Today was my first full day in Manhattan. After getting an internet and phone system installed in the apartment, I rolled down 80 blocks of this bustling City for a meeting. Glad to be sporting a helmet, this ride was no easy stroll. Unlike some previous cycling in Princeton, New Jersey, and Chapel Hill/Carrboro, North Carolina — Manhattan cycling demands full focus to arrive at your destination unscathed by eager taxi drivers and hurrying pedestrians. It made a real difference when I had a bike lane that gave me some sense of security, with the best part of the trip being the ride through Central Park’s bikeway on my way back. The cool thing was my meeting was with the Director of the organization largely responsible for those bike lanes through 35 years of strong advocacy. The organization was Transportation Alternatives, TA for short, and they are dedicated to getting more City support for cycling, walking and public transit. Their organization has doubled its staff over the last few years to now house 20 effective activists who fan out over all five boroughs to educate and advocate for a less car-centric NYC. Their Director, Paul Steely White, and I discussed ways SET can collaborate to help make a bigtime bike share program (a la Paris) a reality. The City has just issued a Request for Expressions of Interest, giving institutions interested in administering the program a chance to submit proposals. So now we all plan to help ensure some great proposals come together and that the process continues toward a big launch as soon as possible.
Reading over today’s oil news reminded me of the importance of such programs, as competition looks to get tougher for global oil supplies. While the price of oil continued its recent correctional downward shift thanks to Hurricane Dolly’s courteous avoidance of major oil producing areas, oil exports of Mexico and Russia made headlines again. In Mexico, their national oil company (PeMex) reported that June’s export total was 19% lower than last year at ~1.4 million barrels per day. And in Russia, taxes on oil exports were raised by ~25% to ~$500 per metric ton (almost $70 per barrel) effective August 1. Such a level of taxation erodes the incentive for oil producers to increase exports (or even maintain them, as Russian production has been in decline in 2008). Bike share programs and efficient transit routes will be crucial to keep US oil demand falling enough to make up for reduced supplies from such oil majors. TA is doing some excellent work here in the Big Apple, and here’s hoping SET can help them accelerate the process.
Tags: Mexican oil decline, NYC bike share, Oil, Russian oil export taxes