TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Stop burdening tax paying citizen with more taxes that do little or nothing to better the lives of ordinary taxpaying citizens.

Do not create more taxes for others to parasite off those who drive gas powered vehicles.

Start your low carbon initiative with China and India before you attack myself and other Rhode Island Taxpayers.

I strongly oppose implementation of the TCI. It is legislation thru regulation. I have no interest or desire to have my taxes or cost of operating my automobile determine or controlled by regional bureaucrats. Any initiative that will result in increasing fuel costs to taxpayers ought to be undertaken directly by local and state elected officials who are ultimately accountable to the voters. Legislators who delegate to regulators or agency bureaucrats do so only to duck personal accountability and assure themselves (in their minds) of plausible deniability when it comes to assessing blame.

Asking the TCI to consider Two specific thematics:
1] IT is important to be wary of becoming isolated to one strategic domain: decarbonize the transportation sector through transitioning to an electric powered car bus system etc. This is an important part of the solution though it in effect adds to the GHG emission profile of those places where electric vehicles are manufacturing and transported and where the energy sources for our electric grid is produced. And for the foreseeable immediate future this still will be fossil-fueled.

A society governed by electric-powered vehicles does not automatically enhance smart growth/development, complete streets, dense development, safe pedestrian and bike modes nor will such a paradigm improve transportation equity for currently undeserved and economically marginalized populations. Nothing changes as well in the built environment that even as the GHG emission profile does indeed improve it will manifestly reinforce the mandate that produces more highways and parking lots, parking garages and transit numbing congestion and location and land use development that optimizes access to the single user vehicle.

2] Affected fuels and emission sources. TCI is excluding ocean and waterway shipping, and air transport were to be exempt. It might be timely to include water way shipping in that there is an emerging policy infrastructure emerging for this domain. To Wit:

90,000 ships carry 90% of global trade burning 2 billion barrels of the heaviest—and dirtiest crude. Fuels used in shipping have about 3500 times greater concentrations of sulphur dioxide SO(2) than automotive diesel. Though much shipping is seaborne in international waters much travels through harbors and waterways and ports in RI, NY, MASS, and other TCI signatories. Shipping contributes about 2-3% of global carbon dioxide CO(2). Currently the shipping sector must meet (beginning in 2020) limitations on SO (2) and Nitrogen Oxides NO and particulates as mandated by the UN International Maritime Agency. This is propelling the introduction of using lower sulphur fuels and scrubbers. In order to meet this mandate IMP’s marine environment protection committee proposed slow-steaming an approach that could collaterally cut 750 millions of tons of CO(2) or 2% of CO(2) emission by 2050, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. Electric battery-powered ferries have operated on a small scale and wind assisted propulsion—(sailing) is an increasing option as well. And Hydrogen technologies are also being considered. Carbon Dioxide CO(2) levels will be the International Maritime Agency’s next focus as the SO(2), NO and PM regulations take hold. So it would be prudent to include this sector in the TCI deliberations.
In order to meet this mandate IMP’s marine environment protection committee.

Ships often use their own engines while they are docked: one study reported by the US EPA noted that a single cruise ship docked for one day emits as much diesel as 34,400 idling tractor trailers. Shore electric power stations were pioneered by the US Navy years ago. In 2007 California diesel emissions regulation requires 70%^ of ships to connect to shore electric power setups. (In 2018 a Swiss shipping firm was fined $650,000 for violations of this rule.) Seattle is allocating $30 mission to expand its shore power stations. China will require all cruise ships to hook up to shore power stations by 2021

Rhode Islanders cannot afford any more taxes. Simple statement, sincere words. NO MORE TAXES.

I strongly believe that the T.C.I. Tax will not substantially affect carbon emissions or air quality, and that it will only serve to add an unnecessary burden to consumers. There are far more effective methods to reduce emissions than to add more taxes into the price of fuel.

The Northeast has helped lead the nation in reducing pollution from electricity.
Now the largest source of pollution in the region comes from transportation. We can create a better, cleaner transportation system for Northeast residents through investments in public transportation and new technologies such as electric vehicles.
An important step forward would be for the Northeast region to set an overall limit on pollution from transportation through a regional “cap-and-invest” program, similar to the program the region implemented for electricity-related emissions. This program would begin to
hold oil companies accountable for their emissions and provide funding for clean mobility for Northeast residents

My own proposed above-grade automated transit system that I have named "Teleport" incorporates about 100 of my own separate innovations. I have quite a few interim transit inventions, but I’ll put them aside for now because human civilization needs to move quickly to 90% less fuel per passenger-mile.

My bare bones Teleport cost target is roughly 3 cents per passenger-mile including the lifetime cost of above-street trackage. This price is far below the total cost of automobile travel. I aim for the electricity equivalent of 300 mpg. I expect to achieve ADA-compliance -- all Teleport stations can be at ground level or at floor level in skyscrapers, with double elevator doors. I expect the automobile to be turtle-slow versus Teleport's net urban quickness, and I expect Teleport to compete versus the automobile in terms of inter-city travel.

Teleport's "last mile" transit section hangs from a zip line system. The simplest zip line system has two slack wire cables that hang from multiple support towers. At the support towers, cables morph into rails. A zip line track of, say, a mile can be supported every 100 feet or so. Individual cars have batteries and electric motors with which to negotiate the zip line system.

The experience of passing one support tower, going slightly downhill on a cable, going slightly uphill as the car approaches the next tower, transitioning onto the rail and passing the next tower is surprisingly smooth as compared to a conventional ski lift gondola car negotiating small bumps at every support tower. I have my own pivoting rail design to make the transition accelerations remarkably smooth and to reduce up/down motions.

The beauty of a zip line system is that simple cables cost at least 90% less per mile of track than even so-called "ultralight" or "flyweight" above-grade rail systems, and 99.99% less per mile to build than, say, a 1950s-vintage Disneyland above-street monorail system. Teleport needs two cables (a second cable adds a layer of safety) and support towers.

Full automation is far safer 20 feet above the street than with cars on the ground, with 99.9% fewer objects to hit. This saves money and lives.

Above-grade Teleport lines can cross each other at different levels without cars having to stop. Traffic congestion is seriously simplified. Perhaps 100 times as many Teleport cars can be fit above a freeway as autos on the freeway.

- - - Teleport rails, switches and elevators

Teleport car wheels are designed so that they can rather smoothly transition from zip lines to rails at support towers. Automated Teleport rail switches, similar to railroad siding switches but automated, can be built into rail sections. An automated switching system means that a particular Teleport car can be routed to any requested track or station on the automated Teleport network. All Teleport cars have forward and reverse abilities.

At Teleport elevator shafts, specific rail sections can be raised or lowered. This allows Teleport cars to be lowered to ground level so that wheelchairs can roll into Teleport cars through standard double elevator doors. The same system will deposit wheelchair-using passengers directly onto train platforms and onto various floors in a Teleport-ready skyscraper.

Certain Teleport stations will have local sidings where spare cars may stack up. When a commuter train pulls in, quite a few people will all want to use Teleport at the same time. Teleport's control system needs to anticipate that at a certain minute on weekdays a certain station is always flooded with patrons, and then stockpile extra cars in a timely manner.

Busier Teleport networks will have circulators, multiple cable routes between most stations. In rare circumstances a zip line may be put out of service by a leaning tree caused by a hurricane. Teleport needs to detect this problem almost instantaneously. Then, lines of individual cars are quickly and automatically rerouted around the bad section. The days are numbered for a gasoline truck rollover at rush hour causing a five-mile backup of uninformed freeway drivers.

- - - The Teleport tractor-trailer extension

A more advanced Teleport zip line transit system separates individual gondola cars and cargo pods from the automated carrier units that latch onto them from the top, that lift them off of ground level and that carry them under zip line cables.

If the zip lines and controlling computers are seen as part of the automated Teleport system, then the carrier units are equally part of the automated transit utility. Some individual gondola cars may be people's private gondola boxes with windows. These private boxes could probably fit into a homeowner's standard garage. Other Teleport cars may be luxury cabs stocked and maintained by a cab company or they might be public bus cars owned by the Teleport utility. They may equally be cargo pods, some with onboard refrigeration ability..

Most Teleport cars will be elevator-sized, about 6.5 feet high, 6.5 feet long and 5 feet wide. A few Teleport carriers may have simple hook devices for carrying oversized freight objects such as replacement support poles over the Teleport system.

In a tractor and cargo pod arrangement, "tractor" is used in the sense of "tractor-trailer". Automated Teleport zip line tractors have motors and battery packs. They pick up and move Teleport cargo pods. Human-capable pods typically carry their own small battery packs for running various in-car human conveniences such as large computer monitors and refrigerators.

Teleport automated mini-trains move groups of Teleport cars on above-grade suspended train lines. For longer-distance commuting purposes it's more energy-efficient, more cost-efficient and more streamlined to move groups of cars versus single cars. On-train plug-in amenities such as a rest room pod and a coffee wagon pod are possible.

- - - - - - - Advantages

- - -Total system quickness

Battery-powered above-grade systems are much quicker than, say, battery-powered cars stuck in urban traffic. Automation allows for a public car to often be immediately available behind any elevator door when you walk up, and then the car starts up the elevator shaft as soon as the door closes. Teleport can drop you off not just at your door but on your floor. It drops you off, then it parks itself and picks up your groceries. How much time do you waste parking and walking to your downtown destination with all of your bags?

Teleport cable systems might move cars the "last mile" at 20 mph or at a steady 3 minutes per mile with few pauses. Low air friction, high capacity Teleport above-road trains might run at an energy-conserving 50 mph to 100 mph. Because loading/unloading is automated and because different trains may have different destinations, waiting times at stations will be limited. Automobiles spend half of their time at red lights, rush hour is never any fun and urban parking can cost a commuter an extra 15 minutes, but a Teleport car travels near its maximum listed miles per hour.

- - - Personal convenience

With Teleport you're not driving, where driving can be stressful. I want my personal pod with a fold down cot, a large screen and a fridge.

Teleport's last-mile solution can inexpensively reach suburban and even ex-urban streets. Running inexpensive Teleport cables into private garages is likely. Teleport is set up to move someone's private pod including all of their personal stuff from a home garage to any building in town.

Many people have bulky stuff that they want to use someday. One elevator door inside an apartment can accommodate one closet pod at a time. Moving across town becomes far easier if two houses or apartments both have Teleport stations. Storage of Teleport closet pods across town is easy. Teleport closet pods can be stacked.

Teleport cars can be shopping cart accessible. Shopping carts can be wheeled from checkout lines directly into Teleport vehicles, then to apartment refrigerators without unloading them. All sorts of items, from furniture to pizza to a closet full of seasonal items, can be delivered to the elevator door near or within an apartment if the apartment building is Teleport-capable.

- - - Lifetime Cost

I price Teleport cables at about 1 cent per passenger-mile. Teleport public cabs (non-luxurious models, at least) and engines would be another cent per passenger-mile, and the electricity to move a tractor and cab one passenger-mile would again be 1 cent. Total system cost (not counting R&D) is about 3 cents per passenger-mile. No automobile and freeway system could possibly compete financially with this transit system, not without vast built-in political subsidies for the old-fashioned motor vehicle technology.

I estimate 90% lifetime energy savings over a gasoline and ground-based freeway system, plus the last 10% can be mostly renewable electricity. Teleport is long lasting - it's sustainable and maintenance is low. No other known automated system is nearly as climate-friendly as Teleport transit.

- - - Industrial extensions

Teleport turns a city into one large assembly line. Everything gets less expensive when the delivery cost of all freight, both retail and industrial, plummets toward zero. All sorts of goods and tools can just show up at people's homes as needed.

An automated Teleport system pretty much assembles its own new Teleport cable lines. Each new support tower and cable comes in on a Teleport line from an automated factory across town. A walking crane allows each piece to travel the last 100 feet or so. Buckets of concrete for stations can show up also. The same system can inexpensively help to assemble a house or a skyscraper onsite, piece by piece.

- - - Implementation Costs and Benefits

Dreaming and drawings are relatively inexpensive. First, draw. Next, prove out most of Teleport's subsystems, eliminating the biggest questions and financial risks first. Eventually, proper crash testing could take on the order of a $100 million dollar investment.

Displacing almost the entire automobile and freeway construction industry is a trillion dollar domestic market, and it would displace 20% of all worldwide greenhouse gas production. That's a bargain. It demands funding.

- - - Not shown here

There's a lot to the hardware. My cables have gone through several iterations. My rails are also new, and so are my support towers. I want wheels that really grip the cables well in any potential disaster, and that in rare cases can reattach to one cable or rail. I want airbags in case a ground-based truck hits a support pole or a tree breaks both cables. I want anti-terrorism equipment sniffing certain cars for explosives to properly designed airport departure and arrival gates. Rest room pods go to special stations for cleaning as needed. Passenger pods need heat/cooling, lighting and creature comforts. For a perfect quick food sale, the pod's elevator door opens and there's someone behind a counter for the customer. Special tractors and cars are made for emergency vehicles, for hauling 30 foot poles or for hauling plywood. Above-grade maintenance and rescue cars are another specialty item.

Next, there's a lot to the cellular software, from computer network security issues to optimizing network flow given emergency vehicles and freight rates. Inquisitive newcomers should be brought in to a central station for a free pass (at least on the first day), a brochure and a gentle sales pitch. Persistent scofflaws can be redirected to the police station for a talk with the desk sergeant. Emptying a large sports stadium would involve letting fans walk into elevator cars labeled to travel in their general destination directions. Full and heavy passenger cars might be assigned premium travel times by the network computer at rush hours.