welcome to the flock Patagonia!

We're proud to welcome our newest customer, Patagonia, to the Goose Networks flock. Ventura, CA based Patagonia is a great company known for not only making the highest quality outdoor clothing & gear, but creating these goods with processes that cause the least harm to the environment.

Patagonia launched their Goose CMP powered commuter resourcese program earlier this month, in time for the company's annual Bike to Work Week initiative. Patagonia has been using our commute calendar to track and measure the company-wide effort to reduce their footprint and the results have been astounding! Since launching their program, Patagonia has stepped up their efforts to use alternative transportation to and from work, resulting in the reduction of over 107,000 lbs. of carbon from being released into the atmosphere, reduced 23,000 trips, and saved over 5,500 gallons of gas. 

For a complete wrap of of Patagonia's Bike to Work week, visit Patagonia's employee weblog.

Here at Goose we're always excited to see the efforts of our customers accrue on a daily basis, and it's numbers like these that inspire us to do even more to support our customers.

Posted by Zac Corker on March 15, 2009.

National coverage of VMT tax / transit ridership

Yesterday the New York Times summarized the growing debate over a mileage tax as a replacement or supplement to the current state and federal fuel tax.  As the article reminds us, the federal gas tax (18.4 cents per gal) has not changed since 1993. 

Also today the Times covers the rise in transit ridership in 2008.  Figures just released show that ridership hit a 52 year high.   Unfortunately for many transit agencies this spike in demand come at a time when funding is drying up. 

Posted by Charlie Crissman on March 9, 2009.

Crosscut covers the brewing debate over a mileage tax

What happens when a system gets too crowded?  The interstate highway system grew rapidly in the 50's.  Since 1960, growth in road miles has been flat, averaging around 2.6% per decade.  On the other hand, road use as measured in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), has grown at a much more rapid clip.  Our analysis of Federal Transportation data showed a 250% increased in vehicle miles traveled between 1960 and 2000.  During the same period the number of road miles increased by only 11%.  Same roads and more miles = congestion and wear & tear. 

While some of this VMT increase comes from more cars on the road the majority of the growth is in per capita mileage.  For a nice analysis and an introduction to Jevons paradox check this post from metcaffeination.

Recent discussion of a mileage tax is causing a minor political dustup.  There is a summary today in Crosscut by Matt Rosenberg from the Cascadia Center at the Discovery Institute.  A standard reaction to the idea of a tax on miles driven is, " just raise the gas tax and provide incentive to use more fuel efficient vehicles."  As the Crosscut article states, the gas tax "sends poor price signals to motorists".  The article adds that a mileage tax "would clarify the linkage between driving and the needs of a poorly maintained and underpriced system."

It's a safe bet that deliberation on a VMT tax will be protracted and contentious.  Whether or not you agree with the premise of a mileage tax the Crosscut article and metcaffeination post will get you ready to join the debate. 

Executive summary of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission final report (released on Feb 26).

Portland Transport summary of pilot program tracking VMT.

Posted by Charlie Crissman on March 5, 2009.
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