3 Statements from Sheriffs On Texas Bullet Train Path. New Sheriff Coalition.

New Sheriff Coalition: Sheriffs from Grimes, Navarro, Freestone, Limestone, Leon, Madison, Waller, and Ellis counties

Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell says high speed rail will:

  • slow down response times
  • No representative from high speed rail has talked to the sheriffs
  • cost of increased patrols along the train route

 

KBTX Texas | Local sheriffs concerned about public safety along proposed bullet train route

KWTX 10 | Central Texas sheriffs join coalition to address high speed rail concerns

 

TREND forecast: Automobile Recalls & Ride Share. Legislative Solutions.

Safety and ride share is everywhere:

  • California requirement on a lower lood alcohol level standard
  • Arizona talking legislating car seat requirements and ride share drivers
  • And now….this….

Prohibiting ride share vehicle operations if the vehicle has an active recall notice.

How would this work? Recalls are easily tackable via the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

KTVU Fox 2 | Recalls among Uber & Lyft cars pose safety risk on roadways

Regulatory Trend. Self Driving Taxis. How Seguro Flower State Regulators approved Waymo.

it started with: A pilot program. A 2017 Waymo Phoenix-based pilot program that still had “operators” ready to take vehicle control in an emergency. Pilot program volunteers received  free service.

the successful pilot led to: approval of a permit of the self-driving transportation network service

the touted benefits: Self driving taxis will cut per mile costs for consumers and for programs that rely on rideshare for rides for seniors or medical trasnportation

Business Insider | Waymo gets the go ahead for autonomous ride-hailing in Arizona

NBC News | Driverless taxi rides are headed your way this year

New Kid on th block. Quickly Get to Know the new TXDOT Commissioner.

Governor Abbott appointed Alvin New to the Texas Transportation Commission.

Term exprires:  February 1, 2021

About Alvin New:

  • Christoval, TX
  • owner of 4N Ranches
  •  former CEO of Town & Country Food Stores
  • former mayor of San Angelo
  • former member of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce Board & the Concho Valley Center for Economic Development Board
  • Texas Tech University Foundation Board member
  • Goodfellow Air Force Base Advisory Council
  • former state board member of the Texas Restaurant Association
  • former vice chairman of the National Association of Convenience Stores
  • BBA San Angelo State

Governor Abbott | Governor Abbott Appoints New To Texas Transportation Commission

4 Legislative Proposals EVs + Cities+Businesses + Funding

Colorado Governor is prposing the following legislative proposals in response to the growing use of EVs:

  • more funding to build out Colorado’s network of charging stations
  • Buy more electric-powered buses
  • Push public and private employers to make charging ports available for workers

Colorado’s Trasnportation Commission is adapting to EVs by:

  •  experimenting with ways to charge motorists by how far they drive as opposed to the gas tax

Denver Post | Electric cars and technology are upending transportation as we know it. But is Colorado prepared?

How 1 City Auditor Found Lost Ride Share Revenue

Denver city auditor identified that Denver International Airport wasn’t tracking ride share rides.

Why wasn’t Denver’s airport tracking ride share rides? Because it relied on the ride share comapnies to self report

Why is self reporting from ride share a problem? Other local governments say the companies are underreporting based on the cities own tracking numbers

What are concrete examples? San Francisco found underreporting of 39,000 rides in 8 months, which accounted for $150,000 in revenue

Denver Post | DIA does not track Uber and Lyft rides, opening risk of losing revenue, Denver auditor warns

Business TREND. New Sharing Economy. Scooter Sharing + 3 Ordinances/Laws/Regs for Scooters.

The new business: scooter sharing via Bird

Launch city: Santa Monica CA

Seed funding: Yes, $15M to expand nation wide

The laws/regulations/ordinances at play:

  • Do scooters need permits to park?
  • Do scooters need permits to park on sidewalks?
  • Do scooter sharing comapnies need a permit? Satan Monica wants it to have a permit like a food trailer vendor.
  • What kind of local government/scooter sharing compoany data sharing arrangement can be had?

Tech Crunch | This former Uber (and Lyft) exec just raised $15 million for his controversial e-scooter startup: Bird

Anatomy of a Cross State HyperLoop Deal. 3 Pieces of Legislative Work in the Interim.

The company: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT)

The state partners: North Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) and the Illinois’ Department of Transportation (IDOT)

The deal: Connecting Chicago and Cleveland by Hyperloop. The starting point: a feasibility study to determine the viability of a number of different corridors. The “first real public-private partnership to bring Hyperloop travel to the US”

The legislative work:

  • Ohio’s legislature passed a resolution supporting the initiative in January 2018
  • Congresspersons from multiple states  sent a formal letter to the Trump administration asking for federal funding support for building out a Hyperloop network

TechCrunch | Hyperloop Transportation Technologies signs first cross-state deal in the U.S.