Why is Providence So Bad at Non-Car Transportation?

I've talked about how Providence's local inter-city transportation is terrible.

Today, Transport Providence points out it's no better at helping Providence residents get around by bike:

Mayor Jorge Elorza bikes to work everyday, and takes part in frequent night rides with community members. By all accounts the mayor is supportive of bicycling. However, Providence has made next to no progress on bike infrastructure during the two years the mayor has been in office. This needs to change. [...]

Where is the bike infrastructure, Mayor Elorza? We cannot expect mass cycling to take root in Rhode Island without our core cities establishing bike routes that are suitable for eight year olds, eighty year olds, and everyone in between. If we’re going to provide routes that are safe for people in wheelchairs and rascals, we need bike routes, like what the Dutch and Danish have. Doing this can help us make more efficient use of our school bus funding, our sidewalk funding, our parking, and improve business outcomes for small business.

Bike infrastructure - like protected bike lanes and bike racks - and makes for a more vibrant community. People can get around while exercising, smelling the fresh air, and seeing each other, rather than stuck inside expensive, noisy, polluting cars that take up tons of space through roads and parking.

It's also smart economic policy. One study showed every dollar invested in separated bike lanes returns $24 in avoided pollution, health care costs, and traffic, according to Adele Peters at Fast Company's Co.Exist. Another study showed investment in bike infrastructure returns a huge payoff compared to car infrastructure in longer lives, lower health care costs, less spending on gas, and just plain cheaper infrastructure.

If Providence, or any other aging city, is going to thrive in the 21st century, it needs to be more than just a commuter destination, or a highway pass-through for people traveling from Boston to New York. It needs to be a great place for people - not just for cars.

Drought, Gas-Fired Power Plant Nearly Snuff Out Providence Waterfire

With southern New England in a mild drought and Providence River water needed to cool Dominion's natural gas-fired Manchester Street Power Station, last week Providence's famed WaterFire had to ditch the gondolas:

Organizers of the popular public art display, featuring small bonfires on rivers in downtown Providence, say Friday night's partial WaterFire lighting in the Waterplace Park Basin will be done by volunteers in waders. Typically, boaters keep the flames lit, and Friday's plans called for the city's hurricane barrier to be closed to ensure sufficiently high water levels.

But with high temperatures forecast this weekend, a power plant on the river bank may need to run at full capacity. So the hurricane barrier must be opened to ensure a constant flow of coolant water.

New England remains overly dependent on nuclear and natural gas-fired power, with a lingering but shrinking slice of coal-fired power, all of which are extremely water-intensive. As global warming continues fueling more droughts, water-intensive energy sources are at risk of becoming increasingly unreliable.

Which makes some other news this week especially important: New Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is moving forward with offshore wind leases off Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Offshore wind and solar power will not only strengthen our energy security - hopefully they mean we won't have to get used to the hip waders at WaterFire.

You Can't Get There from Here

The Green Miles is on an Amtrak train on the way to Providence for this week's Netroots Nation. I'd been hoping to be able to visit my girlfriend in nearby New Bedford AND go without a car, but limited bus service makes that costly and inconvenient.

Downtown Providence, RI (population: 178,042) and New Bedford, MA (population: 95,072) are 33 miles apart, a 38 minute drive according to Google Maps. But if you don't have a car or want to drive, the only way to get between the two is a Peter Pan bus that only runs every two hours, takes 80 minutes, and costs $33 round-trip. (By comparison, a Megabus round-trip ticket from Providence to New York City costs $28.)

It's a combination of terrible planning, massive public under-investment in regional transportation, and inconvenient state borders. The main Providence bus station is located three miles north of downtown, so you have to take a bus from downtown to the main bus station, then on to New Bedford. SRTA, which serves New Bedford and Fall River, has an annual budget of only $14 million, barely enough to provide minimal intra-city service despite large rider protests. RIPTA only serves Rhode Island and even Massachusetts' next-generation commuter rail plan acts like Rhode Island doesn't exist.

But with a huge swath of Americans 16-34 driving much less and taking transit much more, you have to wonder how long the lonely driver transportation model can hold.

If you're wondering about the title, read this classic Saturday Night Live skit. (Yes, read it. SNL's video archiving sucks worse than NBC's ratings.)

Genuine or Greenwashing: Water-Saving Hotels

A quick post from Rhode Island's TF Green Airport ...

The Green Girlfriend and I stayed in the Providence Biltmore Hotel this weekend. Cards in the bathroom trumpet the hotel's "Green Program," detailing efforts to change sheets and wash towels only when necessary.

But like every hotel The Green Miles has ever stayed in, there was no recycling available in the hotel. Not in the room. Not anywhere else on the floor. Not even in the lobby.

And all over the room? Incandescent light bulbs. Considering hotels nickel and dime you for internet service, movies and room service, why is the Biltmore passing up the chance to save $3 per bulb per year on light bulbs?

I first saw the sheet/towel card nearly a decade ago. At this point, it's not eco-friendly, it's standard operating procedure. If a hotel can't bring anything more to the table than that by 2007 yet is still trying to get credit for being "green" ... sorry, Biltmore. The Green Miles' verdict? Greenwashing.

I wish I could link you to a site to help you find green hotels, but it doesn't look like there's a great one. Grist's Ask Umbra can give you a good rundown of what to look for in a truly eco-conscious hotel.