Sao Paulo - instead of strike, metro workers call for opening the turnstiles

Free Fare Movement - Brazil: "metroviarios.org.br : "One of the resolutions of the meeting of the day 20/5 was the formation of a committee to define how the release of the turnstiles will be taken during the Wage Campaign. The Committee will organize this activity, which may happen even before the possible strike category. This discussion will be taken to the areas that members can decide on the best way to perform the activity ""

Kuala Lumpur free buses generate excitement

New Straits Times: "FAST, CLEAN AND FREE!
Yes, in case you haven’t heard, there is a smarter way to get around KL without having to worry about getting stuck in traffic, parking, etc."

Let's encourage those who are reducing our costs

The car culture is subsidized. Profits are privatized, costs are socialized. It is a heavy burden on the taxpayer and the economy.

There is a simple cure -- public transit. Public transit users are keeping costs down by not driving. Every time someone gets on a bus, that is less pollution, less congestion, better health, fewer collisions, less distracted driving, less money sent out of town for gasoline, etc, etc.

Fares ration service, and punish people for reducing the car subsidy burden. Let's stop charging fares.

The great imaginary California oil boom: Over before it started

Resource Insights : "The pending 96 percent reduction in estimated deep shale oil resources in California revealed last week in the Los Angeles Times calls into question the oil industry's premise of a decades-long revival in U.S. oil production and the already implausible predictions of American energy independence. The reduction also appears to bolster the view of long-time skeptics that the U.S. shale oil boom--now centered in North Dakota and Texas--will likely be short-lived, petering out by the end of this decade."

As “Transportation Cliff” Nears, Unions Rally for Public Transit

Working In These Times: "“We need a long-term mass transit highway reauthorization bill, one that has real money to finance America’s infrastructure, highways, bridges, mass transit systems, so we don’t sink into a Third World in terms of mobility for tens of millions of people every day,” says Harry Lombardo, president of TWU. “Two years ago, instead of coming up with a comprehensive program and financing it to rebuild the infrastructure of America and expand mass transit or at least maintain it as we know it, they kicked the can down the road.”"



Photo - ATU

Zero fare!

https://www.facebook.com/tarifazerobh?

Putin’s Shanghai Expedition Stokes Deal Talk That Lifts Gazprom

Bloomberg: "“Russia and China are closer to a deal than they’ve ever been before,” Karen Kostanian, an analyst at Bank of America, said by phone from Moscow last week. “While Russia seeks to diversify its natural gas exports away from Europe, China wants to diversify its fuel imports.”

Gazprom will have to spend about $56 billion through 2019 to build a new pipeline to China and develop the Kovykta and Chayanda gas fields in eastern Siberia to supply the gas, Kostanian said."

Split in 1% over #climate

Rift Widening Between Energy And Insurance Industries Over Climate Change - Forbes: "Being a big business, the insurance industry is a strong backer of free enterprise and its laissez-faire leaders. But a rift could be developing now that some major carriers are staking claims in the climate change cause while many of their congressional backers have remained skeptical of the science."

Capitalists turn on each other as costs come due for climate delaying

CSMonitor.com: "Climate change lawsuits: Farmers Insurance filed class action lawsuit last month against nearly 200 communities in the Chicago area for failing to prepare for flooding. The suits argue towns should have known climate change would produce more flooding."

Auto overproduction crisis -- waiting for recovery that is not coming

Zero Hedge: "The car industry cannot stop making new cars because they would have to close their factories and lay off tens of thousands of employees.  This would further add to the recession.  Also the domino effect would be catastrophic as steel manufactures would not sell their steel. All the tens of thousands of places where car components are made would also be effected, indeed the world could come to a grinding halt."

What is net energy and why is it falling?

Net energy is the amount of energy that can be put to use from a system. For example, oil is found, pumped, transported, refined, and burned. You can see that a lot of energy was invested before the benefit is reaped. When that net energy is less that 1:1, that means you are spending more energy than you are getting.

The problem with transport energy is that it must be liquid because trillions of dollars have already been invested in the system that uses it. So, even if the net is a loss, we still pursue liquid fuel. The tarsands are a good example. Some economists say that the net energy of tarsands is greater than 1:1. But they do not include the following:

• clean up costs of toxic waste
• loss of forest
• cancer
• greenhouse gas emissions during extraction
• cost of train derailments
• carcinogens leaking into rivers

If these costs were in included, then tarsands would be a net LOSER in energy.

Tarsands are an extreme example.  Many energy sources in general are not as generous as they seem. And to make matters worse, humans, at current growth rates, will cook the biosphere (100C/212F degrees) in 400 years NO MATTER WHAT WE BURN.

Solution - Degrowth. How to get there? Make cities carfree. Urbanization will drop birthrates. Waiting for collapse is not acceptable.

Energy industry sacrifices safety as net energy falls

Deadly Fire Roars Through Coal Mine in Turkey - NYTimes.com: "ISTANBUL — An explosion on Tuesday in a coal mine in western Turkey killed at least 151 miners and left more than 200 others trapped underground, Turkey’s energy minister said early Wednesday."

Why #peakoil must be ignored or denied by government

Peak Oil : "They CANNOT talk about peak oil, much less implement plans to mitigate the problems of peak oil — not publicly, anyway. The reality of peak oil MUST be kept quiet.
Why?
Because the moment that government recognition of peak oil is made public, the stock market will crash, banks and businesses worldwide will flip onto their backs and wiggle their little legs for a while and then die — in other words, global economic crash and subsequent collapse.
The only thing keeping the global economy and the stock market sleezing along is the confidence of millions of investors living in a state of denial and the multiple trillion$ of freshly printed money being pumped into the system.
But don’t take my word for it. Read this:
Stock Market will Crash when Investors realize Peak Oil is Real
“David Fridley, an expert on oil economics, worked under Chu. In an interview given in 2009, Fridley claims, “[Chu] was my boss…He knows all about peak oil, but he can’t talk about it. If the government announced that peak oil was threatening our economy, Wall Street would crash. He just can’t say anything about it.” (Morrigan)
A whistleblower at the IEA alleged that oil reserves had been overstated, and that the IEA had downplayed the lowering rates of production because it feared panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further. ‘Politicians are terrified of mentioning peak oil,’ says Chris Skrebowski, director of Peak Oil Consulting and former editor of respected industry magazine Petroleum Review. ‘They are frightened of the social and financial reactions. Peak oil has been placed on the pile marked “too difficult” (Rowe).”
energyskeptic.com/2012/stock-market-will-crash-when-investors-realize-peak-oil-is-real/

the above is comment by Northwest Resident on Mon, 12th May 2014 9:59 am 

Brazil Zero Fare Movement fights fare increase

. #tarifazero .

. #passelivre .

Read more here and here

Voters approve millions for #publictransit in Michigan

Aggressive TWU Transit Funding Campaign in Michigan Yields Landslide Victory at the Polls: "

The tax millage will generate an estimated $3.4 million in Ann Arbor, $202,730 in Ypsilanti and $778,207 in Ypsilanti Township annually, and will fund the implementation of the AATA’s five-year transit improvement plan. That plan includes more than 90,000 hours of additional fixed-route bus service in the county's urban core, including about 57,000 in Ann Arbor, more than 8,500 in Ypsilanti, and over 9,400 in Ypsilanti Township. 

"

More signs of split in 1% as interests diverge from oil industry

Leaders of Tampa Bay's biggest public companies cite mass transit as priority | Tampa Bay Times: "Yet when the leaders of the region's 10 biggest public companies were asked what Tampa Bay should do to improve its business climate, a majority echoed the same suggestion: make it easier for people to travel between work and home.

"It's hard to get around Pinellas and Hillsborough if you don't have a car," said Mark Mondello, CEO of Jabil Circuit. "Compared to Chicago, Dallas, L.A., Boston … it's night and day. If we're going to attract progressive types of workers and progressive types of corporate businesses, mass transit is an issue.""

Good reason for #freetransit - save energy, avoid war

The war in Ukraine is about energy.

Our Finite World

Don't end up like Ukraine, start reducing cars and saving energy now! See how it is being done in Poland with a campaign for free public transport.

BEZPLATNA KOMUNIKACJA MIEJSKA: ""On Wednesday, the boardwalk Chelm gathered representatives of the Free Trade Union of Workers want August 80, in several Polish cities including Chelm appeared free public transport. What are the advantages of this solution?"

photo credit chelm.naszemiasto.pl

The Energy Trap

Do the Math: "In brief, the idea is that once we enter a decline phase in fossil fuel availability—first in petroleum—our growth-based economic system will struggle to cope with a contraction of its very lifeblood. Fuel prices will skyrocket, some individuals and exporting nations will react by hoarding, and energy scarcity will quickly become the new norm. The invisible hand of the market will slap us silly demanding a new energy infrastructure based on non-fossil solutions. But here’s the rub. The construction of that shiny new infrastructure requires not just money, but…energy. And that’s the very commodity in short supply. Will we really be willing to sacrifice additional energy in the short term—effectively steepening the decline—for a long-term energy plan? It’s a trap!"

Many EROEI (net energy) numbers are generous as they usually omit clean-up costs. We believe that the tarsands are already negative net energy and the Do-the-Math article addresses this:

"Anything less than the break-even ratio of 1:1 means that the source provides no net energy (a drain, in fact), and is not worth pursuing for energy purposes—unless the form/convenience of that specific energy is otherwise unavailable."

U.S. government hopelessly controlled by oil

Will U.S. decay into Mad Max future?

Around the world, especially in Asia, political leaders are calling for, and building, more public transit. Meanwhile the U.S. government is deadlocked trying to fix its highways.

Free Public Transport - Southeast Asia: Taib calls for better public transport: "BorneoPost Online : "KUCHING: An efficient public transportation will not just ease gridlocks and lessen travel time for commuters but will help tourists go around the state see more places."

The U.S. government is controlled by the oil industry. There is no force currently on the stage that is even coming close to opposing that. That is why we say put your energy into your local government policy. Many towns have free transit. Your town can have it too. But we have to stop begging the GOP to "be good" and start talking to our neighbors and pushing for free transit in local political circles.

If you think free transit is "too extreme," think about this. CO2 is at 400ppm. Now THAT is extreme.

photo credit: http://www.madmaxmovies.com/mad-max/mad-max-cars/chevy-impala/index.html

Why #freetransit is so important for ending war such as in Ukraine

The U.S. is desperately car-dependent. Any loss in the power of the petrodollar, or other loss of leverage in world energy markets, means disaster for the U.S. economy. This is the source of aggressive foreign policy.

There is only one way to de-fang this beast. Oil demand must drop sharply.

The good news is, your town can save a lot of money currently wasted on supporting cars, and at the same strike a blow for peace. Nothing in the U.S. constitution says oil and cars must be subsidized.

Join us now. Become a free-transit advocate!

Riding #publictransit can save you $10,000/yr, #freetransit would take only $100 out of that

Miami-Dade Green -: "Riding on transit also helps to save money. According to the American Public Transportation Association, the cost savings of taking transit over driving to work continues to rise. As of January 2014, commuters who take transit instead of driving to work save $829 a month on average, or nearly $10,000 a year. "

Free transit can be implemented for a tax of $100/yr per person. If free, more people would use it, and more people could save up to $10,000 per year. In addition many costs would drop.



See our spreadsheet

Energy war in Ukraine, but Poland saves energy with #freetransit

BEZPLATNA KOMUNIKACJA MIEJSKA: "tuZory.pl : "Nie kombinuj, jedź za darmo! Pod takim hasłem na ulice miasta wyruszyły dzisiaj autobusy, które bezpłatnie będą wozić pasażerów po Żorach. Pierwsi chętni na darmową przejażdżkę na przystankach pojawili się już po godz. 5:00! Jak prezentują się autobusy? Zapraszamy do fotogalerii.""

Laws of physics have their say in #climate debate

IMAGE: MARIANNA MASSEY/GETTY IMAGES

But #climate deniers still in control. Why? Because of demand for oil. To stop the denial, stop the demand.

Oil buys US Congress votes, but where does their power come from?

Yes, money buys influence. But why can't any limits be put on their political power? Because millions of people continue to demand their product, that is why. To end their power, stop buying the product.

Oil money behind Keystone XL Senate bill breaks 20 million dollars | Oil Change International: "In other words, those Senators cosponsoring the pro-Keystone XL bill introduced today have received roughly 5 times more in oil industry cash than those who remained off the bill."

Video: Passenger severely beaten for not paying a fare

Movimento Passe Livre ABC: "The fare is a robbery, assault, extortion in the life of the population.

In Santo André CPTM security along with the military police beat a young man who didn't pay the value of 3.00 to board the train. It is possible that the young man has died, simply for not agreeing to the violence that is the fare of collective transport.
The State and its agents fascists, as PM, and private security guards are capable of taking lives in defense of private capital; in defense of a butchering and violent fare every day the population is poor and excluded from circular, to come and go, work, study, hang out, go to the hospital, to the Park, to find, simply because I don't have $ 6.00 (9, 12, 18 real ...) to pay every time you leave the House.

Repudiate the violent action of the PM and the security of the CPTM.
We reject the violence of everyday fare."

Video

May 1st #freetransit starts in Zory, Poland

This...

Leads to this...

To learn more about #freetransit in Poland, go here http://fptpoland.blogspot.com